Chapter Two: Ace
Ace had escaped the palace. Again. Of course, that was due to her own particular skill-set as a thief and escape artist. Her full name was Acenthianrae Samos-Valentin the Third. A real mouthful of a name, which she hated. Therefore, she went by Ace Samos, but usually just Ace.
"Your highness!" she could hear them calling for her, could hear them back behind the palace gates, looking for her.
She grinned, white teeth flashing, and slipped away. Slipped away from the beautiful prison, and back to the streets where she had grown up, where she knew who she was and where she fit in. Her close-cropped golden hair shimmered in the weak sunlight, and she pulled up a hood to disguise how clean she was. No one in the lower streets was so clean and tidy, and if she looked like she was, well…bad things could happen. She could be seen as a mark, as prey, by the pickpockets and thieves, and anything she had in her pockets would be stolen away by them. She didn't want that, of course, so a bit of a disguise was necessary. At least until she reached her destination.
The Golden Star was one of taverns/inns that dotted the underbelly of the city, known for being a wayplace of vagrants and misfits and orphans. She was right at home here, always had been. "Kalir!" she called as she came in, waving a hand.
"Samos!" Kalir boomed over the babble of the patrons, greeting her with a smile. His dark skin shone in the lights as he set a drink in front of one of the patrons. "You've not been here in a long while!"
She sat on a bar stool, her feet dangling off the ground. "Sorry. I haven't been able to get away." no one here knew who she really was, and she aimed to keep it that way. She needed this place, this home, where she wasn't the princess anymore, wasn't expected to be perfect. Was just expected to be herself. Ace Samos, hacker and genius.
"Aye, that's fine. Just do try and stop by a bit more, will you? We miss your naughty little face." Kalir responded, patting her on the head.
She shrugged his hand off. "Naughty little face?" she replied, raising an eyebrow. "Excuse you?"
He laughed. "Well, you aren't exactly a looker with your hair cut so badly, and everybody here knows your sense of humor is more like a knife than anything." he replied, setting a soda in front of her.
Drinking half of it in one gulp, she sighed. "Ah. That's true." she looked around. "Has this place gotten uglier since last I was here? I do believe it has." she smirked over at Kalir.
He sighed, shaking his head. "Ah, fine. If you say so." he replied, turning away to serve drinks to other people.
While he was turned away, she spun around on the stool, looking around the bar. The ceiling was low, and painted dark, making the whole bar look darker, more mysterious. It helped hide the dirt that built up. The floors were Plasti-wood, fake, made to look and feel like real wood. The walls were an undetermined color, stained by smoke and spilled drinks until it was a sort of smoky, brownish color that may have once been grey. Over on the opposite end of the room, furthest from the door, was a raised stage where a band she didn't recognize was playing. The violinist caught her eye for a moment, but her gaze drifted on. Men and women of all shapes, sizes, and statures congregated throughout, talking, dancing, playing cards, poker, flirting. She saw a few that she knew would be leaving together, likely to hook up. The acrid scent of bulsa smoke mixed with the scent of various alcoholic drinks, and a few drugs too, giving the bar its strange, yet appealing, odor.
She looked like any other street rat in this place, in her nondescript, dark clothes with patches in the elbows and a loose hood on her head. She had smeared dirt on her face earlier, but she couldn't hide the smell of soap that anyone who got too close would notice. That scent the bar carried met her nose again, and she coughed. Used to be, she could inhale this scent all day and not care. But she had been away too long; her senses were no longer accustomed to it. Not at all.
She stretched, and hopped off the stool, weaving through the crowd and over to a door marked Employees Only. The words were repeated in several different languages, just in case the bar comers didn't speak the common tongue. She looked up at the lights that graced the whole bar, designed to look like old-fashioned lanterns or torches, to add to the bars styling. Then she turned away and went through the door, beads that hung from the ceiling knocking lightly against her forehead.
"Sita!" she called loudly.
"Aye, Ace!" a woman called back, embracing Ace and kissing her cheeks. "Welcome back! We have no seen you, where have you gone?" her voice was accented, her pronunciation a bit strange. Kalir and his sister were not natives of this planet; they had moved here ten years ago, along with Kalir's husband. Kalir had made an effort to lose most of his accent, and in that, he had succeeded. Sita, on the other hand, had not.
"Ah, everywhere, Sita." Ace waved her hand with a smile. "Don't worry about me, you know I'll always come back. Is Ro around?" Ro was Kalir's husband, and one of the kindest, gentlest men she had ever met. Also, he gave her candy every time she saw him, which might also be why she liked him so much.
Sita swatted her lightly. "Ah, I see! You no come back for Sita, you come back for Ro and his candies!" the older woman wrinkled her nose at Ace, laughing.
"Whaat?" Ace laughed as well. "Never, Sita." Sita was a small woman, with nimble fingers and a gentle voice. She looked like a shorter, prettier version of Kalir, almost. She had the same dark skin and eyes, but where Kalir's hair was extremely short, more of stubble on his head than anything, Sita's black hair was long and thick, hanging down to her waist in bouncy, wild curls.
Sita laughed again. "Ro is this way." she grabbed Ace's arm and led her into the back room, where Ro could be seen, a knife in one hand and a block of wood in the other, the knife rasping along the wood as he carved and whittled.
He looked up as they came in, his lips splitting in a grin. "Ace!" he put down the knife and wood, and embraced her, then handed her a candy. "Welcome back! Are you staying?"
She shook her head, popping the candy in her mouth. "No. I wish I could, but no." she replied.
Ro nodded. "I see. That's a shame. I must get back to my carving, I have an order to finish up. But if you need to talk, come find me. Now go have fun!" he made a shooing motion as he sat back down.
Ace nodded. "Fine. Is it alright if i go back to the bar? I wanted to speak to the violinist." she asked Sita.
Sita rolled her eyes. "Just as I thought. You came for candy, not company." she complained, smiling, but pushed Ace to the door. "Go, then."
Ace nodded, and slipped back out into the bar. Her eyes found the band, who were taking a break. She saw, with raised eyebrows, that the violinist, a tall, brown haired boy, was missing the pinky on his left hand. She wasn't sure how the violin could be played without one of the fingers, but she shrugged. She tapped on the boy's shoulder. "Hey!" she called.
He turned, eyebrows raised in question. "Do you need something?" he asked, cocking his head a little.
"Yeah. Who are you? I haven't seen you around before." she asked, looking at him. She really hadn't seen him in this area before. Had never seen him before at all, and that was strange. Kalir didn't usually hire new musicians unless he knew them beforehand.
"Avitas Calon. And yeah, this is the first time I've played here." the boy replied slowly, still watching her carefully.
