The Ko's Intermission

The Ko put his new outfits in the wardrobe built into the tree trunk. The moths would always eat his clothes if he left them out. He considered it fortunate that Stangre carried some exceptionally black and white clothes in stock as a reward. The real prize, however, was The Silent Jar, full of moths with a noise canceling aura. Ever since his experiences in Shadow, he appreciated how lucky he was in Satyrine. He had a reliable gig, investments, and a very useful skill set as a vislae. Most people in Satyrine struggled as he did in Shadow, just trying to get enough money to sustain themselves while the wealthy alternated between idling in luxury and consolidating their already disproportionate power. He found himself thinking he could try to do his part to spread out the wealth a little more evenly, and The Silent Jar was probably a good tool for the job: Thievery.

He’d need more than one item and his Weaver magic to get started, though. He needed the raw skills. For that, he’d either need a mentor or at least some relatively safe way to practice without getting caught. When he and his acquaintances met up at the Celestial Bazaar, there had been some manner of theft at the same time, which cast suspicion on them. The Gerent let slip that the stolen item was an amulet, so that was a place to start. It was a crazy idea, but if he could track down the real thieves, he could ask for some training, though it’d be risky, since he could be blackmailing them after tracking them down.

Alternatively, he could try schmoozing with some of the moderately wealthy. Wouldn’t be that hard to find one member of high society going on vacation. On the other hand, they wouldn’t exactly leave their homes unguarded. There’d also be the issue of finding a fence. There was only so much Ko knew about the criminal underworld, and thinking about all the steps reinforced the idea that he’d need a teacher. Something gnawed at him with the thought. He always felt like he needed a teacher. The Tau taught him how to be a Weaver. He had Lady Snow as his White Knife master. He couldn’t shake this desire to strike out on his own and learn from his own mistakes. For this field of study, however, the consequences of failure could get rather high.

There he went, again. Dithering. His time in Shadow made him risk-adverse, and he needed to get over it.