An Owl's Rise

Standing in front of the large double doors were two mid-tier awakened beast owls who were they to make sure no one tried sneaking into the hall unauthorized before it opened for the day.

Flying towards the entrance the guards watched Evelyn warily, having already noticed her presence for a while.

They wondered why she had simply been floating around, and at first they thought she was trying to make sure to enter the hall as soon as it opened, but apparently that was not the case.

As she got closer one of the guards moved forward and motioned for her to stop and at the same time extended a thin strand of magical energy so that they could communicate.

"What businesses do you have this early at the alchemy hall?" The guard asked as soon as Evelyn accepted the connection.

Frantically she reached into the bag she had wrapped around her and grabbed the papers Melisandre had given her that were proof she could operate and sell products at one of the hall's stalls.

Taking the papers and looking it over the guard found nothing wrong, though he was certain he had never seen Evelyn here before.

"Well, you are free to enter but make sure not to cause any trouble. Just because this is your first day do not expect to receive any special treatment and make sure to follow the rules."

After giving that warning the guard stepped aside and opened a side door that was used by those entering to set up shop early.

Once inside Evelyn saw that the normally bustling hall was practically empty with only a few dozen other owls around preparing their shops.

It was still very earlier, before most would arrive to get ready for the day. So, only those that had a lot to get done before opening or were nervous about having enough time to be ready like Evelyn were already here.

'Where are they?' Evelyn thought as she looked for the floor's overseer.

Quickly she spotted them in a booth that was perched higher up on the floor and overlooking the area.

Seeing that they were currently busy Evelyn went back and forth on whether she should fly up their now, but when she saw another owl get in line to speak with the overseer she felt a panic that if she did not go now the line might get too long and she would miss her chance.

"Oh, I do not think I have seen you around before." The overseer said once it was Evelyn's turn to speak with him.

He was surprisingly a humanoid owl with one bright red wing and one dull gray one that looked quite strange to Evelyn.

Still, he gave off a very dangerous feeling that was different from Melisandre's.

For her she felt overwhelming, but this guy seemed to have so little presence that it was scary.

"Excuse me miss. What business might you have with me?" The overseer said to Evelyn as she was lost in thought.

Coming back to herself she again rushed to pull out her papers and handed them over.

"Ah. I see, a new seller for our hall. But for your first time you seemed to have gotten a good area. Your family or master must be quite wealthy or well connected to have gotten you a stall in this area right off the bat?" The overseer said, probing Evelyn.

He had a few ideas as to who had set everything up for Evelyn, but he wanted to see if he could fish for more information.

But Evelyn just shook her head and said nothing about Melisandre, just as she had instructed her to.

Seeing that he was not going to get any information out of her, the overseer just shrugged his shoulders and continued registering Evelyn.

"Now hold up your identification cuff and I will register you to your stall so that you can enter and work without setting off any of the anti-theft formations."

Doing as she was asked Evelyn held up her left foot which had the cuff on it and waited for the registration to be done.

"It is finished. Now you can use stall number two hundred sixty-four without any issue. Good luck with your business, and if you run into any minor problems ask the guards around the hall. Though if something major comes up feel free to come to me directly."

With what she needed to do here completed Evelyn left the overseer's area and flew down to the floor of the hall in search of her stall.

'Two hundred fifty-nine, two hundred sixty, two hundred sixty-one, oh there it is.'

Spotting her stall after searching round for a few minutes, Evelyn hopped along and right up to it.

Her stall looked exactly like the others in the area with a number of shelves behind a large counter where business would be done.

There was also a set of magic circles engraved around it which Evelyn figured were the anti-theft measures the overseer had mentioned.

Moving into the stall Evelyn looked around and found that it was pretty basic with just some shelves to set up her product.

Nevertheless, it was more than suitable for her purposes, and she got to work on taking things out of her storage amulet.

Quickly she set up the sign she had made the night before that listed the prices of her wares.

She had made it a bit colorful to attract attention, and along with it was her name to allow other owls to better identify and remember her.

Once that was done, she began taking out dozens of bottles and set them up in the shelving for display and ease of acquisition when making a sale.

Then once she had filled up the shelves, she set out one of each of the items she had for sale on the front counter to be used for display.

'Everything looks good. All I have to do now is wait for people to come in and rake in the sales.'

With nothing else to do, Evelyn simply sat in behind her counter and waited for the hall to opened.

Of course, as more purveyors entered, they noticed Evelyn who was a new face. But while some were curious, they left her alone for today and went about their business.

Plenty times a new owl would open a stall and their products would not sell well and they would be gone by the end of the week, so there was no reason to approach a newbie until they at least made it through their first day.

Eventually it was just a few minutes before the hall opened and Evelyn felt her nerves starting to well up again.

She was wondering if she or maybe her set up was repulsive somehow since not a single other owl had approached her.

And of course, with her personality and mental scars she was not going to approach any of the other owls by herself.

Soon enough though, her thoughts moved away from the other's that were selling their wares, to the large doble doors that were opening to allow any and all owls to enter the bottom floor of the alchemy hall.

At first only a trickle of early risers came in and began looking around, but it was not long before swathes of owls started coming in and out.

Unfortunately, even after around forty minutes into the opening of the hall Evelyn had yet to make a sale.

She had a few others glance over at her stall but not a single owl had even approached her stall.

They were either turned off by the price of her goods, noticed how stiff Evelyn looked, practically announcing she was a greenhorn, or a combination of both.

'I just have to stay patient. Eventually someone will get curious and come up, right?'

Evelyn tried to keep a positive outlook, but after three hours of standing around without a single potential customer coming her way despite all of the traffic in the area she was feeling quite down.

'I need a quick break.'

With a slumped head Evelyn temporarily closed down her stall and headed to the washroom that could only be used by the purveyors of the hall.

Once inside she splashed her face with some warm water and let out a long sigh.

'It is still just the first day. I just need to keep at it as always, and if I fail, I am sure I can get advice from Melisandre, Anneli, or Katrina.'

With her mind in a better place after taking a break for a few minutes, Evelyn returned back to the floor of the hall and headed back to her stall.

When she arrived though she found that an owl was intently looking at the items that were on the shelves.

Perking up at a potential customer Evelyn nearly ran back to her stall and hoped that she might be able to make a sale.

Though when the low tier awakened rank owl saw Evelyn approaching and the entering the stall, she was absolutely astonished.

And while Evelyn as placing the samples back out with a smile on her face this owl extended a thin strand of magical energy towards Evelyn and waited for her to accept the connection.