Misty, Spring 1745
Tell me something about yourself, Misty. Pretend I'm blind, and you're telling me what you look like and what you do.
I's a little girl, Doctor. I's just tall enough to see over a stable door. I has... [pulls up her braid to look at it] brown-ish hair. I has two shoon, and they ver' nearly match up, an' they's brown-ish too. I has a smock, an' it's white-ish, an' there's a broidery on it of a catten. See? Oh, no, you said, pretend as you're blind. But it's a nice catten, with a paw up. And for the cold, I has a wrap like a posh lady, an' it's made of wool, and it's sort-of red, only I don't have that today, acos it's warmer now. It's springtime, an' that means it's not as cold, an' there's no ice, an' the dribbles starts again acos of the ice bein' gone. I got the wrap from Missus Tengone, when she was givin' out rags before Midwinter. An' I has a small nose, not a big one, an' I's still little enough to get through a cullis in the canal. That's me.
What did you do this morning?
I went down in the Blackwater, an' I brought up three old coins and a ring. It were broken, but Sizzle thinks she can sell it anyway.
Who is Sizzle?
[giggles] You know who Sizzle is!
But pretend I don't.
Alright. Sizzle's a gnome. That's sort-of like a goblin, but more brown nor green, an' rounder, and gnomes has brighter eyes. An' they're shorter. Sizzle's all wrapped up all the time in lots an' lots of clothes an' wraps an' stuff. So's you can see just her nose an' her eyes. I don't know if she's really a lady, but Missus Tengone said it's not proper for little girls to live with men, so I think Sizzle's a lady, because she's very proper. And she an' I lives in the old cellar under the Pinchin' Loft, and she sniffs out magic and I gets it out for her, acos of bein' smaller.
What kind of things do you get, and where do you get them?
Sizzle can smell magic, but she's not ver' good at saying exactly where it is, so I has to go in places an' find it. In the canal, most times, an' in the drains, an' sometimes in holes an' such under houses. There's a place up Morrrow way where there's parties, an' they drops stuff and it goes through the floor, so we wanders up that way often, cos even if it's not magic what I finds, it's coins or masks or... or toys for grown-ups an' such. But the magic we finds is little things, rings an' bracey-lets an' such, an' sometimes buttons an' laces an' such.
How do you get things from the canal?
I puts me clothes on the side, and I swims down and gets them! It's cold sometimes, but it's not bad, an' acos me granda' were a fishy, I can stay down for a long time. An' the water creatures don't bother me none, not after me ma died down there. They says they owe me, but I don't know what that means, exceptin' as they don't do anythin' bad to me, and it's safe for me down there when it ain't for nobody else.
Do you remember your mother?
Nah. I were really little when she drownt. Although I don't know how that came about, nohow, acos if me granda' were a fishy, an' I can stay down for ages, then she should ought to have too.
What will you do this afternoon?
I's goin' to go with Sizzle up the market at Hangdog, right over the other side of town, an' we're gonna see what we can get for the bits we found in the last couple of weeks. Sizzle says that if she gets enough, she'll buy a new spell, an' she'll teach it to me. But we's definitely goin' to get enough for some food, and some tobacco, an' some beer, and we'll buy some of that in Preference and bring it home and stow it. We doesn't bring too much home at once, acos of the rats who get in. I thinks we should ought to get a catten to keep the rats out, but Sizzle thinks it'd get too big an' get lazy, or somebody'd steal it, or it'd run away. I don't know why anybody'd steal a catten, or even a cat when it gets big, but some people will steal anythin', Sizzle says.
An' then in the evenin', we'll go see Mercy, an' she's the girl who used to be Sizzle's diver before me, when she got too big, and now she turns tricks down Handtruckle way, but nights after we gets paid for things, we heads up there an' we pays her enough as she can sit in for a night or two an' still pay the rent on her room, and we brings some wood so's we can has a fire. An' then we sings songs and we gets a bit drunk, and she shows me how to do other things for when I gets too big to dive any more. Although I thinks as I can keep workin' for Sizzle even when I gets too big for the little holes and the cullises, acos of bein' a better diver nor anyone else.
Thank you, Misty. That's enough for now. Sizzle is waiting outside for you.
That's alright, Doctor. Bye bye!