We continued onward and the few food shops made a question pop into my head. “How come your family doesn’t have your restaurant here?”

  She turned to me with a sheepish smile. “My great-grandfather built the restaurant close to the caves to serve everyone and we have grown fond of the location, as have many of the other restaurant owners. Besides, the cooking district is prone to chimney fires and many would prefer they remain where they are.”

  “Arian!” The shout came from a jolly man of sixty who stood in a small cluster of adults. Many of them had scowls on their faces and he was the sole jolly survivor of the sea of ire. He waved us over. “It’s been too long!”

  “Good morning, Lord Tongle!” Arian called back as a bright smile brightened her face.

  “Are you listening to me?” one of the people who surrounded Tongle snapped. “I was telling you there is a mouse in the basement!”

  Tongle returned his attention to his ‘adoring’ crowd and bobbed his head. “I hear you, my lovely Miss Guomin, and I will have that mouse out before the day is over.”

  “But the day has just started! Do I have to go that long knowing there’s a mouse that could be eating all my delicious treats?” she snapped.

  He folded his arms over his broad chest and furrowed his brow. “Well, let me see what I can do. Perhaps the children would accept the task of catching your mouse if you offered them a treat for a reward.”

  She twisted her lips into a sneer. “Allow them into my basement? With all those sweets in the boxes? They’ll tear into them like those filthy wolves!”

  “Then I can’t guarantee your mouse problem will be fixed before nightfall. That’s when the catcher can come,” he told her.

  She hunched over and wrung her hands together. “I will think about it.” And with that, she slipped away.

  The others crowded around the man.

  “Me next, Guomin!”

  “I have a complaint about my house!”

  “And my location!”

  Guomin raised his hands above his head and grinned at all of them. “I’ll get to you all one at a time, folks, but if you don’t like your house then you’ll have to submit a request for another one.”

  “House?” I repeated as I looked to my native guide. I jerked my head toward the shops. “Is he meaning those?”

  She shook her head. “No, those shops are rented from the city. The white stones for the vendors are called ‘houses.’ Some of them have held onto the same spot for hundreds of years and are considered family heirlooms.”

  “And if they want to move?” I wondered.

  “That depends on where they want to move,” she revealed as she nodded at the layout. “They must submit a request for the general location and then must pass an inspection to see if their stall fits with those around it.”

  I cocked my head to one side. “Fits? Like how?”

  Her eyes twinkled with amusement. “Would you care to have a fish shop beside the furs you are selling?”

  I thought about it for a moment before I wrinkled my nose. “No.”

  “The vendors around them might argue the point, as well, and that would extend the moving process,” she explained.

  “Alright, the lot of you, you can hash out your troubles in ten minutes!” Lord Guomin shouted to the others as he waved his hand in the direction of the dozen or so stalls already set up. “I’ll let you folks think about your requests so I can make them happen as quick as I can. Now off with you! Shoo!” The others reluctantly broke up and scattered to their tents. Guomin sauntered over to us with a smile still on his lips. “Good morning, Lady Arian! And this must be Lady Roberts! You’re both a sight, if I may say!”

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  Arian laughed and nodded. “You may say so, Lord Guomin, and we will gladly accept the compliment.”

  He put his hands on his hips and inspected us. “Now, what might I do for you today?”

  Arian nodded at the bucket in my hands. “We need a fire to cook these treats.”

  Guomin leaned down and inspected the chocolates with curious eyes. “What are they? Some new candy you brought back from the heavens?”

  “Something like that, but we need permission to use one of your campfires, do we not?” she inquired.

  He straightened and nodded. “Aye, but I believe you’d be careful with them, so that’s not much of a problem. Let’s go and see which one you can use.”

  Guomin guided us through the vendors and I caught sight of hanging fish, kites, homemade pans, and other such necessities for everyday life. I could only imagine what wares they offered during the festival. Perhaps it would be like the Twilight Fair.

  A heavy sigh escaped me. That seemed like so long ago and in another life.

  Arian nudged my arm with her elbow. “Are you feeling well?”

  I sheepishly smiled at her. “I was just thinking about the Twilight Fair. Is the Fur Festival like that?”

  She bobbed her head. “Oh yes, though the vendors do not come from so far. We do attract most of the nearby clans.”

  “All but the wolves?” I guessed.

  Guomin turned his head far enough to drop an eye on us. “I heard around that they were coming.”

  Arian cast her eyes to the ground and nodded. “Yes.”

  “Anything I can do to help?” he wondered.

  She shook her head. “Oh no! I am sure your management of the festival will be quite enough!”

  “That must be a lot of work,” I mused as I swept my eyes over the expansive space.

  He threw back his head and laughed. “Work? I don’t think of any of this as work! I like people and people like me!”

  “Hey, Guomin, when are you going to get off your ass and help me lug this basket?” someone shouted.

  Guomin cupped a hand around his mouth. “In a minute! Ah-ha! Here we are!”

  We had arrived at a ring of white stones a hundred feet in diameter. The area inside the rocks was dotted with round holes three feet thick at their center. The holes stood ten feet apart from the closest neighbor. Most of the pits offered a spit to hang pots or skewer meats while others were bare. Some of the spits even had cauldrons. A long shed stood off to the right with its open face pointed at the pits. The bays were filled to the roof with chopped wood and the scent of pine wafted over us.

  Our guide stopped us on the edge of the white circle and rubbed his chin in his hand. His eyes flitted over the area and he shook his head. “No, not that. Not that one, either.” He paused and turned his head toward us. “How long will you be needing it?”

  Arian looked to me for an answer and I shrugged. “Maybe three hours? And the kids are supposed to come at noon.”

  “And what are you doing with it?”

  “Father has invited the city’s children to taste Anna’s treats,” Arian explained. “We’re hoping it will calm the parents seeing their children enjoying the sweet.”

  He cast his curious eyes to my pail. “I see. Well, from the smell of those you’ll have a lot of customers so I’ll put you on one of the outside ones. That way your kids won’t get in the way of the others.” He nodded at one of the pits to our left and on the outside. A cauldron hung from the spit. “Take that one but mind you finish at three and clean up your mess. You can take however much wood you want from the shed, too. Your father pays enough for the poorer folks that you don’t need to hand over any coins for that.”

  Arian smiled and bowed her head. “Thank you so much, Lord Guomin.”

  He grinned and shook his head. “Don’t thank me. Just make sure those kids forget about their parents’ long faces, alright?”

  “Guomin!” It was the same demanding man from before.

  “Coming!” Guomin shouted back. He tipped his head to us. “If you’ll excuse me, I’m needed.” He sauntered off to help.

  I studied the pits with some trepidation. “Do you know how to use these things?”

  Arian shrank beneath the question and sheepishly smiled at me. “Well, I have seen them used.”

  I snorted and clapped a hand over her shoulder. “Well, we have a few hours to figure this out so let’s get to it.”