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[Mayra]

6th of Spring, 515AV
13th Bell, Afternoon
The Bizarre

Mayra, no doubt, looked ignorant as she marvelled at the small leather bound book in her hand. She had come to the bazaar in search of… something. Whatever had attracted her to the illusionary marketplace she had already forgetting, distracted by the various unique wares. If Mayra was right, books were no unique at all. They weren't easy to come by, but she had heard that most were not even spectacular or useful in anyway, especially in Alvadas, whatever that meant. But the small compact cube of paper in her hand contained more knowledge than she could have thought was useful. This particular book was a compact guide to knot-tying for a sailor She stood at a book vendor's stall. The frail old woman sold all things from books to blank stationery and utensils for writing. Or at least the vendor had been a simple woman when Mayra had approached. She looked like a hard-but-loving mother and a woman that wasn't afraid to voice her thoughts, from Mayra's judgement. Now, as the half-breed eyed the vendor out of the corner of her eye, she watched as the lady transformed. It was such a slight difference that she likely wouldn't have noticed it, but the woman's eyes, which had just been a soft green, were now blending to a almost hurtfully bright blue. It was no pigment she has ever seen before or thought was even possible to achieve.

Mayra was slightly unsettled, but had grown used to the felling in such a city, so she turned back to her book. She held it open on a page that detailed the monkey's fist. It gave no use for the knot but had intricate illustrations and notes on how to perfect it. To Mayra's ignorant eye it looked simple enough. If she had a string, she would attempt to duplicate it, if only to prove the ease to herself. Instead the half-breed flipped the page, not the least bit interested in knot-tying at all.

Taking a step forward as the crowd behind her jostled through the Bazaar, and place the book back on the various stacks, picking up another to skim through as well. Most looked old and worn. Mayra guessed this woman, with the odd eyes, was just picking up old journals and feeble attempts at publications, but she was sure she would dig up something interesting in the heap. And so another book landed in her hand. This book was bigger, slightly more so than the palm of her hand, which meant it was actually still fairly small. But the book was not so thick as the knot-tying book. Where the knot-tying book looked like a cube, this one looked more like a … flattened brick. But wider. Mayra struggled to compare it to something. For someone who grew up with books, it would look like simply a book, but the half-Zith struggled to compare it to something so that she would come to understand this civilized commodity better.

Her reading was not nearly as good as her talking, but her mother had taught her well enough. So as she skimmed this book too, it took little time to utterly lock away her attention. It was a childish interest, but for the animal handler, it was more of a possibility of a fantasy. This book was about giant riding lizards. The reckless half-blood could hardly pass up interest on such a subject, and she found herself lost in the book shortly thereafter.

"You gonna buy it? It is one of the complete ones." The vendor was beside her now, and Mayra looked into the woman's friendly eyes, realizing that they were not purple. In her basket, Mayra had collected a fair amount of writing utensils, deciding to take interest in some of the more literary practices. The woman reached over to a stack of books, shuffling through them for a second. She came up with a green leather brown book. "I been tryin' ta get rid of this one for a while now. I give it to you for ten golds off."

The woman offered the deal, and although Mayra had little understanding of civilized money or its value, she knew what a deal was. Opening her palm she accepted the book from the woman, puzzling at its odd name. "The Guide To The Language Of Your Pioneers That Have Invested In The Nefarious Path To The Greatest Dangers?" Mayra spoke the title out loud. She originally meant for it to be a mock of the excessively long title, but found her words for it almost annoying.

"I've been tryin' ta get rid of it." The woman repeated with a chuckle, but then reached over to flip open the cover for Mayra. "T's mostly a riddle book, my kids enjoy them but could not figure this'un out. Tere are quite a few recipes fer ya, though," Mayra held the book out a little to allow the woman's slender fingers to trace the pages and point out the contents. The half-breed didn't recognize the woman's competent attempts to advertise the thing to her until the vendor flipped the book to the end.

The Bizarre :

hatchet (6 sm) + 2-gal bucket (5 sm) + 1-gal pail (2 sm) + small common reed basket (4 cm) + average quality coffer (1 gm) + average key and lock (60 gm) + picnic basket set (5 gm) + washboard (1 gm, 2 sm) + water pack (10 gm) + winter blanket (5 sm) + 100-ft hemp rope (2 gm) + rough tent rug (3 gm) + 4-sq yd canvas (4 sm) + insect repellent (5 gm) + common lamp (1 gm) + torches x2 (4 cm) + bedroll (1 sm) + one-person tent (2 gm) + sacks x5 (5 cm) = 92 gm, 6 sm, 3 cm

blank book x2 (6 gm) + black ink vials x3 (3 gm) + red ink (3 gm) + quills x5 (2 sm, 5 cm) + candles x5 (5 cm) + blank scrolls x10 (2 gm) + glyphing/unknown book (15 gm) + ixam book (30 gm) = 59 gm, 3 sm

Kitrean Krafts :

cold iron tiger hook twin swords x2 (120 gm) + waterproofing oil (5 gm) + personal sharpening stone (10 gm) + double tiger hook sword leather weapon harness (5 gm) = 145 gm

Common | Tawna | Thoughts | PC/NPC Talking

[Mayra]

"Half the book is blank. Don't you think 15 gm is a little much?" Mayra interrupted. She hadn't intended to get the book at all, actually, but she wanted to see if she could get the price down.

"Well, wait. The very first page is a note from the author tellin' us to leave the last pages alone. I'm thinking tere's'a mystery to be solved if you put all those riddles together." The woman sighed, closing the book that Mayra still held and pressing it into the half-Chaktawe's palm a little firmer."I don got the time to decode it and my kids 'er too young. If ya want it, I'm offerin' at half-price. A deal if there is a riddle..."

"And I've been cheated if it isn't." Mayra finished the sentence for her. The vendor shrugged. Mayra hadn't meant for it to be hostile, she was simply stating what she thought was true. But the woman took it as such.

"The price is twenty." She said firmly.

"Ten." She spoke before she really had time to think out the number. Thinking before speaking was not her specialty and so when the bait for a haggle was presented, the mixed blood could hardly deny herself the wish to pounce.

"Eighteen." The woman stated, her eyes were now to a deep crimson red, and her face fell blank. This woman must be very used to haggles. This observation made Mara think a tick before speaking again. If she asked ten again, this woman would not budge in the slightest. She would have to go up. But Mayra knew she should go up more than the vendor was willing to go down. If she showed she was willing to budge a little more, maybe the vendor would too.

"Thirteen." Mayra demanded, without missing a beat.

"Eighteen, final." The woman stayed within increments of two. Her voice was still sturdy and her face still devoid of emotion. Mayra had a feeling she would not like to play cards with this woman.

"Fifteen, I'm about to spend about fifty-four on your stall without it." Mayra lifted her basket to signal the hefty purchase from the woman. The vendor cracked a smile then, as Mayra brought up that point.

"Deal. Ha! Most people forget that, yer a nifty one." The vendor grinned at her. Clearly she was not in the least bit bothered by the short haggle. Mayra guessed that she was only getting a little more irritated because she did not do this everyday, as the vendor did. This eye-changing woman must not factor a haggle into a conversation at all. Although Mayra still found she did not return the smile as she stuffed the book in her basket and dug out her coin-purse.

With a few parting words from the vendor, but not from Mayra, who had grown rather sour over the exchange, the half-breed turned away from the stall. Out of the corner of her eyes she was the exit of the Bazaar, clear as day and a straight path from the stall. She could have sworn the same exact exit was few stalls down, but she might have been confused on the matter. For a second she wanted to leave the marketplace, exasperated by a single bargain and ready to return to the Wolf's Cave to cower from the crowds that infested the city of illusions. But she faintly remembered she had a purpose. A ship left the next day and she had already bought her passage, she was here to gather supplies for the trip.

Sighing to herself, Mayra found herself strolling through the market-place again, eyes peering at different stalls. Occasionally she would grab something necessary. A Hatchet here, a length of rope there. But it wasn't until she had finally found a small, portable tent in the marketplace that she stopped her purchases. This was enough to get her anywhere across land, with a guide of course. It would all have to be stored during the ship-ride, but she was sure there was longer journeys after Kenash to get to her homeland...

Common | Tawna | Thoughts | PC/NPC Talking

[Mayra]

Once she had finished in the Bazaar, she was surprised to find the exit was close. Only a few feet from the last stall she visited. She could have sword the exit had been a few vendors back, but it seemed to appear again, conveniently when she wanted to leave. Instead of pondering over it more, Mayra moved towards it, walking back out into the open air of the city.

The Half-Breed blinked a few times to get used to the sun. Translucent eyelids flitted across her vision giving her flashes of blurriness before she adjusted to the sun. With the purpose of heading home, Mayra turned down the nearest street, grateful that it was mere grass this time. Lining the street however, was a small forest. Medium-sized fruit trees arched over the sides of the street, offering much needed shade from the spring sun, and apparently some children were taking advantage of it. She could hear the faint screams, muffled by the small slice of wilderness, before she saw the pig's bladder roll across the grass. She was already walking down the street with the ball rolled in her path. In an instant, a small boy had fallen from the tree above her, sprouting a small yelp from Mayra.

Well the boy hadn't fallen, he had jumped. Seemingly unbothered by the six foot leap, the boy ducked to grab the ball. She watched as he looked up at the trees around him before throwing the ball back into a random tree. Confused, Mayra looked above her, when everything was pieced together. Children were perched in the trees, playing a more complicated game of catch, trying to pass the ball and move to another branch before the ball came back to them. But the children were the least of her interests.

Directly above her, hanging low on a branch was a plum. But it was no ordinary blue plum, it seemed to be made of glass. Without hesitating Mayra reached up to grab the fruit, which came from the branch with ease. Holding it before her, she examined the fruit for a few ticks. Then she licked it.

It still tasted very much like the outside of a plum. Moderately earthy but otherwise tasteless. She wasn't really sure what she hoped to achieve from licking it, plums only tasted good when you bit into them. Shrugging, Mayra tested the glass with her teeth. Sharp pearly canines clinked on the glass, but broke through with ease, revealing the juicy meat of the inside. She chewed and swallowed the chunk, and it tasted and felt just as any other plum would. But when she pulled the fruit away from her mouth to look at it, the purple inside of the plum also looked to be made of glass. Even the seed in the center was crystalline. Yet it tasted and felt like a plum.

Mayra shrugged, bringing the fruit back to her lips to take another bite. Plums were delicious and a glassy appearance didn't seem to change that. She continued down the street normally, avoiding the fruit that dropped from the children playing in the branched above. It wasn't until she heard the shatter of glass that Mayra looked down. There it was, an apple that had fallen on a chunk of rock poking out from the grassy ground. It was clearly glass as she looked at the fractured splinters that littered the grass around the rock. But perhaps...

Mayra stooped down to pick up a piece, thinking it would feel like a chunk of apple in her hand, as the plum had. But no, it was pure glass. A little shaken, she let the shard drop back to the ground, suddenly scared that she had just eaten and swallowed glass. But no, it would have been painful. Could the city of illusions hide even that? Mayra licked her lips, tasting the last of the plum juice, which seemed to calm her down. It couldn't be, there was a definite difference. Whereas her plum just looked like glass, it felt, tasted and behaved like a normal fruit when she handled it. This apple not only looked like glass, but behaved like it too.

Mayra straightened up, looked up at the tree above her. She reached up to pluck an apple from it, feeling the cool red glass in her hand. Deciding to investigate it later, she tucked the fruit in her basket before continuing down the street. But instead of ignoring the fruits she looked at them. Occasionally one would hang low enough on their branch for her to grab. When she reached the end of the street, Mayra had a small handful of fruit. A red apple, a blue plum, a tangerine and a lemon. She would enjoy finding out what illusions the city had in store with these.

Common | Tawna | Thoughts | PC/NPC Talking