The World Soul

Chapter 6

 Finding somewhere to eat proved to be more difficult than expected. The World Soul was lush with all types of fruit and berries that grew from its branches, but all of them had been claimed by opportunistic merchants who sold them at their stands, and the branches were so choked with people that buying any food meant waiting in long lines that were more like mobs in some places.

"They'll raise the prices up, just you watch and see." Orph said. "A month ago you could get a basket of berries for a few pieces of copper, now I bet it costs a whole silver with all these people needing to eat."

"We have plenty of silvers." Lyra said, "More than enough."

"That's hardly the point, is it, Lyra?" Orph said, "A silver for a basket of fruit is madness. It's evil, and I'm going to fight it. Watch closely, Lyra. You're about to learn all about the art of haggling."

"Haggling?" The word sounded silly to Lyra. "Is that like arguing?"

"Haggling is an art as old as buying and selling itself." Orph said, a touch defensively. "It requires quick wits, keen instincts, and mental fortitude. I am going to take the price of our dinner down to the point where we'll practically stealing it."

The result looked a fair deal less like art and more like arguing to Lyra. When it came to their turn, Orph balked loudly at the "ruinous" price the merchant was asking, and soon the two men were exchanging barbs back and forth about the poor quality of the merchant's fruit and Orph's lack of judgement of said fruit. In the end a price was agreed on that left both of them unhappy, which Orph assured her was a sure sign that a fair bargain had been struck. For whatever amount of money Orph had deemed appropriate, they each had a stick that speared through a multitude of cuts of fruit Lyra had never tasted before; crisp apple, juicy peach, soft banana, and sweet pear that left a grainy feeling on her tongue. By now Lyra had gotten used to the intoxicating effect of the fruit that grew in the presence of the World Soul, and it no longer altered her state of mind, but she couldn't get over just how more sweet it tasted than anything she had ever experienced before.

Everything here engaged the senses more than she'd known in the world outside. She wondered if it was the world that was more vibrant, or if the World Soul had made her more receptive to what had always been around her? The world would surely feel drab and colorless once she left the World Soul. Maybe that was why so many faeries spent their whole lives in this place and never left. To leave this place would feel like waking from a dream and going back to the banality of the waking world.

Like the roots below, the branches were covered in wooden houses that seemed naturally grown from the living wood rather than built. Faeries in fine clothing looked down on them with imperious eyes from balconies as they passed below. They gleamed with decorative glamers and wore bands of silver embedded with sparkling jewels on their arms. Perched on the rooftop with their short legs dangling over the sides were mobs of pixies, beings who looked like faerie children with white skin, white hair, and pure white eyes that glowed like two full moons.

They behaved like children as well, shouting insults at the faeries below them, blowing raspberries, and tussling together, tiny fists pounding on each other's pudgy bodies. One spotted Lyra, and with a squeaky cry of "Splat, Earthbound!", he lobbed an overripe blueberry at her. Orph's snapped his hand up and snatched the berry out of air, and it exploded into blue gore. Orph grimaced and tried to wipe the goo off on his leggings. "Disgusting."

The pixie nearly rolled off the roof, it was laughing so hard. "Splat, faerie! Splat on you!"

"Oh, we'll see who goes splat." Orph growled. His wings whirred in preparation for takeoff.

Lyra grabbed him by the arm. "Orph, it's just a dumb pixie. Don't get in a fight with him."

"I wasn't going to hurt him, I was just going to smear this nasty berry juice in his face. And maybe give him a kick."