The warm drink and fresh bread made a nicer breakfast than Siobhan had eaten for a few days. The rain continued around her, making the already muddy ground sloppy and full of puddles. She dodged as many puddles as possible, being tired of wet socks. Not for the first time, she wished she could afford to live in an upscale district. Roads were cobblestone there, and people only had to slip pattens on their shoes to lift themselves above the dust.

Shaking off more useless thoughts, Siobhan continued her rounds. The morning crowd of shoppers poured in, forcing her to dodge around people and wait in lines. She visited a blacksmith, three produce vendors, a bookbinder, a jewelry and clock repair stall, two more bakers and four specialty stalls. Vinny the goblin (a second cousin to Savannah) sold cleaning supplies; she haggled her ten dallas into three in order to get a bottle of laundry soap and a bag of regular soap chips. The leather repair stall was run by Colleen the elf and Emily the fairy, who paid her fifteen dallas for three crystals. Phineas and Donovan were dryad brothers who repurposed pruned or damaged wood into carpentry and woodworking projects.

Her final stop was where Herbie the Centaur and his daughter Haylee ran a large stall of fermented products. Cheeses of every imaginable type and jars of pickled vegetables and meats filled the front table. The table on the west side of the stall was laden with wines galore. The table on the east side of the stall was salts and spices to use in pickling at home. What should have gotten Siobhan twenty dallas was negotiated into a small jar of kimchi, a sizeable wedge of cheddar cheese, and seven dallas.

Around the centaurs was one of the few places that Siobhan could take a deep breath and relax slightly. For some reason that no one really understood, magic charms and spells didn’t work within ten feet of Centaurs. The magic crystals were simply light-givers, so they would work if the Centaurs didn’t come into direct contact with them. For Siobhan, she felt calm, knowing that even if her magic was leaking out, nothing would happen there.

With her crystal bag empty, Siobhan stood out of the way of the shoppers and thought. She still had all the pizza crust ingredients at home, so she only needed ham for it. Across the way was a butcher’s stall, where Carl the kobold sold her a half cured ham for thirteen dallas. A loaf of wheat bread from Isabella and Irene the Orc sisters completed her shopping for the day. Therefore, she headed home.