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The jeweler nodded and named his price for his work. He didn't hand over the sapphire just yet either.
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"Is there any value to the chips that came off of it?" Faith asked. She knew some chips had come off. The finished sapphire was a bit smaller than the raw one she had handed over. "Would those cover part of it?"
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The jeweler shrugged. "Some value, yes," he said, apparently impatient. "It will cover about a quarter of the expense. They are small chips, and some of them are unusable."
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Faith noticed that he seemed impatient.
"Alright," she said. Going into her bag, she checked how much money she had. Just enough. Counting it out, she handed it over. If she was going to get anything else cut, though, she was probably going to have to get it done later, once she could get more money together. She suspected that the jeweler himself suspected that she was a dagonrider, and was charging her more, but there was nothing she could do about it. |
The jeweler counted out the money quickly and nodded, turning back to his work. She had her sapphire back, and he didn't want any more of their business.
Corey shook his head, getting rather pissed off, and motioned for her to come along so they could get back to the weyr. It was getting late. |
Faith put the sapphire into her bag, and then paused for a moment, motioning for Corey to wait.
"If I may ask," she said to the jeweler, "why are you so annoyed with me? If I've done something to offend you, I apologize." She stayed as polite as she could. Politeness was totally the way to go in this instance. Ryan paused as well. He wanted to hear the answer. |
"You're either a dragonrider or getting gifts from one," the jeweler said, not even bothering to look at them. "I have no time to waste on your kind. Now get. Before I call the guards to escort you out."
"Come on," Corey said, glaring briefly at the jeweler. "We don't need to put up with him. Let's go." |
Faith just looked at the jeweler for a moment before nodding to Corey and following him out.
Ryan followed them both out, not even looking at the jeweler again. "At least you got one of the gems cut," he said. "Even if he charged you outrageously for it." |
"I'd say we should do something about it, but there's nothing we can do. It's spread everywhere. All the towns are like this now, I bet."
Corey shook his head, stalking past the guard at the front gate and heading back towards Vyren. "This is ridiculous." Would you like me to eat someone for you? Vyren asked, only partially joking. I am half-tempted to let you, Corey admitted. But I don't think it would solve anything. Not right now, anyway. He paused and grinned briefly. But we can cause a little havok... |
Faith glanced at Corey. She could tell by now when he was talking to Vyren.
"What are you two plotting?" she asked. "I know you're planning something, you have that look on your face." |
"We're going to get a little payback," Corey said, far too calmly.
As soon as he reached Vyren he jumped up onto his back, and a moment later the dragon took off without waiting for either of the other two. They swooped over the city, twice, before heading back towards the weyr. That would have been enough tme by now to let the others start heading back. Corey couldn't help but grin; that had been far too much fun. |
"What are they doing?" he asked Faith as he climbed up and settled himself on Yue's back.
"Teasing people," Faith replied as she climbed up onto Lapis's back. "People go a little nuts when they see a dragon overhead, so Corey's messing with them." She looked up when she saw Corey and Vyren passing overhead. "And I think they're heading back, so we should follow." Ryan nodded and has Yue follow Lapis into the air. |
Corey grinned and patted Vyren's neck, making the young dragon preen, just a little. They landed at the weyr not long later, and Vyren went off to his eyrie while Corey waited for the others.
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Faith followed him back. Once they landed, she let Lapis go to her eyrie. She would give the dragon the cut sapphire later.
"That was mean," she commented when she pet up with him again. Ryan just went with Yue into the temporary eyrie. Relaxing with his dragon sounded good. |
Corey shrugged, uncaring.
"So? They were mean. They don't care for the truth, they don't even try to find things out. They just listen and assume everything the government tells them is the truth." He snorted. |
"How will your freaking out the general public change people's opinions?" Faith asked. "Isn't that more... encouraging the bad image?"
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"I didn't do anything but fly over the city," Corey pointed out. "I didn't descend from the sky trying to kill people, and I didn't snatch people up off the ground. I didn't do anything bad. So if they're too stupid to follow the government and think that dragonriders are bad because they fly over the city, then they deserve whatever they get."
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"I think we should try to figure out exactly why people are suddenly so against dragonriders," Faith commented. "Like that jeweler. I know he probably charged me double or triple what he'd have charged someone else, and it was because he knew I was at least connected to the weyr. I want to go back into the city and find out why."
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"Well, good luck with that," Corey muttered. "I don't know how much success you'll have."
He paused when he heard the dinner bell ringing. "Come on, we'd better go eat." |
Faith nodded and followed him to dinner. She still planned on going back to the city at some point, though.
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Corey ate as much as he normally did and stretched out once he was done eating. He wanted to get a good night's sleep tonight, since they had some practice things tomorrow. Mostly flying things, like flying with other dragons without running into each other.
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Once Faith was done with dinner, she went and got the sapphire out of her bag and then went to see Lapis.
"I got one of the stones cut," she said as she settled down next to her dragon. Lapis looked at her, pleased. Let me see, she insisted. Faith grinned and held up the stone. It sparked in the light, and Lapis stared at it adoringly. It's beautiful... "It's yours," Faith replied. "It'll probably take a while to get the others cut, but for now, this is yours." Lapis took the sapphire and set it down carefully so it caught the most light. Then she nuzzled Faith. Thank you, she said. |
Corey went and talked to Vyren for a bit, mostly just relaxing. He didn't have anything sparkly for Vyren, since the dragon had picked pretty rocks and things instead, but he figured he could sand those and make them look better. So he found some sandpaper and sat down to work on the stones, Vyren curling around him contentedly.
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"I want to go back to the city soon," Faith said to Lapis as the two relaxed.
To get the other stones cut? Lapis prodded hopefully. "If I can," Faith replied. "There's something else I want to do first." As long as you can get more sparkly things, Lapis replied. Faith laughed a bit. "You're such a magpie," she teased. "You're only interested in shiny things." I like pretty things, Lapis protested. "I know you do, my lovely," Faith replied. Getting comfortable against the dragon, she settled in for the night. |
The next morning they were all woken bright and early, earlier than normal, and told to get their dragons outside. Corey had a spot of trouble.
"Come on," he said to Vyren. "I don't want to get up, either, but we have to." I don't have to do anything. Vyren yawned and settled down again. "It's not that early," Corey protested. "It's just flying. You like flying." I do. But I do not wish to get up. "We can go hunting later," Corey bribed. Vyren stretched out his wings. Oh, very well. |
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