Old Donnie is hired

The old man looked at Ki's facial features and uncovered body parts. "If I had to guess you put your Gu mark near your eye, they say that where you put your marking means a sign of wealth but I am sure you already knew that. You really are an interesting kid. I like you. So what did you choose for your main Gu? Can I see?"

"Most Gu masters don't let the Gu Worm leave the body too often since they are relatively easy to kill, if they lose their Gu then they would have to make a new contract so it's quite annoying but whatever." Ki held her index finger below her eye and a small flash of purple and green gas exited from the small dot and landed onto the finger revealing a small white silkworm.

The old mans eyes lit up with excitement at seeing the changes from the small dot along with the strange gas and the small worm. "Hmm.. I don't think that is a common type of Gu. What is it?"

"Do you know who is the sole silk trader within the central lands?" Ki smiled.

"Not much is known these days but it's rumoured the family used to be merchants who once had high status." The old man frowned.

"Yes, the Bombyx family was once that family. We continued our trading after moving further away from the capital to avoid the power struggles. My Gu Worm is a silkworm, maybe even one day it will grow into a silk moth with enough time and care." The silkworm rested on her finger before turning into a purple and green gas returning into the small dot. "I have prepared some drawings of the markings for each arm and on the back. There is a further drawing of the placements on the body and where the markings of the arms and back are to connect together."

"Yes Young miss. My name is Donnie Murphy it's nice to meet you and I hope to continue working with you." The old man held his hands together to contain his excitement. 'This is a dream come true, never would I have ever been able to see these things up close within my lifetime but today I have been given a great opportunity. I have stagnated with my body art for years now and haven't felt much enjoyment from it that I had during my younger years. This young girl has opened a new door for my craft.'

After some time studying the drawings the old Donnie took out a drawing kit so that he could draw the outlines onto Ki's body.

After removing her upper clothing when he was not in the room she lay down on a long table facing downwards.

He first sketches the body art on her arms and then moved onto her back, he made slight adjustments based on her body so that the markings would fit her body size and shape and also help to align the markings so that the back and arm markings meet perfectly forming a complete whole.

He quickly left again so Ki could inspect herself to detect any faults but she was pleasantly surprised to discover he had not made a single mistake. "He is as good as I thought he would be."

After inspecting thoroughly again she did not find a single fault so she took out a small pot filled with a reddish black coloured substance that looked like ink or some form of pigment.

Ki pierced her thumb with a ceremonial runes dagger while chanting in the same kind of language she used during the Gu ceremony, several drops of blood fell into the small pot but the drops of blood seemed to become in a more smokey or ash like form rather than a liquid the closer they got to the pot.

Her wound quickly healed and she began to mix the ink or pigment within the pot, she then placed the pot by the table along with several needles before lying down again.

"You can enter again." Ki finally let him enter the room once more to complete the final task.

The old man picked up a needle and noticed the already prepared ink and showed a look of interest in it but decided to focus on his work. "I will begin immediately, it may hurt a bit, especially when I begin to reach your back. So please try to bear with the pain and don't make any sudden movements."

Old man Donnie began to pierce the tip of the needle into the skin on the outlines of his previous markings he had made at a steady pace with his hands keeping the same stab and lifting motion upon making slight adjustments on the location for a couple of hours.

In the end he looked tired but was still smiling. "Young miss I have completed the outline in this small amount time because you have a smaller body than an adult and I also a managed to fill in some of the parts but I think we need about another couple of tries to complete it."

"I will come back after eating in about an hour or two so rest up then we can continue." Ki nodded but frowned slightly upon feeling a familiar stinging pain within her back and arms. 'It's as annoying as I remember but since I am younger it's even worse since my skin is so young and tender.'

After the old man left, Ki left the room after getting fully dressed once more.

Ki was glad that she had chosen long sleeved clothing that covered most of her body to wear on this day, if her parents noticed what she had done to her body they would become angry with her. "I can imagine their faces…"

She quickly hid her irritated face and went to have a meal with her family.

Ki sat at the table and asked. "Grandmother is there any news on the recruiting of talents and is there anything else happening outside to do with the business."

"Hmm… The restaurants are opened and are smoothly. Transporting the wine, mulberries and mulberry leaves is easier to send to Wolfden City since it is much closer and easier to transport goods to. We have some retainer families who serve us within that city so I'm thinking of sending some of the other families to go live in the other two cities which are a little further away. This way they can assist with some of the business issues so we do not need to go there every time we encounter a setback." Agnes thought for a while before answering.

"Hmm… that's a good idea. What about your sisters family? They live in Wolfden city so what is happening with them?" Ki looked a little concerned about this topic. 'One of these days they may really cause the family trouble…'

"I have no plans on moving them away. The best way is to keep them closer so we have some idea what they get up to." Coldness filled Agnes eyes at the mention of her sisters family, she then quickly changed the subject. "The other two cities may be a little more of a distance away but it isn't that much of a problem so there isn't any issues with transportation so long as we hire or use or own guards to protect the carriages. For the recruitment we looked into some of them… the story behind one of them was interesting after we looked into his situation we found that he may be a hidden talent. Quite an interesting fellow."

"Which one did you investigate?" Ki looked interested since her grandmother took an interest in such a person. 'Grandmother only has eyes for talents and business that has potential so it is rare for something or someone to catch her interest.'

Agnes looked at her granddaughter with a look of pity. "I believe he was called Isaac Dante. After investigating him thoroughly we briefly sent him an investigation with our families details and how to contact us but he seemed to have vanished. I guess he didn't have any interest in being recruited… what a shame."

'So we startled the snake…' Ki sighed before asking. "Can I have the investigation papers on him just in case. Maybe if he shows up somewhere we can try again."

Little did they know a certain person had already arrived in the village and integrated himself into the village about a day ago.