Quite how she could have hoped to describe it, she wished that she knew fully. The reality was simply, there had been too much happening recently, not just between that of what was going on in Hargeon in the wake of everything North, but also the key ramifications that just otherwise persisted. It was the reality that she was as much guilty of creating, of having allowed herself to get caught up in a coup that she had no business being a part of, and yet none the less it was exactly what had happened. Now, things had come South, the arrival of the Magical Rune Knights being just one such example of the issues that were being faced by the people, one that Vyra was solely responsible for, and one more than anything else that she was would never have set to befall upon the people of Hargeon if it were not for her. Yet, there was nothing more that could have been done. The reality had been written, in many respects, and the actions that she had taken, while those that perhaps she wished that she could have taken back, there was no stopping the fact that the ramifications would stand to bleed out wherever they may, in this case being Hargeon.

214/2500

What was next? To wait for the hammer to be brought down upon her? Upon Alisa for harboring her? For giving her the protections that would be afforded a guild leader to her members under siege? Certainly one that would be expected, if not hoped to be encountered. Vyra certainly found herself hoping that. Perhaps it were a ramification that had to be felt by the city? Hargeon was still the city of Blue Pegasus after all, and those the actions may have looked horribly upon Vyra or those who may have been in association, was the incidents that had befallen been enough to merit the idea that the city would suddenly turn upon the guild? That it would simply have shifted the world in a manner that the guild, despite having been its protector for longer than Vyra could have ever hoped to truly know, or even that she would have been able to even appreciate, would they have shifted their loyalties towards something else, with Vyra’s actions being the catalyst to propel all of that? She had little reason to think that that may have happened.

402/2500

Perhaps a different time. A different world. If Vyra were someone who were more impactful maybe. If her role had been more the active participant than that of the unexpected conspirator. A splitting of hairs to some degree, but not a wholly inaccurate assessment of the situation that had been set to play out in reality. What her true intentions may have been towards the incident with the Barothy Estate up North, her role was her own, one that plenty were sure to speculate upon and try to decipher her role, but it would be nothing more than their opinion on what happened. No different really than that of Vyra trying to understand and decipher those whom lived their own lives, their actions seeming to be as uncommon and unconventional as anything anyone else may have come to suspect when all was said and done. It gave her a chance to breath, to be thankful at least for that, that even amongst those in Blue Pegasus, those whom had reason to be critical of the Demi-Human, whether appropriate or otherwise, it did not change the fact that they were simply in the same boat as much others, trying to understand what was going on, left only to that as their driving factor.

614/2500

But that in left the problem in itself. Sure, it was only specuation and theory as to what happened up North, a reliance on inferred judgment, theory, speculation, and perhaps even imagination running wild at times, it did not change the reality at home that was because of whatever happened, the Magic Council stood to be involved. The Rune Knights were, having imposed a sort of lockdown upon the city that was being felt in every part of the city of Hargeon, and while business was still able to exist and to perhaps some degree even, thrive, it did not make the situation any less dire, any less worrisome for Vyra, for Blue Pegasus, for the owners and shopkeepers who were going to slowly but surely feel the brunt of everything that was going on, it was only a matter of time before the hammer came crashing down upon someone, and Vyra feared that it may have been eventually an issue that even Alisa, for as much as she had been shown and had proven capable of fending off the more aggressive pursuit of the Demi-Human, if things became desperate enough, she feared that maybe even that would not be enough.

815/2500

Few districts within the trade epicenter of Hargeon were ones that had given her reason to be worried about. Much of the richer trading districts that were operating, jewelry, exotic goods, those were ones that by and large operated on their own well before and even after supposed regulation had gotten involved, so there was not much concern to think that the Rune Knights, an entity that was hyper alien to Hargeon, would be able to shut them down or otherwise impede their ability to do business in the long term. And even if it were a problem in the short term, the relationship between some of those vendors and Blue Pegasus were fostered from generations, ones that were not going to break suddenly because of a fake little conquest of the city that the Rune Knights were trying to impose upon. They had shown plenty of the time in past instances that these lockdowns of theirs, they were there more for the purposes of trying to inspire fear and panic than they were out of actual value. For what was going on within the North, this was clearly something that was trying to illustrate some level of illusionary alliance within the shifting demographic there and nothing more than that.

1025/2500

Not every business in Hargeon was as confident in the lack of reliability that came with the Rune Knights and their attempted occupation. Rather instead, it seemed that far more were basing their perceived trust and confidence in part upon the situation within the city right now. While this imposed lockdown was in effect, Hargeon was going through one of its busier seasonal periods in recent memory, and for whatever attempts the Rune Knights could have hoped to try to completely control order within the city, it was also known that Hargeon was a key provider in taxes and funds towards the Rune Knights. Following a few thinly-veiled threats about the idea of maintaining that fee moving forward if it were to impede the people who were coming into the city, the Rune Knights found themselves forced to make an uneasy decision to allow the trading and commerce to go on without any sort of obstruction, though it was clear and apparent that that was at least in part the desired effect.

1197/2500

However, for the merchants that were more at the mercy of those outside factors, whether it be deliveries of goods that they could not sustain on their own, or otherwise reliant upon the people of Hargeon to provide them with their services the associated costs, they were the ones that more looked to the attempts by the Rune Knights with concern, and warranted in that fear. If circumstances could have gotten bad enough, they may have found themselves in dire situations, not so much right now with the directive to not interfere with the tourists and traders very much in effect, but once the season slowed down and the profits and funds from now would be expected to more heavily carry over into the colder and rougher winters, then it would be something to be worried for. If the Rune Knights were to prevent ships from docking for example, it would mean that several industries would find themselves at a loss for being able to deliver their goods, to the point that even those who were fiercely loyal to Blue Pegasus and the city of Hargeon would have to make a hard decision as far as how they wanted to approach things. It was not uncommon that the weather, particularly rough winters, had a level of doubt creeping throughout the people of Hargeon at times, especially those who may have suffered not the best summer sales, and if there were a forced embargo that was preventing them from getting their goods, it could spell out disaster.

1453/2500

It was a known fact that everything in Hargeon worked as well as it did because everyone was invested in the system for some degree or another. The merchants worked with the farmers who worked with the locals who worked with the trading companies that otherwise seemed to operate on their own. They were as much the extended and silent partners throughout all of this, and they realized the risk that was being put upon the city, that was being put upon the people themselves. While the Rune Knights were not in a position to go against the trading companies, nor were they inclined to even attempt that risk, especially in the wake of the failed attempt by the politicians in Hargeon to try to uproot them from their own sense of practicing business in their way, it did not stop some from being worried that they had to be involved in the ensuring of goods and services or otherwise find themselves hoping that some merchants had a strong enough resolve to outlast the storm. Unfortunately, it was feeling like that that strength was not universally held, with some that were all but known that there would be problems if there was no intervention on their part.

1660/2500

For the merchants that were reliant on more niche goods, the trading companies became involved, working to try to coordinate their resources, not only those that were overseas, but also their domestic partners. It was a situation dire enough that they had to call from all sorts of allies and supporters to make sure that the situation did not get worse in the port city, and as such, it also meant a huge upspike in business for the people of the city, namely those that worked the docks in either na official or unofficial sense, much like how Vyra had times before. Rather than defending against the usual youth theft that was trying to pocket a small piece of jewelry from one of the shipments to have just arrived, instead it was a combination of unloading ships that were coming in at rates that nobody could have envisioned, making deliveries outside of the city and then bringing htem in, and in some cases even going far outside the realms of Hargeon’s borders, making key contraband pickups in order to move things along.

1842/2500

Vyra’s role within this whole system had often been seen as one that was as much tied to being that of cathartic than practical, much of the time. She was not strong enough to handle the physical labor that came with the crews, and as time went and both relationships were built and it was realized who she was, there became less and less interest in risking her getting in harm’s way, especially for those who realized that as a close associate of Alisa Vollan, the last thing that any of them wanted was for Vyra to be put at risk. It was why, even with the Rune Knights trying to impose their lockdown upon the city due to the actions of her, the trading companies still provided aid, recognizing that the value of having Alisa Vollan as an ally and friend was far greater than whatever small losses may have come to their bottom line. Simply, they knew too that if they were to betray Blue Pegasus and bring in Vyra for capture, the next day they would have been destroyed, all of their goods ruined, many lives likely lost, and no short of absolute destruction in their wake. So much so that it would have taken years for them to rebuild themselves up again.

2058/2500

She found herself performing the job that they had often tasked her with handling, watching over things, security for lack of a better term, but in reality with things now, it was little more than an excuse to have her out in an area where the Rune Knights would not be, enabling them to keep watch over her, while allowing her to feel like she were contributing. Though she was reluctant to admit it herself, there was a sense of guilt that built within Vyra, the feeling that all of this, this pandemonium that was going on in Hargeon was her fault, and it was, but it was the realiziation of that that had made her feel almost ill. While she had been able to navigate through the turmoil affecting the city up to this point, the reality too was that there were no shortage of benefits that stood to have come by the people simply turning against her and thus ending this madness all together. Whether that would have happened while she were working for the Trading Companies though, it was much less likely, and it was something that for those who knew she were in Hargeon, Alisa notably, it was something that was very reassuring.

2265/2500

Too, there was the benefit that with her being involved and helping, the companies found themselves even willing to go an extra step above and beyond what they may have done otherwise, allowing Vyra to simply take what she needed in order to ensure that she were able to survive. As a wanted woman, she could not reliably do jobs and the nature of Blue Pegasus allowing that too would be complicated in its own right, so this would allow her to survive while not feeling like a burden upon Blue Pegasus. A cost of doing business, it was rationalized as being, but it was one that was appreciated, the value of it being htat it enabled the Demi-Human to remain in Hargeon all the while longer. And so, day in and day out this became as much her job as it was anything else; giving her the illusion that she was helping the people and stopping would be thieves, when in reality it was a calculated plan by the traiding companies to babysit her to build favor with Alisa. Whether she realized it or not, it did not seem to matter too terribly for Vyra, as the idea of being out there was something that had been long overdue, something that seemed to take away and for a brief moment allow her ot not think about the madness that had come over Hargeon. It would not last forever, and eventually it would come to a head inevitably, but at least for now, she was able to keep herself standing.

2525/2500