FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

From over the city's highest buildings, sunlight could be seen peeking its way out from the horizon. The early morning breeze had yet to warm, sending a slight chill through the streets and up my spine. The quiet atmosphere was almost serene, relaxing even. Soon enough however, the sun would drive away the cold night in full and people would begin filing out into the market street, where I would be ready and waiting to make my sales.

I had woken at first light in order to open my stall as soon as I could. The two heavy sacks I brought with me contained my morning's wares that I hoped would go quickly. It didn't take much time to empty the contents of the first sack and proudly display the items along the stall's counters. On the lowest counter, in a neat little row, were bits and pieces of different animal meats, personally hunted. There was rabbit, snake, elk, bear, and even a few birds. On the next row up were the pelts of those animals, or at least, the ones I could actually sell. No one ever really wanted to buy snake skin from my experience, and hawk feathers weren't used much for anything these days. The third and final counter was full of a random assortment of other animal parts; teeth, claws, talons, antlers, etc.

As I was putting the finishing touches on the items' placements, I noticed a familiar sound heading my way. The crunch of fallen leaves trampled by wooden wheels came as a cart was being pulled by a rather tall man in a loose fitting cloak. Despite him having the hood pulled up, I knew exactly who it was. There was only one man his size in this section of the market, after all. Littered on the cart were a few boxes of potions, some jars of colorful liquids, and a handful of alchemical ingredients. There was a satchel hanging by the man's side, which I knew to be carrying more alchemic supplies of his. He stolled up to the stall across the street from mine and began unloading his haul onto the counters.

Judging by the fact the sun had yet to rise above the rooftops yet, there was still time before the market opened. Taking advantage of this lapse in activity, I casually walked over to the alchemist. Not reacting to my presence at all, he was currently busying himself with deciding which potions would take center stage, mumbling to himself all the while. A small vial of silver liquid was being weighed against one full of a clear watery substance, and it was then I made myself known.

A loud clearing of the throat, followed by, "Morning, Albert."

The man in question flinched for but a moment before looking over at me. Tensed shoulders relaxed as he realized the owner of the voice, and he at once pulled the hood down. Beneath the cloth covering was an average looking man in his mid-thirties. Though a few years older than myself, he was one of the first people who welcomed me to the market when I first set up here, and took me out for a celebratory drink after that first day of sales. His dark hair was a mess, a consequence of wearing his heavy cloak's hood so early after waking. Or perhaps it was a side effect of his staying up late, brewing potions and whatnots. The slight bags under his amber eyes made me think the latter must have been the case, and when he finally responded, the suspicion was only further confirmed.

Through a voice sluggish from a lack of rest, he said, "Ah. Morning, Cedric." The twin vials in his hands were swiftly placed onto the middle counter as he carried on, "You're here earlier than usual. Don't normally see you setting up until just a few minutes before the usual crowd shows up."

"Yea, I wanted to see if maybe taking the time to make the display look a bit nicer might net me some more sales." Waving a hand over towards his cart, I then asked, "Got anything interesting for sale today?"

That simple question was enough to make Albert's eyes light up in excitement, and an odd smile formed along his lips. He began to explain the special potions he brought that morning, what they were made of, how much time it took to brew each one, what special properties they might have had. On and on the man went, all without seemingly pausing to take a breath. It was a bit frightening if I didn't already know this was just how he got at times. By the time he wound down and was running out of potions to go over, the sunlight was beginning to peek over the roofs. The sound of footsteps echoed out as the rest of the market sellers were heading out to open up their stalls.

Taking this as my cue, I smiled at the taller man and said, "Maybe drop by after you're finished selling. I got some things I'm willing to trade with you." Now that his attention had been grasped, I walked on back to my stall, ready to begin the morning.

Before long, the market was awash with the sound of sellers opening their stalls and putting up their displays. All along the street, people were setting their wares up; small time smiths, fabric makers, cobblers, carpenters, potters, caligraphers, leatherworkers, jewelers. On and on the street went with all manner of people, all just itching for the moment when customers would come by.

In no short amount of time the sun began to rise higher, and the city and her people were waking, all ready to embrace the day. All the merchants in the market were feeling the rush of potential profit, myself included. The market was only open one day a week, so every stall was practically frothing at the mouth to make as much as they could. I was no different, of course. With luck, I'd be walking away from my stall with a full and heavy coinpurse.

I wasn't the only hunter in Zantile, so my typical stock didn't always sell extraordinarily well. Though, I did have the upper hand with the fact I was one of the only hunters who brought in more exotic beasts at times. Owlbear, manticore, cyclops, basilisk; anything I could hunt, I'd try to turn a profit off of. Some of my hunts even had the added bonus of being targets for one of the guilds, which meant even more money in my pocket. Plus, doing those favors for the guilds meant making connections. Making connections also meant more money in the long run. So, all in all, it was usually a win-win scenario. Sure, there had been the occassional brush with death, but that's just the consequences of going after monsters.

That day, however, I lacked any of those rare catches, so I would have to get by on just the usual things.

In short order, all the other market stalls were open, and all that remained was the short window of time until the crowds of potential customers would appear. The wind had warmed by now, the chill having melted away. A perfect morning. In the distance, the sound of doors opening and of window shutters being thrown wide, announced the waking of the citizens. As the noise of the mass of people grew increasingly closer, the excitement of making a good day's profit became ever more intoxicating.

The scuff of boots on stone reached the corner of the block, and the first wave of people entered the street. Market Day had finally begun. A chorus of voices and yells filled the air as the merchants and craftspeople doggedly pursued their profits. Looking around, one would think the stall owners were living on their last sol with the almost desperate way some of them tried to wring out a sale. But, such was the norm on Market Day, everyone doing their best to sell their wares.

A curious onlooker arrived before me then, their eyes scanning the furs on display. A rather plain looking kobar, he was. The dirty brown fur coating his body was neatly trimmed, and mostly hidden beneath his clothing. Still rather young, he was shorter than an average kobar, but that wasn't saying much. Most kobarai barely reach up beyond the stall's lowest counter, they're all so damn short. This kid had to practically stand on the tips of his toes just to get a decent look at my items. Taking a second glance at him, I realized I'd seen him somewhere before. He was the son of one of the weavers further up the street. Doubtless he'd been sent to purchase some fur on behalf of his mother, who would then turn those into cloth and assuredly sell them off to a tailor. This was a common practice here in the market; we'd all sell things to one another, the sol and products flowing in a near-endless cycle from one hand to the next.

The young furred boy scratched at the side of his muzzle before looking up at me. His dark eyes had an innocent look, as if he didn't know what to do next. I decided to help him a bit.

"Found something you want to buy?"

No words came, but he nodded enthusiastically, the ears on top his head flopping around in the process. With a chipper bounce, he pointed towards the deer pelt. It was kinda cute the way he wordlessly gestured like that.

I leaned over the counter and told the kobar boy, "That's worth about twenty sol. Did your mom give you enough for it?"

He gave a small affirmative hum and pulled out a small bag jingling with coins. After checking, I found the boy had been given double the price, so I took only the payment I needed before handing the bag back to him with a smile.

"You're a good kid," I noted. Pushing the deer pelt out for him, I added, "On your way back to your mom, drop by to see Miss Rose. Tell her Cedric sent you, and she might give you a piece of candy."

Those big eyes of his only got bigger at the sound of getting a treat, and his tiny form nearly sprinted away the moment he grabbed the pelt. With a small amount of hidden joy, I watched as the kid made his way through the crowds, ducking and weaving around the larger adults as he did. It was rather impressive how graceful his little dodges were, as if he had done them a thousand times. Wouldn't be much of a surprise it that had been the case, though.

After that, the day went about as any other Market Day. People would come and go, peruse my items, make a purchase or two, and so on. Some of the customers were my usual ones, such as an alchemist's apprentice wanting some hawk innards for something I didn't ask about, or a tanner wanting some hide, or even just a farmer wanting one of the bear skins for a rug. I was making a pretty profit, and I hadn't even had to dip into the second bag yet. By the time I did, though, I had easily recouped my losses for the tools and such I used up to hunt all these beasties.

While I was putting up some of the things from the second bag, I overheard some passersby gossiping nonsense. Something about a rich type from the north being in town for holiday. Why someone would come to Zantile for a holiday was beyond me. The surrounding area was mostly valley or forest, so there wasn't anything interesting to see. If it wasn't just pointless gab, then perhaps they had come to check out the local guilds? A lot of them were filled with people who did good work, so it wouldn't be shocking to learn some wealthy individual would bother coming all the way down just to make a deal or two with some of them.

It wasn't long before the majority of the stock from the second bag had been sold. My lockbox was nearly full by then, the coins within glistening in the sunlight. It was a thing of beauty to see such an mass of sol. I probably didn't even need to bother with selling every last item, but more money could never hurt, after all. As the final pelt and last bit of meat was sold off, I was feeling pretty damn good. The money made would go a long way, even after spending some of it on more traps and bolts and other hunting supplies.

The sun still looked to be a few hours away from setting, but I was already through my stock and cleaning up the counters, readying to close up. It had been a great and profitable day, and from my quick scan, it seemed I wasn't the only stall that had made it out so well. Plenty of others had a look a satisfaction about them, which could only have come from some good earnings. Even Albert across the street looked rather pleased with himself as he was tidying up the stall.

Speaking of the tall alchemist, he was beginning to walk my way, assumedly to follow up on my earlier request.

His eyes gave a swift once over to my day's profit, and he smiled. "Glad to know you did well today," he said with not a small modicum of pride. "Now then," he said, rubbing his hands together, "what's this about a trade? Found some things out in the forests?"

An affirmative nod came before I reached into the second bag, pulling out a smaller sack and emptying its contents out on the countertop. What fell out were some odd looking mushrooms, two kelroots, and a handful of different flower bulbs.

"I remember you telling me some of the stuff that grows in Rivrum made some decent potions," I explained as I showed off the small gathering. "Now, I'm not exactly well-versed in all the ins and outs of alchemy, but I've seen some of your things and I know which plants and such you usually use."

Picking up a pair of the mushrooms, Albert let out a small noise as he investigated the fungi. Eyes narrowed as he turned them over this way and that to see every single inch of them, until finally his gaze returned to me. "You've got a good eye," he said. "So, what do you wanna trade 'em for? The usual?" The final sentence was accented with a knowing smile.

"I suppose I'm a bit predicatable, eh?" We shared a laugh as I walked with him towards his house, him wheeling his cart of now empty boxes behind us as we did.

The 'usual' was a blended drink Albert brewed in his spare time, some mixture of special roots and such that made a quite delicious end result. In truth, I didn't need to trade anything for it, he was always happy to just hand it over to anyone that wished to drink some. I simply felt it wrong to not return the favor, so I came up with the idea of these 'trades' so that I could at least give him something he wanted in return.

Along the short trek to his home, we talked over our day, how well the sales went, the kind of customers that came, and so on. Apparently, a new face appeared to Albert earlier in the day, some fresh-faced young man with barely the whisper of a beard on his chin.

He explained, "He had this sad look in his eyes, and you'll never believe what he asked me."

Oh, this was sure to be good, I thought.

A soft laugh escaped him, and he quickly bit it down in order to finish, "He wanted a love potion."

"What?" My face contorted into a mixture of a scowl and a look of perplexitiy

"I know," he said, shaking his head in disbelief. "He's not the first dumb kid I've gotten asking for one of those, either. But, I swear, I don't recognize him. So he can't be from here, right?"

This sparked a thought. "What if he's with that rich guy from the north?"

When Albert gave me a confused look, I went on to tell him about the gossiping I'd overheard. We shared some ideas on why someone would bother coming down to Zantile, but Albert seemed to come to the same conclusion as I did; the guilds. By then, we had crossed a small stone bridge, and were coming up onto the block where the taller alchemist resided.

It was a nice place full of small homes and wide streets. The home we were destined for was like many of the others, and probably was built in some kind of sequence, seeing as it shared many of the same design elements of the homes around it. Strong and sturdy brick comprised the walls, a long chimney rising up from the central fireplace within, and a shingled roof. I'd be told once that it was a single construction group that made many of the homes in this section of town, and it certainly showed.

As we neared his humble abode, Albert pulled the cart up to a small shed off to the side, but didn't bother putting it away inside. Either he also wanted to have some of his homebrewed drink, or he felt it unnecessary to go through the hassle of un- and then relocking the shed just for the cart. Could have been both.

We got inside and it was the same as it usually looked. Same wood floors, off-white plaster walls, dark wood furniture, everything was as I last visited. The cold fireplace was quickly brought to life and then my gracious host went off to retrieve a bottle of that fabled drink, while I took a seat at the nearby dining table. My eyes scanned around while I waited, but found nothing out of the ordinary. Albert seemed to live a simple life here, and didn't make changes to his living arrangements often. Or ever, really, as I could not recall a single time his place ever looked any different.

A door shut in the distance, and I knew Albert was on his way back. The moment he reappeared, I could spy that bottle of wonderful nectar. My hands instinctively grabbed for it the instant he set it down on the table, and I gulped it down like a man dying of thirst. Like a man possessed, I guzzled the entire thing, the sweet taste filling my head and giving me a slight buzz.

I could hear my friend laughing. "You're like a suckling babe desperate for it's milk."

With the liquid now all gone, I placed the container back down and took a much needed breath. Ignoring his comment, I changed topics with, "So, how's it going with Rose?"

His amber eyes moved towards the surface of the table. "It's...going." A small uncomfortable shift of his body told me all I need to know.

Balancing the bottle on its neck, I sighed out, "Far be from me to give love advice, but I think you should just be honest with her."

He stammered, "And what about you?"

"What about me?" I raised an eyebrow in anticipation.

"You..." The pause gave away he had nothing. It was almost sad.

"See? Can't even think of anything," I teased.

"Shut up."

A bubble of laughter left me and I responsed, "Tell her how you feel. Trust me, it'll work out." Albert opened his mouth, but I cut him off, already knowing what he was about to say. "Because I'm not blind or stupid. I see the way she looks at you. Just talk to her. Or do you want to end up wasting another year on this stupid puppy love nonsense?"

Before he could come up with a response, a loud knock came from the front door. We both turned to look in the direction of the sound.

I glanced back at the alchemist. "Expecting someone?"

His brow furrowed in confusion. "No," he said as he rose from his seat, heading over to the entrance. I followed after, my steps a tad cautious.

Pulling the door open, we were met with the sight of a familiar kobar vixen. She was a small thing, like most kobarai. Her fur was the reddish-orange color of cooling embers, but most of it was hidden away beneath hempen clothing and a padded leather apron. Just beneath the upward-facing pointed ears rested a set of odd looking goggles that I'd never seen her without. In one small hand, she gripped a blasting rod. Strapped on her back was an old, beat-up satchel.

I was the one who broke the momentary silence. "Pram? What are you doing here?"

Despite her small size, the short fox woman easily brushed past the much taller Albert and stood before me. The top of her head came up to just above my waist, so she had to crane her neck up high in order to make eye contact. In those icy blue eyes, a fire could be seen blazing.

"Cedric not wait for Pram," she angrily whined. The blasting rod was brought up to poke at my chest. "How both do business when he not at stall? Now Pram have march through town searching him."

A small amount of shame entered me at my own forgetfulness. "I'm sorry, Pram," I tried to apologize. "It just completely slipped my mind."

The vixen stamped a foot down in anger. "Cedric make promise. Say he be there." She poked me again with the blasting rod, and I almost worried she would set it off on me.

Easing the tip of the weapon away from my body, I did my best to appease her. "I'll make it up to you, I swear."

"Just like he swear days ago?"

"I still have your stuff in my bag," I explained, pointing over to the near empty sack by the door. "We can take care of this right now."

Blue eyes shifted over to the nearby sack, and she slowly lowered the rod, no longer threatening me with it. Reaching behind her, she swiveled the satchel around to her front and produced a metal cube from within. I, meanwhile, grabbed my bag and rummaged around until I found the item Pram desired to trade for. It was a smaller sack full of various animal bones, mostly rabbit and badger. Pram had requested this trade a few days prior, but had not told me why she wanted bones, but I had my guesses. Chief among them was I thought she might be making some kind of broth, which only frightened me. Pram fancied herself a cook as a small hobby, but she always used the strangest ingredients, usually by asking me to get them for her.

We handed over our selected items, and Pram sniffed the sack of bones before putting them away into her own bag with a triumphant smile. I did the same wih the small metallic cube.

During this entire exchange, Albert had kept his mouth shut, but I could see a soft smile. This only made me want to mess with him more about his own issues with Rose. But that was later.

For now, though...

I clapped my hands together loudly and proclaimed, "Let's go to the tavern and get something to eat. My treat."