Selene was walking up and down all the streets, at her normal routine pace. Business was slow as usual, and nothing seemed incredibly interesting. Her stomach rumbled at she looked around her for any kind of food place. She looked down tempted at the herbs that were encased in glass bottles at her hip, but her parents told her never to eat the merchandise. She continued to walk up the street, until she spotted a little cart with assorted meats on a grill. She licked her lips as she raced over to the cart, examining. Her face fell to disappointment as she saw there was no lizard, and sighed. It was then the merchant running the cart snapped her to attention.
"Well? What will ya have?" he said in a snappy tone. She sighed, food was food. She sighed, pointing to 5 different meats. "I'll take these." her thick swamp accent requested as the owner dumped them into a cardboard box and put them down on the table. "That'll be about 40 yuan" the merchant replied, and Selene swallowed hard. Was it just her or was food getting more expensive. But more importantly, she only had ten yuan in her bag. "Oh, uh sir, I think I can offer something much better!" she started off, the merchant raising an eyebrow. She quickly unstrapped a bottle of one of her finest herbs, and held it up. "Its dried uncluk leaf, makes a delicious tea, and its very good for your nails!" she smiled her best buy-my-product smile her parents had showed her, but the merchant frowned and shook his head. "I don't take no herbs" he said in a grave tone. "I told you" he repeated "That'll be 40 yuan"
Selene swallowed and felt herself shrink before she replied. "I... only have 10" she muttered quietly. At this the merchant stood up and grabbed her collar, lifting her up. "You saying you can't pay me?" he threatened. "I... I got lots of herbs mister..." she said, her voice shaking badly. Her eyes widening as he raised up a fist. "I promise.. there really good herbs..." she began panicking.