A Surprise at the Market

"Init...Araw..." said Eldunar as he dictated what he wrote, "Very well, now, tell me. What do you want to eat? The cook will make you anything, anything you like" Eldunar was going to be swift, quick and sneaky with his questions. He wasn't going to show her mercy, but at the same time he wasn't even going to be outright asking anything. Eldunar would wine and dine her, and ask her small questions, and soon enough she would let down her guard, and then he would have all the answers he needed.

Eldunar then looked up to the balcony, and could see a single soldier standing there, out of sight. Eldunar always kept him there, he would be the one that called away to the Fire Nation through Eldunar's special methods and get a background check on whoever Eldunar was interrogating. That way he would know if they had a history of crime. As Eldunar nodded to the soldier, he ran off to get all the files labeled with Init's name from Owlan.

Eldunar turned his attention back to Init and with a smile said, "There is no rush," he said, "Take your time, I will call someone to give our orders to the cook when you're ready. Would you, perhaps, also like some wine to drink though?" Hopefully alcohol would loosen her up a bit more.

Alcohol? She laughed on her inside. Did he think she was stupid? Or naive? Nevertheless she decided to play along. Years of drinking in inns, with men that had three times the drinking capacity of her, had had the effect of her never getting drunk if she kept it in line.
" Yes please, and rice and fish will suffice, my lord "
She was smart enough not to let him spoil her with luscious foods and wines too much. Maybe her tongue would loosen up. She was however, going to turn the situation in her advantage. If she had to run, she would at least run with a full stomach.

Now that she was sitting down next to this man, she stared at him for a while. Not only with the purpose of making him feel a little bit uncomfortable, but also just staring at his face. She found him attractive, rather handsome even. He clearly was a few years older though, but regarding to what she had heard he wasn't even at his 30 though.
And he had charm. He was calm and controlled. Even a little bit reserved from her point of view. Maybe if he drank some alcohol, he would loosen up too.
" But I will only drink, if you drink with me. "

She liked this man, this Regent Lord. He hadn't thrown her in jail, or hit her, or called her names like the other nobility did. And he made her feel comfortable. Maybe she could just confess some of her crimes, and maybe he would show mercy upon. But not now, and not yet.

"I planned to," said Eldunar sitting back comfortably in his chair, "I always have at least a full bottle of wine with my meals. I make it myself, would you like to try some? It's an old family label, started back by Fire Lord Kouzai I. Luckily my younger brother Erolass and I felt like taking on the responsibility of making this wine, otherwise Owlan would've let it die with our father. You see he is more of a whiskey or bourbon man, and would rather have us brew that than wine. But I talk too much, tell me about yourself Init."

Erolass sat forward a bit, not too much, but enough to be comfortable while also appearing interested, "I seem to be talking all about myself, but not asking enough about you." he said with a smile, "You are my guest after all aren't you?" Eldunar didn't need to trick the information out of this girl, he wouldn't have to--he almost never did. He never treated his suspects stupider than they were, or lower than they were, he treated them as equals. Tricking the answers out of someone is to make a fool out of them, talking the information out of them, that was skill.

Eldunar scanned the girl as she talked, and not just for the lump in her chest which he believed to be stolen goods. She had a nice figure, and she was very beautiful. Sure she was a little younger than him, but she wasn't that much younger, and Eldunar was still fairly young himself. Sure he had white hair, but he was born that way, so was Owlan. Eldunar had a small shock of jealousy at Erolass and Naina who had inherited their father's hair colour, not their mothers. She was water tribe, and her hair was white for....well Eldunar was never quite sure of the reason, no one ever told him. But Eldunar turned his attention back to the girl, and with an intent smile, looked at her and listened to every word she had to tell him.

" I would very much like to try it, thank you." she nodded and imitated his pose, leaning to the front, smiling as if she was very, very interested. She could just as well admit it. She was bold and brave enough to do so. And this man was not only intriguing, with his white hair - something that she hadn't considered being weird, probably because the well known image of the Fire Lord had made her feel so comfortable with it. - he also seemed to be a bit arrogant, and she disliked arrogance. She was arrogant herself though, but for different reasons. He clearly knew she wasn't to be tricked, and she wouldn't even give him a chance anymore.

" And if were busy anyway. " She said, as she put her hand in her jacket and pulled the bread out. " I stole a bread. "
She smacked the bread on the tabletop. " I stole a bread from the rich, arrogant Ember Islands salesmen, because I was hungry."
She held her right hand in front of her nose and studied her fingernails. If he thought he was skilled enough to trick information out of her, he was wrong. She didn't even want to grant him that pleasure. And it was the quickest way to end all of this she decided.

And now she could only pray for mercy.
" You can interrogate me further, sir. " She said with her voice low. " But I cannot garantuee I will grant you with more information. "

"I thought so," said Eldunar sitting back calmly, "Tell me, do you steal to eat often? Or is this a first time thing?" Eldunar felt somewhat sorry for this girl, and if he was correct, he already knew her answer. Her clothes, her attitude, her theft, it all made sense, she was poor and homeless and hungry, and she did this out of desperation. Eldunar kept his emotions quelled however, he needed be professional and impartial...but still, it was hard not to feel bad for a pretty young girl, and especially one that he could sympathize for.

A man came in with a bottle of wine, and poured it in two tall wineglasses for Init and Eldunar. The butler handed a glass to each of them, and then walked from this room. "This is the red wine of my family, the Vermilion Dragon it's called." he said with a sniff of the wine, and then he took a sip, "It's very rich, and it's stored in a very cool cellar beneath my palace. This particular bottle has been aged for 30 years. We age all of our wines for a minimum of 20 years you see. What do you think?"

Eldunar kept his eyes firm on the girl the whole time, for two reasons, one because he wanted to see how sincere he should be towards her--so long as she wasn't a murderer or anything, Eldunar may have mercy on her and pay for her bread--and to see what she thought of the wine. Eldunar's guests rarely asked for wine, preferring something stronger, so he didn't always have people to tell him how he made it.

Init sipped at her glass of wine and smiled. It was probably the best wine she ever tasted. Although it was a little bit too sweet for her taste of red wines.
" It does lack the bitter dimension of most red wines, but this is some fine wine." She smiled.
She started to like him more, he hadn't tried to scam her or trick her yet, nor judged her.

But she had seen him look at her. She knew what she looked like, skinny, sloppy, poor. Nothing like him. He was Royal, in every aspect. The white hair, the face, the robes. Everything about him was classy. Not like her.
" You might have deduced by the look of me that I'm not exactly the richest inhabitant of the empire, so yes, I steal, but if the government gave people like me an honest chance, I wouldn't have to right. No, they would rather see us rot, starve and die."

He gave her wine, he gave her food, but most of all he listened. That was more than anything she had ever received from someone. Although she wasn't exactly the nicest or warmest person in the world, she did seem to warm up a little bit for this member of the Royal zFamily.

"So what if I told you Owlan has been working on a means of compensating the poorer members of society?" he asked, "I'm going to be perfectly honesty with you. My brother, Fire Lord--well, Emperor Owlan now--has been trying for many years to get subsidies for the poorer members of society. He has also been trying to give everyone pensions and compensations, but he's met blockades, many of them. The largest being the banks, and the Banking Clan itself. The country is in a surplus of gold, and we have enough gold to buy each nation upfront in gold, but still the banks will not hand out money for free. No...they demand their own compensation. Owlan hopes that by creating this Empire of his, it will give him more controls of the banks and allow him to spend their money how he pleases. So, you could say he's very close to getting it done, he just needs to remove the Banking Clan's power, and it will be official."

Eldunar then reach into his robes and then stood up. He walked over to Init and then placed something in the middle of the table. "This is a bag of gold," he said, "There's a thousand gold in there, more than enough to pay for the bread. I'm going to leave it in the middle of the table, now you have two choices. Take the money now, run, and spend it however you please, OR, you can leave it in the middle of the table, stay for the meal, and after the meal agree to never steal again, to use part of the money to pay back the vendor for the bread, and use the rest of the gold as you please. The choice is yours. I will not judge regardless."

Eldunar then sat back down in his chair and returned to sipping his wine, "I hope that you choose to stay though," said Eldunar, "You've been a good host, and a great conversationalist. I do love the company, and I had to see you leave on an empty stomach." Eldunar then looked into the girls eyes, he already knew what she was going to take. And he already knew his response to hers.

Init swallowed thickly. No one had ever offered her something like this. At least not this much. She had often bribed rich people for 5 or 6 gold pieces, but not this. Was this some kind of trick?
She had often thought about the money the Royalty owned, but to give away this much, so sudden, it meant that this amount of money was nothing.
She felt an urge to grab the money and run away. But then she started wondering. She really wasn't the type of sharing, not at all. But what if she could..? No it was a ridiculous thought. He was Royalty and she was a rat.

She sighed. " I'll pay back the bread. Take the rest and give it to the poor of Ember Island. If you can't find any, give it to the poor on the mainland. There are plenty of them, believe me. I, however, will not promise to never steal again. Unless you want me to die. I will not steal again, unless it's absolutely necessary."
She hoped this answer would suffice. The poor never liked her, because she was smarter then most of them, and she never shared. She was a hard woman, a cold one. And she always had done everything necessary for her own survival. But she wasn't a murderer, she had never gone that far. And keeping this money all to herself while little children were starving out there was murder.

If she played this game smart though, because it was just a game he was playing too after all. She would never have to steal again. She could be a vital force of information about all the great crime lords in the Empire and Ember Island and all he would have to do was feed her. But she was smart enough not to simply tell him that. Regarding to the fact that he did seem to like her a little bit.

"I can't do that, the money is for you, and the mainland isn't my concern--but I will tell Owlan about that yes--the money here is for you. I want YOU to take it, and do with it as you need." said Eldunar. Eldunar sat forward, "Of course," he said, "There is another offer I have for you. But that will have to wait until after dinner, for now we shall eat." Eldunar sat back as several servants came in and placed large plates of food on the table. There was meat and vegetables of every kind. Eldunar helped himself to a bit of the roast bird and roast boar, and a few potatoes.

"It's airight," said Eldunar soothingly to Init as she look, shocked, at all the food, "Take as much as you like. There is more than enough, you may even take some with you if you so wish. That is, unless you take my next offer, then you won't need to." Eldunar sipped his wine and said nothing more for the remainder of the meal.

He didn't know why he was doing this, but the offer he was going to make was extremely generously, some would say overly generous. Not to mention it was totally out of nature of Eldunar, he was nice to his guests--which in itself was rare, due to his normal cranky attitude, or at least towards those who waisted his time--but this time he wondered if he was being too nice. What he was about to do, should she take this offer, would be the nicest thing anyone could ever do for something. Eldunar wasn't quite sure why, but this girl had tugged on his heart strings a bit, and he felt sorry for her. Maybe it was the pity, maybe it was guilt, but whatever it was, Eldunar was sure that he would be doing her a great service. Besides, he WOULD like the chance to get to know her better.

Init swallowed, she had never seen this much food in one room before. She looked at one of the plates and saw meat lying on it. She had heard of it, knew the look of it, but she had never tasted it. Food was something for those living in more wealth then her. She picked up her chopsticks and pointed at a piece of meat lying on one of the plates.
"Is that meat?" she muttered silently.

An other offer? What possibly could be a more generous offer than all this money. She pinched her eyes a little bit. Could she trust him, or was this all a trick. She studied him closely as he took some of the meat. She found him strange, and annoying and sweet in some point. He seemed so nice to her. She frowned, was he always this nice to people? That's not what she heard, she heard that this man was mostly in a bad mood. She couldn't remember his name though, it was something with an E..,E.. . She quickly gave up.
" What is your name actually? I know that might be an improper question, but I always tend to forget your name. And, just your name please, leave the titles behind, those I know "

That other offer. What could it possibly be? She had absolutely no clue of what he could offer her more, except for a home maybe, but that seemed a little bit out of league though.