Chapter 19: The Black Market
The group made their way forwards and started to walk among the many stalls and tents. Evanna became excited by everything she saw, darting from stall to stall with wide eyes. She was amazed as she looked between them; there were so many things that she could not help but explore. The men were trying to keep up with her without trying to cause too much attention; luckily, the market was consistently busy, there were always people looking for banned items.
On one stall, in particular, Evanna tilted her head to the side as she saw human organs in some jars, and next to them, there looked to be some form of potions in glass containers. She only guessed they were potions as steam came out from the top of the dark liquids. Ronan, at this point, grabbed her hand and gently pulled her away; she looked at him questioningly, who only shook his head in response. Once they were further away, he leaned his head close to her ear as he whispered,
"Only you would find fascination at an organ and potion table. Did the warning from earlier not teach you to stay clear from witches? And who in their right minds would want to look at organs!?"
Evanna giggled, "I have never seen organs before and are you not curious to know what the potions were for?"
"No, my curious cat. I did not. I prefer to keep my life, thank you very much," He replied, still smiling as he assessed the area around them.
It was then, Evanna noticed that they were still holding hands. She slowly slipped her hand out as she looked away at another table, pretending to take an interest in the merchandise so he would not see the small blush that crept up her cheeks. Her experience with men touching her was nil; she only felt comfortable with the occasional hug from Ger, who felt more like a brother to her. She kept her eyes trained on the stalls and the surroundings, the moment passed, and her shoulders started to relax again.
They continued for the next hour searching through different stalls; sometimes, Axel led the way, and most of the time, it was Evanna inspecting the various illegal items for sale. Jewellery or a newly fitted dress would be a treat to any lady; however, as her companions now knew, she was not like most women. Her preferences were of the weird and wonderful; books and parchments that could not be found back at the Kingdom of Dunhurst.
Approaching another stall, Axel stepped forwards and started investigating the many parchments. While he was checking for the map of Direwood forest, Evanna’s gaze fell on a book written in Muranthian. It was a history book about the Kingdom of Lyvaria; she grabbed it and opened the first page to inspect the contents.
"This ain’t a library. Buy it or piss off," The merchant moaned at her.
She closed the book immediately and placed it back. Beside her, Axel picked up a parchment, his eyes lit up, and he went to talk to the seller. While they were haggling on the map’s price, Evanna started to walk to the far end of the stall. A small glimmering light came from a glass jar; as she walked towards it, she noticed that inside the jar was a tiny creature sitting down.
The closer she got, the more prominent its features she could see. It was a blonde-haired fairy; she sat down with her hands around her knees. Evanna stood right in front of the jar; she crouched down, so she was sitting on the back of her heels, staring in wonder at the little woman with her golden hair and wings. This was her first time meeting a fairy; she did not even know they existed outside fairy tales.