Ruki’s lonely journey

Ruki wandered through the rather broad streets of the small village, her hood for once not covering her face so she could escape the heat. Kyedahn, as the little village was called, was apparently a mining village, where people sought silver in the hills, and it was visible everywhere. The tavern she had checked into earlier that day was called “The Silver Ore”, she must have passed at least four shops selling silver goods now and on every corner one could purchase items required for mining. This town should be flourishing… yet so many ponies she passed on the streets looked poor and unhappy.

She felt naked without her hood. For so long, in the wild, she had been wearing it, and now walking around with her hood down she felt weird. At least she was still wearing her cloak… Her destiny came in sight, she guessed, when she saw a large house dooming up at the left side of the road. A big white fence surrounded its beautiful green garden which was in sharp contrast with the grey, yellow and orange of this part of the world. She could see a gardener walk over the short road that led to the white house that surely belonged to the mayor of this place, and he was the reason she was here.

When silver was first discovered in Kyedahn, so she was told, the village belonged to the Scallo kingdom, a small kingdom northwest of the High King’s capital. The High King however, decided that the riches of these mountains belonged not only to Scallo but to all of the west, and he cut the village off from the country, making one of the capital royals mayor here. And this is why Takato send her here… to discover if the mayor was indeed corrupted, sneaking the riches that belonged to the ponies off to the capital.

She passed the mayor’s house aimlessly, while keeping a close eye on the fence. It looked well protected, and she spotted a guard near the entrance. This place held many secrets… but she was here to find out what they were, and report them to Takato. She walked on, and noticed a small bar ahead. She decided to go in and see if she could overhear any conversations.

She entered the dusty bar and sat down at one of the tables, ordering herself some juice. She got stared at, but she learned to ignore that a long time ago. The only other ponies in the bar were men, looking sweaty and dusty from the day’s work. Tonight… she would do it tonight. It was too warm here, too open. After spending more than two years in the woods, she missed the trees and the cover they gave her.

The evening crept by slowly. After Ruki had finished her juice she had walked around a bit, exploring the town. It was nothing special. Thin children played on the streets, women were taking care of the laundry, men walked around from the mine to the village and back. After she had gotten bored she got back to the tavern she had checked into and had ordered a simple meal, but she quickly realized she wasn’t even hungry. She was still a bit nervous… this was her first mission on her own, after all.

When darkness fell, Ruki slipped outside. She hid in an alley, waiting for the town to quiet down. Thankfully for her, this did not take long. The ponies here sure went to sleep early… they were probably tired each day from working in the mine. It had to be hard work, Ruki thought, while she remembered her days of strengthening her body. If they had let her, she could have slept for twelve hours a day easily.

When the streets were completely deserted and the lights in the houses had gone off, Ruki slipped out of her alley. The main street was empty, and the only thing Ruki heard was the soft wind touching the few trees and the distant sound of someone mining, far away. She slipped through the shadows until she reached the next alley, which she entered. She trotted silently through the alley until she reached another road, which was much smaller but even darker. She followed it until it led her to the backside of the mayor’s house. While the front side seemed to be heavily guarded, this side only had a wall she had already decided she could climb over.

As silent as she could, Ruki ran and jumped. She barely made it, but she was able to hold on to the high wall. She pulled herself on top of it. Thankfully, there were no sharp bushes or whatever in the other side, so she was able to silently jump off. As soon as she had landed, she trotted to a small group of trees a little further ahead and hid behind them. She had decided to wait there for at least a few minutes. If anyone had heard her and was now looking outside, she wanted to be sure they were convinced there was no one there before moving on.

While she waited, she inspected the house. All the lights were off here, too, and she saw no movement nor did she hear anything.

“Right…” She whispered, knowing the time was there. Her heart was beating in her throat, and her vision became blurry for a moment. She was actually going to do this… become a criminal for the Asana Bond and break into ponies houses. Well, she wouldn’t steal anything… just gather information. And it was for a just cause. And Takato asked her. She had never been able to say no, and she felt no doubt either.

She walked through the shadows, avoiding anything that could make noise. The back door of the house was small and looked rather poor, compared to the rest of the house. No doubt it was only ever used by servants. The door was locked, of course. Ruki fetched a small device out of her bag. One of the ponies had taught her to open doors with it, and she hoped it would work just as well now.

She put it in the lock, and thankfully, it opened rapidly. She quickly entered, not allowing herself a moment to be relieved. She closed the door softly, and walked through what seemed like the kitchen. It led her to the large living room. It was dark, and Ruki could hardly see anything, but when she accidentally ran into the sofa she could feel it was made of very, very expensive fabric. Probably whatever else was in the room was just as expensive.

She silently slid through the living room, and soon found a door. Praying it was the correct one and not one that led to a bedroom, she opened it. It led her to the hallway, in which she could see the stairs in the faint glow of the moonlight, which entered the hallway through the glass doors. Ahead of her was another door. She did not dare to go upstairs, for the ponies were surely sleeping there, so she decided to try the door ahead of her.

She opened it, and the moonlight slightly lit this room as well, showing her that this was in fact the study room. Large bookcases filled one wall, while one other only had a large window. In the middle of the room there was a big, dark wooden desk with papers scattered on it. On the wall with the door, Ruki noticed when she had entered, there was a big painting of the High King. Shanjahen, High King of the West, it said on the little golden plate underneath the painting.

Ruki decided to start with the desk. She went through the papers, but none of them revealed anything of interest. Applications for settlement, tax forms, a draft letter to the capital about the production of this semester… All very interesting, but nothing revealed anything she was looking for. She went to the drawers, but in them she found exactly the same as she found on top of the desk: more paperwork, more things that revealed her nothing at all. On the surface, it all looked like the desk of an honourable mayor. Ruki, however, had learned to look beneath the surface. And beneath all the papers in the drawer, she found a lock that would open up the bottom. A double bottom…

After she had put everything on the desk back in order, she walked to the painting. It was only a guess, but it seemed so obvious she could not ignore it. She carefully removed the painting, but to her disappointment there was nothing behind it. She had almost put the painting back, when she noticed a small white note sticking out from the frame. “Bingo…” She whispered, and she pulled the note out. It only contained numbers… 3 5 9.

Looking around the room, Ruki wondered what they could mean. 3 5 9? There was only one thing obvious enough for her. She walked to the third book case, and looked on the 5^th shelf. She took out the 9^th book from the right, which seemed to be an old, brown history book with the lame title The History of Zoroaster. Ruki was certain there had been better books written about the history of the capital.

She opened it, and immediately a key fell out. She picked it up from the floor and inspected the book. A key shaped hole was made in several of the pages, enough for the book to hide the key without anyone noticing something on the outside. Still, she did not think this was very well hidden. She had found it in a few minutes, and she wasn’t even experienced in looking for hidden stuff.

Armed with the key, she walked back to the desk and opened the drawer once more. She carefully took out all that was in, remembering how all was placed, and then tried the key in the lock. A perfect fit. She took out the bottom and found a nice pile of papers. The top one, she saw, was a letter from the capital, from the offices of the High King. Ruki quickly read it, and it said the High King wished for more output from the town, saying he needed more silver, without stating a reason, and they advised the mayor for higher taxes.  

The next form looked a bit like a mystery to Ruki first, as it was full of numbers without an explanation. She skipped to the next form, which was a lot clearer and explained the previous one: It were the original output numbers for the mines. The ones released to the people held lower numbers, so that their reward would end up lower, thus there was more silver left for the capital.

Ruki was appalled. They actually changed the numbers? The capital was pressing them to give more silver? What on earth did the capital need it for anyway? She scanned through the rest of the papers, and all of them came down to the same thing; the capital was stealing money and silver from the people. The reason, however, was mentioned nowhere, and Ruki began to wonder if the mayor himself knew.

After she had gone through all the papers, Ruki decided to put them back and leave. When she wanted to put the papers back into the drawer, however, she saw one piece of paper was left. She took it out, and noticed it was folded. She opened it, and was surprised to see it was a painting. A family, one of which she recognized two faces very well. One, the High King, Shanjahen. The other, the heir and the one she served… Takato. Even though he was at least ten years younger in this picture, she recognised him instantly. The other ponies, she realized, were his mother, his brothers, and… Asana, his sister, who was murdered by her father.

She was beautiful, Ruki realized. Even as a little girl, she was beautiful. Her coat was mint green while her mane had the colour of the leaves of the trees in mid summer when bereft of any prana. Such dark green… Her brown eyes stared at Ruki, motionless.

“Asana… What were you going to live for?” Ruki whispered softly while she put the painting back into the drawer.

Tomorrow morning before sunrise, Ruki would be off again. Back to the north, back to Takato and the others. She would share the information she had gathered with those who knew how to use it, and she would be back… back with Takato, back with Rika, her best friend. Takato would be proud of her, she hoped. Maybe, finally, he would be proud of her… After all the failures she had given him.