Open The Great Bazaar (Radovan) [Abandoned]

[Alia Beaudouin]

6th of Fall, 513 Alia felt lost. Very, very lost. Lost like someone standing in the middle of what felt like a hundred people. Lost like someone who had just moved to Riverfall with no idea where she was. Like Alia in the middle of the Riverfall Bazaar, with no idea what she was doing. Alia looked around the street of vendors and shops. Although it was quite early, the street was already beginning to fill up. Alia decided the best way to go around this was to check out some stores, maybe ask some of the vendors for directions. Or help around the city. Or a new life. Alia shook her head. This wasn't like her, all pessimistic and mopey. If she was still in Wind Reach she would be striding around the street, starting conversations with complete strangers and buying their wares. That idea actually sounded pretty nice right now. Alia chose a path towards the nearest shop, although it was more of a tent. The man sitting on the tarp of a shop was a Akalak, as most of the vendors were, and he was faced away from her, fussing away at one of his wares. Alia decided to wait for his attention by looking around at what the Akalak had to sell. Alia spotted a nice leather belt with two belt pockets that appeared to be in good condition. Alia went to pick it up when the man turned back around. "Two Gold and Six Silver Mizas for that." Alia turned the belt over. Taking several coins from her rucksack she tossed the money to the man before clipping on the belt. Striding away from the small shop, Alia felt a little better about the city. It seemed everything was here at the Bazaar, she just needed to find it.

[Radovan]

Radovan rose from where he had been seated cross legged on the woolen mat, talking with his older brother. He’d come to help set up the little space where his brother sold the jewelry he crafted. As he was still new to the business, in Akalak terms, his brother didn’t have a full time shop. So he came to the bazaar once a week to sell the items that he had worked on since the week before. By now, he had a good inventory of necklaces, bracelets, rings, and other pieces, all fashioned from the gems brought up from the mines. Rad wasn’t involved in this end of the jewel trade – he much preferred his job working as a miner. He didn’t have the skill, creativity or patience to make exquisite pieces like his mother and brother seemed to possess. But he could help his brother out, to help him set up his stall and then come back and help him put it all away again at the end of the day. Now the first task was done, and Rad meant to leave his brother to do what trading he could, and he himself would wander about a bit, looking over the other thousand and one things for sale at the bazaar. He didn’t really intend to buy anything, but looking could be fun. And he never knew what interesting thing might catch his eye.

Saying good-bye to his brother, he began a little tour of the stalls and tents, looking at this and that. It was early yet, but people were beginning to trickle in more and more, and the paths between the businesses were getting more crowded. He was just walking past a tent where leather goods were sold, when an Akalak with a huge basket of some sort of goods came towards him. Looking at the guy, Rad moved to get out of his way, but ended up bumping into someone else. He looked – down. Way down – at the tiny redheaded girl. Well, she was tiny to him, barely up to his chest level, if that. He didn’t think he’d hurt her or anything, but he always liked to be polite. So he said, “Oh, sorry! I didn’t see you there.” He smiled, though, and added, “I don’t see how I could have missed that bright red hair.” Knowing a fair bit about all the races in Mizahar, he asked, “Are you Inarta?”

OOCthanks for the PM! Hope this is OK

[Alia Beaudouin]

6th of Fall, 513 Alia fiddled with the clip on the belt she had just bought. She found the clip more annoying than useful, even after she had successfully gotten it on. It was obviously several sizes too big for her, and she couldn't figure out how to tighten it, and the last time she had tried she had caught her finger, which was now, very sore. Looking down to fiddle with it again, Alia continued walking, and next thing she knew, she had ran into something. A very big, very green, something. Slowly lifting her gaze, she realized she had run into an Akalak, but the strange thing was, he wasn't blue. Confused, Alia double checked she hadn't run into the man so hard that she had messed up her colors. As far as her knowledge went, Alia was sure that the Akalak were strictly.. Blue. Suddenly, the mountain spoke. “Oh, sorry! I didn’t see you there.” He paused, staring down at her with a big smile plastered on his face, “I don’t see how I could have missed that bright red hair.” He paused again, his smile widening, “Are you Inarta?” Alia stumbled a bit, first she runs into a mountain of a man, who's quite plainly an Akalak, and then, on top of that, he's green. Turning her attention back to the man, she spoke as surely as she could, though no one had ever just come out and asked if she was Inartan. Since nearly the entire population in Wind Reach was Inartan, it wasn't exactly a question that was asked every day. "No, I'm not Inartan... Not pure, I mean. My father was Human." Alia paused, a bit tempted to just go out and tell him her life story. But she decided against it, it was such a foolish though, anyway. "Since you asked me a question.. Does that mean I get to ask you one too?" She wondered if she was being to intrusive even as she spoke, "Your an Akalak.. Right? I don't have much knowledge on the Akalaks.. But aren't they supposed to be... You know.. Blue?" OOCNo problem! And its perfectly okay.

[Radovan]

Rad laughed at the question. Inwardly, Jozef did something like a mental eye roll. ”Seriously? She comes to Riverfall and knows nothing of the indigenous population? Why did she bother to come here? To prove how ignorant she is?” Rad replied, internally, ”Be quiet. She’s a newcomer to our city – it’s perfectly acceptable for her to be curious. If we went to Wind Reach I’m sure we’d have lots of questions too.”Jozef made a noise something like Pffft!, but he shut up, for the moment.

Outwardly, Rad replied, “Yes! Green is common, as is crimson, and purple. We come in many shades – like a beautiful bouquet of flowers.” He laughed even more at that imagery – as if these huge, muscular warriors were anything like flowers. Of course, Radovan wasn’t really a warrior. But he had the training to be one. He simply had preferred to work in the mines. “But you are correct – blue is most prevalent amongst my race.” He looked more closely at her, reaching out long, thick fingers to touch her hair lightly. “And the Inarta? Do they all really have redheads? All this shade? Or did your father influence it to a different hue?” He tilted his head a bit and opined, “You’d look beautiful with earrings of coral agate, or fire agate. If you’re shopping for jewelry, you should stop by my brother’s stall. He has a fine pair, and matching necklace.” Then he added, “I’m Radovan, by the way. But my friends call me Rad.”

[Alia Beaudouin]

6th of Fall, 513 For a moment, the green giant stood quiet, seeming to debate something inwardly, finally he replied. “Yes! Green is common, as is crimson, and purple. We come in many shades – like a beautiful bouquet of flowers.” The giant chuckled at that, and Alia had a vision of a rainbow of giants like him, all stood in a line. It made her laugh too. The giant spoke again, a smile still on his face, “But you are correct – blue is most prevalent amongst my race.” He then did something that surprised her, he reached out, lightly fingering her hair with meaty fingers. She nearly pushed him away, but realized that he had taken as much of an interest in her hair as she had taken in the colors of his skin. He spoke again a few moments later, And the Inarta? Do they all really have redheads? All this shade? Or did your father influence it to a different hue?” Alia thought for a moment, she had never been asked this question before, hadn't even asked it herself. did her parents affect the color? Before then, she had just thought of the color as red. Simple as that. “You’d look beautiful with earrings of coral agate, or fire agate. If you’re shopping for jewelry, you should stop by my brother’s stall. He has a fine pair, and matching necklace.” Alia decided on her answer to his question, and considered asking him where his brother's stall was. She decided to answer first. "In answer to your question.. No, not all Inarta hair are this color. I've seen many different colors, my hair is just about as red as you get. More commonly theres shades of orange-y red or soft amber. And on the earrings.. I'd love to check them out. Would you mind showing me where it is?" She smiled as he added, “I’m Radovan, by the way. But my friends call me Rad.” Alia's smiled expanded as she replied to him, "My name is Alia." OOCSO Sorry about formatting. Somethings really wrong with post format right now, but I'm trying my best to make my posts legible.

[Radovan]

She had a nice laugh, the kind that lit up her face and eased away some of the lines of what looked to be frustration, or maybe anxiety, that had clouded it over a bit when they’d first bumped into one another. Rad noted that the girl almost flinched, as his fingers went out to lightly touch the flaming lock of hair, and he supposed perhaps that was a bit forward of him. But he hadn’t thought of that before he did it, and her reaction of hesitancy lasted only a split second, and in the end she tolerated his intrusive fingers with a good grace. She was correct, in her internal musings, that he was simply curious, and perhaps that was something he’d need to think about – not letting his impulses to learn and know get the better of him. Rad was a bit less cautious, maybe, than a wise Akalak should be.

And she answered his question easily enough, so he felt that she hadn’t taken any real offense by his innocent gesture. He then introduced himself, and received her name in return. Then he said enthusiastically, “OK – sure. It’s not far. Just over there.” He nodded with his head slightly back over his massively rounded shoulder. “Only a few minutes walk.”

As she seemed to be ready to follow him, they moved away, and Rad tried to pay more attention to those around them, so he wouldn’t jostle anyone else – though this particular encounter was certainly turning out to be a pleasant one. As they began to walk towards the place in the bazaar where his brother was located, he said, “I don’t think I’ve heard of an Akalak with red hair. Ours is mostly dark, to a man.” He ran his fingers through his own hair somewhat without thinking. It was shorter and with no Mohawk, which was sometimes a popular style here in Riverfall. But Rad preferred to keep his cropped so it didn’t get in his eyes or interfere with his work, when he was down in the mine.

“The Konti all have very fair hair. It’s very pretty. But yours…” He gave Alia another appraising look. “It’s really different. It makes you look like you have flames dancing about your face.” He laughed, as he added, “Like a fire dancer in trouble.”

[Alia Beaudouin]

6th of Fall, 513 Alia turned to where Rad pointed the way to his fathers' shop. "Only a few minutes walk."She wondered if he was just going to point her in the right direction, and then go his way, but Rad turned to where he had pointed as well, and gracefully as he could, weaved through the crowd. As they worked their way to the shop, Alia found that conversation was easy with the giant, and she was weirdly unintimidated by his great side and strange color. "I don't think I've heard of an Akalak with red hair." Alia tried to jostle her way beside him so she could hear him better in the crowd. "Ours is mostly dark, to a man." She wondered what he meant by 'To a man'. I don't believe there are any female Akalak, so wouldn't everything be 'to a man'? Alia pushed the thought to the side as they continued on through the crowd. “The Konti all have very fair hair. It’s very pretty. But yours…” He turned and looked at her hair with somewhat admiration. “It’s really different. It makes you look like you have flames dancing about your face.” The giant laughed heartily as he added, “Like a fire dancer in trouble.” Alia felt herself blush and turned her gaze away from him, but she could still feel his eyes on her. Yes, she expected to get a lot of attention, being in Riverfall meant she was a single woman in a city where there was about 500 single women to 4500 single men, plus she had bright flame red hair, but she didn't expect her hair to be the definition of her, even though it was her best feature, most likely. Alia continued debated this in her head even as they approached his fathers' shop. Would the giant still have spoken to her, even if her hair was a dull brown? She expected, as that his skin tone and her hair had been the two main conversation starters, that the answer was nein. She decided to remain quiet, waiting for the giant to say something as his fathers' store came within sight.

[Radovan]

The Inarta seemed to fall silent as they walked the remaining bit to his brother’s stall, and Rad wondered if he’d offended her. Or maybe she just found it difficult to converse as they went along, constantly having to step this way or that to avoid other shoppers and sometime parting ways entirely by a few feet. But as he couldn’t read her mind, he decided he wouldn’t worry too much about it, and soon enough they were stopping before a plain wooden cart, the surface of which was spread with a shiny black bit of cloth. Rad smiled and nodded to his brother, and introduced the girl, saying, “This is Alia, of Wind Reach. I brought her here to show her some of your earrings.”

His brother nodded and seemed relieved to see Radovan. Stepping aside with him, he said something in a low voice in his ear, to which Rad nodded and said, “Sure!” The other Akalak stepped away quickly and disappeared into the crowd. Rad turned back to Alia with a broad grin.

“Good thing we stopped by. He needed a little break.” His brother’s need was actually of the emptying the bladder variety, but Rad didn’t add that. Instead, he bent over the cart and pointed a finger to a set of coral agate earrings, two small ovoid shapes in a simple setting of gold. “See? they’d look really nice with your hair. Or these.” He moved his finger to gently touch a set of earrings made of fire agate. These were more elaborate, each one a half sphere of the gem set in a fanning shape of gold, with dangling bits of red crystal and gold beds.

“You should try them on,” he said encouragingly. “Which do you like better?”

[Alia Beaudouin]

Alia let her mind wander as Rad spoke to brother. Thinking of how much she didn't know about the city and its inhabitants. She decided to do more research on the Akalak later. She imagined the rainbow display of warriors again, and smothered her laughter as Radovan picked through the earrings. She looked down at the jewelry, wondering how much they were worth, and how much she was willing to pay. The small extricate pieces were beautiful, but the green giant seemed to have eyes only for two small pairs. He held them up to her hair to see how the coral and gold colored earrings looked. “See? they’d look really nice with your hair. Or these.” He held up another pair, ones that seemed to swirl with fire while the aqua colored earrings twirled with cool green and blue hues. The fire agate earrings were more complex and dotted with shapes of gold and red crystal. She picked up the fire agate earrings and slid them onto her ears. She couldn't remember when she had gotten them pierced, and she only rarely wore earrings anyway. Alia tilted her head slightly, the earrings gracefully glinting in the sunlight. Radovan was right, they did look really nice. She turned to the giant, who stared at her encouragingly. “Which do you like better?” "Fire agate. Definately." She smiled to herself, for once feeling like she fit in to Riverfall, shopping and laughing like any other citizen.

[Radovan]

There was a little bit of mirror on top of the black swath of material, for customers to admire and assess the look of various pieces against their skin or hair. Rad picked this up and held it out to Alia. “I think you’re right. Here! Try them on and have a look.”

He wasn’t intentionally trying to help his brother make a sale. He truly did think the earrings would look nice on the red headed Inarta. He had something of an eye for gem stones himself, working in the mines as he did. And he had always appreciated the artistic endeavor that went into the crafting of pieces, by his mother, and now his brother too. It seemed like such effort was best put to good effect when the right person wore the right piece, and the earrings seemed almost tailor made for Alia. She had a pretty smile and looked like she was enjoying herself, so hopefully this would make up for him bumping into her in the first place.

Radovan was next scrutinizing the necklaces that were on display, trying to see if there was one that matched the earrings well. There wasn’t one set with another fire agate, but perhaps something just in gold would do?

He plucked up a simple braided chain that echoed the design of the dangling bits of the earrings. “What do you think of this one?” he asked, speculatively. Then he had a thought.

“I’m not holding you up, am I?” he asked with some concern. “If you need to go, that’s fine, of course. You could always drop by some other time. My brother is here frequently.”