It's been a while since my last post for The Charlatan and the Elf, so I decided to take the time to edit this draft for public viewing and call it Chapter Three. It's only half as long as Chapter Two, but I didn't want to artificially draw out this scene (being the first climatic confrontation in the story) and didn't want to introduce more than one conflict to a viewpoint character in a single chapter.
The latter point brings up an important note: I'm experimenting with having Effie as a secondary viewpoint character. Savia's voice didn't really fit for this chapter, so I wrote it in Effie's head and I think it's a lot better. Whether I can juggle two viewpoint characters properly is yet to be seen.
Well, that's enough of an intro for a chapter delayed for weeks. Back to the story we left on a cliffhanger a long time ago:
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The Charlatan and the Elf
Chapter Three
Effie frowned, confused at Savia's matter-of-fact statement. Both of them were silent for a moment before Effie asked "What do you mean?"
Savia chuckled, which caused a knot to form in Effie's chest. "What else can that mean? I'm pretending to be a fortune teller. That makes me a fraud, a charlatan, whatever you want to call it."
There was no easy way to respond to that kind of revelation. Effie stuggled to keep her hands on the table although she desperately wanted to pull on her ears. She seemed to have a talent at making bad situations worse. How else could she end up indebted to some human thief the first day in a new city?
Something in Effie's expression, or maybe just the long silence after Savia's confession, seemed to tip off Savia that Effie wasn't taking this very well. "I know this seems like a bad situation, Effie, but I think we can help each other out."
Effie straightened out her clothes to occupy her hands, the knot in her chest tightening. This favor Savia was about to ask was probably the reason she was being so kind. Effie was starting to wish she didn't latch on to Savia like the desperate wretch she was, even if she was nice enough to offer a place to stay and food to eat. "How could I help you? You seem to be doing well enough..."
Sighing, Savia shook her head. "So far, maybe. But not for much longer if you start telling people stories of home."
"What's wrong about me telling people about my home?"
"You're a real elf" Savia gestured to her dice and jewelry. "For the past two or three years I've been the 'half-elf' fortune teller. If anything you say doesn't match what I've said... I'll be in trouble."
Effie suddenly felt trapped. Savia was between Effie and the door, and it was locked by a confusing mechanism anyway. The windows of the apartment were too small to escape through. If Savia planned on doing anything to her, there was no escape and no hope of help. Effie felt like the knot in her chest was trying to choke the air out of her.
"What are you going to do?" Effie gave up trying to resist pulling at her ears. "Are you going to cut my tongue out or kill me or something?"
Savia's eyes widened in what looked like genuine shock. "No! No, that first one is disgusting... and I really don't want to have anyone's blood on my hands. Plus, murder isn't going to get me out of trouble as much as give the Arbiter an excuse to stamp me."
"If you say so..." Effie said, not entirely reassured.
Savia sighed and rubbed her forehead. "I'm not trying to scare you, Effie. I really need your help to untangle myself from this mess."
Effie felt the knot in her chest loosen a bit when she saw that Savia was starting to look worried herself. Part of her suspected this was one of Savia's tricks as a charlatan, getting her victim to sympathize with her... and Effie supposed it worked, as she was able to take a deep breath and stop pulling at her ears.
"Do you have a plan?" Effie asked quietly.
Savia shook her head and frowned. "I'm not sure what to do... so far I've mostly just been trying to keep you from talking to anyone. But with the explorers going to Kilshan... it's really only a matter of time before people know the truth about elves."
"Right..." Effie agreed, not really seeing any way to refute that point. She wondered why Savia hadn't thought further ahead, but she didn't want to antagonize her host any further than she probably did with the comment about murder.
"The way I see it" Savia continued, "It's only a matter of time before someone picks up on my scheme and I get in trouble for it. I've been here too long to just pretend I never claimed to be a half-elf fortune teller. I might just have to skip town as soon as the explorers start coming back..."
Effie shrugged. "I don't know what you've been saying about elves, so I'm not sure I can help much... aside from keeping quiet I guess."
Savia clasped her hands together and leaned closer. "Well, I've tried not to get too detailed in my descriptions, but it's a lot easier to fool people if you can describe some things in detail even if the rest has to be left vague. It's a bit of a challenge, figuring out how much detail to put into a story to make it believable but still easy to remember."
Rubbing the back of her neck, Effie asked "Where did you say you learned these stories when you tell them to your..." Effie stopped herself before she said 'victim', suspecting Savia wouldn't like the connotation.
"In the business, a thief's target is called a mark." Savia offered. "And I usually tell my marks that I heard the stories in passing during my time on the road."
Effie stopped rubbing her neck and leaned forward, an idea forming in her head. "So you're telling stories that someone told you... that could easily have been corrupted or changed over time. What about your elven parent? What do you say about them?"
"I say it's my mother, who I never really knew all that well" Savia replied. She lowered her brow and seemed to examine Effie's face. "Why? What are you thinking of?"
"Well..." Effie tried to organize her thoughts. She hesitated for a moment when she realized she was helping an admitted charlatan keep her story intact, but realized that she didn't have much choice but to help her for the time being. "You've only told people stories you heard from others and never knew your only 'real' connection to elves. It seems to me that you could keep most of your story intact as long as you adapt it to what elves are really like."
"Perhaps..." Savia furrowed her brow. "But there's still people I've tricked that won't be as easy to convince if they hear I've suddenly changed my story, even if the new story is more factual."
"Which is why you'll need an elven 'relative' who only recently arrived that can explain the inconsistancies."
Savia nodded slowly. "Maybe. But even the superstitious people I work with are going to be surprised that a distant relative of mine happened to be the one elf who lives here."
Effie slumped down, not sure how else she could help. She started toying with the dice on the table. After a moment, she looked up at Savia. "Well, I can say I'm a fortune teller, right?"
"I do claim the dice only work for family, so if you're related to me it could make sense." Savia grinned, making Effie think she saw where this was headed.
"So we tell them that I discovered that I had family here in Carista and travelled here to find my relative, which would be you. Fortune telling and divination runs in our family, so that's how I found you so quickly."
Savia nodded. "That could work. We'll need an explanation for why neither of us can give more detailed fortune readings... I suppose we can start with the shared bloodline thing and work from there." Savia smiled at Effie. "Maybe we can make this work."
Effie smiled at the implied praise. She wondered if she should feel bad for coming up with a way to fool people into giving her money. It certainly wasn't honest work that Savia was involved in. A part of Effie told her that she should have gone to Biana, or even have stayed home.
Another part of Effie reminded her that staying at home and baking wasn't going to be a story worth the paper it was written on. The book she smuggled with her to Carista never mentioned castle servants or common craftswomen. Maybe it was a bit much to hope that her own life would be remembered like the legends told in books, but it would certainly be more interesting than being reprimanded for not seeing an empty oven.
Thinking of the kitchen overseer back in Kilshan reminded Effie of Arbiter Danito, and suddenly her excitement at being a thief started to fade. She couldn't exactly back out after offering her help to Savia, but it couldn't hurt to know what to avoid...
"Um, Savia?" Effie asked quietly.
"Your face has gone through at least four different shapes in the past minute" Savia teased. "What is it?"
"Could we go over the laws of Carista? I'd really like to avoid being 'stamped'..."
Savia chuckled. "Of course. I did promise you, after all."
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