Beyond Chaos – A DiceRPG

"Silly daddy, I miss you so much,” Jirot whispered to herself, rubbing her eye as she readied for breakfast. 

“Darling, enjoy yourself within Gold Port,” Vonda said. “If you are in Gold Port already, then you must not have taken time for yourself, or your companions.”

Jirot gasped, her tiny mouth forming a circle. “Mummy! Are you talking to daddy?”

“Yes.”

“Mummy! You must tell daddy! I miss… Jarot misses daddy so much.” The girl glanced to the side, but her puckered lips, and her sad eyes told her mother everything.

“Your father asked what he should buy for you.”

“Daddy should buy some decency,” the girl said, sipping her cup of milk in annoyance, but she gasped upon seeing her mother’s shock. “No, mummy! No! I did not say it! I said, I said, I said… Jarot, what daddy should buy?”

Little Jarot raised his brows in shock. ‘Kaka! How you can involve me like this?’

“Jirot, you cannot speak of your father in such a way,” Vonda said, holding out her hand, the girl pouting as she took it. Vonda brushed her thumb along her daughter’s knuckles tenderly. “That was too far, do you understand?”

“Sorry, mummy…” Jirot’s lips trembled and her cries pierced the air. 

Having no idea that his daughter was bullying him, the half elf flushed. He had prayed early in the morning, and after working out with the soldiers, he finished his bath and prayed once more, though ended up sending word to his wife. 

‘How can you call me out like that, darling?’ Adam thought, flushing lightly. ‘I guess she’s right though…’

‘Darling, Jirot and Jarot said they would like some ribbons.’

“If my little Jirot and Jarot want ribbons, I will get them some ribbons!” Adam promised as the words slipped out to his wife’s mind. ‘I’ll buy a thousand ribbons!’

‘Please enjoy yourself. Xarot and Monarot have begun to crawl. You should buy them something to congratulate them too.’

Adam dashed out, finding Jurot and his companions sitting with the soldiers. “Jurot! Xarot and Monarot are crawling!”

Jurot blinked, nodding his head. “My daughter must crawl so well.”

“I’ll miss her goofy little shuffle, but I bet she crawls so cutely too!” 

The soldiers eyed up the half elf and the Iyrmen, who glowed and spoke of their children so tenderly, before finally giving them a chance to breathe. 

“Let’s go buy some cloth and stuff!” Adam declared, suddenly putting the soldiers on high alert, the half elf grabbing onto Jurot and Dunes. “Let’s spend some gold!”

A soldier accompanied them as they made their way through the business of the city, which the half elf hadn’t taken in until that day. Though he had passed by and passed through this place a handful of times, Adam never had the chance to soak things in. However, he spotted the difference between Gold Port and East Port immediately. They were both port cities built upon the end of a river towards the open sea, but with the hills behind Gold Port, the land was packed a little tighter in the capital of Floria, the buildings reaching towards the sky. 

Adam hadn’t expected the port of Gold Port to be so large either, for the port district reached out and across the sea too, with thousands of fishermen like ants on the sea, bringing in their fresh fish throughout the day. The colours in this city were not quite as numerous as those within East Port, though the pinks, purples, yellows, or rather, some of the yellows, and whites all held a greater depth, for Adam saw at least ten purple buildings in a row, and though they were only purple, they were each so different, especially to his half fae eyes.

The market was massive too, starting from the port district, flowing into several other districts. They passed by several bridges on their way towards the market, paying their coppers, the guards and soldier greeting one another with a tip of their helmets. The market held thousands of stalls, with small districts forming within based on the items they sold. 

As they walked about, dodging and weaving through the market, Adam spotted a handful of children, each standing at the ready to assist for coin, while a handful of town guards patrolled around the perimeter, there were many other private guards which kept an eye on their stalls. 

“Alright! Form a queue!” Adam demanded, reaching into his robes, slipping out a silver coin. “I need whoever knows the most to speak up right now!”

All the children spoke up at once, ready to accept the shiny silver coin within the half elf’s fingers. 

Adam blinked. “Alright, well, never mind that then! How much do you charge?”

“One silver!” the children replied, with varying levels of excitement. 

“You there!” Adam said, pointing to one, causing the other children to scatter. “Hey, hey, hey! Get back here! I need more than one of you!”

The children swarmed them once more, about a dozen of them, each curiously eyeing the half elf. 

“Alright, look, listen, firstly… damn it, what was I going to say?” Adam whispered to himself. “Oh, right. How many hours do you work for a silver!”

“As long as it takes, boss!” the child Adam was pointing at said. 

“Okay, well, firstly, I need everyone to bathe before we start our little marketeering. I will be paying you more than one silver, and for each question you answer, wait, scratch that, I’ll tip you depending on how helpful you’ve been with answering my questions. Right now, you’re the Head Answerer, and you can take this silver as payment upfront.” Adam reached down and placed the coin within the child’s palm, unsure of whether they were a boy or a girl, considering they all looked the same, with their thin bodies, dishevelled hair, each adorned in rags. 

Dunes noted the terseness of Adam’s face, whose eyes kept the pain at bay from seeing the children in such a manner. ‘Adam…’

“Alright, so… if you do a good job, I’ll be giving you each a gold coin, never mind a silver, you understand?”

“Yes, boss!” the children replied with varying levels of excitement, for some of the older children exchanged looks, unsure if they could accept a gold coin. 

“For now, you all need to wash up, but first… we need to buy some soap.” The half elf allowed the Head Answerer to lead them towards a stall with soap, the half elf spending a silver piece to buy a few bits of soap, while also buying some teethleaf for the urchins to chew. The half elf used his magic to dry off the children’s clothing, who gasped in shock and awe, while the soldier and Adam’s amulet saved him from scrutiny. 

‘If you’re going to cast magic, warn me!’ the soldier thought, his heart pounding wildly.

“Alright, now that’s done, let’s get to work!” Adam said, waiting for the children to grab their packs, each wooden backpacks with half sacks cut in half and tied to the wood. Some of the older children, who had worked within the market for years, wore fully wooden packs, which hid the contents within.

“I need some cloth,” Adam said, and the Head Answerer led the half elf towards a section of the market. 

Some days, the urchins would take their charges the wrong way in order to allow them to be extorted, but on this day, with two Priests, one of Death, and an Iyrman, and a soldier, the group of four did not suffer from such a fate.

Adam eyed up the cloth, while Dunes spoke with the merchant, a dark skinned Aswadian, the pair chatting away, while the merchant reached over to hold Dunes’ hands and bowed their head reverently.

“I guess we can’t buy any yellows, since we should head to East Port for them…” Adam whispered to Jurot.

“We could buy them from Yellow Turban,” Jurot agreed.

“What do you think?”

“We will need to find a ribbon maker,” Jurot said, before asking the Head Answerer about such.

“Aye, boss! Tara Ribbons, she makes ‘em right good, she does! Just round the way, but a ten min’t walk, tha’s all!”

“Okay.”

“Do you sell sheets of cloth?” Adam asked, glancing aside to Dunes to translate.

“One sheet, one silver,” the Aswadian said, unfurling his cloth with grace, revealing a roughly arm’s length of cloth for the half elf.

“I’d like one sheet from every roll,” Adam said.

“Every roll, kal?”

“Every roll,” the half elf confirmed. “What does kal mean?”

“Sir, like Sir Harold of the Heroic Honeysuckle, or as a soldier may respond.” Dunes glanced back towards the soldier.

“Yes sir, Brother.”

Dunes winked, flashing a charming smile towards the soldier. “One of each?”

“One of each,” Adam said, placing down a small pouch of twenty gold. 

“This is too many, good kal.”

“Take the extra as a tip, and if you can, throw in an extra sheet of your ten favourite colours, I’d like to give a gift to our hosts.” 

“Many blessings to you, good kal,” the Aswadian said, bowing his head lightly, before beginning to unfurl the cloth, further and further, much more than Adam expected.

‘Oh, what the hell?’

Jirot is absolutely right, though? Poor Jarot, he's beginning to understand what it means to be Jirot's twin brother.