“Alright Koi, we are here. Remember to keep your head down.”

I look up and see a bunch of different stalls and shops on the street. It's amazing, there are people buying things and there is something different at every stall.

He squats down and lets me off his back. 

I slide down and set my feet on the ground.

I look over at a stall and start walking towards it.

“No Koi, stay near Bubba okay?” He grabs my hand and pulls me back. “It is dangerous.” He squats back down and puts his finger up and waves it side to side. 

“Hold my hand.” 

“Okaay!” I laugh and grab his hand. He stands up a little bent over so we can hold hands.

“Let’s go look at the toys, Koi.” He says gently

“Oki!” I am a little too old to play with toys but I will get something cheap since I am only a year old.

We walk by the stalls with our hoods low and eyes to the floor. 

Feels like he is still limping. I am getting a bit worried.

We walked into the toy store. “Hello ther- oh, just get out if you aren’t going to buy anything.” 

What? Why is she assuming we aren’t going to buy anything, do we look that bad?

“It is my brother’s birthday, we are just here to get him a toy.” 

I instinctively hide behind him and look down. Why is she so mean? Just because we look a little worse for wear. 

“Fine, whatever, just don’t steal anything.” She gave brother a scowl. So rude. I really don’t like that woman.

“Yes ma’am.” He gave a head nod and smiled nervously.

He got on his knee and turned around to me. “Go ahead and pick something out okay?” He adjusted my hood to cover more of my face.

“Can Bubba help me pick something?” I looked into his eyes with the cutest face I can muster.

He smiled and put his hand on the sides of my face. “Of course, let Big Brother help.” He leans in and kisses my forehead then pulls back. “Just be careful okay.” 

I smile and laugh. “Oki Bubba!”

We look around for a bit at every wall. Dolls, bears, wooden blocks, all of these are children's toys, which one should I get? I'm not really a baby so I don't want to have to play with them.

We then get to the stuffed animals wall, and I see a familiar face. It is the same brown tan bear with a blue ribbon that I had with me when I was at the orphanage. 

I point at it. “Bear!” I say with confidence and look at him with a big smile.

This must have been when I got it and I loved that thing so much that it had tares and thin patches all over it and a frayed ribbon, but now it looks brand new.

He smiles and grabs it off of the shelf, we get into line to pay for it.

When it is our turn brother grabs some change from his pouch on his waist that is hidden under his shirt.

“Here are the three copper coins for the bear.” I hide behind my brother while he hands me the bear and puts his hand on my head to keep me from looking up and accidentally showing my eyes to the mean store lady or any of the other customers.

She looked down at the change and then at him. “The Bear is Five Coppers. Are you trying to get off easy?”

“What? No, no, the tag said three!” He grabs the bear and shows her the tag that clearly says ‘Three Copper’ on it.

She turned her head downward and to the left slightly “We suddenly raised the prices and didn’t have time to change the tag. Sorry kid, it’s five copper or no bear. Too bad too, your baby brother seemed so excited.” She giggled maniacally and gave him a smirk with a side eye.

How dare she! She is just trying to get more money out of us by using me against my brother. She is a terrible woman.

“Bubba…” I tug on his pants and look up at him. “I don’t need the bear for my birthday… we can look somewhere else..” I give him what I like to call ‘baby eyes'. Nobody can resist.

Let’s just go somewhere else.

He looks down at me with a sad face. “Alright, we will take my money back, you can keep the bear. We will do business elsewhere.” He goes to grab the money he set on the counter.

Before he can, she grabs them and pockets one while handing only two back to him.

“Hey! Give me my three coppers back! This is only two!” He shouts.

“No, you only gave me two, call in payment for putting up with you and your little brat of a brother.” she snickers with an evil and sinister smile.

Brother’s hand starts to shake, he must be so mad, but he can’t do anything in this situation. Why isn’t anybody helping him? Are all of the adults around here incompetint like this lady? 

Tch, what can I do to help him? Cry?

Well my body was already a step ahead. The tears started strolling down my face.

“Ah, it’s okay Koi.” He bends down to me quickly and wipes my tears while my chin scrunches up from being so upset.

“Wahhhh!” I started crying louder as tears started coming out heavier. “Hic.”

“It’s okay Koi.” he says with a worried expression on his face, he picks me up and hugs me.

“Wehhh!” I can’t stop crying. No matter how much I try, I can’t control my body. 

He pulls me close and puts my face into his shoulder as he bounces me and shushing me. “It’s okay Koi, Bubba is here. Bubba didn’t mean to scare you. Bubba is sorry.” 

No, you are not why I’m crying. It is so frustrating. I didn’t want to make things worse but it looks like I did.

“Get your screaming child out of here!” The mean lady said.

He looks at her in anger. “I want my copper coin back!”

Ya! You tell her!

“Hng.” I start to control myself.

At this point everyone is staring.

“Tch, fine. Here!” She tosses it to him as it rolls onto the floor. “Now get out, and I don’t want to see either of you in here again.”

He walks out with me in his arms while rubbing my back.

“It’s okay Koi, do you feel better now that we are out of there?” He says worried while wiping the tears from my cheek.

I nod my head “hic. Mean Lady…”

He gave a soft laugh “I agree, she was very mean, there are a lot of people like that in this place, so you always have to be careful.”

It seems like that is everywhere in this empire. They didn’t even know the color of my eyes and they still treated us badly.

“How about we go get some sweets from the bakery for your birthday?” He suggests

I nod my head. “Mhm. Cookie.” 

he smiles “Yes, cookie.” laughing softly. “Don’t worry Koi, the baker is a lot nicer than that mean lady.”

We start walking towards the bakery while he carries me, now that I am a little higher up, I can see a little more. 

He adjusts my hood over my face again. “Remember to keep your eyes from connecting with anyone else’s Koi, okay?”

“Okaay!” I smile at him through the tears still in my eyes

He smiles and wipes my eyes. He really is a great older brother.

We make it to the bakery and go inside.

“Kain! Hey there! How have you been?” A man greeted us as we walked in. “Oh? And who is this little one you have with you?” I look over and see a big man wearing a chef hat and an apron.

“This is Koi, he is my Aunt’s son, also my little brother. Go ahead and say hello Koi.” He looks at me softly.

I put my fist over my mouth and nod my head, retreating back to hugging my brother.

Kain is the name of my brother apparently, I always called him Bubba so I didn’t remember his name because I was only five.

“He is a little shy.” He laughs and pats my back a few times. “It’s alright Koi, Mr. Brazen has always been very nice, not like that mean lady at all.”

“Mean lady? What happened?” he asked concernedly.

“There was a Lady trying to scam us at the toy store and she made Koi cry.” He said with an upset tone.

“Oh, she is never nice to those that don’t look like they have money. She doesn’t know how business works at all.” He gives Kain a wink. “Although, why were you at the toy store in the first place? You told me that you don’t go there very often.”

“Well..” He smiles and hugs me tighter. “It is Koi’s birthday tomorrow, so I asked Aunt for some money to bring him to the market and get something, but it looks like we will go with some sweets instead of a toy bear. Right Koi.”

I nod my head quickly with my fist close to my mouth.

“Well I am honored to be of help on Little Koi’s birthday. Although, just give me a moment while I run upstairs for something.”

“Of course, we will look and see what we want.”

He goes upstairs.

Kain sets me down and wipe my eyes. “Do you want to look at the cookies Koi?” 

I nod my head and walk over to the glass shelf display. 

There are so many options to choose from. There are even ones that look like animals!

“That?” I ask Kain while pointing at the glass and looking at him.

He comes over and crouches down. “Oh! Those are crackers in the shape of different animals. Sir Brazen came up with them himself, isn’t that so cool?”

“Cracker? Ahh, bear!” I don’t know what my obsession with bears is but I love them. People create stuffed animals but they are so furocious. Maybe I will get to see a real one someday. I know they are dangerous but I still want to see one somehow.

“The bear? Okay I will let him know when he comes back down, How about we pick something out for Aunt.”

“Yes!” I nod and keep looking.

“So cute..” I hear Kain whisper under his breath which makes me smile.

Hmm… So many to choose from, i… don’t know what she likes. 

“What’s wrong Koi? Why the sad face?”

“I don’t know what to get for Mama.” I look at him “Can you help Bubba?”

He nods and says. “Of Course I will.” 

He starts looking. At the cookies. 

We are both looking at the cookies when the baker comes back down.

“Ah, Welcome back sir.” Kain stands up. “What do you have there?”

I hide behind Kain.

“Well, I remembered that I bought this for my daughter and she didn’t want to play with it, so instead of letting it go to waste. Koi can have it for his birthday.”

“A..are you sure? This is very generous of you sir!” He turns and picks me up. “Look Koi a-”

“Bear!” It’s just like the one I had before!

“Yes, a bear, and it looks just like the one he was wanting at the store too. Thank you so much for this Sir.” 

“Oh, no need to go that far. I just happen to have a daughter that is a bit older than Koi is and she doesn’t like it. It’s a waste to keep it.” He hands me the bear.

“Thank you!” I say as I hug the bear. “Bubba! Bear!” I show Kain.

“Hahaha. I didn’t realize you had a daughter the same age as Koi. What is her name? Maybe they could play together some time.”

“Her name is Sally, I’m sure she’d love to make a new friend, she gets bullied by the neighbor kids sometimes. She is also shy like Koi, but we should set a date for them to play.”

Sally!? Could it be my Sally? My best friend? It might be. 

I didn’t ask her much about her parents because she would be sad everytime the subject would be brought up.

“Play!” I look at Kain earnestly. 

Yes! Set the date! I want to see my friend again.

They both laugh.

“Looks like it needs to happen, now, when will we be able to come over?”

“She is out with her mother right now shopping, but how about in a few days, I think we will all be available.”

“Sounds great, we will make sure to come by then. Right Koi?”

“Yes!” I can’t wait! Although we won’t be able to do the stuff we usually do because we are too little, I can’t wait.

“Also we know what we would like to get.” He looks at me. “Do you know what cookie we should get for Aunt, Koi?”

“Ya, dat one." I point at one with white icing with a yellow flower on it.

“Heh. I am sure she will absolutely love that one.” He laughs.

That one reminds me of the Commander of the opposing army. He is probably my father so I want to see what Mother thinks of it.

“Alright and then Koi wants the bear of your animal cookies, and I will have this pink one with the rose on it.” 

“Good choice. Will that be all for you?”

“Go ahead and add a couple loaves of bread as well.” 

While they were talking I was hugging my new bear. It smells like bread. Warm and sweet.

“So cute.” They both speak at the same time.

I look up and look at Kain, then the baker, and back at Kain. They both start laughing. I run up behind Kain, embarrassed.

“I’m glad he likes it.”

“He was pretty upset about not getting it earlier. So I’m sure he will play with it a lot.”

“Well, I am glad about that. Your total comes to two copper coins.”

“Two? I counted three, including the bread.”

“Well thank your little brother for being so cute and sweet.” They laughed.

Am I really that cute to them? Is it just because I am young? 

All of the adults before have said my eyes looked like a snake’s and my hair looked like I was a demon so I was considered ugly. 

I blush and bury my face in my bear. I understand Kain’s view, he said my eyes looked like flowers and he has the same hair as me, but the baker doesn’t need to be so nice.

“Would you like a bag?”

“Yes please and here are the coins.”

Kain adjusts my hood again, he was fine with the baker seeing my eyes though, he must trust him.

He grabbed the bag and started walking out.

“Thank you!” I shout as we walk out.

The baker waved and laughed. “See you soon.”