July 18, 2017
==== Wakua
It had taken Wakua a month to travel to all her hidden stashes to gather as many marks as she could. She had her life savings in a sack that was slung across her back as she stepped out onto the docks at the Renegade camp. It had been over a turn since she had last been here and she hoped that it would be the last time that she ever saw this place again.
The muggy air did little to improve the smell of the docks as she walked down them. Wakua ignored the looks that she got as she had her hammer hanging at her side. Normally she didn't wear her hammer, too many questions about where she got it and what she used it for. Here though it turned two purposes, besides the obvious physical protect, the marking on the hammer was of the renegade's smith. If you wanted a weapon or something made you didn't mess with the smith or anyone bearing his mark.
Wakua walks towards the smith's shop which was at the back of the encampment. It felt more like she was swimming as it was so humid out this late afternoon. It was nothing compared to the heat of the forge. So while others fanned themselves and complained about the heat, Wakua knew how to ignore the heat. It wasn't the heat that was making her sweat. It was what lay at the end of the path she was walking down.
The forge would be shut down at this time of day as Wakua knew her master didn't like to work in the heat. No he preferred to drink in the afternoons. It was one of his many charms. Wakua stopped before the door and she took a deep breath as she shifted the sack from one of her shoulders to the other. Wakua gave a cursory knock before she headed in.
One sniff and Wakua could tell from the mixture of sweat and ale that her master had just finished work. As she entered the room he was sitting in an overstuffed chair with an ale in his hand. He looked a bit more wrinkled and greyer then last time she saw him. He looked up and gave her a crooked smile.
"Well. Well. Well. Looked what the wher dragged in, if it's not my wayward apprentice Wakua. I had just about given you up for dead or caught. Take a seat and have a drink. Tell me what you have been up to." The master said before he took another drink.
Wakua got down to business first. She went over all of the shipments she received and all the deliveries she made and the marks she sent back to him.
Her Master nodded, "Very good, very good Wakua, you've done well for me and from the look of it for yourself. Are those all your marks in there? I heard the jingle as you entered."
Leave it to Wakua's Master to be able to hear the jingle of marks from outside of the door. She nodded, "Yes it is. I?I want to buy my way out of the renegades."
Her Master's eyes went wide, "Oh really. Now why would you want to do a thing like that Wakua? We got a good thing going here. Don't tell me you've grown soft while you've been out and about."
Wakua shook her head, "No. I haven't gone soft. I don't care who has weapons or where they get them from. That's none of my business. They pay for the weapons, you make them and I deliver them. I just am tired of traveling around. I want to try something else. I'm sure you can find someone else to help you with the deliveries. I just want out and I'll pay you to make sure that the rest of the renegades leave me alone."
Her Master eyed the sack full of marks and he licked his lips. "I do have a question. What's to prevent me from just taking that sack full of marks and once you leave betraying you?"
Wakua gave her Master a look, "Because if anyone from the renegades bothers me I'll tell the Weyrs the location of the renegades. I don't want to and I'm not going to, but if you betray me I'll betray the renegades. There are more than enough marks here that should convince you to leave me alone. That's all I want to do is be left alone."
The Master nodded as he looked at the sack that Wakua had. "All right on one condition, the hammer you have, you leave it her, no proof, no souvenirs, none of that."
Wakua looked at the hammer, something she had earned as she pulled it free from her belt. She handed it over to him. She knew in her head that she'd have to hand it over. It hurt, but she wanted this. It was a symbol of her old life, one that she was giving up. She also handed over the sack of marks. Losing that much hurt, but if it meant her freedom it was more than worth it.
The Master took both and hefted the marks, "You are going to want to start crying and get out of the camp as soon as you can."
What came next was a string of the foulest curses that Wakua had ever heard. It didn't take long before she did start crying as her now former Master got up with surprising speed and grabbed her. He frog marched her to the door and opened it before he physically threw her out. He continues to curse at her and wave the hammer that was once hers at her.
Wakua oofed as she hit the ground and picked herself up as she continued to cry as her former Master continued to shout obscenities at her. She put her face into her hands and she ran away from him. She curses still ringing in her ears long after she stopped being able to hear them. She ran until her chest burned.
She stopped to catch her breath and she looked back as she wiped away the tears. She was done with this part of her life. It was time to move on to the next one. She had already paid for a return trip, it'd take a while, but she'd make her way back to where she felt she now belonged.