The Pearl Of Vynes - Chapter 10 Becoming An Apprentice

“Miles, do I have to come out?” Alice asked nervously.

“Of course dear. I’m sure it looks lovely” Miles said reassuring her.

“I never fail at producing a good set of clothes” the cat said confidently to Alice. Alice hesitated but the drew the curtain back to reveal herself. Miles then understood Alice’s concern, the dress Alice had definitely emphasised her feminine figure. Revealing a little flesh with her bosom, Alice blushed as Miles looked at the transformed farm girl.

“Does it look strange” Alice asked, grabbing a little of her now clean hair.

“Not at all, you look lovely” Miles complimented her.

“My best work yet” the cat said with a smug expression. The cat walked over to his counter, with a small draw opening with a small bell sound. Miles walked over and handed a small pouch to the cat. Counting the coins within it, the cat gave a small bow.

“Hope you come to visit my shop again Miles” the cat said saying goodbye.

“Until then young master” Miles replied as he opened the door, letting Alice step out first and closing the door behind them.

As the two of them walked back out onto the street, the smell of cooked food and exotic spices enticed Alice’s nose. Her stomach growled at the scent and Miles laughed at the noise.

“Hungry already?” Miles asked.

“I didn’t eat breakfast” Alice said embarrassed about the noise. The smell left Alice’s mouth-watering as she could see the stalls lining the walls that each cooked food, the sound of steak sizzling was music to Alice’s ears.

“Let’s grab a bite to eat then” Miles said, leading Alice to the food stalls, parting through the throng of people waiting to be served food. Miles spoke to the cook in a language that Alice couldn’t understand but the man did emit a grunt in response. Food and coin exchanged hands and Miles handed a small number of sticks with meat decorating it. The meat glistened and Alice couldn’t resist taking a bite of the food. The flavours flooded her mouth and made her moan at the taste. The meatiness along with untold spices and salt made Alice salivate at the experience. Finishing her first morsel, Alice started to ravenously eat the food.

“They call these pieces of food skewers” Miles elaborated as he watched Alice hoover the food up, licking her fingers after having finished the meat. Miles pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped her hands clean of the meat juices that had dripped from the meat Alice had eaten.

“We’ll grab some more food and I’ll finish my deliveries?” Miles asked. Alice nodded as she stared at all the food decorating the streets; Miles noticed that she seemed almost entirely absorbed by the cooking that was taking place in front of her. The both of them wondered between the stalls, Miles passing small boxes to the stall owners while Alice ate food that Miles bought for her. At the last stall, Miles handed the final package but Alice had stopped eating a while ago feeling incredibly full. Miles walked with Alice as they moved past the food stalls, coming to an open area with a fountain decorating the centre. The water sprayed out, a small rainbow surrounding the fountain as it pooled at the bottom. Alice let out a yelp of delight as she crouched down to see the fountain working as the small rainbow had miniature clouds covering it. Miles smiled as he watched Alice enjoying herself over the sights and sounds of the city.

“The night life is amazing, let’s go find a good spot” Miles said extending a hand out towards Alice. Grabbing Miles’ hand Alice was brought to her feet; she snuck an arm within Miles’ as they walked through the plaza. A number of tables and chairs sat out in the open on the stone courtyard and the two of them sat down. It delivered a different sound when Alice dragged it back to sit on it, feeling the cold and finish of metal while Miles waved over in the distance to some open restaurants. An orb floated over having some menus hovering in the air come towards their table. As the menus were laid to rest on the table the orb slowly morphed into a girl wearing a plain dress and smock. Although the girl was still see through and hazy, Alice stared openly at the girl in amazement.

“I’ll let you look over the menus” the girl said, faintly disappearing again. While Miles picked up his menu, Alice looked in the direction of the girl who had just disappeared.

“Miles, who was that?” Alice asked as she grabbed the menu and opened the pages. It contained images of food that were incredibly lifelike and scrawling along the side she couldn’t read. Alice poked at the images wondering if it was going to come out of the page.

“She’s a ghost, there’s not very many that are able to stay here as most find the thing that keeps them tied to this plane. I think at this caf, the girl is over two hundred years old” Miles said flicking through his menu, having trouble deciding on a particular dish.

“Wait, how old is this place” Alice asked surprised. Miles paused for a moment before he replied.
for visiting.

“I’d guess it’s getting close to three thousand years old now” Miles said as he tried to remember the facts himself.

“But you said the Merchant King was still here” Alice said trying to put her thoughts together from what she was told.

“Yeah, he has a bad habit of not moving on” Miles said laughing. Alice stared in awe at the place as she looked around, crowds of people wandered around while the two of them were sitting. Alice flicking through the pages she had noticed a peculiar dish, turning the book around to get Miles’ attention.

“Miles, what is this?” Alice asked questioningly. Miles got closer to the menu as he observed it.

“That would be a sundae, it’s very delicious. It contains a lot of fresh fruits too” Miles said.

“Fruit?” Alice replied. The last time she had fruit was last harvest when some fruit had dropped off the trees, when she had bit into the bright fruit it had a super sweet taste she couldn’t get enough of.

“This one then” Alice said excitedly. Miles chuckled at her enthusiasm and waved in the direction of the buildings. The ghost server faded into visibility again and walked up to them, a piece of paper and pencil in her hand.

“We’ll have these two” Miles said pointing out the dishes with images. The girl nodded and disappeared again.

“How old are you Miles?” Alice said.

“You know it isn’t polite to ask an old man his age” Miles complained. Alice shot Miles a cocked eyebrow but before she press him further their food arrived floating down in front of them.

“Enjoy” a female voice whispered from nowhere and Alice looked around, after a while Alice went back to her food. It looked amazing, the fruit glistening as if it had been freshly picked that morning with a strange white puff on top of the fruit. Using the spoon given, and despite its heavy weight for its size, Alice scooped some of the food up and ate it completely. The taste was amazing, its was cold giving a chill to the tongue but the sweetness of the white puff and fruit overwhelmed her mouth. Alice sighed in pleasure at the food before and soon continued to eat it with gusto.

“I’m glad you’re enjoying your meal” Miles said leaning on his hand as he slowly ate his food.

Alice nodded in response as she consumed all of her food. Miles contemplated for a moment as he watched Alice eat her food.

“How would you like to be my apprentice?” Miles asked with a smile.