Early next morning Siravin knocked on her door. They sat down together and ate the food Siravin had bought, without exchanging a lot of words. She still felt a little awkward about him, but reasoned he was simply that sort of person who would boldly assert himself by means of quiet stares.

A short while after they split up outside the inn. Mariel went to look around the city and buy the remaining supplies they would need for the next leg of their journey. Siravin went to buy some clothes and weapons for himself. They made plans to meet by the dockside, and parted ways.

The early morning town was as busy as she had expected, with shopkeepers hanging up signs, merchants haggling their prices and families cleaning their homes and buying groceries. In almost every aspect, she felt like she was at home: The streets hummed with the same conversations, children were playing in the streets with marbles and wooden toys and patrols of city guard marched. For the first time, she was in a big city and not covered head to toe in anonymous clothes. There was no need for her to hide her hair or her eyes as she was surrounded by her own kin. A myriad of differently coloured hairstyles and eyes from the fiercest red to the grandest purple looked at the sky, or appraised wares lined up in the stalls. The sense of being one with the crowd, a drop in an ocean gave her a sense of security she had not grasped all that well before. She passed along a long row of guild halls and trading firms housed in opulent buildings of all sorts of styles and décor. The main market square was teeming with life, but she stuck to the side instead of entering the middle, a voice inside her reminding her of the similar situation she had been in that started the whole situation she was in.

“Gather around good people! The latest news from the capital and from around the world!” A town crier shouted from up on a big wooden podium. The crowds shushed on each other and began to gather around.

“As many of you know, recently there has been a lot of rumours circulating about raided villages and the disappearance of its inhabitants! Prefecture Commander Talerme assures us that the situation is mostly under control and that the rogue brigands soon will meet the noose!” A wave of cheering went up from the crowd, and the crier calmed them with a wave of his hand.

“Next up! Trade is at an all-time high this month! Providing us with unprecedented prosperity and growth! Our prefectural minister would like you all to labour hard and prepare for the coming of winter!”

“Also! The recent vote on the next public project has concluded! The winning project is the refurbishment of the central park! Gardeners and manual labourers are encouraged to submit applications to the city committee by the end of next week!”

Mariel continued onwards, and soon the town crier’s voice drowned out in the murmur of the crowd. She crossed a small street and found herself in a small back street, lined on both sides by neatly trimmed trees and small water canals flowing just under the paved road. Many of the tightly packed buildings had small stalls placed outside, where small families sold crafts and other minor products.

Up ahead, she spotted a sign hanging from the supporting beam of a house. On the sign with faded words she could make out the word “Oddens – Trinkets and …” The rest was washed away. From the façade, it appeared to be a small junk shop, the inside of the windows was lined with all sorts of items and articles, stacked on top of one another. At first she wanted to move on, but decided to at least check if the shop had anything useful for the journey, like a comb or a map or something for her friends.

A bell chimed as she entered a dim, dusty and quiet room. Every single surface of the shop was like the windows, stacked with items, some stacks reaching high into the ceiling. Warily, she took a few hesitant steps into the shop, nearly tripping over a box of whetstones on the floor.

“A visitor eh? Come on in! Make yourself comfortable… Just take that stool over there… Don’t be shy, my assistant will clean up afterwards.” A weak, frail voice spoke to her from somewhere behind the stacks.

“Please Master, don’t encourage our visitors to create a mess… It already takes quite a toll on me to keep this all up.” Mariel heard another voice, but not through her ears, but inside her mind.

“Oh quiet down scales, you’ll be just fine.”

“Um, excuse me?” Mariel walked around a big heap on the floor to find an old kinsman with a great white beard, discussing with what appeared to Mariel to be a dragon.

“Oh! There you are! Please child, come sit over here and tell me what you’d like for Winterfair!” The old man patted his lap while making a smile, pierced by lacking quite a few teeth.

“Master…” The dragon creature placed one of its paws on its head and flew over to Mariel, hovering at a conversational distance in front of her.

“I apologize for my Master’s behaviour… Please find it in you to forgive him… He’s old and quite a bit mad…” The dragon’s mouth remained firmly closed, and the voice resonated within Mariel’s mind.

“Oy, who’re you calling mad! I’m only a little bit senile… Wait. Who’re we talking to again?”

“A customer… Now please customer? What can Oddens, that is, Odds and Ends, provide for you today?”

Mariel exchanged looks with the seemingly patient looking dragon and cast a glance over to the old kinsman in the chair.

“I… Need gifts, but why do I hear your voice in my head?” Before the creature could answer, the old man tramped his foot on the floor.

“That’d be… Because, well because… How did that happen again? Strange, I feel I should’ve fixed a sign somewhere…” He went into deep thought but did not produce the answer.

“That’s because…” The creature began, but was promptly interrupted by the elder in the chair, whom with a wave of his hand began moving objects around the room. A pair of crates switched place with a broken chandelier and a couple of old swords, and the stack it all rested on appeared much more stable.

“Much better, so why don’t you tell me your name young one? Or did I ask before?”

“I’m Mariel sir… Who are you?”

“I’m…” He paused, looking around aimlessly.

“Sorry… My master’s name is Kalrian, and I’m his assistant Siasfeh’relinah… Call me Siah, I am a dragonkin, a Mindling. We’re also the only kind of dragon that can really talk, by sending thoughts into your mind.”

Mariel threw Siah the Mindling a sceptical look. “So is your master’s… Behaviour your fault then?”

“Not at all. In fact, I’m the one feeding thoughts to him to keep Master, somewhat sane.” Siah made a gesture somewhat akin to smiling, revealing a set of incredibly sharp-looking teeth. “I understand why you think so though, so its fine.”

“Anyway, I’m happy to meet you both.” Mariel replied with some outstanding confusion still left in her words.

“I take it you must be an intrepid hero! I have just the thing for you my dear! Now… Where is it.” As soon as he finished his sentence, the whole room felt like it began moving at the same time.”

“Oh no! Master! Not now! We have a visitor!” Siah immediately pushed Mariel down on the floor and created a barrier around them.

“What’s happening?!”

“He’s just looking for, something… Don’t worry, Master usually doesn’t drop anything too heavy…”

Every single item within the shop hovered in the air just above the spot they had occupied previously. Then, the smallest items separated from the mess and gathered into a large floating ball of mess in one of the corners of the room. Similarly, all the other items were divided up, with only a case of cutlery and three broadswords falling onto the barrier protecting Siah and Mariel. With a clap of Kalrian’s hands, the heaviest and largest items began settling on the floor, pikes and swords fit into barrels and crates stacked in tall towers. Soon the other items followed suit, and in a huge puff of dust and neglect, the items settled into perfectly balanced and presentable collections.

“There we go… Now then, I have just the thing you want! A legendary weapon, thought lost in time and a part of a rare collection of three!” A stack at the opposite end of the room was lifted into the air, and a long, metal strongbox removed from the bottom. With a clack, the lid opened and an old, but still sturdy sword emerged.

“This is the legendary sword Eldenljos, forged with the dying breath of Velmer, a forgotten god of the forges…” The Kalrian began rambling on about the sword’s mystical properties.

“Sorry, but that sword is a replica… This is just a conversation for the two of us… I don’t know why master loves that sword so much, but he claims he wielded it briefly before my time…”

“… And it’ll only cost you five million.” Kalrian delivered his final stroke with a ludicrous price tag.

“I… Don’t have that much on hand… Sorry.” Mariel smiled warmly and gestured for him to put the sword back. With some disappointment, Kalrian put the box and the sword back into the heap.

“So then my child, what would you like then?”

“I want a comb.”

“Oh, I got plenty of those somewhere, I even got a legendary one.”

“Not really legendary.” Siah quipped in the back of her mind. “Though it was used by a queen way back in time.”

“A normal one will do… But I’d like to buy something useful for my friends, that will help us on the journey we’re on… And it can’t be legendary…”

“Huh? Legendary? I don’t have any of that sort in this shop dear child, only junk to go around here… My how messy it is here suddenly…” Before Siah could protest, Kalrian clapped his hands, and the stacks of items rose back into the air, cluttered together and spread themselves all over the room in a lethal shower of metal, various sharpened objects and tools in disrepair.

Mariel opened her eyes to find herself once more shielded by Siah, and with a broadsword stuck in the floor just outside the barrier.

Cinah dispelled the barrier, and a faint glow began to surround the wings on the dragon. Two small wooden boxes, a somewhat elongated metal case, a roll of string and a wooden tube appeared from the heaps.

“This is what you want I believe… A comb, a set of soothing bells, one set of short swords, a good length of high quality bow string, and… Vintage wine?”

“How’d you make that list?” Mariel caught all the items in her arms somehow, nearly dropping the heap from the sheer weight put on her outstretched arms suddenly.

“You just visualized your friends… I snuck a peek at them… They seem really interesting, I picked these items to correspond to their interests.”

“Well that’s a fine selection you got, child! That’ll be a total of one platinum, sixty-five silver... But you know, I do have a very rare master crafted broadsword around here somewhere…”

Mariel gestured to the old, slightly rusty sword still halfway embedded in the wood floor. Kalrian nodded approvingly.

“That’s the one! Isn’t it magnificent? It has lasted a good five hundred years by now I believe.”

“It’s rusty, old and the blade is bent… It would take a lege… No… An amazing smith to even straighten it out.

“How dare you?! It’s a rare piece of ancient history! I’ll have you… You… Anyway, that’ll be one platinum, sixty-five silver. I’m sorry but I do tend to ramble a little now and then.” Kalrian Flipped open a nearby ledger the size of a stool, the big pages releasing a puff of dust and cobweb as the weight of the cover and its content met the nearby table. After leafing through a section of pages, he looked back up at Mariel.

“So, would you like those items?”

“Yes please.”

“Excellent, I shall relieve you of the required amount.” With a wave of his hand, A jolt struck Mariel’s belt, followed by the mentioned amount in coins drifting out of her pouch and into a big metal strongbox by the fireplace behind Kalrian.

“You can have this backpack, free of charge, good luck with whatever you were going to do!”

Mariel nodded and quickly put her items in the sack, then she threw the heavy sack over her shoulder and turned promptly to leave before the shop was restructured a third time.

“Oh wait just a moment child… My little pet here hasn’t been outside this place in a long time…”

“He’s right, twenty-five years and seventy-three days.” Siah whispered to Mariel.

“Why don’t you bring her along?”

“You’d entrust… Her to me? A stranger? I’m sorry, but that doesn’t sound like a very good decision.” She tried to turn him down gently, but his response was to break an empty flagon with the snap of his fingers, and causing the bolt on the door to shut the door.

“Ah but it is, I’d like for you to take her along. It’s too much to explain, but I’d like for her to go with you and relate back to me how the world is faring.”

“No… I don’t think…” She tried to reason, but the old man would hear none of it, crushing a small wooden box with a gesture.

“It’s okay, if I’m really burdening you, we’ll just part ways outside, so just agree with him.” Siah whispered.

“Fine. Then I’ll be off, goodbye.”

“Good luck on your journey across Avine! Oh, and look out for dragons, though they never show up when they’re supposed to!”

Mariel hurriedly left the shop and closed the door behind her. She took a deep breath of fresh air, a welcome change from the stale, stuffy and not least of all dusty interior. Looking around she could not see Siah anywhere, and wondered briefly where she went.

“I’m right here.” Siah’s voice quipped from inside her mind.

“Where?” She looked around, still seeing nothing of the mindling.

“Inside your mind. Oh! What a beautiful city! And that’s… Wait… I see, don’t worry, you’ll develop just fine, in fact you’ll be surpass your mother no problem.”

“Hey! Stop rummaging through my concerns! I don’t even know how you do that but stop it!” She shouted, gaining a few curiously looks from most bystanders within earshot.

“Sorry… It’s just so refreshing to look at something different for a change…”

“Well I don’t care! Stop looking!”

“Fine… If you form a pact with me, you may seal your memories from me, and anyone else who might possess the ability to read thoughts.”

“What’s the price?” Mariel decided to whisper while continuing, trying to appear less conspicuous despite all the looks of curiosity and worry from the bystanders as she turned back and headed for the main square.

“I’ll have to consume one memory; you can decide which one.”

“Okay… I remember those three boys who lived nearby that used to bully me a lot… Can you take that memory from me?”

“Sure, no problem, but are you sure it would be wise to do so?”

“It’s a negative memory, I don’t want it.”

“Well, okay.”

A few seconds passed with nothing seemingly happening, Mariel took a turn around a corner, in the vague direction of the marketplace. A cart went past at a slow speed, loaded with barrels and drawn by a worn-out horse. As she continued across the street, Siah explained that she could manifest at leisure, but that she would remain hidden as much as possible.

“I’m something of a prize… Our kind used to be everywhere, influencing the minds of all kin… And most didn’t like that once they found out, so…”

“Even more of a reason to remain safe in the shop.” Mariel sighed.