This short story takes place during Nobody Knows Me. You can read the first chapter of the novel here!
“Oh yeah?” said Annabel playfully. “Well, my mom was the one who taught me to heft a hammer. Wouldn’t be able to protect you without her.”
“Mine gave me her dashing good looks,” said Kyrn, preening. “Everyone says I look just like her.”
“My mum won a few joke-telling contests before she had me,” said Dancer proudly. “I like to think I learned from her.”
“You must’ve,” said Jehosaphat. “The longest I’ve heard you go without a joke is telling us about this.” The gang laughed, save for Asp, who looked vaguely into the middle distance.
“What about you, Asp?” said Annabel sweetly. “What did your mom teach you?”
Asp shook herself to attention. She sighed. “She taught me how to run.”
The gang looked at her curiously. Gregorio spoke up: “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you run.”
Asp laughed bitterly. “I mean, she made me learn to run away from my problems.” She brushed a strand of hair from her face. “Including her.”
Oslo grinned. “They don’t know, Asp.”
Asp looked squarely at him. “I know that. I was not exactly thinking about talking about this today.”
“What is it?” said Candace. Her voice nearly betrayed her emotional stake in the question, but no one seemed to take note of it.
We’ve never talked about it, thought Asp. As much as I trust her, I’ve never wanted to talk about it.
“The reason I’m here with you now is that I got run out of town where I come from,” said Asp slowly.
“Lowglen, right?” said Dancer.
“That’s right,” replied Asp.
“But we knew that,” said Candace. “What’s this other thing?”
Asp looked down into her lap. “My mom turned me in.”
The room fell silent aside from Annabel exhaling heavily. “Oh,” she said.
Asp forced a smile. “It’s okay. She didn’t like to deal with things that weren’t how she wanted them. I was one of those things.”
Candace’s expression was dour. Annabel and Dancer looked sad; Oslo and Jehosaphat remained expressionless.
“Her loss, our gain,” said Jehosaphat after a moment.
“Yeah,” said Candace. “We’ll never do that to you.”
Asp gave another smile, this one less forced. “Thanks, everybody. But it’s really okay–I think that being here is worth all the stuff that came before.”
“Cheers to that!” cried Dancer. The rest of the gang cheered, and in the wash of noise, Asp felt a little better.
—
Asp and Candace walked through the city streets as the sun began to set. The chatter of the city was always at its most constant now; morning sounds came and went in waves, but evening sounds droned on into the night. They spoke in whispers as they walked.
“That smells nice,” said Asp. “Is that cinnamon almonds?”
“I think so,” said Candace. “You want some?”
“Maybe after dinner,” said Asp. “You still want to go back to that stew place?”
“Sure,” said Candace lightly. Then, changing her tone: “You never told me about your mom.”
Asp’s next step was clumsy, but she righted herself. “Yeah,” she said simply.
“Why?” replied Candace.
Asp breathed in and out deeply. “It’s not a secret. It’s just something that’s hard to talk about.”
Candace narrowed her eyes. “You said before that it was all okay, but now you’re saying it’s hard to talk about. Is it both?”
Asp paused to think. Candace had voiced concern over Asp’s commonly quick responses; Candace said that it was evidence she wasn’t really thinking about the question.
“It’s both,” said Asp finally. “It is okay, but also, it’s hard. Like buying something that isn’t as good as you thought.”
“But you didn’t buy anything,” protested Candace. “You were given your situation. That makes it different.”
Asp shrugged. “Okay, bad analogy. But the point stands.” They turned a corner at an intersection and headed into the dwarven quarter. “I got dealt a bad hand, and I am making the best of it.”
Candace stopped walking, pulling Asp’s hand to stop her as well. “I don’t want to argue,” she whispered. “But you seem to have a habit of insisting that everything’s okay even when it bothers you.” She raised her eyebrows to indicate her lack of contention.
Asp squeezed Candace’s hand. “Candy, you’re absolutely right. So what do I do? How do I stop doing that?”
Candace smiled widely and began to walk again. “Aside from just stopping it?” Her tone was playful to show that she knew this answer was unrealistic. “How about, listen to people besides yourself about things like this? Because we know you can’t trust your own judgment?”
Asp frowned before she could stop herself. “You mean because other people are honest, and I’m . . . not?”
Candace laughed gently. “No,” she said firmly but affectionately. “Because you’re too harsh on yourself, and people like me see you for who you are.”
“Did my mom see me for who I am?” Asp asked softly, feeling the yes resounding in her head.
“Of course not,” said Candace. “Anyone who would sell you out is an idiot. You know, Asp, you think of yourself as a predator, I think. And you’re really not. You’re more of a scavenger–you don’t attack, but instead you take what you need to get by. I remember when you told me that you took up cons because you were hungry. Should you have let yourself starve?”
Asp grinned faintly. “I suppose not,” she admitted.
“And when was the last time you stole from someone who couldn’t afford it?”
Asp smiled a bit more widely. “A few years.” She did some mental calculations. “Four or five, maybe?”
Candace smiled, winding up for the final barrage. “So, to review: you haven’t genuinely hurt someone in literally years, and the one person who nature says is supposed to protect you didn’t, and somehow you’re in the wrong?”
Asp nodded. “I get it, Candy.”
“Do you, though?”
Asp sighed and smiled. “I understand it, and I am working on accepting it.”
Candace rubbed Asp’s shoulder gently. “And that’s all you can do.”
Asp leaned into Candace as they approached the restaurant. “Thanks for the help, Candy. Dinner’s on me.” They walked inside, the sun’s final rays disappearing over the horizon.
—
“Up! Everybody up!” Oslo’s voice echoed throughout the estate.
The members of gang emerged from their rooms, rubbing their eyes and muttering. Candace waited until everyone else had gone downstairs, then slipped out of Asp’s room and joined the rest in the living room.
“Good, everyone’s here,” said Oslo. “Sorry to disturb your sleep, but we’ve gotta move.”
“What is it?” asked Jehosaphat, stifling a yawn.
“We’ve got a new guard in town. Orcish fella, eyepatch, name of Trask. I tried a little thieves’ cant on him, and he told me he’s a long-time baker in need of flour,” Oslo explained matter-of-factly.
“A guard on our side?” gasped Kyrn. “That would be big.”
“Bigger than you realize,” said Oslo, pleased. “He’s been brought in at an officer rank.”
“No shit,” said Dancer, rubbing his hands together. “With an officer, we could have a hell of a lot more insurance when it comes to getting nicked.”
“Exactly,” said Oslo. “He wants a fairly hefty payment–nothing we can’t manage comfortably–but he wants it tonight. I think he’s gauging how well we operate.”
“So what do we do?” asked Annabel. “We’re not all going to meet him, are we?”
“No,” said Oslo. “You’ll all meet him soon so he can know to look out for you. But tonight, he wants to meet with someone that will arouse no suspicion.”
All eyes turned to Asp.
“Right,” she said, determination in her voice. “I guess that’s me.”
“Candace,” said Oslo, “can you go get the safe? We need to get the payment ready.”
Candace nodded and left the room.
“Asp, are you feeling ready?” Oslo asked.
Asp rubbed some sleep from her eyes. “Ready as iron in a dwarven forge,” she replied confidently.
Candace wheeled the safe into the room and unlocked its outer face. She then stepped aside so that Oslo could unlock the center mini-safe behind the door, which he quickly did. Once the door hung open, gold and platinum glinted in the low light. He counted out a few dozen gold pieces and a few platinum pieces and placed them in a bag which clinked heavily. He held the bag out to Asp.
“Tell him we’re ready for business. Use thieves’ cant with him. He seems very security-minded, so be as cautious as possible. He’ll be in the business quarter now.” Oslo rattled off the instructions quickly as Asp took the bag.
“Got it,” said Asp. “Be back soon.”
—
Asp paced the business district of Strey, noting the many closed and locked doors. It really was late–she hadn’t been out late enough to see things close in quite a while. She passed a few guards–an elf and a gnome–patrolling the area and kept moving. A minute later, she saw an orc with an eyepatch on and cautiously, casually strolled up to him.
“A fine evening, wouldn’t you say, officer?” asked Asp sweetly.
“Fine indeed,” said the orc passively.
“Finer than a silk thread,” said Asp dreamily.
The orc’s eyebrows knitted together. “Silk thread fetches a fair price.”
“But you get what you pay for,” said Asp dramatically. “And I and my friends are in the market for the finest silk.”
The orc looked directly at Asp and lowered his voice. “Do you need to know about this silk, or do you trust its quality?”
Asp smiled mischievously. “I’ve heard this silk is among the best, but I would love to hear about it.”
“No rips, no tears. Very strong, and it goes well with other silks too.”
No criminal background, no incriminations. Good at his job and blends in with other guards. Just what we need.
“That’s good to hear. I have the payment,” said Asp. She gestured to the large coinpurse at her belt.
“Excellent,” said the orc. “By way of introduction, I’m Trask.”
“Delia,” said Asp. “Well, kind of.”
Trask cocked his head to the side, an eyebrow raised.
“Like this, I’m Delia. In green and yellow, I’m Penelope. As a gnome, I’m Gilbert. Just me, I’m Asp.” Asp whispered all of this as quietly as possible even though no one was around.
“Uh, gotcha. I’ll catch on quick. I’ve worked with priests before.”
“We look forward to working with you,” said Asp warmly, holding out the coinpurse.
Trask took it quickly and stuffed it into the satchel he wore. “The feeling is mutual,” he said. “Good night, Penelope.”
“Good night, Trask,” she said, and disappeared into the night.
—
Asp closed the estate door behind herself quietly and stepped inside. It was quiet, but she could hear light snoring coming from the living room. She strode silently into the room and saw Annabel passed out on the couch, Candace sprawled in an armchair.
“How did it go?” asked Candace quietly.
“Without a hitch,” said Asp happily. “We’ve got a guard on the inside.”
“Fantastic!” said Candace a little more loudly, then calming herself. “I mean, that’s great news. Good job!”
“It was easy,” said Asp.
“Honey–” Candace stopped herself. “Let’s go upstairs.” She stepped out of the armchair and led Asp up to her room, closing the door carefully behind them. “Honey,” she began again, “why do you think it was easy?”
“No complications,” said Asp simply. “Just an affable orc who wants a mutually beneficial deal.”
“And why do you think that he wanted to speak to you specifically?” Candace’s voice was gentle.
“Oslo said. He needed to talk to someone without a record.” Asp sounded confused.
“Asp,” said Candace, “he made most of the deal with Oslo. There’s basically no reason that he couldn’t take the money from Oslo. So why did Trask insist on working with you?”
Asp thought for a minute. “Because . . . I don’t know. What are you getting at?”
“Maybe he insisted on working with someone without a record because he had already worked with Oslo and found him . . . difficult?” Candace tried to make her tone more charitable than she needed to.
“So then, I’m more personable than Oslo. That’s not hard,” said Asp. “You’ve got something else on your mind, don’t you?”
Candace laughed gently. “Honey, it’s the same thing as before. You aren’t thinking of yourself the way that other people would think of you. What about this: a con’s job is to be palatable and reassuring, and Oslo couldn’t manage that–but you did it without thinking. Doesn’t that tell you something?”
Asp blushed. “I know I’m good at what I do.”
“Well,” began Candace, “the thing about that is that you’re a person. You can’t not be a person. And you’re good at being a person who people like, someone who minimizes the pain of others, someone who makes people happy.” Asp started to protest, but Candace held up a hand to stop her. “No, honey, listen: you are all the things you want to be, but you haven’t listened to that fact because you’re so focused on what your mom thinks of you. And let’s be clear: a mother who turns against her child is not someone you should be listening to. So give yourself some credit. You deserve it.”
Asp began to say, “I don’t deserve that!” but caught herself and stopped. She considered. Mom doesn’t know who I am now. But Candace does. Maybe it’s time to listen.
“I don’t know if I deserve you,” Asp said. “But I know I’m so much better for having you.”
Candace smiled widely. “Don’t forget it,” she said, sticking out her tongue.
“I will never forget,” said Asp. “Not in a hundred lifetimes.”
And they continued to quietly talk into the early morning before falling asleep clutched in each others’ arms.
You can read more short stories here!
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