Apples of Forgivness

Alexandrian Lower Trades, Early Afternoon.

The faint chill to the air was showing no signs of abating with fall setting into the city proper, yet the light early day fog did little to dampen the spirits of the town. With harvests coming in, there was a general cheer to the streets with plentiful food and plentiful stalls lining the streets to hawk their wares. Even more than a few egalrin hawking their wares from the aerie, sharing warm woven textiles for the coming winter months.

There was one small stall tucked in to an open spot that was in the process of being set up. A brown haired elf with two wooden arms was busy working on setting up for the day, moving wares from the hand cart they brought with them. Several straw filled barrels, and numerous paper wrapped parcels which were quickly filling up all of the display space.

Zeke is at the moment wandering the spaces between the stalls a little lazily. With the harvest festival coming up he has been preparing by collecting the necessary items in advance of the date. This time of the year holds a special significance to the sith, and he has many things to do and prepare for so he has been feeling a bit out-of-sorts.

His stomach rumbles, reminding him that he will need to pick up something to eat for himself and Cuemoni as well, and he sniffs the nearby air for something that smells good. Something that might whet his appetite or catch his attention. This season is full of wondrous smells, he has noticed, so he is careful in his scenting.

The bounty of the harvest(s) brought to the city makes for an equally bountiful opportunity to shop. Not only should one acquire stores for the coming winter, but many items are far less available most any other time in the year.

Amidst the damp, lingering fog, Verna is out to do just that; a sizable basket is hooked within one elbow and her layered dress provides protection from the chill. As well, its scheme of pink-upon-green creates some contrast between her and the hanging precipitation (and possible some fellow pedestrians as well).

Finishing up, perhaps a bit slowly, as the artificer fumbles a bit with some of the lids until the hooks where their left hand might have been latched onto the barrels to open them up fully, revealing the various names painted on in bright red paint, along with prices per bushel.

Schara finally was able to move to the other side of her small stall, unwrapping a few of the parcels and placing them on to display stands. Pies, pastries, bottles and kegs lined the counter, with the scent of fresh baked goods easily wafting through the air. The artificer gives Verna a slightly stilted wave as she sees them in the area.

The scent of apples is what draws Zeke's attention, and then cinnamon and other spices. The sith-makar is slowly lured in. Careful not to nudge any other potential customers out of the way, Zeke also notices Verna as he approaches the stall, and greets the Mourner politely. "Sssa, peassce on your nessst Verna."

He adds a polite nod to his words and then turns his attention on the stall itself and then grows very still when he realizes the who of who is running the stall. He recognizes Schara right away - her scent is sufficient as a reintroduction. "Ssssssssa." He murmurs a little uneasily. "Peasssce on your nessst." His voice is a little less enthusiastic than it had been.

Were Verna not to notice the wave (which she does), the scent of baked goods with spiced fruit might well have drawn her as if by summons, regardless. "Good day to you, Schara, and peace upon your nest, Sunguard," she offers greetings as she nears. "I trust that you both fare well?" Her eyes shift from them to the offerings. "It appears that the harvest and related efforts have done so."

Schara stopped her work on opening up some of the parcels as a few potential customers came by her way. Zeke gets another wave too. "Good afternoon Verna, yes, the summer and fall has been excellent for many, and I have an excess of produce from home as usual around this season. I am doing quite well for various reasons." She answers, clearly going for the second customer for a moment, as she is left with her head tilted to one side for a good minute, a slight frown on their face. "I recognize the change in tone and while I am very bad with most social cues, I know that it would likely be uncomfortable to see me again but I promise that I will not harass you today, Sunguard. I would rather offer my apologies instead, if you would have them, but you are under no obligation to listen to or accept them." She suddenly answers bluntly.

Zeke blinks at Schara and her blunt manner glancing over at Verna for a moment before returning his attention to Schara. "Yesss. Thisss one will ssshare wordsss. Thisss one will lissssten to apology. If you do not mean to harasssssss, thissss one will be glad of it." After all, their previous interaction had... not gone well. At least not in Zeke's opinion. It had been for him, incredibly uncomfortable.

"All pleasant news..." Verna begins, though her words perhaps fade out prematurely with the uncertain comments to Zeke. She glances between the two briefly, and chooses to remain quiet for the moment so as not to interrupt. Whatever issues occurred previously, it is best matters are resolved.

Schara, given permission to continue, nods once to Verna, and once to Zeke, takes a moment to step back, and take a deep breath.

"Thank you for the opportunity to do so, even if it is not accepted, I am glad that you have given me the chance to do so, as it has been bothering me for some time. I would like to begin by stating first that no matter my reasonings for acting the way that I did, it in no way excuses my actions towards you in any way, mister Zeke."

"It was my own prejudices and feelings that made me bitter and unkind towards you, as it was the result of a cleric of Daeus in name only who led to me losing function of both of my arms due to injury. I was feeling bitter that my own prayers were never answered and that the prosthetics I made so that I would no longer need to rely on others to function were causing me significant harm, but Daeus helped someone else instead and I would reiterate that I was wrong in my thinking and this was no fault whatsoever of you or any other clerics, I was only projecting my own biases upon others." The artificer begins rambling off. It was hard to tell if it was practiced, or simply the way the artificer talked. Maybe a bit of both.

Schara paused to take a long breath. "So, I would like to apologize, as the actions of Thraven in no way reflects on you as a person. Or you either, Verna." She adds to the mourner. "It has taken a lot of personal thought to grow as a person and come to this conclusion. So I am sorry, Sunguard, and it is in no way proper reparations for how I acted, but I would like to offer anything I have here as well."

Zeke is quiet in the aftermath of Schara's words and he huffs finally. "Thiss one doess not know the... scirscumssstanscesss of your... harm. The Dragonfather did help thisss one and not you. Feelingsss on thisss are under-sstand-able. How-ever, we choossse harm."

He looks at Schara. "You chossse to be unkind to thissss one that day, becaussse you sssaw a ssservant of the Dragonfather, becaussse you sssaw sssome-one blesssed by him." Zeke shakes his head and motions to his own scaled chest and then to Schara's. "You begin to under-ssstand and that issss enough for thisss one. Thiss one has no need of thingsss, only of under-ssstanding. Thisss one isss glad."

He lets his tail curl around his feet then and he motions to the apples. "Thisss one though would like to buy sssome applessss. Thisss one would like to try to make a pie for Cuemoni."

Schara was waiting for an answer or lack of one coming, and the artificer jumps a bit at the response, the hooks on their arm stuck into the countertop where they had been putting more wait on it than expected. "No, no, you are right, it was my own choice to be unkind and unjust that day, and mister Skielstregar helped me to realize that, along with many others. But my own actions were just as important, as I needed to be willing to grow as a person. And I still have a lot of growing to do." she responds, finally exhaling and smiling again.

"Thank you and if you are very sure I won't try to make you take anything. Have you ever made a pie before? I have several here that I made myself if you would prefer, but if you would want to make something yourself, then I have several different cultivars of apples from my families orchard. I could offer some suggestions if necessary, as a balance of textures and flavors is important for making an apple pie as good as it can be."

"Thisss one isss sssure." Zeke says seriously. "Thisss one would like to be friendss, and friendss do not take advantage of one another yess? Sso thisss one will buy. Appless. And asssk advice on pie-making. Thisss one would like a sssweet but perhapsss a little sssavory pie. Thisss one does not like things to be *too* sweet." He is after all primarily a meat-eater. This makes sense then. His tail-tip gives the tiniest of thumps.

"You would like to be friends?" Schara repeats back, tilting her head, and finally nodding one more time. "That would be nice, you're a nice person mister Zeke, which is why I wanted to make sure I apologized to you."

"So, there are many apples that grow, and not all of them are as sweet, along with moisture content and how they stand up to cooking." The artificer begins, stopping herself just short of rambling. "I could recommend some less sweet apples, more tart ones, but a balance is important, otherwise the whole pie is sour. If you'd like something savory, you could also make two pies, since you can use the dough from making one out of apples for one filled with meat and onions and other vegetables?"

Schara stops to tap one of the barrels, then another. "I'd recommend some of the gold dragons here, and maybe a few harpists for acid and flavor? It's that or you can add lemon or something else tart to balance them out."

Zeke is kind of getting into the flow of it now. He doesn't want two pies, but he understands what Schara is saying. "Thisss one will take ssssome of the gold dragonssss, ssssom harpissst applessss and a lemon. That will be perfect. Tartnesss will be the perfect flavor to round out the sweetnesss." He thinks that Cuemoni will appreciate the pie regardless of how it turns out, but he hopes that she likes it. He pulls out the appropriate payment for the fruit and exchanges it with Schara nodding politely to her. "Thisss one isss glad that we were able to ssshare wordsss thisss day, may the light shine on you."

"Sure thing! Let me just pack them all up for you." Schara responds, grabbing one of the woven wood baskets she had set aside, and scooping several of them in before handing it off to Zeke, pausing before accepting payment. "Actually, just give me a moment, please." She asks, grabbing a pen out of one of her pockets, and quickly writing out several lines on some parchment she fished out of one of the bags in slightly messy handwriting. "I'm glad I was able to talk to you again as well, mister Zeke. I hope you have a good day." She offers, pushing the parchment forward as she takes the coins, before turning her attention back to Verna, and some of the other customers who were yet to come.

- End