Welcome to Gaia! ::

“Oh, by all means. It’s no interruption.” His eyes were on the jarred wisp, and he tapped his foot just a bit quicker beneath the table in a carefully concealed gesture of enthusiasm.

“I’m glad for the company.” Really, the business. “I’ve actually been looking for those things, I’ve got a sign out front. I’m willing to make a trade, if you’re interested. I’m a reasonable businessman, and I am missing them, quite supremely. I didn’t realize your atmosphere was going to be so dense this year, my landing was a bit,” he sighed, and reached a hand up to tuck his hair behind a pointed ear, “Rough. I’m afraid I lost quite a few things. Those,” he pointed to the wisp, “Are one of my greatest treasures. So it’s only fitting that I exchange another treasure for it, if you’d be so kind. I have plenty of course.”

He gestured across the table in front of him, but there were more goods laid out around him.

Neatly arranged, between himself and her, were an array of trinkets, baubles, weapons and toys. Some were more straight forward than others--jewelry, a blade, a little statue, a pretty, multi-jointed doll. Some didn’t make any sense, but were shiny, or old.

At the very least, they were all interesting, and he guarded them like a dragon with his hoard.

“Oh, you’re sweet.”

He accepted the jar and wisp quickly, like he was afraid she might change her mind. He unscrewed the lid so he could carefully scoop out the orb. While it was cradled carefully in his hand, he reached under the table and drew out an extremely ornate candy dish, complete with stem and lid. The crystal bowl was cut with many facets that all perfectly seemed to capture and accentuate the light inside. Atop of the clear crystal, an ornate silver lid encrusted with what looked to be a giant diamond in the center. It had a large silver stem and a beautiful, sturdy base with a few more gemstones embedded within it. A few wisps danced around inside already, so he opened the lid, deposited her wisp, and then promptly returned the item to hide below his table.

That taken care of, he brushed his hands off and looked at her with another sweet smile.

“I’m in one piece, though I can’t say as much for my wares. Go ahead, take a look. Tell me what you like, Senshi. I’m sure I’ve got something to catch your eye.”

A healer, maybe. Probably not interested in weapons. And she seemed humble, so he didn’t look first at the gemstones.

His eyes settled on the doll he’d looked at earlier.

“She could use a healing hand, though.” He lifted the doll, and the limbs dangled almost helplessly. On the back, there was a small, wind up knob; he tilted it just so, making sure Dubhe could see it. “Crammed in the bottom of a box for so long. I don’t think she’s seen the light of day in a century. Unless, perhaps, a doll isn’t your sort of thing? I can suggest something else if you tell me what you like. But,” he brushed her off. “...I always thought she was a neat little toy. Good, if you’re lonely. She has a mind of her own. Sometimes.”

The merchant clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth and seemed to think about this. “Oh, I suppose that would be alright. But if you care for her so much, you might do her better to just take her home, too. I’m afraid she’ll get little love with me, I’ve simply no time. But, go ahead.”

He passed the doll over.

“Although, from a business perspective, I think we should close the deal before I let you alter it. Just in case. Magic can be so erratic, you know.”

“Oh, your heart is so big,” he said, saccharine appreciation thick in his voice. “No, I’m quite alright, thank you. You’ve healed me quite enough just by agreeing to take her home. Give her a twist, she’s got a little thing on her back. You’ll make a fast friend,” he said, and while he didn’t seem like he intended to tell her what that did, he seemed content enough to guide her through the process of finding out.

The little doll was magic, and when wound up became mechanically animated for several hours. As long as the doll was wound, it remained active. It wasn’t smart, it couldn’t communicate, or really function in any intellectual capacity--but it seemed to immediately attune to whoever wound it and followed them until it ran out of energy. Perhaps the most interesting thing about it, aside from being a small companion that followed its owner aimlessly, was that it seemed to like to hold something in its arms as it did so. If the owner gave it an item, it would hold it until its body went limp from exhaustion, but if it was not given something, it would pick up some small item it found and carry that around instead.

The doll almost immediately came to life, and though she was mechanical, there was an obvious magic to her; she went rigid for a second, like all her parts were waking up, and then she leaned against Dubhe as if she needed to be close to her. The doll looked up at her, once, and then placed her tiny hands around Dubhe’s thumb as if she had decided she was going to hold that.

The merchant seemed pleased, and he seemed to be searching Dubhe’s face to make sure she was as well. “I’m always alright. But the offer is appreciated. Do you like her? She seems like she likes you already.”

“I’ll keep that in mind, of course. Your gratitude is not lost on me. Though, now that you’ve woken up that little one, you might as well make good use of what time she has left tonight. I’m sure she’d like to see her new home. And I’m afraid I don’t have anything fun for her here. I’d be very disheartened if she were to fall or trip or break herself. And the terrain is a bit rough. But you’ll take her home and get her cleaned up, won’t you? Perhaps you’ll come back and visit and let me know how she’s doing.”

He smiled, sweetly, if not still a bit frighteningly with all those sharp teeth.

“Give her a good name. And a good life. Figuratively speaking, of course. Or literally. I won’t judge.”