The time of noontime rest had passed, and with it the languid calm of the hottest part of the day. Everyone took the time to rest at noon, avoiding the suns glare and enjoying the reprieve before it cooled.
Toka on the other hand, did not. The baking heat of the noontime sun had the opposite effect on her, setting her blood to boil and her limbs to tingling. Far from being calm and quiet while the heat passed, she wanted to move, to revel in activity, though there was no work to be done. She always spent the time slipping between her carts and barrels, checking her stores, the seals, unnecessary things she'd done a thousand times over. Sometimes the other traders would laugh at her from the shade of their caravans. "Slow down, Kikt'sha!" They would call, "You make us weary just watching you!" But Toka never did. It was just another strange foible of the world above to her: to waste so much time, and the most glorious gift of their fickle weather Gods, sleeping? Ludicrous.
Little wonder that she was off like a shot when the marketplace reopened. She slipped into the crowds the minute they began to swell again, her twitchy behaviour fading as activity resumed. Now this was more like it: the crush of people, the constant noise of voices, animals, sometimes music. It was as close to home as it got, to her. She enjoyed the market, enjoyed her job, and would gladly spend hours here amongst the traders. She had been there for a week, and her current trip would last for more than a month before the journey home - she was in no hurry to buy, not yet. This was the time for exploring, for finding anything new and interesting and scoping out the wares. She moved from stall to stall, asking prices, making mental notes, or sometimes just wandering and looking, drinking it all in as the sun beat down on her scales and spines. There were days when Toka truly loved her work.