Legend of the OmeletWings - Chapter 11: Market
#11 of Legend of the OmeletWings
As they continued further south, they began to leave the mountains behind them as the landscape began to open up into the gently tree-spotted bluffs and planes bordering onto the swamps and marshes of the MudWing Kingdom.
Embryo took in the air and couldn't believe how different it felt from that in the mountains. While the mountain air was more thin and crisp, the air down here felt closer, and slightly warmer, like its very presence was wrapped around you like a blanket. It didn't feel like home, but it did feel welcoming.
As they flew over some farmland situated between the bluffs, Embryo noticed a patch of land spotted with clusters of tents and bustling with MudWing activity.
"What's that?" Embryo asked pointing.
"Oh, I think that's one of those MudWing markets," Summit answered, getting excited, "I've always wanted to go to one. We should try this one out."
So Embryo and Summit glided their way to where the tents were gathered and came in for a landing.
As they made there way between the tents, bumping through crowded MudWings, Embryo couldn't help but be overcome by all the many new smells the market had to offer. Of course she knew eggs, and those were delicious (of course), but when it came to other stuff, cakes and pies and bakes, Embryo had never known there could be such variety.
As they looked at the many things the MudWings had to sell, from food, to woodwork, to pottery, Summit turned to Embryo. "Now that we're out of the mountains, I suspect it's going to be harder to find caves to rest in at night. I think we may be able to find MudWings willing to take us in if we could trade them something for it. MudWings are the kindest of dragons, so I don't think we'd have to worry to much about anything."
Embryo looked around at the MudWings and could tell Summit was right, they all looked so kind and friendly without the barest hint of malice.
"I think," Summit continued, "If I could bring back a nice catch, I could trade it off, and we should have enough left over for anything we may need."
Embryo looked around. "Anything I could do."
Summit examined the vendors. "You might be able to find someone who needs help with some farm work or something. Why don't you look around while I go hunting?"
With that Summit took off, the idea of being able to trade at a market like this filling him with enthusiasm.
Once he was out of sight, Embryo looked over and noticed a tent set up next to her that was decorated with all assortments of woodcarvings. Embryo stepped up to check it out.
Whoever had made most these things was obviously an expert at their craft, from practical stuff, to animals, to abstract art, they had everything one could think of.
But out of everything there, there was one thing that caught Embryo's eye, a carving of a bird.
Embryo picked it up to examine it, it was so smooth in her talons, any loose slivers shaved away with perfection. The bird was carved so perfectly around the natural coloring of the wood as to match the color shifts in the feathers, it was almost as if this specific piece of wood was meant for this. The craftsdragon had obviously pour a lot of heart into making it. Embryo didn't know what type of bird this was, but she guessed Summit would, and she knew he'd love it. She had to get it for him.
"Excuse me," she asked one of the MudWings tending the tent. "How much would this cost?"
The MudWing looked at the carving and smiled, probably remembering her time crafting it. She named her price, and Embryo told her she'd be back later for it.
Embryo went from tent to tent seeing if anybody needed any work done and would be willing to take them in. Finally, at a tent near the edge of the gathering, she found a MudWing selling some produce.
"Yeah," he said, "Me and my sibs would be willing to have you. Just you and your brother you say?"
"No," Embryo replied, "He's more of a friend."
The MudWing furrowed his brow, "Friend as in boyfriend?"
Embryo blushed, "Well, I'm not sure about that yet, but he is my friend. And he's kind of cute... Anyway, yeah, he's just a friend." Maybe she was going to far.
Embryo knew MudWings weren't really into romantic stuff, so he was obviously having a hard time understanding, but finally he nodded. "Me and my sibs have some land on the other side of the market. You look small enough still, talons not to big. Think you can milk our cows without scaring them?"
Embryo hesitated, even in her village there was cow milking, but she'd never done it herself. "I'll try."
"Good," the MudWing answered, taking out a bucket, "Bring me back a few buckets of this, and retrieve the eggs from the chickens, and bring it here, and we can let you stay in our hut for the night, and I'll throw in a little something extra."
So Embryo made her way back through the market to the MudWing's land on the other side. There, she met one of his sisters, who showed her the way to the cows. Cows were always small compared to dragons, and given that they were always the natural predators, they always ran the risk of startling them. But while Embryo was just beyond of the age of being a dragonet, she was still small, and if she did it right, may be able to avoid scaring it.
"Hello," she said gently, approaching the first one, "It's alright uh..." She checked, "girl, I'm not going to hurt you." Embryo felt a little awkward that she knew how to tell the difference, but then she realized, "But of course you're a girl, I wouldn't be able to milk you if you weren'..." Embryo trailed off, suddenly realizing how self-conscious that fact made her feel.
Fortunately, the cow stayed still and allowed Em to milk her. She wasn't sure if her talons were meant for this kind of work, but they were small, and she was able to make do. Still, she couldn't get rid of that awkward sensation she felt, knowing what she was doing really meant.
After she was done with the cows, and the buckets were full, she brought them back to the MudWing at the tent, and went back to retrieve the eggs from chickens as well, who were also all girls; they wouldn't be able to lay eggs if they weren't...
Embryo paused, furrowing her brows. How was she suddenly just realizing how awkward this all was, how awkward it made her feel?
Embryo felt her face going red. She glanced around at the other MudWings at the market, hoping none of them saw her and wondered why she was acting so embarrassed for no apparent reason.
She ducked behind a tent, her face getting redder and redder. In her village, Egg Laying had been such a part of their lifestyle, she had never truly processed how awkward it was until now. And now it was all coming to her at once. She suppressed a whimper as she shifted her legs self-consciously. She tried to wait it out and let the feelings go away, but they just rushed at her all the faster. She couldn't tell if these feelings made here want to burst out laughing or crawl in a hole and never show her face to the world again, but there were MudWings all around, and she didn't need them asking her what in the three egg yolks (or three moons as dragons around here said for some reason) was going on with her. She just had to get to the farmer and deliver these eggs-
Deliver these eggs? Embryo squealed with self-consciousness inside, throwing her talons over her mouth so no one would hear.
When she finally made it back to the farmer, she was still red in the face. She handed him the eggs, and he handed her the money, then she rushed off to duck behind a rock beyond the edge of the market that must have fallen from a nearby bluff years ago, hiding until it all went away. The farmer didn't say anything, but as he watched her go, he couldn't help but wonder what in the three moons had gotten into her.
Embryo stayed behind the rock until the embarrassment faded. It was all normal, she tried to tell herself it was all normal, that egg laying was something to be proud of, but by now, there was no going back. However heroic and amazing Egg Laying was, Embryo knew there was something embarrassing about it as well. Eggs may provide delicious Omelets and even dragonets, but the whole fact of how it was done was completely and undeniably awkward, and Embryo was part of that group involved.
Finally, she decided it was time to come out. It was starting to get late in the day and she needed to find Summit and tell her she'd found a place. She was still feeling awkward, but it had went down enough (hopefully) for her to function.
As she made her way back into the market, she looked at the payment the MudWing had given her, this should be enough for that bird for Summit.
But when she finally reached the tent, and started looking around, it was nowhere to be found.
"Hey," she asked the craftsdragon, "That bird? Do you still have it?"
"Oh, I'm sorry," the dragon said, looking guilty, "I just sold it." She paused. "We get so many customers coming through here, we sometimes forget who was looking at what. I would have held it for you if I'd remembered. I'm sorry."
The dragon looked so deflated that Embryo couldn't help but feel sorry for her. She put so much heart into all her work that she must be overjoyed when somebody came along and loved it as much as she did, and it must be heartbreaking to realize that there wasn't always enough to go around. She'd seen the same kind of dedication and passion from many of the dragons in her village, so proud with every egg they could provide, so sad when they ran out without everyone trying...
But the thoughts of eggs was making Embryo feel self-conscious again, the same kind of self-consciousness that left her hiding behind the rock rather than getting Summit the special gift she'd wanted to give him. These were the things that OmeletWings valued, so shouldn't these be the things she value as well?
Finally, Embryo sighed. "It's alright, thank you anyway."
And with that, Embryo left the shop to go find Summit.
When she found him, Summit had set up shop in his own spot. He didn't have a tent or a stand or anything, but he'd caught a good catch, and the MudWings gathered were more than willing to buy.
"Summit," Embryo said, unable to hide the sadness from her voice, "I found us a place, and I managed to get a little extra money as well."
Summit looked at her, "Em, are you okay?"
She shrugged, "Yeah, just tired."
She told him the way to the MudWing hut, and he gathered up the remained of his catch to follow her.
As the Sun set in the horizon, Embryo and Summit sat in the doorway of the MudWing hut looking over the fields and bluffs in the distance. Embryo took in the air, it really was so different than the mountains, but at the same time so welcoming. While the MudWing sibs gathered together at the back of the hut, Embryo knew it was going to be awkward, humiliating even, but she figured now was the best time to tell Summit what was on her mind.
"Have you realized that non-meat food products always seem to come from females." Embryo asked, "Eggs, milk, I heard somewhere that even fruit is derived from the female equivalent of a plant."
Summit pondered this. "No, to be honest, it's never occurred to me like that." Summit braced himself, feeling this was going to be another of those really awkward conversations.
"It's just, I don't know how to feel about that. It's like we're some sort of food processors. Does it mark me as special, or does it mean my body just doesn't know what to do with itself, it can't help but give off girl stuff for others to consume?" Embryo was really red now. Why was she sharing this with him? She trusted all right, but these were girl questions, and he was a guy, a very cute guy, and she was- Oh, how she so wanted to bury herself in that hole about now. She didn't even want to know how awkward this was making him feel.
Summit was still trying to process her words. "Wow, that's..." Summit didn't know how to respond, "That's kind of a sad view to have of yourself." Of course, he'd never thought of this before, but now that he was, it was taking his crush for Embryo to a whole nother level. That was not something he needed right now.
"Well, it is the truth, isn't it?" She knew the answer, she just needed to know what Summit thought.
Summit was at a loss for words.
Embryo sighed, as awkward as this was to talk about, she was glad it was with Summit. That made her blush again. "Why are girls so weird?"
Summit hesitated. He'd need to let Embryo know how he felt without making this any more awkward than it already was. "I'm not sure how to answer that." He replied carefully. Pause. "But I do know I like you..." His red face was going red again, he needed to get back on track. "And for more than just that. You're my friend." He shifted uncomfortably, hopefully this would take both their minds off the subject. "At the market today, I saw something, so I decided to get it for you." He took out a small bundle of something, wrapped in cloth and handed it to her. Embryo, surprised, and grateful for the change in conversation, took it, letting the distraction wash her embarrassment away.
In her talons, she carefully unwrapped it, and underneath the cloth was the very same bird carving she had been wanting to get for him.
"She's a peregrine," Summit said, "she reminded me of you, you know. She's beautiful, she's determined... well actually, I don't really know if peregrines are determined, but..." Summit no longer knew where he was going with this. "Point is, she made me think of you, so I decided to get her for you."
Embryo started to tear up, "Oh Summit, I was going to get this for you."
Summit paused. "You... were?"
Embryo nodded, "Now what am I going to get you?"
Summit shrugged, "Don't worry about it, I don't need anything."
"But I want to get you something though," Embryo replied. "I don't know what it is yet, but I'm going to get you something nice."
The awkward moment was now fully in the past. Now as Embryo imagined making Summit happy when she finally found him that special something, a smile came to her face.