Kobold Encounter

Chapter 1
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	He’d worked his fingers to the bone practicing his craft, traveled far from his ancestral lands, left his parents and siblings to run the family farm, and taken all of his family’s hopes and pride upon his shoulders to rise above the muck of the lower class and had finally won an apprenticeship with his country’s trade guild.
	To say Dietrich was excited was an understatement.
	With weeks of tireless journey behind him, Dietrich had nearly crossed his country whole to get to the city where the guild was headquartered, so after all of his hard work and sacrifice, finally passing through the city’s impressive stone gate made him feel like a hero finally returning home, even if there was no one besides himself to cheer for him. Once within the city, Dietrich’s morning became an exercise in aimlessly wandering along dusty streets and asking all manner of street urchins and day drunks for directions to the cheapest inn, but after a few hours, as the sun approached midday, he’d finally rented himself a room and a stall for his exhausted horse.
	With his accommodations secured, even though Dietrich was exhausted himself, the excitement and curiosity bubbling within him had him out of his room and exploring the city he soon hoped to call home.
	Another hour of stumbling down unfamiliar streets had set his belly rumbling, luckily, following a growing cacophony of noise and scents led Dietrich to find a large open area packed with all manner of stalls and people—he’d found the city’s market, a perfect coincidence with lunch quickly approaching!
	The market was bustling with all manner of people: numerous humans of all creeds and classes, the tall and exotic lizardfolk, the muscled and furred cat people, and diminutive kobolds all packed tightly in an area bristling with noise and sights and smells Dietrich never could have imagined on his sleepy farm.
	The former farm boy stepped from the side street into the throngs of people and was almost immediately overwhelmed, but intent on turning the few coins jingling in his pocket into something delicious to fill his belly, Dietrich muscled his way deeper. People were everywhere, packed tight, bumping and brushing past him, Dietrich’s hand went to his pocket to protect his money in case of pick-pockets: something he’d learned as a child during the local village’s yearly harvest festival. Exactly one time of finding his money for candied apples gone from his pocket was enough for Dietrich’s crestfallen young self to burn that lesson well into his heart.
	Above all of the myriad smells of the marketplace and its people something caught Dietrich’s nose that smelled absolutely wonderful, stirring his appetite and setting his mouth watering almost immediately. He followed the aroma, quickly learning that to get anywhere in such a crowded environment he’d have to be much more assertive and not afraid to bump shoulders with so many strangers.
	After threading his way through the busy market lanes, Dietrich found the source of the enticing smell: numerous stalls selling every kind of food imaginable lined an open area near the center of the market. Among them was a large carriage parked without horses, fragrant smoke poured from a chimney set in its roof while a large man wearing a stained apron stood at a window cut into the side of the wagon, taking coin and passing out absolutely massive legs of golden-glazed roast mutton.
	A large line of people had formed in front of the carriage—surely a sign of the establishment’s popularity.
	Dietrich found his place at the end of the line and waited, instead distracting himself from his growing hunger by marveling at how different this place was from even the admittedly small marketplace of the local village he once thought was impressive.
	Suddenly something warm wrapped around his free hand and a soft weight bumped into his side. Surprised, Dietrich turned and stared down into a set of big golden eyes staring back up at him.
	A kobold had latched onto him!
	Both of its hands were wrapped around his much larger arm which it hugged tight to the front of its body. Dusty brown scales colored its back, while lighter, cream-colored scales lined its front and under its jaw. Its form was lithe with little muscle, though the kobold's hips were wide and shapely, a plump tail idly weaved back and forth in the air behind it. The creature's face was angular, ending in a pointy snout with two little slitted nostrils, while a few sharp teeth peeked out from behind lips pulled back in a large smile. Two small ebony horns curved from the back of its skull, sprouting out from behind little bony eyeridges that topped a pair of big golden eyes that stared up at Dietrich with an expression of childlike wonder.
	The kobold was barely tall enough to even reach Dietrich’s chest, but it looked exactly like a miniature of what he imagined a dragon must look like if it stood on two legs, not that Dietrich had ever seen a dragon. As well, Dietrich imagined a dragon would never be that smeared in dust and filth or wear a patchwork tunic so stained he couldn’t even imagine what its original color was.
	Realizing it had caught his gaze, Dietrich could feel the kobold’s little chest expand with a deep breath as it pressed against his side.
	“’Ello!” The kobold squealed out with a voice full of excitement, like a child answering whether they would like some sweets.
	“Hello? Can I help you?” Dietrich returned the greeting uneasily, not exactly sure what this kobold wanted, though if he had to guess from its urchin-like appearance, it was probably money.
	“Yes!” The kobold cried excitedly, squeezing Dietrich’s hand tighter between its little scaly fingers.
	Dietrich waited for a beat for the kobold to continue, but it didn’t, instead it just continued to stare up at him with curiosity; he began to wonder if being accosted by excited kobolds was an everyday occurrence in the city.
	“…/How/ can I help you?” Dietrich’s hand holding his coin purse pressed the coins a little tighter against his thigh. He would love to spare some coin to a hungry kobold, especially one this cute, but not only did he need the money, Dietrich was sure that once word got around, kobolds would probably flock to his generosity like birds to tossed bread.
	“You can be new master?” The kobold looked up to Dietrich with eyes filled with hope. In the moment before the kobold suddenly released his arm and instead nuzzled its face into his side and wrapped itself around his leg in a tight hug, Dietrich swore he saw the dark lines of tears begin to run down its dusty cheeks.
	This was not how he imagined today’s lunch would go.