Fia's pert nostrils huffed from a tickling sensation when she entered the alchemist's shop. The slitted pupils of her watering eyes expanded to let in more of the dim light. "Achoo!" she sneezed. Her throat burned from holding back her fire. She did not want to get thrown out as soon as they got here; Diwa always told her not to start fires indoors.
After adjusting to the sight and scents, the pink dragonette could finally take in the oddities of the exotic store. Bundles of flowers hung upside down from the ceiling like chandeliers. An aisle of tropical, potted plants made Fia's mouth part out of interest. "Ooh." Instead of a blossom, the flower's head opened into a red mouth. Some thorny, green fangs lined the outside. She had the impulse to poke one claw into the plant's maw, but Fia was aware of a watchful dragon's presence. Near the door, a multicolored dragon stood behind the counter.
She glanced up to their guide with hopeful eyes. Although Diwa seemed too nice to make a fierce haggler, the dragoness had another way to garner higher prices.
"Hello, Klipip!" Diwa greeted the shop owner on friendly terms. "I'm back from the jungle. How's business been doing?"
"Swell! Swell," said the jolly dragon, Klipip. His clubbed tail paused work where he was pulverizing some natural material into a powder at the center of a large, stone bowl. Klipip reclined and lifted his chin in an attempt to make the display of his colorful scales look effortless.
Although his body had a similar coloration of green and blue as the typical dragons seen in Malakow, those two colors were intermixed at the same time. Whenever Fia thought that she had determined the color of an individual scale, he would shift his weight slightly. The green scales turned blue, and the blue scales turned green. All his scales would change again within her next few blinks. This was the first time that Fia had seen a dragon with iridescent scales. The crest along his throat shone a vibrant orange before descending to a rich yellow along his belly.
The golden eyes of the dragon seemed to light up when they fell upon Diwa. Klipip said, "Your scales look as shiny as ever, Diwa."
"Thanks." Diwa accepted his compliment without enthusiasm, especially as the dragon's garish scales made her look plain by comparison. If Klipip made any move to enter a telepathic space with her, Diwa politely declined. The dragoness hastily spoke of business. "I've brought you more supplies."
"That's great! The ingredients that I buy from you always get used up quickly." Klipip cleared an open spot on the counter for Diwa to lay out her offerings. While she got them out, he casually conversed with her. "Are you still living like a hermit in the middle of nowhere, all by yourself?"
"I'm not alone." Diwa's claws lingered over the ghast gecko tails that they had procured with Rokirith in the badlands. "Rokirith is never too far away."
"I was wondering if you're still tolerating that self-proclaimed sage. He's a pompous mule," Klipip huffed, "And he still owes me money!"
Fia and Viliant shared a puzzled look with each other. The former dragonette's eyes drew wide. That dragon isn't going to try to take all our hard-earned money, is he? Fia asked.
I wouldn't trust him, said Viliant, the dragonet who would not trust anybody. Or Diwa, for that matter. Watch closely. Let's get ready to act, just in case.
Fia braced her legs. Crouching low, she readied herself to dart in and snatch the herbs. She would pack as many into her mouth as possible and run away to sell them someplace else.
"Well…." Diwa replied to Klipip's claim of debt. "That sounds like something between you and Rokirith. You can settle that score yourself."
"I would if I could," Klipip said with a sad shake of his head. "I was told it wasn't worth the hassle. The guards wouldn't even try to detain that brute! You shouldn't hang around a dragon like that."
"You should try talking to Rokirith again. I know you two had a spat before, but he's gotten a lot better recently," Diwa said with her wide, innocent eyes aflutter with many blinks.
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"Ha!" Klipip sneered. "I'd sooner accept work as a human's chariot than suffer being around him. I doubt he'd ever change that much."
"You should see! We adopted an egg together recently."
The club of Klipip's tail, previously elevated in a good mood, turned in shock. Thunk. The blunt bobble landed against the wooden floor of his shop. "Ah, well, congratulations!" Klipip looked down at his tail which had betrayed his lack of enthusiasm. He lifted it back into a smile and continued to assess the goods laid before him. Klipip quietly did his job with no further small talk with Diwa.
The dragon hovered his chin close to the countertop. He flicked out his tongue to get a better sense of quality than his sniffing nostrils could provide. "Some of these herbs aren't as fresh as I'd like. The most I can give you is…."
Diwa and Klipip snapped some prices back and forth at each other. After one raise, Klipip was unwilling to go any higher. "Sorry, Diwa. I can't pay any more than that. You know you won't be able to find a better buyer around here."
"You used to give me a better price."
"I'm running a business here," Klipip deflected.
"Um, mister?" Fia bounced so that her head could pop over the countertop.
Klipip leaned over the counter to get a better look at her. The center of his slitted pupils dilated. "Hello, cute dragonette!" he cooed. "What's your name?"
"I'm Fia!" When she respectfully requested to talk to him over telepathy, he accepted. Just in case I mess up my words, she explained and took a deep breath. The dragonette launched into her most eloquent Malakow. "Diwa was helping me negotiate. These are actually my herbs. I'd like to sell them for…." Fia named the last price that she had overheard Diwa try.
Although Klipip had promptly rejected it from the adult dragoness, he now swished his tail back and forth. The dragon's mind seemed to stall. He did not like the offer, but he could not bring himself to reject it outright. "I have a soft spot for children. Even the human ones are so ugly, they're kind of cute."
"Huh?" Fia did not hide her confusion from Klipip. The dragons of Malakow had entirely different attitudes toward their humans than she had learned from her experience with Syene. "If you do pay us extra," she begged, "we'll use it very well! I need to go home to my parents across the ocean. The human kingdom declared war on us."
A series of rapid blinks fell over Klipip's eyes. "That's… terrible! I don't even know what to say." Klipip thrashed his head to shake away his astonishment. "I had half the mind to let an adorable dragonette like you swindle me anyway. Here." Klipip counted an assortment of gold and silver coins. He left them on the counter for Diwa to double check the amount while he busied himself with storing the leaves and tails. "It always amazes me how you stop at no length to help others," he murmured as Diwa approached the counter once more.
"Thanks for helping them too!" Diwa focused all her attention on the dragonets. Her claws pointed to the coins and slid them to one side. "This is how you count money. Pay close attention, Viliant." The dragoness could tell by Fia's intense interest that she would learn as rapidly as she had picked up the language. Viliant seemed equally ambivalent. "You should know this if you're going to work your way to travel alongside Fia."
Viliant forced himself to pay attention and memorized the value of plated petals and gilded blossoms. Once the total value was confirmed, Diwa put them in her satchel save for one gilded blossom. Pinched between two claws, Diwa held up the golden coin etched with the design of a lotus. "Put this in your satchel and keep it safe. You'll have to get used to carrying a few coins on you."
Fia nodded enthusiastically. The dragonette squirmed to open a smaller pocket in the satchel at her shoulder to welcome the coin. Plunk. Once she closed the flap, Fia straightened her flexible neck with pride. "Thank you!" she cheered.
"Thanks again, Klipip!" Diwa called on the way out.
"Goodbye! Till next time, Diwa."
Outside the store, Fia clarified their progress with Diwa. "Did I do a good job? Do we have more than you thought?"
"We have about as much as I was expecting," Diwa admitted with a sigh. "But yes, Fia, you did a very good job. We would have even less if you didn't talk to Klipip so nicely."
Her tail curled into a triumphant smile. "Now it's time for the tournament!" she roared, ready for another victory.