As Talon woke, he was greeted by a pair of eyes, intensely gazing at him from off the side of the bed. “Um...Good morning Ei?”

“That it is,” Ei replied as he stood, brushing off his clothes in the process. "Did you sleep well?”

“I did, I actually feel much better now,” He said as he sat up and looked down towards the boy’s feet. “Is there a reason you were sitting there?”

“I was sleeping there, though I just recently woke up myself.”

The man felt a pang of guilt, realizing he had been inhabiting the only bed. He looked back to the boys face, a grin spreading across it. “Is there something you’re particularly happy about?”

“I’ve only just decided, but we are going to have a busy morning. Hurry now, get up,” he commanded as he waltzed over to the table against the wall.

“Excuse me? What did you decide,” he asked as he put his feet on the ground.

“Firstly,” the boy said as he spun around, shaking a jingling sack, “we’re going shopping.”

Before Talon could question further, the boy pulled him out the door into the morning sun.

“The market is just down this direction,” Ei said as they got into the street just outside of the courtyard, pointing down the road.

He shielded his eyes from the sun as he looked down the road, its steeped path flanked by buildings made of the same stone as Ei’s home. At the bottom of the decline was an impressive harbor, dozens of ships moored at its docks.

“Don’t dally now,” the boy called back as he sarted down, “we only have a limited time today.”

“That's right,” Talon thought as he began after him, recalling the visitor the previous day. “How much time do we have before you have to visit that Elis guy,” he asked, trying to not think too much into the subject.

“I usually go to him early in the afternoon, so we have plenty of time for this. Anyway, enough of him, it’ll just ruin my mood.”

“Got it.”

The two continued on silently for a while, Talon wondering how bad this Elis could be that just talking about him could so easily ruin the boy’s usually cheery mood.

“Ah!” the boy suddenly burst out as they rounded a corner. “I forgot to mention, but it probably would be for the best if you don’t talk to the merchants working the stalls.”

“Not at all?”

“Best case scenario, you'll let me do all the talking. If you must though, it’s probably fine, but keep it business related and don’t pry.”

“Okay, if you say so I suppose,” he said as he looked around the quiet streets. “On a side note though, where is everyone? I’ve only seen a couple of people, I would think a town this large would be awfully crowded.”

“Well, most of the people living here are pirates after all, so as you go closer to the harbor, you’ll run into more people and their various hangouts. If you think it’s dead now though, you should see it when a fleet is away,” he said, giggling at the thought.

“There aren’t any gone right now?”

“Yeah, it seems kind of odd, but I suppose they have their reasons. Either way the market is just around this corner.”

Rounding the last corner, they came to face with a large wooden gate. Talon watched as Ei approached and knocked on the gate. After a few moments, a small hatch opened and he could make out a face peering out at the pair. Just as quickly, the hatch shut and the gate opened, revealing a marketplace teeming with people.

“Now this isn’t something I would have expected,” the man said as the gate closed behind them.

“Really? This is still a rather large town after all, people flock here from all over to buy things. It's just like any other town.”

“Wait, do they only sell cloth here,” he asked as he looked around, all the nearby stalls filled with various types and colors of cloth. “Are there different things further in?”

“Nope, each market here specialize in a certain type of product. You’ll only find cloths here.”

“What do you need cloth for then?”

“It isn’t for me, you need new clothes.”

Talon looked down at himself, sure, his clothes weren’t in the best condition, but, considering what they had been through, he thought they were doing pretty well. “You really think I need new clothes?”

“Well yeah, I think it will help if you fit in here better. It'll also hopefully help with forgetting the past, you know? So new ones will be a win win.”

He appreciated the sentiment, though he doubted that he would ever accept the fact that he’d never see his home and family again.

“Here, this way,” he said, pulling the man along and out of his thoughts. “This is where I get all of my clothes.”

Talon looked at the stall, the woman at its counter framed by the white fabric that covered its walls. “A native?” He wondered as he looked, her hair and skin almost perfectly matching Ei’s.

“How may I help you,” she asked as the pair approached her.

“I need some cloth to clothe this guy right here,” he said as he grabbed Talon’s arm.

The woman looked over to, “Are you wanting to make a lungi like this young man here, or something else that covers the torso as well?”

“A lungi is fine, make it long like mine too,” Ei said, butting in between the two.

The woman looked over Talon before turning and rooting around the stall, revealing a metal cuff around her left wrist. He looked around to the nearby stalls, each merchant manning the stalls sharing the same skin and hair type. He even caught glimpses of metallic shining from his distance, a cuff on some, an arm band on another, even a few with the sashes. None of them had more than one like Ei had, let alone gold.

“Is that all you need,” the woman’s voice called, pulling Talons attention back, cloth now hanging from her grasp.

“Yes, thank you,” Ei said as he handed over several coins from his purse.

“And here you are,” she said as she handed over the cloth over the Ei, placing two polished stones in front of him after he had gotten a hold of the cloth.

The boy grabbed the stones as he turned to face Talon. “Time to go,” he announced as he began to walk back towards the direction they had came, Talon in tow.

He watched as the boy made his way up to a small booth next to the gate they had entered from, a woman stood inside. She was much taller than the other merchants, even the men, but she still shared their features. His eyes were drawn to a large metal band around her midsection, something she shared with no other person he had seen.

“Is he with you,” the woman asked, pointing past the boy to Talon.

“He is.”

“Very well,” she said, tapping on the counter in from of herself.

“Two lengths of cloth and two proofs of purchase,” Ei said as he placed down the items.

Talon curiously watched as she separated the cloths and counted the stones, signaling to two men at gate after doing so.

“All is in order,” she said as she handed the cloths back to Ei, leaving the stones in front of her. “You’re good to go,” she said, motioning towards the opening gate.

Talon looked back as the gates were closing to see the woman place the stones in a bucket. “What was that all about,” he asked as he turned back and followed the boy.

“What was what all about?”

“The gates and stones, I’ve never been to a market that had things like that.”

“Oh, they’re just there to cut down on theft. The gates stop people from fleeing and the stones prove your purchases. Pirates don’t exactly like things being stolen from them after all.”

“I've never really thought of pirates running a merchant stall...”

“Well, they weren’t, but their owners were.”

“Owners? Wait, you mean they were all slaves!”

“That… really shouldn’t be a surprise. Didn’t you see those metal things on them that matched mine?”

“I did, but I didn’t know what they were.”

“Oh, think of them as a type of ownership tag, each admiral has their own.” “Here,” the boy said as he handed the cloths over to Talon. “I’m a bit of a special case, but this one, for example, is Admiral Jost’s,” he said, pointing to the cuff on his right wrist. “The one on my left wrist is Admiral Elis’ and so on until you reach all five on me.”

Talon looked at the bands on the boy's upper arms and his sash, wondering what the people were like behind them.

“Wait, what about the thing around that woman’s waist at the exit? It’s the only type I saw that you don’t have.”

“Oh, that,” the boy said as he continued walking. “That’s Succorbenoth’s, you won’t come across many of them.”

“I see.”

“Hurry now,” the boy said as he began to run. “We have a lot of cleaning to do when we get back before I have to leave.”

“Cleaning,” the man asked as he took off up the road after the boy. “What are we cleaning?”

“The house of course! I decided that we’re moving back in!”

Talon could hear the glee in the boys voice, a smile spreading across his own face from the boy’s joy.