Aiko Goes Shopping

After about fifteen minutes they reached the shopping mall and went in the underground parking. Olympia turned the car off which turned the radio off too. Hey I liked that song, said Aiko. Well we ahe here and we didn't come all this way to sit in the car and listen to music. Really we are here? It doesn'r look like many stores are here, just lots more cares, said Aiko. We are in the parking lot, we have to go in that door over there then go up the stairs, said Olympia. Oh, okay. You must think I am stupid, said Aiko. No not at all, this is all new to you and as far as I am concerned you are doing very good in a strange place, said Olympia. Your just saying that to make me feel better aren't you, said Aiko. Maybe, is it working? asked Olympia. Yep sure is, race you to the door said Aiko then jumped out of the car and ran over to the door to the mall. She is like a little kid in Wonderland, thought Olympia. She went and closed both car doors then went over to where Aiko was waiting for her. Oops sorry I was suppose to close that, I will get used to things here eventually, said Aiko. Well when we go upstairs don't be too surprised at what you see, said Olympia. Just think of it as a bunch of stores under a big roof, said Olympia. They went up the stairs and Olympia opened the door for Aiko.  Holy cow, look at all the stores, they are everywhere, said Aiko. How many stores are in here? Never counted them but there are three floors of stores, said Olympia. Repellia and Phonixa would love this place, no one loves shopping more than them two, said Aiko, Who are they? asked Olympia. Two hybreed human twin girls that live in the palace with Alieta and a bunch of other people, said Aiko. So where do we start? Well lets go to that clothing store over there and get you a pair of shorts that will fit you seeing my shorts are too tight on you, said Olympia. Okay lets go, race you there! said Aiko then took off towards the clothing store. That girl really likes to show off how fast she can run, thought Olympia.

Olympia went in the store and found Aiko of the back of the store looking at a rack of tops. There is a lot of clothes in this store, said Aiko. Makes it hard to figure out what to pick. Well pick a few of them, we have lots of money, said Olympia. Ya but everything is so expensive, said, Aiko. That's because these clothes are part of the Jenny designer line, said Olympia. Everything in Granada is pretty expensive though, Ya but fourty five dollars for a t-shirt, how can anyone afford this Jenny's clothes? asked Aiko. Well how much would you pay for that red t-shirt in front of you? asked Olympia. This one, two dollars top, said Aiko. That how much it would cost in Fae Land. Really, that's all. How do the stores make money? asked Olympia. Well everything is inexpensive in Fae Land, Alieta made sure of that and besides why sell one shirt at forty bucks when you will make way more money selling a hundred at two dollars, said Aiko. See these shorts on the wall that are sixty dollars, in Fae Land they would cost maybe five dollars. And where might this Fae Land be, asked a lady behind Aiko.

Aiko turned around and saw a woman with long brown hair dressed in a fancy outfit. Fae Land is where I come from, said Aiko. Really, I never heard of it and I have travelled all over the states, said the lady. Well I never heard of Granada until that portal brought me here, said Aiko. A portal you say, Are you one of those special people out with your nurse exploring? asked the lady slowly thinking Aiko was mentally disabled. Ya I am special but everyone in Fae Land is special and why did you change you voice, do you have a sore throat? If you do Sapphire can fix it for you, said Aiko. No I am fine said the lady. We better get going, said Olympia, this woman wiuld never believe anything you tell her. Well at least take a pair of shoes for the poor girl at no charg, said the woman. Elves don't wear shoes especially thise wierd ones you have on, said Aiko. These are three hundred dollar designer shoes, said the woman. Well who ever designed them should go back to school, said Aiko. They don't look very comfortable and look very silly. But I designed them including this entire outfit, said the woman. Oh, sorry, I guress they are okay on a human woman, said Aiko. Yeanny has an oufit just like that but the vest is black and the skirt is a darker blue. Looks great on her being a wizard and all. Are you a wizard? Come on Aiko, you are just confussing the lady, said Olympia. Olympia took Aiko's hand and started to walk out of the store. Wait please, just give me a moment more of your time please, said the woman. Well she did say please say please, you can have a moment wizard lady, said Aiko.

The lady smiled then walked over to them. First I am no wizard but my name is Jenny and this is one of my stores. You are the Jenny of Jenny desingner clothes, said Olympia. Yes I am but from what fist girl said she doesn't like my clothes, said Jenny. I didn't say I didn't like your clothes but they are too expensive, said Aiko. Though I do not like those shoes. Must be hard to run on them. I see, well designer clothes are always more expensive that regular off the rack clothing you get at big department and discount stores, said Jenny. I do have a cheaper line of clothes in some other stores but no way close to the proces I heard you mentioning. And why not, why does it cost so much to buy clothes here? asked Aiko. Well the materials and labour costs for one. Plus advertising can be costly, said Jenny. So you said you are an elf and those look like real pointed ears because they move but I thought elves were much smaller. No I am a normal size, said Aiko. Santa's elves are lots smaller though they are a different breed of elves. Cute little guys and girls that love the cold. Jenny smiled, so this Fae Land is it a real place somewhere on the other side of that portal you also mentioned. Yep that is where I live, I am just visiting Granada for now, said Aiko. Gabriel said I could stay with Olympia as Sapphire. This is Olympia, Sapphire you can't see right now. Why not? asked Jenny. Because she is a fairy nymph and is staying invissible as not to attract attention, said Aiko. Is she telling me the truth? asked Jenny to Olympia. Yep, Aiko never lies, said Olympia. Okay lets say this is all true, tell me how clothing is made so inexpensive in Fae Land, said Jenny. Well when Alieta became queen she made a law that no one could over price and not for just clothes but for everything sold in Fae Land, said Aiko. Okay so how did everyone make money? asked Jenny. You see Fae Land is an extremely wealthy country and has lots of resources of it's own. Things that surrounding cities and countries don't have and they would have things that we needed. Okay that is just about trade like we do here, said Jenny. You have to pay the price for imported products. Not if you have Ginger as your best friend and knows how to control money flow, said Aiko. And what is Ginger? asked Jenny. An elf like me but cuter, dresses real sexy too, said Aiko. Now once Alieta made that law and sent winged messengers out telling everyone the new law she had Ginger take over. Ginger is super smart and ordered ten times the food raw matterials and what ever else we needed from everyone she traded with and got a discounted price of coarse. Now this is where it gets fun. Trade went on as usual but with neighboring lands seeing the very inexpesive prices of stuff was now fom us. Ginger refused to pay the jacked up prices from these other countries so just stop all trade with them. Okay but you would of ran out of the extra stock she bought eventually, said Jenny. Nope, never, said Aiko. Fae Land buys all it's dairy products from a big farm in Cumberland that is in one of the provinces of Fae Land plus we buy all the meat products from Prayden that is in Fae Lands north east province. Fae Land grows all it's own fruit and vegetables so we were just fine but these other lands began to suffer without getting what they needed to survive. Wouldn't that cause a war between Fae Land and all these other lands? asked Jenny. Not a chance, everyone knew that Fae Land's winged army and land troups of elves that were experts with enchanted bows and arrows that could go right through shields and armor. Besides all the lands that traded with Fae Land were protected by Fae Lands winged army. Keep in mind this was like two hundred years ago when this all took place. Wow so what was the winged army made up of? asked Jenny. People were beginning to gather around to listen to Aiko's story.

The winged army was made up of over two hundred Sprites, said Aiko. Sprite are very fast flyers, many times faster than a horse can run. They were armed with the same enchanted bow and arrows as the elves have. They could attack well out of range in the sky from the attacking armies with arrows. Nobody dared to try and attack Fae Land or any of the protected lands. Even now Fae Land is many times more powerful and nothing dares to attack with all the heroes living there plus Avan and Tara that can wipe out an entire army of creatures with a wave of their hands. Don't ask what those two are, let me just say they are God's gift to the world that he created to wipe out all evil on the planet. So how long did it take before the trade started up again? asked Jenny. Not that long, a couple of months and all trade was back to normal and everyone was now charging fair prices which they found was better because even far away lands would trade with them to get the cheap prices therefore making so much more money that they used to make. Between Alieta and Ginger they created a way of loving where nobody goes without food or clothing and no one is homeless. Okay, all you just said must be true because it all makes sense and no way anyone could just make up a story like that, said Jenny. So what was it you two first came in here for? Just a couple of shorts and t-shirts, said Olympia. Okay and how much would they cost in Fae Land? asked Jenny. Two to three dollars for toshorts depending if they had writing or a picture on them and five to seven dollars for shorts depending how long the legs are. Really and what about blue jeans? asked Jenny. Ten dollars for any size but everyone in Fae Land are in great shape and mostly the same size but here there seems to be a large variety of sized people, said Aiko. You mean fat people right, said Jenny. You said it not me, I don't judge people, that is up to the angels and God, said Aiko. Okay then pick out what you need and Ginger here will cash you out with Fae Land prices, said Jenny. She is amazing with numbers and takes care of all my accounting. Aiko looked at Ginger then looked at Jenny again then smiled. What are you smiling at? asked Jenny. Well you have a Ginger like ours that knows about money and you seem to be very smart and has a kind heart just like Alieta so between the two of you maybe you can do help to bring prices down in Granada. Well this is not Fae Land and we deal with many states that would never drop their prices, said Ginger. In Fae Land we have a saying, said Aiko. Nothing is impossible to those that are willing to do the impossible. Believe me many times over my life time so far Fae Land came up against impossible odds but always came through on top and won. It just takes faith, smarts and hard work plus most important love. With out love nothing good can happen. So how old are you, it is hard to tell, said Ginger. Oh I am just a very young elf of just two hundred and twenty five years, said Aiko. Okay Olympia lets pick out what we came here for then I getting hungry, there must be a place to eat in this mall. Yes up the esculators is the food court. What are esculators? asked Aiko. Never mind Aiko I will show you, said Olympia.