Huestan

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The bell above the door of the little shop tinkled, and Huestan looked up from the shelves of figurines he had been rearranging. A blue skydancer had just stepped inside, accompanied by a purple hatchling that appeared to be her daughter. The youngster was hiding shyly behind her mother's wing, peering nervously out at him. Huestan's large face broke into a smile, and he gave the pair a nod and a warm "Good morning" before going back to what he was doing. The mother skydancer returned the nod, and she and her child began the peruse the shelves, with the shop's owner watching them out of the corner of his eye as he worked.

The toy store was a wonderous sight. It was a small building by snapper standards, made to feel even smaller by the fact that every available raised surface was crowded with hundreds of wooden toys. They seemed to come in just about every shape and size, from ball-jointed dragon action figures, to miniature miniature familiar statuettes, to board games with elaborately whittled tokens and pieces. The was even a cute little miniature emperor dragon with wheels, that you could pull along behind you on a rope (the three heads bobbed up and down as it moved). Some were painted in bright colours, while others were lacquered or stained to show off the beautiful grain of the wood. Every toy in the building had one thing in common though, which is that they were all lovingly hand-carved by Huestan, the shop's kindly proprietor. He had been passionately crafting toys for centuries, and nothing pleased him more that to see his cherished creations bringing joy to the younger generations.

For this reason he watched the two customers keenly as they wandered his store, quickly forgetting about the newest toys he was supposed to be shelving. The pair of skydancers made their way through the narrow aisles, stopping occasionally to examine an item of interest. The mother seemed to be leading these stops, as she would frequently point out a doll or figure to her child, who would invariably consider it for a moment before shaking her head in rejection. This would go on for a while, before the mother let out a frustrated sigh.

"Come on sweetheart, can you please pick something soon?" she asked the hatchling. "I promised to buy you a toy, and I fully intend to, but remember that we have to go meet your grandmother in twenty minutes. You must choose something soon, or we'll just have to leave without anything. Look! How about these?" She held up a pair of castanets that were carved and painted to look like toridae heads, and clacked them enthusiastically. "Aren't these just delightful?"

The young skydancer just frowned, and turned away from the display of castanets. Seeing this reaction, her mother let out a smaller sadder sigh. She put the instruments down, and busied herself with examining some hanging marionettes, perhaps hoping to find something that would please her child amongst them.

Huestan continued to observe from behind the counter as the hatchling ambled away from her mother. She examined a variety of little knickknacks, occasionally picking one up to feel the heft of it in her talons. But she would always put them down again and continue on her way, as if dissatisfied.