Unexpected News

Amari was sitting in the wagon as it moved. They have been traveling for a while now, and Amari was trying to think of a plan once she got there: "Ok, once I get there, I should probably try to get high status or something like that so once the egg does hatch, they can't try to get rid of them." Amari sighs, then chuckles, "I'm doing a lot for this egg." Amari then heard the man say, "We are here." Amari looked up to see what looked to be an entrance, but the walls were in bad shape there were holes in the walls, and they seemed barely standing. Amari jumped out of the wagon. "Thank you, Mr." "Yeah, yeah, now pay up." The man said he was trying to get out of there quickly. Amari gave him the money, and the man left. Amari turned around, took a deep breath, said, "Here goes nothing," and went in.***********************************************************************************************As soon as Amari walked in, she was met with a smell that made her want to turn around. Both her hands went up to her nose quickly, and she almost threw up. "Oh my god." She looked around while walking, barely keeping it together. The road was broken up, and the house looked like it could break at any minute or fall. As she was walking around with her hands still over her nose, she saw a thug leaning on one of the houses. "Or is that a guard? They have a sword, be it a broken one. Yeah, I think I see what that man was talking about." The thug(?) looked over at her. "What are you looking at?" he asked aggressively. She held her hands up, regretting it when the smell hit her full force. "Sorry," she said, walking away while holding her nose.***********************************************************************************************Amari was in the market area trying to see if she could buy something when, just as she was about to pick an apple, she heard, "I would not pick that one if I were you." She turned around and saw an old man. "That one is rotten actually, all of these are." Amari comically sweatdropped, "Ah, but it has an apple on the sign, and I could not find another stand that sells them." The old man looked at her, then at the hand that was still on her nose. "You must be new here," Amari nodded. "I am." The old man chuckled. "Figured you'll get used to the smell soon enough until then," he said, throwing a mask up to her. "Have this it'll help." Amari looked at the mask and sniffed it. "It doesn't smell like poison." She put on the mask as the old man waved a hand for her to follow him. "You see, every stall here sells anything that it can the stall you were at was an abandoned one," the old man explained. Amari nodded at the shorter, older man and looked at the stands they walked past. They all looked worn down and broken. Amari could not help but feel a bit bad. She knows that she came here with a goal in mind, but still. "What happened to this place? I hear this place was a decent place before." Amari could not help but ask. The old man sighs, "It was not all ways this way, but three years ago the king fell sick and the captain royal guard, along with most of the royal guards except one, disappeared." Amari's eyes went wide. "Really?" The old man nodded. "Yep, things have been going down ever since." "Hey!" someone yelled. Amari looked up and saw a stand with a guy waving at them. "Over here, dad!" "I know, boy!" "Dad?" thought Amari. The old man sighed as they came near the stand. "Hey! Nice to meet you er" "Amari" "Nice to meet you, Amari! My name is Otto, and the old man you were just with is my dad, Oliver," Otto said, having his hand out for a handshake with a smile. Amari took his hand and said, "Nice to meet you too." Amari looked at the food the stand had, which looked better than what she was looking at. "This is Otto's stand that he opened for some reason," Oliver said as Otto stuck his tongue at him. "These look good. Did you grow them yourself?" Amari asked, "Yep! My dad is a farmer and owns a farm, and it's going to be mine in the future." "Yeah, if you are any good, because right now you need some work." "Huh! What does that mean?!" Amari smiled a bit at the dad-and-son duo. "Huh, you know, now that I'm thinking about it, I have never seen you around before. Are you new?" Otto asked, "I am." "Ah, I see. Wait, dad, did you take her here because she's new?" "No, she was about to buy a rotten apple." "Eh, from where?" Oliver pointed at the stand they were at before. "That one." "The one that never has anybody at it?" Otto asked, "Yeah, I was trying to get an apple, and it looked like the only one that sells them." Amari explains, "Those been there for a while, the person who sells coal has better food than that." "Wait, what they do?" "Yeah," Amari felt a bit embarrassed since she spent a good part of the day just walking around trying to find an apple, and she could have just gone to some random stall and had a better chance at finding one. She sighed, "Well, that's a good part of the day gone."