<<Please note: I think it goes without saying that what Tawny may believe and what may be reality may well be two different things.>>
She'd gone. She'd come back. She'd gone again. She'd come back again. There was a certain love/hate relationship between her and this island of mistiness. Perhaps you never really lose full affection for the place where you first learned what your life would be all about. For Tawny, that would be the alleyways of MystHaven almost a decade ago, under the harsh but mentoring wing of all-around thieving kingpin FastTalk ip Lancan. She was eager then, a scrawny boyish lass of 14, and she soaked up the scene quickly. But she'd failed just as often as she'd been successful, and it was only a matter of sheer luck that she wasn't lying in some gutter somewhere - though she would put up a fair argument that it was due to skill on her part. Sporting her spiky short, unruly swag of blonde tresses beneath her cap, the seasoned grifter made her way from the back entrance of Cat's Den. In mind to have a drink before catching the afternoon ferry back to Drache, she ambled through the crowd toward the dockside pubs that lined the wharf with her hands in her trouser pockets just like any other boy would. One hand was on her money pouch and the other was on the trinkets she'd purchased at the Den. Her fingers no longer twitched to swipe the swinging purses of the foolish passersby in the crowd. Impersonating the Duchess Tabithina de Sorraia of Algathar at last spring's Royal Court Opening festivities had left an indelible change on 22-year old. All that culture she'd absorbed hadn't fully worn off. And in addition, Tawny spent the summer months laying low up in Larmian with her trustworthy, albeit clueless, old friend Jakey. Seemed that bloke had carved himself a nice little niche making children's toys and led a most quiet life. The girl was well-rested after 21 and 1/2 years of hard running. Tawny was softer in features than she'd been, and while still waifish, a hip or breast was rounding out a bit more womanly now. It made it harder to bind the curves and pass for a boy. She almost didn't fit the description of those tales told about "the tiger girl" last autumn who'd broken out of her cell while she was being held for murder and disappeared into the night. But none of that matter now as far as the Tiger was concerned. She carried on her personage at all times, stitched securely into the folds of her clothing, a copy of the letter from the Lord Marshall Tynr himself that thanked and absolved her and 'Silver' of all wrong-doing in what turned out to be an apparent undercover operation to nab the overseas merchant who hired them to steal the crown in the first place. It did niggle at her that her elven partner Aslian "was not to set foot on the Isles," but they were finding adequate workarounds for that. It was better to have a base off the Isles anyways. And Silver kept talking about going straight as he was more than settled contentedly in Drache. And he made it clear that he wanted her to stay there with him. As she settled into a seat at the window, her back against the wall and the entrance to the small pub just within eyesight, Tawny sipped at her cider and pressed her lips together as the tartness bit into her taste buds. She swiped off her cap and ruffled her hair back, the air was rather swarmy in the room. She watched the people pass by, everyone going somewhere, and by the looks of it, everyone late in reaching their destinations. She pondered her urge to start up a few cross-country smug-- er, trade routes again, and picked apart whether or not it was worth the risks involved to use the owner of the Cat's Den in her dealings. That oddly-striped man certainly had a high price for his services while his wares were quite the bargain. And just then, a woman of Teldanari ancestry walked by the window, just a shock of her pale hair and skin visible beneath the winter wrappings, but there was no mistaking those rare eyes. The rust-colored orbs seemed to stare right through Tawny, who quickly found herself choking back her second sip of cider and blinking rapidly from both the tartness of the liquid and the sudden, fond memories regarding her time at the castle. And then her almond-shaped, amber eyes crinkled at the edges causing the scar just below her left eye to nearly disappear, and Tawny's lips curled upward into a hint of a smile. _________________ "They made their choices and they'll never know, What it means to steal, to cheat, to lie, What it's like to live and die To prove it all night." To learn more about Tawthana Tygerzi: http://www.islesofmyst.com/char/tawny.html -- To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Archives & Other DMI Lists: http://islesofmyst.com/lists.php3
