The fish was bigger than his head. Definitely bigger than me.

"And you're sure you can make the order? On time?" I really thought he wasn't even listening to me. "Kikimoko?"

"Sure, sure," he assured, rolling his Us as if he was drunkenly explaining where he left his seaside beers. His teeth were large. Big enough to not allow him to pronounce that. The blade gliding through the hanging fish in front of me, guts came out everywhere.

"Okay then." I paused until it felt like he was listening. "I need twelve Ruckruck Oysters, five Jumbogantic White Shrimp—not the Pink ones—twenty pounds of the Blue Snatcher, and a crate of ice." Rubbing my upper arms, I squeaked coldly and said to myself, "and a cart, so I can carry these damn orders out of here already."

"Gotcha, Tagetes—"

There was a mushy sound that made me cringe. As another fillet flopped on the table, Kikimoko glanced at his boot.

"Porter! Porter!" he bellowed, his mouth wider than an alligator's. It looked like one too. "Gosh, I haff to stop getting blood all over these hardwood floors." He plucked a line of intestine off the ground. "Glmph." He tossed it aside. "Not good for walnut or varnish."

I shuttered. "So... twenty minutes?" How could he stand the smell? I didn't know how these Folknumens worked like this. Or in this.

"More so, like, let's see." He slobbered down a handful of severed fins. "four knocks."

"I can't wait that long!" I blurted out. "I mean, the Fates need these now."

"The Fates always need something, young Zinnia. You'll learn to know that soon enouff."

"They spoke to me; I need it n—"

"Who spoke to you?"

"The f—, Fates?"

"The Fates don't speak, Commelina. Who spoke to you?" He was no longer scraping the dangling fish clean of meat. "Who?"

I didn't know how to pronounce it's name. "Pika?"

"Pyka!"

"Yeah—"

The fish shook side to side as he roared through shelves and baskets of seafood, which looked as if it came from another planet, and he hardly noticed the scaling knives wobble onto the floor.

"Twenty minutes. No, just ten!"

"Oka—"

"Ten, yes, ten!"