This time Darin stayed close to Ridahne. She didn’t feel a need to go somewhere specific. She just got the sense that The Seed wanted to see all that It could. Well, see was the wrong word. It was more like know. The Seed wanted to know all that It could. As such The Seed-Bearer followed their traveling companion closely as they went up ladders and across bridges. Darin was shocked into stillness at her first sight of the market. It was busy. She had never seen anything so busy. A few people bumped into her and that got her moving again with a few bows of apology. She got a few odd looks, so she figured she didn’t do it quite right. Still no one look offended so she assumed she hadn’t messed up too badly.

Darin quickly hurried back to Ridhane to listen to the Azurei point out interesting types of food, but she kept getting distracted to stand and just look around. There were so many smells and so many sights and so many sounds. It was more than just a little bit overwhelming. Darin found herself, not for the first time, wishing she could go home. It was much more peaceful there. Then she would shake her head and rush to catch up with Ridahne. She would take her share of the load only for the market to overwhelm her again to lock her back into place. She knew she had to be drawing stares, but she simply didn’t care. Darin just didn’t know how to process everything

Finally, she got to sit down. The human took the small cup that Ridahne pushed into her hands with a small sense of wariness. The air around the whole stall smelled slightly bitter, and bitter had never been one of her favorite flavors. She had a fondness for sweet things though she didn’t get a chance to indulge her sweet tooth often. Still Darin did her best to refrain from wrinkling her nose at the smell of the beverage and even tried a decent sized swallow. That time her nose did wrinkle. This coffee, as Ridahne called it, was not her favorite at all.

She placed the cup back on the table and pushed it towards the Azurei, “You can have the rest of mine if you want it.”

Though the drink had been warm and that was nice. It was slightly chilly underneath the canopy of the trees. Even that small swallow had done something to fight the chill. Suddenly Darin found herself wanting spiced milk, but she had no idea where to get it, or even if she could only get the supplies to make it, where to make it. The human didn’t even know if it was something people in this part of Astra would know about or if she would have to describe it. It didn’t help that spiced milk had no real recipe. It usually depended on what spices were available. Still Darin found herself craving, what to her was, the simple mixture of warm milk, honey, and various spices. Of course, she mainly just wanted to be warm.

She found herself looking up at the canopy above the market and the entire city, “Tell me Ridahne, what would the Eluri of Lihaelen think if I started climbing these trees?”

To be honest Darin wasn’t sure she cared what people thought. She was just suddenly struck by a desire to see the top of the canopy. That desire didn’t come from The Seed. It was all her. That was the only reason why she didn’t just go for it. She wasn’t sure she wanted to cause an upset just yet. She just felt crowded and pressed upon. She hadn’t seen proper sun for a while as they traveled deeper and deeper into the forest. She couldn’t begrudge the journey. She would have had to come here sooner or later. She just wasn’t sure how much long she could take the lack of the sun AND the crowds AND all the newness without any familiar source of comfort. She had always been good at climbing tree. She wasn’t sure how easy it would be to get to the top, but she just desperately wanted to see the sun. She would get Ridahne’s opinion and then she might ignore it anyways. Everything up to this point may had been new, but it also had some sort of familiarity. This was completely new. Darin could feel the tension and panic crawling underneath her skin. She needed to do something quickly or she might wind up try to dig it out with her finger nails.