Tangled: Stardust and the 12 Zodiacs (Varian Fanfiction)

Chapter 18: Aradian Marketplace

"Wow! Aradia sure is a busy city." Rapunzel exclaimed as they arrived at a shopping district where the marketplace was. Aside from the local stores, the district was crowded with small stalls placed on the streets, making the road narrower than it usually is. The entire marketplace was crowded with vendors advertising some sale they have, and buyers walking to and fro some stalls, buying what they need. 

"This place triggers my claustrophobia." Varian mumbled.

"Claustrophobia? What's that?" Lance asked Eugene, whispering.

"He must be scared of clowns." Eugene answered.

"But I don't see any clowns."

"Shh, the poor boy must be hallucinating."

"You know I can hear you, right?" Varian intervened, his eye twitching in annoyance.

"Right. Anyway, don't worry, little man. We won't let any clowns near you." Lance confidently responded as Varian slapped his hand in his face, sighing.

"As sweet as that sounds, that's not what claustrophobia means, Lance." Soul informed, holding a finger up. "Claustrophobia is a fear of crowded places. The fear of clowns is called Coulrophobia."

"I don't know. Coulrophobia sounds like a fear of coals." Eugene doubted, placing a hand on his chin, stroking his goatee.

"Don't bother, Soul. I tried." Varian groaned. The girl just shook her head as she continued to lecture the two of the difference between the two phobias, shocking Varian.

"Why would she do that?" The alchemist muttered, confused as she stared at the girl lecturing the grown men.

"Soul is actually pretty patient, and she's a great teacher." Kiera commented as she stood next to the teen. "She taught Catalina and me  a bunch of stuff that we don't usually understand in a span of, I don't know, a week?"

"She tutored you two?" Varian asked. Where was I when this happened? He thought.

"Yup! We're usually on top of the caravan when she tutors us." Catalina replied, appearing next to Kiera. "We thought she would lash out on us for being so slow in understanding stuff, but she actually took her time in making us understand it properly."

"What did she teach you two? I'm curious." 

"She taught us how to navigate using the stars as a guide." Kiera answered.  Well, that explains why they suddenly disappear after dinner. 

"And she taught us how to whip up some quick tonics and useful antidotes, like the cure for poison ivy." Catalina added. 

"Really? And she taught you that in a week?" Varian questioned, shocked that Soul taught the two some complex medicines in a week. He was already having a hard time instructing Lance something he needed him to do back in Corona, and he was teaching the man for more than a month, and Lance still didn't get it. But here was Soul, teaching two kids how to make cures and navigating in a span of two weeks.

"Got it?" Soul asked. 

"Woah! That made perfect sense." Eugene replied, his jaw, dropping.

"Now, I get it!" Lance beamed as he ruffled the astrologer's hair, stopping as he saw the small glare the girl gave him.

"What did you tell them?" Varian asked as Soul walked back next to him.

"Oh, I told them that Claustrophobia is when Santa Claus gets scared with everyone surrounding him whenever they see him. And that Coulrophobia is when coals are used as makeup for clowns, making everyone afraid of them as I made them imagine a clown wearing coal as makeup." Soul explained. The alchemist played the ridiculous explanation the girl told him but thought that the description was perfect for someone like Lance and Eugene to understand the difference between the two phobias.