Camila's Stand

"Umph!"

Twenty meters deeper into the Grand Bazaar, in a wide vaulted stone alcove that smelled of damp rock and crushed sulfur, Camila set up her stall.

She spread a clean dark blue linen cloth over an empty stone shipping crate, with Aoi standing guard beside her, arms folded and glasses gleaming then, one at a time, Camila unpacked the four moss-lined crates they'd hauled from the garden.

The moment the airtight lids came off, the stale metallic sulfur-choked air of the cavern was wiped away.

A rich impossible aroma rolled outward in a wide sweet wave… It was the smell of sun-warmed soil and rainwater and crisp morning air, sharpened by the mouth-watering bite of vine-ripened tomatoes and green peppers. 

Fifty kilograms of fat golden potatoes went onto the cloth, then twenty of sweet green peppers and baskets of tender beans.