A life of lies (Hidden Jewels)

Alende stops by the figure, her head tilted to the side. She doesn’t know if she can trust it, or what its going to use the information for. The money prize isn’t enough to warrant revealing the existence of her home, but… something inside her made her sit down where the figure had been seen, and, after checking carefully if anyone except the intended was listening, start to speak.

*A hidden jewel…*

*Well, where to begin.*

*My entire life is hidden, though so far it hasn’t been much of a jewel.*

*You see, I and all my friends and family are part of a secret market that sells forbidden magic to anybody brave enough to come near. It’s mostly harmless, but before Luna and her clan took us in we were hunted like wild animals because we dared to go against the grain, dared to share our talents. Most think that a market like ours would be aggressive, rough, violent… but that’s just the reputation we convey to keep out the ones who would tell of our whereabouts. The real Twilight Market is full of kind, friendly, and completely unaggressive dragons. Apart from Ghost. She’s… hard to explain. But that’s a different topic altogether.*

*Anyway, back to the what I meant to talk about. The Market is situated in a huge cavern behind a clan that will remain unnamed for their safety. On what we call the ‘ground floor’ is where all business is conducted. It’s where we set up our shops at night, and where the private caves are for deals. There’s a huge lake on the far side, and so far not even we have dared to go to the other side. A visitor tried once, and never returned. The lake is lit up by some unknown magic, its faintly blue glow our light source in the semi-darkness. Seriph reckons its from these tiny glowing creatures called plankton or something, but nobody except Nila believes her. It doesn’t really sound possible, does it? Things that are so small we can barely see them, but they’re able to light an entire lake. It’s no wonder nobody thinks it possible.*

*The second level is where we have our sleeping caves. There’s a small path leading up to them, but it’s easy to keep customers away with a few simple traps. And curses. Mostly for our amusement, but the exploding donkey that Inez set up as a joke was actually quite annoying when we had close for a week to clean up. As for the caves themselves, we each have our own, decorated to our tastes. Mine is mostly simple, with a hammock in the corner for sleeping in, a couple of chairs where I sit for reading or whatever, and a lakelight hanging from the ceiling in a glass and copper jar. But its not all boring! I have my own secret little place through a tiny crack in the wall which opens up to small cave where I have my own private library!  A few clients pay in ancient books from the Second Age, and their stories are so cool! I can’t believe there were actually wingless being that could still fly and had powers to turn invisible without using Marva’s cloak. I taught myself to read their language, of course, to be able to understand the wonderful tales. Argh sorry, you probably don’t want to hear about my obsession. I keep getting distracted. Skyfire says I’m annoying. But anyway.*

*The third level is a series of caves only accessible by flight, and that’s where we store the leftovers from Market nights. We each have a cave to ourselves, and mine is almost never full. My clients are good in that way. It’s also where we each have our workshops. They’re all clustered in roughly the same area, except Magic’s. After the first three explosions, his was moved to the small island out in the lake. I personally would hate it out there, working on a barren island inhabited by nothing except leechworms, but he doesn’t seem to mind. His experiments do need to be far, far away from anything alive. Whitewash is only proof of that.*

*So… That’s a basic rundown of the hidden jewel that is the Twilight Market, and a slight touch on a few of the members. If I’m being honest, I could ramble on for hours about each dragon, and then some more for some of the more faithful clients, but the sun’s about to go down and said clients will be expecting me to be back home.*

Alende stands back up, stretching and preparing to fly off again.

*I likely won’t hear from you again, unless I win the prize. Which is unlikely, but who knows. If that’s the case, search for Lunalis. I’ll find you from there.*

She takes back off into the air, silhouetted against the dying sun. The last possible glimpse of her from the ground is of her flying up through the clouds, and then she’s gone.