Thanks to everyone who had thier suggestions for artwork! the collage is now visible on AO3 (same chapter as this) because FF is not very good with image sharing
i should also note that this story has an updated chapter one over there, and i will be making an effort to update ch 1 here as well
Silver found himself absorbed in awestruck wonder as Shadow drug him through the densely packed streets. Perhaps drag wasn't the proper word, as Silver was aimlessly holding onto the older male's hand as they walked through the streets - but it wasn't an entirely incorrect statement. If Silver hadn't been holding onto the thick leather gloves, he would have simply stood in the middle of the square, eyes gawking and mouth hanging at all the colors and smells that greeted his senses.
One thing that was entirely new to Silver, however, was patterned fabrics. Wealthy merchants and rich individuals did not wear the simple gloves or plain clothes that the hoglet was accustomed to. Oh no. Checkerboarded mittens and chevroned shoes adorned the well paid persons with multiple woven items and eye-catching colors. Women of status wore dresses stitched with intricate designs and adorned with jewelry from their husbands and significant others. Bridles of gold and silver decorated purebred dogs and ponies from across the world, sparkling in the sun as they trotted through the scene. Jewels of ruby and sapphire sparkled in the light - inlaid in brooches and bracelets as the vendor clapped her hands to the beat of carriage bells. Silver couldn't help but point and comment at the beautiful sights - opal and amber shining in his eyes as he opened his mouth to speak.
"Those are almost as beautiful as your Cha-"
"Do not mention such a gemstone in a place like this." Shadow hissed, slapping his free paw over the hoglet's mouth. "There are people who would kill for rare artifacts."
"Cam yoo tehw who wahns ih?" Silver asked, muffled by the large paw around his face.
"Usually." Shadow responded, releasing the child's jaw. "But there are ears everywhere."
Silver shuddered. Ears? Just everywhere? Silver looked around, trying to see where someone would hide the disembodied parts.
"I caught wind that someone had found one near Savannah City." Shadow spoke, voice lowered significantly. "Knowing the locals, it would have ended up here - sold off to the highest bidder."
"Bidder?" Silver asked, pulling on the ranger's glove to hop over a hole in the road.
"A person who offers the highest amount of money for an object or place." Shadow explained, lifting his arm up to hoist the hoglet over said pothole.
Silver giggled as he found himself airborne - boots swinging underneath him as the adult lifted him higher than he expected to jump.
"The only problem is that the highest bidder usually has ill intention for it." Shadow sighed, setting the hoglet back down. "Usually weapons or to drain residual energy from people or plants."
"Is that bad?" Silver asked, looking back around at his surroundings.
"Yes." Came the answer. "Very."
Before Silver could ask another question, a stall of brightly colored objects caught his eye - almost forcing him to completely turn his head to look at them. Gold eyes dilated at the sight of fruit, hunger knocking at his stomach door and begging to be satiated once more. Yellow and orange, red and purple, round and oval, all sorts of shapes and colors with all of them looking gloriously appetizing to a decidedly unpicky child. How could he resist the pretty colors anyhow? They were all so plump and juicy, glistening in the sun and fresh off the plant with how vibrant and full they appeared to be. And none stood out more obviously than the undefeatably memorable apple. The red-orange fruit of the sunset. Flavor oh so sweet and juices so sticky, a melodious harmony of sweet and vibrant all dancing in his mouth. It was impossible to forget such a taste. And how Silver wanted one now.
Calling his aura, Silver reached with his mind and snagged the topmost apple off the pile - slowly pulling it closer to himself in a daze of euphoria induced memory. The closer it grew, the more the hoglet felt his mouth drool. He needed to taste the sweetness once more. He needed to feel th-
"What are you doing?" Shadow snapped, leathered paw swiping out and snatching the apple right before it could reach the hoglet's paws.
"I'm eating an-"
"I think not." Shadow frowned, altering his course to walk towards the stall. "What you are doing is stealing."
Silver found himself flush red as the realization of what he had been doing entered his mind.
"I will not be entertaining this behavior." Shadow growled, setting the apple back on top of the pile with a nod to the vendor. "Although there are reasons and situations where theft is justified, this is not one of them."
"Why not?" Silver choked, hiding inside Shadow's cloak in an attempt to quell the shame raging inside his body.
"This world operates on give and take." Shadow sighed, anger huffing through his lungs in the most exasperated manner. "If you give something, you want something in return."
"Huh?" Silver asked, peeking his head out as Shadow resumed his previous heading.
"The technical term is 'economy', but to put it in a way that you can comprehend: it means that if you work very hard on something, such as growing crops or mining ore, you won't want to give it away without compensation for the effort you put into the product." Shadow explained. "By taking the apple from that farmer, you did not show respect for the hard work and hours of labor they have endured to produce their crop."
Silver found himself looking at the ground. Branch had always caught him stealing food or even matches, but he had never considered that theft could be disrespectful. It made sense that someone would want compensation for hours of hard work, but the way Fliss had explained stealing was simply that it was "bad behavior"; nothing more. It had never occurred to the hoglet that the other person would feel sad about losing hours of hard work. Or even feel sad about losing something they liked. Silver felt odd that some explanation that Shadow gave him, made sense for once. Usually the large words and long winded sentences left little impact on the hoglet, but somehow the idea of losing something that he himself worked hard for felt unfair. Perhaps it was unfair to the farmer that he had tried to take something that had value.
"Sorry…" Silver mumbled, guilt weighing heavy on his back.
"You're young." Shadow mumbled, shaking his hooded head. "You will make plenty of mistakes on your road to maturity."
Silver stared off into the distance - watching the clouds as they wafted lazily above. The rumbling still persisted in his stomach. Hunger loudly complained over the morning without breakfast and the night before, screeching at the young hoglet that a meal was long overdue. It wasn't even five minutes before the angry organ began complaining audibly.
"If you were hungry, you could have simply said something rather than attempting burglary." Shadow commented, reacting to the faint gurgles and rumbles.
"Sorry…" Silver mumbled once more.
Rather than responding, Shadow stepped his way over to a cart laid with breads and pastries - reaching into his back pouch to pull out a link of rings. Curious, Silver stepped out from underneath the cloak; eyes examining the wares as best he could with his small stature. Words were spoken between the adult and the baker, numbers and gestures flying through the air until a small object was passed into the hedgehog's hands - traded for three rings from the collection of five. With a polite "goodbye" and "thank you", Shadow led Silver away from the wooden rickshaw, taking a small bite from the piece of bread as he went.
"What are you doing?" Silver asked, gripping the leather glove tighter as his free hand rubbed at his loud belly.
"Checking if it's been spiked." Shadow answered, staring at the yeast-filled food before giving an approving nod. "It's clear."
Spitting out the nibble, the elder passed the bread into Silver's eager hands.
"Why dih you do dat?" Silver asked, shoving a bite slightly bigger than he could chew between his jaws.
"Do what?"
"Spif ih ou?"
"I do not require nutrition at this time." Shadow responded, looking back down the road. "I do not suspect I will need a meal for another forty days."
Silver swallowed in a strained gulp, fearing he would choke only to be relieved when he did not.
"Although technically I can survive on Chaos Energy alone, it is not the most comfortable way of living."
Silver only nodded, teeth working away at the soft dough with a passionate vigor. Looking up at Shadow, the hoglet thought about what other questions to ask. The adult was full of information, and it was only natural for a small child to want to learn as much as possible about the world. However, as the bread began to fill his stomach, a sense of satisfaction kept the hoglet's curiosity from bubbling. Almost.
A melodious sound of whistling and strumming filled the air as the two crossed into a large square - crowds of people cheering and clapping to something Silver couldn't see. Excitement bubbled in the young child's soul as the music swept him off his feet and lifted his mood into the sky - forcing him to jump up and down to the beat of the drums. Voices sang in harmony as the crowd reacted in joy - entertained and engrossed in whatever was going on.
"I can't see!" Silver squeaked, hopping up and down on his toes in a futile attempt to catch a glimpse over the crowd of adults.
"See what?" Shadow asked, slightly bothered by the child tugging at his arm.
"The music!"
"What, the performers?" He frowned, turning his head towards the cheerful sounds.
"Yes!" Silver cried. "I want to see!"
Shadow merely shook his head. For a moment, Silver felt disappointment run through his veins. Until large gloves wound around his waist, hoisting him up into the air and well into view of the scene. With a bounce, the ranger seated the overjoyed child on his arm - holding it up and lifting Silver higher into the air.
With sparkles in his eyes, Silver watched as a woman danced around on a wooden platform, dress a brilliant red and fur adorned with braids and ribbons. She moved like an ocean wave, sliding backwards and forwards in synchronization with the lovely tune played by an enthusiastic band. Flutes and lutes, drums and horns all rung in perfect timing as the woman spun about, voice echoing through the air like a siren on a summer morning. Silver could only gawk as she fell dramatically into the arms of her partner, voices entangled in a duet of love and affection.
"Why are their faces colored like that?" Silver asked, pointing at the cat's oddly marked fur.
"That's stage makeup." Shadow replied. "Actors and performers often paint their faces so expressions are more readable, and features more interesting to look at."
Squinting, Silver watched the woman's face. Her white muzzle was dotted with gold and her brows striped with red - holding true to the rangers statement even from the distance. Fascinated, Silver watched as another performer climbed on stage - tail wrapped in gray and face painted with splotches of green.
"Or in that case, it can be used to hide undesirable features such as scars and unattractive fur patterns." Shadow shrugged. "It makes the play more interesting and can even completely change how a person is perceived."
"Woah." Silver gasped, watching the two men dance about, wooden swords drawn and voices singing in a most angry fashion.
"Can you tell what kind of story they are telling?" Shadow asked.
Silver looked about, pulling from his memory and from contextual clues to figure it out. The men were fighting, and the gray decorated one seemed very upset with the cat in the purple tunic. Looking back at the female actor, she seemed very upset and distraught about the fight.
"They're fighting over her?" Silver half asked, half explained. "The gray guy seems very mad about the purple guy talking to her. Does this mean it's a love story?"
"Very observant." Shadow nodded. "This a retelling of the Tale of Coral's Bane."
Before Silver could protest, Shadow turned and walked away from the show; setting the pouting hoglet onto the cobbled floor.
"The story nears its end, but Coral has been betrothed to Prince Stone, in gray. However, she has fallen for a common man. Lavender grew to love her when he rescued her from a band of thieves and at the story's climax, he fights Prince Stone for her hand." Shadow summarized.
"Does he win?" Silver asked, turning back around to look at the swiftly fading view of the crowd.
"No." Shadow bluntly answered. "They kill each other attempting to cheat their way to victory, and Coral drinks poison in her grief."
Oh.
Silver looked down at the ground, feeling quite shocked at the ending of the story.
"I would have let you watch the outcome of the play, as blood and gore are rarely used in theatrics nowadays, but I noticed a few Syndicate hoods in the crowd and I would not like to alert them to my presence just yet."
Silver felt his blood run cold. The Syndicate? Here? Shadow had mentioned that the Syndicate had a posting here, but it had never occurred to the young hoglet that he would actually run into any of them. Flashes of blood and fire spat across his vision as horrid memories ran through his head.
"At any rate, I have to find out If they have the crystal or not, so I will have to do some poking around in the city to see if anyone has had a gemstone like that." Shadow explained. "Hopefully I can fly under the radar long enough to hit them before they know I'm coming."
Silver didn't speak a word. All he could do was grip Shadow's hand tighter as his eyes darted around the packed streets.