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[Void's Mirror]

Dec 9th, Year 4

Forenoon

Mirra took a walk.

After she had visited Katrina she had decided to avoid this big dark city some time longer. So she walked around the outskirts, looking for some herbals, but first and foremost not to go back to Manehatten. She needed nature, not broken down civilization.

Walking around she glimpsed something that seemed to be a house. Coming closer, she recognized that it wasn't only a house in the nothing but a farm. The style of the cottage, the fields around and the smell - a smile found its way onto her lips. A farm. Just like home. Breathing in deeply, she made her way towards that farm. Maybe, Mira thought, she could sell something. But she knew that she only wanted to taste this bit of home memories.

[Fire Ruby]

Ruby sat behind the house and fiddled around with a fuse and a firecracker he made. He hated his hooves. "God damn!" he yelled. "Why can't I have a thumb like those griffons. Things would be way easier with a thumb." he angrily said.
Some days were really frustrating and today was one of them. Ruby sat there for 30 minutes and tried to get this fuse into the firecracker. Suddenly he stood up and yelled. "Screw this!" He threw the firecracker without the fuse away and as it touched the ground it exploded with a loud bang. "Huh, seems that mixture wasn't one of the stable ones." he said and tried his luck with the next firecracker.

[Void's Mirror]

With every step Mirra took her heart beat a little faster. Memories crossed her mind and coming closer to the house she was almost sure her mother would come out, asking her where she's been and offering her some warm soup. But instead she heard somepony swearing and the next second she heard a loud din. Mira froze where she stood, frightend. As nothing followed she looked around if someone had seen her yet but she couldn't glimpse anyone. Okay, she thought, it was not meant for me. That's what she hoped at least. 
Hesitating she made her way around the house where she thought the noice had come from. Coming across the corner she saw a red young stallion working on something in his hooves. She stopped in some distance. "Hello?"

[Fire Ruby]

This time Ruby got the fuse into the firecracker way more easily. He carefully put it aside. He never knew if his mixtures were stable or not and therefore he had to be really careful with it.
Suddenly he heard a voice of a mare and looked up. Ruby saw a rather small mare with a bright orange coat. He found her quite beautiful and was glad about his red fur, so she couldn't really see his blush over that distance. "Uhm...Hello there. Do you need any help?"

[Void's Mirror]

Mira smiled. "I just... well, I heard a loud noise. Was it this thing over there?" She pointed with her head towards the coil the other pony had layed aside, then looked back to him. She couldn't guess his age. Could be anything between fifteen and twenty. Surely younger than her though he was taller. Probably he couldn't live alone on this farm. "I got a bit frightend. I didn't expect something like that here."

[Fire Ruby]

Ruby looked over to the firecracker he just finished. "Yeah...it's a firecracker, you know?" A wide grin appeared. "I like explosions." Ruby continued to scan her. She wore rather much jewerly for a pony or at least he never had seen ponies with much jewerly in the city. "So, you still haven't answered my question. Do you need help with something? Or are you looking for somepony?"

[Void's Mirror]

Firecrackers. Mira wasn't even sure she had ever heared about those but it was obvious it wasn't anything she needed to spend thoughts about.
As he asked again, Mira smiled at him. Time for some business. "I am a trader for herbal and herbal cremes against little or middle wounds. And for natural adornment but probably that is nothing for you. Except there is a mare you want to make a gift?" She had decided that a pony playing with fire and at this age wasn't one asking about selling licences.

[Fire Ruby]

A trader for herbal cremes? Ruby got used to traders, who visited their farm from time to time, but mostly they only offered useless stuff like brooms. Herbal cremes instead could really be useful for his burnings he got sometimes .
"Uhm...girls don't care much about me...and actually I don't care much about them either, but I think I could use some rash creme. Do you have something like that? A creme that heals burnings?"

[Void's Mirror]

Mira nodded. "Of course. Burnings happen quite often." It happened to her when she had made a fire in the forests but probably not as often as to the firebug in front of her. She bent over so that her saddlebag slipped down to the ground, and rummaged in it. Finally, she brought a little sachet into the light of day. "I can offer you two possibilities. In this sachet here are herbals that you can lay onto your wounds. It doesn't hurt but it also doesn't work too good." She put it on the ground and took a small wooden box out of her bag. "Or you can use them pulverized, mixed with water, sap of a balm and agar."
She smiled. "Agar is an alga which thickens the mixture so that you can apply it better. This creme hurts a little, depending on the level of your burning but it works a lot better than to put only the leaves onto the wound. Besides, the balm in it makes it less hurtful. It is a calmative plant." Mirror put the box next to the saddlebag.
"So, much chatter from my side. Do you have any questions?" She looked at him friendly.

[Fire Ruby]

Ruby looked down and awkwardly poked the ground with one of his hooves. "Well, I'm not the richest pony, you know? And I have to count every bit. So...." he said and looked up. "What do you want for it? If I can't pay it, I could work for you if you need any help with gathering herbs or stuff like that."

[Void's Mirror]

Mira bit her lower lip. She knew exactly what he was talking about. She wasn't that wealthy either. A travelling trader's life wasn't really lucrative and since the war was over for four years, even the wounds got less. And of course, all her customers needed to save their money in these times.
"Well, usually I sell the leaves in a package of five for five bits and the creme for ten bits. You know, the creme works better and it's about 150 gram. I must confess, I don't weigh it."
She smiled awkwardly. "I'm not sure you could help me. I don't tend to stay in one place for a long time, I'm a traveller. But...", she looked around. "I won't leave within the next week and I am always in need for new herbals. It's just... it takes time, y'know?"
Gazing the fields a thought occured hei mind. "Maybe you have something on your farm here. And if not, something to eat would already be helpful and I'd give you the creme."
Again biting her lower lip she looked at the young stallion, awaiting his reaction.

[Fire Ruby]

Ruby smiled. The mare kinda looked cute as she bit her lip. "Uh...well, I haven't that much to buy the creme, but lets make a deal, okay?" he said. "I can pay you five bits now and maybe give you some carrots from our winter stock. And if you need any help with herbs or need a guide for the city just ask me, okay?"

[Void's Mirror]

Mira laughed lightly. "Five bits plus carrots plus help - isn't that too much for that creme?" Then she remembered that he had said our winter stock.
"You probably don't live alone here, do you? I mean.. eh, please don't be offended, but are you allowed to give your carrots to strangers?" This question was embarrassing for her if she was wrong, she didn't dare to look at him straight ahead and therefore her gaze was from down upwards.

[Fire Ruby]

Ruby waved with one hoof. "Tssss, that won't be a problem. My uncle won't even notice that some carrots won't be there and I guess that's answers your other question. I live here with my uncle Jack. He runs the farm on his own and my parents sent me here after the war started." Ruby stopped there as old feelings about his family overcame him. Their last words to him, their laughter, their love, their burnt corpses.
Ruby took a deep breath and tried to pull himself together. "Uh...well, and if you think it's too much you could give me maybe a little discount on cremes after I helped you." Ruby said with a wink.

[Void's Mirror]

"Didn't they get you b..." She stopped before she finished her sentence. Stupid, she thought. The way the other pony fell into silence spoke volumes. There were apparently no parents to get him back anymore. How many fillies and foals were left behind during the war? Of course she wasn't the only one. And she still had hope.
She spoke again with a softer voice but without too much compassion. She had the feeling that he wouldn't like it. "I'd be glad if I can give you discount on the cremes. But I don't have that many in reserve. Therefore I may really need your help." She smiled awkwardly. "If it's fine with you."

[Fire Ruby]

Ruby nodded with a smile. "Of course it's okay!" It would be even great for Ruby, because he could resell the cremes in the Undermarket and maybe earn some bits to buy new ingredients for his firecrackers.
"So, after this is done." Ruby said. "I'll get your carrots. Just wait a minute." He quickly ran into the house and down to the basement. After he got five carrots he ran upstairs to his room, got five bits and ran back outside. He gasped for air and held the bits and carrots out to the mare. "*gasp* Here!...*gasp*"

[Void's Mirror]

All Mira could do was looking in astonishment at the point where the stallion had stood seconds before. He didn't even let her time to say anything. So she stood and waited for his return, unsurely rubbing one foreleg against the other one. She didn't feel well alone on the farm. What if this uncle Jack came, out of the sudden, telling her to disappear cause he'd believe she was a thief or something?
But before Mirra's concerns could increase, the red pony came back, gasping for air and with bits and carrots in his hooves.
"Oh, thank you!", she said, carefully taking first the money and then the carrots, putting them into her bag. "That was really kind of you. Here, your creme." She shoved the wooden box with her muzzle towards him. "I have to warn you. It kinda looks ... green and unsavoury. It's because there is no chemistry in it. Only nature products."
She smiled. "So, what now? If you're going to help me to gather some herbs, you gotta tell me when it will be fine for you. But honestly, you don't have to. Five bits plus five carrots are a good enough payment for one creme."

[Fire Ruby]

Ruby shrugged. "It's really no big deal. I have way too much freetime anyway." He said with a wink. "So, if you want me to gather herbs I need a list and maybe, if it's possible, some paintings for them, so I won't mix them up and I also need an address where I can deliver them to." Ruby made a pause to think about more things he would probably need to know and suddenly noticed that he didn't even ask for her name nor said his. He awkwardly smiled. "By the way, I'm Fire Ruby. What's your name?"

[Void's Mirror]

"Oh", Mira said. "I haven't thought of that. Do you happen to know somepony who can... draw?" She smiled her awkward smile. "But hey, what if I give you some herbals as pattern for what you are looking for?"
The next thing was the adress. "Well, at the moment I stay at a guesthouse in the Western District or whatever it is called." She still wasn't used to all the names of the different districts and tended to get lost in this big city.
As he said his name, Mira felt kinda relieved. It was good to know his name at least, she felt more confident. "My name's Mirror."

[Fire Ruby]

"I don't think I know somepony, who has a special talent in drawing, but samples are better anyway." Ruby said. "So, after this is clarified I'll have an open eye for your herbals. Anything else I can do for you?" He said with a smile.

[Void's Mirror]

Slowly Mirra understood that Fire Ruby wouldn't go looking for herbals on purpose but rather randomly. It was embarrassing for her but luckily she didn't need to say a word.
"I... wouldn't know what else you could do. You do already enough, I guess", she said. "Oh, here the herbals. The ones against the burns and these...but nevermind. You probably wouldn't recall them all, would you?" She smiled while she took out some herbals and gave them to him.
"Oh, before I forget." She almost did though it was most important. "Please don't tell anypony - or even more: anygriffon. I don't want them snooping around. So, you also have to be careful when you gather herbs." She looked at him, waiting for his reaction. She was quite sure he wasn't one of the griffon lovers - they existed, she had had some little problems with them before, but the way he referred to his parents... Well, probably it was  the griffon's fault. And he was young.

[Fire Ruby]

Ruby took the herbs and nodded. "I'll be silent as a grave and don't worry about me. Gathering herbals is the least dangerous thing I did in the past months", he said with a wink. "Well, then I guess I'll probably see you next time in the Western District after I found the herbs." Ruby reached out his hoof. "It was nice to meet you and could you do me a favor? Stay out of trouble, please", he said with a warm smile.

[Void's Mirror]

Mira blushed a little. "I... eh, don't tend to get into trouble."
She tried to laugh a bit as she shook his hoove. "Sounds more like you do."
Then she smiled at him and turned around to go back into town or wherever. As she walked away, a thought occured her mind. No, she really got rarely into trouble. But it wasn't fair to let Fire Ruby help her with her illegal work without telling him. He probably ought to know.
So she looked back at him, but somehow she wasn't able to go back and tell him. Instead she just smiled again before she finally continued her yet unknown way.

THE END

Characters: Mirror Lone, Fire Ruby

Summary: Mira finds the farm randomly. There she meets Fire Ruby whom she sells a creme. He promises her to look out for herbals so that he doesn't have to pay that much money for the herbals by helping her. Mira hasn't told that her job is illegal but asked him to stay silent about it.

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