Into The Woods

Bartleby Wolfe was walking along with his attention on the pages of a book. He still did not know what all the strange markings meant, but Fred had promised to teach him. He hadn’t realized how important this reading was to the humans. It seemed to be some sort of status symbol to them. Fred had already taught him that his position as a philosopher to the court of Prince Robin would be in danger if the price found out about his lack of this skill. Bartleby thought it would be best if he pretended like he knew what he was doing, which is what led him to be walking with a book.

He felt a bit silly moving while “reading”, but the other humans he passed just nodded to him. They were very strange animals. But he wanted to learn about them, so that meant learning all of their odd ways and customs. And some of them were very, very odd. But there were a few he was beginning to enjoy. Things like the way humans baked sweet things to eat.

( Bartleby paused )

Robin moved deftly past the stalls, giving the horses within cursory glances for the most part. Now and then, he stopped to look more closely at a particular animal, but none had yet to truly catch his eye. All were fine examples of horseflesh, which was what he’d come to expect of this particular vendor. The man only found the finest to offer at his auctions.

His difficulty in finding any particular animal to hold his interest might be due to the fact that he really didn’t need a new horse. He had a perfectly good mount that served him well, and he was fond of the horse. Not enough that he’d given him a name, but he was a quality animal, from fine bloodstock. Robin wasn’t here so much to find new horses for his stable as he was to stave off boredom.

He was vastly looking forward to Mr. Wolfe’s arrival at the castle. It had been a few days since he’d seen the philosopher that he’d met in the woods, and with each passing day, Robin grew more and more anxious for his appearance. It was getting close to the new moon, and he’d really wanted to have more than a few days time to get the man settled and get acquainted before he had to seclude himself. There was no point in scaring the man off with his shameful secret. Robin doubted, as forward thinking as Mr. Wolfe seemed to be, that he’d be willing to discuss the meaning of life with a frog.

Robin heaved a deep sigh, disappointed that he’d let himself get dragged down by such unpleasant thoughts when he was trying to keep himself from dwelling upon them. Distractedly, he moved to the next stall and stopped dead, looking at the most incredible equine he’d ever seen. Now that was what he’d been hoping to find. Almost reverently, he moved forward, breathing softly, “Oh you are a beauty, aren’t you?”

The only question now was whether or not he could manage to purchase him in the auction. It was not much of a question, though, as Robin was willing to pay whatever it took to win. He was a prince after all.

It wasn't often that Gin ventured into a village. It was rarer still for him to venture into a marketplace. The looming threat of being harmed by the masses was usually far too strong for him to want to shop. Except Gin wasn't there to shop. Or more accurately, he wasn't there to shop for things by the means of buying them. He preferred his five-finger discount as opposed to actually having to interact with anyone.

It had worked just fine for him up until now, why would it change.

Hungry, he walked past a vendor that held some apples in crates out for passerby to inspect and purchase if they chose. A lowly farmer's wife stood behind the crates and was speaking to a woman who was selecting a number of apples. Something about making a pie.

He paused and realized that the vendor would hardly notice him if he took an apple off her hands while she was busy with a paying customer. Gin turned on a dime, slyly made his way into a group of individuals shuffling past the vendor booth and swiped an apple without looking down at it or over to the vendor and her customer.

As far as Gin was aware, success. Now there was only to see what else in town there was that he needed and could easily help himself to.

Well this was… not right. That wasn’t the first phrase that had come to mind, but those words were not the sort a princess was supposed to say so it was better to not even think them. So Winnifred had hastily amended what she had been thinking, but the sentiment was still the same. This was not right.

She stopped, standing dead still in the middle of the path and turned in a slow circle. No, this was not right at all. She should have reached the fork to take her to the left to that village that had the interesting marketplace. It wasn’t every market that had a vendor with boxes full of interesting metal bits and sprockets. Fred had only stumbled across such a helpful find once, by accident, but she had very carefully made note of where it was so that she could return.

( Apparently not carefully enough, because she was pretty sure that she was lost. )