Happily Ever After (The Lunar Chronicles story continuation)

Chapter 4: The market

The Rampion crew were together, having their last breakfast together before they would all have to go their separate ways and back to their duties. They knew that they would see each other at the next wedding, but there was still a graveness to the air. It was like the end of a busy holiday, none of them wanted to go home, yet they could barely keep their eyes open. Scarlet felt how the enormous lack of sleep the last few days had drained her energy. But she wasn't alone, fatigue had crept in on both Cress and Winter. They had used each other as support as their bodies leaned against each other back to back, which created a position that could neither be described as sitting nor laying. Cress' mouth lay slightly open.
Wolf gave Scarlet her portscreen to check the daily newsarticles, which had just been posted online. She hadn't always been as interested in the news as she was now, it kind of changed when it turned out that half her friends were royals, political leaders or both
She opened the newspaper. The heading 'First Intergalactic Wedding Held in Secret' covered the front page. Scarlet sighed, she hated media attention, had no idea how Cinder, Kai and Winter hadn't been driven crazy already. She lifted the portscreen into her hands and spun around to face Cinder and Kai sitting behind her. "You two are useless, you know that?" She said with a smile while showing them the heading. "Aren't you supposed to be two of the most important political figures at the moment who just got engaged? Why am I the one on the front page?"
Kai laughed, but simply shrugged, not knowing how he should explain it.
Scarlet sighed, "well how convenient that turned out to be for the two of you."
They all laughed.

Saying goodbye hadn't been easy, but it had to be done. The others had all left on the Rampion, getting a lift by Cress and Thorne, only leaving behind Scarlet and Wolf to live their calm lives.

Scarlet went to the market hoping to get some bread for her and Wolf for their dinner tonight. On her way, she noticed how people looked differently at her, but not like the usual different. She had received a lot of attention the last two years from the people in Rieux. Not that she could say that it surprised her. Despite all, she had returned from being one of the most wanted criminals in the Solar System, been to the Moon, where she helped start a succesful revolution and returned with a mutated Lunar soldier. No wonder people gawked at her when they saw her, and Scarlet had to admit that she would've probably done the same.
Upon her return, people had either run away or fainted whenever they saw her. Wolf had tried to suggest they move someplace else. Tried. This was Scarlet's home, she had lived here for years and she wasn't about to leave, not the farm, not her grandmother's farm. Never.
Scarlet had put all her energy into making friends with the inhabitants if Rieux. Scarlet didn't care what people thought about her, but she preferred not the meet a hostile person around every corner. The situation had slowly improved and people began getting used to her and Wolf.

Today, it was as if someone had hit a reset-button. Something in the atmosphere was different. She constantly caught people staring at her, but not the friendly kind. They were stares of anger, stares of dismay and worst of all, stares of judgement. They made Scarlet want to puke. And the fact that she kept catching people staring at her maddened her. By now, she had caught Max, the guy who always seemed to be drunk, Sam from the butchers shop, Kim, a waitress at the local bar and Sarah Sand, who was the newest inhabitant of the town. Actually, she hadn't caught Sarah, but the woman possessed this ability of watching without actually watching. Scarlet couldn't explain how or why, but she always felt a tingling in the back of her neck whenever she was around her, as if she was being stared upon, but Scarlet had never once caught the blonde woman looking at her.
Scarlet didn't know this Sarah very well, but she was a young female, who had moved in alone. It still astonished Scarlet why someone would move to such an insignificant town as Rieux. Maybe she was running from something or hiding from someone? Scarlet didn't want to pry, so she didn't ask.

She stopped at old Suzan's bread stand, the place where she had always gotten bread ever since her grandmother had taken her in. An elderly woman with her grey hair tied up in a bun stepped forwards from the shadow that the roof of the stall had created. The wooden stand was hand-made by Suzan herself in her younger days. Scarlet couldn't remember that it had ever been changed, but it was stable and in a just as great shape as when Scarlet first saw it. Scarlet smiled at Suzan, yet she didn't return the gesture. Her face was concealed and expressionless and her eyes were empty. She had known Suzan for ages and she had never looked at her like this. Her grandmother had been childhood friends with Suzan and she had known her for many years. Suzan had her stand on the daily market and Scarlet's grandmother would always buy bread from that specific stand or she would send Scarlet to do it. She remembered how her grandmother would give Scarlet exactly two univs and send her down to Suzan's stall. Two univs was the standard price, at least for a Benoit. Prices constantly went up and down on the market, but Suzan gave a kind of friend discount to Scarlet's grandmother and always sold it to minimum price to Scarlet's grandmother, which Scarlet had then inherited.
The loaves of bread lay on a piece of linnen cloth on a table made of wooden planks attached to the walls of the stall. Suzan was the daughter of a baker and had learned how to bake the best bread in town, but it was the only thing she baked. When Scarlet once asked her grandmother why Suzan didn't bake any cakes like bakers, she had learned that Suzan didn't care about appearances and lacked the patience to decorate anything. Quality and taste were the only important factors. Suzan had been offered her father's shop when he retired, but had denied it simply due to the thought of having to bake cakes.
Scarlet chose what she judged to be the best loaf of all. "This one, please."
Suzan simply looked at her and spoke in the overly friendly tone that all shopkeepers are forced to use. "Four univs please"
Scarlet frowned. Had she misheard? "Ehm..."
"Read the sign" Suzan said while she pointed at a sign saying 'bread for 4 univs'. Baffled, Scarlet reached for her wallet to get an additional 2 univs. Scarlet took the bread and left for her home as quickly as she could.

When Scarlet finally arrived at the farm she was met by a swarm of reporters.
"Scarlet Benoit!" One of the reporters chanted the second she saw her. Scarlet already dreaded the storm of questions she knew was on its way. "Will you be attending the intergalactic royal wedding coming up?" The same reporter said. "Do you believe these weddings open up for new opportunities for lunar migration?" Another one asked. Scarlet felt herself losing her temper, she tried to ignore them and had to resist the urge to draw her pistol. Microphones from news feeds were placed next to her mouth to make sure they captured every word she uttered. The reporters looked like a group of ants in a confined space, all smashed together and wanting to come out on top to be able to ask a question. "Do you expect more Lunars to marry Eartherns in the future?"
"That's enough!" Scarlet bellowed. Half of the journalists jumped. "Get the hell of my porch or I'll personally shoot every single one of you!" All reporters scattered away like scared little rats.

Scarlet sat on the couch in a quiet house. Quiet, it felt like forever since the last time the house had been quiet. Finally she would be able to get some rest.
From now on, it was just her and Wolf. It was everything she could ever have hoped for. There was just one thing wrong. The thoughts of what happened at the market kept nagging her. Why were people reacting so differently to her?
Wolf entered the room. "Hey" he said while his face lit up by seeing her. He seated himself next to her. She felt herself leaning towards him and laying her weary head on his shoulder. She was glad that the Rampion had left earlier that day. She loved her friends above anything in this world, but it was tiring to have had seven guests and dealing with the wedding the last few days. She could fall asleep at any given time.
Wolf wrapped her arm around Scarlet and kissed her on her forehead.
"I went into town today," Scarlet said. Her tone indicated that it wasn't just that.
Wolf turned his head to look at her and frowned. "Did something happen?"
Scarlet sighed, "People reacted differently, it was strange. I can't help but wonder if people are disappointed for being left out of the wedding. They had been really excited to attend."
"We can't very well invite the whole world, can we?"
"I know that, but this is still the village we plan on living in the rest of our lives." Wolf didn't answer and the room silenced while Scarlet tried to think of a solution.
"What happened to all the stuff from the wedding?" Scarlet asked.
Wold grinned "I never ordered it, only pretended to"
"But we still organised everything, can't we use those things and host a kind of party for the town, like a banquet or something."
Wolf frowned, "Scarlet, are you sure you are up for this?"
Scarlet nodded
"Very well then."