"Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow."The pain had moved to her feet, through Sitara, still faintly upset with the two old ladies at the fountain and her basket drop, was not deterred by it. She needed to go home, and she needed to somehow find an excuse for the broken eggs and bruised fruits and vegetables.
One that did not involve any silly things such as dropping the basket and pain, through it would be much easier to think if the pain went away. She definitively did not like this one wit.
"Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow...""Sitara ?"
The child turned aside, glancing in the direction in which she heard the voice. It was the lady at the herb shop, poking her head outside her store. "Are you allright, dear ? Sounds like you're hurting."
"Im fine." She pouted, but apparently the lady would believe none of it.
"No, you are not. You come inside. Now." This was the tone of voice that really seemed serious - so the girl turned and got inside, basket dripping as the broken eggs started to sweep through.
"Oh, darling ! Did you trip ? Oh, you're walking so oddly - sit, sit !" In truth, Sitara was glad to be able to sit for a bit, but she did not voice this relief.
"I didn't trip !" She pouted again.
"But there was this pain and it isn't stopping and I kinda dropped it." The last bit was mumbled, but apparently the lady had no problem making it out.
"Oh, darling..." She started to spread out the contents of the basket on the table, rinsing the goods and the basket both before hanging it upside down to dry.
"Now, while that's drying, dear... Where does it hurt ?" Really, Sitara was left with no choice, and held up her left ankle.
"It started here... then it kind of spread."The lady nodded, and started prodding at her ankle - which made Sitara wince, and made it hard for her to resist kicking her way out of the lady's grasp.
"Oh, that's nothing too awful, dear. I think you just pulled something. Then you made it worse by walking on it. Now, just stay put, I have some herbs that can help with the pain..."
The lady left, then came back swiftly - ground some herbs into an odd-smelling paste along with some oils.
"So... I just pulled something inside me ? This... isn't some kind of god being annoyed with me or anything ?" She felt silly for asking, but for some reason it wouldn't leave her mind.
The lady laughed. "Oh, my dear, did those two old ladies see you ? My, they would parrot anything. I doubt this is anything like that. You probably just played a little too rough. Here, now, stay put."
The lady took the paste and started to spread it on her ankle and bandaged the whole. Again, it was hard to resist the want to wriggle away from the touch, trough it seemed to get better as the paste started to numb the area.
"There you do, dear. Looks like your basket is dry, also, so you can go home."
"But... What am I going to tell papa ?! Im missing two eggs right now... I was to happy to go to the market on my own, but now ?""Are you sure, dear ? I don't see any missing eggs."
"But I broke tw-" She glanced at the container. It was full, with no sign of the broken eggs. The lady winked.
"There you go now, your daddy must be waiting for you to cook dinner, isn't he ?"
"...Oh I forgot ! Thank you miss !!!" Sitara grapped the basket and fled out the door.
"Careful, dear, you'll pull something again !" But the strange, hatted child was long gone, and the lady could only smile.
-Fin-
