"Excuse me sir, would you be interested in buying this golden pendant?"
"Groceries! Fresh groceries!"
"Velvet scarves for your wives! Only sixty rupees a piece!"
I'm in awe of the spectacle around me. The ruckus, the beautiful garments on display, the rich-looking merchants arguing about the fairness of a price--Theo has led me right into a bazaar I've only read about in novels. Never in my life have I seen so many colors, so many people, so many things in one place. Eseq had such markets but in a much smaller, less exciting scale.
I fight the urge to stop and admire everything around me, but every time I start to drift off Theo tugs on my sleeve. I have to remember how much danger I'm in. I secure the scarf around my face tighter and avoid any eye contact these shop owners are trying to give me. Instead I force myself to keep my head down, watching Theo's feet as he leads me in and out of every street. The boy himself wears a scarf to cover up his face, and while I don't understand why, I figure he just wants to look the same as me.
He leads me into a store of fresh fruits and vegetables, and he tells me I can get anything I want. At first I only get a few liters of water and some basic foods, but looking around at my options, my mouth gets watery. There's a box of starfruit and dragonfruit, things I never could've dreamed of back in Eseq. Theo sees me eyeing it and drops a handful into a shopping bag. "I told you, get whatever you want," he whispers. I smile, pinching his cheek, and get a few more things before leaving the store.
"Be careful!" We walk back into the street as he starts to scold me. "You can't be too girly."
I frown, as if to say How am I being girly?
"Pinching cheeks and frolicking around a grocery shop is very girly!"
I roll my eyes and ruffle his hair, but secretly I take what he says into account. My disguise is pretty proficient--I've already seen several people walk by with long clothing covering their body and face (yes, they're wearing jewelry and walking next to a camel and a servant, but that's beside the point)--but apparently I still walk like a woman, and I need to do everything to divert eyes away from me.
We buy a few more things and walk for a little while longer until Theo stops to turn to me. "There's a...a book place around the corner. Let's go."
At first I want to tell him not to worry about it, since we've gotten basically everything I need, but then I remember how incredibly boring it is at the tree house, so we turn our heels in unison and I oblige to follow him.
The "book place" he mentions turns out to be a library on the least busy corner in the entire bazaar, which is both a little disappointing but mostly exciting for me; as soon as I walk into that library and the smell of manila pages and wooden book shelves overwhelms my senses, I almost jump with exhilaration. This is the biggest library I've ever seen. From head to toe, covered in books in all shapes and sizes--so many books, in fact, that someone had to build a shelf into the wall and the floor to hold everything.
I check to see if there's no people around, and when there aren't, I drop my bag of groceries into the hands of a bored-looking Theo and go head-first into the aisle in front of me. It's a section on Art History, which is already great, since I'm not that well versed on the subject. There's even a couple manifestos and Valon propaganda pamphlets about how the country revolutionized the history of architecture. That's actually a common trend I see in every aisle in this place--whether it's about a famous war, or a religion, or even in fiction, these books portray Valon like it's better than heaven. Obviously I see through the bullshit, but it's intriguing enough for me to tuck a couple under my arm as I continue exploring.
I realize I've kind of left Theo behind, and when I turn I see that he hasn't followed me. I try to trace my steps back to the entrance, but come to another realization that I've completely lost myself in excitement that I wasn't even paying attention to where I was going. Suddenly I feel like a huge idiot, carrying around a foot-tall pile of books in my arms, limping around in my huge merchant clothes. I keep walking, trying to think of a way to find the boy without whispering or using my voice, until I hear a voice from behind me.
"Well, it's been a long time since I've had a young lady in my store."
I whirl around in shock. It's an old man--must be seventy or eighty--at the end of the aisle, with long, grey hair tied into a pony tail, wearing a kimono-like tunic with sandals and a cane in his hand. He's shorter than I am, and his wrinkles sag down his face.
Did he recognize me? Is my disguise too obvious? Is my figure showing? Did anyone else notice me like this? What is he going to do? My racing thoughts are cut off when I take a closer look at him. His eyes are staring blankly, not at me, not making eye contact with me, but straight ahead. His black iris's are hollow.
He takes a few steps towards me, waving his cane in front of him to make sure there's no obstacles in his path. "Now, now, my lady," he chuckles. "I know I'm an ugly old man, but I assure I'm not going to harm you in the slightest."
Then I realize. "You're blind," I say bluntly.
He lets out a big laugh. "Ho ho ho, you must be observant! Either that or I'm making myself look too obvious." His joke is subtle and not that clever but it sends him into a laughing fit. His laughter has a strange rhythm to it, and I can't hold back my smile. Now that I've relaxed a bit, I ask, "How could you tell I was a girl?"
The old man lets out a sigh. "When you've been blind for as long as I have, you have to train your other senses." He points to his ear. "Your footsteps are particularly light, and you have a slight limp in your walk."
"That's incredible," I say genuinely. I've never met a visually impaired person before. What I would give to sit down and talk to this man about his life. He seems to be quite the character. But I can't get off track.
"Do you work here, sir?"
He places the books he had under his arm onto the shelf in front of him after patting down the area with his hands. "Yes, I do. I'm the owner of this place. What, you think a blind man can't run a book store?" He laughs again.
I lower my scarf from my mouth a little so he can hear better. "Well, sir, if you can hear footsteps that well, would you be able to tell me if you heard the footsteps of a little boy around here? He's my...my brother, and I got so enamored with your book collection that I left him behind in the store."
"Hmm." After a momentary pause, he turns around and motions with his cane for me to follow him, which I do. "I'm know I heard something of the sort," the old man says. Every word he says has some sort of resonance, and sentences slowly but surely waltz their way out of his mouth. "But I thought I was hearing things. I don't get much traffic down here like I did decades ago, and usually when I do get customers they have old, slow, heavy feet."
We take a couple turns when I hear "Lady!"
It's coming from a few aisles forward, and I run ahead to find a little Theo, hidden under a pile of fallen books with his scarf-mask disheveled, the groceries I gave him earlier have fallen out of their bags and onto the dusty, wooden floor.
I scold him, describe the scene to the store owner, and once I help my "brother" out of the pile of books, we both straighten out the scene. The kid explains that, while he was trying to look for me, he started looking for a smart book that I'd like, and ended up picking out a book from a tall stack that fell on top of him, so tall that the amount of books covered him. Apparently neither I nor the old man heard it, since I was too busy engrossed in book-finding and he was assuming he'd heard things.
After we're done cleaning everything up, Theo pulls me to the side. He motions towards the old man, trying to be secretly about it, until I say out right that "He's blind." The man laughs behind us.
Embarrassed, Theo says out loud, "Are you going to stay here for another ten hours? Or are you ready to go home now?"
"Let's leave," I say. "I just need to buy one or two of these books I found." I had put my books on the ground; now I pick them up and walk towards the old man. "How much do you charge for...one...two...five books?"
"Oh!" He smiles, his eyes facing me, but looking through me at the same time. "Free of charge."
I raise my eyebrows and shake my head, until I remember he can't see and I say "Oh, no, I couldn't do that! This is your store, I--"
He raises his cane a little, as if to silence me. "Young lady, you're too kind. It won't hurt me if a few hairs of grass are taken from my meadow. Especially when my meadow is barely ever touched." A sweet smile appears on his face, his most genuine yet, and my heart warms at the sight.
I still feel a little weird taking books without paying, especially since this man seems to be a tender, nonjudgmental person, so I insist to give him at least a few rupees. After a full minute of arguing he finally agrees, then says something that takes me by surprise.
"Tell me, child, what is your name?"
I pause.
Varona, I want to say. Varona is my name.
"My name is Rose, sir. Rose."
He frowns. "Rose? Are you sure? Well, of course you're sure of your own name...well, never mind it. You should be on your way."
"W-wait!" I get his attention before he starts to turn away. "What are you referring to?"
The old man sighs. "Ah, nothing my dear. You just remind me of someone...someone I met a long time ago...but somehow, it still feels like yesterday..."
There's a long pause, in which I'm staring at him, confused, and he's looking off into the distance, solemn.
Theo coughs behind us, motioning for me to get going.
I nod at the boy, and the two of us bid our farewells to the old man. We help each other fix the other's disguise, secure our goods in our bags and head towards the door.
"Oh, children!" We look back and see the old man calling after us from the doorway. "Make sure you stay safe! Haven't you heard about that danger in town recently?"
I frown, and look at Theo, expecting a similar reaction. Instead, he doesn't look at me.
"What do you mean, sir?" I call back.
"You don't know?" He says. "That's odd. Some soldiers came into my store and asked to hang a wanted poster on the side of my shop. Apparently those wanted posters are everywhere."
I freeze.
Wanted poster.
I stare at an expressionless Theo. When I have enough strength to bring my voice back, I ask the old man, "Wanted poster for who?"
"Eh, I'm not aware of all the details. But I'm sure anyone walking on the street will be able to answer. Something about a fugitive. It's still daytime for now, so you should be fine. But don't stay out too late! Farewell!"
I don't have the breath to return his parting words because I'm already running to the side of the building to see what I'm suspecting to see for myself.
Theo runs after me. "L-Lady!! Lady! Don't--" He grabs me by my trousers. I shake him off, glaring at him. "Let me see it!"
He bites his lip. "Quiet!" He looks around. This place isn't crowded, but isn't empty either. Some heads have turned. "You need to..."
The boy keeps talking, but I can't hear him.
I can't hear anything.
All I can do is see.
All I can see is the five foot tall wanted poster, plastered on a brick wall.
A wanted poster of a girl, with bronze skin, thick black hair, and a bloody dress.
On the side, it reads Female youth. Not Valon native. Limp in one leg. Hostile. His Majesty the King offers the highest reward.
Wanted. Dead or Alive.
I gaze into the drawing of my own eyes on the wall.
Dead or alive.