Fiona didn’t have to wait long for a response, as Darla pointed to a tent where several baubles were on display, and a young woman was working on hand carvings from a supple pile of wood. “I buy one of her little carvings every year. I love her talent.”

The woman in question, a dark-haired girl with bright red cheeks, seemed to move with an unnatural alacrity, whittling away to make a carving of a small wooden doll. Her current client was a young kitsune girl with dark brown fur and blue eyes, looking on in excitement. The crafter finished the job by dressing it in a small pile of doll-sized clothes, and the girl clutched the prize while her mother smiled and handed a few silvers to the woman.

“Aw, that’s awesome. I want one! Better wood than cloth though, Tucker might try to use it as a chew toy. That booger has teeth like a steel trap,” Fiona added with a contented sigh. Watching the woman work as she prepared one for Darla was just as impressive: each doll was unique, and the grains of each were unique, and she carved them in different poses. Her hands were almost a blur, and she handed the finished doll to Darla, who nodded and gave her a healthy helping of silver coins.

“How many is that, Darla?” The woman called out. Darla shrugged and counted her fingers.

“Eh, Seven? It’s like a tradition for me now, Tessa. Our new girl Fiona is still learning stuff, she’s new around here,” she replied, while casually waving to her.

“Hah! This cutie here?” Tessa laughed, and extended a hand to greet Fiona. “Well goodness be, are you a sight! You’re the woman that forced the surrender of that nasty dragon?”

“Hey, I wasn’t soloing that army myself, the adventurers guild was there. Anyway, think you could make one for me?” Fiona asked politely.

“Right away!” she beamed, and her hands went to work, chipping and trimming gently. Fiona could barely keep up with the hand motions, and Tessa effortlessly worked on the craft, the rough edges giving way to a smoothed shape that looked a bit different than the others crafted shapes. Shorter, with stubby horns? What was she crafting?

"That's incredible how fast you work with that," Fiona breathed, fascinated by this demonstration. Tessa continued to work even as spoke merrily, never interrupting the trimming or refining of the details.

“Funny how this craft works with my class. People ask for a doll, and I just know what to cut and shape. Lots of kids end up with animals, or dolls, a few with dragons. Sometimes family member caricatures. Not all dragons are bad, far from it! But Douglas ...never had a reputation, before this. He was even a trade partner, before he got ambitious, I guess.”

“You know it’s funny you say that, that guy seemed to not be very mean. Vain, maybe, but uh…he didn’t strike me as some tyrannical overlord,” Fiona admitted. “I dunno, he complained about something being stolen from him, and he was taking it back, and he said, the Kingdom were the aggressors first! He wasn’t in a talking mood after I started giving him forty whacks with my hammer, and I wasn’t in a kind and listening mood, after he tried to make me into a flambé elf."

"I'm convinced you're immortal," Greg stated dryly. She wasn't sure if he was joking or not.

"Honestly, the guy wasn’t putting his heart into it. I took his stuff and this wicked black crystal scepter from him, and told him that if I ever heard he was being mean to people again, I’d turn him into an armor set!” Fiona said proudly while thumping her chest. “He got so scared when I said that, too!”

“Probably because he believed you’d follow through,” Greg commented with a crease of his lip that disappeared quickly when she turned to look at him directly. After a few minutes, Tessa was finished, and handed the completed doll to her, dressed in a vest, and leggings of…

She stopped, and pondered on this strange relief. “Tessa, why a kobold?” she asked with a raised eyebrow. “I mean, it’s cute and all…”

“Ah, sometimes, you just let the magic guide you,” she answered softly, with a glint of amusement in her eyes. “Do you ever feel the urge of your magic? To just follow your heart?”

“I uh–” she trailed off, and frowned, still pondering this figure in her hand. If she shrunk Doug the dragon down in scale and gave him stubby wings, he’d almost look like this, she figured. Which was a rather odd thought to her. She glanced down at that doll, then at Tessa, wearing a contented smile.

She thought back to her own strange experiences, ever since she’d gotten her merchant license. And the class associated with it. Was Wingding trying to tell her something?

What are you, Wingding? Maybe I had it right the first time, you're a living mark. But, where did you come from? She thought as she glanced at her class mark.

With fortuitous timing, she glanced up and saw Kieran with his wife, who was scolding him before giving him a loving hug in the background, along with his two sons who wore expressions of absolute joy. He took note of her and waved politely.

For some reason, that tingle of energy was back and arcing up her arm. No riches traded hands–but, it felt like something was gained.

Tessa followed her gaze and smiled. “Is your mark telling you something?" she asked thoughtfully. “I’ve seen that gaze with people who just had a trip to visit an Administrator.”

“Uh, nah, my hands just cramped a little from the impromptu melee,” she deflected softly. “But, I get that. Sometimes, you gotta go with your gut instinct on things. Even when your brain tells you the smart move.”

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“Spoken like one who recognizes, but not necessarily understands,” Tessa commented with a respectful nod. “I find that when I let the magic guide me…I tend to make a totem that is important to the person I make it for. Even if neither you nor I understand the significance at first.”

“So I should keep an eye out for a short, anxious-looking kobold?” she asked.

“Or just someone short of stature, but filled with a heart of bravery,” Tessa added with a chuckle. “What about you, Darla?”

“Oh, I’ve seen your magic at work dear,” Darla replied with her tail gently wagging back and forth slowly. “So, what do you think, Fiona?"

"It's...incredible." She did find that a lot of love and care went into this little idol. Maybe she'd figure out the importance, later, and she pulled out some extra coins from her pouch. "Here, a little extra for ya, and thank you so much!” Fiona responded and placed several gold coins into Tessa’s hand, who nodded politely.

But the motion caused Fiona to do a double take, and looked down at her coin pouch. Which was now, almost full again, minus the coins that were still melty and affixed to her hammer. Wait. wasn’t this empty? These are the same count of coins I tossed! There’s even one with jelly stains from my donut this morning!

“Uh, Fi, you okay?” Bonnie asked after a second.

“Yeah, I’m fine, trying to make sure there isn’t a hole in my pocketbook,” she responded with a laugh. “Remind me, I flung a whole bunch of coins at Baldy McBeard-face, right?”

“You did. I don’t remember you picking them up.” Bonnie peered at her coin purse, when she showed it to her, and her shining eyes went wide. “Well, that is a handy power.”

“See? Sometimes, the magic has instincts of its own,” Tessa smiled. “It’s getting close to sundown, you guys staying for the fireworks?”

“We do have a prior arrangement,” Greg said persuasively. “But, thank you, Tessa.”

“Thank you so much!” Fiona called out cheerily, and pocketed the carved kobold in her purse. She still was wondering about the significance of it. Was it a love interest? Someone she was supposed to help out, a future friend, maybe? Or, less likely, a play friend for Tucker? Wait, no, Tucker might try to eat the kobold, that wouldn’t work out well at all.

As they departed, Fiona thought about the strange events of the day. It certainly felt like there was more than a subtle set of hints she’d found along the way.

But she was just a merchant, now. She wasn’t destined for greatness, was she? She’d hung that up with her armor, and replaced it with a cute vest and tie...hadn't she?

She hoped she had.

“You know what guys, this was a lot of fun! I love festivals, we totally have to do this next year!” Fiona declared, one arm wrapped around Bonnie and Greg. Darla had to suffice with a tail breezing by her back.

“Hmm, the day’s not over yet, we’ll have to see what our princess is indeed up to,” Greg mused. “It never stays dull around here with you around, Fiona.”

The shadows from the trees grew longer, and the sun dipped down past the hills to the west, bathing the world in crimsons and purples. Puffy clouds above were painted in shades of beauty, and contrasted against an increasingly darkened sky. Little arcane lights winked into existence on small wire posts across the festival grounds, and little children chased around glowing firebugs that danced through the unseasonably warm fall day. Fiona and her friends wrapped up their visit to a vendor that was selling sweet rolls–and Fiona half expected some guard to ask her if hers went missing.

The crowd had thinned a bit through the late afternoon, and the jubilant cheers from the events on the field filtered down here, though more muted. Families started walking back to the city gate, where arcane lights adorned the short trail, and steam wagons slowly made their way back to the safety and coziness of stone walls and fairytale architecture. Fiona found herself gazing at all of this, and pondering how she’d missed this, all her life.

“You know what the weird part is?” she asked a short time later. Darla had somehow procured a cup of coffee for each of them–where did she stash that, indeed? And it was still hot, and carried notes of hazelnut! “Even from a bazillion miles away, I find it incredible that some stuff is universal. It’s like someone took the bits of earth, and a bunch of other places, and stitched them all together, here, in this one world. And somehow, they got it to work.”

“Oh, it may appear picturesque, but the kingdom of forty years ago, before Greybeard took the throne, was not so enlightened,” Greg said with his usual calm tone, and took a gentle sip from his mug. Bonnie was leaning on, smiling contentedly, and even more so when he pretended she wasn’t there. “There was a lot of strife here, before the Unified Kingdoms joined. There were wars. Terrible ones. This age we’ve had in the last twenty, twenty-five years? Its been hard-earned. Greybeard laying waste to Vale, back then? It was a turning point.

“That wasn't the only conflict, either," Bonnie interjected. "The desert kingdom wanted more fertile land, to the far west, and their slave trade was known the people in the western expanse weren’t so keen on conquest. A lot became deserters and refugees. And the Saviri kingdom lost badly. But not without putting up a good fight with steam machines and mechanical arms. Greybeard was merciful in not wanting to march right across the desert to raze what was left of their population off the map.”

“Greybeard is, historically, exceedingly even-tempered and adept at rule, and divested power to the larger counsel as an appeasement from his fathers’ rule,” Greg continued. Fiona listened in, attentively. “Lucy and the other siblings saw the tail end of that conflict. I think his even-handedness comes from his children, and wanting a better kingdom not just for them, but for everyone. Which is why it surprised me when he retired, and put Barry temporarily in charge. He’s still technically King, but…”

“He’s on a short leash, so he can only get away with so much. And maybe, his father is trying to judge what kind of king he’ll be, like what we’re putting our dear Kali through,” Darla said, golden orbs flickering with interest at her peers. “Seriously, I can’t believe Kali didn’t become roast chicken, with Fiona around.”

“Heeeey, I’m not that aggressive!” she protested. “Besides, he’s got talent. He just needs to be nudged to be smarter about how he uses it. Anyway, we should meet Lucy at her apartment. I guess we’re gonna be in for some kind of surprise. I also think she's been planning it for a little bit. She didn’t ‘just show up’ at the festival by coincidence.”

“Lucy takes after her dad, but has a mischievous streak,” Darla said while rubbing at her cheek gently. Fiona can sense it, they have a connection of some kind.

“Oh, is she a tryst of yours?” Fiona leaned in with a wicked smile, watching her sharp-toothed friend laugh heartily at that suggestion.

“Nope! She might be more your type, Fi, to be honest. Nah, she just loves dropping by the shop once a week, never the same time twice, to get away from the palace intrigue crap. She suggested I start offering tea, but I don’t have a good supplier for that,” she added with a frown. “Anyway, she just tosses gossip with me for a bit, leaves after a while, and has maybe one palace guard with her, dressed in civilian wear. She’s pretty good about blending in, when she needs to. But I haven’t heard a word from her about you, or the shop. So, I think this is something new.”

“Guess we’re going to find out,” Fiona said as she tipped back the rest of her coffee. She glanced at the autumn twilight, and wondered what other wonders and surprises awaited her, in this new world.

She tended to agree with Greg: whatever it was, it wasn’t going to be dull.