Market Day

Ban

Chp 55

I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect when I was told there would be a market day. It was a normal thing in a somewhat abnormal place. To my surprise, it worked nearly how I thought it should. The villagers set up stalls of goods and handicrafts, but no food. That wasn’t a surprise, though. The valley didn’t have large cultivated fields.

Food would be coming in from the outside via merchants who came around every once in a while. They were the ones the stalls were mostly aimed at. The people of the valley produced high-quality goods, which was enough to attract them. Anyone could buy if they had the coin for it though.

When the merchants arrived, the first issue was unloading goods the villagers had specially ordered. I helped, along with a few others, and we were paid the same as the humans who joined in. The experience caused me and my bandmates to share a silent nod.

When the work was done, we found a shady spot to gather and watch the proceedings. Everyone except Ewen, since he’d been held up talking to the merchant we helped. It was odd to see the man was still chatty since the work was done, but I didn’t worry. We’d all already been paid and were watching for trouble.

“He gave me apples to share,” Ewen said quietly when he came back holding a basket. We all looked at the yellow and red streaked fruits curiously before dividing them amongst ourselves. I was already making plans for my share when something occurred to me.

It wasn’t long ago I’d been reluctant to accept anything I didn’t forage for myself. Only exhaustion and hunger had made it easy for me to eat what I was given when we first arrived in the valley. Now I wasn’t thinking twice about if what I was given was safe to eat or not. It made me smirk a little in a self-deprecating way.

“What?” Hari asked, her eyes sharp as usual. She’d been the only female to volunteer when I proposed looking for the valley. Now she’d also won over the forge master at the sword shop and become their apprentice, though she hadn’t started yet.

“Anyone wondering if the apples are spoilt or poisoned?” I asked. The answer I got was several confused looks.

“Me neither,” I added and laughed. No matter how much I felt like there had to be a catch, nothing happened. The longer that went on, the more exhausting trying to stay on my guard had become. A fact which made the valley feel almost sinister at times, despite how friendly everyone was.

Hari looked at her apples for a moment then back to me, a look of realization in her eyes. I wasn’t sure what her personal revelation was, but I felt like it was probably similar to my own. It wouldn’t be the first time our minds thought along parallel lines.

She’d joined our clan after being separated from her own, but she didn’t feel like a recent addition. Ewen was my second and friend, but Hari felt like a burrow mate. Someone I’d grown up with and shared an unspoken understanding with.

“Should I try to sign on as a guard or porter?” Ewen asked, eyeing the caravan. Stromholt was extreme, but a dominant local race treating others like shit was common. Even my own would discriminate against each other. Like wolves being stuck up assholes to anyone who was a ‘prey’ species.

It was part of the reason we hadn’t been able to quickly seek shelter in the still free lands of our kin after the chaining. It seemed like that wasn’t as much the norm on the other side of the mountain, though. The people of the valley were originally from there, and the merchants didn’t mistreat us.

It suggested things might be better on that side if we decided to keep exploring. A move we didn’t have a reason to make just yet, but was good to keep in mind. There was no telling how things would go in the future, especially if more of our kin came. It might get too crowded after a while.

“Sound them out but don’t push this time,” I said after some consideration. Ewen didn’t have a mate or kits, but I was reluctant to send him on an extended mission. Our clan was just starting to recover its strength, and he wasn’t an exception. It would be better to rest a while instead of taking a risk when we didn’t have to.

After watching the proceedings for a long while, I noticed a particular figure in the crowd. Above it to be more precise. Deux was out and about, making rounds as she stopped at the stalls and chatted with the valley craftsmen. I flinched briefly, recalling how I’d fainted the first time we met.

It was normal among my folk, but Deux and the humans weren’t used to it. I’d woken up to her looking panicked as she tried to force me to drink medicine. They’d all settled down about it since, but there was still a clear unease when it happened that I found embarrassing.

“Shit,” Ewen said in an awed tone, the tilt of his head telling me where he was looking. Deux stood head and shoulders above the tallest in the crowd. Like a pale beacon with her hair down in a gold-adorned braid instead of up this time.

“I believed you, but seeing her...” Hari said, trailing off. I nodded in understanding. Being told a giant’s descendant was the mayor was different from seeing it with your own eyes.

“I’m going to take a look at the stalls. I haven’t had money to shop with until now, so I’m curious,” I said as I stood up and dusted my backside off. Hari and Ewen nodded, eyeing the stalls too.

We’d accepted food, clothes, and other necessities readily until now. Other things had been off-limits as a matter of pride. The townsfolk were giving to a fault and disappointed when we didn’t accept. Despite that, none of us wanted to be kept like pets.

We were used to living rough. Forgoing some comforts wasn’t hard when our basic needs were gladly met. It took me all of ten seconds to find myself engrossed by the variety and quality of the goods on display. All too quickly, I was spending money, though not much. Everything was well made, but things carved from the local stone weren’t expensive.

“What do you think, Ban, see anything enticing?” Someone asked, and I jumped. I landed several yards away, one leg up to kick. My would-be attacker turned out to Deux, who was looking at me in cheerful confusion.

“Sorry?” She said, looking sheepish at my surprise. Chagrined, I lowered my leg and stood up straight. I was at a loss for words, uncertain of how someone so big had managed to loom up beside me like a shadow. I must have been too engrossed in looking at the jewelry display.

“It’s fine, I’m naturally jumpy,” I said and hopped a little in place to smooth things over. Deux generously laughed at my poor joke.

“Your punny,” Deux replied with a smile. I tilted my head, wondering if I’d heard her wrong. I’d never heard an accent replace an f sound with a p. I also felt like I had heard her say the f sound normally already.

“You made a funny pun, so you’re not funny, your punny,” Deux explained. I nodded as understanding dawned on me. I should have laughed, but it was much too late now that I got the joke.

“So, did you find everything you were looking for? Or is there something I can help with?” Deux asked, her smile a little strained now. There really wasn’t an elegant way to pivot from the last flop, and I was happy to play along.

“Actually, I was interested in buying some foodstuffs, but it seems like the merchants aren’t selling yet,” I said, looking toward the caravan. Beyond getting us past the awkward moment, I was actually looking to buy. The merchants had wagon loads of food, but no one was approaching it.

“Oh, right, sorry! I should have had a meeting to explain that,” Deux said, looking sheepish again.

“The food will be distributed to the shops in a little while and on sale by late afternoon. This is a delivery, rather than goods for direct sale,” She explained.

“Oh,” I said as I processed the news. It was a little surprising, but also made a certain amount of sense. The caravan didn’t come by often. Orders were probably placed well in advance.

“Things must get a little rough between shipments,” I said, feeling awkward. We’d received a lot of hospitality, but we didn’t know how things were usually in the valley. Having to tighten our belts and pitch in was fine but thinking our hosts had put themselves out was uncomfortable.

“Not usually, we get them once a week,” Deux replied, looking perplexed.

“I thought the caravan only comes once a month or so,” I replied, wondering if I’d heard wrong.

“Oh! No, the food shipment is separate from the caravan. They don’t come often, but they mostly deal in rare materials, delicacies, and spices anyway,” Deux said, looking relieved after realizing where the miscommunication was.

“The majority of the food comes from the farms on the other side of the mountain,” Deux added.

“Any chance they’re looking for workers?” I asked, happy to hear there might be a large source of work close by. Farm work was hard, but Lepusan were suited to it, particularly doe’s, they could dig incredibly fast.

“I’ll ask the foreman when I go for an inspection next week. The town owns them collectively, so checking in is part of my job,” Deux said with a friendly nod.

“The town owns them?” I asked, stumped for a moment. I’d never heard of a town owning farms. That was more something that fell under the purview of nobles.

“We use part of our taxes to pay for operating them. It cuts down costs incredibly even with shipping and the farmworkers get steady pay,” Deux explained.

“That… I mean, it seems like a smart way to do it,” I said, tripping on my words a little. It was a foreign idea, but getting food for less was always a welcomed option. The idea of not having your wages depend on the harvest itself was also comforting. It wasn’t possible, even with hard work, to always get a good one.

“If you want to know more about it or anything else, drop by the town hall. I have a very capable treasurer who would be delighted to explain,” Deux offered. I nodded, pleased to get an out from the immediate conversation. The content was simple but the ideas were a bit overwhelming.

“Still, it must be quite a journey to get around the range, or even over it,” I commented casually. The wagons were in good condition, but a mountain trip was a tricky thing. That was part of my hesitation about having Ewen go with one. Too much could go wrong.

“There’s a tunnel that connects to the other side of the mountain range,” Deux explained casually.

“Oh?” I replied casually as I put a hand down on the stalls table to steady myself. They had a tunnel under an otherwise treacherous mountain range. I took some deep breaths. I was determined not to pass out again.