"Get back here you rat!" I turned toward the commotion with the rest of the crowd. The shouting and cursing was coming from a portly man wearing an apron. From what I could tell, he had run out from behind his food stand to chase a little boy.

The little boy in question was dressed in rags that could only very loosely be considered clothing. He darted between legs while clutching the food he'd stolen in his shirt. None of the onlookers moved to intercept him – if they made to stop every thief or pickpocket they'd never get anything done.

Though I watched with an impassive look on my face, I was inwardly cheering for the boy. No matter how long I'd been here, I could never get used to the way things were. I knew that hunger and poverty existed in my old life, but I'd only known about it objectively. To see it firsthand was an entirely different story.

Unfortunately, the portly man was a lot faster than he appeared because he quickly overtook the child and soon had a vice-grip on the waif's upper arm.

Sighing in resignation I made my way over. It took me a minute since I had to push through the hoards of people out doing their midday shopping, but I eventually got through. By the time I reached the two, the man was shaking the child back and forth and the food was spilled over the ground.

"Pardon me," I interrupted the man's tirade, "Could you release the child?"

The man scowled at me. "This brat just stole from me," he spat. "I won't be letting go until he either pays me or compensates me in some way."

I fought the urge to roll my eyes. "How much?"

Both the man and the boy snapped their heads towards me in confusion. "What?"

"How much do I owe you? For the food he stole?" I was speaking slowly and clearly, like the man was an imbecile.

He bristled visibly at my not so subtle insult. The kid actually snickered but was forced to shut up when the man shook him roughly. The man then opened his mouth to no doubt say something asinine when I cut in to save some time.

"Look, you said you'd let him go when you got your money. I'll pay you for whatever he stole so you can get back to your unmanned food stall before the rest of your goods are stolen."

At this the man paled a bit and jerked his eyes towards his abandoned business. Clearly, he hadn't thought of that when he went tearing after the boy. Definitely an imbecile, I thought in exasperation.

"Twenty-two," he muttered quickly.

I smiled brightly and pulled the money from the pouch at my hip. As soon as I'd forked it over the man rushed back over to his food stall, grumbling obscenities under his breath.

Apart from a few curious glances the crowds continued to ignore us while the boy scrambled to pick up the food from the ground. The kid gathered up all he could salvage before remembering my presence. "Uh…" he coughed to clear his throat. "Thanks, I guess." He peeked up at me through his dirty bangs.

Though he hid it remarkably for someone so young, I could tell the poor boy was afraid. I wasn't sure if he thought I'd take his food or if I'd punish him in some way, but whatever the case – he looked ready to bolt at a moment's notice.

"Hey kid," I said as I knelt down to his level. Ignoring his flinch when I touched his shoulder I pushed on, "Since I helped you out with that man, would you mind doing me a favor?"

"A-A favor?" Aw! He's so cute! I had to fight the urge to scoop the little guy up, but I refrained. No doubt it would only terrify him all the more.

"Yeah," I agreed. "A favor. It's a pretty easy one too."

He frowned as if deep in thought and I patiently waited for him to make a decision. Finally, he answered, "Um, maybe I could. What do I have to do?"

I gave the boy a cheery smile. "Well, I'm new here and I don't know where to get a good meal. I was going to go to that food stall, but the man who owns it is very clearly a jerk." The kid snorted and I smiled wider. "After that I'd ask you to show me to the nearest inn, but only if you have time."

The child flipped his dingy hair off of his forehead and stared at me in wonder with his oddly colored eyes. "That's so easy! I can do that!" He looked so ridiculously proud that I had to turn my head to hide my smile. "Follow me lady!"

Still holding the food he'd salvaged from the ground in his baggy shirt with one hand, the child used his free hand to pull me along by my loose tunic. He babbled a bit about how he'd take me to the best place ever and how he always heard people saying it was great and I laughed lightly at his enthusiasm.

By the time he finally stopped we were in front of a quaint little restaurant quite a ways away from where I'd first started. "This place serves lots of traditional food and stuff," the kid looked down awkwardly, "I'll just wait out here 'till you finish so that I can take you to the inn."

I frowned. "Actually, would you mind eating with me? I've been traveling for a while and I'm pretty lonely."

The kid looked at me incredulously. "Really?!" I nodded in encouragement but he frowned again. "But I don't have any money or anything…"

I waved him off. "No problem, it's my treat since you're helping me out."

"Okay!" Geez, this kid was really trusting. Though I guess my appearance didn't really scream 'stranger danger' or anything. Still, I could've been a kidnapper or something. Whatever, I thought, it's not like I've got any bad intentions.

Shaking myself a bit to focus I turned to enter the restaurant but paused when I saw he wasn't following. "Uh, I don't have anywhere to put my food," he pointed out.

"Oh! Sorry!" I pulled my pack off and dug around for my spare cloth. "Here, you can wrap it up in this." I would've just offered to buy him some more but I didn't know how he'd react. For all I knew, he could be touchy about wasting food, seeing as he had to steal it in the first place.

He did as I asked and soon we were both sitting down at one of the tables as a waitress brought us tea and water. We got a few weird stares for the kid's dirty and disheveled state, not to mention his lack of shoes, but he didn't seem to notice so I ignored them as well.

The restaurant was a bit cramped, but much larger than any of the other businesses situated in such a busy area. While it had been chilly outside, the restaurant was pleasantly warm and filled with the smells of different dishes. That, along with the quite bustle of the workers and the low hum of conversation, made for a pleasant atmosphere.

"Woah," the kid breathed in a loud whisper (little kids never seem to understand that whispering is meant to be quiet), "I've never been in here before. It smells so good!"

"It does, doesn't it?" He nodded vigorously and I laughed at his enthusiasm. "Why don't you tell me about yourself while we wait to order our food?"

That was all the encouragement he needed and soon the kid was babbling on about how great he was at pick pocketing. I smiled indulgently and ordered our meals, not bothering to ask the kid what he wanted; I doubted he could read anyway.

"Hey lady?" The little boy stared up at me with his big peculiar eyes.

"Yes?"

"Why do you talk so funny?" He was frowning and had drawn his pale eyebrows together in confusion.

I laughed. "It's because I'm from somewhere really far away. I came to this land about four years ago, but I only knew my homeland's language back then."

The little guy stared at me oddly. I wasn't surprised; the people here didn't know there was such a thing as another language - everyone spoke in the same tongue.

"You mean like animals? Because they can communicate with each other but regular people don't understand them." I smiled at his answer.

"Exactly like that! The people in my land all spoke like me, but the people in this land all speak like you. It took me a very long time to learn