After centuries of a small family developing successful potions for love, fortune and health among other things, the oldest son, Reed, decided to launch the family business of magic into the corporate world. He chose a small stall near the centre of a town market in which place he had found a large enough table where he began setting out his flasks, sorting them and labelling them in their correct rows. Love, health, fortune, power, poison, flying, and so on. The first customer was a young girl, about his age, who wore a pale pink dress that fell to her ankles with off-the-shoulder sleeves and a brown, leather belt. She also had long brown hair, braided in a rope down her back neatly, and mysterious, grey eyes. She stepped up to his counter and spoke in a soft and polite voice when addressing him. “One potion of fortune if you don't mind.” She then held out a pale hand in which were five shards of crystal, their form of paying, it seemed. Reed smiled at the girl as he handed her the flask and wished her “a pleasant day to you”. His green eyes crinkled in his warm smile and they curiously watched her disappear into the crowds. She had been nice. The hot wind blew gently in his face, making him a little sleepy. It tousled his brown hair, and he shook himself awake as another customer arrived. It was a tall man with a white-yet-dirty tunic and brown trousers who was forced to stoop as he came under Reed’s stall’s roof. He had dark eyes which seemed cold and a deep voice which Reed immediately found strangely foreboding. He demanded: “One potion of health, immortality, and fortune.” “Of course, Sir, but immortality does wear off, remember. That will be twenty crystal shards.” Growling at the expensive amount he had to pay he shoved the crystals at Reed, snatched his potions without so much as a grunt in thanks, and quickly left. With a sigh Reed supposed that his customers could not always be as friendly as the girl had been. After a while in the hot, bustling, noisy market Reed’s stocks had begun to diminish so he closed, making sure to reserve his spot again for the next day, and went to do a bit of shopping himself. He was quite amazed by the different options there were. The sun shone down bright and hot on his head for a summer’s day. There were no clouds and the grass on the fields was dry. Suddenly he stopped. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted the girl he had served as his first customer for the day. She was at her own stall selling freshly made rolls of bread and other pastries. As he was watching her give a mother and children three loaves she caught his eye. She did not sever the connection and after a moment she smiled at him the exact way he had smiled at her. Then she turned away again and started taking the order of an old man. In the middle of a bustling market with nothing to do but stare at a female youth he decided he would start looking for something to buy his mother as a celebration that he had opened the stall. Just then a boy tapped him on the shoulder, making him jump. Turning around Reed beheld a boy his age with dark skin and hair. “Hey! I haven’t seen you around lately. Who are you?", asked the boy in a snappish voice, always glancing around at who gave him attention. “I’m Reed, I sell potions at my stall over there, that my family brews by hand.”, he answered, a little irritated that the boy didn’t seem to be listening. He was still looking around as though he was searching for something or someone and carelessly replied with: “Impressive.”, mussing up his dark hair to try and make it look more attractive. And then something seemed to have clicked, for he looked over at him, and said: “Wait, potions? Cool! I come from the family Thatcher.”, he drawled rather smug. When he caught the blank look from Reed however, his prideful stance fell. “Tell me you know who I am!”, he asked incredulously. “Um- no, sorry.”. “SORRY? We’re the richest family there is! Shoot- other than the royal family of course.”, he quickly added, glancing to see if anyone had noticed his little slip in embarrassment. Reed was liking the boy less and less. “I see. Well, my name’s Roone. Pleasure.” He held out his hand to him. “Oh, and I’m sure you’ll have no idea about you’re way around- “ “Actually”, interrupted Reed, “I’m fine. I know what I’m doing.” “Oh.”, replied Roone and scurried off looking disgruntled. Reed watched him go and then headed over to the girl’s stand, intent on buying some bread. “Hello, what’s your name?” he asked while surveying the options. Pointing one loaf out to her she met his eyes and replied: “Theresa- here’s your bread, Sir.” He took it, paid her five crystal shards and left to go back home. There was evidently more to the world than he had thought, and he was about to have a very fun time exploring it (with perhaps a new friend?) and discovering the treasures it had in store for him. THE END
- Rhea