The Makers

The Market

"Remy, stay close buddy!" Tao called after the running boy who was still charging ahead of the group - heading farther into the building. Remy glanced back at him with a pout before slowing to a walk. Tao shook his head.

The hallway they were headed down had cream colored walls, one of which was almost completely covered in floor to ceiling windows. A few benches sat opposite each other every few yards and charming lamps glowed softly from above them. At the end of the hall was a space that echoed with chatter.

"So, what kind of food do you normally get here?" Nery asked Tao, gesturing towards the doors at the end of the hall.

"Oh everything." Tao made a wide gesture with his hands. "We buy our produce here mostly and the prepared food is great."

At this point, they walked right past Remy who was swinging his limbs dramatically through the air like he was stuck in molasses.

"S-s-slo-o-o-w-w.....m-o-t-i-o-n." Remy narrated his current behavior in a low droning tone. Mae snickered.

"Bye Remy!" Tao called back at him as they passed. They finally reached the end of the hallway and arrived in a much larger room.

The first thing that Mae did when they walked in was look up. The glass dome was far above them, the panes reflecting the pale rectangular stones of the floor. There were two lanes of walking space in front of them that split off towards opposite corners of the room. Large frames hung above each row of booths, each one fixed with golden globes that lit up the space with a warm glow.

Sunny and Taylor were just ahead of them at a booth that was bursting with flowers. Sunny was oohing and ahhing at the delicate arrangements. Taylor just nodded and agreed with her as her search for the best bouquet resulted in changing her mind every few seconds.

Remy caught up to them, zooming past Nery and then taking a hard left towards a colorful booth. The sign above the booth read "Katie's Homemade Kandies". The lady behind the counter saw him coming and a familiar smile broke across her face as she greeted Remy.

"Not before dinner, Remy!" Tao called after him and jogged over to his side to prevent the charming eight year old from ruining his meal.

Nery started leading Mae down the opposite path towards an enticing smell. A sign off to their right advertised Thai Street Food. The tang of salt and hot grease brushed their noses as they passed rows of kabob sticks decorated with balls of fried food.

They walked side by side, passing a few different booths, one was full of glistening brown bottles of wine. Another hosted a seafood buffet. And next to that a jewelry craftsman sat amongst his delicate bunch of tiny treasures.

"This matches your eyes." The jewelry craftsman spoke up as they passed. He had stood up out of his chair and was cradling something small in his hand. Mae stopped and glanced down, noticing sapphire blue stones on earring hooks that rested daintily against his fingers.

"Oh, they're beautiful." She complimented his work. "But I'm just shopping for food." She explained apologetically. He nodded kindly and took the earrings back to his booth.

Mae sped up her pace, trying to avoid eye contact with any more craftsmen and weaving through the crowds of people. She glanced back at Nery to see if he was keeping up only to find him chatting with a booth owner who was selling custom made sleds. She shook her head as he complimented the craftsmanship of the sleds, gushing his approval until the booth owner was blushing with pride. Mae decided to keep exploring down the path, knowing she'd be able to find Nery later.

"Put that down!" Mae stopped short as a loud female voice cut across the chatter. She turned her head towards the right and noticed a blond haired woman smacking what looked like a wooden toy out of her little boy's hands. The boy started to wine but she cut him short, "We don't partake in that magic stuff." She scolded him.