21. Ceresa and Kali

The trees they passed suddenly cleared and the city literally popped open in front of her eyes.

An ancient city with high stone walls and tightly perched houses in tight streets.

Luckily market was outside the city and she sat not far from the four people that sold cabbage.

She slowly opened the three bags and not even a moment later someone stopped. "How many herbs?"

"Two Ceresa for one spoon."

"I'll be right back." The person rushed away and the old woman first came with her own cloth they used to clean nose.

"Six spoons of rose hips in this cloth. The other cloth has four spoons of camomile. And the big cloth gives me ten spoons of sage."

Anna calmly filled to the brim herbs and filed as the woman said.

"Together thirty Ceresa. As I promised three coins for two spoons."

The woman recounted it in her head and happily paid.

Ceresa was expected to simple coin but in a square shape. It had a small hole in the middle so you could bind it together with a thread or a thin cord.

She calmly put the money into the side pocket of her backpack and saw the other person rushing back.

"Give me all herbs. Count in front of me."

Anna Gale understood that the person was afraid of cheating so she started transporting the herbs to the bag that person brought, but the spoons were not as full as she gave the old lady.

She just counted as she filled and as the bag with sage was done she waved at the person to give her another bag and just continued counting.

"Hundred seventy-three, hundred seventy-four and hundred seventy-five. That should be... Three hundred fifty Ceresa."

The woman nodded. "I'll give you three Kali and fifty Ceresa."

Kali?

"Deal." Anna anyway had to learn about the money in this world and already knew now two.

Ceresa and Kali.

Kali was a small ball of silver. Not a coin.

The balls looked like glass marbles kids liked playing with.

She calmly counted Ceresa and gave back two as the woman gave her more.

"You are a good child. Keep the two Ceresa." The woman saw that she didn't plan to cheat her and patted her head.

Anna calmly picked up her bag and glanced at the old lady. "I won't be going back with you as I need to visit a family member. Sorry. Here is the spoon. Thank you."

"No problem. Be careful on way home. Streets are getting worse by the day." The old woman rubbed her uncomfortable belly as she was shaken by the city.

Anna smiled and walked straight towards the city. She smelled freshly baked bread from far and planned to buy one right away.

Just as expected a long line of people gathered at the bakery and waited to buy bread. But it went fast.

She realized as people passed that there are three loaves of bread. Long like french bread, black ones and sourdough bread as she could smell one in passing.

As the baker was loud enough she knew price even before.

Long white bread was ten Ceresa, sourdough bread was five Ceresa and the dark thing was two Ceresa.

She took out fifteen Ceresa as she made the decision to buy long white and the sourdough one. The second can stand for a couple of days without going bad.

When it was her turn she calmly pointed at the two loaves of bread that were placed on the table and gave money right away.

The baker gave her the loaves of bread and turned his head to the next customer. He truly had no time for chitchat as there was still a long line behind her.

The two pieces of bread were placed in her backpack and she realized that they were still warm. She was about to leave when she saw a young woman selling small chicks.

"How much a chick?" Chicken could give later fresh eggs.

"Chicks are five Ceresa each." The woman spoke and Anna was about to agree when she saw a nearby woman just shaking her head.

This person probably is trying to rip her off.

"I'll pay two Ceresa per chick and will buy them all."

The young woman got stunned. It seems this child is not dumb so she could only agree.

"I have nineteen chicks."

Anna counted chicks and rolled her eyes. "You have thirteen chicks."

She started counting them and the woman blushed now.

This kid is not easy to handle. Not easy at all.

Anna counted twenty-six Ceresa and gave her three more Ceresa for the basket she carried the chicks in.

The woman happily accepted and Anna left.

She slowly walked out of the city and when she went around the corner she made sure no one was around and spoke. "Home."

The gate shone and she saw the two girls waiting for her already.

But they never expected her to bring food and small chicks. "I'll eat a bit and go to sleep. You two could bring these chicks next to the fire as they shouldn't be cold. Give them a bit of water. I'll make a small scoop for them to eat outside when it's a sunny day like today."

"Sister, we can just use a mosquito net and cover the corners with stones. I don't think they will try to go under it."

Anna found that idea quite good and went straight out with a small bag that had a mosquito net.

She found these in the store as well and wanted to keep them for summer.

The upper part was bound onto a small tree branch in front of the house. The lower part was weighted with stones that were scattered throughout the whole place and the two girls brought the chicks and put them under the mosquito net one by one.

As expected the chicks started chirping and picking on the ground right away. Anna knew this is not enough for these things to grow, but had no time now to think about it.

She was literally so tired that she pushed her bag to the girls, barely took off her clothes and just climbed onto the mattress and was out.

The two girls could hear her belly growling but let her sleep as they saw dark circles. They could smell bread from her backpack and as expected the two loaves of bread came out.

But they didn't want to eat them without her so they just warmed up one can of food and drank a glass of milk each.

Anna woke up as her belly was growling too loudly and glanced at the watch on her hand

She already realized that the time was exactly the same in both worlds.

In wonder, she realized she slept the whole day. It was already almost five in the afternoon and the two girls sat by the fire and looked at the books they found in Mrs. Stevenson's house.

She stood up and the two girls jumped. "Sister, you are finally awake."