After running around stall to stall most of the afternoon, Ezhno had bought most of what he set out to buy. The amount of fake praises, flattery and radiant ear to ear smiles took a toll on him after a while. Especially all the suffering from the advances and sexual harassment he had to endure the entire time. He was mentally and physically exhausted. Ezhno needed to take a break, he was getting hungry. Previously he would not have the need to eat so much throughout the day, but after his run in about a year ago with the Master, he noticed that he had more hunger pains than usual and had an insufferable urge to eat more than he usually would to get him though the day.

He found himself off hunting for edible foragables and some possible small game more than usual. Since his rations he would get from the master were not enough. He was usually tired after the day of duties, and with the lack of energy, this was all he could do to help fill the void in his stomach that he was constantly feeling.

Since he had saved a lot of coins from all the great deals he was able to endure, he thought to himself that he should at least indulge in some of the wonderful smelling dishes that littered the food stalls all around him. If he was lucky, he would possibly find something super cheap to fill his ever growing hunger. Even though he fought hard with his penny pinching self to not do this, he could not fight the hunger pains that were constantly arguing with him every step of the way.

He thought, "If push come to shove, I still can make some good coins selling the Jeweled Sage Berry plant i found in my new special resting spot. The coins i get from that will be more then enough to get me by for the next year so what's the harm in splurging on a treat for myself?" After further conviction, he set off to find something to sate the hunger pains his stomach was constantly nagging him about.

After a few minutes of stall hopping, he found a food stall that had a cheap meal. He did not hesitate to pass over the coins and decided to find a good shaded spot to relax and enjoy his meal.

After walking around for a few moments, he had another thought pop up in his mind. "Why not head over to the fighting pits and see what that is all about, I can entertain myself, enjoy my meal from the stands and kill two birds with one stone."

He decided to put his food away in his burlap sack and head off in the direction the occasional roar of the crowd came from. Since the roar of the crowd was not constant he would ask a random person for the right direction to head towards.

On his way, Ezhno passed many stalls and buildings. There was one building that stood out from the rest, It was an old and decrepit building. Inside was a general store that had food items, dry goods and spices. He had wanted to grab a few spices since the bastard rewarded him many coins a few days ago.

Ezhno figured since he was already here he would go in and grab what he needed to save some time.

As he walked around the cramped area, he stumbled across a large crate with live critters inside. This crate must have housed a few hundred turtles. He decided to watch them for a moment. He never saw so many turtles in one spot before. Sometimes he would see one or two out and about near the forest edge but had never thought about eating them before.

He found them to be fascinating creatures. They could just go about life in their mobile home. They can find a suitable home and if they felt like moving they were free to do so, without a care in the world. They always had a place to call home in that hard shell that protected them.

After a couple minutes of watching, Ezhno could not help but happily smile the entire time, but the smile on his face soon turned into a frown. He saw the smaller, weaker turtle getting pushed around non stop by the other larger and stronger turtles. The food that was lying around him would constantly get gobbled down by them. Every time he would attempt to get a drink of water the others would try to block his path and push him out of the way.

Anger set in, Ezhno wanted to help him, so he reached in to help push some of the bigger ones away. As he reached in to put them in their place, the bigger turtle that was missing an eye and had a scared up face and shell, bit his finger. Ezhno screamed and pulled his finger away, The frustration and annoyance set in. He said to the bigger scared up turtle, "You little bastard, you will get yours in the end! I have never had the notion of eating a turtle, but after meeting you today maybe i should make the exception and feast on you for my revenge!" He laughed hysterically to himself as he pointed and said this to battle scared turtle.

The shop keeper, behind the counter, could not help but laugh and shake his head at the embarrassing scene of a young man verbally abusing a turtle.

Ezhno heard a few subtle coughs and a voice from behind the counter said, "If you're not buying, do not touch or play with the merchandise. "

Oddly enough, Ezhno felt a connection with the weak looking little turtle. It was as if he was watching a play of his own life right before his eyes. Being pushed around and ignored by those around him. Trying to survive day to day alone, it's as if everyone just wanted to see him fail at life or dead in a ditch somewhere.

Since he saw a lot of himself in this turtle, he felt the need to buy it. "The upkeep should not cost anything and we both could possibly enjoy each others company and traverse the life of solitude together." he thought to himself.

Snapping out of his little stupor, he says to the shop keep, "How much are the turtles? I would like to purchase one along with 10 pounds of salt, a pound of black pepper and if the price is right, possibly a small 3 pound bag of sugar."

The shop keep repeated back his order and said, "Young man, the total for your order comes out to 35 copper coins."

Ezhno was trying to think of a way that he could persuade the man to give him a better deal. He needed the shop keeper to drop his order by at least 5 copper coins, because he only had 30 copper coins left.

"Please uncle, the one I want is the smallest and weakest in the whole batch and will probably die in a week's time. It could possibly spread disease to the entire batch when he does die. How about 30 copper coins? "

The shop keep paused for a moment and said, "Young man, it has been a slow couple days and I have been bored sitting around here with nothing much to do. Since you showed me such a comical scene earlier, I guess I could make an exception this time and give a little special service."

Ecstatic over what the old man said, Ezhno could not keep a straight face and was smiling from ear to ear.

The old man went and put together his order. Ezhno reached in to grab the smaller turtle. But before doing so he made sure to reach over and quickly flick the head of the big scared up turtle that bit him. He smirked and laughed at it and said, " You got off easy you little bastard, you will not be eaten on this day but instead suffer from my "Flick of Revenge", you little shit." The smaller weaker turtle oddly enough looked at Ezhno as if justice was served and strangely enough looked like he was smiling and appeared to give a nod of approval for what he had just done.

Ezhno was puzzled for a moment, not knowing if what he was seeing was real or just his imagination. After a few more seconds of staring at his new friend , he took the money out of his inner pocket and replaced it with his turtle.

After putting away his spices in his burlap sack, he walked out of the door. Now outside, he gave a long sigh and said, "I am now officially broke. He found a spot underneath a shaded tree, sat down and pulled his new friend out. As he pulled him out and held him in his hand, the turtle popped out of his shell. Ezhno said, "Now that we are out of there, I just wanted to introduce myself. My name is Ezhno Stone, you and I will now become friends from this day forward, I do not have much but what mine is yours. Even though I do not have much, I promise i will feed and take care of you. You and I both had messed up lives but at least now we can traverse the unknown future together." He laughed and continued, "You probably do not understand a word i said, but i really hope what i saw earlier was me not just seeing things and you have some form of understanding me."

The turtle just kept staring at Ezhno, "Well, you do not have a name, so lets think of something to call you from now on. I can't just keep calling you turtle, now can I? Hmm, lets see." While thinking long and hard for a few minutes, the turtle did not budge once, and continued staring at Ezhno.

After another minute, he says, " I got it, since you look like a small circle while in your shell, I will call you Little Maru. How does that sound to you?"

Oddly enough the turtle finally moved and bobbed his head up and down. This shocked Ezhno once again, This was the second time he had seen this turtle respond to him in a way that did not seem possible. He thought to himself, "I must be hallucinating, I know it's been hot all day, the heat must have really gotten to me. He laughed and petted Little Maru's head. "Now that we are now friends, I should give you a gift," after a minute of thinking he said, "I have got the perfect gift for you, even though I should sell it, I really want to celebrate this new found friendship with something really special." He put the turtle on his ground and opened up his burlap sack, he pulled out the small sack that he stored the Jeweled Sage Berry plant in.

"I do not know if you can eat this, but what do you think? I know this is good for horses, but what about turtles?" he asked Little Maru. As Little Maru looked at the plant in Ezhno's hand, his neck reach out so far, it was as if it was about to fall off. His eyes bulged wide open, and he started walking towards the plant in Ezhno's hand. "Haha little guy you must really like what you are seeing and smelling, huh? This is all yours, this is my gift to you."

Even though selling it would give him much needed income for the year, He saw a lot of himself in Little Maru and felt that it might be the one and only time he could ever indulge in something in his lifetime. Since it will make Little Maru happy then Ezhno was also happy. He brought the plant over to Little Maru, only a minute had passed and Little Maru devoured the entire plant.

"Wow little guy. you sure can eat." With what appeared to be a satisfied look, he tucked back into his shell and appeared to have gone to sleep. "Well, after a large meal, I too get tired." Ezhno put Little Maru back in his inner pocket.

His stomach growled fiercely. I really need to get over to the fighting pits and eat the food I got from earlier. He got up and shook the dust off his pants and headed towards the town fighting pits.