I Am She: Chapter 2
By Global Nomad
(Disclaimer: I own nothing, except Thel, you got that? Good.)
I hate her hate her hate her! What does Shalafi see in her? Yes she's beautiful but that should not account for everything. And these past two years he has noticed me only to tell me to get back to work.
And to torture me like this! I stand outside the door to her shop feeling the now crumpled up letter in my pocket. I open the door and walk in. as usual it smells of herbs and magic. It's a nice smell except there's another very distinct smell there. It's Jenna standing there looking all pretty.
"Good day Thelanis. You are here to pick up the ingredients Dalamar asked for?" she was wiping her hands on a cloth as she picked up a box on a shelf and put it on the counter.
"Yes I am, and he also asked that I give you this." I took out the letter and nearly threw it at her. The opened it daintily and read it silently to herself, I didn't even want to imagine what slander he had written her this time. She grins almost wickedly as she reads it. Then she folds it back up and the hands me the box of goods.
"Thank you for bringing the note Thelanis, and tell Dalamar he is getting behind on his bills." She giggles; gosh I hate it when she does that.
"Well you'll probably be seeing him before I do so why don't you tell him yourself?" I retorted, knowing where she would be tonight.
"You're right I could, or I could let you have some more responsibility. I know that he doesn't give you enough." Well she was right about that.
"Of course. Well I'll be off then." I said tucking the box under my arm and heading out. She said good bye but I didn't say bye back. I walked out and down the street I went down for a while then turned down another side road. On the left I saw the apothecary's. I stepped inside and was greeted by an elderly man.
"Ah the young mage. Here for your herbs?"
"Yes, are they ready?" I stepped up to the counter and looked around at all the herbs and medicines. The old man went into the back as I browsed through his wares. I found a very nice looking syrup I might be able to use. I know I could've gotten all of these same things in better quality and quantity at Jenna's but like I wanted to shop there?
"Here you are M'Lady." he said holding out the bag of herbs. I took the bag then asked what the syrups were for.
"Oh those? Well they're for a cough and sore throat. You see the syrup puts a nice coating on the inside of the throat which numbs it and also keeps it from irritation, especially in this cold weather." It sounded very nice indeed.
"I'll take two bottles." I said eagerly thinking of how nice it would feel to have a coating on my throat when I had a coughing fit.
"Of course. That will be five pieces please." I paid him and took my items then left the shop. I decided that rather than go back to Shalafi just yet I'd walk around a bit and see what there was. There was a great market in the square and perhaps there would be something of interest to me there.
There were the usual food vendors with their delicious smelling bread but I could get those things in the tower that I resided in with Shalafi. And then there were the small children running underfoot selling little flowers they had probably picked up on there way to the town from their homes.
And of course what would a town be without thieves? I watched as two young boys of about twelve struck gold on a particularly rich merchant who was busy trying to talk a young lady into buying his wares. Then they ran gleefully away with out the merchant ever finding out. He would probably find out when he counted his money at the end of the day.
I bumped into someone I was so busy watching the two boys. It was a white robe. He was taller than me with medium brown hair.
"I'm so sorry!" he cried. Then I realized that when I had bumped him my bag of herbs had fallen and some had spilled out onto the ground. I bent down to pick up the bag. He bent down with me and tried to gather up the herbs into his hands.
"It's all right." I said. Not too much had fallen out so it would be fine.
"No I'm really sorry. Here let me get you more, where can I find these tell me so I can buy you some to make up for this." He looked up at me and I looked into his deep brown eyes.
"It was my own fault, and besides not that much spilled." I tied the bag shut and put it into one of my larger pockets. Just then a shadow fell over me. I looked up and found myself looking at probably the biggest human I'd ever seen.
"What happened here?" he asked. I was about to say nothing but then the young man spoke.
"Oh, father. I accidentally bumped into this young lady and I spilled some of her herbs. He held the handful he had gathered up from the ground up and then poured them into the giant's large hand. He studied them then sniffed them. Then he looked at me and seemed to be examining me carefully.
"For a cough?" he asked.
"Yes, now please let me not bother you anymore. I've probably already kept you from your business." I was about to turn but he asked me another question.
"Perhaps you could help us with our business; we are looking for Dalamar the black. Do you know where we could find him?"
"Master Dalamar? And what is your business with him?" I asked warily wondering why they would be in search of my Shalafi.
"My brother wished to come and visit him. Now do you know where he is?"
"Yes, I do. First what is your name?"
"Caramon Majere, he and I have met on several occasions in the past." He nodded his head just as two more young men came up beside him. They both eyed me but they had smiles on their faces.
"Majere?" I stumbled across the name. Surely it couldn't be! Yes I would take them to Shalafi and hopefully I could ask this man about the name.
"Yes, that is my name." I could see I was frustrating him so I immediately answered.
"Of course I know where he is, he is my Shalafi." I was quickly. The white robe looked a bit shocked as did his father but the other two were still smiling at me.
"Could you take us to him then?"
"Yes I can, should we go now?" I was ready if they wanted to go now.
"Not just yet, I have to fetch my brother from the inn. Can we meet you back here in an hour?"
"Yes I will be here." The man gave a quick nod and then turned. The other two behind him followed. The white robe, I wish I knew his name, smiled at me before turning and following the other three.
Since I had another hour I decided to go stop in a weaponry nearby and browse while I waited. I knew the basic arts of sword fighting and shooting arrows but I had never really had a chance to build on it very much. I had highly considered finding a tutor sometime. But then I didn't have much time these days with Shalafi giving my orders left and right.
There was a fine selection of swords in the shop that I looked over carefully. The shopkeeper noticed me and was, I'm sure, going to come and try and convince me of his wares. But then he noticed my robes and held back for a little longer.
After I had looked through nearly all the swords he spoke, from the other side of the room though.
"Are you looking for something in particular, Milady?"
"Not really. I was just looking around. Tell me something, what is the difference between these two? They look very similar yet are priced completely differently?" well seeing his chance at selling something he must've lost some of his reluctance.
"Well you see it is said that the dragon highlords used this particular type of sword and they are impeccably better than this type because of the way they are made." He went on for some time explaining how all the swords were made and how much better the more expensive ones were. Before I knew it the hour was up.
"I'll come again I think to look around some more." I said as I left.
I went back out to where I was to meet the travelers, or I'm assuming they were at least. I found that the tall man was already there with his son, the white robe, those two others, and another man, a black robe, who had his face covered by a hood.
"I see you did come back after all." I said.
"Yes, we did say we were coming didn't we?" answer Caramon Majere. The name still tugs at the back of my mind.
"Yes you did but then how would I know that you were coming back? After all I still do not know your relationship with my Shalafi." The mage, I'm assuming he is one of my rank, pulled his head up slightly.
"Dalamar is your Shalafi then?" he asked in a rough voice.
"Yes he is. And who might you be sir?"
"I was his Shalafi. That was our relationship." Shalafi's Shalafi? That sounded odd. But then Dalamar had never told me of his Shalafi, except to tell me that I was getting a considerably easy load compared to what he received for his Shalafi. Oh now I'm mixing myself up with this!
"Of course. Shall we go then?" I ask.
"Yes let's." he says.
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A/N: Well there it is, the second chapter! And thanks to my TWO reviewers I appreciate it. And if anyone reading this notices a problem please tell me! Um I wasn't sure on Dalamar's title, I thought it was the black but I could be wrong because it has been a while since I read it. And about Raistalin, who is in the next chapter, I haven't finished reading about after he came back from the abyss so I'm probably going to make some mistakes on that as well. Like does he regain his powers and does he continue to wear his robes? Like I said I haven't gotten my hands on those books yet. But if you know spill because I need to know too.
