The earliest I had ever been in Erosette was dusk.

If someone asked Driskt and Daphne, the two guards standing guard in front of the manor, I had never been at all.

They had been told that Lady Aubrey’s criminal daughter had lost herself in her drinks the night before.

Both because of her small size and the infrequency with which she drank, she had woken up terribly hung over. After emptying her stomach and spending several hours shaking on her bathroom floor, she had been cleaned and returned to her bed. The chances of her waking up long enough to do anything but take a drink of the water that had been left for her was little. In all honesty, she would sleep late in the evening and only get out of bed when her need for something warm to eat grew larger than her need for rest. When she did not find the other members of her house, she would come and speak to the guards because she did not know how to cook for herself.

Arthur was clever when he had a reason to be. Strengthening the deception like nightfall does a shadow, Driskt and Daphne had told the tall man that they would do anything to avoid a second run in with Lady Aubrey’s daughter when she did not have her senses about her.

They would not disturb my sleep and I would not be there to have my sleep disturbed.

I would spend all day in Erosette and the guards would be none the wiser.

The tall man’s plan was flawless.

While the siblings had left through the front of the manor and given the guards their absolutely true story, I had been escaping the walls of my gilded prison.

The morning breeze had been cool and gentle as it blew at my back. It almost felt as if the wind itself was accompanying me down the hill. I stayed low and took an angle that would lead me straight to the bridge instead of the river.

Every step I took, my cuffed boots crunched over the dead and drying remnants of the roses that had once blanketed the rolling hills.

The patchwork mountain range of tents that had been spread across the river bank the last time I had snuck into Erosette had thinned. Less tents meant less people and less people meant that there was less of chance someone would see me sneaking away from the manor.

Fortune favored me.

I made it to the bridge undiscovered and gave myself a moment of rest to let my sore legs stop burning.

With my hair glamored dark black and my lips full and pouty, I stepped into the city under the disguise I had worn the night I had first gone to seven columns.

Arthur’s plan was flawless, except it did not account for my complete inability to control my impulses.

A low flood of unintelligible conversation met my ears first. Underpinned by the scattered rhythms of uncountable footsteps that varied between sharp and soft on the stone street, a sort of shapeless music was formed.

From where I stood on the outermost street of the city, not far from the thinned range of tents, I looked towards the heart of Erosette and found that the instrument being played was a long open air market. The musician was the collective sound of the people moving within it and they were playing a song that was full of life.

I had passed by the same street several times before and nothing of the sort had been there.

A sweet scent was stirred up by the cool morning breeze and it harmonized with the sight so wonderfully that it almost lifted me off the ground and carried me into the crowd.

Everywhere I looked, there was something different being sold. One table bore stacks of pots, pans, spoons, forks, and knifes. The next had rugs of every color, pattern, and shape hanging around it. Children laughed and played as they weaved their way through the crowd carelessly.

Too much caught my eye, to many things felt like a direct invitation for me to turn from my path and enter the market.

Be quick. Down and back. Anna will worry if you keep her waiting. I thought to myself as I added the sound of my footsteps to the market’s rhythm.

I was so drawn in by it all, I did not know I was walking into a wall until I hit it.

“Sorry, little lady.” The wall of muscle apologized as he glanced back at me. Looking like a giant amongst the rest of the crowd, he had wild red hair and a similarly unkempt beard.

Go. I thought to myself. The thought was not a realization that I should run. It was the man’s name. I had met him not very long before when Mother Azza had brought me back to the manor.

Go’s attention on me was so brief, panic did not have the opportunity to sink its nails into me. He gave me his apology and then continued on his way, speaking to the woman he was walking beside.

I knew her as well. The baby she carried in her arms brought her memory back to the front of my mind. Her son had stopped Arthur in the street and she had been feeding her child within one of the tents along the river.

They had been brought there because sorcerers had destroyed their home. Sorceress Ulet had told me that the morning she had found me on the roof.

As absolutely foolish as it was, I followed closely behind them without any understanding as to why.

“You are new here Ranee. You will learn that when she insists it is better to go along with her.” Go said through a laugh.

The women, Ranee, let out a long sigh. “You have all given so much to my people and I. We have no way to repay you. I couldn’t possibly-“

“You will learn. She has given out of love and nothing else. Your people are our people now. Your boys will grow big and strong here. Accept her offer, all of us will be better for it.” Go said, his enthusiastic voice carrying easily to my ears.

“If she insists.” Ranee answered.

I lost track of their conversation and turned away from my stalking.

Between an older woman selling some sort of warm drink out of a copper pot and a stall that was lined end to end with small jars of spices, there was an open door.

Through that open door, I saw something that I would do anything to have.

Sandals.

The same kind that the roses of the Red Mother’s garden wore.

Before I could consider the warm drink or think of what spices would be useful to have on my person, I was standing awestruck before what I desired.

Several pairs, all in different sizes and shades of brown, lay limply atop the wooden counter.

In truth, I did not know why the sandals excited me so. I did not know why I wanted them so badly. The visions of the thin leather climbing up Anna’s calves brought me all manner of feelings, but so did seeing her wear anything. I wanted a pair for myself of course, but I was perfectly happy with the cuffed boots I was standing in then.

Still, I could not stop myself from taking one into my hands. I thought about the leather pressing against my skinned shins. It would hurt, I had not doubt about that, but it would be worth it. One by one, I picked them up and pressed their bottom to the bottom of my boots. Without dropping down and pulling off my shoes, it was the only method I could think of to see if any of them fit.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Like when Anna and I placed our palms together, the last pair sandal I checked only had a small difference in its width and length.

They would fit.

They would fit like they were made for me.

I knew it like I knew I hated silky fabrics or that Sam would be always waiting for me after I returned from The Well.

I grabbed its mate and looked around the place I had only been vaguely aware I was in. The sandals had not grown up from the counter like fruit from a vine. Along every wall were boxes and crate full of every style of shoe I knew and many that I didn’t. A work bench sat in the back corner, its top laden with squares of leather and tools I did not know the use of.

I had none of the red metal money that Arthur had showed me, but even if I did. There was no one in sight for me to pay.

There was no one in sight to stop me from just taking them. They were in my hands. They would fit me. Why shouldn’t they be mine?

Someone made them. The Autumn I liked told me something I very much did not like in my mind.

It was true. They had probably been made on workbench in the corner with the tools I didn’t know just like every other pair of shoes in the place.

As desperately as I wanted them, as absolutely easy as it would be to walk back into the market and put them on my feet, someone else had made the sandals.

I made the ribbons that held Sam’s given bird skull for Anna. How would I feel if someone took that from her? Even if it was in the imaginary thief’s hands and there was no around to see them take it, I had made them for Anna. They would never truly be theirs.

The sandals had not been made for me, they would never truly be mine.

With a disappointed sigh, I placed the ones that would fit back on the counter.

The moment after they I let them go, three men came through the door way.

The man in front, short and round with a head of thinning white hair, looked over his too small glasses and gave me a pleasant smile. “Oh, hello! I’ll be with you in just a moment.”

The two men followed him in and gave me polite nods as they passed. Between the two of them, there was not a single piece of clothing that was without holes. Neither of them had shaved recently and both of them were barefoot.

“Nope, not those,” The short man said, rifling through the crates and boxes at a speed that could only come with the knowledge of what was in them. “Too soft and too thin a sole, if you’re going to be working her gardens, you’ll need something that a thorn can’t pierce. She has a fascination with roses,” The man continued, pulling out different pairs of boots and discarding them just as quickly. “you’ll want laces to keep them on your feet.”

I should have spun on my heels and rejoined the music of the market right then. Before I could make myself move, the short man had stood up and passed two pairs of identical boots to the other two men.

“Go on, try them on. If the fit isn’t right we will keep looking,” He said, showing them to a low bench and turning towards me. “You are one of the roses from The Mother’s garden? A new one at that if I had to guess.”

I did not answer him, all I managed to do was hide my nervousness with a small smile.

“I thought so. You have that look about you,” The man smiled back. “It’s been a long time, a very long time, since I’ve made a rose her first pair of sandals. A blonde haired girl with freckles, was a half a day late to her fitting, I’ve forgotten her name that was so long ago.”

“Pyreme?” I said before I could stop myself from speaking. The underwitch had said that it would be nice for her if she was no longer the youngest rose. It made nothing but sense that she had been the last to receive her first pair of sandals.

“That’s the one! I never see you all after the first fitting. Master Nocti brings them on when they need repairs. Let me finish up with these two and I’ll take your measurements. Have a seat and take your boots off for me while you wait.” He said, pointing to a bench that sat next to the wall behind me.

Despite my desire to listen to the friendly shoemaker. I did not sit and I did not pull off my boots. Someone that I would recognize anywhere appeared in my peripherals.

“Ah! A perfect fit then. You get an eye for these things when you’ve done this as long as I have.” The man said, clapping his hands once in delight.

Arthur, looking like a walking shadow in his black shirt and pants, passed by the open door just in time for me to see him.

The shoemaker raised his voice and I glanced away from the tall man.

“No, no, no,” He waved his hands and shook his head vigorously from side to side. “I will not take a shaved dyme or a handful of dust. They’ve already been paid for. We want all of you to get settled in her as easily as possible. Just make sure her flowers are properly fluffed, her hedges are brushed, and whatever else you’re supposed to do with plants.”

I looked back at Arthur.

The tall man was gone.

Staring and smiling at me from where she stood in the busy market street, like a peaceful rest in the chaotic music, was Anna.

I waved at her.

She laughed and mouthed something to me.

What the fuck are you doing? I could not hear her, but I knew her voice well enough that I heard it in my head as I read her lips.

I don’t fucking know. I mouthed back and shrugged my shoulders, realizing that there was no good end to me continuing to let the shoemaker think I was who he thought I was.

The two men blocked Anna from my view as they left the shop in their new boots.

The shoemaker followed them to the door, a seemingly endless stream of goodbyes and pleasantries coming from him as he went. Then, he turned, and focused his attention solely on me.

“Let me go get my tape and we will get started,” He said, walking behind the counter a disappearing behind a shelf of crates and boxes. From where he had gone, he raised his voice and kept talking to me. “I’m surprised Master Nocti did not tell me she had taken another rose. What did you say your name was again?”

“Autumn,” Anna whispered harshly from the door. “Come on.”

I met her dark eyes and did as I was told, leaving the shoemaker’s shop before he reappeared from the back of it.

I looped my arm in hers so I would lose her in the market’s song, and let her carry me along wherever she wished.

We met Arthur at the opposite end of the market from where I had entered it. The tall man gave me his usual smile and handed Anna and I some kind of folded paper cup that was warm to the touch.

“I don’t know what it is, but try it, it’s pretty good.” He said, taking a drink.

I did as I was told and so did Anna. It was the same drink whose sweet scent filled the air. Thick like milk and swirling with spices, I could have gone and found one of the copper pots it was served out of and drank until it was empty.

“Too sweet.” Anna said, shaking her head in distaste.

Having already finished my own, I took hers and enjoyed it as well. “How could anything be too sweet?”

“It couldn’t. She just doesn’t have good taste like us.” Arthur said.

“I didn’t mean to get distracted. I’m sorry that I made you both come looking for me.” I said, casting my eyes down to the stone street under my feet.

“Shut up,” Anna said, giving my arm a squeeze. “We were going to bring you here anyways. I just wanted to go the exchange first.”

“The exchange?” I asked.

“Valtrass?” Anna asked back.

“It’s like a bank.” Arthur added.

“Bank?” I asked again.

“It’s where people keep their money. It’s called Valtrass, but your mom is the only one I’ve ever heard call it that. Everyone else just calls it the exchange.” Arthur explained.

“It’s right by the library I go to, do you want to see it?” Anna asked me?

I shook my head excitedly in agreement. There was no part or place in Erosette I did not want to see. With my arm still hooked in Anna’s and Arthur leading the way, our walk to the exchange was set to our own rhythm.

I had never heard a song I loved more.

A short time later, so short in fact that it felt like no time at all, we stepped into the large marble building that was Valtrass.

A line stretched from the wide marble counter, through a wide entryway, and back out onto the street. Hundreds of people that were carrying all manner of things stood and waited. Long rolls of fabric, stacks of dresses held over arms, bushels of red flowers, and two carts full of sacks of what looked to be collected leaves, everyone I could see had brought something to the exchange. One element was shared between the seemingly endless variety of things.

From a handful of small stones to a long scarf of feathers, every single item was as red as my aura.

I became so focused on the line, I did not notice that Anna had walked away until she returned to where Arthur and I stood.

“Try not to spend it in one place.” She said, pressing something hard and cool into my palm

It was a small stack of dymes, just like the one Arthur had given me the first time I had gone to seven columns.

“Why?” I asked, holding the red metal coins in my hands like they were the most precious thing in the world and following behind them as we left the exchange.

“Your mom gives me an allowance to buy clothes or anything else you might need. It’s your money anyways, you should be the one to spend it,” Anna said, pointing past a the marble fountain that acted as the center of the small circle of open space we found ourselves in. “There’s the library, do you wanna see it too?”

Standing several stories higher than any of the buildings that neighbored it, I read the letters that were inset into the surface of the stone.

Biblicus

“What about the tournament? Should we not go to seven columns?” I asked, not understanding why we were not going to the place I had escaped to go to.

“The tournament isn’t until tonight. We thought you’d you like to spend a whole day in the city instead of just a couple of hours. We can do whatever you want to do.” Arthur said, a different kind of smile on his face and an intent look in his dark eyes.

The siblings had given me something I wanted so desperately and yet had never been able to name.

Freedom.

My heart felt so full I thought It would burst.