Chapter Three: Cabbages
Ceres had been on the road for hours and she was already bored out of her mind. She would fall asleep on the armisho if it wasn't bouncing so much. Leslie was sleeping on Ceres' head; her ears flopped over Ceres' face. Suddenly her armisho started to run faster, mostly because she hadn't been paying attention.
"Ceres! Grab the reins!" her father called out to her. She quickly grabbed the reins, giving them a pull. The armisho skidded to a stop, and let out a below. Its throat wiggled as it did.
Ceres gave the armisho a pat on its side. "Don't worry girl, it'll be okay." She cooed. She wanted to calm it down.
"Ceres, you need to pay more attention to the road. Abagail here could run off at any time." He said, indicating to the armisho she was riding.
"Sorry, Papa." She said meekly. She then gave the reins a gentle whip to make Abagail start walking again.
"We're coming up on the next village. We're going to stay at the inn here." He said, pointing towards a small village. It was painted with green roofs. It looked nice. "We'll be in Omashu tomorrow."
Ceres made a faint squeal. She was excited to get to Omashu. She knew it was one of the best cities in the Earth Kingdom. She whipped the reins and Abagail started to trot off to the village. She beat Papa there, and was impatient. Finally he came up to it and they started to walk through the village gates together.
The wagon creaked on the dirt road; it made the cabbages roll around. He led her to a building that looked large and well kept. He jumped off of his armisho and started to unload the cabbages. Leslie jumped off of Ceres' head and went to run around the village. Ceres waited for Papa to give her any instructions.
He had half the cabbages in his arms. "Ceres; take the rest of them and follow me." he instructed. Ceres gathered the rest of the cabbages and followed him to the market. There was a man with another wagon, only it was much larger and filled with cabbages. Papa stopped next to him.
"Good afternoon; Horu." He said to the man. The man turned around and smiled at the amount of cabbages they had.
"Put them in the cart, Uba." instructed Horu. Papa did that, and Ceres did as well. "Ten gold pieces, just as we agreed." He gave Papa the money.
"Thank you, Horu." He said, taking the money and putting it on a string. He then put the string into his bag. He led Ceres away from the man. She was astounded by the amount of cabbages he had in his cart.
"Let's go check into the inn." Papa said. Ceres nodded and trailed along beside him.
"Can I go put Abagail away?" she asked him.
"Alright Ceres. Make sure not to stay outside for too long." He said, going into the inn.
Ceres went to Abagail and started to take her reins off. She then brought her to the stables that were behind the inn. She put her into a stable and gave her some hay. "I'll see you tomorrow Abagail. To Omashu!" she said with a smile on her face. Abagail bellowed again, joining in the happiness. "That's the spirit Abagail." Ceres said cheerfully. She then went to explore the village, and find Leslie.
"Leslie! Where are you Leslie?" she called out into the village, looking around. Leslie was on the roof of a house, grooming herself. Ceres looked up at the roof. "Leslie, come down please!" she asked her bonbo. Leslie looked up and strutted down. She jumped into Ceres' waiting arms and was carried off to the inn.
"We're going to be at Omashu tomorrow, Leslie. I'll get you some fish if you want. I hear they have lots of it." Ceres said to Leslie. Leslie made a happy squeak and rolled onto her back in Ceres' arms. Ceres gave her a little tickle as they walked into the inn. She saw her father sitting by the fire in a nice comfortable chair. She sat down beside him.
"Hi, Papa." She said cheerfully. "I'm going up to the room, okay? What number is it?"
"Fifteen. Goodnight." He said, giving her a kiss on her head.
She smiled and walked up the stairs, Leslie trailing behind her. She walked through the hall, looking for fifteen. When she finally found it, it was at the very end of the hall. She opened the door and walked in. It was well furnished with a few chairs and two beds. It had a table with a vase with flowers in it. She smiled to see that there was dinner there waiting.
She sat down to eat it, handing some down for Leslie to eat. She giggled as Leslie licked her hand clean. It tickled. She then started to eat some more. She was starving from the trip. They'd never had lunch because there was nowhere to stop for food. Each bite was delicious.
She stood up and walked to the beds. She had to choose wisely which one she wanted. She flopped down on both of them and decided that the one closest to the window was more comfortable. She undressed and slipped into bed, pulling the covers close to her. Leslie jumped onto the bed and curled up next to Ceres' head and started to sleep.
Third chapter's done. Tomorrow is Omashu! Yay for Omashu! And I don't know for sure if the Cabbage Man's name is Horu. I'm just going with it.