Eric Bright-Scale dashed up the dirt path with his daughter right on his heels.
"Not today, little lass, your old man still got some life left in him," He playfully gloated.
"No fair, you cheated," Elley protested while running with all her might.
Like a comet from behind, both of them was little Umber at breakneck speed, half flying, half sprint.
He looked determined to catch them and did so.
They all made it to town at the same time. Though, some made their entrance more gracefully than others. Elley and their dad stumbled on each other, and Elley wound up on top of him on the ground, laughing.
Umber took flight properly so as not to crash, he floated back down and landed beside the chuckling pair. Noticing several warm gazes from fellow villagers.
He smiled to himself as he helped Elley up.
She took his hand and then pulled him as hard as she could down, on top of herself and their dad.
Umber, not expecting this, fell onto them and heard renewed laughter from Elley. He didn't like it but she was happy so it was fine. He smiled warmly.
Eric, deciding they should get out of the road, picked up the pair in his arms as he stood up and started walking towards the approaching woman.
"Honey, why are you all covered in dust?" The woman asked.
"Well, Lilly, we got a bit tangled up at the finish line," Eric answered while setting the kids down.
Lilly sighed and started helping Elly dust off while Eric did the same for himself and Umber.
As they dusted off and turned to walk into town, a human man wearing a simple beige shirt with plain brown trousers.
"Eric, it's rare to see you get out of the forge," the stranger said jovially.
"Daniel, it's good to see you." Eric walked over the stranger called Daniel and clasped his forearm before patting him on the back
"I haven't seen you in a while. When did you get back to town?" Eric asked
"I came into town last night with the Humble Wheat Merchantry, said they wanted to save some travel with the aid of a local. Now enough about that, who is this little guy?"
He looked over at Umber, who was currently half hidden behind Elley.
Eric spoke proudly, "Come on, lad, introduce yourself to your godfather."
Umber stepped forward uncomfortably and gently said, "I'm Umber Bright-scale scale. Nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you Umber, I'm Daniel Silver-Vein, your parents, and I have known each other since we were your age."
He looked to Elley, "Little Elley! You've gotten so big!" As Elley tackled him in a hug.
"Uncle Dan! I missed you," Elley squealed.
"I missed you to sprout," He responded as he hugged her.
"Now, why don't you and Umber go and take a look at the shop while I catch up with your folks. Here take this."
He handed her a jingly bag of coins.
"Go buy something that'll drive your folks crazy," He said playfully
"Okay, uncle Dan!"
Elley grabbed Umber by the wrist and dashed off into town.
As they get into town a pair of human children, a boy and a girl stop the siblings' advance.
"Elley, let's look at all the cool stuff together," the girl proclaimed.
"Abigail, Sam! Okay, let go!"
Umber weakly said, "Let's go." But no one noticed.
Abigail was a tall girl of 11, with dark brown hair, with a small nose. She was wearing a simple blue dress, of better quality than usual. She is the daughter of the general store owner.
Sam was a chubby boy with dirty blonde hair and blue eyes. He was wearing a nice red shirt of noticeably better quality with simple pants. He is the son of the mayor, but he hasn't let that get to his head. At least since Elley beat him up for it.
The four of them walked down the dirt road to see several carriages lined up in a row one after the next. All of them had rugs laid out in front of them.
Each one sold different goods from different places.
To the youths, it seemed like magic with how many different things there were.
Of course, there were your typical farming supplies, seeds, various ores, anything you'd typically need, but then there was more.
Umber saw books, flowers, bottles of colorful tinctures, weapons with weird markings, monster parts, wands, staves, shields, armor, and so much more that it nearly made him dizzy.
That was when his ears caught a sound unfamiliar and distinctly different from any sound he'd ever heard.
A quiet, clicking sound with a slight buzzing. It's amazing in retrospect that he heard it; perhaps it was a whim of the gods that he did.
A whim of the gods I say because what he found as the source of the sound set his path for the rest of his life.