He was dressed stylishly, with a ruffled shirt, a vest, and a broad-brimmed hat. But on closer inspection, his clothing was worse for wear, sweat-stained and a little frayed. His skin had the gray cast of one of the stone-fey, and his features were sharp.
“Oh, no help required,” he replied. “We like to welcome budding entrepreneurs to the city when we can, and I’m powerfully curious about what new business you’ll bring to the district.” His voice was smooth, almost cultured.
Viv didn’t miss the reference to a nebulouswe.
“Oh, so you’re a city official?” Viv smiled, and this time she didn’t concern herself with how prominent her lower fangs were. She approached him so that their difference in stature was even more apparent. She was pretty sure she knew exactly what this man was, and until recently, she’d have had him by the throat and off the ground already.
He didn’t adjust his posture an iota, smiling back. “Not as such. I just consider it my civic duty to welcome new arrivals and to take an interest in their welfare.”
“I’ll consider myself welcomed, then.”
“I didn’t catch your name.”
“You didn’t. But fair exchange is no robbery. Didn’t catch yours, either.”
“Indeed. I don’t suppose you’d mind giving me a little preview of your new….” He looked around her at the cart and waved a gloved hand. “… venture?”
“Trade secret.”
“Oh, well, I wouldn’t want to pry.”
“I’m glad to hear that.” Viv walked back, grabbed the traces, and lifted, her biceps bunching as she started hauling. It was significantly heavier than it had been that morning. Her lower back lit up in a bright knot of pain. She didn’t slow as she approached the door, staring grimly past her visitor who, at the last second, had to depart the threshold less gracefully than he would have doubtless preferred.
“We’ll catch up later!” he called after her, as she rumbled the cart down the cobbles to the west, her face set, breathing hard through her nose.
Above, the clouds began to clot and thicken, threatening rain.
Everyone else on the street made certain they were clear of the coming storm.
* * *
When Cal reappeared that afternoon,the sky was even darker. Viv was seated out front on the tack box, the cart returned. Her sleeves were rolled up, and sweat striped the grime on her arms.
As the hob approached, Viv saw a bundle under his arm, and when he stopped, he flapped a corner of it at her. “Tarpaulin. Looks like rain. Best we keep the new lumber dry.” He tossed her purse to her, and she tucked it away without bothering to examine it.
Viv hauled out the ladder and gathered a few stones from an alley. They both climbed onto the roof and anchored the tarp with the stones over the hole, just as raindrops began to speckle the tile a dusty orange.
When they were back down and inside, listening to the drops clatter lightly overhead, Cal said, “Well, maybe no deliveries today, unless the rain slacks off.” He looked around the barren interior. “A good job of it, eh? Looks a fair bit bigger now.”
Viv smiled ruefully as she surveyed the place. The emptiness of it somehow made the work to come more daunting. “Think I’m a fool?”
“Hm.” Cal shrugged. “Not in the habit of offerin’ my less than positive thoughts to somebody like you.”
“Somebody like me?” She sighed. “You mean–?”
“I mean somebody who’s payin’.” He gave her one of his thin smiles.
“Well, as the one paying, I don’t see a reason for you to wait around here while–”
She was interrupted by the arrival of a cart with three small, sturdy crates in the back.
“That’s promptness for you,” said Cal.
Viv headed out into the rain. “That’s not the supplies,” she called over her shoulder. She had already caught the smell of it.
Signing for the delivery, Viv paid the driver and declined his help hauling the crates one by one into the livery. Each was tidily assembled, with the sides and base cleverly fitted and only the top nailed in place. Gnomish stencils ran along the panels at neat right angles.
Cal watched curiously as Viv gently set down the last one, then indicated Cal’s toolbox, giving him a questioning look.
