#something something Gortash and the importance of contracts he learnt about in the House of Hope

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Written for @gortash-week

Day 2 - Betrayal

Gortash is apparently late to some very important meeting but somehow he still finds time to ask Karlah to sign a new contract.

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“Boss? Ready to go?” Karlach knocks again on the door, which her boss, Enver Gortash, disappeared in, a few minutes ago. Or well, to be exact, in ‘time that feels like a few minutes ago’ is a bit more accurate description. The young tiefling is not very good at telling time, especially when she is supposed to be waiting for something and when the wait is supposed to be so short and when it is happening out of her control.

She shifts her weight from foot to foot and stretches her arms over her head. She always struggles to just stand still, being a teenager filled with energy. Her boss hates how much she is fidgeting. He says it is undignified and that as his bodyguard she should behave with some decorum when she is fulfilling a role of threatening presence behind his back. She does not really understand what he means by that, besides if she has to focus on staying still it is much harder for her to properly pay attention to all the potential threats she is supposed to be protecting him from in the first place. But she is not being paid for her opinions, she has been told and so she really tries to do her best. At least when he is looking.

Karlach eyes again the doors leading to Gortash’s office. Or study. Or workroom. Businessroom. Whatever is the official name of the room supposed to be. Still not answer nor any sign of her boss emerging. He must have been there for a while already, right? With guilt she reaches towards the breast pocket of her jacket where she stores a neat little pocket watch her boss lent her some time ago. He gave her grand lecture about the importance of punctuality and at that time she was really scare that he will just fire her but in the end he gave her the pocket watch. She does not pull them out as there is no point in trying to check the time on them. They are currently not exactly functional…

Karlach will really have to figure out how to tell him she broke them. Well, it was not really her fault, she only made the mistake of checking the time in one of the worser parts of Lower City and some bastard tried to steal them and she roughed them up real good afterwards. Unfortunately, the fragile little piece of metalwork fell on the cobblestone and though besides a few scratches they appeared fine on the first look, something must have broken inside. And Gortash might have said it was just some old model he had no use for anymore but it is still probably one of the most expensive things Karlach ever had in her possessions. But her boss was freakishly smart with all the cogs and apparatuses he will probably repair them with no problem. Still she hates the idea of making him mad, or worse, disappointed in her.

But that is a problem for another time, for future Karlach, Gortash said they are in a hurry so right now it is definitely not the best time to bring up the pocket watch. Though thinking about the rush they are supposed to be in…

“Boss?” Karlach knocks on the door again, “shouldn’t we be leaving by now?” she carefully peaks in the room. She is familiar enough with it, though she is acquainted much better with the doors and hall outside where she is usually left to stand as guard during his secret meetings.

“I’ve heard you and I… ah, finally. Here it is.” Gortash is crouching next to his desk with satisfaction on his face pulling some envelope from one of the drawers. And it is a bit strange that it took him so long to find whatever he has been looking for. He usually keeps everything in perfect order. Apparently not even his flawless system he claims to have is without its faults.

He straightens up and carefully tugs the envelope in some inner pocket of his coat. It is black with generous gold ornaments – he really seems to be adding a touch of gold to everything lately. It is as if a new gold decoration appears on him with every big achievement he makes. She does not understand the appeal but also she does not really judge. The things pretentious patriars, they cross parts with sometimes, dress in looks much uselessly pompous. Gortash looks at her with a smile and it is nice to see that he is in good spirits today, lately his face appeared to be stuck in constant frown, some worries on his mind he never bothered to elaborate.

“Happy to hear you found… well… whatever that thing is,” Karlach grins and she is ready to turn so they can be on their way. But Gortash stops her.

“Since you are already here, before we go and before I forget yet again, would you mind signing your new contract, Karlach?” he quickly shuffles through documents on his table and pulls one out. He reaches his hand with it towards her.

“What for?” Karlach furrows her brows in confusion as she steps closer to him, taking the fancy looking paper. It was not written by hand as her previous one, the one she signed ages ago before Gortash’s business ventures were blooming as they are now, the words are printed on it and gods in a terribly small font.

“It is mostly just a formality,” he waves his hand, “All contracts need to be renewed once in a while. And your performance has been quite satisfactory lately so I thought I could also give you a bit of a raise.”

“Sweet!” she grins over the idea. Gortash already pays her quite generously, more than she could get at any other job if she could even find a place where they would be willing to employ freshly adult tiefling in the Gate. And yes, she is not stupid, she knows the job she does for Gortash is dangerous and that not all the dealings her boss does are legal. But it is not like whatever legal system that is here is good or effective, it is not as if Flaming Fist are really treating people with fairness. And even though Gortash might be doing some questionable stuff sometimes and asking her to do them as well, he is in his core a good man. She really believes so. All the people he ever asked to fight or to protect him from seemed like a much worser bunch than he is.

“Very well then, just sign it here,” he hands her his quill – if it can be even called that. It seemed to be another one of those fascinating inventions he so much enjoys and sometimes even crafts himself. No feather was present and the ink already seemed to be in the strange metal part of the object. She starts quickly scanning the document looking for the space where her signature would fit. But suddenly there is his hand blocking her view.

“Wait,” Gortash says apologetically, “I should really give you enough time to read through it first. It would not be very responsible of me to just put a quill in your hand and ask you to sign your soul away so to speak. You should know what exactly you are signing first. No, I must insist that you should not put your signature on it till you examine whether everything is in order. And we do not have time for that right now…”

Karlah cannot help herself but groan. Her brain already hurts just from imagining reading every single of those tiny letters and from trying to understand all those needlessly complicated words.

“But boss! I trust you checked everything enough and have it in order. It is more of an formality anyway right?” she cannot help but complain. Gortash sighs, eyes turning to his own pocket watch. Much fancier and also very much working. The pang of guilt stings her again. On second thought she does not really feel like she deserves a raise…

“Well, if you think so, do as you please, just do it quickly. We really need to hurry…”

“Got it. I will be fast as a wind,” she puts the new contract on the table and Gortash points at the bottom of the page. And so it is signed. With a smile she hands him both a quill and the document.

“Anyway maybe if you let me carry you and I run…”

“I think I will rather be delayed.”

Gortash takes the contract from Karlach and with care he puts it in one of the drawers and locks it in. He looks quite a bit pleased as well, though it probably is not even related to the contract…