It's You And Me ~ Karl Heisenberg

{The Market}



It was around 2'o clock by the time Elizabeth got to the village, it wasn't the peak time for the market but there were still people there, and where there were people, there was lei.
It wasn't long after she entered the Townsquare that the village people had noticed who she was and instinctively grabbed their children, making sure they stayed close as she passed, she looked from side to side and saw how people scurried together around stalls, some even huddling together to keep warm, their fear of her not making her anymore happy, the result of this was dark storm clouds and more gusts of cold wind, but she didn't fancy getting drenched by a storm so she tried to keep her emotions controlled.

The butcher looked up as Elizabeth slammed the stag onto his stall.

"How much, it is a fresh kill?"

"Can always trust you to bring in the fresh stuff Lady Claydon." Charles was someone who didn't fear the woman, he knew she had good intentions and that was proven by how much food she helped supply for the village.

"Always Charles." She nodded before reaching around her belt and grabbing five squirrels she had caught earlier, before her encounter with the stag.

Charles pondered for a moment before giving Elizabeth a price. "738 for the stag and 120 for the squirrels." The lady accepted the bag of lei and nodded to the man before walking off, she didn't do her shopping in the village unless she desperately needed it, she usually just waited for Duke, a rather large merchant on a carriage to come to her castle. Of course, she could sell her meat to him but she much preferred giving it to the villagers directly.

That being said, of course, there were times she just couldn't resist buying some stuff in the village, and this was one of those times.

It was a horse, a large workhorse by the looks of it as well. Its dark eyes stared straight into her own and she just knew she had to have him, and that really wouldn't be a problem for her.

"How much for the horse?" Her voice called out as she began walking towards the animal.

"Ma'am he's not for sale." The young man holding the rein spoke, his tone of voice slightly worried as one of the five lords approached him.

"What's your name boy." She looked down at him, Elizabeth stood at around 5ft11 while the person before her was lucky to be 5ft9 on a good day.

"O-oskar." He stuttered out.

"Well, 'O-Oskar." She mimicked "I'll be taking this horse so I ask you again, how much?."

"Lady Claydon!" A voice yelled to her before she could get an answer out of Oskar.

"Miss Luiza." Elizabeth turned and gave a small nod to the woman, Luiza was a very respected woman in the village, so entrusted that she even held one of the crests that could open Castle Dimestrescu in case of an emergency.

"The horse you desire is that of my Cousin Mary's. Oskar is her Stable boy and therefore cannot make any type of deal." Luiza bowed as she finally stopped walking and stood in front of Elizabeth.

"That seems fair." Elizabeth shrugged. "So where can I find your cousin Luiza? And please make this worth my while, I wouldn't usually go to this much trouble for something."

"Of course my lady." Luiza nodded her head and led Elizabeth to the other side of the market, the smell of fresh baked goods filled her senses and She came to the conclusion that Mary must be the Baker.

"Cousin Mary." Luzia greeted.

The older woman turned around from putting away some of her pies and smiled as she saw her relative.

"Good afternoon Luiza" She emerged from behind the stall to greet her cousin in an embrace.

"Lady Claydon would like to speak to you," Luiza informed in a low tone.

It was only then Mary realised who she was in the presence of.

"Oh my! Lady Claydon what an honour. Is there anything I can help you with?"
Her voice was joyful but you could sense the hint of panic behind it all as she spoke to the taller woman.

"As a matter of fact, there is, that horse you have there." Elizabeth motioned over to Oskar, who had silently followed them with the horse in tow.
"I want him."

"Well, good ol' Sebastian here has been helping tug our food loads for years now-"

Elizabeth didn't want to hear the life story of the animal, she had things to attend to.

"Please miss, I'm sorry to interrupt you but I will pay handsomely for him, and as well as that, I'll purchase all of your unsold goods for today."

Elizabeth could've sworn she saw a tear form in the woman's eye as she started grinning from ear to ear.

"Oh miss! That would be absolutely wonderful, today's been slow and that would help us out immensely." Mary exclaimed before motioning for Oskar to hand over the horse.

"Don't mention it" Elizabeth dismissed, grabbing her bag of lei from her side and passing it to Mary, there would be more than enough in there to pay for everything.

"Allow me to get these goods packed up for you." Mary smiled and clicked her fingers towards Oskar. "Go fetch Lady Claydon a small cart from over there, she's gonna need it for all these goods."

The boy did as he was told and soon enough Elizabeth had a brand new horse and enough pies, cakes and small loaves of bread to feed her entire staff. They always cooked for her so this would be a nice treat for them.

"May I?" Oskar offered his hand to Elizabeth as she approached the horse, she graciously took his hand and allowed him to help her get on the horse, it had been a while since Elizabeth had ridden, so she was praying she wouldn't fall straight off the saddle when she set off.

"Farewell Lady Claydon."