In the market, Yamuraiha held tightly to Mari's hand, not wanting a repeat of early that week. Mari was fine with it as long as she wasn't cooped up in some palace. The streets weren't as crowded, being as it was still early in the day, but it was still very lively.
Her mind drifted back to Ata. Feeling the metal of the snake charm he left her, she looked down, tracing the bracelet with her fingers.
She had promised Ata she would come back. Maybe...maybe if she asked Yamuraiha if she could go to that shop against. Or maybe convince her to turn down that road.
She must have been concentrating harder than she thought because Yamuraiha smiled, pulling them both off to the side.
"I feel like you want to tell me something, maybe?" She smiled down at Mari, who realized she was squeezing the older's hand much too tight.
"I...It's just that...the other night...when I...and..."
"You met a boy, didn't you." Mari was surprised by the comment and almost jumped out of her skin.
"I...How did you...?"
"I can see it on your face. You're blushing." Yamu smiled.
"Am not!" Which just made the older laugh more.
Once Mari was thoroughly embarrassed, Yamu decided she'd been through enough and they began to walk again.
"I just wanted to make sure he was okay. See someone get stabbed. Being pretty much thrown into magic like that. I was just thinking it might be a bit much for him to handle at this time, so..."
Yamu nodded in agreement but said nothing else.
"I also...kinda promised him I'd come back and visit him."
"So that's it." Yamu smiled again, feeling Mari squeeze her hand again.
"Do you like him?" Yamu asked after another long silence.
"What?! NO!" Mari yanked her hand away and turned her bright red face towards the taller one, who had now nearly fallen over in a fit of laughter.
Mari soon rolled her eyes. She didn't know if she...liked...him, but she knew that she'd seen something in him, something she cared for. So if that was the question then, yes, she liked him.
The rest of the early morning was like that. The two went to several different shops, gathering the ingredients Yamu needed. She would often notice Mari being jumpy and alert and would embarrass the younger by making comments on how Mari was getting jittery because she was happy to maybe see Ata again.
Mari again denied it, although both knew that was a lie.
Once everything was done, Yamu and Mari took a stroll along the more tranquil back roads of the city. Mari couldn't quite remember the exact way to Ata's shop, but she remembered colors and certain smells, leading Yamu haphazardly but none-the-less.
Mari nearly pulled Yamu off her feet when she saw the shop out of the corner of her eye.
"Careful." Yamu smiled, laughing as the younger barreled towards the shop, stopping just a few feet before, letting the dust rest between her toes as she stood, gazing at the shop.
Yamu could see several soft colored linens flowing from the window and a brightly colored beaded drape that covered the main entrance.
"Is this it?" Yamu asked, trying to shake the silence.
"Yeah."
Silence.
"Well...go inside." Yamu urged.
More silence.
"I...don't wanna."
"You didn't drag me all the way over here just to not go in. Now..go." Yamu gently shoved Mari through the beaded drape, setting off a small jingle from an assortment of bells hanging over the door frame.
The inside of the shop wasn't as bright as the outside. It was shady and quiet.
No one was in the front room, allowing Mari to breathe a sigh of relief. She stepped forward, slowly examining the room of bins filled with vivid clothes. As she browsed, a glint caught her eye and she turned her attention to the long, wide bins near the back of the room.
As she looked closer, she saw multiple rows of gold and silver pieces. Big and small, shiny and dim, long and short pieces of jewelry. Her fingers grazed the pieces and the went up to trace the design of the bracelet she'd gotten from Ata.
She smiled absentmindedly and looked around the shop again.
A soft breeze blew through the store and Mari moved a bit.
She heard a soft clatter from the other room and a grumble.
"...hello?" A woman's voice called from the back. There was a bit of bustling and knocking about.
"Hello." Mari answered, smiling.
"I'm sorry for the wait. Welc...wait..." The woman untangled herself from some stray strands of yarn.
"Welcome." she said, smiling.
She was a tall, tan skinned woman, with long messy brown hair, that was tied back and deep green eyes, like Ata had. Her clothes were as colorful as her store, covered by a dark shawl and she wore large gold earrings that glistened like the bracelets that lined her arms.
"May I help you?" The woman's voice was soft, but vibrant and lively.
"I actually...I...well..." Mari looked down at her feet, not being able to find the right words.
"What a lovely stop." Mari turned to see Yamu entering the shop, giving a glance at Mari before turning back to the woman.
"Hello and welcome." The woman bowed her head and smiled.
"Hello, I'm Salina, the owner." She held out her hand for Yamu to shake.
"Yamuraiha. I'm interested in a new outfit for my...niece here." She put her arm around Mari and smiled, seeing her in distress.
"I can do that." Salina smiled. "Come along sweetie." She held her hand out for Mari to take and guided them both around the room to a bin.
She grazed the bin for a while before pulling a lovely light pink and blue dress. It was different then the dress Ja'far had given her to wear. It was a bit longer, long enough to cover her scraped knees, and the sleeves were enough to cover the bruises on her arms.
"Oh try it on. It'd look so cute on you!" Yamu squealed and Salina smiled along with her.
Mari made a small grumbling sound, but took the dress and went to change.
She had to admit, the dress was beautiful. The tall mirror in the change room was cracked and dusty, but the beauty of the clothing wasn't dulled a bit.
She did a small twirl, admiring it before she walked out.
"She beautiful!" Yamu was basically glowing.
"I agree." Salina nodded, helping Mari with the ribbon in the back.
"It suits you." Yamu smiled, pushing back Mari's purple bangs to see her eyes.
"But there's something...missing." Salina commented.
She went to the bins again and rummaged around some more before giving a small gasp and pulling out a dark purple shawl. She smiled holding it up and near to Mari before helping her place it.
When Salina stepped back, Mari had the shawl tied around her shoulders, draping down low enough to cover the bottom of the dress.
Mari looked back towards the window and smiled, pulling the excess of the shawl and pulled it up over her head, creating a hood.
She smiled and Yamu shrugged.
"Always with the hood, this one." She sighed, but smiled seeing Mari smile at her appearance.
"Hey mom..? Where do you want these..." The voice came from the stairs leading up to the second floor.
Mari looked up just to see Ata carrying a load of boxes down the stairs. His face was pressed up against the boxes, to make sure they didn't fall, but when his eyes caught Mari's he nearly fell.
"Mari..." He said, finding no other words to say.
"Don't just stand there." Salina scolded lightly, pointing to a stack of boxes in the corner. Ata moved slowly, placing the boxes down and straightening out his clothes before glancing back at Mari.
She smiled softly, before noticing she was still wearing new clothes.
"This is my son. Introduce yourself." Salina nudged Ata forward.
"I'm Ata. Nice to meet you." He bowed his head, avoiding Mari's eyes.
"Nice to meet you, young man." Yamu was smiling. Ata nodded.
Even though Salina couldn't see it, Yamu and Mari could. The pink Rukh was swarming around Ata. When he stood back up, his cheeks were bright red.
He wasn't making any eye contact with Mari and Yamu was trying to contain herself.
He was just too cute.
"Nice to meet you." Mari said softly. Ata jerked his head in a small nod before rushing back up the stairs.
"He's...just a bit shy." Salina smiled and turned her attention back to Mari.
"I think this suits you very well."
Mari smiled again.
Yamu had Mari grab her other clothes and they paid for the new ones.
"Thank you." Mari called before leaving, only seeing Ata peeking around the corner at her, the pink Rukh still fluttering around.
Mari smiled to herself.
"You two are so cute!" Yamu said, once they were out of earshot.
"Stop it!" Mari squeaked.
Ja'far was most afraid of inefficiency. That and when things weren't as productive as they should be. This meeting, by far, was the worst.
It was filled mostly with horrible trade proposals and a bunch of paper signing. he could only imagine what his king was going through.
A quick glance at Sinbad said it all.
Although he wore his usual friendly smile, his eyes were lined with dark circles and a bit sunken from stress.
It would be good to maybe…reward him, for being so compliant.
Maybe afterwards, he can relax with Marijaani.
Then another thought came to mind.
Where was she?
She should have been awake by now, but, he hadn't so much as seen her or heard her footsteps scramble down the hall.
He gave a small bow to both his king and the others attending the meeting, and, to Sinbad's dismay, left the conference room to search for the small, purple haired girl.
Upon reaching her bedroom door, he gave a few knocks. When he didn't hear any reply, he tried again.
No answer.
At this point, he was pretty much at wits end, wonder what could have gone wrong.
He flew the door open to see the empty room. The sheets on the bed were ruffled and thrown about over a lump.
Maybe she was still asleep?
Ja'far walked over to the bed and placed a hand down over the figure in the bed, but there was no movement.
He drew the covers back to see a pile of pillows and rolled his eyes, fixing the sheets and the pillows.
He was shocked when something clattered to the ground, causing him to jump.
He looked down at the long metal piece, sticking out from under the bed. He blinked once.
"Thank you for your time." Sinbad bowed his head as he bid those who had attended the meeting goodbye.
The large palace door shut and Sinbad breathed a sigh of relief. He could finally relax and do as he pleased.
"Sin..." Ja'far said as he entered the room. Sinbad looked up and saw his friend's distraught face. Ja'far was looking down at a tattered long sword, holding it as if he'd seen it get up and walk.
"What is it?" Sinbad stood, eying the sword before looking up to see if Ja'far was going to say something else.
"I found this...in Mari's room..." Ja'far said. "..but she was nowhere to be found..."