It had been nearly two weeks since Leek first had his strange visitors, but their appearance had become a daily ritual for the young vendor. Of course, there were some major differences now. For one, Leek had vastly upgraded his stand, offering a far greater variety of produce after purchasing more harvesting rights. He bought the lumber, and built a stand nearly three times larger than his old one on the outside of the forest gate. The human merchant had purchased this land as well, causing quite a bit of confusion for the people of his village. They just didn't see why a vendor would ever choose to setup further away from the busier streets. For the price he had paid, the young man could've secured a far more valuable location in their eyes… But Leek knew he couldn't risk anyone else seeing his visitors. The panic that would surely follow would ruin his entire operation.

The townsfolk were deathly afraid of dragons, not that the vendor blamed them. They could do things like decimate entire villages and herds of livestock within minutes. They could snatch a hold of a man and drop him to his doom from high above. They could bite through stone itself with jaws of the sharpest fangs. More than anything, however, was the fire they could breathe from their maws, the kind that could leave even bones crumbling into ash within seconds. Kobolds had no such degree of power, but where there were kobolds, there were usually dragons. Leek was doing his best to avoid that thought though. The small kobolds may not have been able to breathe more than the smallest tuft of flames, but they had certainly managed to breathe more than enough fire into the human's life.

Leek was happier, something most of the nosey townsfolk had assumed was because of his newly established business or his rumored growing wealth. In truth, it was neither. The smile growing on his face more than ever before as he watched his beloved idiots come through the tree line on the trail above was all the evidence needed to that testament. The three little lizards always managed to make him smile these days, their determination to upkeep their disguise only adding to his daily entertainment. As the three kobolds approached the vendor, he stood, making an exaggerated and exorbitant bow towards his favorite customers, greeting them with playful enthusiasm.

“Good evening fine sir! You're looking as spectacularly red as ever! Some would even say that scaly, blank expression could shame the finest art crafted by the gods themselves!" The red kobold on top, the one Leek had dubbed as Pepper, squawked in delight, as if in answer to the high praise.

“GRAAK!" Leek only continued his fine façade.

“Ah! What's that? You seek the most godawful tasting apples in the kingdom? Well, look no further! For today, I have prepared a feast of the most truly bitter and soggy tasting fruit to ever grace this green Earth! One could search the lands far and near, and never even come close to such a truly offensive taste if they tried! The sheer foulness of this fruit will surely strip the color right off of those fine scales of yours!" Leek was admittedly having too much fun hamming it up for his guests. It was the green center kobold answering this time in its clicking call, unable to contain its excitement at such promising wares! This kobold Leek had named Mint.

“Krik Krik Krik Krik!" Pepper looked down at Mint and happily chirped alongside of them. The tower of stacked kobolds nearly toppled as the lowest brown one stamped its feet happily while calling out coarsely with its siblings, Leek thought this one sounded a bit like a yapping hound dog.

“Gork!" The name for this one was Bark, for the way its color and scales reminded Leek of a pine tree's bark. Leek only chuckled at their excitement. He had no idea why, but those kobolds really loved those bitter apples. He had tried getting them different fruits, ones that weren't so insultingly putrid, but Pepper had given the merchant a look as if he had offended him, his siblings, and his entire bloodline, insisting on only the bitter ones. The vendor could only smile about it though, all the fruit they could desire, and even so, they wanted his same old apples. His rise in wealth meant nothing to these creatures, something that the vendor truly appreciated in a way.

After playfully bantering with his customer, holding entire conversations the kobolds never understood a word to, the vendor finally presented the goods, handing the lizard creatures a small bag of nine, bitter apples. As Pepper squawked the order, Bark dropped their payment, just as they always did. Today, they had decided four berries were plenty. Leek didn't mind. He already had plenty of coin from the previous two weeks of selling the golden berries. The young vendor watched them leave the same as always, happily celebrating their success while still in plain sight. A smile crossed his lips as he rested his chin on the back of his hand, idly watching them go. They really were idiots… But they were becoming his idiots.

The next day, as the sun started to set, and the golden dusk began falling over the lands, Leek was finding himself with an unshakeable feeling of worry. His visitors hadn't shown that day, the first time since this whole ordeal had started. The vendor closed up his stand a few minutes later, his mind obsessing over the possibilities all the while. Leek tried to reassure himself, noting he had been giving them more and more of the awful fruit, so them having a stockpile and not needing to make a daily trip made sense... Even so, as the young vendor was on his way home, his mind was a million miles away. He made it to his newer, nicer place after a few minutes, dimmed his lantern, and laid in the bed he had purchased with the kobold's coin, a feeling of guilt washing over him.

The young vendor tried his best to let sleep have him, but he tossed and turned in that bed for hours… Finally, after fighting away the thoughts until three in the morning, the merchant rose, put his boots and attire on, pulled his foraging pack over his back, and grabbed his lantern, lighting it as he made his way towards the forest in the middle of the night, unseen by any. The vendor's mind was berating him for being so paranoid, noting how crazy this all was… They were kobolds for crying out loud! Surely they knew how to take care of themselves… Surely they were resting in their nest somewhere… Surely they were alright… A weak cry in the night made him draw a quick breath in, gasping as recognition flooded over him.

“Gork…" It was Bark, there was no question. The merchant picked up his pace, frantically searching for the creature in the dim lighting of his lantern. Sometimes he would stray a bit too far, and have to listen closely for the call once more. It took about 15 minutes of stumbling around through those woods, but at last, the merchant came to a small clearing in the brush, Pepper and Mint had their backs turned towards the human, both far too preoccupied with their sibling to notice him at first. Leek raised his lantern forward as he came up behind them, finally casting some light on the situation. His heart seized a bit in fright as he realized what he was looking at.

Bark had his left leg caught in a hunter's trap, one the size for wolves it appeared. The steel jaws and jagged teeth were clamped painfully around the kobold's leg. Even in the dim lighting, Leek could see the smallest trickles of dried blood around the wound, the broken brown scales there were swelling up, no doubt from infection setting in. The bag of apples from the day before sat upturned beside their discarded disguise. Leek realized he must've been like that since last night. The merchant cursed his hesitancy at coming to investigate, angry that he hadn't acted sooner. It was then that Pepper finally noticed the onlooker, squawking in surprise at first before backing up to Bark, Mint joining him in protecting their sibling. Leek had never seen them act like that before…

Both were baring their smaller teeth as viciously as they could, snarling in a way the merchant would find adorable were it not for the dire circumstances at hand. Mint let out another hiss to the merchant, edging closer to the injured kobold behind it. Leek finally realized why they were being so apprehensive, aside from their natural fear of being so vulnerable. This was the first time the human had interacted with them outside of their coat… They thought Leek would hurt them as they were. Leek chanced a step forward, and was met with a very threatening squawk from Pepper.

“GRAAAAAAK!" Leek stopped, uncertain how he could make them see he was here to help… That he was a friend, even outside of their clever disguise. The merchant turned to see the bag of apples from the day before, and walked over to it. He pulled the first one free, and held it out to the red kobold. Pepper's eyes darted between the apple, and the man holding it out. Finally, Leek tried his last resort, embarrassing himself as looked directly to the red kobold, and mimicked its cry as best as he could manage.

“Graak!" Pepper lowered its outstretched arms just a bit at the call, and tilted its head in curiosity. Leek took a small step forward, holding out the apple as he gleefully repeated the call, with far more enthusiasm this time.

“GRAAK!" Pepper took a step forward, and sniffed at his hand a little, finally reaching to take the apple as it did so. Leek did the same with Mint, edging ever closer as he clicked to the green kobold.

“Krik Krik Krik!" Mint yielded as easily as Pepper had. Bark however, was far more afraid. All the “Gorks," that Leek could muster seemed to do little to ease the trapped creature, only making it struggle against its bindings more than ever. Even so, the merchant knew he had to do something… Leek reached forward cautiously, the brown kobold snarling and snapping at him all the while. The merchant understood though… It was only scared. Just as his fingers brushed against the cool metal of the trap, Bark reached forward, and clamped down on his upper arm, the small teeth leaving the smallest perforations along his skin there. The merchant winced in pain and discomfort, but knew the skin had barely been broken… If he hurried, he may be able to pull it off.

It took a little bit of adjusting the trap, something that made the kobold trapped within its jaws only clamp down even harder, but finally, as he strained to pry the metal apart, the small kobold pulled his leg free at last, quickly releasing its chomping hold on the human as it scrambled to put distance between it, the trap, and the one that had opened it. It didn't make it very far before it stumbled and collapsed, the wound and its fatigue hindering the escape. Mint and Pepper were beside their sibling immediately, trying and failing to get them back to their feet. Leek slid his foraging pack from his back, fishing around inside until he had found a bit of herbal ointment, and some light wrapping. He always carried such things with him when he traversed the woods alone, and was beyond grateful he had thought to bring it. The human made it a few steps towards the trio before they turned on him once more.

It took another five minutes of calming them down, and reassuring them with his best mimicry of their calls, but at last, the human was able to kneel beside the injured kobold. Bark only growled at him, still very much afraid of what the human had planned. Leek knew he had to dress that wound… But he didn't know how to let the kobolds know that…

An idea popped into his head as the human looked down at his lightly bleeding bite wound. The kobolds had made a disguise… That meant they had some comprehension to learning by observation. The merchant opened the ointment bottle, rolled his sleeve up, and revealed the bite to the curious creatures. He went about dressing the wound slowly, showing how he pressed the salve to the injuries for the kobolds before applying a little wrapping, snugly tying it off after. The vendor had to coax Bark a little, but after a few minutes, the kobold was sitting studiously, curiously watching the merchant gently clean the wound and rub the ointment over the bite-marks left by the steel jaws, just as he had for his own injury. Leek had the wound fully tended to and secured behind the wrapping within three minutes.

Even still, Bark was having trouble walking. The human had carefully inspected the injury, and knew it was likely just sore, as no bones felt broken and the muscles seemed in tact. Leek shouldered his foraging pack, looped the bag of apples around his shoulder, and let out a heavy sigh. The merchant walked over to the kobold, stooping low as he wrapped his arms around the midsection of the creature and stood, cradling it carefully in his arms. The sibling were worried at first, hissing out their fear, but after a firm “GRAAK, KRIK, and GORK," to each, they finally accepted that he meant them no harm. The four were off in a matter of moments, the two uninhibited ones leading the way for the merchant. As they came to another clearing, in a part of the forest Leek wasn't familiar with, a cave came into sight that seemed much too big for three simple kobolds. Even so, Leek approached the mouth of the cave, that is, until all three kobolds started making a fuss.

Pepper and Mint moved to partially block the entrance to the cave, barring entry as Bark began flailing in Leek's arms until the young man finally placed him down. The brown kobold joined its siblings, and turned to snarl towards him as well. Leek simply smiled, a bit touched by how protective they were being over their home. The merchant complacently muttered to himself something along the lines of “Ungrateful idiots," placed the bag of apples in front of the kobolds, and turned to make his leave, three little kobolds watching their human friend leave without a fight. Just as he made it to the edge of the clearing, the human heard a final call out in thanks from the brown kobold.

“Gork." The merchant smirked, knowing he wouldn't make it back to the village before dawn. Even so, he was so glad they were safe, and back home. He called back to them, turning to yell a bit as the hearty smile overtook him.

“I'll bring the apples to you from now on. I'll see you every morning, right here!"

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Hope you've all enjoyed my second little chapter here. I was pretty surprised by the interest people held for this lighthearted tale on some sites. So thank you for reading! I hope you enjoy what comes next for Pepper, Mint, and Bark!