Say What?

"I hate shoes."

"You can take them off when we get to town," Arson said, shrugging.

"Doesn't change the fact that I hate them," Odie groused, kicking their legs out to the side from their place atop a black horse. The horse huffed in displeasure.

"How many times are we going to have this conversation?"

"'Til I can take my shoes off."

"Well, town's up there," Arson said, pointing at a mass of buildings in the distance.

Cafa Dorei wasn't the most impressive town in the world, but it was certainly the largest that the two children had seen. Some of the buildings rose three or four stories, and smells radiated out of town from the marketplace nearby. The farms they were passing were peaceful, with grazing livestock and the friendly waves of the townsfolk. This looked to be a nice place.

Odie brought one leg up, pulled off a shoe, dropped their leg, and did the same for the other. Then they stuffed them into their bag with a pointed look at Arson, daring him to tell them to put them back on.

Arson studiously ignored his friend's dramatics, as was wise when Odie got in a mood.

"What do we want to stop at first?" Odie asked as they approached the borders of town.

"My dad said that I need to put in an order at M's Meatgrinder first, but we won't be taking that along with us. They'll deliver that," Arson said with a grin.

"Good. I don't want to deal with things smelling the meat and deciding we're food." Odie crunched their nose and shook their head. "They're bad enough as it is, hopping and screaming the way they do."

"What, the bokoblins? They're not that bad, especially if we keep our distance. They're just doing what they do," Arson said, shrugging his shoulders.

Odie just looked at their friend. "Why are you such an idiot?"

Arson grinned. "Because you put up with it."

It didn't take much longer to find the stables and allow their horses some rest. The rest of the town awaited, after all, and both kids were eager to explore. A few adults looked on with indulgent smiles, recognizing their enthusiasm. Kids straight from the Green Ceremony, clearly.

Arson grabbed his friend's hand and pulled them out into the main street, looking back and forth for the sign of the butcher's shop.

"There!" Odie called, pointing the opposite direction and taking off at a full-blast run. "M's Meatgrinder, right?"

The first thing that Odie noticed when they opened the door was that it smelled awful. Raw meat, blood, salt, and the preserving process for various sausages all left a musty, heavy odor that was absolutely oppressive. "Ew," they complained under their breath even as Arson, who didn't seem to mind at all for some reason, led them by the hand to a tall, lanky man with long brown hair and a hat that seemed a bit ridiculous for a butcher to wear.

"Hi, I need to place an order," he said, pulling out the paper with the meat order for the market back home.

The man looked over, eyepatch square in the middle of his forehead, and grinned.

"Well, I would hope so! I'm Percival. I run the place."

"Why are you wearing an eyepatch?" Odie asked, tilting their head.

Percival looked at the small human with too-large glasses and said "Why is your hair blue?"

"…fair," Odie conceded.

"Don't mind them. They're silly," Arson said with a smile, stepping squarely between the two, who were attempting a stare-off, breaking the line of site. "Here's my list. Dad wanted it delivered in three days, if that's doable."

Percival shifted his attention and took the note, nodding. "Three days is doable. You got the rupees?"

Shifting behind him told Arson that Odie was digging in their bag again. How the bag of rupees ended up on the bottom every time was beyond him. It took just a minute before Odie thrust their bag into Arson's arms and started counting out the gems. The butcher looked like he was going to protest, to ask for more than what had been marked on the note, but Odie squared their shoulders and pointedly pulled the drawstring, the pouch making a zipping noise. No protest was made.

"Three days," Arson reminded Percival with a smile.

"Sure. Fine. You kids stay out of trouble, and especially away from the spicy rat."

"The what, now?"

"You heard me." He then turned back to the meat and went back to work.

Arson grabbed Odie by the hand and led them out the door, looking at his friend in pure befuddlement. "The what?"

"Spicy rat? Why is there a spicy rat?" Odie muttered, shaking their head. "Anyway. Dye. We need to find the dye shop and put in our order there."

Arson nodded and pulled out that paper. Thankfully, that mission didn't take nearly as long as arguing with the shady butcher, so the kids were quickly free to explore the town.

It was noisy and crowded, and the marketplace was selling some amazing-smelling spices. Voices called from each stall, begging attention to their goods, and Odie and Arson found themselves being drawn to one stall in particular.

Crystals, rocks, and gems were being sold here by a creature they had never seen before. Its brown body stood head and shoulders above the rest of the Hylians in the market, and it was at least twice as wide. There seemed to be rocks imbedded into its skin along the back of its arms, and it spoke in a booming, gleeful voice.

"Ah, young ones! What brings you here?" it asked, tapping (or, more like pounding) the table with one enormous hand. The sign said "Makba's Treats".

Where Odie once stood was now a much, much smaller spider. Clearly the 'tap' had startled them. Arson looked at the creature, looked at Odie's small blue form, and just bent to pick them up as if this was a normal occurence.

"I've never seen someone like you before," Arson stated, spider held carefully to his chest.

Makba, he assumed, peered with large eyes at the creature in Arson's hands, then spoke carefully.

"I'm a Goron. Have you not seen Gorons before? We bring rocks and gems here every couple weeks."

"Oh, cool!" Arson cheered. "Dad's gonna be so excited when I tell him I met you! What stuff you got?"

Makba, still looking at the spider, gestured much more slowly at the table. As it seemed to process, the Goron pointed at Arson's chest. "Did I scare your friend?"

"Yeah, but they startle easy. It's fine," he said with a grin. "They'll calm down in a bit. And sometimes they like to ride on my shoulder!" Which was exactly where Odie went as Arson spoke: on his shoulder.

This didn't seem to suit, though, so they ran down their friend's body and found the ground once more, and the blue-haired child reappeared, grumbling "Can't see anything," as they adjusted their glasses and leaned in to investigate a clear stone. "Is that a diamond?"

It took Makba a few more seconds to process that particular change. Defeat was clear on the Goron's broad face as they decided to give up on understanding what was happening, but it didn't last, given that the subject was rocks.

"Nah, just a crystal," Makba said, bringing their hands together and grinning broadly.

"It's so cool," Odie said, picking it up and watching rainbows dance along the ground. "How much?"

The Goron told them the price, and they wrinkled their nose. "Ow, we don't have that much."

"Hmm," Makba said, picking up the crystal and observing it, then opening a hand toward Odie. Odie leaned closer, and the Goron took their hand and placed the crystal in it. "A gift, then. As an apology for startling you."

Odie blushed and pulled away, gem and all, to step behind Arson. Their smile was blinding, as was the Goron's.

"Thank you!" Arson said with a bright smile of his own. "We'll see you again soon."

But there was more to explore and Arson didn't want to be stuck talking with the big creature for too much longer. They had one day to take it all in, after all. They had to make the most of it.