#Libeth Moondrop

[libraryofthelabyrinth]

"And stay out!"

A heavy oak door set below a hanging chain sign opened, and a red-skinned elf flew out, landing on the rough cobblestone street with a thud. A sizeable-- and overfilled-- black rucksack followed suit.

"C'mon, Ermine! You know I'm good for it!" the elf said, beginning to rummage through their pack. "I'll tell you what! I'll even throw in this new-"

"No!" Came the sharp reply, as a silver ferretfolk emerged from the door. Thin, but with a tough, muscular frame, piercing steel-blue eyes, and a long silver braid with a single streak of charcoal grey running through it, Ermine Shatterpaw emerged from her bar; The Snarling Mongoose.

"Ya know the deal! Ya get two nights on yer tab, and if ya don't pay me back the third visit I get to come for ya! So ya better start runnin, Sable, and ya better hope I get tired quick!"

Ermine snarled, ripping from seemingly nowhere a dagger that seemed wickedly sharp. "Ho-hold on, Ermine! How's about some jewelry? Some rings? Gems?" Scrambling backwards, dragging his pack and pulling out handfuls of trinkets, Sable dropped a few glittering bits of miscellaneous treasure.

She took a pause. "It's not coin, but if ya manage to get some by tonight, then I'll consider yer debt done. But if ya don't?" She leaned closer, a dangerous and serious look in her cold grey eyes. "We'll just have to see how well Blood Elf sells tonight."

Sable gulped, not bothering to correct her. "Y-yes, Ermine. Understood." Ermine sighed, and a cloud of cold breath escaped her, despite the humid summer air blanketing the area.

"I like ya, Sable. That's why ya ain't missin nothin yet. I'll tell ya what. Go to Olivia at Fairtrade and tell her I sent ya. She'll give ya a good deal and needs the business; I owe her some favors too. Once yer back I might give ya tonight's meal half off." Sable nodded, accepting the hand Ermine offered and getting to his feet, slinging his pack around his shoulder. "Thanks, Ermine. I'll be back before sundown."

Sable Flaireater left the Snarling Mongoose and turned down a back alley, thankful that it was midafternoon and that most of the town's population was behind their trade stalls or gathering freshwater fish from the nearby Arwynd River. It saved him the embarrassment of the town's eyes, and more importantly, kept his names from their lips.

Most of the town.

"Ehehe! Can't keep ye'self from trouble, eh Misser Sable?" Came a shout from a group of children that appeared from the other end of the alley. Libeth, an otterfolk, was the de facto leader of the group; a rotating cast of beaver, duck, otter, ferret, and lizard folk accompanied her when their parents let them play, but today was joined by an unfamiliar and shy turtle.

"You caught me, Li. I owe Mrs. Shatterpaw a bit of money 'cause I haven't been adventuring lately." Sable patted the coinpurse at his belt and got the jingle of two faded copper coins in response. "I guess I gotta go out today and find a cave or some bandits, otherwise..." A bead of sweat dropped from his brow at the thought; "Shatterpaw" wasn't a last name, but a title.