"Now, Javird, you may have one, not two, and if you don't decide soon, we will go home without either of the little guys," Uopa informed her nephew as they stood on the outer edge of the market square at a makeshift stand where a vendor was selling children's toys and, in particular, wooden dolls.
"He has a good eye," the kind looking merchant warmly noted as he hovered nearby. "Those two are my oldest creations and, therefore, hold a special place in my heart."
"Oh, uh, does that mean they're...?"
"More expensive than the rest?" the man was quick to interject, cutting the Inarta short. "Not at all! Three silver mizas and one of them is going home with the handsome lad."
"Oh. Okay. That's reasonable enough, I guess," Uopa replied as she reached for her satchel and, in turn, the coins found within. "Three mizas," she confirmed as she handed them over, before returning her attention to her indecisive companion. "Now. I've paid the nice man, so let's make a choice and move along. We wouldn't want to keep...uh...what was your name again?"
"Master Tylor," he beamed. "Tinkerer, tailor, former soldier, and...," he added in a barely audible whisper, "spy."
"Oh?"
"Indeed! However, those days are long behind me. Now I'm a simple man with a simpler plan of selling toys to good little girls and boys!"
"I want...this one!" Javird suddenly exclaimed as he thrust a droopy-eared, wide-eyed, monkey-faced doll into the air at the same time he unceremoniously ditched its pudgy companion back into the open chest, which was filled with roughly nine or ten more dolls.
"Very well. That one it is!" Uopa exclaimed in return, attempting to match his level of enthusiasm. "Does he have a name?"
"Kovinus," the elderly man whispered in a tone that was almost...haunting? "Kovinus of Alahea," he elaborated with dark eyes and a sneer on his lips.
Seriously. Did this man just go all creepy on us? the Inarta thought as she took a step back.
"No! His name is Bwab...Bwabbie Toothsnatcher!" Javird cried out as he skipped off with his new friend soaring through the air at the end of his extended arm.
"Good luck," the man remarked as he waved and watched Uopa cautiously walk away. "You're going to need it, dearie," she would fail to hear him say as he brought his hands before him and proceeded to mimic the gestures of a puppeteer. |
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by Uopa on April 9th, 2013, 4:02 am 