Water Mirrored Moon - 水鏡月

Part I - Born of the Water Moon: 6. Market

"Does it taste good?" Xiao Yu teased, holding out another skewer of grilled meat. Hot, fatty juice dripped down the wooden stick and into the dirt.

Cui Xi grinned in response.

They sat with heads bent together on a wooden bench in front of a street stall where a tubby man in his thirties skilfully flipped meat skewers. His sweaty bald head was partially wrapped in a head cloth. Flashing a cheerful smile, he called out to those who passed by, advertising his wares, but in truth the juicy fragrant smell of fire crisped meat sold itself.

"Laoban*, another two please!"

"Coming guest! Here, here, please take your time to enjoy," the man grinned, handing over the tasty treasures to Xiao Yu.

The meat was gently sizzling as Cui Xi hastily took the skewer that Xiao Yu handed to her, trying not to drip grease onto her dress. She was still chewing the previous mouthful with a look of bliss on her face. Swallowing, she grinned and nodded with delight, closing her eyes and taking a big sniff of the fresh one.

"Mmnn!" she gave a muffled exclamation as the juice dripped down her chin.

So good!

It was nice to know that ancient street stalls were no different from the street stalls of the modern world...and grilled meat tasted good no matter where you went. The only thing that would have made it better would have been a Coke or a cold beer...

Cui Xi glanced around her curiously. The town really was different from what she had imagined...it was big and crowded, and because it was situated along one of the main routes out to Xiyu otherwise known as the Western Region, she had already seen many foreigners including milk skinned men with long curly locks down the side of their faces, their colourful square hats over their heads, towing along camels. She'd also seen people who looked to be Turkic or Persian, their heads wrapped in cloth turbans, wearing long embroidered shirts that hung down over their flowing trousers, hems brushing their pointed shoes, waists encircled with cinnamon coloured sashes. There were also a few Mongols wearing their crossed over jackets and pointed boots, their wind weathered faces grinning as Cui Xi watched them joke and jostle with their companions.

Sighing with satisfaction over her full belly, she carefully wiped her hands on a square of cloth. Although, she and Xiao Yu still had to go to the tailor shop and to see if she could find a small knife, this kind of unhurried wandering was the happiest she'd been since she had come to Tiansheng.

The marketplace was lively and teeming with stalls and Xiao Yu and Cui Xi were only too happy to weave their way through the crowd, comparing accessories or rouge.

Cui Xi hadn't realized how much she had missed girly shopping.

While trotting along, Cui Xi was momentarily distracted and accidentally bumped into a man swathed from head to toe in dark cloth. The cloth even covered his nose and the dark brown eyes that stared out, flecked with yellow, were set in a weathered dark-skinned face. Cui Xi gasped in shock at the string of words that came out as the man shouted at her, forcing her to step backwards. As he turned, she saw his hand go to a silver dagger in a heavily tooled leather sheath that sat on a thick belt at his waist.