An Outing [Elissa]

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Lucretia had been feeling some merchandise therapy coming on a couple of days ago. She had finally given into her desires and made her way to the market to look at the trinkets and wares that were being pawned today. The sun shone brightly on the busting market this day. It was warm out, but not a stagnant sticky heat. There was a smooth breeze that made the day just barely tolerable. Lucretia sported a cream colored dress, just barely lighter than her skin. She had her hair up with a bun that was put together with various flower accessories. This appearance made her look cute, which was a rare in her case. As she looked around from stand to stand the wares did not interest her, but the people sure did. There were people haggling left and right and plenty of people yelling things at her to get her attention to a particular stand.

Just as she was getting tired and bored she came upon something curious. It seemed as if there was a young girl arguing with a merchant about a recent purchase. The girl looked to be almost the same age as Lucretia was herself. The girl was a little thin, but still quite pretty. Her hair had a darker charcoal tone to it and Lucretia could not quite make out her face from the angle she was at. Luci decided to see what the matter was, since this was her country right? That was her excuse anyway as she walked over to intervene in the argument. ”Any problems here?” she started, waiting to see the story of the mishap between this young woman and the merchant.

[Elissa Vuronia]

After a long but quiet journey, Antiva City was now within reach. The sun beamed its blessings down upon the land below. Deep blue skies revealed their happiness for all to see, while a gentle wind flowed freely all around the land. Elissa happily smiled at the city, as it grew ever closer with each gentle march, thanks to her dear close friend Amity. Finally they reached the city gates, causing the teen to jumped down off the back of Amity and once again took her friend's reigns in her left hand, while keeping her right hand free. Amity gently walked just behind Elissa as they slowly entered into the Antiva City for the first time in their young lives.

Sure enough the wonderful craftsmanship of the Antiva buildings revealed their splendour and pride to Elissa. As she wondered deeper into the city, her eyes soon heard distant cries of street vendors. The more she walked onwards, the louder the shouts became. Until she reached the main city centre which was filled to the brim with different shaped stalls. Each wooden stall was completely littered with different kinds of items, from trinkets, to food and clothing.

Elissa gazed at the market place and was shocked at the amount of people either walking past the stalls, buying from them or they advertised their own goods. The warm weather had made Elissa simply wearing her silver tunic and trousers, followed by brown soft boots to comfort her feet. With a tiny smile she looked over her towards Amity and gave him a gentle nod, there she guided her friend and decided to take a break while examining to stalls to see what was on sale.

It wasn’t long before she noticed a stall, which was selling a variety of trinkets and clothing. One such item, which caught Elissa’s eye, was a small handcrafted wooden statue of a deer. Each section of the statue was beautifully carved, the body of the deer was revealed in great detail; even the antlers were wonderfully made. Gently she picked up the statue and examined it; Elissa admired the deer and decided to buy the statue, however things didn’t go according to plan. Behind the stall was a man in his late fifties, and smiled at Elissa for examining the statue, Elissa turned to him and talked to him a happy but polite way. “Pardon me good sir how much for this wonderful piece?” The man stood up watched Elissa dive into her coin purse, and told her it was just a few coins.

However just as she handed the man the right amount of money, he suddenly This infuriated Elissa and she asked him why he decided to increase the price. The seller replied that he increased the price because the man though that she had insulted him, Elissa held back her anger and calmly decided to negotiate with him. But the seller accidentally simply took it the wrong way, which soon ended with an argument, Elissa exchanged words until the man stopped and looked towards another young woman who wondered what the argument was about. Of course this was her first time being in Antiva City and had no idea that this woman was actually the Queen of Antiva itself, The seller turned to the woman while speaking his mind. “This lady refuses to pay for the amount I wanted for the statue” Elissa sighed as the man explained what was happening.

Of course this was only his side of the story. Turning towards the stranger, she nodded to the woman and spoke her side in total honesty. “Good day to you, I simply wanted to buy this wonderful statue and he told me that it was just for a few coins to buy it, so just as I was about to pay this man. He immediately increased the price, so I decided to negotiate with him”.

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As both of the people spoke their peace, Lucretia could not help but side with the girl. It seemed that there was just a misunderstanding, or the vendor was gouging this poor girl after seeing the size of her change purse. Either way it was unfair, but Lucretia could not just go around telling off the vendors of her country either. It would look unprofessional, and this man would likely be looking to Lucretia to side with him.

Lucretia picked up the small crafted deer. It was surely darling and something that even she would have gazed upon when walking by. She smiled with it in her hands and decided that this stranger must have it. Lucretia did not usually do things like this, but the cute deer had warmed something in her heart. She reached into her coin purse and pulled out the difference that the vendor had added on. ”There sir. To solve this misunderstanding I will pay for the upcharge you have given this girl.”

The man looked astonished and tried to give back the money from the Queen, but Lucretia would not even let him speak. A mere wave of her hand and he nodded taking the two girls money and relinquishing the deer. Lucretia smiled sweetly, as she was known to do around those she takes an interest in, and handed the girl the statue.
”Now there is no concern on who was right or wrong and everyone is happy. I hope you enjoy it, for you have a good eye for craftsmanship.” Lucretia was desperately hoping that this young girl would agree to the gift and maybe even agree to join her for some snacks. Luci was not particularly good at making friends, and as a matter of fact she really only had two of them (if you could consider Keri a “friend”). She thought of inviting the girl to the palace, but she did not seem to be from around here. Actually it seemed as if she did not even know Luci was the Queen of Antiva, but surely that was impossible. Luci decided that she would put off the invitation for now, but she wouldn’t mind chatting a bit. She was definitely interesting in meeting the girls horse, if anything, so she hoped they would not be in a hurry to go anywhere soon.

[Elissa Vuronia]

A wooden statue of a deer is very rare to come by these days. Only one who truly respects nature could craft such a wonderful creature, every corner of the statue was well preserved and crafted that it looked as though life had been given to the wooden deer. It was going be a great present for Elissa's mother as she loved animals, however the seller of this prized item was trying to over charge the teen noblewoman. However luck favoured her as the woman who just arrived before Elissa and the seller decided to listen to both sides of the story and made a decision that impressed the teen. This woman actually offered to buy the statue despite its sudden increase of the price.

As the seller happily took the money from the young lady, Elissa watched her as she took the statue and handed it back to Amity's dear friend! Elissa was completely overjoyed by the stranger’s kindness and gently she took the statue into her hands and quietly smiled as she admired it once again. Amity watched carefully but felt a little nervous, still he kept himself calm and simply stood still while watching Elissa.

In response to the stranger's kindness Elissa happily smiled to the stranger and even bowed her head in total respect. Her voice soon appeared which was filled with gratitude and joy, as she spoke Elissa gently placed the statue into a saddlebag, which sat to the left of Amity. "Thank you very much for your kindness. I really do appreciate it, I had hoped to buy this beautiful carving for my mother. She really loves animals" after making sure the statue was safe, Elissa turned back towards the kind girl.

Deciding that it was polite to introduce herself, Elissa quietly smiled and said "My name is Elissa Vuronia, I hail from the city of Amaranthine in Ferelden. And this here is my dear friend Amity, his name means friendship". The white stallion gently moved forward but only just a little as Elissa introduced him.

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As the girl thanked her, Lucretia could hear the gratitude in her voice. Luci had never really gifted anything before, but the happiness she saw on the girls face lit up Luci’s heart. So this is what it feels like to make friends , she thought to herself. She was a lonely girl, even though she was surrounded by people. As the Queen she could order others to be around her, but she could never make them like her. It was so sweet of the girl to be giving this gift to her mother. Lucretia missed her family and wished that she would have treated them better when they were still around.

The girl introduced herself as Elissa Vuronia from Fereldan. Luci had never been out of Antiva; as a matter of fact she had barely been out of the palace. Her father was seriously over protective of his little girl. Luci would love the opportunity to travel the world and see all sorts of sights, but she knew that she would be no good at any sort of adventuring.

As Elissa introduced herself, she also introduced the stunning white stallion next to her named Amity. Lucretia loved horses!! As she was growing up, horses were the only animals she cared to keep. Her family had always kept black mares and stallions in their stable. When she was a little girl, her two best friends were Nieves and Bajardo, a black mare and black stallion. But Luci had never seen a white horse before. Amity entranced her as he stood next to Elissa.

"Well it is very nice to meet you Elissa Vuronia and Amity.” Lucretia started. “My name is Lucretia Valisti, Queen of Antiva. It is very nice to make your acquaintance and…” Luci was trying not to sound pompous as she spoke. He did sound a little conceited when she introduced herself, but it was hard for Luci to stray from her roots. But as she continued, what she was really interested in was Amity. She really wanted to pet him, but wasn’t sure if it was appropriate to ask. She seemed a little shy as she resumed her sentence. ”…I was wondering if I could pet your horse, Amity. I love horses, you see, and he is very beautiful.” Luci blushed and smiled slightly. She felt like a little kid and could not disguise her excitement.