The distinct beauty of the previous day had been slightly diminished by the few clouds that rolled in, but downtown Lusea had lost none of its charm. Still, the activities of the marketplace crowds were no different: the same comings and goings, the same sights, sounds, and smells of business and pleasure.
But today, this did not bring about the old complaint to Aldrec's soul.
Today, something, at long last, was different, and wonderfully so.
Today, in the marketplace flower shop, he awaited a green-haired beauty named Mericlou. Among all the women he had known in his long life, there was something about her that caught him in a way that no one ever did, not even his friends, who had been few and far between. And nearly all those he considered his closest were dead now, together in a place he would never see.
No, he thought, stopping himself from spiraling once again into that dreaded melancholy. Not today. He refused to allow it to bring him down on a day such as this.
"Good day to you, sir!" The elf maiden at the register gave a warm smile. "Did you have any trouble finding the android?"
"No, not at all, milady," Aldrec said. "As a matter of fact, we got to know each other better." Anxiously, he checked the traffic of shoppers to the left and right, making sure that he did not miss any signs of her approach. "I'm actually waiting for her."
"How … nice," she said in an odd tone. Though she seemed cheerful enough, her comment sounded almost forced.
"I don't think she has many friends," the maiden continued, her tone quickly becoming genuine once more; "I can tell those types of things about people, you know. So I think that it'll be good to have someone like yourself be a friend for her."
"Do you know what flowers she likes?" Aldrec asked.
The maiden cast a strange look his way, but then smiled cheerfully as ever, as she picked out a single, white rose from a vase behind her.
"This should be good, I believe," she said.
"Do you have a pink one?" Aldrec asked.
"Pink?" The maiden echoed as she put the rose back into the vase.
"Yes. I'd like a rose with a bit more color in it. And I think she'd like it too."
"Don't you think pink is a bit … personal?" The maiden asked. Her tone almost suggested a warning.