Tradewinds 11 CH 00INTERLUDE: Bargain (I)Later that evening, a very different visitor docked in the Tradewinds Mercantile District.Oriental in aspect, though tall for his apparent ancestry, with long, raven-black hair and cold grey eyes. Cloaked in a long black coat, feet barely visible, he seemed to glide across the floor as he entered the trading post. Almost spectral, like something that walked in out of some unsettling dream.The shopkeep couldn’t even recall hearing this mysterious stranger enter; just felt an odd chill, looked up from his book keeping, and there he was. Saw that his lone customer, previously examining his wares, now just tried to keep his eyes to himself as much as this strange visitor would allow. The shopkeep looked out the window and got this sinking feeling; earlier, the weather was sunny and clear as far as the eye could see, yet now dusk brought with it rapidly darkening clouds.As if a storm swept in in this newcomer’s wake, he reflected.Without
The AtticLynn stood at the top of the stairs. Before her was the closet she and her older bother used to fight over. To her right was the door to her room; to her left was her brother’s. She took some keys out of her pocket and opened the door to her brother’s old room. She was sure Mom knew she had taken to locking it these days. As if anyone actually used it anymore…The door swung open, releasing a gust of air that struck her as too cool for an upstairs room on a summer day. It was the first time she had actually entered this room in over a year, but the first thing her eyes were drawn to was still the attic. The latch was still locked, and the boxes she had stacked in front of the door last spring were still there; even so, it hardened her resolve.She was glad they were moving.Lynn stood there for a long moment, noticing anew how barren the room looked now, its slanted walls devoid of posters, its floor absent of any meaningful furniture. In the year-