On the second day of puppy selling, after the slightly odd Kaden left, two people came up. A mother and daughter pair, the latter barely looking seven. They approached, the girl’s eyes drifting obviously to the three remaining puppies. ”Good morning, I’m Isame Coolwater. I hear you’re selling puppies?” She too glanced at the scuffling trio. ”This is my daughter, and my son… uh…” Isame glanced around, lips curling into a frown. A young boy quickly darted from behind some people squealing and waving his arms. He descended on the puppies – causing Spirit to wince – and picked up one, coddling it like a new friend. His sister had joined him, taking another of the little dogs for herself.
”They really, really like puppies…” the Coolwater explained apologetically, but was returned with a smile. ”No problem! They are very cute. So… are you wanting two?” The Frostfawn was trying to be friendly with the woman, though was worrying that her puppies were being badly treated by the children. However, glancing over… nothing bad seemed to be happening. Actually, the puppies were quite happy. That was a relief.
”Yes… how much will that be?”
”Fourteen mizas for the pair”
”Thank you”
Quickly, Spirit explained puppy care to the woman, every once in a while checking over the puppies and children. Each kid had taken their own ‘favorite’. The girl one of the grays… female. Today, all the reds were male, and greys were female, so gender was easy to tell. The boy had taken the opposite color, and was currently having his hair nibbled by the excited creature. The third puppy had fallen asleep between them. Once the money was handed over, the woman led her two children away, each carrying their respective puppies.
Sighing quietly, Spirit picked up the last puppy, only to have it stolen from her arms from behind. ”Hey!” she shouted, spinning on her heel… before seeing a familiar face. “Maroah, what are you doing here?” Currently, her cousin was cuddling the puppy affectionately, rubbing its ears. His currently orange eyes slightly clashed with the grey fur, but they looked like a cute pair.
“I wanted a puppy!” he exclaimed, before sticking his face into the dog’s while making baby sounds. It was true that he wanted a new dog… his own had died barely a year ago, and he’d been recently considering finding a new companion… but Spirit had never thought her own puppies were on the line. “Right. But you still have to pay me. And I’m not going to explain all the puppy care to you… considering you already know it.” She sighed, and stuck her hand out for the coins. It was okay to be rude and blunt to her own cousin, at least. He groaned and began pleading, but was silenced with a blunt stare.
“Fine, fine” he grumbled, forking out the seven mizas and deposited them in the younger Frostfawn’s palm. “She had better be an excellent hunter!” he declared, before dramatically stalking out of the area. That was done… all the puppies, sold. Except for those she was keeping, of course. From one dog, to three, to eleven… now to five. It would still be crazy, but less so than before. She smiled slightly, before heading out herself… back home.
