Makers

Wick

This place was SO different from Caddaway! The young man walked down a busy trade street, eyes drinking up views of goods from the norlands to the grasslands. Food from everywhere he could imagine! Incredibly detailed Pellian textiles sat next to weaver's trinkets from Caddaway. Knives from Orly vied for pride of place with islander glassworks. The scope of it all was incredible. He'd never seen half of these things, much less seen them all wrapped into a cacophony of a bazaar like this!

The young man stumbled as yet another street urchin bumped into him while racing through the market. Vendors yelled at the child as the youth speared his way through the crowd and vanished from sight. The children of this city were certainly a clumsy lot. That had to be the fifth time one had run into him! One had collided with him so hard the poor child had accidentally ripped his purse from his belt. The little dear was so confused he hadn't even responded to the young man's calls asking if he was okay. The tyke had simply run off in a panic, chased away by the inevitable screams of product vendors.

He hoped the lad was okay, but he did miss the purse. It had been one of the first pieces of clothing he'd acquired, and was where he carried all of his scavenged trail food on his journey to Rosoph. Remembering its absence lead directly to his feeling peckish and he decided to look about for sustenance. There was certainly an eclectic variety available!

He caught a whiff of a particularly delectable pastry and began tracking it back to its source. He had ventured a bare ten meters when his progress was arrested by one of the most beautiful sights he had ever seen. In front of him, presented prominently on a vendor's table of goods, was a crystalline flame slowly pulsing through all of the colors of the rainbow. Tiny arcs of light danced slowly and playfully from one crested crystalline ridge of flame to the next.

"Captivating, isn't it?" asked the vendor. The young traveler looked up from the crystal flame to see a quite beautiful lady. She was clad in dark silk skirts and wore a suggestive silk vest. The vest opened in the front and seemed to be perpetually on the verge of loosing control of its contents. "This is one of the newest Wicks. It will last forever if you take care of it. Look at what else it can do" she said, and began touching the crystal at different points.

As she touched each point the light display of the crystal changed. She adjusted its colors and speeds to create different displays. It was more than captivating. It was engrossing. The young man had seen something like this only once in his life, and he only vaguely remembered that. He simply must have this beautiful thing.

"May I have it?" he asked her.

"I would be hurt if you didn't take it" the woman replied, ecstatic to have finally recouped this investment. Wicks were not cheap and she had made a questionable investment to acquire this one. She had been having a terrible time getting it moved at a profit. From this location, the best she could afford to sell from, none of the clientele could afford it. "I can sell you this for only a hundred chits."

"Chits?" queried the young man.

"Pell chits" she responded. "Or equivalent currency, but I'll have to charge you the changer's fee for that."

"I don't have any chits" he said sadly. "Or equivalent currency."

"Then how" asked the vendor, genuine confusion in her voice "did you expect to purchase a Tam al Tan original Wick?"

The young man finally broke his gaze from the hypnotic structure and looked up at the vendor. She really was quite pretty. "People usually just give me things" he replied simply. "Like food when I'm hungry, or a place to sleep if I'm tired. And help when I need it. People are just really nice."

"I'm not that nice" the woman snapped, now irritated as she knew she wasn't selling the Wick after all. The young man's face fell in defeat and she immediately felt guilty for hurting him. He was obviously simple, possibly touched.