In the coming hours, Adrien was forced to retell some version or another of his recent life adventures to about twenty different people, and had started to form a script that he could unfurl whenever asked. Val, too, had to engage in a lot of small talk - and Adrien could see on his face how much this had strained him; he knew that he couldn't wait to be done with their errands and return to his tower. By one in the afternoon, most of the sellers had packed up, but their day of shopping wasn't over yet. Val was still missing a few things, so he decided to stop by the general store to look for them.
The general store, the only permanent shop in the village of Falderdeen, was on one side of the square, in the same building as the tavern and inn. Its entrance was shielded from the elements by a thick, brown curtain that needed to be forcefully parted to enter the shop.
