Chapter Text
The street markets are always bustling on weekends, crowds flowing from stall to stall like a swirling river of people that moves in conflicting directions. This is when Senshi loves the market the most. The busy push and pull of fellow customers, eager to replenish their stocks, or try new things; it’s an energy that invigorates the dwarf.
”Mr. Senshi!” He looks up as his name is called, a familiar older gnome woman waving him over. He carefully weaves his way through the throng of people over to her stall.
”Mrs. Tansu,” He greets her with a friendly bow when he approaches, “How’s yer husband?”
”Oh busy with his research, as always. But never mind him! I was hoping you would be here this weekend!”
“Oh?” Senshi raises an eyebrow in interest.
Mrs. Tansu’s usually squinted eyes open just enough to glint slightly, and she reaches under the counter of her stall. “I’ve got some more of that blackening spice you liked so much.” She produces a medium sized glass bottle, filled about halfway with a reddish-orange powder, flecked with the occasional small grain of black. Senshi’s eyes widen at the sight.
“Amazing!” he marvels at the seasoning, “And so much too!”
She smiles at his response, too polite to look smug, but certainly feeling it. “Yes, Kiki and Kaka were able to procure a substantial amount on their most recent trip west and I immediately thought of you.” She drums three of her large fingers on the bottle’s cork, “I made sure to keep it separate from our other wares until you came by. You get first access.”
Senshi’s eyes gleam at the bottle, “How much for the lot?”
“Three gold.”
Idly, Senshi rubs his fingers over his beard. “That’s an awful steep price, Mrs. Tansu,” he comments.
She sniffs, “Well it’s not the easiest spice to obtain, and well worth spending a little extra on, as well you know.”
He nods, contemplating. He knows the Tansu’s aren’t hurting for money, that Mrs. Tansu runs this stall on weekends more to offload their extra goods after research trips. Even still he does know that it is somewhat difficult to get, considering she’s the only one who sells it, and how infrequently she has it in the first place.
He hums, and then offers, “Make it two gold and five silver, and next week I’ll bring ye some of that sweet bread that ye and the twins like.”
She visibly perks up at the mention of Senshi’s bread, “Deal.”
”Great! I’ll take a medium jar of yer salt mix as well, and do ye have any saffron this week? I’m running low.”
”Oh yes!” she says as she fills a jar with the salt from a small barrel, “How much would you like?”
”I’m tighter on funds this month than I would like, so just the small amount this time, please.”
Mrs. Tansu nods and grabs a tiny cloth sack, filling it with the valuable spice.
All in all, the goods from Mrs. Tansu’s stand sets him back six gold and nine silver, but worth it to restock his saffron and to have more of the delicious blackening spice. He’s thinking about how he’ll need to stop by Zon and Leed’s stand for some more meat, as well as see what fresh fish is available from the fishermen, when the ringing of a handbell catches his attention. It’s a familiar sound that Senshi knows means the slave market is opening.
Another reason Senshi prefers to do his shopping on the weekends is that’s when the slave market opens up. He’s not a frequent customer by any means, but he’s always on the lookout for new workers for the back of his lunchouse. It was rare for someone there to catch his eye, but he always looks, just in case.
As he enters the crowd of people gathering as the auction starts, his eyes are already roaming the group of those who will be sold. There’s the usual types there, a few rough looking orcs in heavy chains, several tallmen, males and females, most who look underfed and overworked. There’s even a dwarf, a rare thing at a slave auction, but also how he acquired Namari, without whom his lunchouse- or rather the brothel he runs in the back of it - would be in shambles.
Right away, Senshi knows what the market’s crowning jewel this week will be. There’s an elf with medium length golden-red hair standing separate from the rest, hands bound in almost delicate looking chains. Senshi has never been great at telling male from female elves apart - they all look so overly feminine to him - but he’s relatively certain this one is a woman. She looks well bathed, especially compared to the rest and she’s clearly drawing eyes from the crowd.
But she’s not the one that catches Senshi’s attention.
Standing in a cluster near the dwarf, are four half-foots, looking so small in comparison to the others around them. One in particular stands out to him. He’s noticeably taller than the other three, with messy chestnut hair. He looks young to Senshi, but all half-foots do. Another thing he’s not good at is telling the ages of younger-lived races. What strikes him though, about this specific half-foot, is his eyes. Even from a decent distance away, Senshi can see the look in his eyes, the way he seems to scan the crowd that’s eyeing them all right back, as if he’s the one judging and appraising. He’s dirty, absolutely covered in filth from head to toe, and clearly malnourished, but Senshi knows immediately that he will be the one taking him home at the end of this auction.
When all is said and done, Senshi pays a measly twenty gold for the half-foot, and while his pockets can’t complain about that, he thinks it must hurt to be told unequivocally that you’re worth so little. But Senshi knows he has a prize, he can feel it.
The half-foots at the market are never bound with metal chains. There’s just a simple rope tied around his wrists, the end of which Senshi holds.
”Alright lad,” Senshi has always been awkward about this part, what to say to a person after you’ve just purchased them, body and soul, “I have a few more stops to make and then we can get ye home.”
The half-foot doesn’t respond, just turns his gaze to the side, but he walks with him when Senshi heads towards where Zon’s stall is, rope slack. “Ye got a name, little one?”
He sees the half-foot scowl slightly, and then shake his head.
”I see. Well, we’ll worry about that later, I suppose. Come along for now,” And he continues to lead him along.
When they reach the large stall run by the orc siblings, it’s Leed who’s at the front to greet them, “Ah! Senshi! So good to see you! Brother has some great cuts I know you’ll be interested in!” And when he hears Senshi’s name, Zon looks up from where he had been rearranging large slabs of meat over ice, and stops what he’s doing to make his way to the front of the stand.
”Senshi!” Zon calls to him warmly, “I was wondering if I was going to see your face here this week!”
”As long as yer selling the fine meats ye do, ye’ll be seeing my face!” he responds with a soft laugh.
Zon looks to the side of Senshi then, as if just noticing the half-foot with him. “Who’s this kid then? Find yourself a new worker?”
Senshi glances at the half-foot briefly, “Yeah, I think so. He’s a skinny little thing now, but I’ll get some food into the wee lad and fix that soon enough.”
”Hm. Good,” Zon nods, “The boy looks like he needs some meat on his bones.”
Senshi feels the shift from the rope before the outburst comes.
”I’m not a fucking kid! I’m twenty-eight!” And just as quickly as the words tear from the half-foot’s mouth, he snaps his jaw shut and flinches, wide eyes immediately trained on the ground and face flushed red to his ears. Senshi realizes he’s waiting to be reprimanded. His heart breaks a little.
A glance towards Zon, whose lifespan is closer to that of half-foots than Senshi’s, tells him that despite his own dwarven instincts at the number, he truly isn’t a child by any means. He breathes out softly and turns to the half-foot who still won’t meet his eyes.
”Ah. I apologize,” he says softly, “I’m not the best with judging the age of other races. But regardless of yer age it was rude of us to talk about ye as if ye weren’t here.” He ducks his head slightly in apology and that seems to almost startle the half-foot, his head slowly rising, face painted with a somewhat confused expression. He doesn’t speak again, but he nods in return and Senshi takes that as forgiveness.
When he turns back to Zon, the orc is still eyeing the half-foot curiously, but turns his attention back to Senshi after a moment, “So. Uh, what can I offer you today? We’ve got plenty of fresh cuts for you, all the usual plus,” he leans in, hand by his mouth and lowers his voice conspiratorially, “We got us a minotaur the other day, if you’re interested.”
Senshi’s eyes light up, the awkwardness from a moment ago forgotten. “Of course I’m interested!” he nearly shouts, “What cuts have ye?”
He ends up getting a whole boar, as well as two extra ham hocks, a round, flank, and full loin from a cow, and two full shanks from the minotaur. While Zon is wrapping his purchases up in paper, he considers the goods already in his hands and turns to the half-foot.
“I could use yer help carrying if yer able. If I undo yer ropes, will ye run?”
The half-foot seems to consider for a moment, then he puffs out a breath and shakes his head.
”Alright,” Senshi mutters and goes to work untying the knots at his wrists. Once complete, he hands him the bag containing the various spices from Mrs. Tansu. “I’ll ask ye to carry these, and then maybe some fish when we get to the fishermen’s stalls. Can ye do that?”
The half-foot nods and takes the bag.
”Thank ye,” Senshi says, and turns back to Leed to hand over the payment for his meat. Once wrapped in paper, the cuts are placed into two large cloth bags which Senshi takes and slings both over his shoulders. “A pleasure as always, Zon, Leed,” He nods at each of the orc siblings who nod back in goodbye and then he turns to the half-foot. “We’ll head home after I get some fish,” he tells him and then the two are off.
The fishermen’s stalls are less eventful, maybe because the half-foot is no longer bound and therefore less obviously freshly bought from the auction. He buys a variety of fresh fish that should keep him stocked for the week, as well as a few different types of mollusks. When everything is wrapped and paid for, he hands the half-foot the wrapped shellfish and octopus and crates the rest of the fish in his own arms.
”Alright then. We’ll be heading home now, alright?”
It seems to take a second for the half-foot to realize that Senshi is actually asking, and then he nods.
”Good,” he sets off with the half-foot only a step behind him, “I won’t get ye introduced to everyone at once - don’t want to overwhelm ye - but Kabru will need to know we’ve got a new face around, and it’ll be good for ye to meet Mickbell, a fellow half-foot,” he hums gently as they walk, “Speaking of, he’s told me a bit about half-foot names, maybe he can help work one up for ye. Not sure I’d be too good at that, but I want ye to have a name ye like.” He’s muttering, mostly to fill the silence of their walk, but between his vocalized thoughts he hears the half-foot speak from behind him.
”Chilchuck,” he says, “Um. My name. It’s Chilchuck.”
The half-foot’s voice is so much quieter than his earlier eruption that it takes a second for Senshi to register it. When he does he stops in his tracks and turns to face the smaller man. “Chilchuck?” he tries out, then furrows his brows in confusion. “Why did ye nae tell me before?” He does his best to keep anything close to accusation out of his voice when he asks, just simple puzzlement.
The half-foot - Chilchuck - for his part, looks embarrassed, face turned once more to the earth and brows knit together as he adjusts the load in his arms, “Most, um. I mean, the people who’ve owned me before either didn’t care to know and called me whatever they wanted, or just didn’t bother with anything like a name at all, so I… well I just assumed you would do the same.” His cheeks are red again, though Senshi is sure this time it’s for slightly different reasons.
Still he’s torn between sadness over Chilchuck’s prior treatment, and being grateful that he’s felt like he can say as much to the dwarf. “Chilchuck then,” He nods and offers a smile that’s mostly covered by his beard anyway, “Thank ye for sharing yer name with me. Rest assured that while I will be requiring work from ye, I also want ye to find a home with us. And most importantly, I want ye to be able to feel like ye can talk to me. No use in staying quiet and suffering in my opinion, alright?”
Chilchuck takes a moment, then nods, firmer this time than any of the others. “Okay,” he says simply, and then the two of them continue their trek.
It’s not a long walk back to the lunchouse; the market streets are only about a half an hour from the Yoshiwara district. Senshi doesn’t say anything else for the rest of their walk, and neither does Chilchuck, but it doesn’t feel as uncomfortable or stuffy as before. When they reach Senshi’s place he pauses at the door and turns to Chilchuck. “Alright, ye’ll meet Kabru and then we’ll get these goods put away, and then we’ll get you settled. Sound good?”
Chilchuck looks nervous, but nods, and Senshi slides the door open.