This is home

When Mary had finished telling Tenac about what she had been up to, she asked him the same question and by the time they arrived at the entrance to the marketplace he was just about finished telling her.

Mary felt good about only needing to ask about a couple of words that she didn’t understand. She started to feel more confident in her Salamis, she thought as she handed in her knife.

“You could have left it at home” Tenac pointed out once she was done. She looked at him in confusion.

“I never thought about it” she confessed. “I have had it with me every day since I was ten”

“Where do you want to start today? We could start here and go the opposite direction from the other day, or we can walk to the other side and start from there.”

“Where are we meeting the others after lunch?” Mary asked.

“Back here” Tenac answered.

“Then I think we can star in the back and work our way here” Mary said. Tenac nodded and indicated that she should take a hold of his arm. There were a lot of people moving around and it made sense to keep close to him.

He led her through to the other side of the market and then they slowly started walking between the stands, watching, and talking. Mary enjoyed it, it felt easy and uncomplicated.

“In this part of the market there are temporary stands, you can pay a sum and set up for a day or a week” he explained as the walked. “Therefor there are mostly foreign traders here, you can find some exotic things.”

Just as he had said that, as if it was planned, a loud squawk was heard, and Mary turned in the direction from which it came. Close to them there was a trader with a stall full of different items. But what caught Mary’s interest was the large bird that was perched on the man’s shoulder.

The bird was large and had sky blue feathers with yellow details running through them. Its beak was massive, and the talons looked like they could cause serious harm. The bird sat on the shoulder and looked quite happy, sometimes it squawked but it didn’t look to be out of dissatisfaction.

“Should we take a closer look?” Tenac asked as he followed Mary’s gaze. Mary nodded.

When the walked up to the vendor he looked at Mary and gave her a warm smile. She guessed he was a bit older than her, he had long brown hair that was gathered in a ponytail and golden-brown eyes that seemed to sparkle when he smiled at her.

“Hello beautiful lady, I’m Kazoor, what can I assist you with today?” he asked Mary in Salamis with a thick accent.

“The lady was fascinated with your bird” Tenac answered before Mary had a chance. Kazoor shifted his focus to Tenac, he seemed to do an evaluation of him and then smiled, this smile however was stiffer.

“Of course, Para always draws the attention” Kazoor said smoothly, referring to the bird. “Would you like to give him a nut?” he asked, turning to Mary, holding out a big nut that Mary had never seen before.

“If I may” she answered, and he showed her how to hold it and then leaned forward so she could offer it to the bird. The bird looked at her for a second and then, gently, opened its big beak and took the nut from her. It then took a hold of the nut with one of it’s feet and started nibble at it.

Mary could feel that Tenac was tense and stood close to her. She pulled her eyes away from the bird and looked down on the merchandise that was displayed in the stall. There were a lot of different items, everything looked to be made by skill full artisans of different types.

“Are they all your work?” she asked the vendor.

“No, I’m not skilled enough with my hands to produce any of these fine goods. I buy them from the artisan in my home country and then I sell them here” Kazoor said.

Mary nodded and continued to browse among the many items. She kept an eye on the vendor. Something in the way he looked at her, or was it in the way he talked to her, made her uneasy.

“They are beautiful, just as your bird” Mary offered. “We need to get going, I hope you have a nice day” she said turning to leave, Tenac still close by her.

“Going so soon? I was hoping that Para and I could offer you a bite to eat. Something from back home” ´she heard Kazoor say.

“What a kind offer but I don’t think that would be possible” Mary told him, looking at Tenac as she wasn’t used to turn people down. Tenac seemed to sense her unease.

“No, it won’t be” he agreed with her, looking straight at the vendor. He put his hand at her lower back and let her know that she could move forward. Mary started walking and after a couple of steps she glanced back over her shoulder. Kazoor was still watching her.

“I didn’t like that man” she whispered to Tenac. “Something was off about him”

Tenac gave her a surprised look and then a crooked smile.

“I think you are right. It wouldn’t surprise me if his real business in Salmis has nothing to do with the marketplace or his goods” he told her quietly as he guided her through the crowd. She gave him a questioning look, but his slight shake of the head told her he didn’t want to elaborate on it, so she left it be.

They continued for a while when Mary suddenly stopped, a very familiar sent had just hit her nose. Tenac stopped when she did, and he looked at her as she sniffed.

“What?” he asked.

“It smells like the meat skewers they have at the market in Dermes” she replied and tried to home in on the sent. She turned a little to the left and a couple of stalls further away she saw a stand that looked to be from Dermes. They even had a small grill set up with the skewers going.

Mary let out an exciting squeak and grabbed Tenacs hand without realising it. She started dragging him in the direction of the stall in question. She loved the meat skewers at the market, they tasted divine, and she hadn’t had any for over a year.

“My treat this time” she told Tenac that looked at her as if she was going crazy.

“Four please” she told the woman manning the grill. She hadn’t realised she still spoke Salamis until the women asked is she could repeat it in Common.

Soon Mary had paid for and received four delicious looking skewers and was handing two to Tenac. Now they only needed someplace a bit quieter to eat them. Tenac seemed to know what she was thinking.

“This way” he told her and watching to make sure she could keep up, he made way to an area to the side of the main path. There were some wooden boxes standing by the sides and Tenac gestured her to sit on one and then he sat on another.

Mary bit in to the first of her skewers and enjoyed the familiar taste of meat and onions covered in spices. She almost forgot where she was and was about to let out a satisfied moan but caught herself just in time. She made do with giving a little sigh of contentment.

“These are really good, what do you call them?” Tenac asked, he had devoured his first one.

“Meat skewers” Mary said, making him laugh. She looked at him.

“Straight to the point on that one” he continued to laugh. Mary shrugged, why complicate things?

“It must be nice to see something from back home” he said when he had finished laughing and had eaten his last skewer. Mary had half one left.

“Dermes isn’t home, not anymore. This is home now” she said quietly,

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean…” Tenac started.

“It’s okay, I know what you mean. And I probably should be more nostalgic. But I have felt more at home here in the past weeks than I did the last couple of years in Dermes” Aya tried to explain. “That’s why it’s so important that I try to learn to fit in here. But I have always loved the meat skewers” she tried to explain.

“And why wouldn’t you, those were delicious” Tenac said with a smile, trying to lighten the mood. “And don’t worry, you fit in just fine. If I didn’t know better, I would think you were a native” he added.

“Thank you”

“Ready to continue?” he asked when he saw that she had finished eating. She nodded. “Want to go and check out the stall from Dermes?” She nodded again.