Contessa placed one foot on the wooden pier and then looked back to the first mate of the Crying Banshee. He smiled, and the tooth she knocked out four years ago could be seen in his grin.

“Are ye shure yer done wit us lass? Yur a good hand to have on deck regardless of me first misgivings.”

“Aw are ye still mad about that tooth, Boss? I did’na mean to knock it out only to give ye a tap to show you how to treat a lady proper. Be sides I need something new and intrestin to see.” Contessa smiled up at him.

“Tess, yur curiosity will be the death of ya one day.” He called her Tess as did most others who loved her. “Ye are no lady, but you be one of the best Bosun’s I could find. Come on back when yer ready, We gonna make a trip to Mugroba to pick up a load of spice and will be this way again in a couple of fortnight’.”

Tess put the other foot firmly on the creaky pier and took a deep breath of salty air. The sea had called to her and she had loved it, but her next mistress would be the air. She was sure of it.

With grim determination she placed her scarf over her face, its material was an interesting one. She could breathe through it and it covered the scars on her face. In her curiousity as a child she had once stolen a galdor student’s chemistry set. When she got home and began playing with the chemicals contained within, the resulting explosion had left her with a scarred face. The scars weren’t so drastic that she truly needed the scarf but they were bad enough she was self conscious of them. A lover had once told her they made her even more beautiful but she thinks his mind was overwhelmed with the after effects of their love making. In Mugroba she had learned from the women there that a veil could be a useful tool and had learned to wear them. She had one that was particularly fancy that she thought made her look rather sexy. She blushed at the thought and grinned.

“Hingle foot for sale! Ten Percent OFF!!!! Be safe at sea!!! Hingle FOOOOTTT!!!” Hawkers screamed their wares from the pier and she passed by them ignoring their calls. She had to find out more about the aeroships she had heard about in her travels.

She passed by a stall and saw something she had not seen before. I little child’s toy that was several pieces of metal joined together. Quickly she turned, her curiousity piqued she picked it up and began to try to puzzle out what it’s purpose was.

“Tis but a boch’s toy rosh. Perhaps ye hav a wee one ye wish ta give it to? For a modest price of course.” His smile was genuine.

“What’s the purpose, how does it work?” Her eyes never lifted from the contraption in her hands.”

“It is a puzzle. The pieces can only be taken apart in one way, it will keep a boch occupied for hours. Near impossible to be solved but it can be. Here let me show you.”

With a deft twist she could not see what he had done, but was astonished when he showed her the two halves and then quickly he returned the puzzle to it’s original state and she wide eyed took it.

“I want it. How much?”

“Two tally.” He said as he knew he had her.

“One.” She returned.

His eyes widened and a smile came over him as he said, “One tally and a hat.”

“One tally and a fort and no more!”

“Sold.” He handed her the puzzle and she handed him a tally and a fort from her purse. His eyes widened further as she produced the pouch from her ample cleavage. Her eyes lit up behind the mask and she smiled. Walking away she played with the toy trying to figure it out.

I will have to find more of these things she thought.

Reaching the wharf-master she hailed him, “Might ye know where a chip could find a bed and a meal round bouts? Decent mind you but not too ‘spensive like.”

Reggie eyed Contessa from stem to stern without bothering to hide his interest. When he was finished, he looked her in the eye and shrugged.

"Don't go to the Black Dove, love," he advised. "There's all accounts of rough men in there. Try the Widow's Walk, it's the tallest building in town, ye can see it from here." He pointed with a hand clad in ragged, fingerless gloves at an austere and beautiful building a few streets away.

Contessa winked at him and leaned down to show her ample cleavage off.



"No worry's there mate. This chip knows how to take care of herself, but thanks for the help." She leaned in and kissed his dirty cheek, and pulled a few tally from his own pouch. As she sauntered away she tossed the same tally back to him and said, "Here's a few tally for the advice lovey."

She continued down the street and made her way to the Widow's Walk. She nodded to those she passed and became only once entranced in a shop window along the way. It was a good day.

The shop-keeper whose stall Contessa lingered by grinned broadly at her approach, revealing a rather disturbing lack of teeth. If the withered old man had any teeth at all, actually, they must've been far back in his head and away from view except for the smattering on the bottom.

From somewhere in the back of the store, there was the sound of an older woman shouting, but it was incoherent. It could've been something about chickens. Or perhaps children. Or maybe even lunch. It was hard to tell.

He eyed her with his good eye, the other one unmoving, and leaned forward in the rickety chair he sat in just at the entrance to his open-aired storefront, "Ooooh aye, lathhhy, theee thomethin' ya like thar do'ee?" If the man could be eager for a sale, this was obviously his business face.