As Kalin walked through the stalls, he couldn't contain his excitement. He had a bounce to his steps as he started to hunt for his prey. Although his love for money wasn't as severe as his sister, as a young impressionable child, he couldn't completely prevent her from rubbing off on him.

As he headed deeper into the market, he couldn't help but be drawn to the myriad of goods available in the market. Some stalls sold weapons, others sold second-hand clothes, from cheap jewelry to magic items, almost anything necessary for daily life could be found here.

At the corner of the market, a young man of 14 by the name of Jon sat at a small stall. He was a member of a small, new adventurer party. His wore various pieces of mis-matching equipment, some being slightly large for his body. As Jon and his party were struggling to make ends meet, they would use the market to sell some of the items they earned from their quests. Although they could sell everything to the merchant's guild, as they did for some items, items that are highly sought after, as well as items the guild doesn't value much, could be sold for more money in a stall.

Among the various wares at the stall, there were many furs, bones, and horns of various beasts. There were also a very small number of herbs and a box filled with small pieces of semiprecious stones and minerals. These stones were too small to be used for sculpting, and too impure to be used as a pendent to make jewelry. The Merchant's Guild had offered to buy the entire box for a mere 2 pints, much to the dejection of party.

As he was quietly contemplating ways for the party to make ends meet, he saw a shadow rest upon the stall. He was about to greet the potential customer before he froze, with his mouth hanging open. He couldn't help but think that the owner of the shadow was most beautiful person he'd ever seen. In front of him was a young child with shiny, lavender hair. The child was leaning forward a little as they seemed to be attracted to the box of stones.

"Hey, how much are these shiny rocks?" asked Kal as he tilted his head.

This question snapped Jon out of his stupor, as he felt his cheeks get hotter. He was embarrassed that a child that looked less than half his age caused him to lose himself. As he gathered himself, he was able to realize that he had an opportunity to rid himself of one of the deadweight items from his party. Seeing that the child was alone, he felt as though he could make some money off the box of stones.

On the other hand, though young and innocent, Kal wasn't an idiot. Having been thoroughly trained by his money-loving sister, he could roughly estimate the contents of the box were worth no more than a few pints. While the stones and minerals in the box were pretty, they weren't the real reason why he wanted them. Without knowing why, Kal had his attention stolen by a small white stone about half the size of a marble. However, his senses were tingling, telling him that this was an item that he needed, no matter what. To prevent drawing attention to the object, he decided to show interest in the 'shiny rocks'.

"I c-can sell you the box for 12 pints." Jon stuttered, as he sized the child up. The clean and orderly clothes told him that the child in front of him was most likely from a wealthy family. Though, looking at the expression of the child, he couldn't help but feel embarrassed at the price he quoted.

"Hmm, 12 whole pints for a box of rocks? I've never been given that much money before.." Kal mused as he looked completely unamused. He was also technically not lying. He had never been given 12 pints before, only 30. He continued after contemplating it, "I can give you 2."

Though he was just giving a low counter-offer, without knowing the actual worth of the box, Jon couldn't help but feel his face cramp. He had overlooked two basic things. He had forgotten that this person in front of him was still a young child. Even though they looked to be well off, who sent their kid around alone with that much money. Second, as the kid was probably from a merchant family, there was no way that he would get away with overquoting by that much.

Jon's cheeks had gone from pink to red as he felt like a complete idiot. However, with the most shameless smile he could come up with, he argued, "I can't do that little, I can cut the price to 7."

"3"

"6"

"3"

"6"

"3"

"5"

"Deal!"

Though it wasn't a lot of money for Jon, at least he could buy a round of drinks for his party at a cheap pub. Both boys walked away satisfied with the price of the transaction as they shook and exchanged money for the box.

Kal hurriedly placed the box into his leather bag and walked away with a beaming smile. He cast his eyes about to see what other treasures he could find in the market

******

While there were several other items that caught his eye, the majority of them were too expensive for Kal. In the end, he found himself at a stall that sold wares for needlework. He ended up buying several spools of decorative chord, a couple large swatches of different cloths, and a large needle for 7 pints. The only other thing he ended up buying was a set of small, second-hand stone carving tools, the kind used to carve fine details or small sculptures for an additional 5 pints, leaving him with 12 remaining.

After looking around one more time, he headed over to the meeting point to wait for his sister. As she was still busy, he leaned on the wall surrounding the guild building as he started playing with the white stone he had purchased earlier. The stone was ellipsoidal and completely white, except for faint, absinthe-colored, vein-like lines running along the entirety of the stone. The stone was a little warm to the touch and gave a soothing feeling to Kal as he held it.

"What's that you're holding?" He heard a familiar voice next to him.

Kal turned toward the source of the voice, only to find himself lifted off the ground, as a pair of arms hugged around his head, squeezing it into an abyssal crevasse between a pair of soft, pillowy mountains.

Fighting for air, Kal managed to break free from the depths of Tartarus for long enough to say "Mei.. can't.. breathe."

Mei giggled as she placed Kalin back onto the ground before spinning him and hugging him from behind. She asked him, "Is that better?" After he nodded in response she continued, "You never told me what you're holding."

Kal showed her the stone before saying, "I don't know what it is, but I felt like it wanted me to buy it, so I did."

Mei examined the stone before concluding, "I'm not sure what it is. It doesn't seem to be any kind of stone I know of."

The two of them continued to talk and get to know a little bit about each other. They had just gotten through discussing Kalin's hobbies before they saw Liliana exit the store with a small frown on her face.

"Damn merchants," she grumbled, "always thinking they're so clever, trying to steal my money."

"Yep. Mmm hmm." Sighed Mei, as she skillfully brushed Lili off, demonstrating her familiarity with her antics.

Lili looked at the stone that Kal was holding and said, "Let me see it."

Knowing better than to argue with his sister, Kal handed the stone to her. After looking at it for a while, she seemed to be contemplating something as she asked, "Where did you find this?"

"I saw it in a box of shiny rocks that were being sold in one of the stalls. I felt like it wanted me to buy it, so I bought the whole box for 5 pints." Kal recounted the story to his sister.

"Do you know what it is?" Asked Mei. "I've never seen any stone like it before."

"Let's continue this discussion elsewhere," Lili said as she looked around, "too many merchants around to feel safe."

The other two didn't have any objections so they started to head back toward East Market Eatery. On their way back, they ended up stopping by a bakery and bought a couple pastries that were filled with an unidentified jam. Kal couldn't stop smiling as the three of them entered the eatery.

Unlike earlier, all the tables were filled. Many rough and loud people filled the room. There were a couple waitresses bringing plates to tables. One unfortunate man was brave enough to touch one of the waitress's butts, before he found himself on the ground sleeping, after a couple teeth flew out of his mouth when her fist impacted his face. The surrounding people hooted and hollered at the commotion and did a cheer for the deceptively strong young lady. They all knew that the idiot must have not been from around here because all the workers here were retired adventurers and could kill most regular laborers with a slap. Lucky for the unconscious man, she decided to go easy on him.

Ignoring the man on the floor, the rest of the people present returned to eating and making merry.