The Plague

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"Yeah, they are. Pa and Ma said that they used to live with Drows..." Asylsa quickly shut up after that, not wanting to bring up more about her dead parents. Reality started to crash around her. This was real. This was happening. What was she going to do? She couldn't go back to the flower shop and she had no where to stay. She didn't want to bother Roan and his family so she should probably find her own place soon or else she was going to be on the streets.

Asylsa hadn't noticed that she had started crying until the tears landed on her arms. She blinked which only caused more tears to fall. Asylsa the brave young girl who could face anything, crying. She was just glad she didn't have a nightmare last night. She would have woken up the others and it would have been a huge mess. She pulled her knees to her chest, trying to hide the fact that there were fat tears rolling down her face.
 
The sudden stop in Asylsa's words caused Roan to look at her quizzically where he noticed that tears were falling off of her face and she began to hug her knees. Not knowing what else to do, he put his arms around her again and held her close for the rest of the ride; they soon came to a sudden halt and Roan noticed his father jerk awake. Leo looked over the cart and cursed silently under his breath, got down and began doing something to what Roan could only guess was the wheel. After a while, he got back on and snapped the reigns and they were off again.

After some time to looking at the woods on either side of the road, Roan noticed the rain last night had given them an especially calm look, as if the trees were visibly grateful for the water and had a serene and calm feel to them. Though that also meant the road was muddy and they would often find themselves jumping due to hitting a random ditch covered by a puddle; more than once Roan hit his head and looked towards his father wondering what the blazes he was doing.
 
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Asylsa was grateful for the support during the ride and sighed as they continued. She looked up at Roan and said, "Hey, Roan? I never got to thank you properly so... thanks." She shifted as the cart bumped a bit along the road. "You've done a lot more for me than what most friends would and I am so grateful to have you here." She moved out of his hug, curling her toes a bit as she looked out at the scenery.

She still found it hard seeing Roan's parents in such different forms, used to the large blacksmith and his wife. Instead there were two tall, skinny merchants with a handsome son that would most likely get a lot of girls wanting his hand in marriage. She almost laughed at the thought, never imagining her friend as one to get ladies chasing after him.
 
Roan cocked an eyebrow at Asylsa's sudden gratefulness. "It's nothing really," he shrugged. "You would've done the same had I been in your position." They rode on until they reached Aeborne where Roan's father left the cart to begin restocking on the supplies they would need once they set out again towards the Drow kingdom. While his father was away, Roan got out of the cart to stretch his stiff legs and body. Looking around, he noticed the large crowd of people walking around attending to their own businesses and noticed the large number of stalls. The kiosks were set up nearly everywhere with merchants yelling out their wares and merchandise, carts were frequent, and there was a multitude of races walking around.

Curiosity taking the better of him, Roan beckoned for Asylsa and began exploring the town, his brown sandals snapping against the cobblestone floors. He could hear a multitude of languages and accents as the crowd spoke together, a few vulgar sentences making it to his ears and others of foods and prices. The town that they had just left certainly had a marketplace, but nothing of this calibre. "This is truly amazing, don't you think?" He asked, his eyes taking everything in as he walked past stall after stall.
 
Asylsa followed after Roan, taking in all of the sights and smells of the town. She nodded at his statement at how amazing everything was, avoiding people trying to sell trinkets and different useless things. "It's so lively! I imagine it's easy to get lost in here, don't you think?" She watched as men bartered over fine cloths and different people roamed the streets.

A few girls who walked passed giggled and winked at Roan, giving him strange smiles. Asylsa raised an eyebrow and turned to Roan. "What is it with girls giggling around you?" She shook her head. "Women are just plain crazy... especially the ones who where super tight corsets." She messed with her dress a tiny bit. It was a lot more free flowing then the other dresses most girls wore, allowing Asylsa to go on more adventures with Roan. She noticed a sign for free palm readings and smiled. "Hey, look over there! It's a palm reader!" She smiled as she took Roan's hand. "Wanna go check it out before we have to leave?"
 
Roan nodded to her question regarding the liveliness of the city; a wide, childish grin on his face. It was the first time he had been so far out of his town that he reached another and he was loving it. He knew not all others cities were like this, but he wanted to know now just how different they were from where they grew up. His mind then travelled to the Drow kingdom and he could only imagine just how different their buildings and styles were. He had always heard that elvish architecture far surpassed that of humans, but living in human places only, he would have to see it with his own eyes to believe it.

A couple of passing girls giggled and winked at him while they walked and Roan couldn't stop himself from widening his grin. Back in his old form that sort of thing never happened, he was just another blacksmith's boy running around the city. Now he supposed that the features he had put on his face and the slight age attracted a little more attention, especially by the girls - which he didn't mind at all. "Yeah... crazy," he said absentmindedly to Asylsa's remark, eyes and head gazing after the women which was interrupted at Asylsa's question of a palm reader. "Free?" Roan winked, turning back to her as he changed the patterns on his palms in front of her. "I suppose. Why not try and see what they'll say about these unique hands."
 
"Just be careful, alright. We're not out of the woods yet." Asylsa said as she led the boy over to the brightly colored stall. She giggled as a couple boys whistled at her, giving her looks of want. She sat down in front of the palm reader, sitting Roan down too.

"Ah, welcome to Madame Crysta's stall. Shall I read your palms? Let us start with the young man. Please show me your palm." The older woman smiled as she held her hand out, wrinkled skin covering her arms as she stared at the two with purple eyes and a large toothy smile. She was missing a few teeth and her hair was very stringy and greasy. Though she wore very lavish clothes, her skinny frame wrapped in purples, reds, and blues. Asylsa started to doubt if the woman was just crazy or actually a palm reader.
 
Roan shrugged at her advice of being careful; he knew they weren't exactly out of the king's clutches yet, but doing something as little as palm changing wouldn't really attract attention, no one would even notice besides those he wanted to show - like Asylsa. He heard a whistle from somewhere and his head snapped towards the location seeing a couple of boys whistling towards Asylsa. He wondered with mild amusement if they would have still been doing that had he the free will of shifting into a bear - he was nearly tempted to just for the fun of it, but let it go in the end. Someone could report him and the knights would all rush into the city and escaping would become near impossible.

As they approached the stall, Roan noticed the palm reader was an old hag with fine clothes and a few missing teeth. She asked for his hand and he compliantly gave it to her while giving Asylsa a knowing glance. Temptation filled him to change the patterns on his palm once again, but he forced the temptation away since doing something like that would definitely catch the reader's attention, not to mention anyone walking by to steal a glance out of curiosity. Roan leaned in and turned his lips away from the view of the older lady and whispered, "how accurate do you think she is?" A skeptic eyebrow raised as he leaned back and waited for the hag to begin her reading.
 
Asylsa giggled as the old hag looked up at Roan. She shook her head as she grabbed a blue powder and spread it across Roan's hand. "I am accurate enough to know one of my own kind when I see it boy. Now show me your real palm and I will give you a reading." She smiled as the palm morphed to what could be assumed as Roan's "true" form as she started to read the lines. Asylsa looked over, curious.

"Ah... from a great line of the shifters you come. You have a long life ahead of you, full of troubles and winding roads. You have made some choices that have ended in drastic consequences, but you will save your wife with these choices you make. You will be successful, your career will be one of greatness. Your love life... be careful with the one you have an eye on. She could be taken away in a blink of an eye." The old woman said in a soft and quiet voice. She patted the boys hand before letting him shift it back to what it was before. She turned to Asylsa, holding out her hand for the girl's palm.
 
Roan look at the older woman with shock when he realized she knew of his nature, but not only that, she was a shifter herself and curiously thought if that was her true form or a form she had taken to seem less suspicious. He had not the slightest idea of how she knew that he had changed his true palm and he recalled his father had the same ability to recognize other shifters and could easily distinguish between the normal humans and their race with ease. Roan realized no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't and he had no idea how. He made a mental note to ask his father later when the reading began.

He listened intently to what the reader said and drew back his hand looking at them with wonder. He understood her words but he wanted more details, what she said held no more benefit to him than a cryptic message found in some bottle, but like a cryptic message it at least held something he could work with and a few hints to his future. The thoughts of a revolution still existed deep within the chasms of his mind, silently brewing until the day he can release the idea to his people. Perhaps that's what she meant, he thought to himself looking on with fascination and a small grin as the older lady grasped Asylsa's palm to begin her reading.
 
The old lady smiled at Asylsa to calm the young girl who looked quite nervous and started to read the palm. "Let us see... Ah, you are one of the humans long forgotten by your race, shunned for your abilities much like the shifters. You have much untapped potential that you need to harvest. You will also live a long life with very many close calls. You will be challenged by the choices of alliance, choosing which side is right or wrong... Your career will be that of a humble one at first, and you will grow into a great woman, standing at the side of a great man. Your love life is rocky, many men to choose from yet only one is truly right, the one you least expect. If you follow your heart though, you will find that it will not lie to you."

Asylsa blinked as she thought about what the lady had told them before looking over at Roan. "Should we leave now?" She asked, unsure of what to think about the old woman's reading. The woman just smiled at the two, her eyes knowing as she leaned back. These two would get in a whole lot of mess, she was sure of it. She was just glad that she wasn't the parent of the two.
 
Roan saw the nervousness of Asylsa and held back a slight chuckle while the shifter read her palm. Once over Asylsa asked if they should leave and Roan agreed his agreement and began walking aimlessly until he encountered a stall with strange meats skewered into a stick that looked awfully appetizing as his stomach rumbled. Checking to see if he had any coin, he took out his coin purse and bought two sticks, giving one to Asylsa while he took a large bite out of his; spices and different sorts of flavours that he had never tasted before exploded in his mouth. "This is amazing," he remarked after a moment of simply staring at the meat while he chewed. "I don't think I've ever tasted anything like this before. Anyway, where should we head now? I still want to explore but the place looks so large I don't even know where to begin."

No matter how he looked at it, nearly everywhere looked the same with stalls everywhere, crowds of people shoving and moving past them, he found himself wondering where people even found a place to live in this sort of city and how they managed to sleep with such noise. As they were walking, he made sure to keep a special eye on landmarks and out of the ordinary structures sticking out between stalls in case they ever got lost, which he doubted was difficult at all.
 
Asylsa took a bite of her meat and was surprised to find a flavor that she really hadn't tasted before. "Do they use special spices or something? Also do you know when your parents plan on leaving town. I'd hate for them to have to look for us." She chewed a bit more on her meat, looking around the town in wonder.

She wondered if they had a plant shop that she could look at. She hadn't been able to save any of the plants from her own shop so she wanted to at least hopefully buy some seeds that would be able to grow where ever they were heading. She looked around with that new goal in mind, keeping close to Roan. She slipped her hand in his so she wouldn't get separated. As they passed by a group of boys their age, a lot of them noticed her red hair and were interested. Not many humans had red hair so it always attracted people's attention when first meeting Asylsa. A few of the boys let out some cat calls, trying to get Asylsa to come over and hang out with them.
 
Roan looked at her when she asked the question and shrugged, "I'm assuming so," he responded. "I don't know the answer to that question, though," he said referring to his parents. "But restocking takes a bit of time and I suppose they expect us to be a little late so as long as we go back before sunset we should hopefully be fine."

While he walked he tried to listen in on the conversations people were having out of mere curiosity and noticed the multitude of languages the people were talking in, some were shouting incomprehensible words at a trade gone bad, while others were swindling their way into a great deal with honeyed words. He felt startled when Asylsa slipped her hand in his, but he couldn't complain and gave her hand a small squeeze while they walked. After a few minutes he noticed a small fight going on between a few knights and a couple of stall owners about what he assumed was a bad deal gone sour. He was curious to see what would happen, but knew it would only be a couple of minutes of exchanged shouting before the stall owners were arrested or shoved to the ground, so he kept on walking and exploring until the crowds finally started to give in and he noticed more and more drows rather than humans.
 
"Looks like humans aren't the only ones who come here..." Asylsa murmured as she looked around at the different places, holding back a laugh as the boys from earlier started to brawl a bit. This town sure did like fights. She moved a bit closer to Roan, feeling nervous being in such a strange town. She so far hadn't seen anywhere that might sell even cut flowers. She could at least take the seeds from the cut flowers to plant those, but alas nothing. Just fights and trades gone wrong.

The town was quite a whole lot more lively than what Asylsa was used to. She squeezed Roan's hand, her own starting to sweat a little bit at the thought of the knights running through the town and taking someone to the stocks. She kept seeing knights at the stands and it scared her. She almost wanted to turn back and hide in the wagon just so she could get away from some of the knight infested areas.
 
Roan felt the uneasiness radiating off of Asylsa and followed her gaze to see the knights. How hadn't I noticed them before, he asked himself, but now that he had he saw them everywhere and a sudden stab of fear plunged itself deep into his chest. He wanted to change into a drow and hide from the knights, as it looked like they were pointedly ignoring them, but he knew if he did they would instantly recognize the transformation and chase after him - and after the last couple of weeks, he didn't know if he could handle that again; even worse, the guards might have gotten word of Asylsa and being in their line of sight only spelled more trouble for them if they stuck around.

"Shall we go back?" He asked her turning towards the way they came, trying to act casual. Running from them would only set off alarms with the knights so he had to control his urge to leg it and rather walked the other way with as if he got lost in the giant city; while they walked back he made sure to stop at a few stalls that didn't have any knights near them and pretend to check their wares and feign interest to keep off the suspicion - or at least try to.
 
Asylsa nodded at his question and tried not to panic, feeling like the devil himself was chasing after her. She tried to keep up Roan's facade, but found herself shaking at the thought of the knights. She kept to the shifter like glue, not calming in the slightest. She felt like she was going to get caught, she was going to die right then and there. A small whimper escaped her throat as they walked past a particularly large knight, one that looked similar to the man that tried to have her hung. She wasn't safe here, she just wasn't!

Then she saw it. A small flower shop hidden from the rest of the public. She felt herself relax just a tiny bit as she pointed to it. "Why don't we stop in there? Just to look, of course." She said, trying to act like normal when desperation could be seen clearly in her eyes. She was on the verge of almost having a full blown panic attack. She needed the safety of familiarity.
 
Roan walked along the side of the main road and thought of going to another stall when Asylsa pointed to a hidden flower shop. It was as good a hiding place as any he figured and agreed and followed her in there, looking over the flowers with curious interest once they were inside. Although he wasn't as well versed with flowers as his friend, he found the colours exquisite and interesting to look at, and the fragrance they gave off even more so. Inside the shop he took some time to look around to see if anything was out of place or if any of the knights decided to shop around inside but found nothing out of the ordinary.

Going back to looking over the flowers, the shopkeeper noticed his interest in the plants and came over asking him if he was interested in anything, although he truly wasn't he asked the shopkeeper about the flowers instead trying to get a bit of knowledge from him about the plants and it seemed the man brightened up instantly and began going on and on about the purple flower in front of him and it's many features and hidden facts before moving on to more flowers inside the shop.
 
Asylsa smiled as she was surrounded by flowers and plants. This was much more like it. She looked over the different flowers and checked out what the shopkeeper had. She was happy to find that the shopkeeper had basically all of the flowers her parents had originally had, only they weren't as vibrant as her parent's. She let her hands graze over the flowers, a few of them brightening up at her touch. She froze when she found a section of flowers that seemed very familiar.

There were rows upon rows of Jacob's Ladders, the beautiful white flowers sitting in different pots. She walked over to them, tracing a petal around the bulb. How could this man find so many of this rare flower... The answer seemed to come clearly when she saw the same staff with moon blade that she and Roan had found. "Roan... Roan come over here." She said, gesturing to the boy as she stared at the staff and flowers.
 
While the shopkeeper, a stout short man with a balding head and a small grey beard, explained to Roan all the variations of flowers on the shelves he heard Asylsa call him over and he excused himself from the shopkeeper and walked over to her; once there he noticed the strange flower they found back in their old town which Asylsa described as rare abundant on the shelves in full view for the world to see; flower pot after flower pot of the strange plant that caused Roan to frown in confusion. If his friend claimed these rare he began asking himself why there were so many in this little shop. "Didn't you say these were rare?" He asked, confusion thick in his voice as he placed a cautious hand around the rim of a pot and removed it from it's shelf to examine it up close. The flower had the same distinctions as the one they saw in their old town, there was no mistaking it, but how the shopkeeper accumulated so much confused him. "How did he get so much?"
 
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