"Man kid," Anna exhaled as she leaned back on the seat of the wagon and patted her stomach. ''Breakfast was great! My complements to the chef.''
Anna straightened up and returned her attention to her horse's reins. Slowly and silently, the horse, wagon, and passengers treaded along a dirt path that was taking them north. Other than the merchant and her wagon, the trail was empty and silent. There were no trees on either side of them, so no birds sang to the companions while they rode. The plain that they traveled along sat in the middle of a vast, grassy plain. Normally, this route was bustling with wind and drenched in rains. today however, the road was nothing but sunshine. Even the wind was silent. Anna was beginning to miss the usual weather. At least it gave her something to listen to while she road.
''What's the matter,'' Anna asked, looking down at Vyrne who sat to the left of her in his baggy trousers and the white cloak that Anna had given him to conceal the pointy ears atop his fur-covered head. "No thank you? Not even a smart comment?''
Vyrne swiftly and silently turned to the right in response, folding his arms across his mid-section in what appeared to be frustration.
''You sick or something,'' Anna asked. This time, Vyrne responded by shaking his head. That's when she heard it. Just as Anna began to return her focus to the road, she heard a weak creaking sound coming from her left-or more specifically, from the Taguel boy's stomach.
''Oh," Anna smirked, putting the pieces together. ''I get it. You've been living off of berries and shrubbery for the past week. But foxes are used to a little more meat in their diets aren't they?"
He had been caught. For the past week, Vyrne had been trying his hardest to conceal his carnivorous nature. He just knew that if Mistress Anna found out, she would figure out a way to make his meat-eating tendencies put gold into her pockets. To make matters worse, without a working Beast Stone, Vyrne lost most of his hunting abilities as well as a great deal of physical strength. He couldn't even catch a rabbit.
'''Well,'' huffed Vyrne, turning back to his oppressor. ''I wouldn't be starving half to death if you would just let me go!''
''Relax,'' giggled the merchant, patting her companion on the head. "It just so happens that I possess the cure to your suffering.'' Anna reached inside of her back pocked an pull out a small sack. Vyrne's nose instantly caught the scent as the bag was opened and instinctively, his mouth began to water. In a matter of moments, a small trail of drool was streaming from his lower jaw.
"Is-is that-" began Vyrne as he stared at the bag with his wide, amber-orange eyes. He was so entranced that he could barely speak.
''Dried beef,'' Anna said. "Half-a-pound's worth.''
Vyrne didn't care about anything anymore. He just knew that he hadn't even seen an edible piece of meat in a week. Now here was half of a pound of it in front of him.
''Please I,'' staggered Vyrne, the words stumbling out of his mouth. ''I-I-want it,'' he managed, his eyes still fixed on the dried meat.
Anna tossed the dried meat into the air. Vyrne's eyes were glued to the snack as it flew into the air and did something of a summersault as it hovered for a split second before falling back down only to be caught between Anna's teeth. Vyrne's heart shattered as he watched Anna slowly chewing the beef.
''What was that kid,'' Anna asked while chewing the meat loudly. ''I didn't quite catch that.''
''I want it,'' Vyrne said. This time, he spoke loudly. ''Please Mistress Anna! I'm starving!''
''Well,'' Anna began. ''Since you said please.'' She looked up for a second and pressed her index finger to her chin as if thinking. Then, she looked back at him. ''One hundred and fifty gold,'' she stated.
''What,'' Vyrne asked ''You're charging me!?''
''Hey,'' Anna shrugged. ''A merchant's gotta make a living. It's simple supply and demand.''
''Supply and demand?" Vyrne's head tilted to the side in curiosity and his ears perked up. He had never heard of this supposedly simple concept before. "What's that?''
''Seriously," Anna asked. She practically knew what supply and demand was since birth. The merchant woman couldn't fathom the idea that someone had no knowledge of such a basic economic principle. ''You really don't know?'''
''Uh-uh," Vyrne said, shaking his head.
Anna was genuinely shocked. ''Wow,'' she said. ''You've lived a pretty sheltered life kid. No wonder you ran away from your folks. ''
''Actually,'' began Vyrne. ''I'm not a runaway." That was just the lie that Vyrne told Anna so that he didn't have to admit that he was practically orphaned at birth. Vyrne had never known his parents. He had never even seen or smelled them. For as long as he could remember, Vyrne lived alone in whichever forest he could find food and a place to sleep. He wondered constantly about his parents and he just couldn't stand the thought of anyone insulting them-even the made-up versions. "I'm an orphan.''
''Oh man,'' Anna said solemnly. ''My bad kid.''
For a moment, there was an awkward silence as the horse-drawn wagon began to ascend up a hill. All was silent save for the creaking of the wagon and the clopping of horseshoes.
''Um," Anna spoke, breaking the silence. He index finger was pressed to her chin again. ''Supply and demand is like this:" Anna held up the bag of beef again, rousing Vyrne's hunger. ''See this bag of meat?''
''Yeah,'" Vyrne said hungrily as his stomach grumbled.
''Well," Anna continued. ''In this situation, this meat is the object that I'm supplying because of your hunger, because of your demand. Get it?''
Vyrne twirled her words around in his head for a bit.
"So," he began, ''If I wasn't hungry, you would keep starving me?''
''Right,'' Anna answered. ''Well. . Sort of. . If you weren't demanding meat, then my supply wouldn't make a profit. It'd be practically useless. ''
''So. . . you only supply what people demand,'' Asked Vyrne.
''Exactly," Anna responded cheerfully.
"So then,'' began Vyrne who was still pondering this strange, new concept. ''If you want to make a profit, then why are you charging me so much money? Maybe I'd buy it from you if it wasn't so expensive. ''
''Easy," Anna retorted, pressing he index finger into Vyrne's forehead. ''It's because I'm the only supplier right now. You have no choice but to buy it off of me.''
Vyrne quickly smacked Anna's had away. ''You're saying that you can force me to pay outrageous prices because you're the only person who has meat?''
''Right," Anna smiled. ''If I had competition, then I'd have to try and have the better, lower prices.''
''So then,'' Vyrne started, pointing at the bag of dried beef. ''How much is it now?''
''Two hundred gold,'' Anna said with a friendly smile.
Vyrne's hand flopped down at the mention of the new, higher price.
"Don't worry,'' Anna said. ''I'll put it on your tab.''