One Word Prompts

Treasure - The Shadow Emporium

Aesha Croan walked into the dimly lit tent, Meri Taln in tow. It was as ominous a place as she had been afraid it would be, perhaps even worse. The ceiling hung low, the purple and orange striped fabric hanging inches above her head. It was a cramped space, filled to bursting with shelves of oddities and organic stacks of tomes from distant centuries. Candles flickered from votives around the tent, each perched in a precarious nook or cranny, balanced between jars or bins of occult substances.

And the place reeked of incense, something between sage and cinnamon, to the point a thin haze floated in the air. The air was heavy with it.

On the far side, a man sat behind the counter. Or, rather, Aesha called him a man for lack of a better description. He, or perhaps more accurately "it," was closer to a shadow of a man projected on empty air. He had the outlines of clothes and a face, detailed enough to suggest at a jacket with a collar and gloves, and detailed enough to signify a face, but not so defined as to suggest a particular face or a particular jacket. He flickered in the candlelight, his edges fluctuating as the two women approached him, their bodies changing the placement of shadows.

"Welcome," he said, a smile spreading across what there was of his face, his hands spread before him palms out. "What brings such tortured young souls to my door? Looking for something in particular? Or perhaps you are here to sell?"

Aesha looked over the shelves, her doubt rising as she stood there.

"I'm looking for someone," Meri said. Her voice trembled as she spoke, her hand finding Aesha's.

Aesha squeezed the slender hand, hoping the slight human connection was enough for Meri to stand firm.

"Looking for someone?" the shadow man asked. He shook his head. "Oh, no, sorry. I don't traffic in the living, my dears. I have many things, and many things that might have once been someones, but certainly no someones."

Aesha slapped the portrait on the counter, her patience already waning. "Have you seen this man before?"

The shadow man shrugged. "This is but a paper, not a man. As to the flesh it depicts..." He shook his head. "I've never been much good at distinguishing one from the next."

"What would help?" Meri asked.

"Tell me, who is the owner of this flesh?" the shadow asked. "Who is he to you? Explain to me what two mortal souls expect to get from my shop."

"He's--" Meri started to say.

"Is that the price?" Aesha asked. "That information for what you know about where he is?"

The shadow laughed. "Oh, no. No, no, no. Not even close. Although you are not wrong, information on anything is valuable, especially here. This is more like..." he pursed his lips, waving his finger in the air, "Mmm, more like a product description? Yes, a product description. Just as one does not walk into a potion shop and buy potions without explaining to the alchemist what it is one wishes cured, so too do I need this to determine if I know anything about this soul."

Aesha's eyes narrowed. With spirits like this, one could never be too careful, but she nodded for Meri to continue for the moment, at least.

"He's my father," she said. "He works for the Bureau of Investigations at the Tower. He goes by the name Kalius Taln."

"And he's missing, I take it?" the shadow asked.

Meri nodded.

"Hmmm... I see. This one is Kalius?" The shadow squinted at the portrait on the counter, before shifting his gaze to Meri. "Yes, I do see the similarities between your soul and his, now that you've mentioned it. But, then again, you sentient mortals all look pretty similar even at that level to me."