At that moment, a kobold woman slowly approached the stall.
She looked nervous as she stopped near the entrance. Her worn clothes were covered in dust, and her eyes moved between the medicines displayed on the shelves and the people gathered around us.
For a moment, she seemed unsure whether she was even allowed to come closer.
Then she lowered her head.
"Is this... the new medical stall?"
"It is," I answered. "What do you need?"
The woman hesitated before speaking.
"My child is sick."
Her voice shook slightly.
"He's been lying in bed for several days. He has a fever and barely eats anything."
She looked toward the medicines again.
"I heard that Sous finally had a medical stall, so I came here to ask if someone could check him."
For a moment, I didn't know what to say.
We had prepared medicine, but we weren't proper healers. I had no experience treating sick children, and while Elara knew far more about herbs than I did, even she couldn't diagnose someone without seeing them.
Still, this was exactly why we had opened the stall.
I turned toward Elara.
She had been arranging several small bottles on one of the shelves, but she had stopped to listen.
"Can you examine him?" I asked.
Elara looked at the kobold woman.
"How old is your child?"
"Five," the woman answered.
"How long has he had the fever?"
"Three days."
Elara remained quiet for a moment before asking,
"Is he coughing? Does he have trouble breathing?"
The woman quickly nodded.
"A little. He coughs during the night."
Elara glanced at me.
"We should see him first."
I nodded.
"Then take us to him."
The kobold woman's eyes widened.
"You'll come?"
"Of course," I said. "We can't know what medicine he needs without checking him."
For the first time since she arrived, some of the worry disappeared from her face.
"Thank you," she said quietly. "Thank you."
As she turned to lead us away, I looked back at the newly opened stall.
Our first customer had arrived before Kadar had even finished the inauguration.
And instead of buying medicine, she was asking us to save her child.