Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ My Naga Knight ❯ Chapter 18

Author's Notes: Sorry for not getting on this sooner or any writing for that matter. The last few weeks have been TOUGH; especially when it came to work, and I have been playing WOW to get ready for expansion, but now I find myself in that mood to sit back and relax from it, or I may end up throwing it out the window.

 

Also, regarding a criticism about this story, this story is not dead-set on Middle Ages. It is an alternate reality, thus why Jin and Touya have Japanese names in a place that resembles a Middle Aged area (don't you think that odd too, lol). It is fiction, not to be 100% factual, and as much as I'd love to look up and use old English for this story, I am sure some people would find their heads spinning, so I am going to use normal terminology if I can and if I find it to be somewhat appropriate. -wink- I am not sure if I used the words `jeans' though as I have referred to women mostly and women at this time don't wear pants but dresses. lol If I did, that was an oops on my part. I am sure another item I am about to list in this one wasn't invented until many centuries later, but I am introducing it anyways.

 

Anyways, enjoy.

 

 

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Jin's red scales rubbed across one another as he cupped his chin there within the tip of his tail, his arms crossed upon his chest. “What is it I am supposed to get her? I don't know anything about human needs. You forget that we are two totally different species.”

 

Lily shifted slightly upon her feet with a soft smile. Her hand upon her hip, she shook her head while asking, “What would you give a loved one if it was their…hatch day?”

 

“Hatch day?” Jin tilted his head still not familiar with the term. “You mean when somebody is hatched?” The wind serpent paused for a moment before it clicked. “Oh, so when a human is born it is equal to a serpent demon being hatched…if they are even born with the shell.” It was a known fact that some serpent demons that were born were sometimes born without the encasing of an egg. “I am afraid we don't really celebrate ones' birth though. It is an interesting celebration you humans have.”

 

A chuckle escaped Lily's mouth as she leaned against the dinning room table she could feel behind her. “Well, it is a very special celebration for the person born. We do this in a sort of way to let that person know we appreciate their presence here on this earth.” Lily shrugged. “Do you know if anything happened when you were born or when you were born?”

 

Jin looked upwards at the ceiling with his mouth twisted to the side in thought. His eyes darted back and forth to try and remember his birth. “Mmm, it was very warm outside and quite rainy a bit. I was also the only one in my clutch to be born without the shell. My mom found that to be bizarre.”

 

“Sounds like the spring time,” said Lily as she moved back and forth a bit upon her feet. “I often wonder, seeing as you were born without the shell, how big are you?” Walking over towards the serpent demon, she ran her fingers down his chest and to his serpent half. “You are quite wide up front—.” Lily moved her hands further down to feel of his scales still. “—and well into the middle. A measuring tape…umm, can you look for a measuring instrument for me, Jin? It is a thin piece of fabric, which stretches out quite far, with a few lines on it.”

 

The serpent demon looked about the room inquisitively. “Where would it be?” His scales rubbed against one another as he started to move about the connected rooms.

 

“If there is one in this house, it might be in the living room somewhere if the mother knitted.” She could hear the demon searching through the items in the room just across from the kitchen. “Try looking for a basket with yarn inside of it. It might be in there.”

 

Jin dug through the basket Pearl kept her sewing supplies within, eventually coming across the measuring tape Lily was referring to. “Is this it? It is yellow in color and has these weird black lines on it.” He handed it over towards the blind woman to have her feel of it.

 

Running her fingers over the cloth material, Lily nodded. “Yes, yes, this is it.” She lined it up to where Jin's scales began. “Seeing as this isn't the special ruler my father made me, I will have to make do with just measuring you length wise.” Lily could tell he was still slightly coiled up when feeling of his muscles. “Could you outstretch yourself, please?”

 

“If you say so.” Jin moved his body to the point it was uncoiled. He lied down, resting his chin upon his overlapped arms. “I don't see why my size is important anyways.”

 

“Because I have a feeling you are much larger than I think you are.” It took a good while for Lily to measure Jin's length. She found herself stopping in disbelief after a moment finding him to be bigger than any serpent demon her father ever documented. “Jin…you are nearly over 60 feet!”

 

He was unimpressed from the look of it as he started to coil his body back to where it was. “Is that a bad thing?” Jin's blue eyes gazed at Lily from where he was resting near the foot of the staircase.

 

“It isn't a bad thing it is just surprising!” Lily exclaimed, nearly startling Silver who was still in the room, hiding from the awful smell of iron. Hearing the startled hiss from the female serpent, she apologized. “No serpent demon my father documented was ever considered to be that long! He never saw one that big before! And for one so young…I can only wonder if you'll get bigger!”

 

Jin chuckled briefly within his arms before getting up to stretch a bit. “Well, I am glad I could surprise you.” He curled his body back up slowly causing the boards beneath him to creek as he did so. “To answer your previous question, serpent demons don't really celebrate any such hatch day or birthday. But to express love for another, flowers or other items of value are sometimes given that humans leave lying around.”

 

“I'll tell you what, we will go into town and I'll let you pick out something you think she may like,” suggested Lily as she reached out for Jin's hand.

 

The wind demon accepted her hand, looking over at Silver. “What about Silver? I cannot leave her here alone.” He gazed up the darkened staircase with a soft sigh. “What if one of the girls wakes up and come down here? I am sure even young humans don't hesitate to try and kill demons.”

 

She tapped her fingers upon the dinning room table, rolling her teeth over her lower lip. “And I can't ask her to stay outside. Knights are known to walk about this area a good bit now since the fire.” Lily shifted her blank eyes about the home before recalling something. “The girls' parent's bedroom—they never go into that room anymore from what I've heard. It is used by the knight, but he won't be here until sunrise, and we'll be back by then.”

 

“I don't know. She can still smell the knight's armor.” Jin made his way over to Silver, who finished off the last egg she had been pushing around with her nose before swallowing it whole. “Silver, we're going to the human's market,” said Jin in demonic. “We want you to stay here, but up in one of the bedrooms that the knight uses.”

 

Silver recoiled up a bit, hissing a bit at the thought. “The bed where the man in iron sleeps? The place will smell of him!” She curled her serpent body about the chair she was nestled near, trying to hide about it. “I can smell him ever down here. That scent makes me so nervous…don't leave me in here alone!”

 

“Silver,” Jin sighed in sympathy. He lowered his body closer to the floor to look in her eyes. “I can take you back home if you wish. I knew you coming here was a bad idea.”

 

The young serpent demon shook her head at his desire to take her back to the nest. “No, I can come with you! I wanted to come with you, because I was worried about your injury. If you go back to the nest with me, your pain might get that much worse. You shouldn't even be slithering your way to the human town as it is.” Silver reached up to place her hands upon Jin's cheeks prompting Jin to reach for her wrists and gently pry them from where they were.

 

“If you think the smell of the iron is bad here, Silver, wait till you go there,” Jin explained from experience. “They are everywhere; especially at night. The scent of that awful metal they wear has made me cringe and hiss.” He could tell that Silver was torn in what to do. Jin sighed, reaching for her face with his hand to pull her attention back to him once she dared look away from him. “Just stay here for me in that bedroom. We will be back soon enough; I promise.”

 

Lily could tell something was going on between the two even if she didn't understand demonic. “What is the matter, Jin? Is something wrong?” She could hear slight hissing from one of the two, making her worried what could have possibly upset them.

 

Jin wiggled his ears upon hearing Lily's question. “She doesn't want to go into the room because she can smell the knight, and she knows it will be worse up there. Silver wanted to come with me no thanks to the injury I got from one of those knights. She was worried about me.”

 

“What if we burned candles in the room?” Picking up the hem of her dress, Lily made her way over towards the cabinet that held the candles, some of which were scented. “We can light these and the smell will just wash out the iron smell.”

 

The thought of Silver being around fire made Jin panic. “NO!” He yelled thinking of the barn fire deaths and the nightmare he had been having. When he saw Lily look at him oddly, Jin realized he raised his voice a bit too high. He looked away, clearing his throat. “I mean, no. I would rather you not light anything in a room with her. Serpent demons don't do well with fire anyways.”

 

“Well, we don't necessarily have to burn them. We can just put them in the room, and even the smell of the candles may calm her.” Lily made her way over towards the redheaded demon to show them to him. “Here, take a smell of them. You'll see that even not lit, they smell quite nice.”

 

Jin took the candle, smelling of it with a slip of his tongue. “Mm, it smells like the woods.”

 

“It is supposed to smell of flowers,” Lily pointed out. “There must be quite a few out there in the wild where you used to live for you to point that out.” She handed it over to the serpent demon before nodding. “Give it to Silver and see if she would like that.”

 

Taking the candle from Lily, he handed it over to the confused Silver. “Smell it,” Jin insisted in demonic. “It may settle your nerves.” He waited for her to take a sample of it with a flick of her tongue. “So, what do you think?”

 

“What is this?” Silver wondered. “It smells like the plants the two-leggers used to bring to the nesting site we are at.” She grabbed onto the candle with both hands to look it over with interest. “This isn't those plants, but it smells like one.”

 

Jin merely chuckled, shrugging his shoulders back. “Humans are interesting creatures. So if we put these in that room, would it calm you a bit?” He saw Silver was hesitant to consider it at first, but she knew there was no other option for her, so she nodded. “Alright,” Jin said in the human tongue as he turned to Lily, “she is willing to try that. How many do you have? I doubt one is going to do the trick.”

 

“There should be more around here,” Lily thought aloud as she made it back over to the cabinet. “Most of these are just regular candles they use for night. Only some people have candles that are scented. They are very hard to make and so they are very expensive.” She checked each candle in the cabinet to separate the scented ones from the regular. Lily was able to find four at least. “Alright, these are them. If you put them about the room, it should drown out the iron smell Thane tracks in here.” Her blank eyes drifted off toward nothing in particular though she was trying to find where the door might be located. “You might want to hurry, however. Unless we want to walk there, we have to be out there on the road to catch our possible next ride into town from the young lady we road with last time.”

 

The redheaded serpent demon turned to Silver with a nod. “Alright, let's get you up into the bedroom. It is this way.” Moving across the floor carefully, Jin headed up the darkened staircase slowly to make sure Silver was behind him. At the top of the stairs, he curled his body closely to himself to allow his mate a way through. “Don't back away, okay? Nothing is in there that is going to hurt you.” He watched as she stayed close to his body while rubbing her hands slightly out of nervousness. Jin couldn't deny that even the iron smell was irritating him as well upon reaching for the doorknob of the deceased parent's bedchambers to open it. He flinched from the iron stench, causing him to let out a slight hiss next to Silver. “It is alright; it is okay!” He assured her quietly as well as himself. “His smell just lingers.”

 

Silver remained cowered beside her mate, wanting him to take care of whatever was inside of the room. “I cannot go in there…it smells too much of him…!” She was about to panic, forcing Jin to grab onto her tightly to keep her from running or causing more of a ruckus considering the fact the girls were still asleep not too far away.

 

“Shhh, shhh,” Jin whispered within her pointed ear, kissing the side of her head. “The man in iron isn't in there. I promise you. He won't be back till much later, okay?” It took a good bit of soothing, but Jin was able to escort Silver slowly inside of the bedroom consisting of two beds, two windows on the right side of the room, a closet, and a wooden vanity. In the darkness, they could see that there was nobody inside of the room. The smell of the knight iron was just slightly thick for the moment. “See, there is nothing here.”

 

For awhile, Silver remained next to her mate before finding the courage to part from him to look at some of the items littering the human room. She had never been so close to such things before. Her scaly body glided upon the floor as she made it over to the nice vanity made of pine. There were some pre-used candles lining the flat surface as well as a used brush with only a few visible hairs belonging to Pearl. A small jewelry box was off to the side catching her attention with how shiny the wood was. Reaching for it, Silver hesitantly opened it to find a bunch of earrings, necklaces, and the like. “These are very pretty.”

 

Jin wasn't sure what the items were himself as he got closer. “I don't know what that is. I think I've seen humans wear some of that.” He placed some of the candles about the room, hoping to fan out the smell of the knight. Slithering over towards the windows, he tilted his head slightly in wonder at how it worked. “I've seen Lily open this before, but I don't know how…” Remembering the motion of her grabbing something and pushing it up, he slipped his fingers under the indentions within the woodwork to pull upwards with all his might. The window was slowly opened, allowing more of the air from outside to come inside to overpower the iron scent. “How is that? Is that good for you too?”

 

“Thank you, I am sure that will help,” Silver said with a brief smile. She was still slightly on edge.

 

Sighing softly, Jin made his way to the shivering Silver. “I will be right back, my love.” With Silver looking down at the floor in dismay, he tilted her chin back up with the side of his finger. “I promise. I am sorry you had to get caught up in this situation, but I made a promise to Pearl…I made a promise to a lot of people, and I am trying to keep all of them.”

 

Silver managed a smile at the redhead, turning her head to the side slightly to allow some of her silver hairs to rest against her right cheek as she gazed up at him. “It is alright, Jin. I know it isn't your fault.” She held onto his hand tightly for a moment, keeping it close to her chest. “I will be okay. You go ahead into the human town, and I will be here for you.”

 

Leaning forwards, Jin kissed her upon her forehead. “I will return, Silver.” Thinking about the nightmares he had been having, he sighed heavily with worry. “Just…stay here, don't open that door, and be careful, okay?”

 

The female serpent found his worrying behavior slightly odd. “O-Okay.” Silver reached out for the wind demon to embrace him tightly, looking off at nothing in particular as she could only wonder what was causing him such obvious anxiety. Resting her nose against his chest, she kissed the tough, demonic skin tenderly. “Be careful yourself, love.”

 

Jin pulled from Silver's arms shortly after to make his way back towards the cracked door. He held onto her hand for awhile until finally parting from her side. His serpent body coiled beyond the bedroom, he shut the door quietly. The floorboards at the bottom of the steps creaked slightly, catching the serpent's attention quickly with a low hiss at the surprise.

 

“Jin, are you finished? We need to hurry now,” Lily spoke softly from the bottom of the staircase. She had the blankets in her arms to cover up his entire body. “When I am there, I will need to remember to buy some fabrics to make something to suffice for a hooded disguise for you. These blankets aren't going to do much; especially with me having to sew them a bit together for your special size.” She could hear him coming down the wooden staircase slowly, reminding her of his injury before. “How are your ribs? Are they feeling any better?”

 

He wheezed slightly at having his injury touched by the blind woman. “It still hurts, so be careful there,” Jin advised as he directed Lily's hand away from his ribs.

 

“Alright, are you covered up?” Upon his verbal agreement, she held onto his hand to make her way towards the front door. Her hand fiddling with the doorknob, she opened it to step outside and then down the stairs with Jin's help. “So what had you so spooked before?” Lily wondered as her sandaled feet made it to the grass.

 

“About what?” Jin asked with a nervous laugh as his scaly length crept down the porch staircase after her.

 

“When I suggested burning the candles, you got quite upset.” Lily made it out to the road wondering if the milk woman passed by the farm already. “Do you smell any foreign horses?”

 

Jin could always recognize the scent of the Cormac Farm's horses, so he searched the air for any beast that was not recognizable to him. “No, I don't scent anything around here. If you're hoping to catch that woman coming down the road, I am sure she hasn't passed yet.” He was quiet about the first comment Lily made as he guided her up the road as they did the last time to search for the Mallow girl, Mary.

 

“Jin,” Lily began a bit sternly, “you're ignoring my first question. Is something wrong? Are you still nervous about what happened with the barn fire?” With her arm about his slightly, she could feel him tense up under her questions. “Jin? Come now, you can tell me.”

 

“You humans are impossible,” he slightly grumbled, his elfin ears faltering. “I just…I just have been having bad dreams lately about Silver being caught in human flames and screaming for my help.” His eyes wavered as they threatened to fill up with tears. “I don't…I just don't want that to come true—ever!”

 

“You poor thing,” said Lily as she gazed slightly off to the side with her blank eyes. “Sometimes dreams can be just that, Jin. They can be about things we fear most.” She could tell he was not feeling any better, prompting her to stop in her stride to caress Jin's cheek underneath the many blankets and quilts he had upon his long, serpent body. “Do not let one dream strike fear into you. Silver will be fine, and so will your babies she is no doubt carrying inside of her.”

 

Jin found some comfort within her words and actions as he touched her hand carefully, making sure not to puncture her skin with his toxic nails. Before anything else could be said, Jin's ear flickered at the distant sound of a horse and carriage being pulled behind it. “I think she is coming this way.”

 

Sure enough, the carriage being ridden by Mary came within sight from beyond the sloping hill. The horse once again became uneasy, sensing the demon not too far from him with a flare of his nostrils and a bob of his head. “Whoa, whoa, there,” Mary said calmly to the edgy stallion. She looked beyond the black horse to find the two figures standing in her way once more. “Oh, hi, it is you two again. Forgive me, but I forgot your names.”

 

“My name is Lily, and this is Jin,” the blind woman reminded Mary with a tender smile. “We are sorry to burden you once more, Mary, but could you give us a lift into the Eytheria castle town market? We would gladly walk ourselves, but Jin still has that injury, and he isn't allowed to walk much.”

 

Mary gazed over at Jin who only looked up through the shadow of the blankets about him. She could see his deep, blue eyes through the darkness, and it unsettled her a bit. “Uh-of course, I have no problem with that.”

 

Lily could hint something slightly upsetting within Mary's tone when she said that. It made her nervous when she noticed the Mallow woman was staring long and hard at Jin's face. “Is something wrong, Mary?”

 

“N-No, his eyes are just…very unique,” Mary admitted aloud with a wave of her hand. “They seem to shine in the darkness.”

 

“I've been told,” Jin responded from under the only cover he had.

 

Not wishing for anything else to be said, Lily urged Jin to the back of the wagon where they'd be able to get on board. She kept a gentle hold on Jin's rough hand to get herself into the back of the carriage where the milk supplies were being kept. “Come on, Jin, up you go.” Lily made sure that most of him was inside of the wagon before calling to Mary. “We're ready to go.” The reins snapped causing the carriage to jolt forwards as they were on their way to the market. Lily's blank eyes searched for Jin. “Are all in okay? I can only imagine how cramped you might be in here.”

 

“I am fine,” Jin answered behind his disguise. “The perks of being a serpent demon is you can flex your body a good bit to fit any space.”

 

 

 

 

A few hours down the road, they made it to the market place. Mary spoke to the guards once more, convincing them to let her pass with her cargo while Lily and Jin waited. Lily heard the guards okay Mary's goods, the carriage jolting as the horse pulled forwards. “While we're here, remind me to grab some things from my house. I am not sure how long I will be helping with the Cormac girls, so I might as well be prepared.”

 

Jin nodded as the farm cart came to a halt. His ears shot up slightly as he looked over at Mary. Mary looked over her shoulder at the two. “I've got many stops, so I am afraid this is as far as I can go. I hope that is alright.”

 

Lily smiled at Mary. “This is just fine.” Her fingers finding the latch that kept the back door of the cart closed, she unfastened it and stepped down the stairs carefully with Jin holding her hand. She waited at the bottom of the stairs for him. “Are you ready, Jin?”

 

“Yes, I am ready,” said Jin as he managed to pull his entire body out discreetly.

 

“Thanks again, Mary.” She bowed slightly to the young Mallow woman. “May the Goddess watch you on your journeys.”

 

“Thank you, Miss. Lily, same to you.” With another snap of the reins, the black stallion took off steadily down the stone roads to the nightly stops it had to make that late evening.

 

Lily hiked up her dress a bit and made her way over towards Jin to touch his cheek. “Are you feeling okay? Are you up to this?” She was referring to his injury, knowing that most strenuous movements would pain him. She felt him nod against her hand, making a smile appear upon her face. “I apologize once again for this. I just need help with this party. Neda still has yet to cheer up. Blythe is handling it better than Neda is.”

 

“To lose somebody you love is never easy,” Jin sympathized, thinking about his nightmares he had been having as well as thinking of his alpha. “My alpha lost a whole nest to humans, and he still begrudges them as I am sure Neda will to my kind.”

 

“You don't seem too hurt by that,” Lily pointed out as they made their way about the streets she knew fairly well even blind. “Your words were quite calm just then.”

 

Jin shrugged his broad shoulders with a subtle sigh through his nostrils. “I cannot make Neda understand I didn't kill her parents intentionally just as I cannot make Dustin understand not all humans are evil to serpent demons. He already knows that I've been around humans, and he nearly disowned me for it. That is how far his hatred runs.”

 

Lily felt her heart hurt with sorrow for Dustin. “I am sorry for his loss. I am aware how large serpent nests can get, so he must have lost a lot of loved ones at the hands of men.”

 

“He lost hundreds,” Jin said with a sigh. “So, where did you want to go?”

 

“Can you tell me what road we're on? Forgive me, but unless I know exactly where I am, I won't be able to direct us from here.” Lily parted from Jin for a moment, reaching her hand out to search for a nearby post. She found it soon enough, making her feel of the cold iron before looking over her shoulder. “If only I could figure out what this sign said, but it is too high up to feel of the words…”

 

Jin slithered closer to the woman, gazing up at the slightly, swinging sign that had a few words carved into it. “It says West Eytheria Market, and it is pointing this way.” He grabbed onto her hand to point it in the west direction.

 

The woman was surprised as she gazed upwards in Jin's direction, slightly wide-eyed. “You can read our language too?”

 

“I know a good many words,” said Jin thinking it wasn't that big of a deal. “Dustin taught me these things, as I think I explained before. He wanted us all to be on alert around humans and know what they were planning. I just took it a bit further sometimes. There is a wizard who speaks to both humans and demons, and I learned to read further from him.”

 

“What is his name?”

 

“Suzuka,” Jin answered simply. “You might know him. He lives around the human market place, but on the outside walls of it.”

 

“I've heard of him, but I've never met him,” Lily admitted as she pointed towards the direction of the palace. “We have to go north. There are some places that are still open around the castle in case the royal family is in need of anything.” She held onto Jin's arm once more to have him guide her to the northern part of the market place. “I used to love to go shopping no matter the hours of the night with my former husband.” Lily was silent for a moment as she shifted her eyes downwards. “I must admit, I do miss him.”

 

Catching her sadness, Jin shifted his attention to Lily with a slight twitch of his elfin ears. “He must have really hurt you—more so than you let on when we first met.”

 

“Well, I cannot deny that he left a rather awful pain in my heart. I guess I wasn't good enough for him.” The thought alone hurt Lily, causing her to stop to recollect herself and her sadness she refused to show before others. “For many years I haven't been good enough for anybody.”

 

Catching her words of self-loathing, Jin prompted the woman to face him even if she couldn't see him. “I don't know why you say such things about yourself.” Jin slid his right hand against her cheek, mindful of his nails. “If you weren't so resistant towards me, I would show you.” Leaning down, he kissed her cheek with his lips and a scrape of his forked tongue.

 

Feeling his warm breath against her skin, Lily hitched slightly in breath before pulling from his kiss. “That is quite kind of you, Jin, but you forget your race and mine.” She pulled his hand gently from her cheek, smiling for the serpent demon. “Being a male demon, it is in your body to want to make babies with any female you come across, but I should not be one of them.”

 

Jin twitched his ears slightly at her words, twisting his mouth to the side slightly as if in thought. “Are you saying I am run by my body? I would think I have more control than that.”

 

Lily could only chuckle at his words, not sure what to say to that. She knew demons of any kind had impulses and the males' were to mate. The blind woman was aware that Jin would be unable to comprehend that. “Let me know when we're at the stores. I need to find Neda something and bake her something special.”

 

“How will I know if they're open?” Jin wondered, looking about the darkened streets lined by guards. The sight and smell of them made him nervous as he resisted the urge to hiss out of fear and irritation.

 

“Most of these stores should be closed up with nobody behind the booth,” Lily explained. “The ones that are open should have somebody behind them with a lantern lit or some candles at the very least.” As Jin continued to escort her, she turned her head slightly towards him. “What do you plan on getting her?”

 

“I don't know. I told you, we don't celebrate something called a birthday,” Jin said, smelling a small flame about the roads. “One might be open down this way.” The serpent demon headed down one of the many roads about the market area to see a flame flickering a bit within the darkness. “Ah, there is one.”

 

“We'll look at a few things and see what she may like besides that necklace of your scales she is making.” She made it up to the booth, feeling the warmth of the flame against her skin to indicate the seller was indeed there willing to do business at that hour of the night.

 

“Oh, hello there,” the business woman responded, moving her hand from her cheek. She was honestly, quite bored trying to sell at that hour, but she managed to make a bit more profits than those who were only opened during the day. “What can I help you with this night that the Goddess has blessed us with?”

 

“Forgive me, but I cannot see,” said Lily as she placed her hands upon the silky blanket covering the top of the booth. “What is it that you sell?”

 

The business woman looked over at Jin, unable to tell if he could see or not seeing as he had his hood up as she looked at her wares as if to remind herself. “Well, I sell fabrics for tailoring and some jewelry pieces.” She bent behind her booth to pull out a few jewelry items she had to display.

 

“This table cloth feels very nice,” said Lily as she felt the silken fabric beneath her hands. “Where did you manage to get this kind of fabric with this feeling to it?”

 

“Oh, that? It is fine silk, which I pay top dollar for from foreign, traveling merchants from the east.” She watched as Lily admired the feel of it seeing as most dresses and items were made from wool and other items that were not as comfortable as the feeling of the silk. “Do you like it? I have some of that for sell for tailoring.”

 

While the two women spoke about prices and the rolls required, Jin eyed the jewelry she put on display. He found them to look funny, and he still wasn't sure what to get Neda even if human women did wear such things. Jin's blue eyes continued to eye the homemade items closely before stopping at a small, beautifully carved box before him. Wrapping his fingers about it, he picked it up to look at it closer. He sniffed at it as well before finding he could open it with a simple raise of the top lid. Squinting his eyes, Jin tried to make out what was inside before finally pulling the top completely back. Upon the lid falling back, a small, carved phoenix flying upwards was seen in front of a circle mirror in the back.

 

The store woman caught Jin playing with the box in interest. “I see you found my music box.”

 

“Music box?” Jin asked in bewilderment looking at it from all sides with interest.

 

“Yes, here, I'll show you how it works.” She pulled out a small key she inserted into the side to start winding up the box and then putting it down on the table.

 

Jin watched in interest as the phoenix flying upwards was shown spinning around to a melody that kept at a normal pace until slowing down a two or so minutes later to stop completely again. “Wow, how did you make that? I've never known music to play from a box.”

 

“It took a lot of items I paid for, and that music part came from the east as well. They are quite crafty over there.” She showed Jin to key. “You have to wind it up with this to make it work. You can even put jewelry in here, so it works as two different things.”

 

Picking back up the music box again, he looked at Lily. “Do you think Neda would like this?”

 

“I am sure she will,” said Lily with a nod, keeping the bolts of cloth in her hands she had paid for. “Who knows, it might put a smile on her face for once.” She opened her hands to accept the music box from the wind demon before placing it down before the seller. “I'll take this as well.” Paying for the rather expensive item, Lily handed the box back over to Jin before wrapping her arm about his to be escorted back down the street.

 

“Thank you, come again,” replied the seller woman as she put some of her things back behind the booth.

 

“Now, I need to make a quick stop to my house to get some of my belongings, and then we need to find a ride out of here…somehow.” Lily knew that at this time, transportation out of the city was hard to come by. “If we can't, are you alright to walking back to the farm?”

 

Jin smiled a bit. “I will make it just fine so long as I can get a resting stop at your house. I find taking breaks in between makes it a bit more tolerable,” he explained as Jin made it down towards Lily's house hidden in the alleyways.