An Immortal's Favour

Gale- The Underbelly

*

True to his word, Karlton appeared at the door to my room, late the next morning. And, as expected, the words that passed between us were those of necessity. He didn't stay long and left, as did I.

To ease away my lingering displeasure, I stepped out into the streets of Gomi once more. This time, I wrapped my head in an orange scarf, similar to those worn by the other Egordish women. The loose skirt of my sundress flared about my legs as I emerged into the grey sunshine and pulled my bag over my shoulders.

After asking around, I discovered that there was a- what was it called again? A shopping mall, I believe. It was close to the hotel and took a mere fifteen-minute walk to reach. It was strange to have one of those paparazzi people snapping at my heels, but I tried to pay them no mind, and lost them in the crowds soon enough.

The mall, an imposing, terribly modern-looking construction, gleamed beckoningly in the daylight. Upon getting closer, clear glass walls gave me a glimpse of what I'd find inside- countless stalls and stores.

A delicious blast of cool air enveloped me as I came in. Inside, the atmosphere wasn't as intense as it'd been at the marketplace; there were fewer people. But the level of noise was still soaring, and moving through the crowds required a conscious effort.

There were so many options, I didn't know where to start. Nobody paid me much attention while I wound through the throng of shoppers, eventually arriving at the storefront of a clothing store of some sort. In the windows, pale statues of women adorned in expensive-looking summerwear were displayed.

And every other shop sold the most wonderful of items, too, some of which included: little carvings of elephants and other beasts, pretty silk shawls and lovely spectacles with darkened lenses. I couldn't resist treating myself to a pair of those.

Despite all that was on offer, nothing else stood out to me enough. I wandered to a more remote corner of the mall, somewhere on the third or fourth floor. An old, but neat store was tucked away at the farthest end from the moving stairs- escalators, I mean.

Small, round lights were secured to the top of the shop at regular intervals, creating stark circles of white light across the black storefront.

Inside, there were three people browsing the shelves and the whir of the ceiling fan made up for the lack of talking. On the endless rows of shelves, metal contraptions had been lined and sorted.

As I explored, I took everything in with stunned silence, stopping every so often to run my fingers over something, whether it be a shiny radio or one of those recent television things I'd been hearing of.

I turned a corner, breath hitching in my throat as I scrambled for my pouch of money. My hand brushed against screwed up paper, what was left of the treats I'd bought from the market, and yanked out the cloth pouch squashed in the corner of my bag.

As I counted out my vedais, I saw, with a burning satisfaction, that I had more than enough for what I wanted: a new, shiny camera. And in the space of three minutes it was mine.

I waved back at the shopkeeper and clutched my camera close to my chest, basking in the feel of its metal parts beneath my fingers. Using one hand, I stroked the leather strap before bringing it over my neck and venturing beyond the glass walls of the shopping mall. Evidently, keeping an eye on my surroundings wasn't a priority, judging by the sting I felt of crashing against a pole before realising that there'd even been a pole before me in the first place.