Kingdom of Power, of Courage, and of Wisdom

Rebel's War - First Impressions

A Rebel's War – Part 4

-Link-

After fruitlessly searching the alleyways for the old woman, Link and Ouhon Mitagi were able to track down where she had gone to shop before Link's brief encounter with her. Now at the market district and not one to let circumstances go to waste, Link browsed through many shopkeepers' wares. There were a variety of market stalls selling everything one could think of, and one by one, the pair took each shop keeper aside to ask about the woman. They asked for everything: a name, a place of residence, anything they could use to find her. After Link went into excruciating detail about the woman to clerk after clerk, one finally knew who Link was talking about. However, with so many customers in the day, the clerk did not know details such as where she lived or where she goes. They got the name and nothing else. It was Roku Cian. Ouhon did not recognize her nor her family name.

Every shop keeper was selling wares related to some recent celebration the Mitagi had. Ouhon expected this, but Link had never seen so many colorful things. He had never seen a confetti pop nor a firework. He had never waved a little hand-held flag of Qin nor seen so many colorful masks. He had never seen so many pretty dresses to dazzle his eyes. Every article fed his imagination of what beauty meant for female and male attire. There were games, prizes, and more than Link could ever hope to experience in a day.

The next shop to question was owned by a masked salesman. So far as they were told, this salesman was new to town but already built a steady customer base. He was quickly becoming renowned for the variety of his masks and the incredible talent put into them. Link could see why: the shelves held hundreds of different kinds of masks, and the artist who drew them must have been incredible. Link had never seen masks look so real.

The shop bursted with customers trying to obtain masks and reach the counter where the seller stood. People pushed and bumped by each other so much that Link and Ouhon couldn't see the shop keeper amongst the masses.

Link shoved his way into the crowd and disappeared. Only a moment passed and he was roughly thrown back out.

"This is a madhouse..." Link said.

Ouhon stepped forward. "Allow me," he said. He then cleared his throat and exclaimed towards the swarm. "All of you!" His tone brooked no argument and immediately the room stilled. Link even froze. "By the authority of Ouhon Mitagi, you are to clear me a path. We are to have words with the shop keeper." Every word Ouhon spoke bore the power of a Mitagi.

Instantly, a path cleared.

"That works," Link ungratefully muttered. He glared up at Ouhon before following him to the counter.

At the counter was a spindly man who constantly rubbed his hands together, either out of nervousness or greed. He also had a smile stretching from ear to ear.

"What can I help you gentlemen with?" The excessively happy mask salesman asked.

"We are looking for a woman by the name of Roku Cian," Ouhon explained. "She bought the mask of a fox from you." He described the woman with the details given by Link. The salesman steadily nodded as he spoke.

"Yes, yes, I know of this woman," The mask salesman said. "I have sold many such masks, but I shan't forget her. Her grandson gave quite a cry when I had sold out on those masks last time, and we agreed for her to be among the first orders in the next shipment. She came to my shop two days... No? How long ago was it? Yesterday? I swear, I haven't slept since I came to this town! Either way, she came and picked it up. I told her not to, I could have just brought it to her, but she wanted to pick it up while she was out."