Earth Kid [Adopted By Ashwhisker]

Chapter 2 - Market Stalls & Cat Girls

For most of the day I found myself working: at some point all enthusiasm lost me and I no longer had the urge to go into the forest. So I kept working for the rest of the day:

I finally was called over from the carrot patches, it was elder Tika calling me for the market. As much as I had complained about it earlier relief washed over me: the day had been particularly hot and all I wished for was the shade of the market stalls and village roofs to tower over me, walking over hurriedly I almost dropped my hoe right there in the fields out of anticipation.

Tika went through with me the things I had to do today, I had done this task previously and already knew what to do but a backup explanation was always helpful:
"So you'll go to the market stall 77, and meet RJ as you usually do. You know what he looks like right?"
"Yea"
"Good, so you won't find trouble there then. The carts are broken today, one of the wheels has fallen off" she laughed "so you'll be carrying two satchels instead. I know it's inconvenient but I ask you try not to squash any wheat. It makes it harder to produce into dough and won't sell as well"
"Okay, I won't"
"And lastly, you may have to come back for another batch of supplies because the carts out. Sorry, but it has to be done".

I sighed, why couldn't I just use the cart like everyone else. 'only me would end up with extra work' I thought to myself as I started packing the satchels with bundles of wheat, potatoes and carrots. I was meant to take a watermelon too but it was evidently too heavy and Tika just told me I could come back for it in my second round.

I set off finally, waving to Tika and Donovan and said a quick goodbye to Amelia as I passed her washing quilts near the pond. Onto the dirt path I went. On my little journey to the village: I picked up some apples that had fallen from trees, accidentally stung myself with nettles, watched small animals and picked up small sticks in hopes I could tinker with things at the orphanage with them when I got bored.

The path seemed longer then usual without the cart to assist me. I kept dragging myself along the hills and on the outskirts of the orchards around me: finally I spotted the town in the distance. The small huts and houses on the outskirts had straw roofs and oak wooden walls whereas the town houses in the center of Callis were more ridgid and had bases of stone and roofs of tiles. I hurried my pace to catch up to the time, I didn't know exactly what time is was but guessing by how far the sun was to the hills ahead of me it was becoming later. At this point I'd be there for the afternoon market, and RJ wouldn't be happy. I waved solemnly to the farmers and older villagers who mostly resided on the outskirts and carried on through to the market place.

Out of this street, into Meek way and follow through to lenon drive.

I repeated the instructions in my head, keeping my wits about me to make sure no body was attempting to grab a carrot or apple out of my satchel as minimal as that may seem. Finally I entered the hustle and bustle of the market place. People laughing, analysing goods, farmers embellishing in the piles of wheat in stalls and children staring at things they evidently couldn't afford. An all around busy place that was always filled with satisfaction; whether it be from the vender or the customer.

I waved hello to some familiar faces: peachy from the wool stall, saph with her tray of honey baked goods, Semira running her voodoo doll stand and Eveline at the jewelry vendors. I was glad to know some people enjoyed my return,

At last I spotted RJ with his feet up on the table at the stall. I made my way over and plopped the satchels down with annoyance, releasing the tension that my shoulders bared when having to hold that amount of weight for that time.

RJ jumped up, "ah I apologize," he rearranged himself neatly (probably the most unprofessional I'd ever seen him) "you were taking a while and I saw fit to relax"
"I see" I chuckled "but that's not the case now and I still gotta go back for another round. So let's set this out"
"Good idea" he snapped a finger gun at me before helping unpack the satchels: We set the wheat into the trays on the tables, put the carrots in batches near the right and placed the apples neatly into another tray before stacking the potatoes to the left. We high fives eachother as we finished and farmers and other food venders quickly found their way to the stall looking for goods.

"I know you have to go for another round at some point but I may need some help here, do you mind staying a bit longer?" RJ asked hopefully.
I was ecstatic to be wanted and out of the house so I gladly accepted, can't wait to see how this excuse would go down with elder Sam.
"I'll help!" I bounced up and down happily. RJ laughed at my petty enthusiasm before showing me the prices of everything. He mentioned that it gets busy soon enough and to watch out for scavenger kids. I got the jist and helped pack veggies and produce into paper backs, handing them to happy customers and making small talk with regular house mothers who were preparing food for their family and every once in a while an unfamiliar traveller or adventurer searching for stock.

It was fun, and as much as I always said I'd hated work this is most fun at work I'd ever had. I wish I could come here every day and talk to the people. Such a mundane job seemed to bring me so much happiness in this one moment.

Then it stopped

"Hey, um its getting closer to the afternoon market and were running low. Can you go get that second batch please?"
Rjs words hit me like a brick. This meant I'd have to go back, get the next batch and then probably be sent home, as the afternoon market was never as busy as the first. I felt like In that moment telling him no, telling him I wanted to stay for just a bit longer. But I sighed and did as he said: who was I to argue with an elder?

I grabbed my satchels from the chest solemnly and wrapping them around me. I said goodbye and stepped out of the stall as RJ quickly said goodbye back before returning to the customers at the stall. I had a glum look on my face as I walked through the market again, not looking where I was going or taking notice of my surroundings.

Then all of a sudden I was pushed back, I stumbled but kept my balance and quickly realised I had bumped into someone. Or some people to be more specific.
"Sorry!" I blurted out half heartedly with my eyes still closed: I was still in the process of realising what had happened.
"Wowie powie Night, you took a hit there hehe" A sassy and outgoing voice giggled.

The bouncy way this person spoke drove me to open my eyes out of curiosity, looking up I saw a strangely orange tanned girl with bright white eyes. They glowed like becans even in the light of day and shimmered as she spoke. She had long poofy hair that was an ombre of brown to orange and beared 4 fluffy tails, along with a pair of orange ears to fit. I was purely shocked at the appearance of this person, this small girl was also wearing a neatly cut short sleeved turtle neck top with a heart cut in the chest to fit and a plaited maroon skirt along with some dashing boots.

"Ah- my head," a gentle voice spoke.

Before I let my eyes stare any longer I switched my gaze to the taller girl next to her (who of which had just spoken). She had pale skin and narrow yet anxious purple eyes, she also had an ombre hairstyle of black to blue; her hair was even longer then the first girls and had a clean and tidy look to it. She had evenly cut lengths of shorter hair that hung over her shoulders and her fringe was tidily tucked below her ears. She also had a long bushy tail and larger more extravagant grey ears similar to that of a wolf. She wore a white jumper with shoulder cuts and a sky blue skirt, and looked nervously at me as I assessed what I had just gotten into.

"Oh- um. I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you" I quickly re postured myself and waited for a hopeful acceptance of my sloppy apology.
"It's all good," the smaller girl gave me a thumbs up and turned to the older girl. "Little nightshade over here is a bit clumsy too"
I laughed even though I couldn't understand why she was calling this evidently older girl 'little'
"Jo!" She silently hissed. "We are nOT explaining your situation to every person we meet, act your age!" She whispered almost agitated. I could barely hear her as she lectured the girl but soon enough the smaller kid sighed and looked back up to me.
"Yo, do you mind helping us back to our parents? We've lost them in the market place." This supposed Jo asked.
"Ah yeah sure!" I sighed "can I call you guys anything while we're together?"
"I'm Jorah Deshi and this is my sister Nightshade"; nightshade gave me a small wave in the process.
"Oh well you can call me Bee!" I decided to give them my childhood nickname as I never was really accustomed to giving out things like that.
"Okay bee, well my mum and dad are looking for stuff to bake a cake so I can only guess they're somewhere with things to do with that, you know where that is?"
"Yeah, we're not very accustomed to the town" nightshade muttered.
"Oh sure! I just came from a stall with wheat and stuff" I waved them over and spun around, they followed after me hurriedly and we made our way back through towards the stall I had just left.

"There's mum!" Nightshade clapped and we continued over

my eyes were astonished at the sight of the rest of this bizarre family-

This truly was gonna be an interesting day.