Evangelina Gale
Evangelina strolled slowly through the market. She had a love-hate relationship with the large square of bustling stalls. On one hand she loved it because it was the closest thing to a life she had. Here, she had people to talk to and smiles and laughs to share. On the other hand, she was forced to converse with strangers. The place was crowded and people pushed her as they moved about. Eva slowly strolled through them with an innocent look on her delicate face, and a slight nervousness in her eyes. Every time someone bumped her, she looked back with genuine hurt before they were forgotten and she was back to her business. It was busy, and some of the commoners were rude, but everyday at the market was a different one. A small break from the routine of her everyday life.
With a sigh, Evangelina pushed her black hood the rest of the way back, allowing it to flutter back to her shoulders. Feeling eyes on her, she looked with only her eyes, not moving her body, and met eyes with a boy at the flower shop cupping a beautiful bud in his hand. A sharp intake of breath stung her lungs, but he looked away from her almost as soon as he'd seen her and she moved on.
In her basket, Eva had her mothers list, a bushel of flowers, and a small purse of coins. She was to use the money to buy the most important things off the list as cheaply as possible, empty the purse, then sell her flowers at the flower stall for as much money as possible and buy the remaining items with that. The market was like a whole new world that spoke a single language. Bargaining. Thankfully, Eva was fluent in the language. She knew which stalls would automatically give her discounts because they were either her friends, or friends of her family, she knew which stalls to shy away from, and she knew how to bring even the most stubborn vendor down.
Grabbing her cotton skirt in one hand and stepping through the mess of people, a glimmer caught the corner of her eye and she stopped at the jewelery stall. Rich golds, silvers, and gems decorated a velvet table cloth. Absentmindedly, she reached out and stoked a silver necklace. It wasn't extravagant, and consisted of a simple silver chain with a dewdrop opal hanging from it. Evangelina had had her eye on it for a long time. The vendor looked up at her with a grin. "Beautiful sparkles for a beautiful woman?" He spoke as if he didn't know her, but Ev knew he remembered her. She passed his stall and touched the same necklace every time. He knew she couldn't afford anything he had to offer and was being respectful, allowing her to look and not humiliating her and haggling her. Sometimes she wondered if he even kept the piece for her, hoping each time she would buy it.
"No.." Evangelina sighed wistfully, lifting her big blue eyes to him. "Not this time." And before he could say anything, she'd disappeared in the crowd again.
After she'd finished her bargaining for the top half of her mothers list, Ev made her way to the flower stand to find that the boy she'd seen a moment ago was still standing there, cupping the rose bulb gently in his hand. "Miss Evangelina! How nice to see you again!" She shop keeper beamed at her, causing her to pull her gaze from the boy back to the woman.
"Mrs. Wayland!" Evangelina grinned back. "I have another bushel for you. Straight from my garden. Same price as last week?"
"Wait now." The woman spoke, and her friendly face transformed into her business face as it always did. "I have a shop to uphold. Let me have a look at them before agreeing."
"Of course." Evangelina reached into her bag and pulled out the large bushel of flowers. Half were bright, bloodred, perfect roses and half were soft purple lilacs. She handed them to Mrs. Wayland and allowed her to inspect them. Her head was cast down towards the counter, but out of the corner of her eye, she watched the boy who'd she'd met eyes with earlier. He was dressed in commoner clothing, but you could tell that they were top-of-the-line. And he was handsome too. Very handsome. But there was something off about him, and after a second of inspection, she found it: he stood like a nobleman, not like a commoner.