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Free To Good Home
They were beautiful, the horses. The stable was large, the pasture behind the stalls spacious even with Ettermire looming over it. The horses didn't seem to mind the hubub of the city, and they grazed lazily in the fields while here and there a stablehand coaxed them to and from the building. Morgan leaned on the oak rail of the fence, her eye on a particularly handsome foal. He was leggy and gleaming, grey mane spilling over a body of the same color. His nose looked like velvet from here, dark with a flash of white blazing upwards between his dark eyes.
It didn't take long before a stablehand sauntered over, smelling too strongly of hay and soap. The sleeves of his blue shirt were rolled up his forearms, exposing grey skin that'd been darkened in the sun, though a wide brimmed hat shaded his face from the same fate. Lilac eyes moved from her to the foal she was admiring.
"Interested in taking him home today?" he asked. "Or we have a sister ranch out from the city where we rent stable space."
"Maybe," Morgan said, aware of how slowly she spoke compared to an Alerian tongue. As if the airships lazily moving overhead hadn't been culture shock enough, now she felt hopelessly out of place. This was Ettermire, though, and she wasn't the only human milling about. It made it a touch better than the little towns she'd blown through on her way here. "How much would he cost? The little grey one."
"You have excellent taste, especially for a human!" the elf laughed. The sound was rich and deep. The more she heard, the more she liked. It was a shame that the rest of what he had to say made her feel dizzy - and not in a good way. "He's 10,000 gold. Imported from Fallien from championship show lines, as well as winning racers. He's fast now, and he'll only get better. I can get his lineage for you to peruse if you'd like?"
His face was far too relaxed for someone who peddled in that much money. For a moment her hand dropped to her waist, hands moving through the furs that she'd strapped at her belt. 10,000 gold was going to take more than rabbits and foxes, that was for sure. She declined politely, and as he left let herself watch the horses for some time more. He'd mentioned that there were less expensive horses, of course, but she was reminded of how her father would often scold her and her sisters for buying nothing but air. The elder Merrick reminded his girls that good wasn't cheap and cheap wasn't good - a mantra both for their own buying habits as well as their trade.
She sure as hell didn't need a 10,000 gold race horse, but any horse she got would need to be reliable. She'd need to pay for food and upkeep too, even if she didn't stable it. Her mind awash of expenses and daydreams, she drifted. She'd sold to traders in enough cities that now she seemed to just know how to find the clothiers, cooks, and apothecaries. It was the former that she looked for today, and finding a coat shop was second nature. A few silver richer and the rabbit and fox furs sold, she window shopped. The Coronian had never owned a fine dress in her life, and while she had no use for them she still liked to look. Soon the shop windows were devoid of brocade and beginning to erupt with toys and novelties, bakeries and wineries dotting through.
A shop across the cobbled road caught her eye, painted purple and adorned with a metallic gold. Gold and black paint swirled across the clean glass panes that displayed all manner of shimmering oddities. Behofan's Delights ~ Mystical & Magikal, the words read. Of all the items she could see, a small brass ball, bouncing on it's own amongst intricately carved jacks caught her eye. She opened the purple wooden door, the gilt handle sliding easily upwards as she pushed, and entered the store as the bell above the door chimed in three ascending, lilting tones.