"Girl, you want a dumpling? Then you gotta pay. Two pence a dumpling, four for the bread." She used her cane to give the stone oven near her a rap.
"Baked fresh but an hour ago, so it's all still warm."
And the scents, heavenly, making Vels nearly drool.
"Two pence?" she tried to search her person, but any money she had collected back at Thaedes had long since been plucked and taken by her seller. She frowned and shook her head.
"I guess not today."
The woman's eyes then lit up as she gave an angered rap of her cane onto the cobblestone. It made Vels jump.
"Then be on with you, girl! You're scaring the customers away by taking up me precious sales space!"
Taken off guard, Vels simply obliged, and continued her way through the market, but was too overhwlemed by the smells to get too far. She was hungry- beyond hungry, and she couldn't recall the last time she had anything to eat.
When she noticed a small alcove between two shops, she slipped into the alleyway and moved to the end of it where a deadend allowed for some respite where she could sit, lean against the building, and dream about those dumplings at two pence a piece.