Mary's Path

As usual, the market was full of people. This time, they could not stay on the outskirts but had to enter in the middle of the stands. Mary and Zerden made sure to keep as close to each other as possible.

Mary recognized the vegetable and fruit merchant she had bought the carrots from. It felt like years ago, but it was hardly more than a few months ago.

She walked up to the stand and smiled at the man. The man smiled back.

“Good day, miss, are you back to buy more carrots?” he asked cheerfully.

“Good day. No carrots today, but I would like four kilos of green apples if you have,” Mary replied, smiling back.

“Green apples, you said. Let me see, what does the missus think of these?” the man asked, handing an apple at Mary. Mary looked at it and squeezed it a little. Zerden looked at the apple over her shoulder. She handed it back to the man in the stand and nodded.

“It’ll be fine, how much do they cost?” she asked.

“8 vorm kilos”, he said as he began to pick up apples, waying them and then placing them in the basket Mary had with her.

“How about 30 vorm even for everything?” asked Mary. The man laughed.

“It’s just as well we say 30 vorm, I remember how you do business,” he said, giving the basket back to Mary. Zerden took out the money and gave it to the man.

“Your sister can really negotiate,” said the man to Zerden, who didn’t bother to correct the man but just nodded.

“You do not sell honey?” Mary asked.

“No, sorry, little girl. I’d love to let you steal more of my proffit, but I don’t have any honey. Try Mrs. Krose, who usually stands three stalls in that direction. She usually has honey. You can’t miss her; her stall is the only one that has a blue top” he said.

Mary thanked him for his help then she and Zerden began to make their way through the people to find the stand with the blue top. Just as the vegetable merchant had said, it was easy to find.

The elderly woman that was sitting on a stool behind the table appeared to be suffering from joint pain. Yet she stood up laboriously as Mary and Zerden approached her stall.

“Good day” she said.

“Good day” Mary replied. “We’d need a kilo of honey if Mrs. has it”

“I have honey all right” said the woman, taking out a large glass jar containing golden honey. “It costs 1 kresi and 5 vorm”, she said as she put the jar on the table.

“That is a good price for such beautiful honey,” Mary said.

When Zerden started to tack out money, Mary whispered something in his ear. He looked at her questioningly, but she looked sternly back. He shrugged his shoulders and gave the money to the woman.

“Thank you for the honey”, Mary said, and hurried away before the woman discovered that she had received four vorm too much.

“We’ll probably have to go to the pharmacist to find the cinnamon,” Mary said.

“Why do you negotiate hard with everyone but gave that woman more than she asked?” asked Zerden.

“She needed the money. She sold her honey at underprice because she was afraid of not getting anything sold,” Mary replied.

Zerden didn’t say anything, he thought he understood but he wasn’t entirely sure. Mary could not explain it better, she knew of course that the honey was far too cheap but could not put into words how the woman’s gaze had radiated with desperation. She didn’t even try, instead she led the way toward the pharmacist.

Inside the pharmacy it was dark, and it smelled of different spices and medications. The pharmacist was an old man with a bent back and round glasses. Mary walked carefully towards the counter.

“Good day,” she said.

“Hmm” the man answered.

“We’d need three sticks off cinnamon,” Mary said. The man looked at her and then at Zerden.

“Three cresi,” said the man, turning toward a cupboard with lots of small draws and fishing up three sticks of cinnamon.

Mary didn’t want to talk to him, she didn’t like him. But she couldn’t pay that much money for the three cinnamon sticks. She tried to haggle but the man told her that in his pharmacy the price was fixed.

Mary looked at Zerden who seemed to have the same opinion of the man as her. He shook his head and she understood that he just wanted to take the cinnamon and go.

“Well then, Zerden, I guess the court can eat apples without cinnamon,” Mary said, walking toward the door.

“But Mary”, Zerden whispered to her as he followed. She gave him a look to keep quiet.

The pharmacist hesitated for the longest. He didn’t know if they really were from the castle. Maybe it was a trick. On the other hand, errand boys from the castle would probably have strict orders on how much they could buy goods for.

Just as Mary opened the door to get out, the man said.

“How much can you pay for them?” Mary hid a smile and thanked the higher powers for things going her way.

“Two kresi and four vorm” said Mary. “Mrs. Karrots said that we could not possibly give more than that for the cinnamon.” Zerden nodded.

“Well, if it’s for the court, I can agree to such a price,” said the pharmacist. Goods and money changed hands and Mary and Zerden rushed out of the store.

“Did we get everything?” Mary asked, looking through the basket.

“Yes, it’s all there” Zerden said, reaching for the basket.

“What are you doing?” Mary wondered.

“A sissy like you can’t carry the basket now that it’s full” he said, a blush creeping up his cheeks.

“Imagine that an uneducated brat having some manners” laughed Mary and let him take the basket. They both started walking towards the castle again.

Mary thought the day was fun. It was always nice to get away from the usual chores in the kitchen and the weather was still beautiful.

Besides, Zerden wasn’t too bad to be around. He could be nice if he wanted to, she thought, looking at the boy walking next to her.

They turned onto a small street leading towards the castle. If they had turned the other way, they would have ended up at home, Mary thought. Then she corrected herself, they would have ended up in the artisan quarters. It was no longer her home, her home was the small room in the castle.

“Mary!”

The cry made both Mary and Zerden stop and look around.