Temper management is hard

Shai had little trouble finding her new employers. All she had to do was take a turn about the market. Immediately, on the far side of the square, she saw huge, red banners flying the design of the white moore flower. She felt beads of sweat start to form on her brow. Wasn't this a little bit too ostentatious? Still, she made her way over.

Irritatingly, she spotted that guy along the way. Yes, that shameless guy. He still hadn't moved from his spot. Didn't he realize people were avoiding him? Shai shook her head in disbelief. Even if you were going to beg for water, you had to do it with some common sense. At this rate, he would never get any.

Shai stopped in surprise. The people behind her bumped into her with a load of cursing, but she ignored them. That shameless fellow even had the gall to raise his head and stare at her accusingly as she passed by!

"I hope his eyes are pecked out by crows," Shai cursed. She resumed walking, but could feel his stare all the way until she reached the super fancy camp owned by the Marshwaters.

There were people milling around everywhere, loading barrels, packing food, checking harnesses, and performing all sorts of other pre-trip chores.

Shai managed to flag down a burly-looking woman by waving the brass button at her. The woman bent to stare at it, squinting in the bright haze of sunlight. The sun was creating a glare, making it difficult to see the design of the coin.

Finally, the woman said with a noncommittal grunt, "Back there." She tilted her head to the back of the camp, where barrels were being inspected, then resumed her task of lugging around thick coils of rope.

After carefully dodging around the busy folk of the camp, Shai approached the proprietary-looking man who seemed to be managing the organized chaos around him.

She cleared her throat. He declined to look at her. Annoyed, she began speaking to the side of his head anyway. "My name is Thea Shai Lackess, and I work as a caravan guard. I was recommended to come and join your caravan to Esta Am'jimarr." Shai showed him the small bronze coin.

The man barely glanced at it. "Who sent you?" he asked distractedly.

Before she could respond, he raised his voice to bellow at two boys who were rolling some fresh barrels over. "If you roll those over rocks again, I'll stuff you in a barrel and roll you over rocks to see how you like it!" He muttered, "Bloody useless hicks." Raising his voice again, he threatened, "If you crack any of those, I'll take it out of your hide!"

The boys hastily righted the barrels and began clearing the way of rocks first. Shai blinked, her ears ringing from his shouting.

"So?"

It was a moment before she realized he was still waiting for her answer. Even while waiting, the man was still shouting out commands every time he took a breath. He even shouted at the people who were standing right beside him. Shai wondered sourly if he was deaf.

When he paused to take his next breath—he was turning distinctly purple—Shai hurriedly butted in, "Alvar the Cooper sends me. He told me that he recommended me to you."

The main paused a moment to look her over closely. His mouth twisted into an ugly shape. Shai's eyes narrowed infinitesimally, but she resisted saying anything. He clearly didn't look impressed.

He said dismissively, "The Master Cooper never said you were a girl." His voice was matter-of-fact. As if it was obvious. As if it was common sense than women couldn't be caravan guards. As if she wasn't worth a damn.

Shai felt her face redden in anger. Don't say anything stupid. Don't say anything stupid. She chanted it to herself like a mantra. Putting on a puzzled smile—tiny gods, she had become thick-skinned recently—she said evenly, "Be that as it may, I was part of Master Alvar's caravan for three weeks. We encountered our fair share of bandits, scavengers, and deserters. I have also had many other successful caravan guarding jobs in the past, and have not sustained heavy injuries from them, as you can see." She spread her arms a bit, showing off her unmaimed state. She even had all her fingers. What a novelty.

The man fished a long piece of reed from his pocket and picked his teeth with it. Sticking the reed in his mouth to chew on, he shouted out warnings to folks who were loading sacks of grain onto a gleaming cart. He didn't care how many fingers Shai had. Clearly, the Marshwaters could afford the best of everything in this market. Perhaps their caravan guards even had eleven fingers.

Shai watched irately as the reed in the man's mouth continued to bob up and down. Finally, he glanced at her and asked rudely, "You're still here?" He took the reed out of his mouth just long enough to spit disgustingly on the ground and continued, "Fa! You probably survived from luck, or based on the skill of the others in your caravan." He eyed her kodaichi disdainfully. "How much can you even cut with that toothpick of a knife, anyway?" He waved a hand derisively. "Get out of the way and stop wasting my time. We're looking for real warriors to guard our shipment."

He walked off. Shai stood rooted to the spot in anger and disbelief.

Don't say anything stupid.

Don't say anything stupid.

Shit.

Before she knew it, she was striding toward the arrogant ass. In a single, smooth movement, she lunged.

Before the man could react, the front half of the reed in his mouth fell to the ground. The two halves had been separated by a clean cut. Shai's short sword gleamed in the sun.

"It turns out that I can cut a lot of things with this toothpick of a knife." Her words rung out loudly in the sudden, shocked silence.

The tip of the man's nose turned pink from the touch of cold steel.

"Thank you," Shai finished bitterly, "for your time and consideration."

With that, she sheathed her blade and walked away.