A single feather

Darya: The Travelling market

An array of colours greeted her eyes, along with strange, foreign scents and the loud bustling  of voices and chatter. The travelling market was always an experience and each time it visited, it was different. Last week the market had been designed for the cold, overflowing with hot drinks, mulled wine and fur coats. Today spicy aromas wafted through the air and the market seemed to have taken on the theme of a middle eastern market. Despite the harsh cold and heavy snow fall outside the market, the market itself was stifling hot and arid, not a single snowflake in sight. Darya sighed. Nobody would buy a coat in the market today. Even though the coat was still of use to the outside world, the market put on such a display, it could easily manipulate the consumers within it, into believing that buying ice was a necessity.

"Darya." She heard a warm voice call.

Darya turned around to face Noah, his tall frame peaking out above the crowd as he waved at her. "Fancy seeing you here."

"Why hello Noah." She grinned, glad to see him. Noah was a regular at the market. His father sold everything from overpriced fish to lavish carpets and was known for his knack at persuading even the poorest into buying unnecessary products. Noah lacked his fathers talents, but Darya believed it was simply because he was too honest to even try to manipulate anyone.

In fact, it was while his father was swindling Darya into buying a useless vase rather than the food she had actually come for, that they became friends If it weren't for Noah's silent gesture indicating that she was being played, she would have spent her money and gone home to a very unhappy Genevieve.

"I was hoping to sell this coat, but I see the market had other plans." She told him, motioning to the bright sunlight surrounding them.

"You'll have to try again next week. Although I have heard from a very reliable source that next week will be more of a jungle theme." He laughed, walking beside her. "How about I get you a drink? Will that make up for the unnecessary trip?"

"Well no, but it sure could help." Darya laughed, before quickly jumping out of the way of a rushing centaur.

"Think about it this way, had the market been icy cold, you would be so busy selling that coat, you wouldn't have any time to spend with me. Now that would have been the real catastrophe" Noah told her, giving her a mischievous wink.

"Ah if only dreams came true." She joked.

Darya ducked out of the way as he nudged her playfully.

"Shouldn't you be busy helping out your dad anyway?" She asked curiously.

"That desperate to get rid of me eh?" Noah laughed. She looked at him seriously awaiting an actual answer. He sighed, "As utterly charming as I am, my natural charisma does not extend to the market. After losing a solid eight out of my ten sales, my dad told me to go walk around. Or in his words, leave his stall before I ruin anything else."

Darya winced. "Ouch. Well it's not like you want to do this for the rest of your life is it?"

"No, I guess not. The sooner I get out of here the better." 

Darya and Noah had always dreamed of leaving together. Both were deemed as disappointments by a parent and that shared pain had created an eminently strong relationship.  In fact, seeing Noah at the market was the only highlight in an otherwise dull day.

"We'll leave together. I'll sell clothes and you can get a job studying magic." She explained, imagining a future that she knew most probably would not happen.

"And we can explore all the corners of the Earth." He added on.

"And to my father's dismay, I'll never get married, and live a life for me." She continued, eyes looking up ahead as though she could see her wistful dreams.