Knightfall (Chapter 2)

Jubilee walked through the market sqaure just after dusk. Small christmas lights hung on many of the stalls. She glanced at vendor’s items without much intrest. Most of it was badly made and overpriced. She continued past the stalls of the market district and moved toward the permanant shops. She smiled as Cid’s shop came into view. Many of the younger generation loved Cid’s. He had a wide assortment of items there and at fair prices. Her parents thought there was nothing but junk in there, but she never minded much what her parents said. She stepped inside the doorway and heard the fair ringing of wind chimes and running water from small fountains all around the shop.

“Hey Lee!” Cid looked up from tinkering with a L248C. He was a deeply tanned, older man with light blonde hair, a brightly colored Hawiian shirt, ragged cut off shorts and dusty sandals.

“Hi Cid. How’s everything going?”

“Not too bad Lee. Got someone to buy that 26BF Auton.”

Jubilee smirked, “I don’t suppose you told the buyer abou the program freeze every 40 clicks.”

Cid turned up his nose slightly and sniffed, “They didn’t ask.”

She laughed and grinned as she glanced around the shop. Her gaze caught on a dusty box with equally dusty items inside. A big red clearance sign was propped up beside it.

She pointed to the box, “What’s that?”

Cid wiped his hands on an already dirty rag and stretched.

“One of the scouters brought it in. Bought the whole box worth for 5 credits. It would probably be gone by now, but most of the kids are at that light concert.”

Cid squinted, “Why aren’t you over there instead of visiting an old timer?”

“Come on Cid. You’re not that old. Sides, you know I’m not into that stuff. It’s the same thing over and over.”

Cid just nodded and went back to his work. Jubilee strolled over to the box and slowly sifted through the items. Most were old relics from the wars. She either had most of the items in here or didn’t want them. She thought about going to look for a new incense bottle when something in the box caught her eye. There were alot of dirt clods in the box. Most had old artillery shells or something similar in them. But one gave off a silver glint instead of the regular brass. She picked it up slowly and broke some of the hard dirt away. She brushed it off and looked at the item underneath. Her eyes widened as black and white circle teardrops came into view. While this symbol, Taoism, the yin and yang wasn’t unique, the bracelet’s design was.

‘It can’t be…’ she thought to herself. She had to be sure though. And she couldn’t until she got home and compared it to the vids she had. Until she was sure, she couldn’t tell anyone, not even Cid.

“Hey Cid, I’ll take one of these.” Jubilee said, holding the dirt clod with the bracelet facing away from him.

Cid just gave it a quick glace from his tinkering.

“Gonna make another one of those shell bracelets for someone?”

“I think so.”

“Alright Lee. Just leave a half credit on the counter.”

She tried to look casual as she put the half credit on the counter and walked out of the store. But she could feel herself shaking with excitment as she walked home.

Damien