Solo Pocket Change

[Revali]

48th of Fall, 515 AV

Revali turned the coins over in his hands. He watched the way they glistened in the torchlight. He admired their nearly unbreakable structure, and their perfect roundness. He held a single silver up to examine it, watching the light split and go around it, coming back together on the other side. Mizas really were beautiful.

It was a shame he didn't have more of them.

But as much as he loved Mizas, he also loved spending them. This was, in fact, what he was doing at that very moment. Slowly, so as not to seem too interested in the shopkeep's goods, Revali approached one of the stalls of the Great Bazaar.

"How can I help you, kiddo?" Asked the man behind the stand, while smiling in a grand and charismatic manner.

"I'm l-looking for a weapon. My...my first, s-sir." Revali replied.

The man raised an eyebrow at Revali's timid stutter, probably wondering how he would ever handle a weapon if he couldn't handle speaking, but he said nothing about it. Instead, he leaned over the stall and nodded at Revali conspiratorially.

"What're you thinking? Anything in mind? Maybe a little shortsword, or a couple of knuckledusters? Those are good for beginners."

Revali tried his best not to make a face, though he couldn't be certain whether he succeeded or not. Inwardly, he cringed at the thought of having to be close enough to his target to use knuckledusters, and a sword- even a short one- seemed too unwieldy for his awkward hands.

"Maybe s-something l-like a d-dagger? S-something closer anyway."

The seller nodded in response, a fake and obviously strained smile still painted on his face. "Of course! We've got plenty of those. Give me just a tick."

It wasn't even that long before he popped back to the counter and spread an array of dagger-like weapons on the table. "From left to right," He proudly stated, "We have an assassin's dagger, a flametongue, a wrist knife, and a set of tamo daggers. Oh, and of course, the classic dagger."

He waved his hands over the table theatrically. "See anything you like?"

Though the assassin's dagger sounded extremely efficient, Revali wasn't sure he wanted to kill anyone. And he certainly didn't want to carry around a dagger with a name like "assassin" attached to it. The wrist knife looked as though it would belong to someone more cunning than he- someone with something to hide. Revali didn't want that either. The flametongue was elegant, but it frightened the boy. What if he dropped it? It looked as though it may tumble end over end and slice his foot off!

And yet, the normal dagger seemed so mundane. So, Revali pointed a shaky hand at the tamo daggers. "W-what do...what do those do?"

[Revali]

"Good choice! Good choice!" The seller announced proudly. "The tamo daggers are very similar to the classic daggers, except for a single, nifty little feature. Each serve as a neat little cover for its partner. They fit right together and then they can be used as a club, see?"

He demonstrated, holding up the twin daggers, and then quickly sheathing them so that they held together as a single, heavy, club. Revali nodded. Daggers would prevent him from coming in direct contact with the opponent, and yet, they were not long enough to be flailed about. The club could be useful; as unskilled as Revali currently was with weapons, he knew how to swing a piece of wood. Yes, this would be the weapon for him.

Revali looked up and began to ask about the cost, but the seller interrupted him. He was obviously growing impatient with Val's slow decision-making process, and wanted to hurry things along to the next customer.

"125 gold."

"Hundred t-twenty-five!" Squawked Revali. He pulled his coins from his trouser pockets, carefully counting them out. He had only brought 150 Mizas with him. He would have to go home and get straight to work if he was going to buy these daggers. "Are you s-sure you can't go any l-lower?"

"125 gold." The salesman repeated in a stubborn, monotone voice. "These are high quality, you see. They're made of pure steel, and with all those embellishments on the handle..." He let his voice drift off.

"Okay..." Revali mumbled, "Not even to twenty? I can pay you one hundred twenty gold."

The salesman stared coldly at Revali for a chime- just long enough to be uncomfortable- before sighing and picking up the daggers. He held them out to Revali without saying a word, but as Val exchanged the coins for the shiny new daggers, he could hear the salesman grumbling.

Revali turned away, and began to walk in the direction he had come from, cradling the expensive daggers close to his chest. But he could not ignore the sound of the salesman pointedly counting out the gold pieces in his palm, one by one.

[Revali]

Still cradling his new-found weaponry, Revali pushed his way through the gobs of people standing and milling about the Bazaar. Though it was not horrifically crowded, there were enough people just browsing to slow down travel time considerably. And because Revali had to move so slowly, he had little choice but to look at the stalls as he walked by.

The boy passed by a shop with fabulous clothing, including a fantastic green tunic, decorated with embroidered leaves. He smiled when he saw it. But he knew that he could not afford the gorgeous tunic; he had already spent far too much on his daggers. What he needed was to get out of there without spending any more.

So Revali carried on- albeit a bit sorrowfully.

His next temptation was even greater than the clothing. There was a stall set up down the way, right in his line of sight, that obviously sold drawing materials. Excited, Revali instinctively perked up and pushed faster in that direction. It was only after he reached the stand, examined the goods, found something he would like, and checked the price, that he remembered why he wasn't going to buy anything else. The woman running the stall gave him a strange and suspicious look as he sadly sat the charcoal down, but she said nothing to him. She simply shook her head as she watched him drag his feet away and back into the crowd.

As he walked, he kept his head down. This way, he thought, he would not be able to get distracted again. Revali was correct, but this also meant that he could not see anything in front of him. He learned this lesson the hard way- through an unfortunate incident with a man in a fez, a parrot, and great big mess.