He would have preferred to just curl up on his sleeping pallet and hide until it was time to leave, but Idalia had shopping to do this morning, and since yesterday Kellen had been so eager to see the rest of the village, there was no way he could get out of going with her without attracting attention he really wanted to avoid.
Armed with a borrowed basket—Idalia had one too—Kellen trailed after his sister as she made her way to Merryvale's Market Street.
It was a very different sort of market from the ones in Armethalieh. Of course it was smaller—much smaller. That went without saying. Half the places Idalia dragged him to were actual shops, not proper markets such as he was used to. And everything was jumbled in together in the same place—fruit and honey and meat and bread and cloth, all crowded into the same little part of town. And there wasn't really very much of anything, and what there was, was—he guessed—pretty crude by Armethaliehan standards.
But not one item there had been passed by the Council. Not one item there had received a license to be sold.
He passed by the door of a sweets-seller. The trays of brightly colored sugar caught his eye, and he stopped, thinking of Shalkan. The unicorn had a notorious sweet tooth, and would enjoy the treat.
But how could Kellen pay for it?
He glanced up the street. Idalia was stopped in the doorway of a spice-merchant's, and from the look of things, she was going to be there for some time.
Kellen went into the small shop. It smelled of sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, and other spices he couldn't put a name to. As he entered, he dug in his pouch for some coins—Armethaliehan coins, and probably worthless here, but maybe the metal in them would be worth something. Only the Golden Suns were bespelled, after all; the lesser coins of the City were only ordinary silver and copper. He pulled them out and held them toward the seller, a middle-aged Centaur wearing a white apron who smiled as he saw Kellen approach.
'I don't know if these are worth anything here…'
'What were you looking to buy?' the Centaur asked amiably. From his girth, he was his own best customer. 'Say, aren't you Kellen—Wild-mage Idalia's brother?'
'That's right,' Kellen said. 'And I've got a friend with a sweet tooth. I think he'd enjoy some of the rock sugar, or maybe some of the sugar sticks.'
'And you wanted to pay in coin?' the Centaur asked, sounding baffled. 'Idalia usually pays with weather, and all. Still…' He inspected the coins on Kellen's outstretched palm critically. 'Never seen anything like them, but they look like good silver, right enough. I reckon one of those'll be enough to buy your friend a fine tummy-ache, if you think that's fair.'
'More than fair,' Kellen agreed. He handed over the coin, and the sweets-seller took out a square of paper and made up a large packet of brightly colored sugar stick and glittering lumps of rock sugar. He tied the packet up with a length of twine and handed it over.
'And this is for you. A treat for luck.'
He picked up a small wooden dish and held it out to Kellen. Resting in the middle of it was a round brown doughy object, its surface coated with powdered sugar.
'What is it?' Kellen asked curiously.
'New from Midsummer Fair. The Mountain Traders brought it. They say it came out of the Southern Deserts, a spice-bean called xocalatl. Try it.'
'Something new.' Kellen hardly needed to hear anything more. He picked up the unprepossessing-looking object and popped it into his mouth.
It began to dissolve immediately, and the rich taste filled his mouth, bitter and sweet and complex. Like kaffeyah, but not quite. He wasn't sure he liked it, but he was glad he'd tried it.
' 'Xocalatl,' ' Kellen said, trying the unfamiliar word. 'Thank you. I'll remember it.'
'Come again,' the sweets-seller said genially. 'And remember me to your sister.'
Kellen nodded and moved on, tucking his package carefully into his basket and hurrying to catch up with his sister.
IDALIA completed her trading in Merryvale by midmorning, and she and Kellen began the long walk back to her cabin.
A lot of what she had traded for would be sent later—bags of flour, meal, and salt, too heavy for them to carry—and some things they would be returning for when they were ready. Kellen had been glad to find that they
