Méline was blissfully walking beside Alix, her arms interlocking with his, her head slightly touching his broad shoulder. She was taking advantage of the curiosity of Alix to bond with him, trying to let her hand touch him whenever she could.
"He doesn't seem to mind, but I feel like he is completely oblivious to my intent... How could he be this muddle-headed while being this good when training? Is he what we call a training maniac? Focusing only on getting stronger? That's my luck, stupid !"
Alix was looking around him with wonder in his eyes. The buildings were truly differents, from two stories to four stories high with large windows made of glasses and not some oil paper, he understood now for the first time what a crude village he had lived in for most of his life.
The stone walls were bluish, shining as if little sparkles were embedded in it, catching the eyes. The streets were clean, with a hard soil made with the same rocks, probably coming from a not too far extracting pit.
Acting like a cat visiting his new home, Alix was incessantly moving from one thing to another, while shouting in admiration in front of a variety of goods, from the simple colored vessel to the more complex metallic grids before the first floor's windows.
He wasn't aware of the girl hooking his arms who look at him with her beautiful grey eyes framed by long eyelashes, batting when he looked in her way. His mind was full of curiosity for the world around him, but he never was truly curious about other human beings, just having friends and siblings seems the right way. The hormone of a young man didn't have too much a grip on his True Heart unlike the small marvels of everyday life.
Having the feeling of traveling with a sister-like girl, he was even more oblivious to her blushing face when he looked at her than what her family could think.
-"Hey Mel, how about we go see what the stands have to sell? It seems like there is a lot of street-vendors on this alley not far from us!"
-"Hmpf, obviously dummy! It's the Market alley where we are, of course, going!" She was mad at him for not taking advantage of her now that they were just the two of them alone but the perspective of buying strange and beautiful things let her forget about it a little.
"Oh my! What am I even thinking about? I want him to take advantage...When did I become this straightforward..? It's his fault, being this mysterious and good looking with his brilliant mind and his broad shoulder...Oh, stop it! It's not as if it's the first guy I meet...But he is so mature..." Blushing again, she hides her face in his shoulder under the perplexed gaze of Alix who had increased his pace to see the stand full of pretty things.
Trying to maintain the same pace, Méline was tripping behind him her mind full of weird thoughts, only to be caught up effortlessly by Alix just by instinct.
-"Say, with what are you paying here? Back at my village we would often exchange with objects of equal value or services but it was possible only because we all knew each other, so here it should be difficult, no?"
Surprises by the opening of Alix's memory to her, Méline quickly regain her wits and answered with diligence.
-"We can actually exchange her too but a price is defined for each object. Here you see a number next to each plant on this herbalist stand, it's the price in gold, silver, or other metals which is precise next with a small letter. In this alley, the prices are majorly in silver, you can see a little "s" here, but sometimes when foreigners want to exchange, they set the price in iron, lead or even mercury."
-"Do you have any silver on you then? I'm afraid I don't have any..." Alix was a little ashamed, he would have loved to offer a small gift to each member of this lovely family but he had truly nothing on him since his fall.
-"Of course, I have something like ten silver or so, you can actually buy a lot of things with it, don't hesitate to tell me if you want something hehe" Not minding the poor Alix, Méline was actually quite happy to be of help, having for once something he didn't have.
-"Never mind, that's yours, to begin with, I would be ashamed to profit from a little girl..."
-"Who is a little girl ?? I'm fifteen in one month, almost the same age as you hey, I'm already a woman in all the right place !" Angry, she was pouting in a cute way making Alix laughing aloud.
-"Ahahah, it's not I wanted to say, you are so cute when you are like this! I'm truly sorry for what I said if I hurt you, truly!"
-"Hmpf, fortunately, I'm old enough to not hold deep grudge hehe" Happy to be called cute, she was, however, a little disappointed he did not say "beautiful" instead.
Discreetly, Alix was looking with a new gaze at Méline, detailing her with a renewed curiosity. "She is indeed truly a woman, I failed to see it before because of how she was addressed by the other member of the family but she is..well, truly a woman in all the right place as she said..." Blushing a little at his weird thoughts, Alix tried to think of what he could use to pay for a gift or two.
"I have little scraps of iron but it would be cheap compared to silver...If I had still my weird Spiky's claws, I could probably exchange them for quite a bit of money, sadly I ate them during my time below...Well, I didn't have much of a choice after all..."
Aware of not having anything of value on him, he continues to look at the stands, chatting freely with Méline, in fact having a great time as someone his age should have.
Finally being at the end of the alley, several stands caught their attention. It was naturally the weird object's stand, attracting a little crowd around them. Bizarre things with abstract shapes were put on display, without a name nor a price.
Each people in the crowd tried to discover great things but the ones who succeed were truly a rare sight. The sharp eyes of the sellers was a warranty to a difficult transaction where profit would be minimal. It was actually more of a game, each one having a poker face to not betray their thoughts, orienting the sells on miscellaneous one and trying to reap discreetly a strange thing or two that caught their eyes.
Méline and Alix soon were absorbed by the bid, the success or the failure, as was a good majority of the crowd. A minority was in fact actually participating.
-"There are quite a few beautiful stones on this stand, and they could be much cheaper than the ones we saw previously at the registered stores, what do you say, should we try to make an offer?" Alix had seen the look in Méline eyes when she looked at the beautiful jewel, wanting probably to put it around her neck or her fingers.
-"But here they are sold alone, without the ring or necklace, it's not really that great of a deal I think, especially because they can have small defect and jewelers would charge a lot to put them on a metal frame..."
-"Don't worry about the metal frame, I'm sure I could do it for you even if your father doesn't help me, so what do you say?"
-"Truly?? Hell yeah, the blue one, the red one and the purple one are so pretty, what do you think!," Méline was quite enchanted of Alix's proposition, it was a kind of self-made gift, even if she had to pay for half... She had already set her eyes on a few gems.
-"As you want, I quite like the green one too, on the bottom right corner, do you think I could have it?" A little sensation was tugging at his mind coming from this small green rocks, making his green blood flow accelerate.
-"This one? But she isn't really pretty...Well, you are right, on a boy, it would be better for a gem less eyecatching! I agree, how do we do it?"
-"Let me try!"
Alix slowly moves at the front of the crowd. There were fewer people as noon was right around the corner and hunger didn't wait. Waiting for a little while, when no one was trying to bid, he spoke to the seller.
-"How much for these ten little sallow stones? They seem fractured so they could not cost much right?" Alix shows a group of stone with the four they wanted in it.
-"Hey, who are you trying to kid, kid! Hehe, these beautiful gems are fine, five silver each !"
-"You are telling me this is fine, five silver for a scrap of a stone with a little color on it, are you trying to extort a kid, Sir?" said Alix aloud.
-"Shh, lower your voice! Of course not, never would it pass through my mind to do something this shameful... Three silver each, they are quite fine stones, what you say?"
"The seller already seems ready to negotiate, and you call them professional, tsss, they never tried to buy something from our Elders, that is true greediness!"
-"What? You even called them stones... They seem so brittle, a little push and they would surely break in two... A quarter of silver for each ?"
-"I'm trying to make a living here kid, don't push me, two silvers then, it's already quite good !"
-"Don't make fun of me, you swindled a dozen people or so just before, half a silver and I will take just these five, the others seem truly lousy, nothing could possibly be done with them...."
-"Deal! Two silver and a half and quickly flee from my stand!"
-"Hehehe, good for you, I had also my eyes on these little pieces of..."
-"Take them and leave little rascal !!"
Exchanging the stones with Méline's silvers, the duo quickly escapes while laughing, heading toward the Polk restaurant.
-"Hey Alix, tell me, what is this green stone? Even if the seller didn't see a thing, I know you already good enough to be sure you wouldn't try to buy something that didn't strongly interest you!"
-"Thanks by the way for allowing me to buy it! I don't really know what it is but I feel it's great for my body so I wanted to make a few tests with it !"
-"Don't mention it, it's a gift, but you have to help me conjure the same flame as dad taught you, deal ?"Méline was hoping to spend more time with him, willing to even failed on purpose to see him a little more.
-"Deal"
Alix was sweating a little, he just promises to teach something he didn't even have the right to do to the daughter of the one watching him. "I hope my lucky star is still around..."
They could see the rest of the family before the restaurant, smiling with each other while looking at the duo, probably secretly speaking about the two of them.
-"Did you have a great time Alix?" The double meaning in Erik's voice completely escape from him, still concentrated on how to teach this mischievous girl next to him without being watched.
-"Yeah, of course, it was wonderful! It was my first time after all!"
-"You dare little one!!!!" Erik shouted aloud.
-"I never saw a city like this, truly a beautiful sight, and the market was so interesting, there were so many different things, I didn't know where to look..."
He stopped under the curious, furious and hilarious gaze looking at him.
-"What? What is wrong with you guys?"
-"...."
-"Come let's go eat ungrateful fellow! And you too Mel, don't blush like this!"
She blushed even more, conscious of the many gazes on her. Alix put his hand behind her back to go with her, making her regain a little confidence. Under the scrutinous look of her family, they penetrated in the little restaurant all covered in wood plank with little stone shining on the corners.
Alix had his hand around the green stone. He had felt, under the fearful gaze of Erik, the stone pierced his skin, making contact with his blood. To hide his wounded hand, he had put it shamefully on Méline's back.