Rundown of my opening chapter, where I introduce the main characters and start the plot. My protagonist, Ginzaekh, is hunting with his two friends Ash and Gazi when he finds a crystal in the river. The three quickly realize that this is the same crystal they've heard about for three days now-- the emperor, Zarakharn, has lost it, and put out a reward for its return. They also realize they can only tell their parents about it, and no one else, because at this point there are several greedy dragons (all my characters are dragons) who would want to steal the crystal from them by violent means. Meanwhile, Zarakharn, my antagonist, receives a magical alert that lets him know that the crystal is somewhere dark (Ginzaekh's bag) in Rer (where Ginzaekh lives.) So he doesn't know who has it but he knows where it is. The crystal has a defense mechanism where after five to ten minutes (still deciding) of someone (besides Zarakharn) touching it, the crystal sends out a signal to its location. It also burns the holder, but it only causes the sensation of burning, not actual burning, which is why Ginzaekh's bag isn't charred at all and he didn't notice what the crystal did. However, the crystal's original thief was carrying the crystal in his mouth when he stole it, and he spat it out because it was hot. He assumed it was destroyed, but that wouldn't be possible because Zarakharn would be dead. The crystal makes him immortal and if it is destroyed Zarakharn dies immediately. So Zarakharn, who has already tracked the thief down and arrested him, is looking for the crystal. He killed the thief after learning he was hired to steal the crystal by a spy in the Hand of Justice, the secret police. Zarakharn summons the chief inquisitor, Kharrin, to discuss the spy. Kharrin swears to track down the spy, and Zarakharn promises to fire him if he fails and implies he will kill him when that happens. Also partially covered in that scene is the fact that Zarakharn is a dark wizard, and that there was once an order of wizards called Shazarians, but a splinter sect turned to the dark arts, and after a war between the good and evil factions in which the Shazarians won. Both the Shazarians and Kenshi (the evil side) went into hiding, and magic was forgotten by the world. Zarakharn is the last Kenshi. Only Zarakharn, his pet snake Sartigar, and the Shazarians know this. Kharrin has no idea and neither does Ginzaekh. Now for the scene I came to ask about. In this scene, Assirratan, a Shazarian, is in a tavern awaiting the arrival of another Shazarian so they can discuss recent events, such as the crystal's loss and the resurface of Sar Argandi, a terrorist Kharrin was attempting to apprehend. (A little background on Sar-- he was a Shazarian who went rogue and killed a group of police, his logic being that since they served Zarakharn, a dark wizard, they were evil and the entire government deserved to be wiped out. The Hand of Justice failed to capture him because the Shazarians-- some of whom are part of the Hand-- got to him first and imprisoned him themselves so he wouldn't a) kill more innocents or b) receive the death penalty the law demanded. He was thought to have disappeared by the non-Shazarians until he escaped imprisonment and was discovered to be at large again, and this combined with the crystal's loss has caused some disarray.) Assirratan is one of the Shazarians in the Hand responsible for capturing Sar and hiring Daktarash (the crystal's thief) and we learn later that Assirratan is an alias-- all the Shazarians in the Hand use aliases. Assirratan is wearing a hood, concealing his face. Now, Assirratan is supposed to seem like a grey character-- we don't know if this point if he's sinister or good. But for the record, he eschews killing-- not only because of the Shazarian way of life but because his father once killed a dragon in revenge for killing his wife, and the murder haunted him for the rest of his life. However, Assirratan is conflicted because Zarakharn killed his father, and he feels a contradictory need to seek vengeance. Ultimately, whether it's for revenge or not, Zarakharn needs to be taken out, and that's why the Shazarians employed Daktarash in the first place. They employed a little coercion to make sure he upheld his end of the bargain, but they gave him the option to refuse altogether and Daktarash felt it was more profitable to accept their terms than walk away. Assirratan feels guilt over Daktarash's death because it was the Shazarians' fault. So Assirratan is a good dragon, but under the hood, we aren't supposed to be given that many clues as to where he aligns himself. Anyway, Assirratan is supposed to seem like a shifty character in this scene. The other character I'm introducing is called Darvafir. He wears a helmet that covers his face and a sword with tallies etched into it of all the bounties he's killed with it. He does work for anyone paying high enough, but he does so many jobs for Kharda Arfat that he's practically his right hand man. Kharda is a crime lord (who sold Daktarash out to Zarakharn) and Zarakharn's cousin (though this isn't common knowledge.) Darvafir is after the crystal and wants to kill Sar Argarva. Both will pay well (the crystal will pay more.) Assirratan doesn't want that to happen. So what I need is some confrontation between these two, because one will become a mysterious antagonist and the other will become a mysterious helper, and the helper (Assirratan's) interest in protecting the protagonists will pit him even more against Darvafir. So I need help writing this scene to introduce them, so that this is the chapter where they first rub against each other.
