Seas were calm on the day, nothing unusual.
Just ships coming in and out of the docks, delivering cargo- precious silk, pearls and ambers were being unloaded from the ships and were being prepared for an escort to the palace.
Terren watched all this and always wondered what would happen if he got hands on just one of those wooden crates.
He would be rich beyond measure and would never have to work in that shitty place.
He was being paid 5 silvers whenever the chief felt like it. And he rarely felt like anything at all, especially humans.
He always thought of ways to get his hands on them, he would do anything, go to extreme measures but this required more than extreme.
This was suicide, an attempted robbery of a royal cargo was punished by hanging, or worse.
He had seen man flayed, burned alive and made food for the rats for attempting it.
The thought would occasionally come and go, whenever he realized there was no point for trying.
He got bored, looked around, saw no one looking, no one to give a fuck about him, as if someone would even if they were they and just left.
He moved through the city, making it to the market, it was still dark, early morning, but the city was getting ready for an open market day, where every merchant brought their trade to the center for people to see.
Terren walked by a flower stall and stopped.
He looked at the red roses in front of him.
They were beautiful, aromatic, but just as any other beauty, this one had a price.
Too expensive for him to even think about it.
He stared at them and only wished he could buy them, for the one who had shown him the feeling he had never felt before.
“You need help young man?”
A voice called from behind the stall.
Terren came to his senses and walked around the stall to see an old lady sorting the orchids out.
“No, just looking, I can’t afford to buy roses.”
Terren said and forced out a smile.
“Roses. Roses are beautiful, soft and harmonic.
They are no ordinary flowers, they have a meaning behind them, one that all can understand, but not many know.
Question is do you know it, or just understand it?” The old lady asked Terren.
Terren felt bit confused
“What is this crone talking about?” He thought to himself.
“I wanted them for the one I love. Or so I think” Terren said with a stutter.
“So you know it and understand it.” The crone responded.
Terren still didn’t understand.
“The roses are the symbol of love” The woman finally spilled it for him” The roses speak of your feelings without you saying a word, and your loved one understands without hearing it.”
She said.
“Well, I can’t afford it. I’ll just take the orchids and couple of wildflowers if you have them.”
Terren answered with that forced smile again, but deep down he was sad that he couldn’t get those roses for Salinas.
“I have them” The crone told him “And you may take them, orchids are just as beautiful and alive as roses, they express love just like roses but in a different manner”
Terren listened to her and grew more and more interested in flowers than he had ever been
“The rose is direct, speaks to your loved ones heart and tells her-I love you.
Orchids don’t make a direct statement. They are silent but express a deep bond.
Orchid makes her heart understand that she is your chosen, and your heart belongs to her. The mountain flowers will express the wildness and chaos of your love if there are any. If not they shouldn’t be the choice for you.”
She told him.
Terren thought for a second, the orchids were a must, the mountain flowers.
Chaos, wildness, the moment the feeling blossomed, it all matched.
“I’ll take both please, and well whatever I can get for 10 silvers.”
He said.
“For that you’ll get plenty” She responded and assembled a beautiful Posy out of wildflowers and orchids.
“Thank you” Terren said and was prepared to leave when the crone called him back.
“Young man” She started” The flowers usually don’t sell well, most of them are left here to wither.” She took the posy out of his hand and added 10 of each flower along with 20 roses, turning the once small and adorable posy into a grand bouquet of flowers.
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“I can’t pay for all of those” Terren panicked but the crone calmed him down and told him
“I don’t want your money; those beautiful flowers don’t deserve to wither like me. Take them to your beloved and give them to her. Tell her to care for it, and she will if she loves you, If not, the feelings will wither with the flowers.”
She added.
Terren was now shocked to see how much this woman based on those flowers.
And how much she valued them.
“Thank you, they will be put to good care.”
He told her and walked away.
When he got to the sewer, he first listened to check if Sali was there.
He listened close and heard someone humming a tune and it was a beautiful voice so it meant she was home.
When Marilyn tried to sing, it felt like a donkey was braying in his ear.
He walked in quietly, saw Sali moving around the place preparing the food for both of them.
“Thank the gods I found you Sali, now I have someone to love and be with and you have a place to be where your not looked as a sheep to be slaughtered.”
He thought to himself.
Then he straightened his hair, fixed his voice and revealed himself.
“Sali” He said “I got you a present”
Sali turned around and gasped in shock.
She had never seen a bouquet this large and this beautiful.
“Terren; where did you find a bouquet this big, and beautiful?”
She asked and went up to him.
Terren smiled.
“I bought it for you at the street market, do you like it?”
Salinas still in shock responded
“Of course I like it, it’s so beautiful. The orchids, the mountain flowers and, are those, Roses?!”
How did you get this many?
How much did you spend on this?”
She couldn’t stop asking questions.
“That is not important” Terren answered, “I bought it for you, and nothing would’ve stopped me from doing so.”
She was still mesmerized by the beauty of it, and that smell of red roses
“Thank you Terren” She said and kissed him.
Terren kissed her on the forehead and told her
“Anything for you”
She smiled at him and hugged him around his waist.
Terren hugged her back.
That moment the world was his.
He was happier than any king, any lord, he had a woman he loved in her arms, a food on the table a partner who helped him with work. Now he needed to make things straight with a friend too and he would be complete.
Once Sali let go of Terren he told her that he had to go to meet a friend.
“A friend?” Sali asked curiously.
“Yes. We were friends long ago, then we lost each other and only recently reunited.”
“Who is this friend of yours” she asked.
“A girl named Alysa, works in the atelier, lovely girl, very friendly and charming.”
“She’s the one you told me would get me a job in the atelier?” She asked yet another question, which didn’t seem to be the last she was going to ask.
“Yes, precisely I’ll speak to her now and we’ll see what we can do.”
“Amazing, thank you again Terren. For everything, from our first meeting till now.”
“We first met less than a week ago Sali, I don’t think it has been too long.”
Terren told her and chuckled.
“Yes, but I was a different person then, and you made me a different one. You saved me from myself. You saved me from myself as I was about to jump into the abyss, with no ways to return.”
“I did what my heart commanded me to do, and I did it because it felt right, and I would do it a thousand times over.” He said with full confidence.
Then he turned to left, looked back once at Sali who placed the flowers on the mattress and he remembered the crone’s words.
“Sali” He called out.
Sali turned around
“Please take good care of them.”
He told her.
“I will, I promise” She responded.
Terren then left and went to Alysa’s hut.
When he arrived he found no one home.
“Must be working.”
He thought to himself as he remembered that only he worked from night hours.
Her job had probably just started.
He got up, walked around for a while, trying to find a place where no one would see him.
He found a spot, in the woods, surrounded by tall trees and bushes, where no man would ever see him.
He removed his shirt and started practicing his footwork and movement, holding a stick instead of a sword.
He moved tirelessly, not sparing himself a second to rest, he was determined to master the way of the sword, he was obsessed with sword combat and always wanted to be a knight but that was just as likely as Marilyn singing without making someone’s ears bleed.
He practiced for a while, then
he went to a cliff nearby, removed his clothing, then took a look around to find a way back.
And when he spotted it he leaped off into the sea.
He jumped in as cold water touched his skin, it felt like a delight after such training.
He relaxed for a minute but remembered Alysa and immediately began to swim back ashore.
He made it back and started to climb the cliff and made it up.
When he made it up, he found a scene which he feared the most.
His clothing was gone.
“Some beggar must’ve taken it, or a kid. Gods curse them” He thought to himself.
He covered himself in a torn rug that was thrown out by someone and no longer served any purpose.
He hid in the bushes and moved alongside them to keep cover and reach the waterway that had been cut into the town from the sea.
It leads to a washing area where he would find something to cover himself with.
“Hey you!” A voice rang out.
Terren froze for a moment, but when he thought of it the voice felt familiar.
He turned around, it was Alysa.
“Looking for this?” She asked him as she was dying in laughter, holding his shirt and trousers.
“Very funny Aly, give it back” Terren told her.
“Come and get it.” She told him and left them where she stood as she walked away.
Terren got out of the bushes, still covering himself with that rug and retrieved his clothing.
He hid behind a tree as he put them on and walked out to now seek revenge on Alysa, but how?
He decided it was not the appropriate moment, but he swore to himself that he would pay her back, someway.
He made it to her hut, where he found her alone.
“Isn’t it too early for you to be at home?” He asked her.
“Yes, but today I was not needed and I am here now.”
“Well I got a favor to ask you, it’s about a friend. She needs a job”
“A job you say? Is she pretty?”
She asked.
“Alysa” Terren rolled he eyes, he knew exactly what she was going to say.
“What? If she isn’t she will be in atelier, if she’s pretty might as well use it to become richer.”
“You’re pretty, I don’t see you using it much.”
Terren told her.
“You think I am pretty?”
Alysa asked Terren.
Terren felt himself falling into a tricky situation.
“Why did she ask me that?” He thought.
“Does she like me? Does she see me more than a friend?”
Terren didn’t know which one it was but he didn’t need this.
He had just found a woman; he did not need chaos in his life now that he found harmony for a moment.
“Of course, I have eyes. And so does every man. But you have dignity and conscience so you don’t sell yourself like a whore.
She wants that as well. Please Alysa helps me out here.”
Terren told her and thought
“Well handled Terren, you have outdone yourself on that one.”
“Yes, I’ll help” you she said and got up
“do you want some tea by any chance?” She asked him.
“I’ll have some” He responded.
Alysa went to prepare it as Terren looked out the window and saw the sun nearly at its highest point.
It was nearly midday and the city was growing louder and louder as the stalls and markets were filled with goods.
And among them would walk a shadow, one not to be messed with.
