Speaker 1: The Thieves Guild written by Ja Kerr, Season four, episode ten,
Speaker 1: The miscreate.
Speaker 2: The trip across the river ended up being a lot
Speaker 2: cheaper than Rebecca had anticipated.
Speaker 3: You there, we need a short trip across the river.
Speaker 2: The man standing near the almost dramshackle boat looked appraisingly
Speaker 2: at Raylan, and then sneered when he looked at Rebecah.
Speaker 4: Hi, Ruing in the golden triangle will get you a
Speaker 4: lot further than in the charred ruins of the flats.
Speaker 2: He winked, even beyond his obnoxious commentary. Raylan didn't like
Speaker 2: the man. He had a sneering face with squinty eyes
Speaker 2: and greasy hair that looked more at home in a
Speaker 2: dark alley than on the banks of a river. He
Speaker 2: ignored the man's comment. One way just from here, Raylan
Speaker 2: pointed past the boats that filled the river to there.
Speaker 2: How much the man squinted at Rebecca.
Speaker 4: Enough that no one has been willing to pay me,
Speaker 4: But you seem dressed in quite nice finery. It will
Speaker 4: be a thousand guilders. Raylan's jaw dropped. The price was
Speaker 4: enough to pay for a house in the flats. Certainly
Speaker 4: you jest, Certainly you need transportation for this lovely lass.
Speaker 2: The man's annoying sneer reappeared. Rebecca walked forward, and as
Speaker 2: the man's eyebrows went up with sudden violence, she kicked
Speaker 2: the man in the groin with the full force of
Speaker 2: her body. As he cried out in pain and doubled over,
Speaker 2: she kicked him again, sending him flying back into the water.
Speaker 2: Negotiations over, she had already untethered the boat. As Raylan
Speaker 2: looked on mouth agape. She looked back, are you coming
Speaker 2: or not? Raylan rushed over and joined Rebecca as she
Speaker 2: shoved the boat forward and climbed in. She had started paddling,
Speaker 2: and again looked at Raylan, this time with an amused
Speaker 2: look on her face.
Speaker 3: Are you going to help? Or do I need to
Speaker 3: do everything?
Speaker 2: Neither of them were experienced on water, but they had
Speaker 2: awkwardly paddled far enough that the boat's owner couldn't reach them,
Speaker 2: instead hurling the most abusive and vile words their way.
Speaker 3: He's almost a poet, isn't he, Raylan laughed? He certainly
Speaker 3: is creative.
Speaker 2: The river's current dragged them downstream, but they made decent
Speaker 2: progress across, finally landing amusingly enough, near the Golden Triangle,
Speaker 2: the public park that sat at the juncture of the
Speaker 2: North Fork and the Great River. It was beautifully maintained
Speaker 2: and featured lush grass and flowers and trees that were
Speaker 2: a landmark for miles around. As Rebecca sat and emptied
Speaker 2: water from her boots, as Raylan did the same, he
Speaker 2: looked around, his eyes lighting on the huge tree near
Speaker 2: the point of the triangle. He had climbed the tree
Speaker 2: countless times, a tree which, oddly enough, had never been
Speaker 2: given a name, but which everyone called, unsurprisingly the Great Tree.
Speaker 3: Climbing that tree is against the law, and I used
Speaker 3: to climb it constantly and taunt the guards from the branches.
Speaker 3: Did they not just wait for you to come down?
Speaker 2: I'm very patient, Raylan laughed. One time he had stayed
Speaker 2: in the tree through four guard shifts before the guards
Speaker 2: realized that they were abandoning more important duties.
Speaker 3: My father, however, had a small branch from the tree.
Speaker 2: Raylan let his voice trail off, and.
Speaker 3: He beat you with it. He wasn't fond of violence,
Speaker 3: but he was fond of symbolism.
Speaker 2: Rebecca laughed, I like your father.
Speaker 3: Well, he put up with me, so I guess I
Speaker 3: owe him that Raylan.
Speaker 2: Led them to the Golden Wand with no real plan
Speaker 2: other than to enter and figure things out. Rebecca didn't
Speaker 2: discuss their destination at all, instead commenting on the larger
Speaker 2: houses and even as states in the upper Triangle.
Speaker 3: How does the populace put up with this?
Speaker 2: Rebecca waved her arm encompassing a large estate. Raylan didn't
Speaker 2: have an answer for that.
Speaker 5: You have been to Goutland have you seen anything like this?
Speaker 3: I have only been to and from the Crown, but
Speaker 3: I don't remember seeing anything like this.
Speaker 5: That's because it doesn't exist. The city struggles, so everyone
Speaker 5: is in it together. This up, Rebecca pointed at a
Speaker 5: different estate, is insulting.
Speaker 3: Well, you will be happy to know that I have
Speaker 3: a reputation in the Upper Quarter of doing things like
Speaker 3: throwing difficult to reach second floor windows, leaving gates with
Speaker 3: vicious dogs behind them open, stealing things from one house
Speaker 3: and leaving them at another. You know, just normal kid stuff.
Speaker 3: I have a sense that you are not a normal child, Raylan.
Speaker 3: Perhaps not. I was well known by everyone for being
Speaker 3: a menace, my infamous guild master.
Speaker 2: Raylan felt a surge of fondness for Rebecca at that moment.
Speaker 2: She liked that he was a mischievous youngster, and the
Speaker 2: way she said my guild master felt more meaningful than
Speaker 2: just a sign of respect.
Speaker 3: Ah. Do you see that hedge? Yes, it is quite large.
Speaker 3: You can barely see the house behind it. It was
Speaker 3: placed there due to me. I used to play steeple
Speaker 3: chase with my friends, and I would leap over the
Speaker 3: previous hedge and into their yard constantly in.
Speaker 2: My games, Raylan smiled.
Speaker 3: My father chose violence for that as well. You were
Speaker 3: smiling at that. Some beatings and marks of pride. Regardless,
Speaker 3: my friends could never clear the hedge, so I used
Speaker 3: it constantly, even with a bruised behind. They finally spent
Speaker 3: a lot of money to have that installed. Well, that's
Speaker 3: one way to stop you. This is the second one.
Speaker 3: I burned the first one down. Rebecca laughed and laughed,
Speaker 3: Of course you did. The rest of their walk was
Speaker 3: about as pleasant a time as Raylan could remember in
Speaker 3: a very long time. It reminded him of his storytelling
Speaker 3: at the Four Triangles, something he took great joy in.
Speaker 3: It was the only time his mischief truly bore fruit,
Speaker 3: Bragging of his exploits to his friends over a cup
Speaker 3: of mead. This was similar, only it was Rebecca, and
Speaker 3: instead of mead, it was the actual location of his mischief.
Speaker 3: They approached the Golden Wand and Raylan shared another story,
Speaker 3: his enthusiasm for storytelling overcoming his increasing closeness to Rebecca.
Speaker 3: I should mention that I'm banned from the Golden Wand
Speaker 3: your band from a tavern.
Speaker 2: Rebecca looked at Raylan a combination of delight and anticipation
Speaker 2: in her eyes.
Speaker 3: This is a story I must hear.
Speaker 2: Well, Raylan paused, suddenly wary of sharing the tale.
Speaker 3: Go on, this will be the best of all the stories,
Speaker 3: I am sure.
Speaker 2: Taking a deep breath, Raylan barreled forward.
Speaker 3: Well, I was, shall I say, enamored with the barmaids,
Speaker 3: and to have them near me, I would constantly and
Speaker 3: purposefully drop my mugs to the floor where they would
Speaker 3: need to come over, bend over and clean the mess up.
Speaker 5: You naughty boy, I just liked them, Indeed you did.
Speaker 3: So. There was one who I had fallen in love with.
Speaker 3: Her name was Julia, and I believe she liked me.
Speaker 3: So I would not just spill some beer. I would
Speaker 3: pretty much make enough of a ruckus that she had
Speaker 3: to constantly be coming over to calm things down. Ah,
Speaker 3: so she was your golden wand babysitter.
Speaker 2: Raylan shot Rebecca aglear.
Speaker 3: So it was a game, or so I thought, because
Speaker 3: she never said anything, and she would always look at
Speaker 3: me as she came over, And of course I couldn't
Speaker 3: actually start a conversation other than apologizing for my clumsiness.
Speaker 3: But I thought my smile and intentions were clear enough.
Speaker 5: Yes, Raylan, making a bar maid clean non stop during
Speaker 5: her shift is certainly sending a message.
Speaker 3: I didn't know that anyway. I was eventually banned from
Speaker 3: the tavern when she was on duty. No surprise there.
Speaker 3: I'm surprised they didn't ban you entirely at that point. Well,
Speaker 3: my father intervened and promised I would not disrupt things further,
Speaker 3: and of course that didn't work.
Speaker 2: Well.
Speaker 3: I disguised myself and would go during her shift to
Speaker 3: just talk with her, but the first time I got there,
Speaker 3: she complained to the owner and he kicked me out.
Speaker 3: I was banned from that point forward. Oh that's not surprising, you,
Speaker 3: poor boy.
Speaker 2: Rebecca patted Raylan gently on the.
Speaker 5: Arm, pining for the girl you can never have about that, Wait,
Speaker 5: there's more. I am so thoroughly delighted, Raylan, I cannot
Speaker 5: express just how excited I am to hear the rest.
Speaker 3: I met her after her shift one night. I asked
Speaker 3: her to go for a walk so I could explain myself.
Speaker 3: I'm sure that went well. It did, or at least
Speaker 3: I thought it did. It concluded with her saying she
Speaker 3: would talk to the owner. The thing is that she
Speaker 3: didn't tell me what she was going to say, so
Speaker 3: when I turned up the next day, he beat me
Speaker 3: badly and told me that me and my father were
Speaker 3: no longer welcome. I like this bar owner, you know,
Speaker 3: well that was a few years ago. I'm not sure
Speaker 3: he'd recognize me, as everyone seems fond of telling me.
Speaker 3: I apparently now look much older than my age. They
Speaker 3: reached the tavern, which was a beautiful wood and stucco
Speaker 3: building with a gray plume of smoke indicating a welcome fireplace.
Speaker 3: There was a wooden sign with a golden wand on
Speaker 3: it with no words. At the entrance. Rebecca held out
Speaker 3: her arm after you. Raylan wasn't sure what they'd do.
Speaker 3: He was certain Rebecca wasn't reckless enough to run to
Speaker 3: the wand grab it and run out. Perhaps they would
Speaker 3: sit in a booth and plan their next step surveying
Speaker 3: the room. All those plans disappeared as Raylan entered the room.
Speaker 3: Rebecca right behind Raylan. In the dim light, A barmaid
Speaker 3: approached Julia behind him. Rebecca laughed and laughed.
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