Aramil Liadon, elven ranger, stepped out of the tavern onto the town's main street with a grin. The morning sun was warm and the road was already busy with people and smells.
A cart lumbered up and halted, the driver shouting at Aramil to get out of the middle of the road. He smiled sheepishly and darted to the far side. The man gave him a gruff look and then carried on. Aramil wasn't sure he'd ever get used to the concept of roads and all the traffic that seemed to travel on them.
He started to walk until he came across a plaza where a dozen market stalls had been set up. He wandered from stall to stall. Most were selling equipment or trinkets or things he was not interested in but eventually he came across one selling fruit.
Some of the fruits he recognised. A few grew naturally in the forests where he'd grown up and others he had seen because elves returning from beyond the forest had brought them back. However some he had never seen before at all and he was eager to try them.
One particular fruit called out to him. It was about the size of an apple but was round and bright orange in colour. It looked exotic and that was reinforced by its price as it was more than four times as much as the next most expensive fruit.
"That's an orange," the market stall owner said, smiling at him. She was a woman in what Aramil guessed was her mid-fifties.
"It is named after its colour?" he asked, surprised. "That must be confusing."
"Or maybe the colour is named after it," the woman winked back.
Aramil furrowed his brow. He had not thought of that. He wondered which was true, but his stomach rumbling swiftly reminded him that he needed to eat. He asked for three of the oranges and the woman quickly handed them to him.
"That's one gold coin please," she said. Aramil gave it to her. That was extremely expensive but Aramil's concept of money wasn't particularly good yet.
As he ate the exotic looking fruit he found it very bitter but also very pleasant. He would definitely enjoy the other two that he had bought.
However one thing playing on his mind was his money. He didn't really understand what it was worth yet but he did know that humans used it for practically everything and that he would run out sooner or later. If the price of the oranges was anything to go by then it would be sooner.
It was then that he remembered the gift Symii had given him. He dug into his pack and found the small bundle of fairy dust. He finished the orange and looked around, then smiled as his eyes fell on what he was looking for. An alchemist's shop sat in the corner of the square looking bright and inviting. He collected his belongings and walked over to it.
He pushed the door and stepped inside and saw no one there. However the walls were lined with jars full of various ingredients, some of which he recognised but many he did not. There were also displays of potions and elixirs that had obviously been made by the owner of the shop.
"How can I help you?" said a woman's voice behind the curtain at the rear of the shop.
"I'm here to sell some wares, if you would be interested," he called back.
The curtain moved and a beautiful woman in what appeared to be her mid-thirties stepped out. However Aramil knew she was probably closer to seventy because the pointed ears that protruded through her wavy blonde hair revealed that she was in fact a fellow elf!
She stood about 5'4" tall. She wore a plain red dress and brown boots that didn't conceal what was clearly a slender body with lovely large breasts, but didn't try to flaunt it either. She regarded Aramil with warm green eyes.
"Well, aren't you a pleasant sight. Not often I see another elf," she grinned mischievously as she sauntered past him and took up a position behind the counter. Aramil noticed her scanning his body as she passed. "I am Kerianas. So, what is it you have to sell?"
"Fairy dust," he replied simply, taking out the bundle and laying it on the counter.
The alchemist's eyes went wide. "Fairy dust?" she said, clearly stunned. "How much?"
"That bundle's worth."
She looked at him first with wonder then slight suspicion. She reached out, undoing the bundle and unfolding it. She gasped at what she saw, which Aramil took as a good sign.
The fairy dust still sat within, glittering beautifully. It seemed to change colour based on the light. At the moment it was pure gold, but when Symii had given it to him in the shade of the woods it had looked more of a reddish copper colour. And at night it was a shimmering silver. Then again it was magic so it didn't need to make sense.
Kerianas stepped away, collecting a small glass vial to which she added a few ingredients. Then she dropped in a tiny pinch of the the fairy dust, causing the entire mixture to hiss and pop before at last settling into a beautiful purple colour.
She stared at it with wide eyes. Clearly she was impressed.
"This is so pure," she said, turning back to the fairy dust. "And so much of it. Where did you get it?"
"I met a fairy in the woods. She gave it to me," he shrugged. It was the truth.
Kerianas looked up at him with amusement. "As simple as that, huh? Well, I won't pry any further. I want this dust, Aramil, and I'm prepared to give you two hundred gold coins for it. That's my entire savings, but this will be worth it."
Two hundred coins sounded like a lot. It would buy him lots of oranges, at least! He nodded. "Agreed."
Kerianas clapped her hands together with delight and collected the bundle, setting it beneath the counter. Aramil wondered why it was so valuable.
