After leaving Tasha’s stall, the two walked in awkward silence. Silver let out a long sigh and rubbed her face as the two came to a stop just outside a sitting area. Silver took a few steps back and dropped into a sitting position on the recycled plastic bench. She continued rubbing her face, sighing dramatically.

“Please don’t try and make me tell you. I’m horrible at keeping secrets…” Her voice muffled by her hands, which she dragged down over her maw, holding it closed as she looked at Alduin pensively. Alduin met her gaze, her brow furrowed in confusion

“I-Is he a criminal? W-What’s his business? I-I don’t get it. He seemed so nice…” Alduin murmured to Silver as she sat down next to her. She crossed her arms, probing for more information.

Silver let out a snort of amusement and then huffed as she spoke. “Look, I don’t know. I-It’s very complicated and it’s your first day here. You shouldn’t need to worry about a thing! I-I don’t even know why Tasha brought it up; it’s been months since he-” Silver paused and took a breath to slow down. “There’s also the fact that Tasha would kill me and I choose life!” Silver’s tone shifted to something more jovial and joking, a smile tugging at her face. Alduin could tell she was forcing it. She grimaced wordlessly, the two of them staring at each other in silence.

Sitting up with yet another sigh, Silver began counting on her fingers.
“Okay, so—we’ve got your medicine, your clothes are being worked on, and the fridge is still stocked at home... Anything else we need?” She looked at Alduin with a raised eyebrow.

“No. I think that's everything.” She replied quietly, shaking her head before pausing and taking in the stalls in front of them, trying to see if anything interested her. After a few moments, their thoughts were interrupted by a loud growl from Alduin’s stomach. Her eyes widened and her cheeks flushed with embarrassment—only growing redder when Silver let out a short chuckle.

“You might not know but your belly sure does. Let’s go grab some food.” She gave Alduin’s belly a poke before standing and thinking for a few moments, her face brightening as she got an idea. “Ooh! Say, what’s your opinion on spicy foods?”

“They’re good I guess—”

“Great! I know this place that sells re-packed Idelnain food from outside Europa and they cook it with some kind of… roasted spice oil? I don’t know, it feels like your tongue is dancing. You’ll see.! C’mon, You’ll love it” She took Alduin by her arm and started to lead her through the crowds again.

When Silver slowed to a casual walk, the two of them browsed idly through the goods on display.. When needed silver would explain the product or the person manning each stall. Silver knew a lot of people, it turned out. Most vendors greeted her with a wave or other friendly gesture.

“Thief! THIEF!” Shouting broke out from a nearby stall. Before the two could turn to look, Alduin felt someone barrel through her, shoving her to the ground, a hooded figure about half her height sprinted past her. She caught herself against the floor, pain shot from her shoulder as she caught herself with it. She felt Silver pick her up under her arms, guiding her back to her feet. Silver’s expression had changed, from curiosity to anger, her gaze followed the runner like a predator watching prey. She let out a loud growl, her pupils thinning as the air around her grew cold. A faint blue glow began building in her throat.

“OY, UGLY!” Silver reared back, the blue glow rising from her throat to her mouth. She lurched forward suddenly, and a bolt of pale blue shot forth.. It caught the thief square in the back, shards of ice shooting from the impact point. Before the thief could get up, Silver fired again. The bolt caught their foot, ice hardening around it and pinning it to the floor.”. 

Alduin and Silver ran to reach the person, Alduin was still nursing her shoulder. As they got close, she felt her frustrations boiling over, the stress from the last few months boiling over as her foot moved before her brain did, landing a hard kick to the thief’s ribs. She heard them let out a grunting wheeze, the force having winded them. Silver took over and grabbed the thief, turning them to face the pair.  The hood fell back, revealing a small man, his skin a harsh green with large, sharp ears hanging from the side of his head and large yellow eyes taking up most of his face.

“A goblin..” Silver let out a sigh, grabbing the pouch from the goblin’s hand and passing it to Alduin, it clinked and had some weight to it. a day's worth of pay at the least. Silver let out another sigh and let go of the goblins collar, kicking their foot and shattering the ice encasing it. “So much for disproving the stereotypes—” 

“lizardfuc—!” before the thief could finish Silver’s fist shot out, connecting with his jaw with a resounding crack. Her face twisted into a furious snarl, a burst of frigid air shooting from her nose. Alduin didn’t understand what the word meant, but it made her scales prickle with shame. Before she could say something Silver spoke up

“Listen here, you're going to apologise to my friend, and then go home. Am I understood?”

“let go of me you crazy lizard—!” Silver raised her fist again, cutting off the thief who stared at her for a few moments before scoffing and looking toward Alduin “Sorry-. Now let me go!”

Silver dropped the thief and he turned and scrambled away, past the crowd that Alduin just figured out had formed around them. Alduin felt her cheeks flushing again as the two stood there. She paused and turned to Alduin, her words taking on a serious tone. “If anyone calls you that again, you tell me. I’ll deal with them”

As Alduin nodded, multiple questions bubbling on her tongue. A lady ran up to them before she could ask. The vendor who was stolen from, a fox with white fur and red markings in strange patterns. She panted for a few moments before pointing toward the pouch in Alduin's hand.

“That is mine, thank you for stopping him! I couldn’t catch up...” Alduin handed the woman the pouch. Who dug inside for a moment before handing her four red crystals from it. “as a thank you.” she said before bowing and walking back to her stall.

The two stood quietly in the middle of the crowd. Wordlessly standing at each other while the crowd slowly dispersed. Once they felt free, they both let out breaths they hadn’t realized they were holding.

“Wh-What was that!?” Alduin almost yelled out while lurching toward silver and grabbing her shoulders. Silver barely felt able to respond as the sudden intensity from her friend surprised her.

“What? What was what?” She stammered out

“The Ice! That was so amazing! A-Am I able to do that? “ For the first time in days Alduin smiled, a large, toothy smile that extended to her eyes full of curiosity. Maybe her new body wouldn’t be all bad after all. 

“Uhh y-yeah probably! Well, not the Ice because you're a different type of dragon but uhh.. something similar!” Silver reached up and brought Alduin's hands down to her sides. Her own smile returned with gusto as the two began to walk together again. Silver leading the way.

“Doc said you're an acid dragon so you’ll probably have acid breath… tell you what. When we’re done here, I’ll have Octavius teach you how to use it.”

“Okay, I can’t believe it.. acid breath, I thought the dragon breath thing wasn’t an actual thing, just stories that the hunters came up with to make.. us seem.. y’know… … sorry.” Alduin rubbed her arm ashamedly. Her mood lowered at the realisation that she had believed anything the Hunters had said. She also felt she may have crossed a social line at bringing them up in public, considering here company

Silver sighed and lightly punched Alduin on the arm. “Hey, chin up. You're new here and I’ll let that slide, but let's talk about it later. For now, let’s get some food!” She clapped her hands together as the two walked up to a stall, the air around it filled with the scent of spice and it was radiating heat.

The two of them sat down on some stools set out in front of it. picking up and browsing the small menus. Now that there was a moment to wait, Alduin felt many questions rattling around in her head. She decided to start with the most relevant one. “What would you recommend?”

“The Tanadori chicken is delicious, but it’s really spicy. Think you can handle it?”