Arden gazes at the variety of goods in the shaded market. Lamps hang from the cloth that covers the stall.
"Hurry up kid, there are others waiting."
Arden breaks out of his thought. "Okay, and?"
Flustered, he grabs a bag of hard candy and quickly sets down his money. Walking through the night market, he realizes that he's lowkey kinda tired, so he stops at a shawarma stall to buy food. He's looking at the food options and his mouth waters. That is, until he sees the price.
Are you kidding me? Twenty dollars for a gyro wrap??
He's about to step away until a regal girl with light brown hair and mismatched eyes walks in next to him. She's dressed in an off-white flowy dress and she peers at the menu. Arden looks behind her to see an assembly of three guards, two of which look at each other, then stare skeptically at him.
He's unnerved.
The girl speaks up for five wraps with chicken or something like that. Arden was too focused on her face to even focus. He notices her sand-colored skin glinting in the lamplight.
The lady running the stall works very hard. She's well aware that she's serving food to the princess who, for some odd reason, decided to come to the market to spend her night.
The lady does a very bad job of hiding her anxiety and gives the food to the girl. A "thank you" is passed, with a response of "Yes, yes, anything for you Princess Mai, your majesty," and Mai passes around the wraps to her guards and takes one for herself. She turns to him and asks,
"Want one?"
"No, I'm fine. Your majesty. " He replies.
"Come on, please?"
"I don't-"
The third guard that chose not to stare at Arden steps next to him and whispers. "She won't stop until you take it."
Exasperated, Arden mutters a gracious thank you. He can feel the entire market population's eyes turning to him as he reaches for it. He turns to the crowd.
"The hell? Go ahead, do what you came here to do!" He yells. Out of his peripheral, he sees the princess cover her smile with her hand.
"My name is Mai," As if he didn't know the name of the heir to the country. "I take it yours is Arden?"
He freezes up and Mai snickers. "I know a lot of things about you. You've got my eye, Arden."
He didn't realize that this was the girl that he tripped on accident in this same market plaza. They had exchanged names just like this, and somehow he completely forgot.
