Ed was walking around a market in the capital city of Xing. It was busy, a cacophony of different sounds, smells and bright colours. The overall effect was one of overwhelming life.
He picked up a pink-red fruit from a nearby stall and passed over a few coins after haggling to get the initial price down from the 'bleed-those-stupid-tourists-dry' level to the more acceptable 'over-priced' range. He smiled and walked away from the grumpy owner of the stand before lifting the fruit to his nose and breathing in its sweet scent and taking a large bite. It was perfect; hovering exactly on the edge of sweet and sour to produce a perfectly tart flavour that was both refreshing and delicious, something badly needed in the sticky humidity of the Xingese air.
As he turned a corner, he heard the measured and unhurried steps that belonged to the Emperor's guard. Doubtlessly, they were in this market in order to find him after he had slipped away from that party. He smirked; Ling really should have known better than to send them after him, not to mention that his friend surely knew that the ex-alchemist would have found the reception far too tedious to attend for longer than five minutes.
As they grew closer to the corner, Ed looked up the narrow alleyway created by the brightly coloured stalls and cursed internally; this was a dead end, there was no escape to be seen. He heard their footsteps, easily picked out from the hustle and bustle of the crowds going in every direction buying everything from furniture to fruit, coming closer and, making a last-second decision, ducked into the nearest tent, his hair whisking through the doorway just as they turned the corner. He turned, startled, as he heard the sound caused by the strings of beads as they clattered against one another when an ageless-looking woman floated through into the small ante-room of her tent.
"Do you seek to learn your future, young man?" she asked, speaking with an accent that seemed to come from everywhere but nowhere at the same time. Her dark hair fell into equally dark eyes that shone with untold mysteries.
"No. No, thanks. I don't believe in that stuff. Thanks for offering."
"But it's free to young men with such lovely gold eyes," she pressed, looking up at him earnestly.
Ed raised his hand to his mouth, debating internally as to whether to accept. Eventually, he darted a glance over to the crimson flap that separated the interior of the tent from the street that was currently the only barrier preventing him from dying of boredom at the reception being held by Ling, and nodded. "Okay, fine. I'll listen to your 'prediction' of the future. Just don't expect me to believe or pay for it."
She smiled triumphantly and led him through into the main room of the tent, sitting him down and lighting several sticks of incense and two candles. All in all, it created a heavy atmosphere that made Ed feel dizzy and slightly lightheaded.
She sat down in the chair opposite him and reached out for his left hand across the table. She cradled it in her own, gently tracing the lines of his palm with her fingertips, nails occasionally scraping his skin lightly. After what seemed like half an hour of this, but was most likely only a few minutes, she spoke up.
"You are a traveller and a scholar. You have an unquenchable thirst for knowledge and are prepared to do almost anything to attain it," she let his hand rest on the table and picked up his right. "You have faced much hardship and –"
"Yeah, yeah, tell me something I don't know." He said, irritated at her insight.
"But to see the future, one must have a firm knowledge of the past. Think back to the moment that set you on your path, that made you become who you are now. Think strongly of that day and let the memory fill your mind."
His senses befuddled by the strong incense and the heat of the tent, he did as she ordered him and thought back to that one decision that had set him on his path that had led him to where and who he was now.
There is more than one of the moments; I couldn't decide which was the most important decision he made so each of the following chapters has the decision as the title and you can either read all of them, or just the one(s) that interest(s) you.
Let me know what you think in your review :)