Lily Sweetie's Arc

Chapter 1 of 5

Lily Sweetie pushed her cart into the market square and found every stall taken. She was seven, with pink pigtails and a wagon full of warm treats, and she wanted one thing more than anything: a spot to sell her sweets, the first step toward the finest sweet shop in Torpormire. But the merchants crowded shoulder to shoulder. No table stood empty for a girl with a cart. She walked the whole square twice. Bakers shooed her along. Fishmongers waved her off. Then she saw it near the far corner: a bread booth, blackened by fire, its wood cracked and its trim stained with soot. No one stood behind it. The owner had left, and the spot was free. Lily set her cart beside the burned booth. She laid out her trays and stacked her prettiest treats on top. Nobody stopped. The scorched wood scared people away. So she reached into her basket and pulled out a plate of soft, sparkling puffs, dusted with sugar until they shimmered. "Free!" she called. "Free puffs for everyone!" Children came first. Then their parents. Soon a crowd pressed close, laughing, and coins began clinking into Lily's little tin. The burned booth didn't matter anymore. People only saw the sugar and her wide, happy smile. Then the crowd went quiet. It parted for a huge man in a red robe stitched with gold. Rings gleamed on his thick fingers. A heavy chain marked him as the guild warden, the man who ruled the square and chose who sold there. He was Aldric Goldwheat, and Lily had never seen anyone look at her sweets with such hunger and such scorn at once. He plucked a puff from her tray and swallowed it whole. "Not bad," he said, licking his fingers. "But this booth isn't yours, little girl. You have no permit. No stall in my square runs without my say." Lily's chest tightened. "But nobody was using it," she said. "And people like my treats. Listen." The crowd murmured for her. Aldric's small eyes moved over the coins in her tin, then over the trays still piled high. He wanted them. She could see it. "The old booth is empty because the last baker couldn't pay my fee," Aldric said. "You want to stay?" He held out one fat palm. "Then you'll pay it too. Ten gold coins by market's end tomorrow, or I burn what's left of this booth and send you home." Lily looked in her tin. She had counted maybe two gold in copper and silver. Not ten. Not close. She lifted her chin anyway. "I'll pay it," she said. Aldric laughed and took another puff. "We'll see, Sweetie." He turned and lumbered off, robe swaying. Lily stood behind the burned booth, now hers by promise. She had a spot at last. She also had one day to find eight more gold coins, or lose it forever.