#anywhere

"Is that...pretzels?" Sylvi follows her nose, but is alert to staying near the lit booths.

"Totally pretzels" She says points. And sure enough, there's a pretzel stand

"Well...not sure he'd have cookies, but maybe we're in the right zone...? Let's take a look."

The pretzel stand certainly has a LOT Of pretzels, big ones, small ones, soft ones, ones of unusual color. The woman running it waves to them "Hello, hello. Welcome to the Pretzel Palace. "

"Hi." Sylvi smiles brightly and glances around. "We could smell this from way over there," she gestures back the way they came.

"Wonderful," the sweet lady beams. kindly "That's how I get em. How many? Any special orders? "

"Well...I have to confess, we aren't really looking for pretzels..." apologetic. "I sure can't resist getting one, though. What kinds do you have?"

"Oh dream pretzels are a hit. You eat one, and it gives you wonderful dreams the next time you're out of the dreaming. " She shows some up that sparkle "now, there's variety. This one is a flying dream pretzel. this one is dancing dream pretzel." a pause "the ones back and higher up have an age restriction normally"

Sylvi blushes slightly but smiles. "Normally, huh?"

"Well, If some young wilder tells me it's for her parents, as a gift... "Hint hint. "What can I say? I need a sale."

Lucia blushes bright

Sylvi smiles and looks at Lucia. "Oh, I think maybe we might each need some for our parents."

Lucia smirks then "How much?"

Sylvi nods at Lucia's question.

"I take dross, cooking ingredients, or gossip as payment" the woman says "but it has to be descriptive gossip, a touch of detail and passion in it"

Sylvi says, "Well, do you also have any that give dreams of, like, victorious battles?"

"I do" She beams "Be it the noble cause war, so rare. "

She murmurs to Lucia, "Colton and I already have enough of the top-shelf dreams on our own, I think. This...I think he'd like this even more." Then to the shopkeep she says, "How much for the two for my folks, one of the noble dreams, and Lucia you want two for your folks, too?" A nod of encouragement. "How much for all that?"

"Well, some happy gossip or local news no shorter than ten minutes time, and a bit of dross should cover it" the pretzel lady says

"Want me to do the thing?" At the mention of gossip and local news, Lucia chuckles and fluffs her wings

"I've got some dross..." She fishes out a bit of this and that. Then a nod to Lucia. "You're on."

And Lucia says and then with formality "Now, we're not ones to go round spreadin' rumors
Why really, we're just not the gossipy kind!
Oh, you'll never hear one of us repeating gossip!
So you'd better be sure and listen close the first time."

The pretzel lady laughs in delight

"Word is that Dame Dagmar horse had a pony has wings, he bounces them too and fro... but sometimes Dirk the redcap eyes that pony, wondering they taste like the wings of a buffalo"

Sylvi beams.

"A winged foal? How rare autumn side' The woman says

A laugh at that.

"Folks in the know claim that Siv is making a love nest, a spot for canodling high among the leaves. But I wonder if she's really thought this through now, if there's no wind why's that oak tree got the heaves?"

The stories told seem to fly and fluff around almost taking form, and flowing into the dough that makes the pretzels

Sylvi watches that process. "Um..." Brow furrowed. "Wait, will people dream these stories, now?"

Lucia ponders and finishes up "Heroic are the folks of Rivervale, Rover Olgar not the least of these. Why just last week he fight nightmares of cancer, and didn't mention how he set dreamers minds at ease."

Then the pretzel lady says "oh not so much the specficis my dear, no no.. sorry if you wanted your friends in your area to be legendary... but mostly it captures the mood. And folks form their own dreams staring themselves around the dreams"

"And we are paid up, Delightful." She adds to Lucia. And hands the girls their pretzels

Sylvi double-takes at Lucia at the last bit of storytelling, and it takes her a moment to refocus on the shopkeep as she takes her goods. "Thanks....ah, what we were really looking for when we came was some special cookies. You may have heard of them...they come from The Baker?"

"THE Baker?" The woman gasps "Who hasn't heard of the Baker? She's a legend"

Sylvi nods. "Well, we're looking for cookies she makes that cause a person to switch kiths, temporarily. We were hoping we could find them in the market somewhere. I'm not expecting her to be here herself, of course, but maybe her wares make it this far?"

"Oh I know they have " The woman says as she works on a new batch of pretzels before them "All three of them have their wares being sold by intemedaries this year. But it's a limited supply and high demand I fear. You don't want someone who makes things fresh like me... you want a vendor who has prepared already made goods"

"Yeah, I figured, but maybe you have an idea where we might find those intermediaries?" A winning smile from the girl who just bought her product.

"You might try Mister Wellington" She says "Though he moves around so I'm not sure he has a regular stall set up. Still, he sells rare goods"

"Thank you! Oh, and I don't know your name...and I do want to recommend you to others."

"Pretzelda" the woman smiles

"That's excellent." Sylvi smiles back, then waves. "Bye, and thanks!"

And they leave the shop. Sylvi takes a moment to organize her gear in her pack (and have Floppsy climb out so he can stretch his legs). "Okay, Mr. Wellington it is. Keep an ear out for that name, okay, Floppsy?" A glance around. "How do you think we're doing on time, Lucia?"

"On it" And Flopsy, now ground level, scans his ears about.

"Time's a hard thing to measure here.." Lucia says. "Hey, is that the nocker rocket skates?"

Sylvi turns to look where Lucia's pointing, tensing a bit.

Yup. He shoots past, rocket skates not going as fast as they were before but he cuts through the crowds muttering something

Craning his neck, he's talking to himself ... but Sylvi is 85.6% sure she heard him saying "Cookies cookies furking cookies where are the..."

She blinks. "Dammit...Lucia, he's looking for them, too. That means that whole other party was probably looking for them. We've gotta hurry." She bites her lip. "It'd be great if there were some kind of directory or something...."

"Oh crap. Uhm... I don't think this works like that... maybe.. maybe we can hire a guide?"