“The difference between being prepared and over prepared is how much you can carry. Luckily, my bag could fit this entire store.”~Erat Ur, After inventing the first expanding bag and running to the nearest store front.
Bernin had made a point of going shopping on her journey. Sampling what each city she travelled to had to offer. It was her way to fill downtime. This had the side effect of not having been to the market for quite a while. Now, making her way over she wondered if that small cafe she sat at last time was even still there. She decided to just scrap her plan and see what is there when she arrived, her home had changed enough that it was time to explore.
The market had changed…she remembered the small stalls, crammed together in a field with too little room. Having to snake and manoeuvrer between vendors and having to shout to even make yourself heard. Instead of the small space she used to run through as a kid, now stood a more sedate building. It was still the full width, but the open space had been replaced and was now fully contained in this box of twisting crystal. It didn’t look awful, but if Bernin was being honest, seeing it broke something small inside her.
It made no sense that the market would still be the same, since she had been young, there had been many other changes to the university and this was just another one of them. Still, she hadn’t expected it, it hurt to see something she spent her childhood in changed so much. She stood there for a few minutes, lost in her memories. Eventually though, she took a deep breath in and moved forward, it was time to explore and it appeared she had a lot to see.
The inside of the market was a lot more open than she had initially expected. From the entrance she could see 3 different levels. Each with an open space and hanging platforms. There was even a restaurant floating in the centre. Inside it was just as busy as she remembered, but differently. Instead of people running between stalls and screaming to be heard, now different flows of people moved between stores, trying to not push the people next to them out of the way. She decided she needed some time to sit and luckily there seemed to be a cafe relatively close to the entrance.
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It was nice. A calm in the storm. She sipped her tea and looked over the crowd. Now, sitting here she could see the calm in between the chaos. Taking another deep chug she took another calming breath and decided it was time to move. She had some new clothes, camping equipment and maybe some travel items to buy and she was going to enjoy it. Even if she had expected this day to go very differently, it was time to actually do something…. Maybe just one more mug of tea, it really was quite good.
Another hour later, she had finally moved from the café. She hadn’t gone far, the clothing store was next door. She was looking through some new suits, her old ones were still fine, but it couldn’t hurt to get a new one, especially since she was going to meet a VIP pretty soon.
A few hours later, she finally got home. She had two full bags of clothing, a portable tent with a full dining room and attached kitchen, finally she also had some basic cleaning supplies. The label promised that they simply needed to be added to fresh water and could then be used to clean herself.
She had also sent a message to the sun-riders and booked a ride outside the desert. She could technically travel north on her own power. The spells required to shield herself from the effects of the desert were taught to everyone, but since she doubted there would be a lot of comfort in the wilds, she decided to splurge a bit and get a ship instead.