Find The Ring!

Ren walked down the streets of oak town, smile wide and bracelets clinking together with everystep he took. He had to admit, it was hard to ignore the glares some people gave him, but he was semi-used to it by now. His destination was a river somewhere around, where he was to look for a ring. Pretty simple task, after all, water WAS his forte. How hard could one small, calm river be?
As Ren approached the river, he realized it was in fact, was not small at all. And it certainly wasn’t calm. Waters rushed down the stream at an alarming pace, making a rather loud noise. The river was pretty wide as well. Ren gulped audibly when he heard a female voice. “Oh! Hello! Are you the mage from Lamia Scale?” a lady asked, walking up to him. He then felt distressed because the woman was much taller than he was. “Uhm… are you okay?” she asked, with a lifted eyebrow.

Ren noticed he was visibly upset looking, and he had to reasure the woman that her ring was in capable hands. "Oh me? Yeah! I'm fine! Great actually! My name's Ren, Ren Hengi, and your miss... Amy Milton, right?" he asked with the best smile he could muster. Amy looked rather relieved and nodded. "Oh yes thats me! Its a pleasure to meet you Ren! Now, about my ring..." she trailed off. "Don't worry about a thing! I've tackled stuff like this before! I'll have it in no time!" he lied.

Ren had to reassure this woman, as he had already made a bad impression in the first couple of seconds. Amy looked rather excited now, and her eyes were kind of sparkly. "You don't mind if I watch, do you?" she asked excitedly. "I've never seen a mage in action before, and with you experience, this should be so much fun! she said. Ren tried his hardest not to look visibly stressed. Great, look where this lie had gotten him. He would probably be falling over in the currents many times over, and her client was going to be watching the entire time. Ren let out a sigh as he bent down to roll up his pants.

Ren cautiously approached the river, that was now roaring rather loudly now that he had gotten close to it. Ren dipped his toe in, and decided it was safe. he dipped one foot in, and found himself flung into the river within seconds. Ren cried out, and he noted it was rather lady-like. He only managed to steady himself when his back hit a rock.

Ren looked up to see he had been swept several feet, and could barely see Amy. Of course, he could tell she was probably not happy. He sighed, and dipped under the water. He looked around, and eventually managed to hold himself under the current. He looked around, but didn't catch anything sparkling. Crap, this was supposed to be simple he thought to himself as he came up. Still, he couldn't give up. This was his first solo mission, and he had to make it a success.

As he dove back under, he thought he saw something sparkling up ahead. Ren decided to try to swim up current, which turned out to be a horrible idea, seeing as how it was already tough as is. He managed to persist by pushing his feet against the bottom of the river, but even then he still had trouble not getting swept up.

When Ren finally managed to make it up stream, what he found, to his disappointment, was a shard of broken glass. He heard Amy's voice from above, and came up from the water. "Are you sure you can do this? Maybe I should just tell my husband I lost it..." she sighed. "Hey! If I'm not giving up, neither will you! There's a whole river to look through, I'm not giving up just yet! he attempted to cheer her up, and she smiled faintly. "Alright... If you say so... she trailed off. Crap, I'm losing her, I need to hurry up he thought to himself in a panic as he dived back in.

Several more minutes had passed by with no success, and he had also been slapped around by the current a couple times, so he was feeling rather sore. Ren still had more pride then he had bruises, so he persisted on. When he came up he looked across the stream he hadn't explored, but it was so far down he hadn't considered it yet. Then again, in a stream like this, a ring probably would have been swept down. So Ren curled dove back under and began to swim down stream. Well, not much swim as be violently rushed down the river.

When he had been rushed down for a few seconds, he came up, and found himself in in a calmer part of the river. It still pushed him along, but not as bad as earlier. He looked around this section of the river, but anything he found sparkling was just more broken glass. He sighed, he might as well just give up, anything that fell in this river was probably long gone.

Suddenly, he heard cackling. He looked up to see an old man sitting at the edge of the river, holding a sparkling silver ring in his hand. "Oh! Sir! I need that ring! he cried out as he tried to make his way over, instead tripping being pushed down stream until he was grabbed by his collar. "And what makes me think its yours? Given, your very flamboyant for a young man, but you seem a little young to be married?" he observed with a lifted eyebrow. "Well, its not mine exactly, but you see, I'm helping a woman find her ring, it fell in the river, I think its that oooone! he cried out as he was dragged onto shore.

The old man looked rather irritated by now. "What makes you think I believe you? You can't just tell this old man something and expect him to believe it!" he snapped at Ren. "Sir, I swear I'm no-" he was interrupted by the old man covering his mouth. "Now you hush young man! You can swear all you'd like, but you can't fool this old man! the old man declared rather proudly.

Ren sighed, and resorted to his last option. "Okay, how about I pay you for it? Ren's muffled voice said through his hand. The old man let out a toothy grin and inspected the ring. "Well, given the lovely quality of this ring, I would say about 500 jewels should do it" he stated. "500 jewels! That's a bit much don't you think? I don't think I have any jewels with me! Ren stressed. The old man looked disappointed, then lit up suddenly. "Alright then, a trade. I'll take that fancy pin on yer hat he offered, and Ren let out a gasp. "There must be something else you'd want? I have these bracelets, I could lend you some nail polish, I have a lot of other pins at home!" Ren stressed.

The old man shook his head defiantly. "Nope, I've made up my mind, I want that there pin, or no ring" he decided. Ren sighed. This was his favorite pin, the gold one that he had received for his birthday. Then again, the client was probably wondering where he had gone. The client was waiting for her ring. After all, a hat pin wasn't as important as an engagement ring. Ren unhooked the pin from his hat sadly, and gave it one last look before he handed it over to the old man, who took it and exchanged it for the ring.

"Pleasure doing business with ya! he said with a cackle before pushing Ren into the river and running off. Ren sighed and secured the ring in his pocket, and began to slowly make his way up stream. When he finally arrived, he found Amy sitting there, eyes wide with panic. "Oh! Your back! I was getting so worried! Did you find it?" she asked. Ren flashed a smile, and lifted up the ring in front of her face. "Here you go! Not a jewel out of place! he declared proudly, she gave him a huge smile and slipped it on her ring, then helped him out of the water. "Oh thank you! I really wish I could stay, but I have to go home right away now, oh thank you so much! she cried, giving him a hug.

Ren walked her home and then waved goodbye, then walked his way out of town. When he was pretty sure no one could hear him, he let out a cry of anguish for his hat pin which he would never see again.