Imperial Orders

♕The Shop♕

15 years later...

Tuofah Lynnstrijker was not a patient girl.

In fact, she was quite the opposite. This was evident in the manner in which she scurried through the narrow streets of the port city of Nardysk, rushing to her small shop. It sat, quite inconveniently, at the corner of two important streets. This meant that a flood of hovercars was almost always in the way of both potential customers and Tuofah herself. 

Today, she stood before such a flood, grumbling to herself as she repeatedly glanced at her watch and wiping her sweaty hands on her old, leather jacket. It was already 7:07 in the morning- seven whole minutes after her shop was supposed to open. This would surely cost her at least two customers. 

Customers she could not afford to lose. 

Ever since her father had run away with a cargo ship fifteen years before, it seemed as if nearly every patrol unit in Homina was looking for her and her mother. The reward for the two of them, dead or alive, had risen to over ten thousand Marks, and increased every day. Tuofah didn't understand exactly why the Emperor considered her father's petty crime to be an offense grave enough to warrant ruthlessly hunting his family down. Usually, a theft, no matter how large, was dealt with fairly through Homina's court system. With the way the Emperor's soldiers marched through the streets carrying pictures of Tarien Lynnstrijker and demanding to know if anyone had seen him, you'd think that Tuofah's father was a murderer. 

Despite the fact that she was a talented Tactile with a knack for building and repairing almost anything, employers knew that they could make far more money by turning her in than they could from whatever traffic she would bring into their businesses. This was what had forced her to set up her own little shop in the city of Nardysk. 

Unlike their picky, refined Reloriose neighbors, the people of Nardysk were notorious for being indiscriminate. If you could get the job done for a reasonable price, Nardyskians wouldn't care if you were an escaped serial killer. 

After what seemed, in her jumpy mind, to be an eternity, a small break in the flow of traffic appeared before Tuofah. With the practiced expertise of a true city-dweller, she dove forward into the space between two hovercars. As she performed a deadly dance through the ranks of the racing vehicles, she heard a loud honk and an angry curse that may or may not have been directed her. 

She chose to assume the latter. 

Sprinting down a sidewalk filled with more potholes than even ground, Tuofah finally arrived at her shop. 

On the doorstep was the last person she wanted to see. 

"There you are, you good-for-nothing little girl!" Kaltus Evanston wheezed. The plump businessman was visible from nearly a hundred yards away due to his rather comic, eighteenth century-style top hat. Tuofah hadn't the slightest idea why he wore it in the chilly city. Nardysk was the last place one would need protection from the sun. 

Despite this, she had grown to dread it. She had dreamed more than once of it sprouting fangs and jumping off of the head of her most disagreeable customer to swallow her whole. 

"I'm sorry, Mr. Evanston," Tuofah sighed, unhooking her old, brass keyring from around her thick belt and sliding the largest of the six keys it held into the flimsy lock on her shop's door. "The traffic-" 

"I don't wanna hear it. Gimme my CommPad, and it better be good as new or I'll tell everyone in the city how decidedly horrible you are at what you do!" 

Horrible? If I could afford college, I'd be one of the best Tactiles in Homina! Tuofah thought. 

"Of course, Mr. Evanston," she said through gritted teeth, clenching her fists to conceal her rage. Stepping into the shop, she quickly glanced over the racks of miscellaneous tools and replacement parts that she had put up for sale, making sure that nothing was missing. 

She stepped behind the counter, blowing away the few, thin spiderwebs that had appeared on it since the previous night, all the while feeling Kaltus' hawk-like eyes on her. 

"Here you are, sir," she smiled as pleasantly as she could manage, producing a new-ish CommPad in a thick, leather case. There hadn't been anything wrong with it. All it had needed was a reboot and the special touch of a Tactile. 

Kaltus snatched the device out of her hand, turning it on to test its functionality. 

"Acceptable," he nodded slowly, still wearing an expression of disgust, before spitting on the worn, stone floor. "No wonder your dad's at the top o' the Emperor's Most Wanted list. You're just as useless as he is. You're lucky you're a Gifted, or you'd be out on the street," he remarked coldly, throwing a handful of coins in Tuofah's direction.

Tuofah winced as he stormed out of the door. Kaltus Evanston was one of the few people who knew her true identity. Her mother had told him back when the shop was first opened- before Evanston's business hit it big and he decided to start treating everyone poorer than he was like something that belonged in the garbage. 

Sighing, Tuofah bent over to pick up the coins that Kaltus had tossed on the ground. She counted fifty Marks, and a frown crossed her face. 

She had been sure that he owed her seventy five.

Shaking her head, Tuofah deposited the money in a locked drawer behind the counter. She had been lucky that Kaltus had deigned to pay her at all. 

"He's an old pig, isn't he?" 

Startled, Tuofah looked up. A boy who looked to be about her age stood before her with his arms crossed. She gaped at him, wondering how she had possibly not heard him come in. His lips curled into a smirk at the sight of her shocked expression. 

"I'm an Auricle," the boy explained. "I control sound. People only hear me when I want them to." 

"That's nice," Tuofah nodded, still a little shaken. "I'm Lilith Strider. Tactile. Can I help you?" 

"There will be no need for that...Tuofah Lynnstrijker," the boy winked. 

"How do you know-" 

"Listen, I haven't got all day, so don't waste my time. I've got a proposal for you, and if you accept it, I'll answer all of your questions. Look, I know that you and your mom can barely afford to live here in Nardysk. If you'll do this one thing for me, you'll end up with more Marks than you'll know what to do with." 

"What do you want?" Tuofah tilted her head to the side, interested. 

The boy smirked once again. "Come with me."