Out of all the times she spent selling her mysterious antiques and the things that happened during that journey of selling the antiques, Valeriana had many extraordinary things happen to her. Losing a limb was no big deal; Valeriana was adept at adapting her tail as an alternate arm, at least until her missing arm grew back. That’s just the salamander life; lose a body part, and regrow.
She met two unusual creatures, both of them having a similar build: twig-like limbs and messy, unruly hair. One of them Valeriana found and took under her wing, though it often came and went without telling a soul. The other one she met in the Bizarre Bazaar. That one looked like she had a rather urgent interest in showing the saleswoman something before the being’s peculiar pink bag got stolen.
Upon seeing this being, she recalled seeing the former while she was preparing for the Bizarre Bazaar. The spoiled creature who calls itself “Marcy”.
Marcy was a… Peculiar creature. This... human (The salamander saleswoman reminded herself.) looked at and performed finger rituals on a small and thin magic box for hours, only leaving her designated spot for food and water and exercise. (Marcy hated eating anything that moved, so she only got roots and plants.)
Recently though, Marcy had been gone for much longer times before arriving back home, and was already gone by the time Valeriana and Leander left for the Bizarre Bazaar.
Marcy was still gone by the time Valeriana and Leander arrived back home, leftover and unsold antiques in the cart.
Valeriana got to work putting the antiques in a safely-concealed place, in her case, the basement. (Those treasures are worth a hefty price, after all.)
It was one day Valeriana and Leander went out shopping for food in the local farmer’s market when Leander alerted her to a dark shadow moving between stands, taking some handfuls of food from the farmers with none of them aware.
Said shadow, though, noticed them staring and ran off with the stolen food. Unfortunately, it slipped and fell, the goods went everywhere, and the vendors became angry.
The creature looked frightened, gathering the remaining food within its reach. The one-armed salamander felt pity for the creature, and Leander flew over to it before she could make a decision.
Valeriana ran to the creature and put herself in a position of defense.
“Stop! This creature is with me. I’ll pay for the damages.”
The other vendors were disgruntled, but accepted the payment. The market closed early for clean-up of said damage.
Back in the elder salamander’s home, the creature unveiled itself. The long dark greasy fur on its head was combed on two sides, with a yellow clip holding its left side. Its eyes are relatively squinted despite the dimness of the room, and its skin was a dirty yellow.
“Of all the things I never thought I would see...”
The loud squawk of Leander abruptly snapped Valeriana out of memory lane.
“What is it, Leander?”
Leander squawked again and pointed her head towards the opening of the door.
A girl familiar to the saleswoman and her pet stood by Leander’s general direction, leaning on the door frame. Her arms were crossed, and the look on her face looked dismissive. She blew off a stray hair in front of her face.
“Marcy,” Valeriana greeted with a warm but toothy smile and open arms. “I take that you have been adjusting better here?”
“Psh, it’s better than out in the woods,” Marcy scoffed. “But yeah, it’s alright here. You?”
“I’ve made a decent amount from this year’s Bizzare Bazaar, enough to feed the three of us for another month.” Valeriana replied.
Marcy looked away.
“But,” The salamander saleswoman continued. “I bring… interesting news.”
She saw one of Marcy’s eyebrows go up.
“A saw another… thing like you,” Valeriana gestured in the air. “Much darker skin, though that may just be from the lighting from the Bizarre Bazaar... and its clothes looked oddly similar to yours when I first met you. It was with a rather adorable pink frog.”
The brief description clued Marcy in on possibly where one of her friends might be, excluding the frog. “Yeah, I think I know her. But… Was there anyone else you saw? You know, like me?”
Valeriana and Leander both shook their heads. “Just that one. Sorry.”
Marcy’s expression became somber.
“We’ll find them, Marcy,” The old salamander woman reassured, putting a hand on her shoulder. “Do not worry.”
Leander squawked in agreement.
Much later at night, Marcy lied awake, staring at the moonlit sky. She noticed the blood-red crescent moon, hoping the world she was stuck in was nothing but a dream, despite the vivid sensations of pain and fear and desolation.
Marcy missed her friends. Though her friendship with them wasn’t perfect, not were her interactions with them even close to equal, she still saw Sasha and Anne as good friends.
Marcy took out a picture of the three from her dirt-stained jacket. It had some wrinkles, cuts and tears, and a bold “BFFs!” in striking purple marker below the image that had faded, re-imprinted, and smeared from water, finger grease, and the messy situations she got into, but it was one of the few things that kept her living on for the hope she finds her friends and find a way back home.
It was only a matter of time before she had to leave again.
But despite the reassurance, Marcy couldn’t help but feel her heart break.