Acquaintances of the Market

~~~

Rodricks mother, now in the marketplace, prepares for another hectic day at work as she scurries to the entrance...she's rather late, so she's tying up her hair in a bun while working. Particularly, she's using a hairnet so that her hair doesn't touch the products in the market.

It would be unhygienic for the buyers if they spot any strand of hair in any of the food there.

She then looks around, greeting her co-workers and hastily coming to the stand.

"Oi! Felicia!" A man in his forties called out, smiling and grinning as he carried boxes filled to the brim with heavy milk cartons. This man set them down on the ground, which was just beside the other boxes in the corner. As he was done, he then tickled the cashier he was working with...all to get her attention and tell her that Felicia, another of their coworkers, was here.

"Mrs. Fairbourne! You're back!" The cashier greets her. It was a greeting from a woman in her early thirties, who waved her long arms from the front of a market stand. "You took your time going here! Did anything bad happen to little Rodrick?"

"No, nothing bad happened...just a little issue at home. Thank you for your concern, Amber." Felicia smiles, as she goes inside the stand and grabs one of the aprons from the counter. She then looked around, frowning upon seeing the crowded state of the market...as well as the fact that only two people were working in their stand today.

"Did anything happen while I was gone?" She asks, looking at the people who were making a fuss in the stand that was 3 shops away from them. Amber, seeing Felicia's confused state, only shrugs her arms.

She then looks at Ash, the one who was carrying milk cartons, and asks for his input.

Maybe he might know something.

"Oh, it's nothing much," Ash answers, shaking his head. "Just some rich brat that came to visit the marketplace," He sneers, clearly irritated when he says the words rich kid. "Don't mind those people there, getting involved with the rich will only cause trouble,"

This caused mixed reactions from Amber and Felicia.

Amber was particularly excited, while Felicia was rather neutral about it. Felicia, already knowing where this conversation between them could go...decides to temporarily excuse herself by going to the comfort room.

...and well? What she thought was right. 

They were bickering after she was gone.

"A rich kid?! How rich are we talking about?! Maybe I can introduce him to one of my daughters?!" Amber says, looking at the crowd with starry-eyes. There were many people in the corner, causing loud noises and chatter. Ash, seeing Amber's enthusiasm about the whole situation only frowned.

"Tch. Don't bother, they wouldn't even bother with lower-class people like us." Ash scoffs in response, carrying more of the milk cartons from the distance. He didn't want to talk about anything or anyone related to those from higher social classes.

"But still! One of my children could be the heiress of a rich family and live that Wattpad life! Maybe I can even remarry into another rich family!" Amber exclaims, squealing, fantasizing about such a life of luxury.

To Amber's response, Ash takes her out of delulu-land and flicks her forehead. "Don't be delusional," Ash answers, setting down the cartons of milk to the designated location.

Irritated by his response, Amber only kicks his ass. "...the only one delusional here is you!" Amber responds. "I'm still not accepting your date proposal!" Amber sneers back, causing Ash to sigh.

Ash stays silent for a while.

"Can't we talk about it? I mean...we're not getting younger, are we?" He smiles bitterly, after a few seconds of silence. He looks to his side, hoping to see a glimmer of hope through a look of affirmation...but he sees none.

She's still back in delulu-land.

"Look...we wasted our youth on people who didn't love us enough, and dream jobs that we failed to pursue." He says sentimentally, sitting down at the edge of the counter and staring at Amber. "And now...we're stuck with jobs that we have to work in for our family." 

Amber, letting down her guard, only smiles and waits for customers to come. "What can we do except for this? Hmm?" She smiles, missing her years as a 16-year-old before she got pregnant by some boy in a fraternity.

"You already know what I'll say...we can marry and support each other's family," Ash smirks.

"Don't bother. If you don't work as hard as Mrs. Fairbourne, then you don't get to have a say in that." Amber retorts.

"Ah...I can't compete with Felicia," He shakes his head and carries some more cartons while also waiting for customers. "Noone works as hard as her...nor is anyone as hospitable as she is. Not to mention that she's a great leader for our group..." He sighs in shame that's directed to himself.

"Yeah, she's an inspiration to us," Amber smiles and immediately goes back to her formal demeanor alongside Ash as soon as Felicia comes back to their side. These two also want to earn money for the day, and while it's practically impossible to earn money on a day that had a certain celebrity in the other stall...

It wouldn't hurt to try.

And having the mental support from a strong leader like Felicia Fairbourne was exactly what the group needed.

~~~

"What?" I ask, looking at Alvana with a confused look on my face. Why would she say something like that? And in a context when I'm serious about this?

"I'm asking if you're a masochist," She answers, squatting her knee and looking at me with confusion. "I mean...I'm sure that kink-shaming shouldn't be done...but wow. If you wanted that, you could always ask the madam to--" She coughs, and dramatically pauses.

"Hit you." She says confidently.

...As if that wasn't the dumbest thing I've heard all day!

Wait...why the heck am I so aggressive today?!

"...master I think you're not right in the head..." I answer, looking away from her and checking the tip of my spear. I want to feel the pain, she's not wrong about that...but it's not for an act of masochism.

"What did you say? And why are you so grumpy anyways? Bad sleep? Did something happen between you and the madam?" Alvana says, asking a question to question and feigning shock as she hears my snarky response.

I'm sure that she's already gotten used to my irritated answers...but, maybe there really was something happening to me today. I'm so aggressive. So angry. So...pent-up and annoyed that I can't even make clear decisions.

"Well?" She pesters me, squinting her eyes. I only sighed at the ground, taking notice of all the other people who were crowding to see what happened between us and the fight we had.

Yeah...this is definitely going to be shown in the forums today...but I don't want it to get worse.

"Master," I stand up with the spear in my hand, and she immediately looks at me warily. "No, don't stab your neck with that," She immediately insists, colliding her spear with mine instantaneously.

"No, no, I...I don't want to do that," I lie.

...well, half-truth and half-lie.

I want to do that...but not before clearing up my head.

"I want to settle this in Mount Lianthan...maybe near Rosalina's pagoda?" I sigh, and Alvana only blinks to the side suspiciously. She crosses her arms and keeps her pride up.

She's hiding something.

"Master?" I ask, but she avoids eye-contact with me...yep, this is suspicious. "Master Alvana?" I ask, calling her formal title, but she refuses to budge...and yup, I'll be forced to use another option then.

Finally, I use the voice that Rosalina uses when she's talking to her subordinates. "Alvana," I call out, and she stiffens and goes into a formal position. "Master," She says formally, and I end up sighing.

"...what happened in Mount Lianthan? Why are you avoiding going there?" I ask, wanting my questions to be answered. Alvana, looking at me with clear eyes devoid of playfulness responds calmly.

"Because the top part of the mountain is broken." She answers.

Seriously? That--

The top part of the mountain is broken.

Wait...the top part of the mountain is broken?! What even happened?!

I only look at her confused, wanting to ask for clarification.

"...the top part of the mountain is broken?" I ask, and she only nods.

"It's as I say it is," She nods respectfully and looks at the mountain from the distance. "You can't necessarily see it here...but there's a crevasse that formed near Rosalina's pagoda." She sighs. "I apologies for the inconvenience master...I'm the one that caused that."

Shock forms my head, and it's still taking time for me to process the drastic change in our power-dynamic.

"You caused that?" I ask again, still hesitant.

"Yes." She nods again, still stoic.

I squint my eyes at her and nod. "It's alright...don't worry about it," I smile at her reassuringly. "I'll still expect daily training in the courtyard though, if you don't mind?"

And from here, I thought I would have fewer problems to deal with...but the firm shake on her head says otherwise. 

"No."