The human stripling was the first to arrive. The mall was picturesque: the fountain, the light breeze blowing a cooling mist, the powerful statue, birds chirping. So why was it completely uninhabited. He watched and waited, looking about as if expecting others, taking note of the black cat on a distant balcony, lazily sunning herself with a view of the entire mall. He drew a package from a pocket, something wrapped in soft green leaves. Unfolding the leaves, he took a bite of...
An obscenely large, greasy, flakey, golden-brown pastry pie--stuffed with a creamy, gooey blend of spinach and a regional goat cheese!
"Mmmm," he moaned, savoring the bite. Whoever he was, his desire for food had overcome the tingling pull that had driven him here. On the hike up from the waterfront, he'd managed to grab the pie from a street vender as he passed, tossing a few silver to quiet the man.
The stripling looked young, perhaps a boy of sixteen or seventeen, but his eyes were uncannily shrewd--as if they'd seen too much to be so young. He had a pleasant face, boyish, fair and freckled, his hair a shaggy mop of brown a few shades short of auburn. He was not particularly tall, with a frame that suggested quick athleticism rather than raw strength. His movements and posture betrayed a cat's grace. And between the eyes and the grace, he was almost certainly older than seventeen.
He wore a dark green cloak over a lighter green tunic and trousers, his clothes clean and cared for, but having seen much travel and weathering. Across one shoulder he wore a messenger's bag, while the other shoulder bore a water skin, blanket and bedroll. He looked to have just walked off the boat.
Content with the solitude, he sat on the ledge of the fountain basin and enjoyed his pastry.