The chair that Keenin stood on tottered dangerously as he tied the twine of another plant bundle to the rafters. Emily had arrived unexpectedly with a delivery that morning and Keenin had to stay behind to clean up while Alaban went to the market. Keenin cursed his clumsy fingers and slow progress because for once he knew what he was missing, namely girls in blue dresses.

Tess had started to visit him at work and had even lent him a guidebook on plants. The chair wobbled underneath him again and Keenin scolded himself for day-dreaming about meeting Tess, as it slowed his progress. 

When he sloppily tied the last herb bundle Keenin jumped down and ran for the door, shutting it tight behind him and locking it with the key around his neck. He heard a rip of fabric when he pulled away. The sleeve of his colorful vest had caught in the door. Keenin cursed and again unlocked and locked the door to get it out. Free of the house he ran down the street faster than he could imagine. The villagers did not seem to notice his passing. In the past they might have frowned at him for he had been a poor child always suspected of thievery, but since he had been seen working in the market the people no longer seemed to mind him. 

He arrived at the stall out of breath. The table had already been arranged with the best-selling potions.

“A little late,” Alaban observed. “But since there are no people I think I can let you off.”

“Emily came over. She told you to give her the money later,” Keenin explained.

“Did you mark down what I got?”

Alaban had taught Keenin how to count the inventory and receive payments in case he was ever away and because Keenin was to take over the shop in the future.

“I wrote it all down and she signed it to confirm,” Keenin said proudly. "Though, I don't see the point."

Alaban and Emily were friends so why could they not agree on prices later.

"Because business must be taken seriously and children are not the only thieves around here. Not to say that she has or ever will cheat me, but she complains so often that I wouldn’t put it past her.”

Maybe Emily would give him the money to pay back Alaban for some side work, Keenin thought to himself. Of course Keenin didn't say this, instead he took his seat on a blanket beside the stall. His ripped vest hung sadly off his shoulder.

“What happened to your sleeve?"

“It caught on something,” Keenin said reaching for a bag of loose herbs that needed to be sorted into their components.

“It looks terrible. You need to learn how to stop damaging things.”

And you need to learn how to not be grumpy Keenin thought back. He took the vest off and tied it around his head in an attempt to satisfy the old man.

“Does this look better?” he asked.

A girl laughed. He saw that it was Tess who had just approached the stall. Today her dress was charcoal with puffed sleeves and flowers stitched along the hem. The thin leather strap of a satchel crossed her chest and the bag rested against her left hip. Keenin pulled the patched vest off his head and hid it behind him.

“You certainly like to stand out,” she told Keenin.

“Uh, ya,” Keenin said. “But I think you’re doing that better.”

Her pause made him wonder if he had said something wrong.

Alaban cleared his throat. “Did you need something Tess?”

She looked up.

"Oh, yes," she said digging in her satchel.

She pulled out a folded piece of paper and a small bag of coins that she held out to Alaban.

"The payment for the medicine you’ve been giving me," she told him. 

"I'm sorry for the trouble before. The doctor came to see her and mother is doing better."

Alaban took the note first and left her with the money as he unfolded the paper to read. Tess held the money close to her and looked down nervously as Alaban read. Keenin felt for her. He noticed a thin book in her satchel.

“Are you reading that one?” Keenin asked in distraction.

“It’s…,” she paused seeing his face, then smiled. 

Tess pulled the book out to hold in front of him.

“Probably not your type of book.”

He examined the title, but couldn’t read it. It reminded him of their position. He was still a boy who could do so little. 

“Looks like your right,” Keenin said to satisfy her.

"I am sorry Tess," Alaban finally said. “I still can’t accept your money.”

Tess looked up.

"But there should be enough.”

Keenin also looked to Alaban. He did not understand what was going on between them, only that it involved not letting Tess pay.

“How about another favor," Alaban told Tess. "My apprentice just ruined his vest. Do you still sew?”

At first Tess said nothing. Then she looked at Keenin who had not expected Alaban to give her another free trade.

"Oh," she said.

She replaced the money into her satchel and  rummaged until she pulled out a spool of black thread with a needle stuck into it. 

"I forgot it was in here," she admitted. "Mother said that good wives should never be without a bit of thread."

She looked to Keenin and now he felt embarrassed.

“You’ll need to hand over the vest,” Alaban prompted. 

Keenin reaching behind for the crumpled vest that he had been trying to hide.

“Actually, could you put it on. It’s easier,” Tess explained. 

Keenin put the vest on and turned to the side so she could sew up the sleeve. He tried not to think too much as she tugged at the fabric. He wondered how long Tess had been purchasing medicine for her mother for Alaban to stop charging her. 

“I’ll get you more medicine,” Alaban said unclipping his case.  

Turned as he was to face down the street, Keenin saw a dangerous looking man making his way through the market. The man wore leather armor decorated with strips of fur and a sword tucked into the left side of his belt. The man stopped in front of their stall to address Alaban and Keenin noticed a red painted bird with a cutout heart on his shoulder pad. Tess stopped her work to stare along with him.

“Is this what people call magic these days,” he said picking up one of the little bottles from Alaban’s table. “Can something this small even fix a paper cut.”

Alaban let his potion case close to address the man. 

“It certainly can’t cure that attitude, but it might ease digestion,” Alaban said. 

“Really,” the stranger said. “Anything to stop a man from bleeding out?”

“Depends if your paying,” Alaban told him. 

Keenin had never seen Alaban so defensive. The stranger reached into his coin purse and tossed a copper coin to the counter. 

“Here, one for one.”

Alaban regarded the coin.

“I’m afraid that potion costs twenty percent more,” Alaban informed him.

This shocked Keenin even more. Not because he knew the worth of the potions, but because it didn’t seem like a good time to make enemies. The stranger smiled as though he had heard this joke before. He pulled a hand from his pocket to reveal a knife which he twirled between his fingers in a display of skill.

“Perhaps you can spare a loan,” the stranger threatened.

Keenin and Tess stood in shock and awe, one stitch left between them.

“Tess. You go on home,” Alaban said still watching the stranger. “I’ll have your medicine delivered.”

Keenin’s vest was almost off his shoulder as Tess was holding the needle and thread attached to his sleeve in a death grip. Now Tess turned back to her work. She silently knotted and cut the thread and stuffed everything into her satchel before walking away back to her home. Keenin couldn’t blame her for not saying anything as he watched her go. He did not understand how Alaban kept so calm or how this had happened. 

The stranger also watched the girl leave, then looked to Alaban and ended his knife twirling display with the tip pinched between thumb and forefinger as though readying to toss it.

“So where’s your money?” the stranger asked now.

“Here,” Alaban said pulling up his bag of coins.

The bag rested on the counter. Keenin locked his eyes on the money. Just last week he had watched Alaban pay off his thieving friends. This was certainly not something that the old man could afford. 

If Alaban had a problem with this guy, Keenin didn't understand why the old man didn’t use his fighting skills to knock him out. Hadn’t Alaban been so confident? Keenin was going to tell Alaban to stop and that he didn’t have to give away any money when Keenin saw that the money was a distraction.

The stranger reached for the coin purse, only to have Alaban grip his forearm and stand to pull him forward over the stall. Using his free hand, Alaban slammed the stranger's head against the table. Dazed, the knife fell from the stranger's hand to the ground behind the stall, while Alaban continued to hold him down against the hard wood.

“Time to leave,” Alaban told him. “I won’t have a warmonger in my town.”

The stranger shot a menacing glance at Keenin. Alaban shoved the stranger away from the table so that he stumbled back free, but before the stranger could think of retaliation, Alaban pulled a gun from behind his back and pointed it. They gazed angrily at one another.

“I think I’ll come back tomorrow,” the stranger said flatly.

“You better not,” Alaban said setting the man’s knife on the table. “The guard will be here tomorrow.”

The stranger snatched back his knife, but not the bag of coins, and left. Keenin looked from the stranger back to the gun in Alban’s hand. 

“Who was that?” Keenin questioned.

“A criminal, a head hunter who chose the wrong side in the war,” Alaban said, tucking the gun away behind his back. “But he won’t find what he’s looking for here.”

“Find what?”

“Magic. Elemental magic. The sort you read about in stories, but rarely see. But instead of that, don’t you have something more important?”

Alaban held out three small glass vials of the healing potion which Keenin had learned was a general energy booster to help in recovery. 

“Right,” Keenin said.

*