The Merchant of Bestine

[Cassia Edric]

It was Cassia's turn to the man the Edric Family produce stall at the open air marketplace near the city center. She looked over the array of fresh fruit and vegetables that she and her siblings had set up early that morning, it had been a successful harvest season so far. She let out a rather dramatic sigh and let her arms fall limp at her sides, her day at the stall was always the most boring day of the week.

A teenage boy sauntered over to the stall and began to look through the produce rather roughly, letting fruit fall off the display and onto the ground. Cass stepped out from behind her small, rickety table and tapped the boy on the shoulder.

"Hey!" She shouted. "Bruise the fruit and you buy it, pal. Pay up for the ones you just man-handled." Cassia said as she stared him down.

"Why should I?" He countered.

"Look at all the pears knocked on the ground." She bent down and picked up a pear. "It's dirty. No one will buy this now, and it's your fault." Her eyes narrowed as she spoke.

The boy merely smirked at her and started to walk away. Cass wasn't about to let this go, it wasn't a good day to be on her bad side. Before she even realized what she was doing, her arm was moving in a graceful, but powerful arc and she launched the pear straight at the back of the boy's head. She watched as it connected with its target, and a smirk spread across her face. Sure, it was a waste of a pear... but well worth it.

When he looked back at her she already had another pear in hand, and a slightly unsettling look in her eyes that said 'don't mess with me'.

"Keep walking!" She hollered.

The boy did just that. With a very satisfied smile she started to pick up the remaining pears, dusting them off with her sleeve before putting them back on display. Once her stall had been mostly restored to its former glorly, the shaky table gave way, spilling the contents of the booth back onto the ground. Cass stood silently and then hung her head, some days you just couldn't win.

 

[Nyx]

Karasu smirked as she ducked behind a stall, avoiding the searching guards.
She and her brother were there oon business, but she had managed to give their entourage the slip, and was now free to do as she pleased.
She strolled through the market place, looking for trouble to get into; and she found some.

She witnessed some snotnosed punk knock over a girl's stall, and walked over, approaching the girl.
"Hey," she greeted. "Need me to teach that punk a lesson?" She wasn't afraid of a fight, and she was pretty sure she could take that jerk.

[member="Cassia Edric"]
[member="Ethan Matumaini"]

 

[Ethan Matumaini]

"Karasu!" Ethan called to his sister, though not sounding angry. He used to sneak away a lot too, or at least before he had been given responsibilities, since then it had become a lot rarer, and he couldn't blame her. If she was anything like he was, she was probably curious. He walked over to his sister and grabbed her by the arm. "Please just tell me if you're going to go out. I wont tell anyone else, I just want to know you're safe." A lot of the things he said to Karasu were just things Ether said to Ethan all the time.

Ethan turned to Cassia, still holding his sister's arm gently. "I'm sorry if she's been bothering you and I'll pay for anything she's damaged." he said, assuming she would have broken or damaged something, which was more often than not, true.

[member="Karasu Matumaini"] [member="Cassia Edric"]

 

[Cassia Edric]

Cass turned as she was greeted by a girl with dark hair, one that looked to be around her age. She smirked as the girl offered her services. Cassia worked quickly, setting the produce back into their wooden crates, though, not as carefully as before. It was near quitting time, she would need to clean up and load the hover cart again anyway.

“I can fight my own battles.” She answered with a nod. “… but it might be fun to team up.” A mischievous glimmer sparked in her eyes.

“I’m Cassia.” She said, nodding slightly to the dark haired girl. She listened; expecting to hear an introduction, but a boy called out the name ‘Karasu’ and grabbed the other girl by the arm. Cassia blinked a few times when she heard the way he spoke to Karasu, it seemed he was distressed and concerned about her. Perhaps he was just overprotective.

“She hasn’t damaged anything…yet.” Cass answered the boy, while winking at Karasu. “Is she a criminal or something?” she asked him, perking her brows and pointing to Karasu’s arm that was still locked in his grasp.

[member="Ethan Matumaini"] [member="Karasu Matumaini"]

 

[Nyx]

Karasu gave a small squeal of surprise as she felt her brother's hand grab her arm; then she frowned. Great. She got caught.
She muttered an halfhearted apology as he said he would pay for any damages, which somewhat offended her.
The princess admitted it was something she would do, but she hadn't this time!

Then Cassia made the criminal comment, and Karasu huffed.
"If you ask my family, then yes." She muttered. Then she turned to her brother. "Now as you can plainly see, I have done nothing wrong. I was simply having a nice conversation with Cassia here."
She nodded at the hand on her arm. "Now would you mind getting your paws off me?"

[member="Cassia Edric"]
[member="Ethan Matumaini"]

 

[Ethan Matumaini]

"She might be for all I know, who knows what she gets up to." Ethan withdrew his hand from her arm and gave his sister an apologetic smile, hopefully she understood why he was doing this. They had to be all too careful since their eldest brother had been killed, it was such an unpredicted attack that they could never be certain any more. "Can't be too sure though, can I?" he said, half serious.

"This is Karasu, my sister." he said for clarification, though that could probably have already been gathered by now. Ethan looked down at the pears on the floor as if noticing them for the first time. "I'll pay for the damage, no matter who caused it." he said with a smile towards Cassia.

[member="Cassia Edric"] [member="Karasu Matumaini"]

 

[Cassia Edric]

If things like this happened around the market more often, Cassia would agree to take more shifts at the stall. So it seemed that Kasaru certainly felt that her family viewed her like a criminal, a sentiment that was then confirmed by the boy. Cass nodded when he introduced Kasaru as his sister, she could identify with sibling bickering, as she had several siblings herself.

“Karasu's right, we were just talking. Actually, she was offering to help me out” she nodded. "I'm Cassia, and you are?" She perked her brows at the Karasu's brother.

Her eyes grew wide as the boy offered to pay for the damage done, even though his sister had not been the cause.

“Well, this box of pears…” she knelt down, picking up the remaining pears and tossing them in. “25 credits.”

For a moment she considered naming a price for the table, but it had already been on its last legs, quite literally. Cass was a farmer and a merchant, she liked to get paid, but she wasn’t a hustler by any means. She collapsed the table completely and set it on top of her hover cart, then started stacking the produce boxes one by one.

“So, I haven’t seen you two ‘round here much.” Cassia eyed the pair of them. “You live around here?”

[member="Ethan Matumaini"] [member="Karasu Matumaini"]

 

[Ethan Matumaini]

Ethan raised an eyebrow at Karasu, surprised. Karasu offering help? What a day it was. He enjoyed teasing his sister, even if there was nothing to tease her about. They had their differences the most out of all their siblings. Of course he wouldn't be teasing her if he was aware of her resentment.

"I'm Ethan. Ethan Matumaini." he said with a polite decline of the head. It wasn't often he had to introduce himself to new people.

"I'll give you fifty to cover the damage." he said, reaching into his pocket and rummaging around for a moment before producing a handful of credits and holding them out towards Cassia. The Prince gave credits away like they were nothing, since he had never known anything else and had never experienced being poor.

"Yeah, but we're not really allowed out much. Except it's easier for her to sneak out." said Ethan, using his thumb to indicate Karasu.

[member="Karasu Matumaini"] [member="Cassia Edric"]

 

[Nyx]

Karasu scoffed.
"Sometimes it feels like you hired blind guards." She muttered as she rubbed her arm where Ethan had grabbed her. The teenager did sneak out, and often; and she was usually dragged back to the palace a few hours later.
She wasn't surprised by her brother's generous offer. He was always doing stuff like that, giving to those who needed it. It was another thing she was jealous of him for.

"Anyway, you still want me to teach that punk a lesson?" She asked Cassia, cracking her knuckles. Even with her brother there, she was willing and able to bloody that jerk's nose.

[member="Ethan Matumaini"]
[member="Cassia Edric"]

 

[Cassia Edric]

Cass perked her brows when he offered more credits, and she accepted then when he held them out to her. She certainly wasn’t going to argue about getting more than she asked for. She continued to load her cart as she listened to Ethan explain that he and his sister were not allowed out often. It left her wondering why they needed to sneak out. Her curiosity peaked when Karasu mentioned guards… that must certainly mean that these two were important.

Her eyes shifted towards the palace and then back to Ethan and Karasu.

“Oh, you mean you live there?” She asked. “In the palace?”

It would help explain the abundance of credits that Ethan was willing to hand over to her. She smirked when Karasu changed the subject, bringing the conversation back to where it had begun.

“I don’t think he’s worth our time.” Cass said. “But maybe we can still hang out? I just need to drop this back at the farm… it’s not far from here.”

[member="Karasu Matumaini"] [member="Ethan Matumaini"]

 

[Ethan Matumaini]

Ethan shot a look at his sister. "I don't choose the guards." he said. He didn't sneak out any more, he couldn't sneak out any more. Instead he followed strict guidelines of when and where he must be.

"Karasu, no." he said sternly, glaring at her in warning.

"Yes. I am the first heir to the throne." he said proudly, glancing back at Karasu.

Ethan stood close to Karasu, too close for comfort. "I don't know..." he then turned and whispered to Karasu. "Are you sure it's safe to do this?" he asked.

[member="Cassia Edric"] [member="Karasu Matumaini"]

 

[Nyx]

Karasu was dissapointed when both Cassia and Ethan shot down her proposal, but she was slightly more satisfied when Cassia offered to hang out more.
Then when Ethan stepped just a bit too close into her personal space and whispered his question, she grimaced and stepped away a little before whispering back: "Of course! She's just a farm girl, what's the worst that could happen?"
Karasu turned to Cassia, a smirk on her face. "We would love to! Do you need help carrying this all back?"
The princess wanted to help in some way, even if she couldn't punch the punk who had caused the damage.

[member="Ethan Matumaini"]
[member="Cassia Edric"]

 

[Ethan Matumaini]

"You can't trust anyone..." he muttered, though it was hypocritical as he could easily put his trust into someone without a second thought if he pleased, though in time he had been persuaded to be more cautious. "and you can't solve everything with violence. If you ever want to be Queen, you'll have to learn that violence costs more than the price of victory." he said, though had he known the resentment she felt towards him, he wouldn't have said anything.

Ethan glanced over his shoulder then back at Karasu. "We really should get going, there's business at home." he said, though he knew the last thing his sister would do was obey him.

[member="Karasu Matumaini"] [member="Cassia Edric"]

 

[Cassia Edric]

Cassia set the last box on the hover cart and smiled as Karasu said that they would hang out with her. However, her eyes shifted to Ethan as he spoke, it seemed that his cautious side was coming out again.

“I can get this back by myself, it’s ok. But you’re welcome to visit our farm, if you want.” She shrugged.

She figured that Ethan would probably end up leading Karasu back to their secluded palace life, but part of her hoped that they would come along. Cass didn’t have a great many friends around her age, other than her brothers and sisters. She started to push the cart away and looked back at the two young royals.

“Maybe I’ll see you two around?” She asked, perking her brows and waiting to see how they would proceed.

[member="Ethan Matumaini"] [member="Karasu Matumaini"]

 

[Ethan Matumaini]

Ethan hesitated, he didn't particularly want to go back home. Especially not since he hadn't yet been found. He pondered about it for a moment before deciding against returning, at least for the meantime.

"Wait! I'll come. There's no point in me going back, there's nothing for me to do there." he said as he made his way over to Cassia and sighed. He wasn't usually one for defiance but this once he just felt as though he had to.

[member="Cassia Edric"] [member="Esther Matumaini"]

 

[Elion Menaio]

[member="Ethan Matumaini"]'s twin Esther stood in an alleyway watching proudly as her brother handled the conflict smoothly and easily, thinking quietly. Look at him, Mom. He's everything you and Dad want him to be. Esther decided not to intervene as she usually would, but instead decided to watch her older brother and younger sister help the poor young lady.

[member="Cassia Edric"]