Midnight Wonders

3.1.2. Fresh Fruit From the Garden

The next stall he came upon sold more fruits. Fruits of all kinds, speared onto long skewers, skin slashed open to reveal the rich, juicy flesh, dripping with ripeness. A skewer was thrust into his face, nearly stabbing him in the eye. "Fresh fruit! Right from the garden! Watered with the tears of ten grieving maidens!" the vendor, a very tall and bony woman, squawked.

The idea of the tears of grieving maidens was very unattractive to Luc, but others nearby crowded over upon hearing of it. "How beautiful were the maidens?" "Was it the grief of life after death or the grief of heartbreak?"

"I'm sorry," Luc tried to shout over the din. "I'm looking for my sister! She's—"

"Fresh fruit!" the vendor shouted back at him. "Right from the garden! Watered with the dew of a hundred roses!"

"My sister has red hair, which is—"

"Fresh fruit! Right from the garden! Watered with the groundwater from a well of a thousand wishes!"

"Have you seen her—"

"We don't sell your sister!" the woman screamed at Luc.

"You!" exclaimed a voice beside him, and he turned, not particularly expecting the voice to be calling him. A pale hand grabbed him by the arm and pulled him out of the crowd into an empty space between the stalls. Luc stumbled to catch his balance (that had been a rather rough pull) and looked at who it was.

It was a woman, younger than he, and she was very short. Her hair was curly, cut to her neck, puffing around her head like a blue cloud, for her hair was blue, a very soft, pale blue, the color that expectant mothers might pick out for their expected sons. Her eyes, though, were a deep, piercing blue that was almost purple in its color. She was dressed much more simply than most others in the crowd, with a bright yellow tunic in the same style as the man at the green hill.

"Um," said Luc. "You may have the wrong person."

She put her hands on her hips, peering up at him. "Hm," she said, face scrunching. "I heard there was someone odd going round in the market. And you certainly look odd." Luc was too bewildered to feel insulted. "What's your name?"

"I'm Luc," he told her.

The woman grinned. It was startling; her teeth were pearly white and aligned so perfectly it was unsettling. "Really!" she said. "Luc! What a good name. I'm Minnie."

Luc blinked at her. He wondered whether it was an insult to think that the name suited her. "Hello?"

"You haven't been here before, have you?" she said.

"No," he said. "Is this...under the green hill?"

Minnie nodded. "Under-The-Green-Hill," she said. "One word. Hyphenated."

"Oh," said Luc. The man's peculiar wording made sense now. Luc wondered where he was. "I'm looking for my sister—"

"Yes," said Minnie. "So I've heard." He felt a little embarrassed, but steeled himself with the thought that this was all for Cora and there was nothing shameful about being vocal about looking for one's sister. It was honorable, rather. Quite commendable. And if it had been anyone else asking around for their sister, Luc would have commended them very well indeed, but somehow could not quite imagine anyone else commending him for doing the same.

"Have you seen her?" Luc asked.

"No," Minnie said. "But come along, now. I know someone who can help you."

"Someone has seen her?" he said, hopeful. She started on down the path, and he followed. She walked very quickly for having such short legs. Perhaps her short legs were the reason why.