Wings of the Messenger Shop Moving.

[Thea Shamblestone]

It was a good thing that Thea was a simple girl, else she very well may have had to move from Tranquility and into a more popular realm. The jobs here were scarse and when one ran their own business, it was mighty difficult to support any lifestyle on the measly few coins they were able to gather in the course of a moonspan.

As it were, Thea didn't make nearly enough money to have her own home, which had been a lifelong dream of hers, nor did she even warrent enough pay for a room at the local in. Because of the lack of people that needed her services, Thea was stuck living in the loft above the Stables. She had tried to live in the shop, the one thing she could afford to rent though hardly, but the hawks had not stopped protesting for the entire two days during that attempt.

Thus, she had moved her family back to the stables, where they were more comfortable, and only travelled to the shop during the day to collect any letters that had been slipped under the door. Unfortunately, she couldn't keep up with the shop payments and thus, with the beginning of this new week, Thea was closing the doors of the Wings of the Messenger.

This was not to say that she would be out of the messenger business, not at all. Instead, she would simply have to petition to see if she could still run her business but from the top loft of the stables where she and the hawks lived rather then a nice fancy building in the square.

Maybe they'd even let her put up a sign atop the stables with her business name on it, and perhaps if she got really lucky, they'd even permit her to attach a 'we have moved' sign in the old shop window.

If worse came to worse, Thea would simply have to either find a temporary job to help feed her stomache, and provide herself with the basic necessities of soap and cloth, or she would have to pack up and relocate. Neither of which sounded very promising to her, but one did what they had to when they were stuggling to support a family of six. Mind you, the birds tended to take care of themselves. They could feed themselves on rodents and berries within the Forest, so that was five less mouths to feed, but they did require an awful lot of care. Care that took money she simply did not have.

Not for the first time, Thea found herself wondering if perhaps it would be best to sell four of the five hawks and keep Crookie for herself. She didn't relish this idea and better then the other two, but at least she could still maintain the life she was accustomed to, however simple that was, with just the one Hawk.

Speaking of Hawks, only Bambit was here now, the other four had left but an hour ago for the hunt. Thea worked a glove onto her arm and whistled until Bambit came fluttering down to her.

"Whatever are we going to do ol' Bambit boy... "

Using her free hand, Thea began petting Bambit slowly, starting from just behind his head, down the back of his neck, and over his back until she reached nearly at his tale. She had enough experience with Hawks to know the rules to keep both you and your pet comfortable, and thus kept well away from beak and tail.

Idly, she began to move around the top loft of the stables, cooing quietly to the bird on her gloved hand. When she reached the single window in the loft, Thea tsk'ed her tongue and watched as Bambit took flight.

"Go find your brothers, old bird."

As Bambit soared, Thea stood there at the window and watched him go, a joyous feeling in her heart. What it would be like to be a bird, to fly above the realm, wherever your wings took you. Finally, when Bambit was but a speck in the bright sky, she turned from the window and crossed the length of the loft again.

Taking the shaky wooden ladder one step at a time, Thea decended into the stables itself, and glanced around. The horses were all there, and the stablesboy was undoubtedly around somewhere. Her eye's then travelled downward over her clothes. Bits of dirt and dust scattered over the simple brown gown and frock, but that was to be expected.

"Perhaps I'll take a trip into the square, check on the Wings of the Messenger, and then treat myself to a glass or two of ale. That ought to get me motivated."

She often talked aloud to herself, for but the hawks, it was the only actual person to communicate with. The residents within Tranquility often left her alone, and she much perfered it that way. She wasn't very good with people.

Exiting the stables Thea, clad in dusky brown clothes, headed along the path and clear to the other side of the realm where the Square was located. Luckily, the place was so small it wouldn't take her but less then half an hour to make it from one end to the next.

As she walked, she kept her eye's to the sky, looking for one of her brothers. She didn't know any of the residents by name, so wherelse better to look?

As she walked, Thea rejected the idea of stopping by the Tavern this evening. The Hawks would be returning soon and would undoubtedly grow restless when she was not there to make sure they didn't tear each other's feathers out.

Most of the time, if Thea wasn't at the stables, they would seek her out in the square at Wings of the Messenger, and thus completely bypassing the Tavern itself, Thea instead headed directly to the shop. There would be much packing to do if she expected to have the place cleaned out by the end of the week, else she'd have to somehow come up with the coin to pay for another leased week.

Using the carefully crafted key, Thea let herself into the old shop, and left the door open, while she set about lighting one of the lamps on a table at the door. When it was lit successfully, she crossed further into the shop and approached both windows, one at a time, sliding the tacked up fabric aside to let the natural sunlight in.

Now that the shop was lit considerably well, Thea then returned to the door and closed it. A quick glance around told her that she most certainly had her work cut out for her. Starting at the far corner of the room, Thea then began sorting through things. The necessities in one pile on a table, and the not so important ones on another. She worked a steady pace, determined to get as much done as she could while the sun was still in the sky.