The place was Sulanet, the time was just after the hour where the meal of lunch was taken, and the person was the young boy named Remus. When you threw it all together you got a child eager to get home and see his older brother and hear all of the tales of the high seas. While it was rather common to see this sort of thing in the port, it would be rather odd for outsiders to stumble upon this particular site for several reasons. First of these would be the vivid, almost unnatural red of the boy's hair. The second would probably be the fact that to contrast the vivid red was a set of green eyes so bright and like emeralds that one would think they were artificial. Third was the speed and seeming carelessness the boy used to weave through the stalls of fish and other foods as he passed by a stand that was unlike the others. This stand was draped in silks with patterns that only could have been created in the city of Typav, a type of fabric rarely seen as far away as Sulanet and thus normally kept in permanent stores with large guard beasts and such. With so many fabrics draped around the place it seemed more like a tent than a stand, as the table upon which the wares were laid was farther back, leaving room for the interested people to actually come under the wooden awning hidden beneath violets and blues. Yet, more than anything, it was the wares themselves that caused all who passed by the stand to stop and gawk in awe. The owner, a silver haired male with golden eyes and a large scar upon his forehead seemed to be insulted that the youth had run by so recklessly without even a back glance at the artifacts he had laid out. Remus paused in his run just a few meters from the odd stand and tilted his head just the slightest to the side. Carefully he backed up, not even turning around for all boys enjoy walking backwards once and again, so that he stood before the stand. Quickly the youth noted the faintest scent of some sort of perfume lingering around the place, and suddenly found he could not resist the urge to look at this place that he'd never before noted in the market. No boy in Sulanet worth his fishing line would fail to notice a place such as this in the markets. Surely a boy like Remus, who had passed this very stretch of market that morning on the way to class, would have noticed the new shop had it been there then. He could not help but wonder how it had been put up in less than the six hours he'd been school when it obviously took such work? With caution the boy made his way towards the table of wares, ducking around curtains of fine Typavian cloths that hung in the small stand. For a reason he could not figure out it seemed to take him three minutes to make it to the table, and yet the place could be no larger than ten by ten really. When he came to a rest before the table it was with a gasp at the sight of the things before him. There were golden amulets, cloth chokers woven from silver strains, beaded anklets with oddly shaped charms, even smaller weapons that were extravagantly designed and adorned. Yet it was the most simple of all of the items that drew the eyes of the boy: a white carved charm looking almost like bone strung upon a strong leather cord. "You have fine taste young master," the keeper of the table said, his golden eyes dancing with amusement. "What is this place?" Remus could not help but ask before reaching out carefully to touch the charm, only to have his hand smacked away. "It is what you want it to be," was the response, accompanied by a slight upturn of the pale lips. Finally the boy turned his attention from the items before him and to the man protecting them. The stranger was nothing like anything Remus had ever seen before. He had silver hair that fell like liquid to his waist and shone brilliantly, even with the light being dimmed by the cloth about them. Eyes like molten gold, as impossible in normal humans as the silver hair, betrayed the fact that this male was far from the twenty years he seemed to be. Remus, not exactly short for his age either, had to crane his neck up to see the male's face, indicting that he was upwards of six feet. Mix that with the close fitting robes that were probably more likely to be called sheathes than robes. Top this all off with the scar upon his forehead and the fact that he wore a silver and sapphire chain that looked much like a gold and ruby one upon the table and one found Remus wondering where exactly this male came from. Luck would have it though that while Remus didn't pay much attention to things learned in school, he did pay very close attention to all of the things his brother Romus had told him over the years. One of the stories his brother had spoken of was a race that looked much like humans, with the same general shape, but with hair like silver, eyes like gold, and spiral horns of the most beautiful precious stones and metals. While Remus wasn't very book smart, he did have the common sense required to know that the scar on the forehead of the man could easily be from such a horn being cut off. "You're Unican aren't you?" the boy asked of the strange male. A smile graced the regal features of the newcomer to Sulanet. "You've heard of Unicans? You are a very smart little boy." "Naw," the youth responded. To try and handle his own nerves he willed his hair silver and his eyes gold, hoping it would create as cool of a look on himself as it did on the Unican. "My brother's a sailor and he tells me stuff like that." "He tells you well child. I am a Unican. You may call me Eeil..." Remus smiled, "Eee-ill? That is a weird name. Mine's Remus." "Remus is odd where I come from," Eeil responded with a light chuckle. "Where you come from, is that were you got these things?" The Unican shook his head slowly. "No, much of it comes from Luema Ubeth or the elven capital. The work of elves and dwarves you know. The gem work is all done by my people though." "What about this?" Remus asked, reaching out for the bone necklace again. Once more Eeil knocked the hand of the boy away, "This is a rather powerful talisman. It is made from the claw of a dragon, which were once said to inhabit the mountain of Vesire. The talisman is covered in runes of power, said to protect their wearer from evil forces and make them stronger..." The boy crossed his arms and shook his head, "Mister Eeil, you're a liar. Everyone knows there is no such thing as dragons. They're just a myth, like the gods." "You know that until the great war many of the races we see now were once thought to be myths." It was the smile upon the lips of the Unican male that seemed to reassure the boy enough to nod in agreement. "Here," the man said, lifting the tough leather cord from the table and carefully placing it over the boy's neck, "have it." "I... I can't. It's yours. And I don't have any money on me..." "Do not worry," the male said. "I believe it wants you to have it. You are the only one to notice that of all of the things upon my table, it is the only one with value beyond gold and silver and gems." Now Remus's hand moved to linger lightly upon the carved claw that he'd yet to be allowed to touch. For some reason he found the weight of the thing, and the feel of it against his fingers to be the most reassuring thing he had ever known. Suddenly he was not only thankful of the gift, but hard pressed to continue finding reasons to return it. It almost felt as if the thing belonged around his neck. "See?" the golden eyed male chuckled, "I would not want to take something from you that you are already so fond of. Now... Don't you have somewhere to be child?" The youth nodded and tucked the cord and claw into his shirt. With this done he returned his hair to the previous shade of red and his eyes to the former emerald. "Will you be here tomorrow too? Maybe my brother can come by and get something for my mom's birthday from here." Eeil smiled softly, "I go where I am meant to be. Who is to say where that will be? Now, run along." Remus nodded and made his way back from the silks to the path that still felt so far away from this quiet little stand. "And tell Romus that his fortunes shall over flow if he takes the offer he has been given." Quickly the boy whirled to look towards the Unican, intending to question the male about knowing his brother and what the words meant... only to find that it was as if the place had never been there in the first place. Slightly unnerved the youth started back up the street, and by the time he passed four more shops all thoughts of the mysterious vendor, his words and his wares were gone, except for the supposed dragon claw around his neck and the faint memory of a message he had to give to his older brother. Part 3 Back to Main Page