The Tribrid

Exploring the Market

Emily's POV
I am standing outside Millerborg in front of the outer city, alone. In front of me are dark clouds. The wind is blowing and the air smells like a summer storm. Lightning and thunder roll through the clouds. I can hear a noise come from the storm. Is it thunder? It sounds strange, almost animal like, like a wolf growling. The lightning strikes a tree and it catches fire. The wind feeds the fire and it spreads to the trees around it. The fire burns hot and bright.
"Stop it!" I yelled against the wind, but I was drowned out by the thunder.
"STOP IT!" I scream louder, but still no use. The wind whips my hair around my face. Another loud animalistic growl of thunder bellows from the clouds and I wake up next to Liam, not that I can see him. I roll over and place my head on his chest.  My head rises and falls with each of his breaths.
"How are you this morning?" I hear Liam's husky morning voice ask. After I cried to Marcus, I found Liam and we spent half the night talking and me crying some more.
"I had a bad dream, but I'm better." I say. Liam wraps his arms around me and pulls me in closer to him.
"What do you say we take a day off from our training. Let's go and explore the city. It's suppose to be pretty overcast today so Marigold can join us."
"Yeah, that sounds nice." I say running my fingers up and down his chest. He kisses the top of my head. We lay like this for awhile, in silence, in the dark. The grumble of his stomach breaks the silence.
"If we don't get up soon, we'll miss breakfast." He says. I giggle and roll over.
"Can you please turn on a light, I can't see a thing. I hate not having a window. I don't know how people live here for years, it's like a weird form of torture." I say.  Liam laughs as he flicks on the light.
"I can see!" I say jokingly.
I get out of bed and stretch. I grab my dark blue v neck t shirt and a pair of terracotta colored shorts. I sigh. And look down at the clothes I have. I didn't have much when we got here, so I have been wearing the same things over and over for the last two months. I know in the scheme of things, this is the least of our worries. I'm just tired of it. Liam places his hand in mine.
"We can trade for something in the city." He says.
"Trade with what?" I ask.
"I have an idea. Get dressed and meet me in the dining hall." He says as he pulls his shirt over his head. He kisses my forehead and leaves the room.
I feel gross. I contemplate for a moment but I know I'll feel better if I'm clean. I decide to take a quick shower.
The shower does help my confidence a lot. I get dressed and then I head down for breakfast. I meet Liam at the table.
"So did you figure it out?" I ask. He smiles and nods and smiles. We eat our breakfast, and as soon as I'm done he takes my hand and leads me out to the city.
We walk through the busy streets and head towards the vampire part of the city. The city looks completely different than it did when we first arrived. There are people everywhere, walking around, buying and selling things, people working. It's nice to see actually. We reach Marigold's house and knock on the door. The door opens.
"Hey guys, what's going on?" She asks.
"We wanted to explore some of the city today, oh and Em needs some new clothes and to get out of the mountain for a bit, want to come?" Liam asks. Marigold looks up at the sky, it's cloudy and slightly misting.
"Sure, let me go grab my hood." She steps away from the door and comes back in a hooded cloak. We set off to the market street to see what we can find. Most everyone already knows who I am, so there was no point in trying to hide. Some people would bow, while others knelt. We arrive at the busy market and start looking at what they have. Marigold grabs my hand and pulls me over to one seller who has an array of beautiful fabrics and tapestries. One tapestry in particular catches my eye. I run my fingers across the stitching.
"It is a story of old times." I turn around and see an elderly woman sitting in a chair.
"When dragons and magical creatures shared the world with man."
"Dragons?" Marigold asks.
"The story goes they shared the world with us, until man tried to use them for power. To protect themselves and the rest of the world, they vanished. No one knows where they went or what happened to them." The elder woman says. Dragons, I couldn't even imagine seeing a real dragon.
"Come on, I think I see some clothes over there." Marigold says.
"Thank you for the story." I say. The woman tilts her head down slightly, as I am dragged away by Marigold. She brings me over to another seller who has dresses and shirts and cloaks. I pick up a few dresses and look at them, but honestly dresses aren't really something I can wear in the mountain. So I go over to the shirts and look. A short full figured woman walks over to me.
"Oh no, these aren't good enough for you. Come, come with me." She takes the shirt out of my hand and heads for a curtain in the back of her stall. I follow her and Marigold follows me. Behind the curtain is another room of clothes and jewelry.
"Here, this is better. Please please, look around. Anything you like." The lady gestures to everything. There were beautiful ball gowns, long dresses, short dresses, pants and shirts. Marigold holds up a few shirts, that I really like, but I'm not sure how I will pay for them.
"Do you like this one?" She asks. I smile but don't really answer. She huffs.
"Em what's wrong?" She asks.
"I don't know how I will pay for it." I say.
"Seriously?" She says and walks over to the lady. She points in my direction and then slips back out to the market. Did she just leave me? But shortly she comes back with Liam. He speaks with the lady and they shake hands. He hands her a bag and walks over to me.
"Pick out whatever you want. It's been paid for." Liam says. I look at him surprised.
"Really? Anything?" I ask.
"Yup, anything." I pick out three shirts, two pairs of pants, a pair of shorts, and one dress. I even got two pairs of underwear. I felt like a new person. The lady smiles brightly at my choices.
"It is an honor to have you wear my clothes." She bows to me, then wraps my clothes up to make them easier to carry.
"Thank you so much." I say.
"Feeling better now?" Liam asks. I smile at him and take his hand.
"Yes, I do. Thank you." I say.
We head through some of the other parts of the market, the food section peaks Liam's interest in particular. There are vendors selling all sorts of interesting little snacks and meals. Liam heads over to one booth in particular where and man and a woman are selling some sort of meat on a skewer. We stop to watch them work. The man skewers some meat pieces on to some sticks and then sprinkles both sides with a reddish brown spice mixture.
Then he sets them on a huge grill. The flames spit and crackle around the sizzling meat. He works so fast, he skewers some more and has a new set to place on the grill in like 20 seconds. The woman is manning the grill. She flips over the skewers to cook the other side. The grill is so hot it only takes about minute. She dips a big brush into a brown sauce and brushes it over the cooked skewers. She twists the glazed meat stick over the fire I can see the liquid sauce thicken and caramelize over the meat. The female cook notices us watching in amazement. She holds up three skewers and offers them to us.
"Spicy barbecue hare! For the Tribrid and her friends." She says as she bows her head. We reach forward and grab our skewers from her.
"Thank you it smells amazing!" I say before taking a bite. It's so delicious. The meat is tender and juicy, and the sauce is the perfect combination of spicy, sweet, and savory. I look over at Liam who has already finished his. Marigold offers hers to Liam who gladly accepts. She removes her hood to reveal her pale skin. I think the vendor understood she was a vampire.
"Thank you so much! But we insist on paying for these." I explain. Liam nods and reaches in his pocket for money. He gestures for them the wrap up some more skewers. Then he pays. They throw in a bag of crispy fried skins for free.
We nod to say thank you before moving on.
"What kind of meat was that?" I ask Liam.
"Hare." He says in between bites.
"Hair?" I ask and look at Marigold.
"H-A-R-E. Hare. It's a large rabbit that's all over the place in the mountains." She explains.
"Oh. I've never had hare before. It was delicious. It tasted a bit like chicken I guess."
We all laugh together for a moment. I feel a small thrill of exhilaration. It's fun to try new things. It's exciting.
We continue to wonder through the winding streets of the outer city. After about an hour the sun starts to peek out through the clouds. Marigold puts on her hood and reaches into her pocket for some arm length gloves. She puts them on.
"I thinks it's time I get home." She says.
"Of course. Let's head back we'll guide you there." I say. I place my hand on Marigold's back. She reaches her gloved hand out and  grabs Liam's arm. Liam guides us back towards the shadowy vampire section. We take Marigold home and say goodbye. Then we decide to head back home ourselves. We make our way towards the mountain entrance. Me and Liam are laughing about something when I notice a frantic looking Marcus heading right toward us.
"Marcus? What's wrong?" I ask.
"E, come quick. It's your mom." He says and takes off inside.