The man's eyes went wide and sparkling as greedy gems. He bowed, gesturing to his stand of robes generously.
"Yes! Of course! Which robe would you like? Pick anything, dear highest and noblest of ladies!"
In the end, Abrial chose a robe black as night. The seller kept insisting she pick something more extravagant, "fit for a high noble lady", but Abrial only got irritated and wouldn't budge. The black one was most practical, after all — why did he want her to get something else?! The fabric was light and left room for arm guards, which meant it could be worn while exercising. And it even looked similar to the one she always wore to Instructor Wei's lessons. She didn't want that other heavy, layered embroidered stuff. What would she even use it for?
After she broke off another minuscule piece of gold and gave that to the seller, too, he eagerly gave her a pair of leather arm guards and a sack to carry her things.
She pulled on the robe and left satisfied as he waved her away, beaming and bowing profusely, having made a whole years' profit in one sale.
Abrial went all around the market in her new robe. Few people took notice of her when she wore this plain black, since it hid a large part of her expensive scarlet robes and let her blend in. That allowed her to more easily swipe loaves of hot bread, fruits, dried salted fish and other treats into her sack. Because she was so nimble and swift, no one even took notice of her. That gave her a thrill; she was quick enough to steal, but how far could she go before someone noticed her? Daringly, she snatched sweets and sugar-rolled bread from baker's stands right after they were laid out. She'd never smelled anything so delicious. The cinnamon and sugar smell wafting from her sack made her mouth water with hunger.
Momentarily, she curiously stopped at one stand that was very crowded. The jolly seller was mesmerizingly pulling some sort of white dough over and over until it became a thousand strings as thin as hair. He wrapped pieces of chocolate with the light skeins, and spectators rushed forward to purchase the little wrapped candies.
In the commotion, Abrial swiped a single candy from the edge of the stand and left, popping it into her mouth. Her mouth exploded with flavor, sweetness and softness sparkling across her tongue. Her eyes went wide with pleasure. A grin spread across her face.
"This is my new favorite food," she muttered gleefully to herself. She'd heard the seller call it, honey skein candies. "Honey skein candies! They're like clouds! Mm!"
At another stand, a young man was squeezing oranges in front of customers with a wooden contraption, and handing them fresh orange juice in pointed paper cups.
When he saw Abrial, his face went slightly pink. It was undeniable that Abrial was very alluring in a handsome way. She was watching a little child chug a cup of orange juice in one go with an entertained look on her face.
"Miss! Miss in the black and red robes."
Abrial looked up and saw the young seller waving at her. He was smiling sheepishly.
"Miss, have a cup of fresh orange juice!"
Abrial shook her head, frowning. "I'm just watching."
"For free, I mean. Please have a cup for free!"
His face was a deep scarlet now. Abrial frowned, puzzled. One of her eyebrows tilted up in suspicion. Why would he give her a cup for free? Did he squeeze out some extra juice and just decide to give it to the closest person, or what? Huh. Well, it couldn't hurt to try it, right? And the juice looked so delicious…
Abrial's obsidian eyes sparkled excitedly.
"...Okay, I'll try it!"
He eagerly handed her a paper cup, taking in her unfamiliar appearance.
"I haven't seen you in Gananjag before, Miss. Are you from around here?"
Abrial lifted the cup to her lips and swallowed all of the juice in one quick gulp, sighing in pleasure at the sweet, citrusy taste and handing him back the cup.
"I'm traveling. Thanks for the juice! That's some good stuff, heh."
The seller took the cup, flustered that she'd drank so fast that there was no time for them to have a conversation.
"A-ah, I see. So…the juice was to your liking?"
"Yeah! It was really delicious! I've never had something like that! Where'd you get the oranges? They taste different than the ones I've had."
"Ah, these are tangerines, not oranges. They are sweeter."
"Tangerines. Huh. Cool!" With that, Abrial turned on her heel and disappeared into the crowd of people.
The seller was left standing there blushing, looking bewildered at that young woman's apathy, rush, and complete lack of manners.
With her sack full of swiped food and her stomach tingling with delight at trying all of these new concoctions and talking to various new, interesting people, Abrial began to navigate her way back out of the market, using the sellers she had swiped things from as landmarks.
She had almost exited the market when a sign caught her eye. It was a wooden sign painted with swirling, extravagant characters in very faded black. It read:
______
Gananjag's Only Fortune Teller
Face Readings
Salt Scatterings
Smoke Visions
And more!
______
The sign pointed to a small, dank underground entrance she had missed before in the hubbub of the market. It was hidden at the entrance of an alleyway. She must have missed it because it was cloaked in shadows.
Abrial glanced at the end of the market, conflicted.
"If Finley's in trouble right now, I need to get back as quickly as possible," she muttered.
She lifted her foot to walk away. But then, a thought struck her, and she paused. She turned back toward the sign slowly, frowning in thought.
"But a fortune teller could be really helpful, too, right?"
Couldn't a fortune teller let her know whether or not Finley was all right? And how long it would take Abrial to get home? And what was happening to Finley right now? That could be really useful information!
She shouldered her sack of food. With a determined curiosity glinting in her obsidian eyes, she disappeared down the stairs of the dark entrance, and her head was swallowed by shadows.
Outside of the entrance, the sign squeaked in the breeze with anticipation.