Long before the sun rose, Navyri stood before the old mansion, blue eyes glowing in the eerie darkness. A fog had settled along the property and she could smell the sickening scent of rotten leaves, heard the dead brambles crunch beneath the sole of her boot. No one had dared buy such a property.
No one but her.
“How long,” she had asked the banker, sorting through the pristine sketches, “How long has it been vacant?” The Naer continued up the small dirt path, eyeing shriveled bushes along the way, their limited leaves browned and holding on for dear life- perhaps what used to be lush rose bushes once upon a time. Now they were dark and dried up from the sun, a ghost of their past glory. But glory could be restored and a true thief saw value in more than what was easily taken. Capable of putting work in, Navyri was interested in taking more than just some gold from any one individual. She wanted to steal from the city of Scalvoris.
“Well,” the agent stepped forward cautiously, not quite going as near to the property as she was, holding out some papers at arms length, “About 5 arcs, give or take… A few squatters might have come and gone, but once a season, the city tends to have someone come and sort that out.”
“It’s very large.” she stated simply, her head leaning back to follow the dirty walls to the clouds. Age and grim clung to the boards and chipped paint, but there were a number of windows and she was interested in seeing the state of the interior. She glanced down at the papers he had handed her, using her nail to pull up the corners and shift through them, “3,000 nels? Does this include closing costs as well? Taxes?,” Navyri continued to read while the man cleared his throat.
“Why, yes. It’s quite the steal. The property also extends quite a bit in the back, and there aren’t many properties like this left in Scalvoris,” he shuffled to the side, stuffing his briefcase under one arm and pointing to the side of the building. Behind it was a grand field, largely overgrown - a bit ominous in the early morn - a few headstones peeked along the far corner. A family graveyard, most likely. Humans had a funny tendency to grow attached to a plot of land and never leave again, “A lot of potential for a grand garden, no doubt.”
“Hmm,” Navyri’s attention was absorbed in the art and paperwork. Many of these sketches were decades old and showed just how fantastical this place used to be. Now? Now it was nothing but a broken memory. What happened to this place? She slipped all the papers into a folder and snapped it shut, a teasing edge to the curl of her lip, “I do love a good steal. Take me inside?”
