THE MOMENT
"... and one fool's hair," Gobbrielle eagerly pointed at the display next to the sales counter. She was nervous about going to town alone. It was a human village, but her Witch reassured the young goblin that the people there were open to all kinds of races. It was a stop on the way to a major trade hub, and there were always plenty of traveling merchants. It was how Gobbrielle ended up there.
She was found as an orphan by a kind merchant. He had his own life to get on with, but he did leave the young goblin with a friendly witch, and now Gobbrielle was on the path to learning magic.
"Kid, this is a bakery," the clerk shook his head with a warm smile. "We don't have crustless ham. You'll find it at the butcher's," he added with a helpful gesture at the shop across the road."
"Thank you!" Gobbrielle was genuinely appreciative as he turned to start gathering her order. She'd had a short life so far, but she quickly learned that being wrong was a major offense to most people's sensibilities. That was when 'most people' were her family and other goblins. Now, she was trying to unlearn that, and the clerk's friendly correction helped her see not everyone was like that.
She did know where to find the ham, but it would've sounded defensive to blurt it out. She was still nervous about coming to town, and the things were grouped together on the list, making it easy to lump them all in one breath. But, like everything else, the Witch took the time to explain what crustless ham was and where to get it. Gobbrielle decided to stop at the bakery first since she was only getting one item from the butcher. They weren't likely to run out of crustless ham, but pastries were always in high demand. At least, that was her reasoning, without ever having run the errands before. She did know she loved pastries and imagined everyone was buying them all the time; it was genuinely surprising how empty the bakery was when she arrived.
"1 goat's eye," the clerk returned with a loaded breadbox and began repeating her order. Gobbrielle saw the icing-covered pink pastry ball with a blue candy on it, loosely imitating a real goat's eye. "2 blue dragon claws," dough twisted and entangled together with blue sugar on one end. "1 rhinocorn horn," a long, cream-filled pastry. "4 stone eagle toes," they were smaller than the goat's eye, and made of chocolate, but essentially the same. "... and for your first visit to my shop, three fool's hair," he grinned as he laid three long, flaky straw-like pastries on top of the rest. They were filled with a peanut cream, and Gobbrielle's favorite treat.
"No, I just need one," Gobbrielle shook her head. She didn't have the money to pay for the extra ones, nor the desire to have the Witch think she was begging for anything.
"Well, that's a shame," the clerk shook his head. "I need to get rid of them because I've got a fresh batch coming out soon." Then, he turned and gestured at the empty shop. "If you don't take them, they're going into the trash. Besides, you're Luciana's new apprentice, right?" he asked. Gobbrielle nodded.
"It's a welcome to the town," he said as he closed the box with the extra desserts included. "I heard fool's hair was your favorite, enjoy them."