Help wanted

Posted on 11 Aug 2021 @ 2:29am by Townsfolk Dominic Lesprin & Warrior Rhiannon Cadash

2,208 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: Summerday La Fête
Location: Jader
Timeline: Cloudreach 20th

Dominic diced his gardenia flowers with intense focus. With Summerday approaching he had all but given up on research and focused instead on restocking his most popular products. Perfumes were always a bestseller, so he was brewing a few of his best recipes. The warm weather allowed him to work outside, rather than stink up the Raven's Roost, so he'd set up a work station by his cart. People cast curious looks his way as they walked past but he barely noticed any of them, too focused on his batch of white flower scent. The water finally started boiling in the bottom of his small copper cauldron and he tossed in the diced flowers, stirring once before he returned to his ingredients.

It was a familiar recipe he was making, one he'd made a thousand times, but he still paused to think about the next step. He never made twice the exact same fragrance, always varying a little in his choice of ingredients. This time he wanted to go for something a little more fresh and woody, not so heady and floral. Pine. Definitely pine. He tossed in a branch of pine then paused again to think. He wanted something a bit deeper, stronger, to bring the scent together. Once the first whiff of white flower had come, he needed something enticing to be there, with a lingering aftersmell to keep people intrigued. He reached for his pouch of dried lily flowers, clicking his tongue when he realized he was fresh out of them.

Damn. Knew I should have collected more. There was no way he could leave his brewing to go ingredient hunting though. He had too much work to do, and being unfamiliar with the area, would probably get lost before he found what he was looking for. Dominic sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. He had left a note on the Chantry notice board, but so far he'd had no luck. He came to wonder if his job advertisement had been explicit enough. Well, he'd go and check it again later. In the meantime... he reached for the chrysanthemum, his last one, and started carefully separating the petals.

As he began to toss the chrysanthemum petals in the water, a shadow fell over his work station. Dominic didn't look up, too busy adding his petals one after the other to his mixture.

"Yes ?" he said impatiently, barely remembering to use Orlesian. He was already going over the next steps in his head. Boil until there was nearly no water left, then add alcohol... preferably grain white alcohol, if he had any left.

Rhiannon had been out to the market area browsing for nothing really. She had just wanted to get off the ship for a bit. It was when she had turned to head towards the Raven's Roost that a scent caught her attention. The smell of white flower, pine and chrysanthemum. It was a very pleasant smell. Not to over powering yet strong enough to take notice.

Following her nose she made her way to find a man outside the Raven's Roost, standing next to a cart with a small fire and a copper cauldron with a bit of steam rising from it. "That is quite a pleasant scent. What do you call it?"

He only caught a word or two, but enough to get the gist of the question. The dwarf lady - she looked like a lady, anyway - was asking for the name of the perfume. Dominic pushed back his irritation at being interrupted. A potential customer had to be treated with basic courtesy, at least.

"Hum." He pushed up his glasses. "White Flower perfume. Number 3." He had fifteen different recipes that involved white flowers, in varying quantities and forcefulness. More than once he'd been told they would sell better if he gave them more poetic names, such as "Romantic Night" or "Moonlight Kiss", but the concept baffled him. The scent was the same regardless, and it was infinitely easier for him to remember the recipes if he kept things straightforward. "Not finished. You want, come back, hum..." what was tomorrow in Orlesian again ? "After night. Or, I have others, if you want."

He pointed to the small perfume bottles on display. They were arranged by theme ; floral, woody, citrus and exotic. The latter category included everything that didn't fit in the first three, such as musk, various kinds of resins, a few berries he'd been experimenting with, an extract of seaweed, and even a somewhat surprising fungus earthy inspired scent, that was one of his favorites but oddly enough did not seem to attract the attention of many customers.

Rhiannon listened as the human told her to come back tomorrow if she wanted the one he was making. Though his words were a bit peculiar, it made her smile. She shifted over to look at the other perfumes he had out. Rhi looked them over and picked out a woodsy one. Taking out the stopper she took in the scent. A deep cherry wood came through with a hint of a crispness. Green apple. Setting this one aside she picked up on of the exotic ones. She took the stopper out and took in the scent of this one as well. A agarwood musk with a hint of jasmine and an underlining tee tree note as well. She stopped this back up like the other one, took both to the human and smiled as she set them down. "I will take these two now and the one that you are creating, when it is done tomorrow, as well. How much is it going to be sir?"

Ah, a customer who knew what they wanted, rather than tinkering about for hours and trying every single fragrance. Dominic's strained smile grew less impersonal and a bit warmer.

"Is 12 coppers for this," he pointed to the red cherry bottle, "and 15 this one," he pointed to the other one. "25 coppers total." Numbers were something he was comfortable with in any language. "White flower is..." he tried to remember how to say cheaper then gave up with a mental shrug. "10 coppers."

Rhiannon listened as the man told her the price. She noticed that his smile warmed a little. Rhi dug in her pouch, pulled out two gold. As she did she spoke. "I must say, i was expecting to pay a little more for such quality." She smiled as she placed the gold on the table, them spoke again. "Have you never.... (pause) I am so sorry. I have not introduced myself. I am Rhiannon Cadash. May I have the pleasure of knowing to whom I am doing business with?"

What was it with people, that the moment Dominic said three words in their language they assumed he was fluent and flooded him with long, complicated sentences ? He stared at the dwarf, trying to piece together the stream of sounds she had just uttered, aware that he probably looked quite vacant. He'd caught her name at least ; Rhiannon. Presumably she wanted his in return, if she'd introduced herself.

"Dominic," he said, hoping he wasn't making a fool of himself. "Lesprin." He offered his hand, trying to look silently affable. "I, huh, make... brews ? Potions. Anything you need, I make." So long as she said it slowly enough, anyway.

Rhiannon smiled as the man told her his name. She could see that he didn't speak fluent dwarf. So she switched to common when she continuted. "Dominic. Like it. Strong name." She shifted a little to make sure that she could look directly at him. "Brews, potions, perfumes. Sounds like. You are very skilled." She paused for a moment then continued. "I have a proposal for you. If you are interested in hearing me out."

Oh, thank everything that was holy, she was actually speaking slowly enough for him to understand... well, as much as he was ever going to. Dominic nodded as he parsed what she wanted from him.

"Yes. Commission. I listen."

He knew a wide array of recipes, and felt reasonably confident he could make whatever the lady wanted. Within reason. There was always the odd customer with ridiculous expectations, or absurdly vague requests. "Make a perfume that smells like morning dew," or "I want a potion that will make me lucky !" or the ever-dreaded "I'm looking to buy a love potion." But the dwarf lady looked like a serious customer.

Rhi got the impression that he thought she was going to ask for a specific potion or perfume. Her customary mischievous grin crossed her face, she would get to that later. Right now she had other plans.

Rhi shifted so that she and Dominic could talk somewhat privately. "Yes, a potion would be nice, but not right now. What I would like to know is if you would like to have a place where you could create to your hearts content. Make what you would like. Have a small staff, that you would train, to gather the supplies you need. Does this interest you Dominic?"

Dominic felt immediately wary. If something looked too good to be true, it usually was. He spared the lady dwarf another look, assessing her. Her clothes, revealing as they were, looked well made and expensive. Overall she looked like she had money - but appearances were deceiving. More importantly, he wasn't sure he trusted someone who'd offer such a job to a virtual stranger, without so much as an interview. Either this was a con, or she was recruiting for something not quite legal.

"Can you..." he paused, gathering his thoughts. "Give more information ? What would job include ?"

Rhiannon liked this human. Straight to the point. "Straight to the point. Very well. This is what I am thinking. We set you up in a small shop next to our warehouse. You have a permanent place for your customers to come to. There would be no overhead because you would be working for me. What we would expect in return, the occasional specialty potion and perfume as well." She smiled. "If you would like I could show you the space."

Dominic frowned, biting his lips as he mulled over the offer. Setting up a shop was what he'd always wanted, but... it was too neat. Too easy. Maybe it was just a trap, to make him leave his wares unattended while an accomplice helped themselves. Or maybe this lady dwarf was involved in shadier business still than he'd imagined. Either way, he wasn't sure he wanted anything to do with her.

But... what if it was a real offer ? Maybe Jader was just that desperate for potion brewers. He hadn't seen anyone else selling perfumes and potions around here. Yet.

"Can't now. I must watch customers. No, attend. Attend customers. But later, after I close, I can take look around." Dominic sighed inwardly. He just knew he was probably setting himself up for disappointment, if not worse, but the temptation was too great. Just in case it was for real. "But I want more detail," he added. "What you want from me. How much I pay for shop." There was no way in Thedas they wouldn't charge him something for the space, a percentage of his earnings at the very least, if not a flat rate. "And what happen if you or I break contract."

Rhi listened as Dominic voiced his concerns. All of which were legitimate. When he was done she gave a nod. "I understand your concern. I would be as well, if I was in your shoes. (pause) Come to the docks later today. Look for the Night's Kiss and ask for me. I can show you the space and we can go over the details in a more private setting. How does this sound Master Dominic?"

Like a knife between the ribs and a robbery waiting to happen, Dominic thought but did not say. He wasn't completely decided yet. Still, he figured he could ask around before heading for the meeting. If he heard anything bad about the Night's Kiss, he could always just not show up. Well, assuming he managed to get the information he needed with his poor grasp of the local language.

"Talk more, fine," he said reluctantly. "I go, uh, ask for Rhiannon. At nightfall. Night's Kiss."

Dominic watched in mild astonishment and a small measure of horror as Rhiannon spat in her hand and offered it to him. He stared at the wet palm and tried to look less disgusted than he felt. She looked like she actually expected him to touch it.

He didn't want to offend her though. Spirits knew what sort of thugs she might have at her command. Hesitantly he offered her a little wave, hoping that would be enough to distract her from the spit-lathered handshake.

Rhiannon gave Dominic a smile when he waved instead of shaking her hand. "I am looking forward to seeing you later Master Dominic." With that she will take the perfume and head back to the ship.

Dominic watched her leave with her purchase, still of two minds about the whole thing. This had been a strange encounter.

 

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