"What? What did you say?" the mother asked in shock.
"Yes, I saw the old lady who lives two houses down from us buy 2 stones worth of wheat at just 30 pennies, and that was just because she only had that much money on her... I think she's going to go with more money and buy more,"
"Are you joking? You know I don't like Jokes—"
"I AM NOT JOKING! Now hurry up," Sarah shouted and finally her mother seemed to get the urgency of the situation as she immediately hurried into her room and took a purse from her hiding place where she had saved some money for some rainy days. She quickly went out of her room to find her daughter impatiently waiting at the door.
"Finally," Sara sighed, when her mother closed the door to their house after wearing her shoes, "Come on!" Sara said and started running while pulling her mother along as fast as she could.
They lived in the quaint town of Barrowton, one of the most prominent towns in the North, where House Dustin had ruled for centuries from their castle of Barrow Hall. The town lies at the confluence of two rivers which flow south into Saltspear.
Their town was usually a calm one, and except for the occasional merchants that came from the Kingsroad, interesting things rarely happened here. But today the whole town seemed to be up and awake, there was an air of excitement everywhere and people were running to and fro from the port to their homes, the people who were going were empty handed while the ones coming from the port had sacks with them along with wide smiles on their faces.
"Calm down," The mother said while huffing, "Or you'll make me fall," but her child wasn't listening at all she pulled through the village road, with most of her neighbours running along with them some in front and some behind her, and none of them even stopped to talk, 'It seems her daughter wasn't exaggerating, after all,'
They reached the port after a few minutes, it was a small one only capable of hosting a dozen ships or a few dozen fishing boats at the same time, which was sufficient for the need of this town in the north as most of their good usually came from the road through Moat Cailin.
It was usually deserted here, but today the moment they reached the port they were immediately hit with a loud cacophony of people selling and buying and yelling prices, woman bargaining, and some people being rowdy for no reason. The port was filled to the brim with a crowd of men and women of all ages, it felt as if the whole town had gathered here, the people were surrounding a small circle of sailors who were armed and were making sure that situation doesn't spiral out of control, which didn't seem to be working too well.
The mother tried to stand on her tiptoes, but she was barely able to see inside the circle over the people's heads and catch a glimpse of the place her daughter had told her about where the grains from the South were being sold.
Behind the stall were two familiar ships that had been making rounds along the western shore of the North since a few years ago, they were well known for selling those Starkhorses.
"Quick, let's go!" Sara urged, pushing her mother toward the masses.
"But—" her mother protested, apprehensive about the large crowd shoving and jostling to get to the front. However, Sara wasn't about to wait, "I'll go if you won't." She snatched the purse and the empty sack from her mother's grasp, "Wait!" her mother called out, but it was too late. Sara rushed into the crowd without heeding her mother's exclamation, calling out, "Coming through! Make way!"
"Ah! Girl!"
"You! Brat!"
"Don't push!"
"BITCH!"
Amidst screams and curses the daughter skillfully swam between the gaps as he mother watched on until the crowd completely swallowed her. The mother could only wait and pace anxiously as she waited for her daughter to exit.
After what felt like an eternity, she finally saw her daughter emerge from the crowd. Sara skipped toward her with a wide grin, "Are you okay—" Before she could finish her question, Sara presented her with a bulging sack that the girl could barely lift, "Look, Mother, I got so much..."
The mother opened the sack and her eyes immediately widened and she gasped as she looked inside, "But how..."
"And there's more," Sara mischievously revealed, extending her left hand to display two ripe, red apples.
"You got all this with that money?" the mother asked in astonishment. The amount in the purse couldn't have covered a fraction of the grains, and the apples must have been quite pricey too, "Did you steal them?"
"Nope, they weren't expensive at all, and—"
"Excuse me!"
Their conversation was abruptly interrupted by a portly man, his greasy smile making him easily recognizable as a travelling merchant who went from village to village buying and selling, "Hey there, girl! How about selling me those apples? I'll pay you three copper pennies more than what you got them for. How does that sound?"
"Really?" the mother exclaimed, but before she could even think about it, Sara shouted in indignation, "No! You can't them! I brought them, they are mine!"
"I say, girl! you should listen to your mother—" the merchant tried to persuade her but Sara wasn't having it and cursed him, "Fuck You!" and then without waiting, the next moment she immediately started licking all over the apples without leaving a single spot.
"Do you still want them?" Sara said with a cheeky smile as she presented the apples to Merchant who immediately grimaced and went away cursing.
"You little brat..." Sara's mother sighed helplessly as her daughter stuck out her tongue, she was already used to her daughter's antics, "But why didn't that man just buy from them..." she asked while pointing at the stalls surrounded by the people, "...if he wanted more apples?"
"Because they got some rules," Sara said while biting into one of the apples, it was sweet and delicious, "I don't why but they will only sell a limited amount to a single person and a single person can only buy once or something like that,"
"But that would reduce their profits, Why would they do that?" her mother asked confusedly.
"Who knows?" Sara shrugged, not caring about the purpose behind those rules but happy for them as otherwise all the merchants would have already brought all the stocks before she had the chance.
Just when they were about to leave for their home, they suddenly saw the crowd start to disperse with some having satisfied smiles on their face while others groaning in misery, 'It seems all the stocks have been finally finished...' the mother thought.
"HEAR! HEAR!" a sailor came forward and shouted, grabbing the attention of the crowds who were about to leave. When he felt that he had everyone's attention, he went back and the one who came forward was a familiar person, easily recognisable in her leathers with the bear insignia.
"I want to say for those of you who were late and missed out on our cheap goods... Don't worry!" Dacey shouted loudly, "Another shipment will be arriving in two weeks and that one may even have more goods—" The crowd immediately cheered loudly and Sara immediately started jumping on the spot thinking that she could eat apples every week.
"And I promise everyone that they will keep on coming..." Dacey continued while looking everyone in the eye, "So don't bother hoarding them... I am especially talking to all the merchants here, The cheap goods are going to be a regular thing from now on and may even become weekly in the future so don't think about waiting for the prices to decrease to make a profit because... You'll only be disappointed,"
"And lastly, if anyone wants to get recruited the ships will be here until dawn..."
///