“Pay? For what?” Vhalla was confused.
“Soldiers get paid.” Larel smiled.
“But I’m not a soldier.” Vhalla fidgeted with her fingers. “I’m owned by the crown.”
“I think saving the army deserves three gold coins.” Larel patted her shoulder and ushered Vhalla off to the bathroom.
It was a shared bathroom for the floor but it was thankfully empty. The tub was sized for one and Vhalla took her time. Someone, she suspected Larel, had bathed her when she was unconscious but it didn’t compare to how clean she felt when she could be thorough.
When Vhalla returned to the room, Larel was still waiting persistently to check her injuries. Vhalla doubted she could dance the night away if her wounds were still significant, but she indulged Larel anyway. Larel saw her dressed and then used magic in a way Vhalla had never conceived.
She ran her palms through Vhalla’s hair and the heat instantly set the water to steam. Larel explained how it took many tries to get the right balance of tension and heat, but it was a useful trick when mastered. As Vhalla looked at her hair in the mirror, suddenly smooth and straight, she easily agreed.
Daniel was sitting, charcoal moving without pause over the pages of a worn-looking leather book, when she arrived downstairs. He had a canvas bag slung across his chest, a bag into which the book quickly disappeared upon his noticing her. Vhalla adjusted her pack on her shoulders, empty save for a golden coin.
“Sorry to make you wait,” she said apologetically.
“Not a problem.” Daniel stood with a shake of his head. “Ready?”
She nodded.
The alleyways of the Crossroads were completely different in daylight. Most of the stores that had been shut by dusk were now open and alive. Tables were set out with all manner of jewelry, food, baubles, and trinkets. Vhalla found herself slowing down by every other one to inspect something she’d never seen.
“We’re never going to make it to the main market like this.” Daniel chuckled.
“Sorry!” she said, skipping to catch up with him. “It’s just all so,
so
different.”
Vhalla made it a point to keep step with Daniel and not lag behind. Eventually his roundabout way led them to a wide road—the East-West Way. Vhalla gasped at the hive of people that bustled within the greatest market in the world. Everything was busy, everything was colorful, everything was alive, and everything seemed to have a price.
People pressed in against each other and pushed purposefully to get to wherever it was they were off to next. Some carried large baskets on their heads, others held platters, and some had cages with wild beasts that Vhalla had never before seen. A man pushed between them and Vhalla glanced back for Daniel, but the crowd had enveloped him.
She scanned her left and right, trying to find where he may have gone. Vhalla walked in his general direction. “Daniel?” A few passersby looked at her strangely but kept going. “Daniel!” she tried a little louder.
“Vhalla!” A hand shot up from the edge of the crowd. “Over here.” Vhalla had to jump to see where he was, and she pushed through the mass to get to him. He chuckled. “Sorry about that.”
“Not your fault.” She shook her head.
“Let’s look in here.” He held back a heavy curtain to a dimly lit shop.
Vhalla’s eyes adjusted slowly to the lighting. A dense haze hovered in the air that held the smell of spices and wood. Glass cases lined the walls and a few stood freely in the middle of the room. Vhalla ran her hand over them, looking at the treasures within.
“
Irashi
, welcome.” A young woman wearing a robe revealing her generous cleavage—too much revealed, in Vhalla’s opinion—sauntered over to them. She had long, straight black hair. Half was down flowing over her shoulders and back. The other half was braided like a spider’s web on top.
“Welcome to the finest Curiosity Shop in all the land.” She leaned against one of the cases, the tan skin of her leg slipping out through a slit in her bright ruby robe—a stunning contrast. “And what can I help you with today?” The woman smiled thinly.
“I think we’re just looking.” Vhalla took a step closer to Daniel and away from the woman. He seemed to be unbothered, but something about this woman put Vhalla’s hairs on edge.
“No one is ‘just looking.’ All desire.” The woman folded her arms under her breasts. “Tell me, what is yours?”
“Sorry to disappoint.” Vhalla dodged her question and looked at Daniel. “Let’s go, I’m hungry.” She grabbed his arm and turned to leave.
“There is not one curiosity you have, Vhalla Yarl?” Vhalla stopped short. “I know your winds will not tell you what the flames will tell me.”
Daniel took a step forward; he put his body half in front of Vhalla’s, an arm stretched across her protectively.
“How do you know my name?” Vhalla whispered in shock.
“I can know many, and tell more, if you wish it.” The woman flipped some hair over her shoulders. “The fire burns away all lies.”
“You’re a sorcerer,” Vhalla stated; it was as though she could smell the magic radiating off the woman.
“I am a Firebearer,” the woman affirmed with a nod.
“What is your name?” Vhalla pushed Daniel’s arm down, taking a step forward.
“I’ve had many names, I could give you one, or I could let you chose a name for yourself. Then it will be something we alone can share.” The woman continued to lounge against one of the cases.
“Tell me the name you would like me to call you. Invented or otherwise.” Instinct told Vhalla to make as few choices as possible when interacting with this woman.
“Vi,” the Westerner said simply. “Would you like me to read your curiosities?”
“Read our curiosities?” Daniel asked.
“I am a Firebearer, I am one with the flames, and with my eyes I can see into the future. You come with curiosities,
questions
, in your heart and I will give you answers,” the woman proclaimed.
Vhalla was skeptical, but the woman
had
known her name. “I’ll do it.” She felt overcome with bravery.
The woman gave her a knowing smile. “You must pick four things: three to burn, one to hold.” The Firebearer motioned around the room at the cases, and Vhalla understood. These things weren’t for sale; this was a fortune teller and these were tools for her trade. Vhalla began to stroll about the space, Daniel hovering over her shoulder.
“Are you sure this is a good idea?” he whispered directly into her ear so the woman would not hear. His proximity was warm, even compared to the heat of the day.
“It’ll be fine. Why not live a little? I am here, and somehow she knew my name.”
Vhalla scanned the strange objects; there was an impossible amount of knickknacks at random order in the cases. A jar of quills caught her eye. Vhalla reached over, thumbing around. Selecting a gray silver plume Vhalla brought it to the counter the woman rested on.
Then Vhalla was wandering again. A bunch of wheat—
home
—and rose petals, a different feeling of home, collected on the counter. The last thing—something to hold—was the hardest to find. She spent far too long going from case to case looking at this or that.
In the end, it was a fine silver chain that was draped out of a halfway closed jewelry box that caught her eye. Vhalla slid open the glass of the case and pulled lightly on the chain. It was a simple, silver pocket watch that was designed to be worn around the neck. Vhalla stared at it closely. The links were oddly familiar. It reminded her of Aldrik’s, she realized. “This ... this is what I will hold.” Vhalla walked back over to the woman.
“An interesting spread.” The Firebearer sounded amused. “Come.” Vi carried the burning goods into an even smokier backroom. Their shoes were removed as though it was a sacred place. Tapestries and rugs covered the floor and walls, making it feel very small and intimate. They each took a place on either side of a smoldering fire pit.
“Are you certain you wish an observer?” she asked, looking at Daniel. “I will read the futures as I see them.”
“I suppose ...” Vhalla looked up uncertainly at Daniel. “If you don’t mind?”
“I’ll wait right out here.” Daniel slipped back out of the heavy curtain, and Vhalla heard his footsteps fade away.
The woman knelt over the fire pit and reached into the smoldering coals. She lifted them up and dropped them, their orange-hot glow bright in the dim light. Flames licked around her fingers and soon her arms up to her elbows were covered in soot. The woman reached across and held out her thumb, marking Vhalla’s face.
“Vhalla Yarl, blessed bird of the East. The one who can soar without wings. The first chick to fly the cage. The first to return to our land.”
The woman leaned back. Taking the quill, she threw it into the fire pit. Flames roared white. Vi grabbed the wheat, adding it to the fire. The color changed to orange. Finally the rose petals were sacrificed and the fire changed a deep unnatural crimson, almost black.
Vhalla held her breath as the woman eased her face into the flame. Face-down she opened her eyes to the fire, and Vhalla let out an uneasy sigh as the Firebearer was completely unaffected by its heat. Slowly the flames began to die down, leaving a light-purple ash at the bottom of the pit.
“The present burns away, leaving the future to rise from its ashes.” Vi leaned over and took a large handful of the ash and threw it into the air over them. The fine powder began to slowly swirl and trickle down, lighter than snow, and hovered before her, making unknown shapes before finally settling to the floor. Vi’s eyes burned a bright red color.
“You will march to victory, and it will be won upon your silver wings. But the winds of change you will set free will also shatter that tender hope upon which you fly.
You will lose your dark sentry,
” the woman foretold.
Vhalla clutched the plain pocket watch, her heart beginning to race.
“Two paths will lie before you: night and day. Go west by night. Fade into the comforting obscurity of a shroud of darkness. You will find a familiar happiness there, if you can ignore yearnings for the sun.” Vi paused, looking at the glimmering ash about the room. “The other road will burn away your falsehoods by the light of dawn. You will own your wants for all to see. But take caution, for the fire that will expose you will give birth to an even greater power that will consume the land itself.”
A silence fell over the room as the last of the ash fell to the floor. Vhalla breathed shallowly. Each of the woman’s words seemed to have been carefully and perfectly chosen for an exact meaning. But what that meaning was Vhalla still considered. Vi’s eyes slowly faded to black again.
“And now, for payment.” The woman settled into a more comfortable position.
“Ah, right.” Vhalla put down her sack and reached for her gold.
“I do not want coin.” Vi stopped her.
Vhalla paused, an unsettling feeling worming its way into the back of her skull. “What, do you want then?”
“That watch.” The Westerner pointed to the one which Vhalla was holding.
“This one?” Vhalla held it up; it was the woman’s to begin with. Vi nodded. “All right, of course.”
Vhalla passed it over. She had never expected to keep it, but something strange tingled across her fingers as Vhalla gave it up. It was physically difficult to see it in the other woman’s hands.
“Our current business has concluded.”
They both stood, and Vi held open the back curtain while Vhalla slipped into her shoes.
“Heed my words, Vhalla Yarl.”
Vhalla could only nod at the cryptic message and walked out into the shop proper. She rubbed the soot off her face, trying to figure out how much the woman’s fortune telling bothered her. Vhalla nodded to Daniel and they left silently, back out into the chaos of the market. Somehow, she felt the fiery glow of the woman’s stare halfway down the street.
Vhalla linked her arm with Daniel’s to avoid getting separated from him again. He was also steady and, in truth, she felt a little shaken. Vhalla flexed, gripping him tighter.
“How did it go?” he asked as lightly as possible.
“It was an experience.” Vhalla attempted a chuckle. She could tell he didn’t buy the brave front, but he didn’t follow up with any questions on what type of experience it was.
Daniel was in good form the rest of the day as he showed her the market. He let her walk as close as she liked to him and neither pushed her away nor pulled her closer. Normally they were arm–in-arm for practicality, but if she was completely honest, she was enjoying the position of being physically close to someone who wasn’t confusing or frustrating.
They stopped at a food stand and purchased balls of rice that had vegetables inside. Vhalla laughed as she fed him a bite of her flavor and half dropped out onto his lap. For dessert, they tried a square sweet had a strange stiff, jelly-like texture. Vhalla bought a small box to bring back to Larel and Fritz.
After the morning’s affair finally faded, the day gave way to an all-around positive experience in the market. Vhalla purchased a small bottle of perfume and a potpourri ball for her bag from a scents shop, thinking they may come in handy during the rest of their march in the desert.
They passed a candy shop and found the lemon peels that Aldrik had mentioned. Vhalla picked up two bags, one for her and one for him. He had brought them up, and he had liked the lemon cake. Daniel purchased a new dagger that could be worn on the leg and short swords that he insisted were worlds better than his own. When Vhalla told him she had no weapons, he was aghast and that hunt absorbed the rest of their afternoon.
She finally decided on a thin, almost needle-like dagger that was just a little less than the length of her forearm. It came with a holster to wear on the arm, the hilt right near the wrist. Daniel pointed out that she’d lose a lot of stability and strength choosing such a small option. But as Vhalla clipped it onto the underside of her forearm and rolled her sleeve down over it, she instantly liked her choice. With a normal shirt, it was perfectly concealed. The hilt was just the right length to not impede her movement. Yet in a quick motion she had it drawn.
In all, the day cost her almost all the money she had brought. But they were only in the Crossroads for a few more days and most things seemed to have been taken care of for her.