The tale of the thief

The tale of The Thief.

In a hard world one has to make all they can to survive. Even if it means to
give up that you believe in. This is a tale about someone that came with high
beliefs only to see them scattered.

It was like a usual day and Officer Di’Nam was walking down the road in the
central Yrkanis as he always did at this time of the day. An usual stroll
through the city and see to that there were no problems to arise. It was like
any other day, Homin running in and out through the gates, bringing materials to
sell, amours to buy or exchange. It was like any day at all. All except for what
be to happen.

“Officer… Officer… It has happened again..” A voice said from a distant as
it came closer to Di’Nam.

“What ? What have happened again?” Di’Nam asked the Homin that now had
approached him while giving him a good look. He was used to this from all his
years serving the Guards of Yrkanis. Many came running to him when something
have happened, some were serious some were mostly looking for their missing
Frippos or packers. But this was a bit different, he could see it.

“I have lost some of my supreme materials that I had stored in my packer. I
just left it outside the tool merchants to buy myself a new pick. And now
materials for 2000 dappers are missing. Please help me. ” The Homin said while
giving Da’Nim a begging look.

“Ok, lets take this from the beginning, where were you when this happened, at
what merchant and in which part of Yrkanis?” He asked the Homin as he could see
that that Homin was rather upset about this matter. 2000 dappers don’t seem to
be much in these days. “We haven’t had any problems with pickpocketing since old
Dammer got caught and finally got a job at the local bar.” He thought to himself
as he followed the Homin towards the merchants stand.

“I was standing right here as I handed over the money to the salesman here, and
my packer was over there.” The Homin said and pointed to a spot just outside
where they often tied their packers as they visited the merchants. A good place
to look for something to steal that were out of sight.

“Ok, I think I have got a clear sight over what happened here, do you know if
anything else have been stolen or someone acting awkward lately?” He asked as he
look around.

“Well Kieme lost some scrap materials a day or so back, she just mentioned it as
she was to throw it away anyhow so we didn’t think much of it more than that she
probably had already thrown them away and forgotten about it.” Was the reply.

Di’Nam finished his notes and started to walk slowly around the place to see if
he could catch any traces or clues about it. He asked the merchants around if
they had any suspicious sales or such lately and since 2000 dappers is no big
fortune no one had noticed anything special at all. He told them to notify him
as soon as they found anything that could prove interesting. They told him that
they would.

He continued to walk down the road looking around whilst tending to his ordinary
watchman’s duties. The day went on like any other usual day. So since nothing
new seemed to happen, he went to bed and got ready for another day.

The next day he asked the other guards if they have had any questions about
materials missing lately, they said that one or two seemed to have lost just a
few, yet only left over materials that were to be thrown away so they hadn’t
found the need to report it. yet still this was important since there was some
kind of activity going on where Homins were loosing items, no matter what it
was, something was still missing or stolen.
He decided to stay around in the area around the merchants as it would seem to
be the place where the thief used to find his victims.

The day passed on, he lost count of how many Homins that stopped by the
merchants, one time he even dozed off for a few minutes. A few hours later he
noticed how a stressed Homin came running into the merchants area and just left
the packer outside.
It was then he saw the shadow, something smaller that moved to the packer,
opened the bag and put its hand in it.

“Hey you there, stop that” Da’Nim Screamed and took off towards the packer and
shadow. The shadow took a quick turn and then ran off, but Da’Nim was so close
now that he was able to follow the culprit. And he did not intend to loose
against this one.

They both ran as fast as their legs could carry them, over fences, around
corners, through the meeting place in Yrkanis and off towards the farer end of
the city.
The shadow moved fast and easy while Da’Nim, due to his age, was moving not as
gracefully but almost in the same speed. It was then he had a strike of luck.
The shadow fell over a branch and landed hard on the ground.

“Now I have you.” He shouted as he leaped over and grabbed the thief.

“Get off me, please leave me… I didn’t mean anything by it..” The thief
answered with a voice that surprised Da’Nim. It was a female voice and a younger
one for that.

The one lying there in front of him now was not the big and scary person he
thought the thief to be, it was a short little girl dressed in pieces of amours
that seemed to be scraped together from what could be found. It was with scared
eyes she looked at him and he could see in her face that she was beyond anything
with fear. In her hand she held a small bag with what seemed to hold a few Shu
fibers and perhaps 50 dappers.

“I… I am sorry.. I didn’t mean anything.. I was just so.. hungry..” The little
girl said as her eyes started to get moisty. “I haven’t eaten… for days..” and
the tears burst out.

This gave Da’Nim some thought, what did he have here, a rotten thief ? He could
not see that it was so. He could not see that this little lonely girl had done
this with ill intent in mind. Why did he cared about this then, he had done his
job and caught a person breaking the laws that he was payed to uphold. Why did
he then do as he did ?
Perhaps it was for his good heart and perhaps it was when he saw the face of the
girl as she cried and pleaded for apologies and that the tears made stripes down
her dirty face.

“Now we cannot have it like this, you will follow me” he said to the girl with a
strict voice.

“Yes… yes sir.” the girl replied as she wiped the tears out of her face, it
left a clean spot.

They walked towards the merchants and Da’Nim noticed the Homin that had come to
him yesterday reporting the loss of some materials.

“Here is the culprit sir. I caught her red handed.” Da’Nim said and stepped
aside so the girl could be seen. He noticed that the Homin reacted when seeing
whom the thief was.

“We’ll see about getting your dappers back sir. I will get back to you in that
matter.” Da’Nim said and walked away with the girl closely following him.

They walked down to a few houses and a few minutes later he halted and the girl
stopped behind him a bit surprised. This was not the Guard station..

“Ok, this is what we are to do, you go in there and get yourself cleaned, I
think there is a Light Armour in there that might fit you. When you’re done you
come out here to me and we shall see about things.” Da’Nim said as he pointed to
a door on one of the houses.

Many say that the guards on Atys always are strict , lonely seeing to get their
own business done. Some claims that they wont do anything outside what the
dappers pays them to do. That day Da’Nim proved that wrong, that not everyone of
the guards be like that.

It later turned out that the girl had arrived in Yrkanis about three months prior
full with spirit and self-belief. She had done her best to train and get
stronger yet something had happened which left her alone. She had done her best
but after just a little while she had lost her dappers to a tribe that had
attacked her. She had fought back in the best way she could, but they had been
too many and too strong. They had left her unconscious on the ground for the
Gingos to feast on. But she had woken up and finally got back to Yrkanis wearing
nothing but the rags she now wore. She had done her best but after a few days
without food or dappers to buy it she had gone weak and lost th strength to
fight on herself, stealing had become the last resort for her.

But now things had changed. Things were different. She was not alone anymore. A
year passes by as fast as another Homin passes through the gates looking for
adventure.

“Welcome there Homin, you seems to be a bit lost. Perhaps I can help you, my
name is Da’Neema a city welcomer assistant.”

There she stood, smilingly talking to new Homins welcoming them to the new lands
they were about to enter. There she stood full of spirit that once was lost, but
by the hand of Officer Da’nim now was back.

This dear Homins is the tale of the thief.