The Weight of Choice

[Lucent Leer]

Lucent awoke the next morning full of energy. It was easily the most restful sleep he had had in some time! The pleasures of peace and quiet were clearly undervalued by some ponies, but not by Lucent. The unicorn completed his morning routine and secured a light breakfast at a nearby cafe.

While he finished his coffee, he started to think of what his next move would be. There was likely to be fearsome competition for the wondrous prize. Lucent's mental image of a dangerous “criminal” defaulted to a large, bulky stallion, with scars covering his body and a mad look in his eyes. He bit his lip nervously just at the thought of it. Focusing on overpowering his opponents was probably a bad idea. The merchant had mentioned something about the challenge being a maze, though. He was rather certain of his navigation skills, so maybe relying on those first to beat the others to the end was a better plan. He would likely have to confront the killers at some point, however. The unicorn needed to be able to defend himself; he had to be able to kill.

The last thought still didn't settle well with him. Lucent rose with his seat, gathered his things and began to stroll the streets once more. He needed a better look at the Griffon Kingdom again before he decided where he would go next. Lucent had spent much more time studying Equestria, where the boundaries of his work took place. The loss of his previous map still bite at him. Surely a port city would have at least one place where he could get another.

[Bowie]

After a bit of wandering, Lucent was able to find a shop selling maps and other navigation equipment. The paint above the door had long since faded, leaving the store's name illegible. But the various maps and trinkets sitting in the display glass were indication enough of what it was selling.

Inside was a gruff-looking earth pony standing behind a counter. A large, white-feathered griffon was standing on the other side, easily towering over both the store owner and Lucent. "So then what?" the earth pony asked.

"What do you think?" the griffon responded. "I roughed him up and left him in the sewers. Should've done worse. I mean, this punk brings me a crate full of sandbags and let the other guy walk away with my generator. Now I'm out payment for this pack and have no way of contacting the guy who ordered the job in the first place."

"So what'd ya end up doing?"

"Well I couldn't just not deliver a payment. You think any of those wolves would work with me again if I did? They'd sooner kill me. There goes my entire business. No, I had to buy a new freaking generator, out of my own pocket. Set me back six stinkin' months."

"Sheesh."

"Yeah, and on top of that my regular guy is now out of office. That bird was over half my revenue."

"Yeah, hang on a second, Filcher. You need something?" the shop owner asked, turning his head to Lucent. The large, white griffon glanced back as well, looking at the newcomer that had interrupted their conversation.

[Lucent Leer]

It didn't take very long to find what he was looking for. Peering into the window, he could see cases containing all sorts of navigational goods. Even though he was shopping for a very basic map, Lucent admitted he was a bit tempted by just the front display. The place did look a bit dated, but he fondly thought of the wear as experience rather than negligence as he strolled inside.

Upon entering, he spotted the white griffon and gruff pony conversing at the counter. The meek unicorn didn't want to interrupt them, so he started to browse the store while he listened in on their converation. It sounded like the griffon had been cheated out of payment for a supply, although one of the rogues that tried to swindle him hadn't got off easy. From the rest of the story it was easy to see that these were not good times for him.

Lucent jumped a bit as the shopkeeper suddenly shifted his attention to him. The griffon's gaze did little to calm him either. “J-j-just finding a map of the Kingdom,” he replied. Quickly swallowing, Lucent turned to Filcher. “Sorry to hear about your r-run in with bad business."

[Bowie]

"Not like you had anything to do with it," Filcher said bitterly, turning back to the store owner.

"Griffon Kingdom maps are on that wall," the pony added, nodding in its direction. "Anyways, you were sayin'?"

"Yeah, they threw my regular guy out after the 'revolution'," the large, white griffon continued, air-quoting with one talon. "So that's over half my business, and pretty much all of my guaranteed income. No one else is regular, let alone ask for more than one or two jobs. This guy, it was every month on the dot. We had a system. Now I gotta find new buyers."

"Did you consider asking the council? See if they'd pick up where he left off?" the store owner asked, keeping an eye on Lucent as he spoke.

"I would, but I hear they're still paranoid about the old guy. Don't know how a meeting would blow over." The griffon picked up a map laying on the counter in front of him, examining it for several seconds. "What do you need a map of the kingdom for anyway?" he asked Lucent, keeping his back to the unicorn. "First time out of the city? You look like a greenhorn."

"That's his own business. Doesn't have to share it with you," the store owner stated casually.

"Of course not," Filcher responded, adjusting his shoulders. "Just curious."

[Lucent Leer]

Lucent looked toward the wall that the shopkeeper had pointed out and, sure enough, there was a decent stock of what he was seeking. He only needed something simple, though there was no lack of variation among the maps. His keen eye eagerly compared the differences in the inking between them, even noticing the watermark of a renowned cartographer on a few of them. Just looking at these displays make him bitter at the loss of that magnificent piece he had given to Baxter. Finally, he decided on a reasonably detailed vellum chart. With a sure flick of his horn, the unicorn unfastened the parchment from the wall and brought it with him to the counter.

As he was examining the maps, Lucent still kept an ear to the pair's conversation. He searched their words for some sort of hint at what Filcher's business was, but it was all too vague to gather much. “Not really, I c-came from Canterlot actually. I spend a fair amount of time out of the city as a surveyor,” he answered frankly. “Lost my last map to a wolf. It was a fine one at that too. I wanted to replace it so I could get a lay of the land again before I headed out.” Maybe he was being a bit open about this, but it was all half-truths at least. “I'll take this one,” Lucent said to the earth pony, placing the chart on the counter.

Lucent thought for a second before turning to the griffon again. “What is your line of work anyways, if you d-don't mind me asking?” His curiosity had been sparked and the question had left his mouth before he had realized it. This could have been an illicit affair for all he knew! He immediately regretted his question.

[Bowie]

Filcher looked up from the map he was holding as soon as Lucent had mentioned his encounter with the wolf. The sentence had clearly caught the griffon's attention.

"I'm uh, a liaison you might say," he spoke as the store owner rung up Lucent's total. "Griffon Kingdom's got about zero contact with the Barrens, so when someone needs to hire wolves for somethin', they do it through me. I set 'em up with a pack, make sure the job gets done, then deliver the payment and take a fee."

The white-feathered griffon set his map back down, sliding it towards the back of the counter. "Normally I ask for the payment up front, but this guy was my biggest customer. Trusted him enough to wait on the payment since he always followed through. Before this, I only had one time where a delivery boy tried to run off with a payment, and he got tracked down and taken care of real quickly. Didn't work as well the second time, after my buyer had already been run out of the city."

"Eight bits for the map," the gruff pony behind the counter interrupted.

"So what did this wolf look like?" the griffon continued. "Don't suppose he said who he was working for or what he was doing."

[Lucent Leer]

Contacting wolves for work? It sounded reasonable enough, though the types of jobs that would interest the employment of those brutes was likely very specific. “Right, thanks,” Lucent said as he handed the bits over to the shopkeeper.

Thinking back, he never did find out what Baxter was doing in Stone Valley. He did seem rather intent on getting back home though. Lucent wondered why Filcher was so interested in the wolf. Perhaps he wanted to contact a potential former employee? Regardless, the griffon was being rather forward with him, so he saw little reason to withhold what he knew.

“He was a w-w-white wolf who...was missing part of an ear,” Lucent began slowly, piecing together what he remembered of the diamond dog in his mind. “I met him in Stone Valley, though I don't really know what he was doing there. Believe it or not, I actually got his name though!” he continued, getting a tad excited at how relevant this brief encounter had become. “It was Baxter, and he was heading from there to get a ship here and get back to the Barrens!”

[Bowie]

"Baxter, Baxter..." Filcher repeated, rapping the claws of his talon against the counter in quick succession.

"Do you know him?" the store owner asked.

"That's the thing, I make it a point to remember the names of the wolves I've worked with. This one doesn't sound remotely familiar." The griffon paused for a moment, continuing to rap his claws on the counter. "I can think of at least two wolves with torn ears, but neither of them's named Baxter. Could be from a pack I haven't worked much with I guess."

Filcher shrugged, finally stopping the motion with his talon. "Probably hired by someone outside the kingdom. Fulfilled his contract and now's trying to make his way back to the Barrens."

[Lucent Leer]

So he didn't know that wolf's story either. Lucent sighed. He supposed it would have been quite the coincidence if he did. “Oh, alright then,” the unicorn responded with a tinge of disappointment. Whatever Baxter had been doing beforehand mattered little now anyways. He had his eyes set on a cure and needed to focus on readying himself in every way possible.

He rolled up the map and levitated it to his side with another flick of his horn. “Take care,” Lucent said to the two with a brief nod before exiting the shop.