As he stepped out of the bar Fenrir paused as the scene in front of him clashed with what he had experienced the night before. The dead cold streets were now flooded with life, colorful streamers hung between street lights and people walked the streets with their faces all smiles and laughs
At a loss Fenrir wondered where he was supposed to go when he caught a whiff of sweet bread drifting on a breeze. Locking onto the scent Fenrir was moving before he even realized it weaving in between the crowd moving unimpeded.
After a bit of walking Fenrir arrived in what must have been the town square, a large space dominated by a stone pavilion topped with a glass dome in the center. Around the edge tables and stalls selling various foods were packed tight as people flooded in from all directions.
Forced to move by the surge of people Fenrir followed the smell until he arrived at the back of a long line in front of a large stall. Even from a distance Fenrir could see the baskets of freshly baked loaves and the small brick oven blazing in the back.
Grinning Fenrir stepped out of line and walked up to the stand, before he could make it all the way to the front a heavy hand caught Fenrir by the back of his shirt.
Fenrir's first thought was to rip off the offending limb, but Fenrir didn't sense any overly hostile intent so he pushed down his instincts.
"Sorry lad, but it would be unfair for you to skip the line when all these people have been waiting in line."
Turning around Fenrir stared up at the tall burly man who had stopped him. Looking into his green eyes Fenrir didn't find any anger or irritation, only warmth and kindness.
"I'm not here to buy bread, I just want to say hello to Martha," Fenrir explained as the man withdrew his hand.
"Well if that's the truth then I'm sorry about roughing you up like that," the man said with an apologetic smile.
"It alright, just be glad I didn't take off your arm," Fenrir said with a straight face as the man brow furrowed at the threat.
Not waiting for the man to respond, Fenrir ran off again until he reached the front of the stall. Instead of Martha taking orders however it was a girl his age with very curly red hair, a slight tan to her otherwise pale skin, a smattering of freckles across the bridge of her nose and underneath her bright blue eyes.
After a second the girl's eyes drifted over to Fenrir and stayed there staring at him intensely. Returning her stare Fenrir cocked his head to the side, "Do you know where Martha is?"
Blinking as if she had come out of a trance the girl's cheeks flushed as she stammered out an answer, "W-who are you?"
"Fenrir, I talked to your mother last night when she was baking. She said I could find her if I needed any help." Fenrir explained as he continued to stare at the girl.
"Oh you're that strange boy she talked about," the girl exclaimed before freezing, "N-not that you're strange, i-it's just that.."
Fenrir interrupted her with a laugh as he smiled, "Your nose twitches when you're nervous, like a rabbit."
Looking from Fenrir to the rest of the line the girl blushed even harder after seeing the knowing grins from the men and women waiting for their bread, "P-please don't say that so loudly. I'll tell my mom you were looking for her, she should be back soon."
Nodding Fenrir said a quick goodbye before he wandered off, eager to explore more of the square, 'That girl…she smells like the forest.'
Browsing the stalls Fenrir was tempted to buy every food item in sight, but the long lines discouraged even Fenrir's ceaseless appetite. In the end Fenrir ended up sitting by himself on a bench just watching the crowd move by.
Like an island in the middle of the great wide ocean, Fenrir felt isolated from everything else around him. He missed the serene calm of the forest and the pleasant noise of the songbirds.
The town was loud and overcrowded compared to Fenrir's grove with just him, and his parents. There was also something artificial about the place, at first Fenrir couldn't place it but as he watched more and more people walk by he realized what it was.
'It's like they're walking around with their eyes closed,' Fenrir thought to himself.
Even having grown up closed off from most of the forest around him Fenrir had naturally learned how to tap into his senses. It was the reason why he had been able to walk through the Fae Forest unmolested and without his parents worrying about his safety.
During his trip a constant flood of information was constantly entering Fenrir's brain as it scanned for red flags. If the birds stopped singing that was a sign, if the air smelled funny, if the ground was hard it was a sign.
All these bits of information allowed Fenrir to avoid potential danger, if the birds went quiet that meant they were hiding from something, if the air smelled like urine or blood a beast was nearby, if the ground was hard it could burrow in to make dens for various creatures.
Fenrir constantly carried that vigilance with him no matter where he went, which is why he didn't wear shoes. But the people he watched didn't as they bumped into one another and moved with a stiffness that didn't allow for sudden movement to avoid a threat coming from any direction.
A strange sense of pity welled up inside of Fenrir that turned into irritation as he watched the people pass by him. It was a mystery to Fenrir how anyone could live knowing that they were helpless if something suddenly came along and wanted to kill them and everything they loved.
Before he could brood any further Fenrir felt several pairs of eyes on him and he looked over to his right where three boys were staring at him, one with a hostile gaze. They were a few years older than Fenrir, probably around eighteen, all of them looked to be farmers as well with rough hands, firm builds and tanned skin from long days in the sun.
Analyzing them further Fenrir couldn't help but shake the sense that they were jealous of him for some reason. But the one who was openly glaring at Fenrir gave off a more threatening aura as jealousy turned into envy.
Making eye contact with one of them Fenrir remembered his face from Martha's stall, 'Maybe that girl is engaged to the envious guy, though I didn't see a ring on her and she didn't smell like she had been in close contact with a man.'
As he wondered what he could have done to piss off his stalkers, the group of farm boys walked over to him, the one in the lead flaring his nostrils as his boots stomped into the cobbles with each step.
Watching them approach, Fenrir noticed that the two trailing behind the third seemed as if they were trying to calm him down, 'They didn't intend for this to happen.'
"Hey, you!" the boy in the lead exclaimed as he stopped in front of Fenrir who was still sitting on the bench.
"Troy, don't," one of the boys following placed a hand on Troy's shoulder, trying to pull him away, only for Troy to shrug him off.
"Fuck off, Emery," Troy said in a harsh whisper before turning back to Fenrir, "What were you doing flirting with Freya."
Blinking, Fenrir reflected on his conversation with the girl he knew as Freya, "I didn't flirt. I only asked where I could find her mother."
"That's not what I've heard. Apparently, you made her blush." Troy said accusingly as he got in Fenrir's face.
Fenrir shrugged, "I think she was just embarrassed that I called her a rabbit. Have you ever noticed that her nose twitches when she's nervous?"
Instead of defusing the situation, Troy only seemed to become more enraged, "So you were flirting with her!"
Tilting his head to the side in confusion, Fenrir wondered if Troy was mentally deficient, "If I wanted to flirt, I would be over there talking with her instead of staring at your ugly face."
Troy froze before his face turned a bright shade of red, "Why, you little-!"
Fenrir watched slowly as Troy's hand lashed out to grab his collar. But before his thick fingers could grasp Fenrir's tunic, a familiar voice cut through the noise, "There you are!"