Chapter 49 - The Stalls

As Kass dragged me around the square I was assailed with a ton of new sights and smells. There was an impromptu puppet stage where a lizard man puppet was dancing with an elf, there were cooked sausage vendors, which I had to physically drag George away from, and there were tons of trinket and candy stalls.

“What do you think of this?” Kass asked, holding up what looked like an ivory hairpin. “Pretty isn’t it?”

“Sure… Who for?” I asked blankly.

Kass’s face fell a little. “For you, I was asking if you liked it,” she clarified.

“It’s fine. I don’t think it would be practical for short hair though,” I said.

“You know, not everything has to be practical,” Kass replied, passing the pin back to the stall owner. “You can enjoy things for sentimental reasons, or because they’re pretty.”

“I can appreciate beauty! I just choose to make that a secondary concern. Whenever I had something beautiful one of my sisters would take it from me, remember? I just got used to getting by with what little I was given. As long as it works, I’m happy with it,” I told her with a smile.

“You don’t have to live that way anymore, you know. You’re no longer under your sisters’ thumbs,” Kass said, grabbing my arm. “You can live a little bit more.”

“Perhaps… but some habits are hard to break,” I replied with a shrug.

“Before we leave here, we are going to find you a pretty bauble!” Kass suddenly declared.

I slowly turned towards her, eyes narrowed. “That’s really not necessary.”

“There you go with the necessary. No, it’s not necessary, or practical, or any of the other things you normally use to assess your possessions, but I’m going to get it for you because you think it’s pretty,” Kass said as she dragged me towards another stall.

This one had different scarves, and bags. I looked them over, but immediately lost interest because I was already wearing a scarf.

“Look seriously!” Kass berated me.

“I am! I’m just… not that interested in scarves. How often have you seen me wear one?” I shot back.

“Is that because you don’t like them? Or because you never bothered to buy one?” Kass asked, inching closer to me.

I couldn't look her in the eye, so I glanced away. “No comment.”

“You… are terrible,” she huffed before looping her arm around mine and tugging me towards the next fashion stall.

On the way there we passed a wagon with a delectable scent wafting out of it, and a series of fluff-covered cones arrayed on top. I unconsciously pulled against Kass to see what they were, which immediately drew her attention.

“What? You want some cotton candy?” she asked with a smile.

“Cotton what now? I was just wondering what those were,” I replied pointing at the cones. “They smell good.”

Kass looked at me incredulously. “That’s cotton candy, it’s literally just sugar spun out into a fluffy consistency. How is it you’ve never had cotton candy before?”

“I don’t know! I’ve never heard of it before. It even sounds like a made up thing, spinning sugar into a fluffy cloud, that’s insane!”

Kass looked at me for a few seconds. “Do you want to try one?”

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“Yes please,” I admitted quietly.

Kass laughed and stepped over to the stall, returning a few seconds later with a pair of cones. “Come on, we’ll sit on the fountain while we eat.”

We walked over to the white, stone, multi-tiered fountain and found a relatively empty section to sit. After Kass passed me one of the cones I took a tiny bite, enjoying the sensation of it melting in my mouth while I watched the people in the square.

I was so used to the Abyss, where different races were segregated, and the small towns where similar races congregate together, that I was amazed by the diversity in the square. Goblinoid races conversing with elves, ogres buying jewelry from dwarves, ifreit drinking with sirens… the variety of races was staggering.

Just as I was starting to get through my treat, someone in the square shouted. “Stop! Thief!” and a halfling came shooting out of the crowd.

I started to stand, but Kass grabbed my hand and forced me to sit back down. “What are you doing? We could help!” I half-whispered at her.

“They don’t need our help, watch,” she replied pointing at the end of the row of stalls. Just as the halfling passed the last stall, a massive green hand reached down and grabbed him by the scruff of the neck. The female orc then stepped out from the shadow of the stall, and casually carried the would-be thief back towards where the original call came from.

“I know her,” I said in quiet awe. “I’ve FOUGHT her. She’s from an adventuring group!” I continued, my excitement rising. “Why is she out catching thieves?”

“Do you think that adventuring teams just challenge dungeons twenty-four seven?” Kass asked in return. “Even professional ones have extensive downtime between runs, and because they’re so highly skilled a lot of cities, or companies are more than willing to shell out the cash to hire them as elite guards.”

I looked at Kass slightly funny. “Then why is she protecting the market?” I asked.

“The market is the most popular place to shop, and usually has hundreds of people roaming around. Where else would the elites be?” she asked in return.

“The government buildings…”

“Not around here. The people matter, and have a voice, so the adventurers are usually stationed where they’ll do the most good.”

“Huh…” I stared at the orc way off in the distance, while I took another bite of my treat. Or at least I tried to, only to find the remaining candy gone. George tried to act casual, but the fact that he had bright pink floss stuck all over his fur made it extremely clear who the culprit was. “You better hope that sugar isn’t bad for spiders,” I growled at him. “Because I’m not going to clean up your vomit if you get sick.” We stared at each other for a few seconds, both perfectly aware I was lying, before he snuffed and ran off into the crowd. “One of these days that spider is really going to get me in trouble,” I huffed.

“And you still love him,” Kass laughed as she snatched the empty cone from my hand. “Come on, let's throw these out then find you something shiny.”

She pulled me along, stopping at a trash can to dispose of our trash, before stopping at a jewelry vendor. Most of it was costume jewelry, glass and not gems, based upon both the shine and price, but we browsed anyway.

There were a lot of gaudy rings, giant ornate necklaces and oversized earrings, so I almost wrote it all off. Just before I stepped away Kass squealed in joy, “It’s perfect!” she said, grabbing something off the side of the cart before I could see.

She stepped closer to me, the item behind her back. “Close your eyes,” she said coyly.

“Why?” I asked blankly.

“Just do it! It’s a surprise!” she shot back. Based upon the look on her face she must really have believed she found something special, so with a sigh I closed my eyes.

A second later I felt something get pushed into my hair, and then Kass grabbed my shoulders and moved me a few steps. “Alright… and… open!” Kass declared.

I opened my eyes, and blinked. I was standing facing a small mirror on the cart, so I shifted slightly to see what she’d placed in my hair. I inhaled sharply when I saw it. It wasn’t really THAT fancy, but it was very me. It was a spider made mainly out of black metal, highlighted with gold. All around the ornament were several red stones. Not rubies, but shinier than glass. I loved it.

When I backed away from the mirror I saw Kass bouncing in place, hiding a wide smile behind her clenched hands. “So…” she asked expectantly.

“I love it,” I admitted.

“Eeeee…. I knew it the instant I saw it!” she said as she shot forward and scooped me up in a big hug. “It looks so cute on you.”

As soon as she put me down she turned to the stall owner and paid for the accessory. I tried to intervene, but she just tutted. “I promised I’d buy you something special before the end of the day, and I’m going to keep that promise,” she told me.

I fiddled with the ornament while she finished, then let her lock arms with me again. “The sun’s starting to go down, but there’s still things to see. How about we take a look at what’s left?” she said with a wide smile.

“Fine, let’s take a look,” I replied, matching her smile with my own. “Let’s enjoy today while it lasts.”