A Dance with Cloaks and Daggers

3

Mercy stood still as Maria used a long piece of cloth to get her measurements. She watched her work as she told Maria the basic qualities she wanted her 'outfit' to be. "I want something simple in color. Black, brown, grey." Mercy chuckled a little, "Might sound silly but I've always wanted to wear leather. I've gotten sick of lace for a lifetime." After Maria finished her height and width, measuring her waist and chest, Mercy looked around for paper and a pencil. "Here, it'll be easier if I draw it out."

Mercy had gotten plenty of different lessons from growing up in a middle class setting, the arts had been one of them. As she sketched the simple anatomy of a female and got everything she had in mind on paper, it was easier to add more detail as she went along. From extra shoulder pads to pouches to hold what she expected to be her weapon, throwing knives. Erasing some things she didn't feel were necessary, she finally added a short cloak that cut off at her shoulders but came up snuggly to hide the bottom half of her face. Satisfied, Mercy gave the sheet of paper to Maria. "What do ya think? Better than Matthews?"

Maria looked at the drawing and nodded. "I think he'll be jealous." She said and started working. "You know, I don't really approve of this kind of work. Killing people for pay is really looked down upon.... but... It's the only thing that makes Matthew happy to be doing, so I guess I can't force him to make clothes or garden like I do." She said and hummed to herself as she got the fabric out.

"I think he likes to feel strong and the whole assassin get up makes him feel that way. But at the same time, he's proven himself to be pretty damn strong. I hope you find as much purpose in the work as he does. It's not an easy thing to do." Maria said as she cut the fabric into the right pieces.

"Yeah I get it...I want to be able to be confident in something that isn't what someone chose for me. I want to do what I want to do for a change and I think this is the first step anyway." Mercy rested against a nearby wall as she watched Maria cut. "He really cares a lot about you. I didn't expect that from him. It's..." She paused as she thought of the right word for it. "..Nice. I mean three weeks ago I wouldn't have expected him to care much about anything except his job but here he is willing to keep me around and teach me." She smiled a little, "I'd say you raised him really well. I'm a little envious."

Mercy rubbed the back of her neck and gave her a sad smile, "I never got that kind of acceptance back at home so..it's nice to see there are actually good people still left." With a long sigh, she pushed off the wall and headed to the door. "Well I'll let you do your thing Maria. Thank you for the food and company."

"Of course, dear. I'll let you know when it's done. Also, remind Matthew to come visit me more often. I never get to see him anymore." She said and waved Mercy off.

Matthew pushed a chicken off his shoulder and sighed when it jumped onto his knee again. "Next time I'm here, I'm eating you." He mumbled with a disgusted tone and glared at the beady-eyed bird standing on his leg.

"Don't look at me like that... God I hate birds..." He grumbled and pulled his hood up, accepting that the bird was staying until he decided to get up.

"Aw look at you making friends." Mercy snickered as she sat beside him, patting the chicken lightly on the head. "I like this one, he knows how to push your buttons. I shall name it 'Jordan'. Let's be friends." Laughing at her own silliness Mercy looked up to look into Matthew's hood. "Back to being Mr.Assassin then? I sorta miss Matthew."

She pulled her ponytail over her shoulder, running her fingers through her messy hair absently. "Why don't you visit Maria a lot? I know she is important to you."

"Hood or no hood, I don't quite see the difference." He replied and looked back at the cottage. "I'm not sure why I don't visit. I guess after 10 years of trying to visit often, I stopped caring..." He sighed. "Often times I'm weeks away and simply don't have the time to stop by. Not much happens in these parts at the moment, so I have to travel further just to see any drama. Maybe a king that's upset with another king for pushing towards war wants the foolish thing dead. I'm the one who gets to cause the uproar and I see the chaos afterwards. That's the fun part." Matthew looked over at her.