[Xanth]

Xanth usually had no need or want for anything, since she could just conjure it up at will, but there was something to be said for romping through Alexandria's open bazaar.

It was a spectacular experience. The colours were vibrant, the sounds chaotic, and all of it more exciting than a would-be goddess really had time for. Her flushed cheeks and wildly disarrayed curls were also lacking the grace one might expect from someone of her stature, but grace be damned. She had not come here as the Creator today, but merely a young woman in the prime of her life.

Allowing a soft summer breeze to waft long blonde curls away from her heated neck as she twirled about gleefully, Xanth reached for a silk scarf and wrapped it around her head. The woman tending the stall smiled but was clearly mistrustful, and little wonder. There were quite a few street urchins marking the stalls today -- but none of that was her concern, so Xanth simply smiled in return and offered a coin for the scarf.

[Txelu]

This arguably is an amazing day, so thought a certain vampire as he traversed through the welcome stalls of Elysia's largest bazaar. It had to be the busiest time of the season -- unsurprising given the wonderfully fair weather and the latest shipments in market items, including the freshest of the à la mode.

Txelu knew this because of Ella's business. After a year of formidable growth, the once small shop had expanded to new square feets, and a second shop was even soon to be opened in the port town of Espur by an affiliate of the nymph's. (And a lot of this economic progress was of course due to his hard work, modesty aside.)

As he passed a stall with small craft goods, Txelu cast a glance about a dozen stalls back toward where he had helped Ella set up early in the day. After a morning's worth of serving customers, something still far from finished, the ayad had been kind enough to encourage Txelu to head out and take a break, complimentary of her niceness of course. He smiled, appreciative of the gesture. Even from here, I can tell how happy she is, he thought, as he watched the tiny figure of Ella proudly presenting everything from vivid cloths to sunhats to her visitors.

He had still been walking slowly at that moment, and by accident in the crowded space his arm brushed against a young woman who was standing by. “Pardon me,” he immediately said, and half addressing the stall-tender, “That's a fantastic scarf. Chandreline quality, isn't it?”


(( Chandreline is just a random specialty type of silk that I made up ))

[Xanth]

Most times when Xanth wandered among her people, she was forced to shut herself off from their thoughts and emotions or become overburdened, but today she immersed herself in the throng of life. She was not fully aware of individuals, but facets from each one of them contributed to an overall feeling that buzzed through her as a celebration of all things good and vibrant.

Until someone knocked into her, and the impact narrowed down with a snap all of that emotion into a single focus. Xanth's purple eyes glowed briefly as her power surged to shut her off once more, and disappointment flickered across her face. Nevertheless, she granted the vampire a beatific smile.

“For your lady friend?” she enquired, a hint of the mischievous cupid in her eyes. As she spoke, she lifted the scarf from her head with a twirl and proferred it glady. What need had she for such things, after all?

[Txelu]

For a while, Txelu had no clue who the woman was talking about, so he simply looked past his shoulder in confusion as though he should find the purported "lady friend" standing right there. But the only other person close by at the moment was a brawny 'vari messing around with a bag of clinking change, and well... just no.

So that left Ella. Except, he had left her behind all the way back there, so...

“I don't really know what you're talking about?” came Txelu's slightly delayed reply, though not impolitely. He was pleasantly surprised, in fact, that this random stranger would offer an expensive item to him just like that, and his expression showed it. Still, he didn't want to accept something straight out of the blue, and besides, he noticed that the stall-tender was eyeing them both mistrustfully.

“Thank you for the offer,” he said to the spirited girl, “but you should keep it -- it looks good on you.”

[Xanth]

Xanth's smile turned mysterious when the young man's confusion sent his gaze first to a powerfully muscled Dracovarian (clearly, Txelu was not impressed) and then across the bustling crowd to his employer. Rather than push him as she was so tempted to do, she abandoned her matchmaking with a light-hearted shrug.

“Why, thank you, kind sir.” She curtsied a little, playfully, but nevertheless was insistent. Allowing the silk to flow once more over her own hair, she spiralled the fabric so that it would catch on his shoulder and left it fluttering there in the summer breeze. “Alas, I have no need of such things.”

An impish smile greeted the suspicious stall-tender, and Xanth blew the woman a kiss that earned her a sharp gasp and an askance look. Turning away, toward the direction from which Txelu had come, Xanth decided she would very much like to see what his "lady friend" had to offer. As she twirled three hundred and sixty degrees, she winked once more at the young vampire, but before disappearing into the crowd thought to mouth, “Watch your pocket.” There, on collision course for the man's wallet, was a young boy's sneaking hand.

[Txelu]

Astonished now, Txelu removed the scarf from his shoulder as he turned to watch the strange woman waltz away, with that playful and secretive grin of hers. Something certainly seemed different for an apparently normal human woman. And had he seen her before somewhere? No, so what then was that almost familiar air coming off as nonetheless so strange to him?

“How generous of you,” he called after her with a returning smile.

The thief also did not go unnoticed. “Careful there,” Txelu sternly addressed the boy, stopping him with a sudden tap to the little head. It wasn't forceful at all, but the unpredicted motion was enough to alarm the child and scare him away.

The vampire then set off toward Ella's stall, where the woman had gone. Cloths took up a majority of the space, but sitting on low shelves behind the ayad were also arrays of seemingly random artistic goods clustered against one another. Txelu found the nymph eagerly receiving her new attractive customer with a beaming face. “Welcome, welcome!” Ella trilled, holding out both slender hands to shake the other lady's, because she was clingy like that. “Please do find something interesting for yourself! We have fine clothes, silks, embroidery, and all the linen you could want! --Oh hey, Txelu, back already?-- And feel free to take a look at the music boxes behind me! They all have delightful melodies!”

Txelu meanwhile stepped forward to flop the scarf over her head. (Really, he didn't know who else to give such a thing to.) “Yours, Ella,” he said, and leaned against a beam. “Compliments of your customer here.”

Now it was Ella who was confused. “Oh...? Erm, thank you! How did that come about? Do I know you, miss?” She tilted her head, and Txelu knew she was trying to remember faces that might have passed through her store.

[Xanth]

The dynamics of inter-personal relationships had always fascinated Xanth. She was amused that people could be so blind to the potential, or so hyper-aware of it and yet ignore it for fear, or make every attempt to progress but utterly fail regardless. In many ways, humans and their kin were no different from her own race, and she was fascinated that of all her creations, they all shared a similar need for companionship and romance.

“Music boxes? Oh, please, do show me.” Beaming at the Nymph, Xanth bent a little over the stall to get a better look at them. There was some gorgeous work on display, but two drew her attention more than the rest: One, carved from shevrock into the shape of a butterfly, glowed softly pink; and another, more traditional cream trinket box studded with what might be tiny diamonds, and an amethyst-studded gold butterfly resting on top.

In the meantime, the young vampire had explained the origins of the scarf he had given his employer. “Oh...? Erm, thank you! How did that come about? Do I know you, miss?” Xanth's smile turned mysterious once more.

“Everyone knows me, at some point, and in one way or another.” Mystery faded, she pointed out the shevrock. “May I take a closer look, please?” No doubt it would be expensive, but what did Xanth care for money (or understand about the economy)? It was a beautiful piece of work and much deserving of whatever fee they had chosen.

[Txelu]

“Of course!” Ella was so excited at the lady's interest in her merchandise that a hint of wonder only flickered briefly on her face before she danced off to retrieve the wanted shevrock.

Txelu watched the woman curiously still. Again, the feeling pricked him, stronger now, that he had met this person somewhere. An essence of her, at least, if that made any sense.

“Everyone knows me, at some point, and in one way or another.”

All he recalled was one cloudy day, one sunny day, and someone's twilight eyes. All the info he needed. It couldn't be.

“Here we have it!” Ella said, returning, and she eagerly showed her customer how to work the device. “Twist this here, and the music starts playing. You may look at it all you wish, madame!” A bittersweet melody began tinkling in D-flat major, laden with pure heavenly sounds possible only from such delicate art, although the noise of the crowds did make it hard to hear on average ears.

“I'll get you the other one, too,” Txelu offered, and he entered through the side entrance to retrieve the other trinket box she had her eye on, the one with the gold butterfly. Walking back out, he carefully set it down on the counter. “You know, Xanth adores these butterflies,” he remarked with a courteous smile as he surveyed both winged designs with approval. “Do you like them, too?”

[Xanth]

Xanth's eyes were lit with a metaphorical inner light as she listened to the tinkle of music coming from the shevrock. It was an unusual piece to be sure. The music mechanism must have been inserted somehow during the carving process, and as she held it in her hands the world fell away around her. Blonde curls fell forward as she tipped her head, almost entranced. There was something incredibly nostalgic about the music, as if it was the very embodiment her homesickness, and for a moment she could see in her mind's eye the White Palace and her many siblings waiting for her.

“You know, Xanth adores these butterflies.”

Xanth drew her gaze from the music box cupper gently in her hands, looking at the young vampire languidly. There was some mischief in her smile again as she set the shevrock down and picked up the other box instead. “I have felt a fondness for butterflies these many years.” It was an odd phrasing of the sentiment, partly meant to tease him further and partly because she had forgotten herself for a moment. Thoughts of home still rang clear in her head.

She couldn't remember when her liking for butterflies began. Certainly they did not exist on Tanakheim so she had only discovered them on Earth, but how far into her reign there she could not be sure.

Deciding that the music from box number two was not meaningful to her, Xanth laid it back down and retrieved the shevrock. “I shall take this, Miss Fleming, thank you.”

[Txelu]

““I have felt a fondness for butterflies these many years.””

“Ah, so that's how it is.” While Ella took care of the payment, Txelu wrapped the shevrock in a soft, tissue-like paper, which was then placed inside a small handwoven bag as customary of the business.

He handed it to Xanth with a mischievous look of his own. Who could say, now, that his heart had not skipped a beat or two with some sort of stimulated excitement? Or was it that natural desire to know of his? But it was really a matter of "I know you" versus "I believe in you".

“What do you like about butterflies?” he asked. For him, they recalled his time on Earth, so that was a similarity he and Xanth shared. It had been a completely different life then, but he remembered all the vivid details of looking out the window and seeing them fluttering by, of chasing after Adelie when she tried to catch them.

Ella, meanwhile, was both listening and adjusting her scarf. “Chandreline!” she exclaimed. “So beautiful! I can't thank you enough for this, ma'am... I want to give you something for free! I feel like I have a great debt to you. Please, is there anything else you'd like?”

[Xanth]

Txelu's reactions were perfect, but it was clear that at some level he was beginning to understand, if not believe, who she was. Teasing him further would not be nearly so much fun.

“What do you like about butterflies?”

The fondness in Xanth's answering smile was genuine and wistful. “They are free.” It was a short, simple verbalisation of a much more complex answer, but it was the truth. The first she had noted about them when she first saw them on Earth was their utter boundlessness. At the time, she thought they had probably been the simplest creature she had ever met, but there was a grace and beauty about them, a sense of unfathomable wonder, that made her - a vulnerable girl fresh out from under the iron fist of a tyrannical and uncaring father - feel things she never had before.

It was hard to say how they had become symbolic of her relationship with humans as their goddess, but in truth she could consider any other more likely or suitable than a butterfly. They were the embodiment of everything that first Earth and then Elysia had come to represent for her: Freedom, and even maternal love.

“I feel like I have a great debt to you. Please, is there anything else you'd like?”

Xanth shook her head, her smile small now but no less affectionate or genuine. Granted, she had not intended for this outcome when she stepped beyond her temple walls, but it was encounters like this that reminded her why she had created this place. In the beginning, she had not been so generous or friendly, so it was good to remind herself now and then that she was not like her father.

“It is a kindness. May you one day pass it on.” And with that, and another mischievous wink at Txelu, Xanth wandered off back into the crowd with her new music box in hand.

[Txelu]

Txelu had not asked his question out of mere conversation. He wanted to learn more about her, and the answer she gave was both predictable and not. In a way, he could understand the feelings she voiced, because times had passed when he had felt oppressed and chained and unhappy too. Somethings are so much the same.

Butterflies were for girls, though. And sentimental longings too.

When Xanth refused Ella's offer, the nymph bowed her thanks. “I will definitely do my best, ma'am,” she promised, clutching her gift lovingly. She waved good-bye as the blonde-haired woman dashed away into the crowd.

The two watched until her figure had disappeared, and she seemed a bit less mysterious yet so much more mysterious than before, at least to Txelu, who was filled with wonder at this point.

Ella finally broke the silence. “What a curious person,” she noted quietly. “To be honest, I really wanted to ask for her name, but it didn't feel appropriate.”

Txelu smiled. “Do you want to know something then, Ella?”

She stood on her tippy toes as the vampire leaned past the counter to whisper in her ear, a top secret exchange.

A moment--

Ella gasped. “What? Really! ...I--I had no idea! ....Oh, I wish we had spoken longer.” She stared off into the distance. “Thank you, thank you!”

To that, Txelu laughed freely and got off the counter on which he had been leaning. A crisp breeze stirred their hair. “You know, Ella, you're such a good girl, and she knows it.”

She grabbed a ball and threw it at him before spinning to help another customer, but he didn't miss the bright grin that lit her face. Bouncing the handcarved sphere in his hand, Txelu began walking off - it was still his break time, after all, and he felt like exploring. Actually, he felt like a lot of things.

So what else is in store today?


(( I'm fine with ending here. Thanks for the great thread, Ems! ))