"The sales and accounting are finished. Let's go, m'dear," Doctor Newbury said to Shanku a good week later. She smiled from her position in the shrouds and quickly came down. Shanku had patiently stayed on the ship and helped the men as she waited for Doctor Newbury to keep his promise. They walked down the gangplank and into the beautiful city.

Slowly.

To Shanku's surprise, the ground began to pitch and buck like a ship in a storm. Doctor Newbury explained that obtaining sea legs often came with the price of difficulty back on land for the first day or so. With a groan, Shanku resigned herself to focus intently on her stride so she wouldn't topple over or into anybody or anything.

All through the market the streets were lined with stalls and vendors selling all sorts of wonderful things. Beads, necklaces, flowers, perfumes, clothes, knives, herbs of all sorts, eels and snails for sale, and some of the strangest fruits and vegetables Shanku had ever seen, including a giant squash being sold by a tiny gnome. Aside from the gnomes, the people she saw were the natives of Mruha. Tanned and dark haired, always smiling and dressed in bright, flowing clothes, and sometimes also in flowers, wood, or grasses.

Doctor Newbury had a time reigning in his companion. She was constantly darting through the street and looking at every shiny thing that distracted her. He didn't have trouble by the fish stall and got a chuckle out of her grimace.

"Bleh, fish!" she stuck her tongue out.

"You're now officially a sailor," he laughed.

"Ooo!" Shanku darted off once again to a pet store. She sat down on the cage of a fox next to a parrot and goat. Doctor Newbury shook his head as Shanku and the parrot began to have a conversation.

"Come, my dear. We need to have you fitted," he gently reminded her. Shanku said farewell to the parrot and followed him to the tailor.

The tailor was a fair-skinned Arnthian like those aboard the Meriweather, excluding Marley. He wore a vest over his buttoned shirt and tight breeches over high-heeled leather boots.

"Tut tut!" he clicked his tongue and ushered Shanku onto a stool with a flip of his hand. The tailor grabbed one of his shirts cut for kurach that was waiting to be fitted. Shanku stepped through the large hole in the back and slipped her arms into the long sleeves. The tailor quickly sized up the length of her arms and pinned them in place. He pulled the tail of the shirt to a comfortable length, pinned it as well, and had her step out.

The tailor put the shirt on his sewing table and brought a pair of trousers out, also cut for a kurach child. He bid her go behind a screen and try them on. Shanku obliged. She took off her old pair and tried on the new. Shanku frowned and hobbled out from behind the screen, gripping the sides firmly. The tailor nodded knowingly, pinched her trousers up at the top, placed a pin on either side where he needed to tighten it, and then rolled up the legs to where they would come down to a proper length on her. He sent her behind the screen once more to change back into her old pair before putting the new trousers on his sewing table with the shirt.

"Just a few moments!" he called and began to stitch madly at her new clothes.

Shanku scratched her head. He actually likes to sew? What's the matter with him? Her memories of having to sew in Wynfall were not pleasant ones and she couldn't imagine anybody who chose to make a living at doing it.

"Now that one there is a simple cloth. I remember watching Mother weave it from the wool she spun from our sheep. This one is a fine material made from the sheep living in the bush who eat purple flowers. And this one..." Doctor Newbury lead Shanku around the room and pointed out the different fabrics and discussed their origins while the tailor worked.

"And finished!" The tailor exclaimed excitedly and ushered Shanku again to the screen. "Come, cub, put these on! Here is a belt for your trousers and I will give you a pin to keep your blouse from falling off the back after you come out."

Shanku went behind the screen once again. She pulled off her ragged tunic and breeches and put on the new cotton shirt and trousers. She tucked the shirt tail down in her trousers and was thankful of the split in the back of the shirt and top of the trousers for her tail. She slipped her belt through the thick loops on her trousers and fastened it snugly so there wouldn't be so much pressure on the top of her tail. She stepped from behind the screen a final time and the tailor went to her quickly.

"This is one of my finest inventions for your kind, little lady. You hook it through one side and then the other and fasten underneath, and there you are!" The tailor showed her how to hook the ends through button holes at the top of her shirt and clip them together. To her relief, it didn't irritate the delicate shoulder feathers protruding above her wings.

"Marvelous!" he clapped his hands. "You look a right proper sailor now."

Doctor Newbury thanked him and paid him for his time.

"Are you sure I cannot interest the little lady in a fine dress as well?" the tailor asked gleefully.

Shanku shook her head quickly and darted out the door. Doctor Newbury chuckled and followed her.

"Come now, to find a chest," Doctor Newbury said.

Shanku nodded and clutched her old clothes to her chest. Her ears dropped sadly as she thought back to the summer afternoons she and her mother had spent together as she worked on Shanku's tunic. Her heart was heavy and she missed her family terribly. Not even all the shiny things in Mruha could distract her from that.

Doctor Newbury lead her to the chest maker. Inside were all sizes and shapes of wooden and metal boxes for keeping luggage and stowing treasures.

"Go pick one you like, my dear," Doctor Newbury said and nudged her to the many shelves before going to visit with the shop keeper.

Shanku looked around the shop. Some were simple square boxes, some had rounded tops. Some were broad at the bottom and narrow at the top, some were narrow at the top and bottom and broad in the middle. Shanku scratched her head. Which one?

"Hi!" A boy said and strode up next to her. "Pickin' a chest?"

Shanku nodded.

"I like this one here," he pointed to a purplish one with a shiny grey metal binding it together. "It's made of walnut. Smells pretty good too."

"Yeah," Shanku agreed after sniffing it. She opened the lid, folded her old clothes, and placed them inside. They fit snugly with a bit of room to spare. "I like it!"

"Good choice," the boy nodded. "Hey Grandpa, got one!"

The boy strode over to the counter where an elderly man with balding white hair stood. Wrinkles creased all over his face when he grinned, and he began to write in his ledger. Doctor Newbury paid him for the chest and he left the store with Shanku.

Shanku clutched the wooden box to her chest happily. "Thank you!"

Doctor Newbury nodded happily.

Now finished with their shopping it was time to enjoy the novelties of the time. They stepped into a toy store filled with all sorts of delights. Glass marbles, wooden tops that would spin, wooden pull-along ducks on a string, dolls, and lifelike animals suspended by strings form the ceiling. A fine lady showed them around the room and tried to interest Shanku in a lacy fan.

Shanku wasn't one much for fans, but she did enjoy looking at all the toys. To her surprise, Doctor Newbury bought something for himself. A carved statue of a horse, painted up brilliantly in red hues.

"It reminds me of the old dun I rode as a boy," he said wistfully. Shanku grinned and followed him outside.

They came to a restaurant in the middle of the market. Doctor Newbury sat down at one of the intricately carved tables outside. Shanku looked around at the thatched building where the chef was rushing around the kitchen in a flurry. He was a very heavyset man with a thick black mustache. He wore loose, lightly-colored billowing pants, simple shoes that were more like slippers, and a grassy necklace. Shanku had noticed many of the natives wore grass clothing. She wondered where she might find some for her own as it looked wonderfully swishy.

The cook poured two bowls of his soup and delivered it to Doctor Newbury and Shanku. She was quite eager to have something aside from fish and hard tack. It was chicken and broth boiled up with some of the local vegetables. Shanku thought it was divine.

"Enjoying your day?" Doctor Newbury asked after they had finished their meal.

"Quite!" Shanku beamed. She noticed a movement in the distance. There were stages set up on the outskirts of town and there she finally saw the native kurach. They were just as tanned as the men here and some had white wings with black tips. Others had wings of reds, blues, greens, and yellows. Rather similar to some of the birds she had seen flying around.

"Hey, look!" Shanku exclaimed and pointed.

"Ah, yes," he nodded. "The tropical kurach are mostly performers here."

"C'mon, let's watch!" Shanku said giddily and ran off to one of the stages.

She stopped before one with a white-winged kurach dancing on stage. She had a pink flower behind one ear and a red dress split high to the hip. She danced with a red ribbon that she twirled all about her and through the air. Behind her were two kurach, one playing a small set of drums between his feet, and another playing panpipes.

Doctor Newbury shifted uncomfortably. "May we go now?"

"What's the matter?" Shanku asked innocently.

"The ladies here have forgotten their underclothing," Doctor Newbury said quietly in her ear and kept his eyes averted from the stage.

"They didn't forget!" Shanku giggled. "It's just not comfortable with a tail or gets really complicated. It's easier not to wear any. And the breeze is quite nice on a day like this."

Doctor Newbury blushed deeply and sputtered. "For shame, Shanku!"

Shanku balanced her new chest on her arm and clapped with the crowd as the dancer finished and took a low bow.

"She's good," she said happily as she watched the dancer bow a few more times to the onlookers. Some threw coins to her.

"Indeed," said a man beside her.

Shanku looked up to see he was also a kurach, but neither Sylvan nor one of the tropical ones. Long ears and tail, spots and bars on his wings, and a long face marked him as one from the prairie. Kind of.

"Are you from the plains?" Shanku asked with a grin. He was dressed a bit differently in loose clothes and a sash about his waist and neck, but he still bore a striking resemblance to her friend Anoki.

"Yes, but think 'shifting sand' rather than 'rolling grass'," he nodded.

"Your friend too?" Shanku asked when she noticed a man standing beside him dressed the same. His skin was very dark and made his bald head seem extra shiny.

"Yes," the man nodded. His voice was deeper than any kurach or man Shanku had heard.

"I'm Shanku. I come from the forest," Shanku grinned. "Your markings are exactly like those my friends in L'aernth have," Shanku continued giddily.

"His clan was an import to my people's lands," the man said. "I am Junaid, and this is Zos."

"The stories say that many years ago, my clan lived in L'aernth," Zos said. "You've probably met my distant kinsmen."

"Maybe," Shanku looked at the spots on his primaries. "Why'd they leave L'aernth?"

"Wanderlust," Zos said simply.

"Oh..." Shanku said.

"You too?" Zos asked.

"Sadly," Shanku said and pulled her wings around her.

"Don't be ashamed," Zos said and put a hand on her shoulder. "When my clan first came to the desert, they found his people. It worked out very well for them both."

"His clan needed sustenance and my tribe was under attack from local brigands," Junaid explained. "At the time, we were just simple shepherds who followed our flocks, mostly chased from settlement to settlement by the raiders. In exchange for water and shelter from the sun, the Long Ears protected us and our flocks from raiders and predators. Since then, we were able to settle in a good grassland on the edge of the great desert. Our flocks flourished and so did we. We became reknowned as elite warriors, and the Long Ears were able to raise magnificent horses and camels."

"Wanderlust can be a good thing, little cub," Zos nodded.

"Hmm..." Shanku smiled up at him. "But, did he say you almost died in the desert?"

"Indeed, his people would have died of want had they not come across us," Junaid said. "But my people would have been destroyed by the raiders had it not been for his people's Wanderlust."

"Is this why you two are here?" Doctor Newbury asked curiously. "Exploration?"

"We are here as ambassadors to establish a new trade route," Zos explained. "Our livestock and goods for the things we need. There are some medicines and supplies hard to come by in our village. And yourselves?"

"I'm with Doctor Newbury," Shanku said simply. "For the time being."

"We're here on business," Doctor Newbury nodded. "Our trade ship has just finished selling its cargo. Perhaps one day our routes will cross and we will be carrying some of your goods as well."

"Hopefully. But we must be off now," Zos bowed with one arm over his chest. "'Twas nice meeting you."

"Likewise," Doctor Newbury nodded his head to them. "Best of luck to you, gentleman."

"And to you as well," Junaid replied as he and Zos made their way back to the inn where they were staying.

"Take care!" Shanku called after them.

Doctor Newbury nudged her. The sun was beginning to set and it was time for them to leave.