Austin Rayfield swept his parents' tiny shop moving pots of plants as he cleaned up the dirt and dust. His mom was tending to the plants that needed to be harvested. She carefully cut pieces off and treated the wounds. Austin noticed that she seemed happiest when she took care of the plants. This made him work harder cleaning up the shop.
No customers came in since the shop opened at dawn. This wasn't unusual, Austin rarely saw people come in the shop to buy anything. He kept busy helping his mother transfer plants from their small garden to pots. "Sprout, pay attention." his mom said to him. " When you are digging up the Fire Sage it's best if you have Elemental Ice to counteract the heat it produces. We don't have any to spare right now so we just have to be quick. The direct sunlight makes them mostly dormant, but once we start working they get hot fast." Austin's Mom explained as she brought a plain eighteen inch diameter clay pot with a simple rune etched into the surface.
Austin looked at the hardy shrub that grew in profuse spikes. Thin green sharp leaves grew halfway up and softly glowing orangish red flowers grew from there. His mom went into action quickly she pushed back the shrub at the base and whipped out a small knife and started to harvest. As she cut away the shrub she put the stalks into the clay pot. The soft glowing flowers started to brighten the orange turning more red, the red turning yellow and heat started to come off the shrub in waves, each more intense than the last. By the time she got 10 handfuls of Fire Sage harvested the heat was too intense to continue.
Austin was 10 ft away and could still feel the intense heat coming off of the plant. His mom turned and pulled the clay pot full of harvested fire sage away from the rest of the shrub. Her face glistened with sweat as her hair was matted to the sides of her face. Her cheeks, nose, and forehead all glowed slightly red as if she got slightly burnt. To Austin she was the most beautiful creature in the world and he ran up to give her a hug.
As Austin was hugging her his mother looked down and gently pushed him away. " Sprout, don't do that, I'm all sweaty. " Feeling dejected Austin walked back into the shop as his mother took care of the rest of the Fire Sage.
As he sulked around the shop, he heard the chiming of the Corel Fairy Bellflower. These flowers were by the entrance so they would know when somebody came into the shop. Austin was nervous around strangers and quickly looked around to try and spot his mother. When he couldn't find her Austin steeled his nerves and went to greet the customer. He was relieved to see that the customer was actually his father returning but there was somebody entering the shop right behind him.
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" Dad!" Austin exclaimed as he ran up and hugged his dad's leg burying his face in the rough clothing. Austin's dad looked down and smiled as he ruffled his son's hair. " Hey Buddy. How's the shop going today? We getting a lot of customers?" "Uh.nnn" Austin grunted a negative response into his dad's leg. "That's ok Little Man, I found a good opportunity for us. This is Mr. Woodley, and he is looking for some help."
"Where are your brothers and sister? " Austin's dad asked his son. Austin looked up at his dad confused. " They're at school. " Austin replied. Austin's dad dramatically slapped his hand against his forehead. " Oh that's right they're all at school. " His dad looked at Mr Woodley and said "This is the only child I have available at this point. " Gesturing at Austin.
Austin then looked over at the man for the first time. He seemed like a dark scary giant. He wore a black long overcoat with double buttons that held it closed. a tall popped collar obscured part of his face. His hair was cut short and was all gray. A scar stretched from the bridge of his nose across his left cheekbone.
The man stared at Austin scaring him down to his core. This man, Mr Woodley, seemed to epitomize everything that was scary to Austin. Austin withered under his gaze and tried to hide behind his father .
Woodley directed his gaze back to Austin's father "Matt, this is not what we agreed upon." Matt motioned for Woodley to follow him. "Gilbert, Let's talk in the back," The two men walked into the back room leaving Austin alone in the small shop.
After the door closed, the two started arguing. Austin couldn't hear everything they said but he did hear snippets. "... Other older children should be doing this"
" contract clearly states available child…"
"... Will not endanger someone so young"
After a few minutes both men came back from the back room. Matt looked at his son " Well Austin, it looks like you're going out to help Mr Woodley here. Make sure you do everything he says and stay safe"
"All right boy, I've already wasted enough time." Gilbert said as he scratched at the side of his neck underneath his popped collar. "We need to get going if I'm still going to be able to make out on this deal" he then strode out of the front entrance of the shop and Austin nervously followed behind.
As they walked through the town Gilbert explained to Austin what he was expected to do. "All right boy, listen up. Your dad could be a right bastard sometimes but he knows that I would never willingly endanger your life. I'm not exactly sure how I'm going to have you help me. Carrying stuff most likely, but you're little so I don't know how much help that's going to be. Can't have you fighting anything or acting as bait, it's too dangerous." At this point Gilbert was talking mostly to himself trying to figure out what exactly Austin was going to do.
The distance they traveled brought them farther than Austin had ever been from his house as they left the food markets and entered into the Kindred Market. Austin's eyes grew large as he saw the different vendors selling the different beasts to be bonded to people.