When Worlds Collide

Chapter 12

The next morning Natsu once again earned himself a good amount of coins with his entertaining fire tricks with the ring. This morning's haul was especially great because one of the coins was made of the purest gold.

"Breakfast will be really good this morning." He thought as he entered the market place with Happy.

Per usual, the market place was bustling and full of merchants hawking about their wares.

"Buy a pot! A fine pot in brass or silver!" One shouted.

"Sugared dates and figs! Pistachio nuts and melons!" Another one shouted.

"Fresh fish! We catch em! You buy em!" Came a third merchant.

This was all routine to Natsu and he barely paid the merchants any mind, unless of course they were selling meat. But to new comer that entered the market place that morning, it was quite an interesting display. She stopped to smell the spices of one stand and then to admire the pottery of another stand. It was all so simple yet at the same time, so exciting to her.

"So what should it be this morning Happy?" Natsu asked his cat, as he headed down one direction of the street. "Eggs? Sausage? Or both?"

The newcomer was coming down in the opposite direction, and she was so distracted by all the sights, and he was so distracted by his own stomach, that neither one paid much attention to where they were going. Which led to them bumping into one another.

"Oh!" They both cried out startled.

"Please excuse me." The girl said.

"My bad." Natsu replied.

"Are you alright?"

"I'm fine. Nothing to get-"

But upon recovering from the mild crash, Natsu quickly found himself face to face with the young lady, and he couldn't help staring. Maybe it was her big brown eyes or her cascade of silky blond hair or just...Her. He couldn't look away, and a strange new feeling occurred inside of him. He had seen many pretty girls before, peasant maids were a lot more fair than the wealthy and royal would suspect, and he had gotten many glimpses of harem girls here and there, but none of them had ever made him feel like this before. There was something different about this girl. She was somehow special.

"Why do you stare at me so strangely?" She asked him.

Natsu suddenly blushed.

"Oh was I staring? Sorry!" He quickly tried to change the subject. "First time in the market place, huh?"

"What makes you think it's my first time here?"

"Well the solid gold earrings are a bit of a give away." He chuckled. "No one from around here can afford those."

The princess in disgusie put her hands to her ears, realizing her mistake.

"I guess it is kind of obvious." She said while avoiding eye contact.

"Lucky for you though, I know this place like the back of my hand. Mind if I show you around?"

"Not at all. I'd like that very much."

"But Natsu, what about breakfast?" Happy whined.

Natsu ignored his cat and proceeded to lead this very pretty and attractive young woman on a tour of the market place.

"Over here you have your spices, nuts, melons, figs, and dates." Natsu explained at one stand. "Speaking of dates-"

"This isn't one." Lucy was quick to deny.

"And over there is where they sell jewelry that folks in this part of the city can actually afford. To the left you'll find a fish stand and to the right, you can watch guys sit on beds of nails and sleep on hot coals. Crazy, if you ask me."