NPC Focus - Estelle and Valérie Nicolas

Estelle Nicolas and her younger sister Valérie run Nicolas Dry Goods in the poor Maçon District of Ville des Marai, a place where every coin matters and every kindness is remembered. Estelle, a spinster by choice, carries the quiet weight of responsibility with a steady grace. Her dream is simple but unwavering - to save enough for Valérie’s dowry and secure her a good husband, someone who will offer her the kind of stability Estelle has long since set aside for herself. She is known throughout the district as both friendly and tireless, the sort of woman who will quietly lower a price or extend a kindness when someone is short, never making a show of it.

Valérie, by contrast, is all restless energy and bright imagination. Where Estelle is rooted, Valérie is always looking beyond the horizon. She laughs easily, dreams boldly, and refuses to believe her life must be confined to the narrow streets of the Maçon District. She wants adventure - real adventure - the kind filled with lost treasures, ancient secrets, and stories worth telling. In her mind, fortune is not something to be saved slowly, but something to be found.

Most evenings, she can be found in the alley beside the shop, practicing with a small wooden shortsword. Passersby often pause to watch, amused by her enthusiasm, though some have begun to notice that her movements are no longer clumsy or wild. There is intention there now, and growing skill. Valérie has been quietly setting aside her own savings, coin by coin, with plans to purchase a proper weapon and perhaps even pay for formal training - a first real step toward the life she imagines.

The shop itself holds more than bolts of cloth and everyday necessities. Nicolas Dry Goods is haunted, though not in any way that would trouble its customers. The spirit of their great grandfather, Quintin, lingers within its walls. He founded the shop decades ago and died there, never truly leaving the place he built with his own hands. His presence is subtle and careful, never revealing itself to his great granddaughters, yet always watching.

Quintin keeps to the quiet work of a guardian - straightening what has been disturbed, tending to small tasks, and ensuring that anyone with ill intent thinks twice before crossing the threshold. Those with a sensitivity to such things, like Gigi Dubois, have felt him, but they recognize what he is - not a threat, but a protector. And so he remains, an unseen hand guiding the shop through the years, devoted still to the family he left behind.

Nicolas Dry Goods