“Medicine, get ya medicine right here. Eases all those aches and pains!” The man then looked straight at Sheena and smiled.

Smart-ass. Must have seen me stumble into town. He slowly approached the man. “How much?”

“You’ll have to ask Charlie.”

“And where might this Charlie be?”

“Inside, of course.”

Great. This Charlie was probably some kind of swindler. Sheena could see him now. Stove pipe hat, waxed mustache, cheap suit, they were all the same. Probably selling mineral water in a colored bottle, pretending it was the best thing since the discovery of the Flowing Rune. Maybe there would be some real medicine in stock.

“Hey, don’t I recognize you?”

Sheena looked at the man. Pretty old, had black hair, graying at the temples, and was dressed like any other store clerk would. “Maybe. You ever been to Toran?”

“Toran? Oh you mean the Scarlet Moon Empire. Yeah, I used to live there, in Gregminster.”

Sheena shuddered. Would people please accept the fact that the Empire was dead? It seemed everyone in Jowston would rather have Barbarossa’s bloodthirsty regime around. “No, I meant Toran.”

“Whatever. A wolf can call its self a sheep, and the only one it’ll fool is it’s self.”

Oh brother. “Now listen here.” Sheena’s little clarification was interrupted by the sound of shattering glass.

The storeowner simply shook his head. “Sugar. 10 pounds by the sound of it. I really need to start using paper sacks.” The storeowner then looked at Sheena. “Well what are you waiting for? An army to escort you inside? Go buy what you need. And we don’t take bits here.”

Sheena simply glared at the old man. What did he take him for? Of course they didn’t take bits. They took potch. Potch. What kind of name was that for currency? Oh well it could be worse. At least they didn’t take fish gills.

Charlotte sit at the counter with her elbows propped up on the surface. Yet another boring day at the Item shop. Seemed all she ever saw were sailors and dockhands, which some girls might enjoy but she was just sick of it. Every male in town seemed to constantly hit on her, and not one had any class about it. Why did she have to run the store anyway? Everyone else her age was at Greenhill, but it seemed her father just wanted her under his heel. Always teaching her business, how to make the sell. Plus training her in self-defense. She looked down at her left hand. A fire rune. When was she ever going to need that? She could swear her father wished she were a boy. It was all too apparent by the nickname he gave her…

Charlotte was snapped out of her waking dream by one of her father’s sales pitches. Great, there he goes again. He wants me to take over the business, but he’s going to wind up scaring off the customers. She looked around the shop quickly. What were they missing? Flour, sugar, and honey. This sucked. Most girls her age were attending Greenhill, and going to school dances with cute guys. And she got to stack shelves all day. Lucky me, she thought. Well first the flour. She couldn’t wait to finish this. She wanted to talk to… funny; dad never mentioned his name. Walking back to the storeroom, she looked up at the top shelf. How many times had she said to never put the jars of sugar on the top shelf? A short hop and the jar was safely in her hands. Well it’s always easier getting the jars down, than putting them back up. She walked back to the storefront and looked at the shelves with a curse. “Here goes…” Barely reaching the top shelf while standing on her toe tips, she managed to slide the jar halfway on the shelf. “Good enough, it should stay.” The jar fell, as though her voice had disturbed its precarious perch. It simply fell in slow motion, and Charlotte covered her face. “Not again...”

CRASH!!!

Charlotte simply grabbed the broom and the dustpan and started sweeping. “Bet the students at Greenhill never have to sweep.”

Sheena walked into the store, and saw a teenage girl, bent over a pile of white powder, sweeping said substance into a dustpan. She was at least 17, or she was well developed for her age. She was wearing a short red dress, about as revealing an outfit any store clerk would risk wearing. He couldn’t see her face from his viewpoint, but he really didn’t care right now.

The girl instinctively glanced over her shoulder and smirked. “Enjoying the view?”

Sheena was caught off guard. “Uh, looks sweet.”

“You’d better be talking about the sugar.”

“Of course I am!” Of course he wasn’t. What guy in his right mind would have ignored THAT?

“Of course you were.” Yeah, right. Charlotte didn’t know who this guy was, but he was a poor liar. “You might want to put your eyes back in their sockets, before they hit the floor.” The blonde haired boy smiled a sheepish grin. At least he was cuter than the normal customers who stared at her butt. And about 20 years younger to boot. Maybe she wasn’t in such a hurry to go home after all… “Ouch!” She looked down at her now bleeding hand.

Sheena knelt beside the girl. Not only to see if she was okay, but also to get a better look. The girl was very attractive, with a smooth, well-tanned face, and raven-black hair, that was cropped just below the ears. Her bangs seemed to hang around the sides of her face, almost like a frame. And what a pretty picture it held. “Are you okay?”

“It’s just a little cut.” She winced a little, to show her discomfort. “Stings though.”

Sheena reached into his traveling pouch, he knew he had a bandage… “Here you go.” The Kouan family motto, always be prepared when a pretty girl needs assistance. Or it was something like that. He gently wrapped the bandage around her injured hand. “Better?”

“Much. Thank you.” Charlotte picked herself up off the floor. “Anything I can help you with?”

Oh you could help me anyway you want… “Umm, I need to see Charlie about some medicine.” Sheena pulled out Alex’s list. “And could you help me find this stuff here?”

Charlotte nodded her head. “I’m Charlie, nice to meet you.”

“Isn’t that a boy’s name?”

“It’s short for Charlotte.” The girl frowned at Sheena.

“My name’s Sheena.”

“Isn’t that a girl’s name?” Charlotte stuck her tongue out at Sheena.

“Long story. Basically, my dad’s an idiot.” And I wish he were here so I could smack him.

“Mine too. At least we have something in common.” Charlotte proceeded to get the items on the list. “Here you go! Do you need anything else?”

Oh come on, I need something else, I know it! Sheena looked at Charlotte. Ok, I wish I did. Oh wait… this was perfect. “I need a date.”

“Where and when?”

Uh, think of something dammit! “A concert in Harmonia. Later this month.”

“ Harmonia! Aiming a little high for a first date aren’t we? And my father would never approve.” She smiled.

“Who said your father has to know? Plus we could go out before then…” Game.

“Ooh. Now that’s my kind of style. Of course, we’d go out sometime before then…” Charlotte smile grew wider.

“Then it’s a date.” Set.

“Great. Meet me here at the end of the week.”

“Great. And dress casual.” Match.

Sheena left the store as quickly as possible. He surely didn’t want to screw this up. Waiting till he was safely back on the road, he jumped in the air. “WOOHOO!” Now, he just hoped Lorelai found Pete before Friday. It would really look bad if he were out on a date while she was risking her life. Oh well, I should reach Hilda’s before midnight. He looked at Muse and stuck his tongue out. “Who needs to be in there anyway?”

Charlotte quickly closed shop and dashed home. She couldn’t believe she was finally getting away from this place. Of course her father would never approve of the trip to Harmonia, but what he didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him. A smile spread across her face. Every thing would be perfect.

In Muse…

“And you say he just wouldn’t take a hint?” The gray haired gentleman dusted off his coat as he spoke.

The stable girl looked at the old man. “Yeah, he just kept hitting on me. His friend seemed to be in a desperate hurry, but he just kept going on and on about how beautiful I was. It was kind of embarrassing.”

The man looked at the girl. She was a rather attractive red head, and looked like she was 18. She was definitely Sheena’s type. Dusting off the folds of his white coat, he turned and headed for the exit. “Don’t worry milady. I’ll make sure you don’t have to concern yourself with him again.”

A plan was unfolding in the old man’s head, a plan which would recapture the prodigal son. All he needed was a female who was willing to be used as bait. Soon, Sheena would be back on the path of being an honorable man.