Unfinished Job

[Ofuna]

    It had taken a while for Ciniki to get done dealing with the customers, but Ofuna patiently waited for an opportunity to talk to her. By the time it came, the sun was going down, and everypony in the market was packing up after the long day. He did what he could to help her pack up her stall, partly out of kindness and partly out of a sense of guilt for not finishing the previous job she hired him for.

    Besides the sounds of them packing up, they were rather quiet. "Well boss, I wasn't sure that I'd run into you again," He said, trying to break the ice. "I probably shouldn't have gone back to where we met our little friend that day."

    He picked up one of the jars and appeared to be eyeing the contents. Instead, he was watching Ciniki out of the corner of his eye in an attempt to gauge her reaction. It was the only job he hadn't finished, and it was something that had been gnawing away at the back of his mind.

[Ciniki]

    The day had indeed been long and the constant need to put on the rhyming facade was getting very very old. She was running out of rhymes as the day ran out of sun. When it finally came time to pack up cart and say goodbye to the aspiring trades zebra she felt a great sense of relief. Though one thing was nagging at he back of her mind, she wasn't sure whether or not to be extremely furious at Ofuna for abandoning her like he had, or be overjoyed that he had returned. When they finally got a moment alone to talk she wasn't sure exactly what to say to him. She remained silent while he explained where he had gone. She supposed curiosity had gotten the best of him. "I will admit I had the urge to go back after the beast as well, it wouldn't brought in a huge trade value. I wasn't going to go alone though." She added, implying that if he had only been patient she would have gone along. 

    Ciniki could pretend to be as mad as she wanted, she was just happy to have him back and know he wasn't dead by whatever creature had been just outside of that tribe. She caught herself feeling overjoyed and hoped that she hadn't shown much emotion to give away how she felt. Looking at him as she kept on loading the cart she held back a smile, it was obviously bothering him that he had left and it made her feel better that he wasn't being heartless and uncaring, even if it was for personal reasons. 

[Ofuna]

    It was faint, but he thought he saw her about to smile. Though, it was gone as quickly as it came. With a shrug, he chalked it up to just wishful thinking and continued to help pack up her wares. By now they were mostly done, having only a few more gems to pack up. His curiosity getting the better of him, Ofuna held one up to get a closer look at it.

    "Hey boss, where'd you get this?" The gem he held was dark green in color. Not really knowing much about rocks, he was left guessing as to what exactly is was. Though, from what little he did know, he guessed it was an emerald. "And do you know what kind of gem it is?"

[Ciniki]

Taking a quick pause from her loading she turned her head to look at the bobble that Ofuna held. With a blank expression she turned her gauze back to the hide rolled up in her hooves that she was placing carefully into the cart. "I got that from Dragon mountain. Lots of pretty bobbles in those hills, if you know how to get them." She smirked for a moment leaving her methods a mystery to him. A vivid imagination and hearsay tended to help drive her values up. The harder something is to obtain the better and more lucrative the sale. She continued to answer his second question. "My best guess is an emerald, very unlikely that it's glass, and I ask you don't try and test it now, not in front of potential customers."

"Now it's my turn, did you ever catch that creature that gave our friend that gruesome end?" She caught herself in an unintentional rhyme, and felt a slight twinge of disgust in herself.