"Where did you get it from?" said Syn staring in awe at the flag.
"I got this from my Nana's chest. This will surely bring some attention to our shop."
Despite its evident state of discoloration and usage, the cloth was impressive. A red and black Salamander was sewn to it and flapped against the wind. The Salamander was incredibly detailed and was breathing fire toward the end of the cloth, with intent eyes that seemed to follow anyone looking at it.
"It does look impressive. Are you sure she won't mind?" asked Syn suspiciously.
"I don't think she'll ever notice. In all these years I've never seen her take it out of the chest."
"Let's hope you're right," she said pensively.
The flag got loose on one side and hit the bump of Nyk's forehead before slowly feathering to the floor. "Ow," he said, rubbing the still tender spot, "I still don't know how you could be so mean."
Syn giggled picking it up. "It's all your fault. Without my help and discipline, you would still be sleeping."
"Such a great thing to have you around," winced Nyk grabbing one side of the cloth.
"Stop complaining. Just imagine if you had to figure out everything we did today by yourself," Syn teased, playfully bumping Nyk's arm as she properly tied the cloth to the giant fork.
"Right so, if you had been alone you'd now be thanking Zosimos for carrying you back after fainting from the scare Bhaltazer gave you," he poked her while he tied the other end to the knife.
Syn's jaw dropped, and the next thing Nyk noticed was a tusk hitting his shoulder. He quickly fled to the other side of the cart grabbing a pebble and throwing it on her direction as she chased him around.
Their banter continued as they made further tweaks to their stall. Slowly, festival-goers passing by began to stop to look at the attention-grabbing flag of a fire-spitting lizard tied to a giant fork and a giant knife casually stabbed on top of a small cart and the two peculiar kids running in circles around it.
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Nyk's flag had been a brilliant stroke and was working much better than Syn could've ever anticipated. It was as if the flag tied to the giant utensils had suddenly turned their little blanket into a legitimate shop. People treated them with respect, as much respect as an adult would give to a pair of kids, anyway.
Syn quickly made up her mind. There was no way she was going to mention the flag's effects on people. Nyk would surely spend several weeks sticking flags to anything that moved in the village if she did. She decided her mouth would remain shut.
Most people didn't understand Nyk as well as she did. The one thing you had to know about him was that he couldn't be tamed. His energy simply never ran out. Syn had learned that early when, years ago, her parents tasked her with keeping safe the small ball of energy and nerves that accompanied the huge woman looking for help.
Not to say she didn't love Nana like her own Grandmother, but for some unknown reason, she had filled Nyk's head with countless made-up stories about Academies and warring Cardslingers, which was making him turn more and more into this airheaded kid that didn't think about consequences.
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He was genuine but unruly. Caring yet thoughtless. Passionate yet clueless. Not a pinch of common sense resided in his body. For now, she was around, helping him, but she wouldn't always be by his side. He needed to begin realizing he had to think forward before she left.
Despite all this, Syn couldn't help but smile widely. Proud of her best friend as he ran from customer to customer, telling them about the ridiculous names he gave to their inventions and the adventures they had had together working on them.
"... and Syn's Dad taught us to make a sturdy net that was easy to use. We called it the Steely-reely-net!" he explained to a sailor examining the knot strength and mesh size. "This is the prototype. It isn't as light and is missing all the knots in animal forms we added to the others, but it works," he continued while the burly man attempted to make the net budge.
Syn swiftly joined the befuddled sailor as Nyk ran to talk with another customer. "Would you say the net is worth 8 Coppers and 50 Zincs?" turning to the crowd, she added, "Or should we start at 9 Coppers?"
"... call this potion Closy-cosy-little-posy..." continued Nyk beside her, "... copied my Nan's, but I never get it to work like hers..." Syn quickly scanned Nyk as he applied an ointment to a kid's wound while closing the net auction.
"Right!, Going once at 18 Coppers. Going twice at 18 Coppers. Sold for 18 Copper to the woman in the back. You won't regret buying this net, ma'am..." Syn promptly collected the coins and hurriedly began to auction the ointment. Not a trace of the kid's wound was left. "What do you say if we start with 12 Coppers?" she said to the wide-eyed parents that still had their gazes locked on Nyk, who, oblivious, had already dashed toward the next customer.
Although Nyk didn't make any distinctions on his pitches, equally offering his Razorback Razing-Razors or Herby-derby Perfumes to men and women, Syn was always there to fix it. Always keeping an eye open and quickly jumping in when needed. She moved fast, resolved any issues, initiated and closed the deals and ensured each transaction went as fast and smoothly as possible.
"Oh, I call that Sickly-Ugly-Cream! I used it once to draw red spots all over Zosimos's face while asleep! Everyone in Talorin thought he was sick as he walked around!" he said energetically to a group of women looking at the flask one of them was holding in her hand.
Smiles and chuckles flashed across the faces of other customers that were looking at what Nyk had named the previous day the Ceramic Sharpy-Cutty-Cutters.
As the woman holding the flask furrowed her mouth and returned it to the blanket, Syn jumped in, "Why don't you show her this, Nyk? Ma'am, he made this potion for my auntie. It will nourish your hair and bring out even more of its color. Of course, you don't need it, but keeping your hair looking its best and smelling like wonders is always great!"
The woman opened the clay-filled pot Syn was handing, and Nyk rushed to speak, "I call it Shiny-Shiny Puddl---!" Syn cut him with an elbow strike before he could finish the awkward name.
"It does smell nice..." she replied, surprised. "In what manner do you say it'll help with the color?..." asked the woman next to her who began to show tints of white.
Countless auctions began and ended in a blur.
"...and a flute Sold, for 13 Coppers, 40 Zincs and a bag of Sweet Apples..."
"...skipping school would be great, so I took some herbs my Nan uses to calm down animals and mixed them to create these Sneaky Sniff-Sniffles! If you drop them, it'll make anyone sneeze uncontrollably!..."
"... we'll try to be here next year. Thank you, 27 Coppers and 40 Zincs, yes..."
"...is a failed attempt, Zosimos came asking Nan to teach him some sort of Trans-Stunt-Tation potion, but I couldn't get it right. If you apply this Herby-hairy Dye to your friend's head, his hair will grow uncontrollably for a few weeks. We used it as a prank and..."
"...for just 40 Zincs each, 8 sir? Sure! ..."
"...This is a Razer-azer-ang! Syn's Dad and Nana mentioned they knew someone that used a weapon that returned whenever it was thrown. We're yet to figure out how to make it come back, but if you throw it hard enough, its sharp end will dent any tree!..."