Rob X Punzel ~ Eleven!

Two months later, Goldie the thief dashed across the rooftops, her hair swirling out behind her like a set of golden wings as she gracefully launched herself up and over a main street. She touched down almost gently on the other side, rushing toward the dead drop point for the coins she’d collected.

“Just gotta offload this, and I'll be only a silver away from full membership.” She murmured to herself as she moved along the now-familiar thieves’ road.

Actually acquiring enough money to buy all the way into the guild was relatively easy now that she had easy access to the citizens’ district, but she’d been cautioned against getting there too fast. According to Chay, a deep familiarity was absolutely necessary if she was going to take the next training—the final training, unless she was eventually earning enough to have her own crew. So that’s what she had done: spending weeks impacting the sides of buildings, skittering down loose rooftops, and generally coming close to death over and again, simply by trying to get from one place to another.

Now, she’d become practiced at noticing the telltale signs of loose roofing shingles, marks thieves made to indicate the easiest entrance into a district, and—most importantly—the warning signs they placed to let others know about various protections on houses they might otherwise land on. Goldie hadn't seen it in person, but the way Chay’s eyes went cold when he talked about a warded house—and the way one of his friends had hit an invisible wall and fallen to their death—made her extremely zealous about following the well-marked pathways through the ringed city.

Whenever she thought about the capital, Goldie repeated the order of the ‘map’ so it would eventually be second nature. “Outermost ring, the slums. Technically, it’s part of the merchant district, but no one thinks of it like that. It’s inside of the walls keeping the wilderness out, so I don't care what they say. It's my home, so I call it separate.  Merchant district. Citizen district, artisan district…? Kind of like the merchant district, but as expensive for citizens as the merchant district is for slum dwellers.” 

“Past that is the noble district—low near the wall, high noble near the center—and finally, the palace is at the summit.” As she jumped over a street, she looked into the depths of the city and up. There, high up on a partially cleared mountain was the palace, the focal point of the capital city. Goldie turned her eyes to her landing zone, crouching and absorbing the shock with her knees before springing forward once more. She was nowhere near as efficient with her movements as Chay, but he had two years on her to build height and muscle, not to mention six years of practice with thieving.

Spotting a wall with a few extra layers of plywood stacked on each other, Goldie ran off the wall and allowed herself to shoulder-check the discolored space. With her momentum completely arrested, she dropped through the air to land on a pile of soft bags surrounded by others filled with various goods such as grains or even rocks in some cases. The thieves guild maintained a few soft spot landing spaces like this, a consideration she found herself distinctly impressed by. 

“It's the little things that really add up over time,” she muttered to herself, brushing some dust off of her clothes which had escaped the now-deflated sacks full of rags. Standing tall, she marched down the alley and out onto the road, seamlessly joining the foot traffic and swinging by to drop off today’s take for the guild. 

Then she continued on, impatiently glancing around herself as she waited for Chay to randomly appear and tell her where she needed to go to get whatever the next level of training was. By the time she had returned to the orphanage, she’d given up on seeing him on that day, but promised herself she would seek him out the following day.

Even with the tax she paid to the guild, she was still averaging half a silver more per day than when she’d been working full-time at the curio shop. As was her usual habit, Goldie spent every bent copper she’d earned, loading up on the healthiest foods she could and searching for any bargains on the way back. Looking at the sack of goods in her arms that had become a regular sight, she found that the guilt which had been plaguing her had finally shifted in favor of pride.

“I can see why people turn to thievery,” she murmured to herself, already planning which of the hungry kids she’d be giving the lion's share of the food. “No more hollow cheeks, a bit of life in their eyes. This is what I can do for them when I'm only keeping twenty percent... I can't wait to see how I can help out here when I’m only paying that much to the guild.”

The night passed quickly, and, as per usual, she got up early to trim her hair to a manageable level. Goldie had long since given up on keeping her hair short, but there was no sense in going out in public with curls bouncing up and down, pointing at her angrily as if she were wearing some sort of jester's hat. To pass the half hour required for her slighted hair to calm down, she looked over her recently increased skills, daring to dream that her next skill would come quickly and be eminently useful—not to mention under her full control.

Skill increase! Ponytail Pixie [Level 4 (Basic) → Level 5 (Moderate)]!

Requirement to advance to level 6: Hair.

Skill increase! Hair Do’s and Dont’s [Level 6 (Considerable) → Level 7 (Proficient)]!

Requirement to advance to level 8: Help someone escape from unwanted attention by fully covering them in your hair and simply walking past the person searching for them.

“Yeah, I still have no idea how I managed to level Ponytail Pixie up. Or… now that I think about it, I did gain the level right after I escaped from a merchant who realized he’d been robbed. Maybe it was about getting out of a hairy situation?” By the time the gates of the orphanage were unlocked for the day, she was ready and waiting—as per usual, the first to step out into the slums. “Two levels in two months in Hair Do’s and Dont’s… at this rate, I’ll have my Advanced Class Advanced Skill before I turn fifteen. Well, if I can get anyone to agree to let me wrap them in my hair. Weird.”

“You're way too predictable, Goldie.” Chay’s usual mischievous tone reached her ears before she had gone even a handful of steps, startling her out of her contemplations. She turned to look at him, secretly pleased to see him—but only because that meant she didn't have to hunt him down. “Well, no use worrying about that for now. Still, keep in mind that eventually you'll be able to stay at the guild house, and you'll have to figure out a few ways to keep people from learning your habits.”

“Is that part of the training you're here to get me started on?” Goldie tried to hide exactly how eager she was for whatever the next step was, but by the wide smirk on his face, she failed. Crossing her arms defensively, she raised an eyebrow, as if daring him to make a comment. “What? I like knowing what I'm going to be doing. If I'm going to be part of this guild, I'm going to make sure I'm doing a fantastic job.”

“Oh, you are.” Chay walked over to join her as she moved toward the main road. “You're getting plenty of attention from the higher-ups. In fact, I've already gotten three bonuses for bringing you in. Anyway, today we're-”

He went silent as a young man walked past them, his eyes fixed firmly on the orphanage. Goldie's burgeoning thief instincts tingled—this person was terribly out of place. The heavily muscled man stood out like a jewel in the mud, his pristine clothing untouched by the grime around him. Though he awkwardly attempted to hide a bulging sack of coins beneath his fine silk shirt, the *clinking* wealth pressed against his chest was unmistakable and impossible to ignore. 

Almost unconsciously, she drifted closer, planning to brush by him and let her hair do its job… until she saw his face. Goldie jerked away, her hair lifting and straining toward the person who’d been her target only a moment before. The sudden motion caught his eyes, and he turned to regard her with a cold glare. Now caught in an awkward position, in a potentially hostile situation, she offered him a warm smile.

Looking around to make sure no one else was listening in, Goldie edged closer and spoke in a quiet voice. “Hey. I just wanted to let you know, your support at the orphanage has truly been a celestial gift. I don't know if you help out because of a sense of obligation, or if you have a specific strategic reason for doing it, but I'll always be thankful to you for keeping the children from starving. It’s been a near thing… um… too many times.”

His defensive position relaxed slightly, and the hard stare directed at her softened slightly. Then it shifted to a hint of concern—fear even—and he simply nodded at her once before increasing his pace and rushing toward the orphanage. Goldie watched him go, memorizing his face and how he moved, just to make sure she never accidentally stole from him. 

“Friend of yours?” Chay quizzed her in a strangely aggressive tone, “I could smell the silver he was hiding. Why wouldn't you make a move?”

Realizing she was still staring after the secret benefactor of the orphanage, Goldie averted her gaze, head moving in a small nod as she started moving once more. “He's a friend of all of us, Chay. That's the guy who gives the orphanage enough money to keep the place running. I know you do a lot for your brother and sister, but he's one of only a couple people who keep the fires burning. If anyone deserves to keep their coin, it's him. Plus, I've seen him around before—he doesn't pull coins out and drop a few off, that entire bag is going into the hands of the headmistress.”

“Oh.” Chay let out a noncommittal grunt but didn't press for any more information. “Back to what we were talking about. Today, I'm bringing you to one of our safe houses so you can learn how to fight.”

“Fight?” Goldie was practically insulted at the very idea of it. “You know I don't have any combat skills. Why would I-”

“You live in the Brute Kingdom, Goldie.” Some of Chay’s usual levity seeped back into his voice as they continued speaking, which Goldie was thankful for. “Even if you don't get caught stealing, you know as well as I do that having treasure without the strength to keep it is the same as committing a crime. The way you pull coins? You're going to have money. Enough money that you might eventually be able to buy a shop for an air of legitimacy and use it to launder your money properly. Who knows? You might go the route of the guildmaster and buy a house in the citizen district.”

“You mean he doesn't even live in the slums?” Goldie had a sudden concern about where the money she was paying in was actually going. “He's just some rich guy benefiting off the rest of us?”

“The guild is still a business, Goldie. It's just not a hypocrite like most other stores are. Our stated goal is to part people from their money and keep as much of it as possible. The only difference between us and another store is that we don’t make people agonize over whether they want to give up their money or not.” Chay chuckled at her indignation. “That, and almost no overhead. Hey, I’m just making jokes, you don't have to get so worked up about it.”

“Just… I don't know, I guess I haven't thought that far.” Goldie blinked rapidly, giving her head a quick shake to clear her mind before attempting to get the conversation back on track. “You're saying I need to fight so that I'm able to prevent a mugging? Someone breaking into my eventual shop or home?”

“That or tax collectors.” Chay shivered at the thought. “Legal extortion. If they think you have money you aren't letting them know about, they'll break the bones in your legs one by one until they're absolutely sure you can't run off and get more without showing them exactly where you got it. But no.” 

Chay let out a mirthless chuckle, his eyes hard. “The reason you’re learning to fight is… sometimes, even if you’re doing everything right, you’re gonna have to cut someone to hold onto what you’ve got. If you can’t, you either lose it or die, and… I’d rather not lose you. So, on that fun note, I'm going to leave you in the capable hands of our resident trainer.”

Goldie felt a slow blush creep up her neck, but luckily, Chay turned at that moment and started knocking on a door in a rhythmic pattern. Pausing for a moment, he repeated it with a slight variation, and the door popped open to reveal a whipcord-thin man with thin scars covering every inch of his visible skin. “Hey, Cutter. Got some fresh meat for ya.”

With that ominous introduction, the thief shoved Goldie into the building and slammed the door behind her.