Compis: Five Tribes Read Free Page B

wasn't as interesting as the girl walking away from the tent in the direction of the marketplace.
    He watched her go, and as though his feet moved independently from his body, he followed, watching those soft yellow curls bob in front of him.
    She stopped at a Terris merchant booth, filled with the exotic fruits and vegetables that only they could manage to grow. The manaka, in particular, was one of his favorites, but it was a luxury seldom tasted these days. She fingered some kinglings, long tuber vegetables with a peppery cinnamon taste, but moved on to the lungon berries, which when stewed and added to sweet rolls, made an excellent breakfast treat.
    “I'll have a pound of those,” Nikka said, pointing to them.
    He gathered up his courage and stood next to her, looking over the different fruits in the section she was standing in. He smelled the sweet fragrance of the manaka and his mouth watered. He reached out to touch one, and the woman behind the counter growled.
    “Don't touch the food unless you have the coin to buy it, Ignis,” she said.
    He felt his face heat and was just about to turn away from the booth in shame, when he heard her voice.
    “He's with me, but since you're so quick to decide who can buy your wares, good merchant, I'll move on to a better booth. I saw one further down the road that seemed more apt to treat its customers kindly.”
    She left the woman sputtering behind her and turned back when she noticed him standing behind her, mouth agape.
    “Well?” she asked.
    He walked forward to catch up. The marketplace was crowded with booths and different tribal merchants hawking their wares. Already dusty, the path from the plaza square was almost unbearable in the warm sun, kicked up by the steps of many feet. For the hundredth time, he wished they would pave it with stone, as the plaza was.
    “So tell me, Ignis, what is the real story here?” she looked up at him.
    “My name is Zyander. Alea calls me Zyan, if you prefer it,” he said.
    “I'm Nikka, but I have a feeling you know that already. Were you following me?” she asked.
    “Not exactly,” he said, “I didn't expect to run into you, but I was hoping for it.”
    She laughed. “An honest man. I appreciate that. You were hoping for it? Why?”
    “The honest answer? I saw you this morning and I can't stop thinking about you.”
    “Oh, please!” she said, smiling again. “Come on, I did see a booth over here.”
    She took his hand and led him toward the other booth.
    He went along feeling foolish. If only he wasn't too poor to buy her something. If only he didn't feel like an idiot in his threadbare clothes, even though they were the best he had. If only he could believe that Nikka had a chance at being Ignis. This was the height of folly. Yet he went along anyway, enjoying the feeling of her small hand clasped in his.
    She stopped at the booth in question, looking over the fruits the merchant was offering.
    “What do you think of this manaka?” she asked, holding it out for him smell.
    He leaned in, smelling the delicious scent of fruit mingled with her skin.
    “Smells ripe to me. But didn't you want some of the berries?” he asked, pointing to them.
    “Yes, vendor, I'll have a pound of those and another of these,” she said, holding out the fruit.
    While she waited for him bag up her produce, she said, “So, Zyan, have you seen all the market has to offer? I think I've walked it twice so far, but I still haven't seen everything.”
    “It seems the same as it was last year. Nothing new under the sun.”
    She frowned, looking sharply into his eyes. “Why would you say that? It's as though you hold yourself apart from it.”
    He shrugged. “Wouldn't you? In my place.”
    She shook her head. “I don't know. But seeing it in you is disappointing, I must admit.”
    He struggled to release the bitterness that he had dwelt in for so long, but ultimately lost the battle. Life was too unfair to forget it, even for a minute. He