Chapter One

Music swirled around us, somehow blasting over the noise of the crowd. Colours exploded, multicoloured flags hanging above the stalls that stretched out in front of us.

"Hey, ice cream!" I blinked, turning to my red headed best friend as she grabbed my hand and dragged me over to a stall beside us.

"Seriously, Rach? It's like negative a hundred degrees!" Rachel smirked, leaning over the ice cream stall. The refrigerator was full of weird flavours, like pistachio and coffee.

"Who eats coffee ice cream?" I exclaimed and she chuckled.

"People who don't spend eight hours a day surrounded by the smell of coffee grains! Also, it is not that cold, you just have the tolerance of a wombat. Can I have one of the triple choc cones please?" Rachel asked, handing the vendor some coins.

"Why am I suddenly a four legged mammal?" I asked, wrapping my jumper closer to my body. I smiled at my bests friends logic as the white snow crunched beneath our feet.

"Marsupial." Biting into her ice cream, Rachel's face instantly scrunched up.

"Hah, brain freeze! And what in the hell is a marsupial?" The red head was silent for a second as the brain freeze passed before turning to me.

"A wombat is a marsupial!" She laughed, dragging me along in the crowd. "We need to find Mr Durvis' stall, I want some new books."

"That explains nothing, woman." Rachel grinned at me and I stuck my tongue out at her. "It shouldn't be hard to find Mr Durvis' stall." I said, ducking under a low hanging string of flags.

"Why's that?" Rachel asked, looking around at the surrounding stalls whilst licking her ice cream.

"Because all we have to do is walk in a straight line." I announced, pointing down the incredibly organised line of stalls.

""Are we really questioning the layout of the stalls?" Rachel groaned, glaring at me. I smiled and shrugged.

"You don't think it's weird? They have the entire town to spread out their stalls but they all organise it so the stalls go right through the middle of town." Rachel frowned, shoving the rest of her ice cream into her mouth as she side stepped a group of children running through the crowd.

"It's tradition." She eventually answered.

"It's a weird tradition!" We were silent for a moment, navigating our way through the crowd before I frowned.

"You and your damned ice cream. Now I want chocolate!" Rachel smirked at me, pausing in the middle of the crowd.

"You can get your own ice cream."

"I am not having anything cold! Let's go to the Cafe and get a hot chocolate." Rachel was silent for a moment as we continued working our way through the crowd.

"Can we find Mr Durvis first? The markets the only time I'm allowed to buy books." She spoke quietly, her fingers tightening in my hand. I scowled, running my thumb over her hand in an attempt to comfort her.

"You know you can ask me to buy you books whenever you want, right?" The red head was silent for a moment as she chewed on her lip. I sighed, watching as she triple checked every choice she could make.

"I know but I can't tell you what books I want if I can't see them..." I pursed my lips, noting how she seemed intently focused on a painting of a poodle leaning against one of the stalls.

"Okay, let's go find your books then. It'll be good to sit down and have a read whilst we're at the cafe anyway." Rachel lit up, her bright green eyes shining as she turned to look at me.

"You can get a new fantasy book!" She cried, dragging me through the crowd again.

"You know, I'd like to keep my hand!" I joked, shaking my head at her. "I think the thirty or so books I haven't read yet might contest that." Rachel chuckled as we raced past the stalls.

"There's no such thing as too many books!" She yelled back at me. I frowned, noticing that she hadn't let go of my hand.

"There is such thing as too little storage space though." As soon as the words left my mouth, Rachel halted, almost making me crash into her.

"Hey! Heads up next time." I cried, throwing my arms around her neck and leaning my chin on her shoulder so I could see why she stopped.

"Oh. Hi Mr Durvis!" I cried, trying not to laugh as Rachel lost herself in the hundreds of books set out along the counter.

"Good afternoon, Teranika, how are you today?" The man sitting behind the stall had a greying beard, his hair shaved short and large glasses sitting on his crooked nose. He moved forward, glaring up at me.

"I'm good, just enjoying the market day." I smiled at the man but he just leaned back in his chair and nodded.

"Good." Rachel took a bag from a pile next to the stall and began to stack it full of books, so fast I was wondering if she was actually looking at the content of them.

"Hey Mr Durvis, you've been living in Quelia for longer then Rach and I, what's with the market stalls being arranged in a straight line?" Mr Durvis narrowed his eyes at me, his lips pulling into a line as he looked at me disapprovingly.

"Tera, why are you asking him that!" Rachel cried, her eyes wide.

"I want to know!" I exclaimed, shrugging.

"It's tradition, Tera. Makes it easier to see everyone's wares." I frowned as Rachel pulled out her wallet and started counting coins. When her shoulders slumped, I pulled out my wallet and handed her a ten dollar note.

"Tera-"

"Only time you're allowed to buy books, no way are you leaving some behind because dickhead didn't give you enough money. Mr Durvis, wouldn't it be easier if the stalls were all together in one place?" Rachel frowned, handing Mr Durvis the money as she wrapped the handle of the bag around her wrist and heaved it off the ground.

"They are all in one place, Teranika. One long place." I groaned as the old man smiled and Rachel came up beside me.

"He's not a dickhead, Tera. Thank you for the books Mr Durvis." The man nodded at us before we wandered off, Rachel gripping the bag with two hands as she struggled to keep it off the ground.

"Want me to carry the bag? I am stronger then you." Rachel groaned and heaved the bag up so it sat on her shoulder, which meant she was leaning awkwardly to one side.

"I'm fine."

"It looks like it's going to squish you."

"Tera!"

"Fine!" We were silent as we walked away from the stall as Rachel was concentrating on not knocking anyone out with the large bag.

"Hey Tera, before we go to the cafe I want to look at some jewellery." Rachel said, pointing towards a stall in front of us.

"Why's that? You spent all your money on books." I reminded her, following as she bee lined towards it. Rachel paused as she scanned the array of necklaces, rings and bracelets.

"Not for me, for you. Maybe they have another necklace you could wear." I frowned, fingering the thick fabric that constantly sat around my neck. The fabric wasn't the best and it regularly rubbed against my skin but I didn't feel comfortable enough to take it off.

"Okay, we'll have a look but I don't think they'll have anything." I sighed, running my eyes over the choices. A lot of them were crystals with wires twisted around them or shapes, hanging from thin chains or braided onto bracelets. Not exactly what I was looking for. I wandered around the stall, not really paying attention to the jewellery, when a necklace caught my eye. This one just had a simple pendant, an intricately carved wolf that was curled up with it's tail tucked under itself. It looked so real I wouldn't have been surprised if it suddenly yawned and stood up in my hand. Frowning, I ran my thumb over it's detail, the leather strap falling between my fingers.

"I think it'd look good on you." I blinked, looking up from the necklace to find I had been joined by two men, one was a little taller then me, his dark brown skin and bright blue eyes seemed to sharply contrast one another and it took me a second to see the shorter man standing beside him, who had light brown hair and hazel eyes.

"Excuse me?" I asked, my eyebrows furrowing as I looked at the two of them.

"The necklace. I think it'd suit you more then the one you have on now." The Asian man said. I frowned and let the necklace fall through my fingers back onto the stall, when the blonde woman who stood behind the stall turned to me.

"Buying anything today?" She asked, her voice light and sweet. I shook my head, smiling at her as Rachel walked back around the stall, frowning.

"I can't find anything, damn, I was really hoping we could get you a new one." I smiled and shrugged.

"It's okay, I'll get a new one another time." Rachel bit her lip in frustration before sighing.

"Okay, I guess. We'll go get your hot chocolate now." I smiled at the disgruntled look on Rachel's face as we turned to walk away from the stall when she suddenly cried out and her bag of books crashed to the ground.

"Rach!" I shouted, diving forward to catch her as she plummeted. As I wrapped my arms around her waist I felt the familiar touch of bandages.

"Rach?" I muttered but she stared at the ground, refusing to look at me.

"Don't." She muttered and I felt something hard settle in my stomach. I bit back the tirade of swearing that wanted to burst forth and instead, settled on carefully helping her back to her feet.

"You alright?" I looked up to see the two men I had been talking to had picked up Rachel's book bag.

"I'm alright, one of the books just stabbed me in the rib and it took me by surprise." Rachel smiled at them but I knew that smile. It was practiced, a specially designed expression that hid the pain that creased her eyes and the tears that welled in her eyes but never spilled over. I knew that expression. And I hated it.

"Sorry guys, but we've got to go. Thank you for helping us." I said, a little curtly then I had intended, reaching out to take the bag of books from the tall Asian fellow. However, instead of handing me the bag, he frowned and studied the two of us.

"You guys are going to the Cafe right? Well, Caerun and I were about to head over there, we'll help you with this." He smiled, lifting the bag like it was made of feathers. Rachel and I looked at each other as I chewed my lip in thought.

"Is it okay?" I asked, studying how she pressed her palm against her ribs. She nodded, mutely and I sighed.

"If you guys could, that'd be great." The two men nodded as I wrapped my arm around Rachel's waist and allowed her to lean on me as she flinched at the movement.

"So, you guys visiting or do you live here?" The hazel eyed man asked, smiling at us with his hands in his pockets.

"We both live here, although this is only my second market day. I moved here a year ago." The man nodded, his face pinched in thought.

"You must have arrived just after Market Day then, we have them every six months. Best day ever, if you ask me, there's so much cool stuff! I'm Caerun by the way." He said, reaching over to shake our hands.

"I'm Teranika, but you can just call me Tera." I chuckled when the Asian man suddenly looked confused.

"Terror? That's a weird name. I'm Zakynthros but I go by Zak." I smiled at him, shaking my head as Rachel snorted with laughter.

"T-e-r-a and you should talk. I guess we're both members of the 'never find your name on novelty items' team." The man laughed, his voice was deep and throaty, the kind of laugh that made smiles appear on everyone around them.

"And then there's me, boring old Rachel!" My best friend cried, a grin stretching across her face.

"Yeah, you're the only one not part of the team! Boo, that means you won't get a jacket!" Caerun cried making all of us chuckle.

"I don't want a jacket anyway! Actually, maybe I do, I can wear it at work and hide the stains covering my uniform." I snorted, bursting into laughter as Rachel smiled up at me. The two men laughed shaking their heads at us.

"Where do you work?" Zak asked, shifting the bag on his shoulder.

"At the Cafe, most days. We somehow managed to get Market Day off, which can I say, thank god! But I bet you Vicki is gonna try to get one of us to take her shift." I grumbled as Rachel finally managed to stand properly and pushed me away from her.

"She can try, today is our day and she can deal with it!" Rachel said with conviction, making me smile. My best friend was about as harmful as a fly but god help you if she turned her glare on you.

"Well, that's true. But it's back to reality tomorrow. At least we're doing the evening shift, I prefer walking home at night." I turned to look at Zak and Caerun, who were wandering beside us, listening silently.

"What about you two? How long have you lived here?" Both men grinned, their expressions lighting up with pride as they looked at each other.

"Our whole lives, we love this place." I smiled, looking around at the town bustling around us.

"Yeah, it is a really nice place." My eyes swept over the people moving around us when my eyes spotted the only person not moving in the crowd. For a moment I thought the brown skinned woman with long white hair was looking at Rachel and I until I realised she was actually looking past us.

"How do you find Quelias wolves?" Zak asked.

"Um, I think they're beautiful... Hey, is that someone you know- shit!" I cried, spinning around, I grabbed the bag off Zak and physically pushed the two bewildered away from us.

"Tera!" Rachel exclaimed as I shouldered the heavy bag. I grabbed her elbow, guiding her further away from the two men.

"Someone just came round the corner." I whispered hurriedly, looking over my shoulder to see if the two men had followed us. They stood where I had left them, confusion etched into their expressions. Rachel had gone white as a large black man finally spotted us, a smirk stretching across his face.

"Thank you." She whispered, hurriedly.

"Hey Rach, how's the market?" The man said, smiling as he towered over us.

"Good. I got some books." Rachel answered, pointing to the bag swung over my shoulder.

"'Course you did. Don't suppose you thought to buy me a present? Because I'll be very upset if you forgot to do that." The man smirked, my hands tightened into fists as I tried to quench the urge to punch his teeth out.

"I'll do that. I haven't found anything good enough yet." Rachel muttered, her hand snaking it's way into mine. I could feel her trembling.

"Good girl. You come home on time, alright? I need my dinner cooked." The man leaned forward, kissed her on the forehead and then pet her on the head.

"Yes, Ceres." Rachel gulped, her other hand twisting itself around the hem of her shirt so tightly, I get see some of the stitches were starting to fall apart. Ceres nodded, ruffled her hair a bit too roughly and then wandered back to where a big group of men were waiting for him. We were silent for a moment before I shifted the bag on my shoulder.

"If I could just hit him once?"

"No."

"Oh, come on, a few less teeth aren't going to hurt him."

"I think the definition of being punched in the mouth is pain." I frowned, looking at my friend as she trembled.

"I'm sorry. Let's go get hot chocolates and then I'll help you find a present for the dick, I mean, boyfriend." Rachel smiled weakly, her fingers tightening around my hand.

"Thanks Tera." We walked silently for a few moments, finally making it to the large familiar building.

"You know, that Asian guy was pretty cute."

"Rach!"