After an altercation at school, Rory has been sent out on an errand for the counselor as 'punishment'. Armed with only a rather scribbly map and a list of herbs that seems almost meaningless, the little unicorn has set out his quest.

Rory pads along, his attention divided between making sure he doesn't bumble into anybody, and glancing at his list, trying to make sense of the words. However, staring at the writing doesn't seem to make it any clearer.

There's a small bit of movement in Rory's pocket, followed by a familiar "Squeak."

The unicorn comes to an abrupt stop, his ears flicking. He looks sidelong, and then down, hesitantly peeking into the pocket.

A Vykarin charges down the street, in hot pursuit of a Creen who seems to be carrying a string of sausages in its mouth.

A little vermite peers back up at Rory, nose wriggling.

Rory looks at the vermite and then at the Creen. "Wow. They're taking over the world!" he whispers.

It's the same one that Silhouette befriended it seems. No mistaking that broken antennae and missing leg. Although, strangely enough the leg seems to be growing back.

"Squeak." The vermite agrees.

The streets are busy, but not as busy as they are during the weekend. Most of the more seedy dealers are nowhere to be found. And the majority of the patrons look to be either nobles, or Kavis with nothing else better to do. There's quite a few kavi children playing in the street, probably the children of some of the merchants.

Rory sighs, and is now extra-careful about not letting anyone bump into him. He doesn't want to even IMAGINE how Silhouette might react to finding her new friend crushed in Rory's pocket.

The 'route' listed on Heth's map (thankfully it's a bit easier to read than the shopping list) seems to lead to a shop nearby… but on a very indirect route. It seems to deliberately lead around many of the areas in the Bazaar.

Rory resists the temptation to try to figure out shortcuts to the designated spot. No sense in risking getting lost here!

As Rory clips along, he finds himself wondering about this vermite again. Unable to resist curiosity, he peeks in his pocket again. "So. Silhouette can understand you?"

The vermite blinks at Rory. "Squeak," it responds.

Rory nods. "Of course." He grins, and clippity-clops on along, checking the map frequently, and adjusting his hood a bit. He doesn't like people staring at his face. There's no hiding the horn, really, but some folks might just assume he's a horse with a weird headdress…

A young Kavi girl guiding a wooden hoop along the street with a stick runs past, giggling at her new toy.

Rory smirks to himself. He's a MAGE after all. He has much nicer toys. And most of them are safely tucked away inside his head. -=)

One of the places that the path seems to skirt around is a large restaurant tent that smells heavily of grease and… well, some sort of burnt meat. The little vermite in the Aeonian's pocket seems to be relieved that they're not going near that place.

Rory wrinkles his nose, and habitually checks on the vermite again. But there's no way he's going to TOUCH it. "I wonder if I'm supposed to feed it?" he muses to himself. "I hope I don't have to let it out or anything and … " He shakes his head and walks on.

A Vartan passes Rory in the street and pauses for a moment, it stops and stares at him for an uncomfortable amount of time before remarking, "Shiny horn," and walking along it's way.

Rory shrinks down a bit. He shakes a nightmarish image out of his head of his horn being tied in some Vartan's tail. Yipe!

The little unicorn picks up his pace a bit. So many people!

The vermite seems to be engrossed in stuffing Rory's pocket handkerchief into its cheek-pouch. She (Silhouette said it was a girl, after all) stares back up at Rory with the sides of her face all ballooned out.

Rory makes a sick look. He's certainly never going to use THAT handkerchief again!

Ahead there's a brightly colored tent with a large crowd of children around it. Music seems to emanate from the inside of it, along with the occasional squeal of laughter.

Rory stops for a moment, and blinks. His curiosity tugs at him. What might be in there? He clip-clops up closer, wanting to take at least just a LITTLE peek.

Toys. Multitudes upon multitudes of toys. There's wind up Vykarins that roll into little armored balls, a Dromodon farm set, even a large stuffed Bromthen hog that would put Skiree's to shame.

Rory says, "Wow… " He sighs and grins, remembering that silly bat Skiree, and wondering what she's been up to, then trots along, determined to get to this destination with time to spare before it gets dark.

The children are all poking and prodding the various playthings. Amazingly enough the shopkeeper is able to keep up with them all, occasionally swatting a potential thief away with a swipe of his cane. Two such children are ejected from the tent just as the Aeonian leaves.

Rory puts the tent behind him, checking his map once again, forever worried that he might have missed a turn somewhere.

"Aw foo!" a voice from behind the unicorn says. "What're we gonna do now? I'm still booooored." A second voice answers, "I dunno… wanna play… " And then the voice fades out into incoherence as Rory walks out of range.

Rory frowns a bit, realizing that he'd rather be playing, too. Oh well. This IS a punishment. *clip-clop-clip-clop*

Rory curiously checks on his "passenger" again … wondering what is going to become of his handkerchief, among other things.

The twisty path leads into a less occupied area of the Bazaar, most of the dealers here have not opened their booths yet. The merchant's quarter is now in plain sight.

The vermite appears to be snoozing. Little high pitched "snore-squeaks" emanate from the pocket.

Rory gently lets go of the pocket and lets the little vermite snooze. Why couldn't Silhouette make friends with a Creen? At least she didn't get a pet Gooshurm. That would be REALLY hard to explain.

As Rory threads himself between two of the tents, there's suddenly a loud *thump* from behind. Before the Aeonian can turn around something sharp is pressed into his back and a high pitched voice shouts, "Stick 'em up!"

The unicorn yipes!

There's a pause, followed by another pause … until another voice, female and much younger, behind Rorschach says. "Okay… now what?"

Rory says, "Now, you say, 'Oh, this is pointless, how about we let him go?'" He gulps.

"I dunno… usually after that they get really quiet and I can't make out what they say," comes the reply. That voice is also young but male.

"I think you're s'posta give us something," the little girl's voice says.

Rory frowns. Half of him is scared. The other half is getting awfully tired of standing here like this.

Rory says, "Why?"

The sharp … whatever it is … is pulled out of the Aeonian's back, and a little Kavi girl jumps in front of Rorschach. She couldn't be much more than a year or two old, and is dressed in a strange assortment of bits and scraps of cloth. On her left ear she wears a bright red bow, on the left she wears an orange one. Her shirt is an oversized tunic that looks like it would fit better on a full-grown Jupani. "I dunno," She replies. "That usually how it goes when we see Daddy do it."

Rory says, "Oh. Great. Does that mean if I put something sharp in YOUR back, then YOU have to give ME something?"

The little Kavi girl just sits and blinks. Obviously she's never bothered to think very hard about it. "This was your stupid idea," she yells at someone behind Rorschach who responds with a "hmph" noise.

Rory says, "Well, nice meeting you. I think I'd better be going now."

Meanwhile, the vermite can be felt moving around in Rory's pocket. The commotion must have woken it up.

Rory inwardly uh-ohs. He was afraid of that. He wasn't about to tell them to be quiet. They might want to steal the vermite, and then Silhouette would be SO upset!

The Kavi girl tugs on the Aeonian's robe. "Awwww! We kin play another game? Do you like to play Pig-Pile?"

The older brother, meanwhile just sits and pokes at the dirt with his stick. He seems to be getting bored very quickly.

Rory says, "Uhm … well … maybe later, but I have an errand to run, and I'm already in trouble, and I don't want to get in MORE trouble."

"Can I put my hands down now? They're getting tired," the unicorn adds.

Rory hmms. Bored Kavis. Didn't he hear something about how Idle Kavis and trouble and … ? Oh well.

Rory says, "But maybe I could do some shadow pictures for you. You know … you make funny animals with your hands on a wall, with the shadows?"

The vermite decides to poke her head out of the Aeonian's pocket and have a look around. She stares at the Kavi girl for a few moments…

Rory, oblivious to the vermite's explorations, continues, "I'm pretty good at that. It's not really a game, but it's kind of fun, especially when you tell ghost stories."

At the sight of the creature, the Kavi girl SHRIEKS and gives Rory's robe a good sharp yank, sending the Aeonian tumbling down.

Rory says, "Aaaaaaaaaaa!"

*thud*

Luckily Rory doesn't land on the side with the vermite. Not so luckily, the shopping list is dislodged from his hand and goes fluttering off in the wind. Off to the side, the Kavi is still shrieking and is slowly led away by her brother.

Rory tries to get up, looking about for the note. "Oh no!" he exclaims.

"C'mon Capri, let's go play Tea Party or something," the older Kavi says as he leads his sister away. She sniffles quietly.

The note is still in sight; it flutters down the path to the Merchant's quarter then gets blown around a corner.

Rory looks regretfully at the frightened little Kavi … but he's not very good at knowing the right thing to say to be comforting anyway, or so he tells himself … so instead he dashes off after the escaping note. *clippitycloppityclippitycloppity*

The chase is a frantic one, but not a very long one, after blowing down a few twists and turns it stops… to rest on the antennae of a Zelak guarding a tent.

Rory skids to a stop, then wobbles, his arms flailing about in an attempt not to fall over and into the … big … huge … Zelak.

"Uhm … sir? Ah … I'm terribly sorry … uh … Can I have that piece of paper? It has my instructions on it," Rory says in a quiet voice.

The Zelak looks down at the Aeonian with its unblinking insectoid eyes. "What paper?" it clicks.

Rory gulps. "Oh my. This isn't going to be easy. Uhm … " He points up at the Zelak's antennae. "That piece of paper. Hanging on your feeler-deely-bopper-thingies."

The Zelak looks upwards for a good long time … then slowly raises an arm and begins to feel its antennae. Unfortunately he's only able to feel the top half, and the note has slipped down to almost rest against the top of his head.

"What paper?" it clicks again, the question sounding exactly like the first… almost like a recording played over again.

Rory tries to direct, pointing. "Down … down just a little more … almost!"

The Zelak stand there, frozen for a few moments. Then, very slowly, it lowers itself to the ground until its head is inches away from Rory's. "Where is it?" it clicks, angling its head so that the little unicorn can remove the note himself.

Rory, intimidated by big bugs (After all, the small one in his pocket alarms him), gingerly reaches toward the note. "Right … here… "

There's a sharp "Squeak!" from Rory's pocket. Obviously Mrs. Vermite doesn't like Zelaks very much.

The Zelak does not move, save for the twitching of his antennae as Rory reaches for them.

Rory's hand shakes a bit. He snatches at the note with his thumb and index finger.

"Is that your paper?" the Zelak clicks. His antennae cant forwards and one lightly brushes Rorschach's horn.

Rory says, "Uhm … well, you could say so. Though technically it's Counselor Heth's paper. I'm supposed to get some herbs for him, but I can't read his handwriting. But at least he gave me a map."

Rory shivers as he's suddenly overcome by a case of the willy-nilly heebie-jeebies as the antenna touches his HORNNNNNN!

The Zelak just stares at the Aeonian. "Then it is not yours?"

Rory blinks. Zelaks are SO weird. He pauses, then says, "It has been entrusted to my care, but it belongs to Counselor Heth." He wrenches his mouth. He gets this funny feeling that no matter WHAT you say to a Zelak, you're in for trouble.

The Zelak slowly stands back up to his full height. "You should take better care of it," it clicks.

Rory frowns, his head drooping. "Y-y-yes sir… "

The Zelak resumes his post and stands there, unmoving. For all intents and purposes he seems to act as though the unicorn no longer exists.

The herb shop is visible just down the way. This was another of the areas that Heth had marked for Rory to go around, and now it's obvious why he did.

Rory doesn't mind being ignored just now. He clutches the note fiercely, and jogs quickly toward the herb shop.

A set of chitin bells on the door herald the Aeonian's arrival into the small store. It smells very odd in here, a bit like a kitchen, and a bit like a laboratory. Behind the counter with his back to Rory is a large lion-Khatta. He appears to be working over something, and the smell of … ew… burnt dill wafts in from his location.

Rory's muzzle contorts a bit, and his horn bounces up and down as he clip-clops up to the lion. "Uhm … sir? I have a list of herbs I need to get for Counselor Heth at the College Esoterica."

Rory shows the list, still clutching it strongly, just in case a wind blows through here. You never know. It COULD happen.

"Rrrrr?" the lion says, then turns from his seat to peer down at the unicorn. "Heth you say, well, let's take a look at that list." He gingerly reaches out for the piece of paper.

Rory looks reluctant to hand the paper over … but there's no chance HE'S going to be able to read it. He stretches his hand to give the note to the lion.

"Well now, let us just see what we have here," the lion murmurs. "You can have a seat if you like." The lion gestures towards a stool, and pushes his candy dish towards the unicorn with a grin.

Rory grins at the sight of the candy dish. At first, it looks like he has a mind to just grab a whole handful … but he considers his manners, and just grabs one, and clip-clops over to the stool, plopping down on it, his tail swishing leisurely as he gets a chance to rest after his little trek through the Bazaar.

Rory peeks in his pocket again. He blinks, pondering if maybe the vermite has snuck in there because it's cold. Maybe if he found a way to keep the vermite warm, it wouldn't need to hitch a ride in his pocket. Too bad the vermite ate his handkerchief…

"My name is Leyden, by the way," the lion says as he looks over the list. He makes a few ugly faces at the paper, obviously having a bit of trouble reading the scribbly writing himself. After a few moments he sets the note down and begins pulling down various jars and bottles from his shelf and placing them on a counter behind his desk.

Rory jolts from his pondering. "Oh! Sorry, sir. I'm … I'm Rorschach. Pleased to meet you."

"Can you actually read that?" Rory inquires curiously.

"Of course, if it's some sort of secret cryptic code and you and my Counselor are in a secret society and this is an important mission or anything, then don't worry, because I won't tell anybody." Rory nods solemnly.

Leyden pours several items into a bowl and places them over a burner. He chuckles at Rory's words. "When you work at a job that requires you to read prescriptions on a regular basis, you learn to understand even the most cryptic penmanship."

Rory nods. "Ahhhh. So, on the side, do you find ancient, musty and forgotten tomes in a shadowed corner of the library and decipher their runes and unlock the mysteries of the universe or anything? Like, maybe how to turn wood to lead?" His hooves bang-bounce against the legs of the stool. "I mean, you being an alchemist and all. Do you make magical potions?"

Rory ventures, "… like, maybe a potion that makes vermites not want to follow you around?"

The contents of the bowl begin to make a crackling noise and Leyden quickly removes it out from under the burner. He adds a few more drops of liquid, some sticky stuff, and several different kinds of leaves. "Magical potions? Well… hmm. Vermites you say?"

"Yeah. Of course, a potion for someone who didn't want vermites following them, that is. If it were a potion you had to give to the vermites, then that would be silly, because there are just so many of them, you know." Rory nods, still swinging his legs from the stool.

Leyden removes a bottle from the shelf and places it in front of the Aeonian. On the label is a picture of a vermite skull with crossbones. "This is the closest thing I have to that. The exterminators buy it from me on occasion."

"Although I wouldn't recommend YOU drinking any of it."

"Squeak," the vermite says quietly.

Rory's ears droop. "Oh. Sorry. That won't help me. It's kind of hard to explain. I have a friend who LIKES vermites. She wouldn't be happy if I made them go ECK!" At the "ECK!", he crosses his eyes and sticks out his tongue in a mock death pose.

The lion goes back to his work. He lowers the flame on his burner and places the bowl back over it again. "She? Hmm… well. I don't have anything like that, beyond a vermite repellant… and that seems to attract Creens."

"Oh," says Rory. Creens. Used to be, they were exotic creatures, but ever since that crazy Lord haut Mikide fellow started bringing them in, and the noble poodles took a liking to them … well, the parks just have NOT been the same. "I … I guess I'd better just stick to what Counselor Heth sent me for. Sorry to bother you."

"No bother." The lion grins. "Perhaps I could interest you in an eep repellant instead?" with this the lion pulls a small paper bag out from under his desk, inflates it, and *POPS* loudly. "Guaranteed to make an eep explode on the spot," he says with a wink.

Rory ponders other options. He peeks in the pocket again. How much would it cost to get a scrap of fabric, about vermite-sized? Maybe a vendor would give him a s – "AIEEEE!" Rory jolts to attention at the pop.

"An eep?" Rory blinks. He straightens up a bit. "Oh, noises don't make them blow up. It's only… " He trails off, realizing he's just ruined a joke. "Eheh." He grins with an embarrassed look.

Leyden spies his bowl and removes it from the burner, chuckling at the reaction from the Aeonian. "My apologies if I startled you."

"Oh … no … no problem," the little unicorn shakes his head.

The lion begins scraping at the bowl with a glass rod, looking to be more breaking something up than actually mixing. "This should be cool in just a moment. Then we can have it ready for old Heth."

Rory nods several times. He's feeling plenty rested now, and starting to get anxious to head back to the College Esoterica. Although, that means the journey betwixt here and there through the Bazaar, of course.

"I'm sure he'll be very happy. I mean, having bad sinuses is really awful. Or, at least, I'm sure it is. I've never had a cold before, myself. But I'm always careful about not going out improperly dressed and all that. And I don't have to worry about running around barefoot, since I don't have any feet. Or, I mean, I have hooves. Well, you know." He doesn't hang around with horse-types much.

After a few moments, Leyden scrapes the contents of the bowl into another paper bag. It looks like small blue pebbles or gravel with flecks of red and green in them here and there. The incense smells a bit like mint.

"There we go," the lion says. "All packaged up and ready for use." He holds out his hand. "Normally I charge twenty shekels, but today I'll just charge ten. Heth's been a regular customer for so long and all… "

Rory strains from his stool to get a better look. At last, he hops down from the stoop and clip-clops over. "Is it ready? Uhm … " He digs around in his pocket produces a ten-shekel piece. "Here you go!"

Leyden deposits the coin somewhere under the counter. "Tell Heth that his sinuses wouldn't be so bad if he just got away from all that musty air in the college."

Rory nods, and takes the bag, clippity-clopping to the door. He pauses to wave with a floppy sleeve, then heads out. Just outside the door, he pauses for a full minute, chanting, charging up a little Obfuscation spell (It always helps to not attract TOO much notice… ) and then clips along, keeping an eye out for a generous-looking cloth vendor on the way who might offer a tiny scrap as a sample, and wondering if Silhouette might help him sew a tiny little cloak…