A bright sun had risen over the city of Lómëdor that morning, slowly signaling the changing. The mornings were already growing brighter and fewer people were complaining about having to get up to work in the dark. It had been raining the previous night and the ground was damp and littered with puddles however the warm air was slowly drying the city off. A single wagon rolled down the street and splashed through a puddle, spraying the wall of the butchers with a volley of water and mud, thankfully missing the small girl that had been following behind her mother.

Iko stood, watching this from the other end of the street, a soft smile on his face but his eyes portrayed a more sorrowful expression, however the purple locks of hair falling over his face made it hard to tell from a distance. Once would think he felt cold, despite the warm air it was still damp and there was a breeze blowing through the street, however the young psychic didn't seem to mind. He was dressed in a plain black vest and gray trousers and definitely hadn't done a thing to sort out his hair, the breeze would have blown it out of place anyway.

He flicked a hair out of his face and pushed himself off the wall, putting his hands in his pockets and strolling down the street humming to himself. He was approaching the city square, where small crowds of people were milling around the marketplace, there was surprisingly alot considering it was still early in the morning, however the city never seemed to go to sleep. Iko strolled calmly into the crowd, his soft smile still playing on his face.
"Good morning," he said, taking a rather low bow once enough people had noticed him "Anybody fancy watching a puppet show?"

He counted the confused faces he could see around him and his smile seemed to widen, however his eyes didn't change.
"What sort of 'puppet show'?" A bearded dwarf at the front grunted.
"That depends," Iko replied "Say, for example you give me your axe?"
The dwarf coughed and placed a hand on a twin headed axe on his belt.
"I wouldn't give Gur-nin to ya' if you paid me!" He growled.
"Well, I guess that can't be helped," Iko sighed.
"Err, I've got a dagger," a rather grubby looking youth piped up.
"That'll do nicely," Iko replied.
The boy tossed the weapon to him and then suddenly realized he'd made a bit of a blunder. However Iko calmly raised his hand and the dagger seemed to float into it.

He set the dagger down on it tip and kept it upright with his palm, kneeling beside it.
"Ready?" He asked, feeling the gaze of the crowd watching him.
He lifted his hand off the dagger and it stayed where it was perfectly balanced, however this achieved nothing from the crowd of onlookers. Then the blade began to rotate, slowly at first, and then speeding up. Iko could hear a few intakes of breath, but that was nothing compared to when he stood up and the dagger rose with him, rotating in mid air underneath his palm.
"Y-you're using string aren't you?" The dagger's owner said.
"Am I?" Iko asked "Oh dear, I'd better put it away again."
With his hand still over the dagger he groped at something invisible and then took his hand away, sliding it into his pocket and taking it out again. The dagger stayed where it was, spinning.

"See," Iko said, smoothly "No strings."
The dagger floated back over to the youth and inserted itself into his belt, sliding it without harming the boy at all.
"Impressed yet?" Iko asked over the 'oohs' and 'ahhs' of the crowd.

It was quiet. No one, of the Wilwarin staff, was quite up yet. All but a burly woman, the cook, and a young girl. The young girl streched, her wings automatically mirroring her moves. She yawned openly, threw off the covers, and walked to her little shuttered windows. Soft yellow light barely fluttered in, throwing a square on the floor. Sighing, she put her hand on her chin and leaned on her window sill. A stiff knock came from her green door. "Talkina! What are you doing?" yelled her 'room partner'. "Shouldn't you be asleep?"
"Then why are you up?" Talkina retorted. A loud snort came from behind the door.
"Doesn't matter. The Cook wants you downstairs. He has you doing errands." There were clumsy footsteps that followed after that, a rattling bang, a yell, a pause, and the shuffling of sheets. Sighing and shaking her head, she shuffled to her drawer. Stuffing on a tunic and a skirt, she hurried through the door. The Cook waited impatiently downstairs. He shoved a rolled up piece of paper into her hands and pointed out the door. She unfolded it as soon as she reached the cobble-stoned streets. It reached all the way down to her knees. She turned at the sound of a clicking door and caught a basket and a large wall of money just in time. Also, she barely missed the dagger that shot out after the basket. Gulping, She picked up the naked dagger and put it with the basket.

It was morning by the time Talkina ran down to the stores. She ran into a shop, grabbed three dozen bars of soap, paid, and ran out. Then, she walked to the tailors, bought thirty yards of cloth. As she walked out, she saw a man in a black vest and gray trousers preform a trick. As she grew enchanted by whatever he was doing, she forgot her task. Moving closer, she saw a dagger floating in mid air.
"Y-you're using string aren't you?" asked a dwarf. Was he?
"Am I?" the man asked. "Oh dear, I'd better put it away again." He grabbed at the air where the strings would have been. Nothing. The dagger did not move. Instead, it gently floated back into the dwarf's sheath. Large 'oohs' and 'ahhs' rose from the crowd. Talkina clapped and soon the whole square was clapping. The people hurried away to their jobs, a few lingering to see what the man would do next. Talkina quietly walked up to the man.
"Here, sir," she said as she held half the bundle of money, which must have been at least 100 gold coins. "That was very good, sir. What else can you do...sir? And..." She blushed as she dared to ask the question.
"What is your name, sir?"

Iko's smile broadened ever so slightly at the reaction he received for his short performance. It was something he could never grow bored of, traveling through different towns and villages showing off his talents to passers by. Most people probably put it down to magic and they were probably very close, however Iko didn't see it as magic, after all he didn't believe in in but he did believe it was a case of mind over matter, the energy given off by his brainwaves becoming strong enough to manipulate the space around him, that wasn't magic but it was so much easier to say it was.

He gazed about for a few moments as the crowd dispersed, pleased at their response. He didn't do this for money, although that was a decent bonus, but more for the sheer enjoyment of it, the fact he could perform these skills and nobody else could was like letting a child loose in a sweet shop and telling him everything was free, the only difference was Iko wouldn't suffer from stomach ache or cavities. As he looked about he noticed one of the crowd, a small girl only a few years younger than him, walking up to him, apparently impressed enough to address him. Iko gave her a warm smile as she approached, which wasn't much different from his usual one.

"Thankyou, my pleasure miss," he said, taking a slight bow as she approached.
He got a closer look at the girl as he came back up and noted the streaks in her hair.
"My name's Ikoru Yami," he said "But I prefer Iko for short, as for what else I can do..." He paused for a moment, debating on how best to say his next line "Well, I guess it depends on my situation, right now I can't do much more than make pineapples dance..."
He gave a small chuckle and straightened up, brushing another lock of hair out of his eye.
"And may I ask your name, miss?" He said, keeping the same soft, calm tone of voice.

Talkina stood and gazed at the man as he paused, her wings drooping a little. "Iko Yami..." she mused. Iko...That's a nice name. He was tall, at least a head and a half taller than she was. He was fairly muscular, and all in all, the waitresses would be googling all over him. She was surprised at the next question. She looked into his deep purple eyes and calmed almost instantly.
"I'm Talkina. I work down at the Wilwarin Pub," she said in a higher voice. "Sir."

She smiled, her eyes sparkling almost mischeviously. There was something attracting about this young man.

"You aren't from around here, are you, sir? And, where is your family?"

The sun was slowly rising, more people appearing and shuffling around the half-angel with a basket and a purple haired man. Talkina had completely forgotten about her task by then, not wanting to go back but to run away with this man.

Iko felt the young girls gaze lingering upon him without even having to look down at her. He retained his soft expression and waited patiently for her to make her reply. Eventually he found the temptation too much to resist and let another one of his talents creep out without anybody noticing.
Iko...That's a nice name.
He almost chuckled upon hearing this, he didn't enjoy telepathy as much a his other talents, however he could usually get a good grin out of it when he did, but most of the time he would ask permission before butting in on somebody else's thoughts lest he discover something he'd rather not.

The girl introduced herself, rather nervously it seemed but she came up smiling and polite, probably trying to mimic Iko's own politeness to her. He couldn't help but feel smug when he considered this, not that he enjoyed messing with people's mind, well not in the way he saw it anyway.
"No, I'm not from around here," he replied to her question, his smile faltering slightly but remaining where it was "I lived with my parents, my uncle and my sister until a few years ago. We lived on a farm near Ondolond and made money selling groceries there."

He cut off, thinking he might be boring the small girl but he carried on after a few moments.
"Well, as you can imagine stuff happened and I left," he concluded "My parents are still working there, however my uncle has gone missing and..." He cut off, his smile faltering again. He turned to face away from then young half angel for a moment, taking a few short breath as he did so "...Anyway, I haven't seen any of them since." He said, turning back having fixed the smile back on his face.
"But enough about me," he said before Talkina could say anything else "Don't you have business to take care of?"

Talkina grew very interested when he mentioned Ondolond. Ondolond, isn't that drunkard that keeps getting kicked out of the pub from Ondolond? Iko went onto concluding.
"Your uncle has disappeared?" she whispered. Oh, I wish I could help him...

When Iko asked if she needed to take care of some buisness, she blinked. People were quickly rushing behind her as the sun blazed above them. As she slowly came back she looked at the basket in her hand and shrugged. "Doesn't matter now," she muttered. Boy, I am going to be in soo much trouble. Doesn't matter, though. I'm probably already going to get kicked out of my job. Why do I even work as a waitress, anyway? "No," raising her voice. "I was going to do some extra shopping, but that can wait. Tell me..." she trailed off, looking him over and over. If I could only run away with him. "Might I be of any assistance for you? I could run errands and do things for you..." Or with you. she thought with an inward smile.

Iko raised his head skywards and pretended to think about it. As it happened, there was nothing that he needed doing, he didn't live anywhere so he had nothing in the way of household chores, neither did he have an official job, and certainly anything he did for money would be completely beyond the abilities of the half angel in front of him. He looked back down again and smiled warmly at the girl, not wishing to disappoint her but proffering not to try and get her hopes up.

Little did she know though that Iko was still listening to her thoughts as they wove through her head and could hear them as loud as if she'd just spoken them out loud, although he couldn't plant his own thoughts in her head unless she shared the same ability. He could already tell that the small girl was getting exited over him and it took a good deal of effort for Iko not to look smug. She seemed a little eager though, Iko was around half a decade older than her and she barely knew anything about him.

Not wanting to intrude on her private thoughts any longer, Iko withdrew his mental scan and returned his attention to the physical world, he'd already got the gist of this girl, as far as he could gather she worked at one of the inns in the city and from the sound of it she didn't sound too keen on going back now that she'd met him. Iko didn't mind admitting she was rather cute but he didn't want to intrude on another persons business, the problem was she seemed more than overjoyed that she'd run into him. He pondered the situation for a moment, unsure of what to do.
"I hate to disappoint you, but I don't have any business of my own," he explained "I'm usually take care of things the moment they crop up, so I have nothing to offer."

Boredom. Absolute boredom.

To Lester, it was both a curse and a motivation. Though it led him to frustration and even depression at times, the ghost often found that boredom also gave him the resolve to actually go out, admittedly usually invisible, and do something; as much as any ghost can do, anyway. Today, he had been unable to find anything particularly interesting, and so had fallen back on one of his old habits; following various workers of his favourite Lomedor haunt, the Wilwarin Inn, about their daily routines and hoping that they, and therefore he, would run into something fascinating, or even just curious. The day's lucky winner was one of the waitresses, sent out on an errand of sort, and Lester had followed her from the Inn and through the crowds, completely invisible but sending chills down the spins of every peasant, merchant and traveller he literally passed through.

Soon, the girl had come to what seemed like a sideshow. The man attending to it was playing the crowds with a floating dagger trick. Lester scoffed to himself; it was simple magic, though admittedly he himself was absolutely unskilled in it, and was actually slightly envious of those who could use it. Not that he'd ever confess that to anyone. Ever. Regardless, by the time the trick had been done and the dagger returned, the waitress he had followed from the Wilwarin seemed to have been sucked in by the show and was now talking to the man eagerly, albeit slightly quietly. With nothing better to do, and noting the lack of dragons attacking the city - something that had by now become almost the norm - Lester floated over to the two and listened in, still invisible to the naked eye but most likely giving out some kind of chill that most people often brushed off as a small breeze.

Showing no qualms about eavesdropping in on the private conversation of two individuals, as his morals on such things had long been swept away during his life as a spymaster, Lester heard the man speak of a missing uncle, and the girl speak of doing nothing important; this surprised the ghost, who knew full well that she had been sent out on errands by her bosses back at the Wilwarin. Was she really so taken by this sideshow runner that she was abandoning her duties? If he had been alive, Lester was sure he would have felt extreme nausea coming on. When the man politely, but definitely, refused her offer of assistance, Lester decided to make an appearance.

In a one second period, he appeared in a cloud of blue smoke; smoke which was made of the same spiritual matter as he was and so simply disappeared without touching either of them. Allowing the customary two second limit he often gave the living to recover from any surprise at his sudden materialisation, Lester looked at the girl,

"Aren't you meant to be doing the cook's errands, rather than watching cheap tricks?"

The cook at the Wilwarin Inn was one of the few people Lester interacted with on a regular basis; mainly as a good source of gossip. Even though he was dead and had long left his spying days behind him, his curiosity and need to gather and analyse information always led him to the cook to gain the latest news and goings-on in the world. It could have been some sort of loyalty to the cook that had Lester remind the girl of her duties, but in truth, it was probably simply to entertain himself at hopefully shocking her with his sudden appearance. Such small pranks often served as 'quick fix' bursts of entertainment whenever he was particularly bored.

Talkina's hope dipped when he said he did not have anything to do. "Oh...okay." She brightened up. "Well, at least I have had someone to talk to. It's nice to meet someone who is not drunk or sharp for once in a while." Suddenly, a puff of blue smoke appeared out of nowhere. It formed into a ghost-ish shape. Talkina gasped softly. She felt a bit odd, how the dagger missed her this morning, but she never thought something would turn up like this! Then, her hopes dove when he spoke.

"Aren't you meant to be doing the cook's errands, rather than watching cheap tricks?"

Talkina went fumbling for words. How would I explain this to Iko? Would he be mad at me for lying to him? "I...I..I-i was going to, but..." she stammered. She started to back away, but slipped and spilled the basket. Standing up, she threw her arms up in the air. "In the name of the world, it does not matter! The inn was going to throw me out anyway! I heard them talking about it a few nights ago! I don't care." Sighing once more, she bent down to pick up the soap and the cloth. She stopped at the last box of soap. "Hmm. That's funny," she muttered. Turning around, a bit embarassed, and raised her voice. "Has any seen the last box of soap?"