"It's always nice to have a good friend to help you take your mind off the person you're longing for," she said instead.Alya turned her head and gazed...at her. "You know, Lissa, you really can be dense sometimes," she said with a smile."What do you mean? You won't even tell me who this mystery man is." It's not a man," said Alya."A woman?" asked Lissa, shocked. But Alya had insisted that she wasn't going to go down that road. Now, suddenly, to have a change of heart ... Then Lissa began to feel. I could actually see her hesitate, then look over at Paula, sitting at the table, head down, counting. Then back at Jamie and Saffron, and then at me. When she saw me, her mouth clenched a bit, and she just shook her head and said, "What kind of friend would I be if I didn't support my friend in her hour of success?"She didn't look back at me as she left the house.Well ok then. She'd made her bed. Time to set fire to it.The next day, I was up and out early. Straight downtown to Jordan Lawler's. .. Shall I play it straight? Steal a lute and then play for coin in the marketplace? Nah. Humans are bad at keeping their stuff safe! I tiptoed soundlessly on the hard grey ground. Men’s coin-purses were an easy start, my deft fingers unbinding knots and palming bags away at every turn. I picked three pockets by the time I’d made it to my first merchant stand. “Excuse me, ma’am, I’ll take that blouse, and that long skirt there...yes, thank you...Could you shorten the bottom a little...my. My little box of jewellary consists mainly of bracelets and necklaces, nothing of value just things I enjoy wearing, unfortunately some of my bits and pieces have been broken in gay abandonment when I have been lost in the moments of single minded passion, but I don’t mind that. From the box I take a beaded necklace with a shoelace string, the beads are quite large and browns and mauves are the predominate colours it hangs down into my cleavage and I love wearing it, the bracelet matches it.