5
By the time Orrin had come into sight, Tavia was rethinking her plan to go around the town. She had been walking for two hours now and the sun was still fairly high. This hadn't been a problem while she walked through the forest, but now that she had spent the last hour walking along the Forest Road, she was beginning to grow extremely hot. Sweat was pouring down her face in rivulets and the black attire wasn't helping at all, even though she had bundled her cloak back into her bag and rolled up her sleeves.
Her feet, however, were causing her much worse trouble. The Forest Road was covered with cobblestones that obviously helped to keep wagons out of the mud when it rained. However, what was good for the wagons was hell on her bare feet. The stones would heat and burn her soles and then tear at the sensitive flesh. When she first cut her foot on a stone, she danced off the road gingerly to walk alongside it, earning herself a few strange looks from a family traveling by in their wagon. But the side of the road was almost as bad since the grass was yellow and stiff, cutting her almost as much as the stones and then stabbing their blades into the wounds. All in all, it was a painful experience and she longed for the cool green grass of the forest.
When she had first stepped onto the road, having only pulled in her wings and setting the illusion carefully on her eyes, every person who passed had made her jump with fright. For a while, she even pulled up the hood on her cloak to afford her some protection until it simply grew too hot and she realized she was getting more stares with the hood than without it. But even so, the only looks she received were ones of sympathy or confusion at the pained way that she walked with the cuts on her feet.
So, when the thatched rooftops and busy marketplace of Orrin came into view over the rise of a hill, the fire-child decided that it would be best to stop in the town. Or at least for a little while to buy some shoes with the money she would conjure. She absolutely refused to go another hour along this stars-forsaken road without any covering on her feet. Tavia decided that she would just have to be extra careful to stay out of any mages' way.
As she descended into town, the girl was amazed at the number of humans there. The town she had lived in when she was a child had been tiny; even more so than this, and no more than 10 or 15 people had lived there at a time. But here, there were as many as 50 humans all crammed in a dusty, dirty street, which opened into a courtyard presumably serving as a marketplace. The smells of grease, sweat, and dust filled her nostrils and made her sneeze violently; eliciting some more strange looks from the people surrounding her. A woman moved forward as if to ask what was wrong, but Tavia waved her away lest she get a better look at her eyes.
Eventually, the sneezing stopped, but her eyes still ran with the intensity of the smells around her. Her ears were likewise assaulted with the shouting of sellers and buyers and the screaming of children pelting through the street. A little boy, barely older than Silla and dressed in rags, brushed into her roughly as he weaved his way through the crowd. Smilingly knowingly as feelings of elation and guilt followed the run-in, the fire-child grabbed his collar before he disappeared into the press of bodies.
Pulling the child, back to face her, Tavia stared into his eyes, "Give it back." She demanded calmly.
"I ain't takin' nuttin' ma'am. I just be a runnin' and you'm be in my way. I terrible sorry if'n I hitted you." The poor boy's voice choked out in the most pitiful way possible.
"I don't mind that you hit me, child, but I do mind being stolen from and then taken to be a fool. Although I will give you that you are an excellent liar. So once again I will ask you: give whatever you took back to me." This time, Tavia narrowed her eyes and glared at him. The rest of the crowd passed around the two of them, giving annoyed glares for getting in their way. This would have to end before a policeman came and forced them to move along.
Obviously, the street urchin was thinking along the same lines, but worrying instead that Tavia would turn him in for stealing. The jails were no place for a child, even Tavia, who had little experience with humans, knew that. "A'ight, ma'am." He relented, rummaging through a pocket in his tattered vest. The small boy held out the box that held Astarra's ashes out to Tavia, lowering his head in shame he didn't feel. Tavia shuddered inwardly to think what would have happened if she hadn't been paying attention.
"Thank you." The fire-child replied, taking the box and securing it deeper in the pocket it had come from. Noticing that the looks she and the boy were getting were increasing, she stood, motioning to the child. "Follow me, please." She commanded softly.
He did, albeit very reluctantly. "I done said I was sorry, ma'am, can't we just leave this 'lone and go our separate ways?" The child whined, his voice rising even higher than his prepubescent voice was already. Tavia kept a hand on his shoulder, not trusting him to stay beside her, but didn't reply, so the boy continued. "That box ya got there was real purty and had real gold on it. I coulda really used the money, too. So I dinna mean no harm from it, just tryin' to survive, ya know? Please don' put me in th' cells." His voice was beginning to sound distinctly frightened and he was projecting desperate emotions. Here was where Tavia decided that he had learned enough of a lesson.
Spotting a sign swinging over a wooden door over the heads of the humans, Tavia diverted their path toward it. Confusion flowed from the boy at her side as he noticed where they were heading. The fire-child only smiled and led him into the squat wooden building.
The door swung open before Tavia's touch and immediately, her nose was swamped with new smells. Smoke, food, and sweat pervaded the room and Tavia had to erect her empathic shields rapidly in order to keep the emotions that were crammed into the place at bay. She spotted an open table in the corner and made her way over to it, the child following her.
Once they sat down, Tavia pointedly ignored the boy who was now staring at her with his mouth hanging open in surprise. Obviously no one had ever been kind to him directly after he attempted to steal their stuff. Tavia had to suppress a smile.
A waiter bustled over indifferently and threw two rough pieces of paper that passed as menus at them. They skidded across the table, spinning slightly, and Tavia caught them both before they fell off into their laps. She didn't want to have to get on her hands and knees to fish for them, especially on this floor.
�Here, order something.� She commanded, handing one of the menus to the boy at her side, reading her own as if engrossed in its contents.
The young thief shifted his dumbfounded stare to the menu then back to Tavia, then back to the menu. �I can orda anythin� I want?� he asked finally.
�Of course.�
�Even this.� He pointed to the most expensive thing on the menu.
Tavia nodded and shrugged, �Sure. Although are you sure you want �mussels and leeks�?� she read, raising an eyebrow, �I�d think something along the lines of the �beef and carrot stew� or the �broccoli and steak� would be to more to your liking,� she pointed to the items. Tavia had the suspicion that this boy had never been taught to read.
Her suspicion was confirmed when he pointed to another item and said, �What�s that say?�
��Asparagus and cow�s liver�.� She quoted.
The boy pulled a face and then stared at the menu for a while longer. Finally the waiter returned, looking harried and grumpy as several patrons called to him from a group that had pulled over ten tables together just to make room for them.
�Have ya decided yet?� he barked shortly.
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