"Are you here to buy some more candy?" The little girl asked, eyes brimming with hope as she looked towards Norbert and her mother. The girl was so excited that she hadn't listened adequately to the conversation.
"He's not here for candy this time." The mother said.
Feeling the fox's tail curl slightly harder around Norbert, "Well …" he provided, feeling the tail lessen around his neck once more. The smell of candy wafting into his nose, its sweetness surrounding him, adding the slight hesitation to his words.
The little girl's eyes were brimming, and tears almost fell out of her face in hope. The mother nodded as she walked to the back, and the little girl was already there, fumbling around with something.
The lights came on above Norbert's head, his eyes watering from the sudden light. Having been used to the low light that was previously scattered by the lamp used, Norbert stayed still for a moment.
DING
The sound came from the counter as Norbert looked up. The little girl standing there looked at Norbert expectantly. "What would you like, sir?"
Norbert smiled as he stood up straight, looking at the candies and lollies around him, dancing in the light, all wanting to be chosen by himself.
***
Norbert leaning on the counter, a large sack of candies sprawled on the table as the two of them feasted on the spoils that Norbert had bought before. She wondered if her mother would be happy with the amount of sugar this kid had next to him.
Norbert did not care, as the fox on his shoulder and Obsius joined in on the sugar rush that was given to all in the front of the little, popular candy shop.
"Hrmmph"
Everyone stopped their meeting and looked up to where the sound came from. The mother back, looking down at her daughter, whose cheeks were being puffed out with the candies she tried to stuff in there.
Norbert turned to the mother, hoping to look at her face as she was more presentable now. Norbert put the rest of the lollies in a sack, much to the daughter's annoyance, until she looked at her mother. She was jumping off the stool and running out of the room before she could get scolded.
The mother sighed as she sat down on the stool, moving around slightly to get comfortable. Rolling out the candy on the table, Norbert looked down at it, the same as before. Norbert flicked it between two fingers, bouncing it between his hands as he looked towards one of the pink mothers.
"Able to get anything out of it?" Norbert asked her.
"Only half the story." The lady said as she rolled out several more next to him. Norbert is looking and unable to tell which was which. Changing his vision to magic, they all looked the same, a gentle hum of green coming off the candies.
"Then what's the other half?"
"Go to the temple quarters; a divine blessing should give the same result as whatever originally cast the spell."
"Believe it was a witch that cast that," Norbert added, half looking at the candies on the table, wondering how many more the woman could make.
"Be careful with those witches; there's a reason why they do everything and normally not for others," she said, her stern voice stopping Norbert from moving the candy.
Norbert just nodded as he looked at the seven there. How many more candies can you make? Seven isn't going to cut it," Norbert said as he thought about the kids coughing on the street, wasting away. "Not for those kids, at least," Norbert whispered.
"Kids?" The mother asked Norbert.
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Nodding his head, Norbert adds, "A bunch of kids are sick in Libitina. Some of them have already been cured with the same batch I received that one." He points to the candy between my hands before continuing, "But there's still a bunch more that need to be cured before I move them off."
"You're moving them here?" The mother asked, hair prickling at the back of her neck.
"No, being abandoned in one city, only to be abandoned in the next, doesn't sit right. Hopefully, taking them to Flare-dew, where someone will help them out." Norbert said wistfully, hoping that Helga could help him out, not having asked the woman or the town about it yet.
"So, how many candies do you need?" She asked Norbert.
Norbert sat there, thinking about how many would be needed. "At least a hundred should suffice. I don't know the exact number, but it's better to have too many than not enough," Norbert said, shuddering slightly as he thought about the houses that could be filled with kids. At least some of them wouldn't be as sick now.
"Then two hundred it is. I'll get it to you by the morning. There is no charge except for the entertainment of my daughter," the mother said to Norbert, a pained smile on her face before she walked off, stopping Norbert from refusing or adding anything extra to the comment.
The daughter came out as Norbert heard sounds from the back. Equipment was moved around and fired up, ingredients poured out and began to boil, and the smell of lemon tickled his nose.
Something pulled on his hand, holding the sack as he looked down. The daughter reached inside for more candies for her to eat. Shaking his finger at her, Norbert sat on the stool, placing her on his lap as he handed him candy.
"Do you want to hear a story about a giant beanstalk, a golden goose and a boy named Jack?" Norbert asked her.
"What’s a beanstalk?"
***
"So, what's the moral of the story? Is there a meaning behind it?" Norbert asked the girl.
"I don't know, giants are silly?" She asked him.
"If that's what you see, then that's what you see," Norbert cryptically and annoyingly adds.
He received a bop on his chest from the little girl looking up at him, who had an annoyed look on her face.
"That's not a proper answer." Arms crossed over her chest as she grumbled to Norbert.
"Okay, okay. Luck comes in many forms, some obvious, some not so obvious. The truly lucky are those who pick the best path and can come out the other side the best." Norbert spoke, lowering his voice to a whisper.
"Like Jack!"
"Yes, just like Jack," Norbert said, nodding. Looking outside, Norbert could see people starting to move about through the windows as the sun slowly raised its head over the walls.
Hearing steps from behind himself, Norbert spun around in the chair, the fox and the bird on either shoulder following with the girl on his lap. Standing there was the mother, a sack in her hand, Norbert already knowing what was inside.
Picking up the little girl and placing her on the ground, Norbert stood up all the way and stretched his back, hearing it crack as it was finally able to move again.
Norbert crumpled slightly as he felt the blood rushing properly through his back once more. Standing up straight, he saw the Pink Pair's looks of slight horror. Norbert just smiled as he reached for the candies.
"A bit over two hundred in there." The mother said to Norbert.
Nodding his head, he opened it up and had a quick look inside. All of them looked the same as the others. She placed the other seven she had made before into the sack, keeping the one that could cure by itself in his coin pouch.
"A temple should be able to help?" Norbert asked.
"Hopefully."
"Fingers crossed, you're right. Now, it's best that I head off now. I hope you both have a wonderful day", Norbert said as he walked down the aisles once more, the candies glittering in the half-light as he wondered if he should go for another pack for the road.
He dismissed the thought, knowing he shouldn't be distracted by the candies around him anymore. Norbert reached for the door, opening it as the bell tinkled above his head.
Stepping on the street, looking back at the small family, wondering what happened to the husband or if there ever was one. He opened his mouth, only shaking his head, having at least half some sensibility, knowing now wasn't the time to leave them.
A pained expression fell on him, shouting out over the shop, the candies trying to act as a barrier.
"Times are changing."
"Aren't they always." The mother sorrowfully added to Norbert.
Looking into her eyes, Norbert saw the pain of war, the pink hair usually for cotton candy now of poison being poured into wine glasses, now mixed in without a trace. Festered blood fell on the ground, the rain mixing it in and trying to wash it away, but clumps remained there. Families torn apart as spells shot overhead, blasting town to smithereens.
A lone dog hobbling out of the ruins, torn and demented as it walked on broken limbs, turning back to the family still there, unable to escape, forever stuck on the walls, a reminder to everyone else, as things started living in their heads, pink flowers coming out of it.
The flowers of the dead litter the hills and valleys. The kids played through them, not knowing what happened under their feet, until someone would trip on an old helmet or shield, unearthing the horror again, the butterflies shooting off and flying into the air from their screams.
Norbert shook himself from the thought. The smile once returned, and Norbert had an inkling of a feeling that he now knew what had happened to the husband.
Smiling at her once more, Norbert left, hoping he didn't impact the business for the day too much with his request.