As this story progresses it is told from the point of view from the people they meet. I thought it was a sweet, simple way to look at them and I am excited to continue on.
Evangeline
It was late afternoon and Evangeline sat behind the dusty register of her shop. Her small trinket store lay in the middle of the hustle and bustle that was Primer City. It had been some years now since the colonizers had landed on their planet. She thought back to many years ago when Cortar was a much more simple and tranquil planet, before the colonizers had started to industrialize. Now her shop had scarce visitors due to the city now being one of industry and business. The people of Primer City did not have time for such simplicities. Smaller shops like hers had hardly any chance of survival left in the presently fast-moving life of the people.
Still, Evangeline kept up her shop. She did not do it to make profit; no she continued to dusting and marking the prices because it had always been her family business. She had all she needed in life from the small sanctuary that was her shop and she did not want that to change. But then again, time was taking its toll. The letters on the shop outside were starting to go faint and the paint on the doorframe was starting to peel. Even her fingers had gone rusty with instability due to her constant steady hands and their jewelry making.
Evangeline slowly polished a silver coin with a rag and pushed an old blue hair from out of her face. Two piles lay upon the desktop; one with a pile of nicely polished coins ready for display and a pile of fatigue ones that needed a buffer. Around her shop were shelves of miscellaneous objects. At one wall was a shelf stacked full of mirrors. She smiled at one with gold bordering with words in her native language engraved at the bottom, 'The eyes for those who are shielded from sight.'
That mirror was exceptionally unique. Those with blind eyes could look upon it and see the reflection. It was given to her by a foreign trader who had simply come in to pawn it. Although, that was many years ago and he never returned and so the mirror lay on the shelf next to all the others.
In the corner was a rack that looked to be like a metal tree with branches extending all around it. From the branches hung jewelry Evangeline made herself over the many years of shop keeping. Pearls were the most beloved accessory to be hung from piercings underneath the eyes and extend around the faced to the ears; so they sold substantially well compared to her opal earnings or ordinary diamond necklace.
In another corner lay old vases and baskets which were more of a commodity than anything. Across it hung up sashes; specially made custom ones by Evangeline. Sashes, for the most part, told one's status on the planet Cortar and these were the simple peasant worn kind consisting of normal blue and red colors with the occasional green. They were nothing like the extravagant yellow, gold and orange ones worn by the nobles. However, in the recent years people had started to stop wearing the sashes due to the colonization of far off planets. Evangeline wondered were the peoples talk of 'Equal Rights' were going to take them as a society.
She didn't have much time to think on it anymore because right then the door opened and two people had strolled inside. Usually, her customers would filter in and out through the day; not buying anything because her shop consisted of small trinkets and nothing new and industrialized that was being produced lately. All that ever came to her shop now were collectors of sorts or small wide-eyed children dragging their parents along. However, these two were much different and Evangeline could tell they were foreigners. They were obviously not colonizers; otherwise they would have red skin. These two looked sort of yellow to Evangeline's eyes. Both colors were different to the casual blueness of the natives. Blue from heat to foot was normal, the deepest of blue in the eyes and the lightest in the hair. These tourist type people had varying color of hair- blonde whilst the other owned brown- and eyes; she also notices lack of pointy ears when the female tucked her blonde hair behind a round one while she walked in.
The other thing that had obviously given away their alienated ways, were there clothing. Their bodies wore no robes and sashes. Instead the female wore black pants and a red sort of jacket while the male had a brown suit with stripes crawling their way up it. The man opened the door for the female and smiled at Evangeline when he made his way in.
"Hello!" he greeted her nicely and then placed his hands inside his pockets while looking around the shop. "Fine place you have here."
Evangeline knew her shop was anything but fine but grinned all the same, "Feel free to look at whatever you like."
"Thank you." The woman beamed and then began to trace a path around the floor of the old store.
The man joined her on her small journey around while Evangeline put the finished coin in her hand into the clean pile and went to pick up a dirty. Evangeline wondered why travelers had come to Primer City of all places. Primer was a place of business and growing industry and so wasn't fit for entertainment nor luxury. They stood in front of the shelf of mirrors and the woman looped her arm through the man's. Evangeline could not hear what they spoke about but could hear the laughter and giddiness in their voices. In the reflections of the mirror she could see their smiling faces and could see that they were a close intimate pair of people. Usually people of Cortar didn't touch one another unless they were married, and so she wondered how different it was in the planet they belonged to.
"Doctor!" the woman called from an area were some paintings hung, "Come look at these!"
The man called 'Doctor' walked over to the paintings and looked at them. He sighed a breath of content whispering the word, "Beautiful."
But something told Evangeline he wasn't really talking about the paintings because his eyes were instead fixed upon the golden haired woman. There was look of longing in his eyes and she wondered if they were lovers. The thought brought back memories to Evangeline when she used to be young and in love. But her husband died many years ago and they had never had children, so Evangeline never let her thoughts wander there for too long.
The man didn't look like a physician but Evangeline knew that these were creatures of another culture and couldn't judge them on mere appearance. She put down another finished coin and moved onto the next. Just then, the woman unhooked her arm to happily bounce over to the jewelry. The Doctor walked closer to the counter to look at a bookshelf filled with many old tattered books that people had donated or no longer needed. Most of them were handwritten but a select few were used with a printing press and were obviously newer than the others. Evangeline doubted the man could read her native language. But then again, she realized that they spoke her language very well and thought twice on how educated they were to the planet.
The Doctor walked up to the counter with a book he had pleasurably picked out. He handed it to Evangeline and she took it in her hands. The title read, 'Classic Cortarian Folktales'. The spine was ripping and she was glad it finally had someone to take it off the shelves.
"Are any of these stories any good?" the Doctor asked her, raising an eyebrow but happy to make conversation.
"Yes," Evangeline smiled, "'The Castle of Glass' is probably my favorite."
"Oh, I imagine so." He said, in return, as she opened her register. "Now I know which one to read to Rose first."
His eyes flickered to the woman who had now situated herself near the sashes and had grabbed one to wrap it around her neck. Evangeline laughed because the woman, Rose, was wearing the sash wrong.
"Rose," she pondered and then continued, "Like the flower… A lovely name and for a lovely girl."
The Doctor opened his mouth as if to contradict her, but then close it. He looked back towards her and just whispered.
"Yes, she is."
Evangeline was glad he thought she looked nice, because as far as she knew she had no idea the standards of wherever they came from. To her, Rose looked like a lovely girl and her personality certainly seemed to show it.
Rose walked towards them giggling with a blue sash around her neck like a scarf and then placed her hands on her hips and pointed out a foot. "How do I look?"
"Fantastic." The Doctor looked her up and down while Rose laughed at the statement for some reason unknown to Evangeline. "I'd say it's a keeper."
"Alright. You've convinced me." She laughed and then unwrapped it from around her. "I'm keeping it."
She placed in on the counter and Evangeline put it inside a brown paper bag where she had put the Doctor's book. The register rang and the Doctor took out some coins from his pocket to pay for the merchandise. She handed them the bag and the Doctor accepted it gracefully.
"Do you know a good place to eat for lunch?" he asked her on his way to the door.
"There is a good shop down the avenue to the right." Evangeline attempted to point to where it would be located out on the sunny street.
"Thank you." Rose smiled and then the Doctor opened the door.
When the door closed Evangeline watched them for a few moments. The Doctor had the brown bag in one hand and Rose's in his other. She watched them look around for a bit and then cheerily walk down the right of the street.
Evangeline then shifted more comfortably on her stool and picked up a dirty coin with the cloth. She polished it and thought to herself that she had never had such happy customers in a long time. She pushed the same blue strand that had fallen in front of her eyes earlier, back behind a pointed ear and wondered if the colonies were the ones bringing such nice people to her shop. If so, and although they were running her out of business, maybe they weren't so bad after all.
