As the trio entered the open-air forge the captain yelled at a nearby worker to get his attention. “Young man!”

The man behind the counter lifted his head in slight annoyance but was immediately covered with a smile as he addressed the portly captain, “how may I help you sir?”

“By your badge, you’re an Initiate Blacksmith, yes?”

“Yes I am sir.”

“If your master has allowed you to tend to the front counter, then am I correct to assume that you can broker deals on behalf of his shop?”

The young man nodded.

“A moment then,” the captain said to the man behind the counter as he turned to Gaius and Gen. In a low whisper he said to the two boys, “This will be a good opportunity for you to learn how to trade, seeing as the lad here is only an Initiate, not much higher up than you two. Initiates are usually given such jobs to help them learn how to trade and barter. So that means one of you boys will have to handle this transaction,” he winked and continued, “first state that you will sell the 200 steelteeth for 1 silver each, but do not go lower than 4 square coins each, got it?”

Surprised at the sudden need to act, Gaius and Gen tried to absorb the situation as quickly as possible. Gaius quickly approached the young man with enthusiasm as his brother’s timid side showed itself.

“Hello, my name is Gaius Wyn, Novitiate Alchemist. My brother and I have 200 steelteeth that we personally fished to trade. How much would you give for one?”

“Ah the boy lost the initiative. I’ll have to have him correct that,” the captain thought to himself as he watched the boy try to negotiate.

“We buy steelteeth bones for 1 square coin each,” the man quickly replied as he was familiar with this dance.

A sour expression could be seen on Gaius’s face as he heard the quoted price, but he mustered up the courage to look the young man in the face and said, “I had hoped to sell them to you for 1 silver each.”

The young man’s eyes widen in surprised and chuckled as he said, “sorry, there is no way I am paying 1 silver for 1 set of steelteeth bones.”

“Then how about 5 square coins for one then?” Gaius asked hopefully.

“Hmm, I’ll give you 15 circles for 1 set,” the young man countered.

Gaius had to try to recall, “Okay, 10 circle coins are 1 square coin. And 10 square coins are 1 silver—or triangle coin,” he thought to himself.

“35 circles for one set,” Gaius replied with little confidence in his voice.

“25 circles for one,” the young man said with a smile.

After Gaius thought for a moment he turned to the captain and asked him a question, “After this deal, how is the shieldsmith supposed to gather the bones?”

“Shieldsmith?” the captain asked surprised.

“Yes, is this not a shieldsmith’s forge?”

“No, it is a blacksmith’s. Anyways, to your question, the Initiate here would have to go to the docks with a contract of the sale to the foreman in charge of our crate and harvest the bones himself.”

“Would we normally have to pay him for such a service?”

“It is normally negotiated within the terms,” the captain said with a smile.

Gaius nodded and turned back to the young man and said, “33 circles for one set, but you have to go debone the fish.”

“30 and you have a deal,” the young man said with a wide grin.

“33 is the lowest I will go.”

“Okay, 33 then.”

Hearing this, the captain approached the counter and forged a new contract of sales. Then the trio quickly left the forge.

“So?” Gaius asked the portly man as they walked out.

“Your first mistake was losing the initiative. You asked him how much he would buy your wares, which gives him the chance to set the pace. If you had gone and said 1 silver for each set, then he would have had to counter with an appropriate price, like 3 or 4 square coins. So long as your initial price is not too absurd. But since you let him name the price first at 1 square coin it became harder for you to regain your footing.

The second mistake you made was that you lacked confidence. You must state your demands, expectations, or prices with gusto! Do not ever ever ever ever say ‘I had hoped to sell . . .’ Just tell him ‘I demand 1 silver for each!’ The value of an item is worth more if you—The Seller believes it to be worth more.” The captain instructed Gaius and Gen with great enthusiasm as his arms were flailing about with spit flying everywhere.

“Think of it this way, if someone approached you to buy your home for a silver coin would you think about his offer, or tell him to bugger off directly? How confident you are in your response can raise or lower the value of an item.”

While Gaius was deep in thought about what he had done wrong, Gen asked the captain, “How is the foreman in charge of our crate supposed to know that we made the sale? Could he not make a fake one?”

“Ah forgery is a nigh impossible feat when a scribe is involved. The contract of the sale I just made with the Initiate Blacksmith has my signature and handprint. Though the physical signature could be mimicked, the handprint and my signature has a bit of my aura. Enough for the scribe to detect and authenticate.”

Hearing this Gen perked up and asked him, “Oh! I didn’t know you were a practitioner!”

“Practitioner? HA! Heavens no. Leaving an imprint of your own personal aura onto a piece of enchanted paper is not the same as manipulating the Aspects of Heaven and Earth. Come we have one more stop.”

After a bit of walking through crowded streets the trio eventually stopped at a small building, though it was probably more accurate to describe it as a shed. Gaius was enthralled by the scent that wafted from the front door as they entered. Like the blacksmith’s shop the portly captain approached the counter inquired about the steelteeth reserves. The young lady at the counter was also an Initiate of her craft. This time however, it was Gen who approached the Initiate Cook.

“Hello, my name is Gen Wyn, Novitiate Alchemist. My fellow disciple and I are running errands for our master. We have 200 steelteeth fish already deboned for sale. I will part with them for 5 square coins per set. How about it?” Gen said with a steely demeanor.

The young Initiate Cook looked up and brushed her hair aside to reveal a charming smile. “Uh oh,” the captain sighed to himself as he observed from the sidelines. Gen’s steely demeanor vanished and was replaced by a childish grin as he returned her smile. It was then that the Initiate Cook continued, “My master would scold me if I were to purchase steelteeth fish for 50 circles each. It would help me out if you could sell them to me for 15 circles instead, how about it?”

Gaius, being an outsider watching in was not affected by the girl’s charm; so he quickly kicked his brother’s butt which jostled him back to reality—only briefly.

“Of course, how about I sell them to you for 20 circles for a set?” Gen said with the sheepish grin still on his face.

The Initiate Cook’s giggle was infectious as Gen started to chuckle for no reason as well, “that would be wonderful.”

The captain couldn’t help but cover his face with his hands while he thought to himself, “the boys have a long way to go.” He then slowly approached the counter to form another contract of sales with the Initiate Cook. With that, the trio left the shop with two of them in somber moods while the other blissfully smiling for no reason.

After walking into the street, Gaius smacked his brother’s head. “Hey, what was that for?” Gen yelled back.

“How much were you supposed to sell the fish for?” Gaius asked sternly.

“No less than 30 circles each,” Gen replied with equal gusto.

“How much did you actually sell the fish for?”

“Um, I don’t know?”

“You don’t know? What do you mean you don’t know?” Gaius yelled.

“I didn’t remember how much I was supposed to sell the fish for, and 20 circles seemed like a fair deal. Besides, she would have gotten in trouble if she bought it for any higher!”

“She lied to you! You moron! I bet she and her boss are laughing at you right now for being so dumb!” Gaius shouted.

Gen’s face started to turn slightly red and his eyes were being to water at the surge of embarrassment. Seeing his brother’s face, Gaius couldn’t help but feel sympathy. “Ah, let’s just forget about it. With that, we made 10,600 circles from our fishing. Or 10.6 gold coins. That’s still a lot of money, Gen.” Gaius said with a smile.

Gen slightly nods at his brother.

The captain places a reassuring hand on Gen’s shoulder and says, “Don’t worry lad, she was a pro. I probably would have given her a discount too if I wasn’t too careful. Okay, let’s head back to the docks.”

As soon as the three started to turn towards the docks, the Initiate Cook came running out of the store but suddenly stopped as she was now fact-to-face with Gen. Upon seeing her face again, Gen overcame his embarrassment as it was now filled with anger and he shouted at her, “You tricked me!”

Her stunned face now turned into a sheepish grin as she said, “Sorry, but it is part of the training. The bigger the discount I can get from sellers the more merits I acquire. You should know, you’re a Novitiate Alchemist, no?”

Before his brother could blow their cover Gaius said, “Not really, our master just has us picking herbs and running errands, he almost never gives us the opportunity to gain merits.”

“What are merits?” Gen and Gaius both though to themselves.

“Ah, well that makes sense. You’ll get more responsibilities when you become an Initiate,” she said to Gaius. Then she turned and faced Gen, “It’s nothing personal, actually I don’t think I properly introduced myself. I’m Mary Algren. Initiate Cook here at the Warm Kettle.”

“You’ve met my brother Gen. I am Gaius Wyn, also Novitiate Alchemist. Are you heading to the docks as well?”

Mary nods.

“Perfect, let us all go there together,” the captain offers.

While Gen was sulking and turning his attention away from Mary, Gaius asked, “How long have you been an Initiate?”

“Almost 3 years now. What about you?” she replied.

“My brother and I were recently taken in by a Craftsman Alchemist.”

“Wow, no way! You two must be talented to have caught the eye of a Craftsman.”

“Though we may be talented with herbs, we are nowhere as good as you in terms of bartering.”

Mary chuckles and said, “You’ll get the hang of it. You just need to size up your mark.”

After a bit of chatting the four of them finally made it to the foreman in charge of the fishing crate. Mary walked up to the foreman and presented her contract of sale, after a quick check of authenticity the foreman nodded to the girl. Mary approached the crate and popped open the lid with practiced moves to inspect the fish.

“Oh, and they’re fresh. You should have mentioned that, I would have been pressured to pay more,” she said to Gen with a wink. His face turned redder and then he turned away ignoring her.

“Well, nice doing business with you Gen, Gaius. Stop by the Warm Kettle whenever you’re free next.” She then turned around to the dockworkers and instructed them where to load the crate and which direction her shop was.

The captain turned his attention to the foreman and presented the writ of sales for the crate.

The foreman said with a monotone and bored voice, “Two transactions. One totaling up 6,600 circles and another for 4,000 circles. For a grand total of 10,600 circles. At a 25% tax rate, your profit is 7,950 circles. Here is 7 gold coins, 9 triangle coins, and 5 square coins. Sign and handprint here.” The bored man handed the contract of sales over to the captain while counting the coins and dropping them into a pouch.

The captain smiled and turned to the boys after concluding the sale. “Here you go boys. I’m going to take 2 gold as per our arrangements. Which leaves a bit less than 6 gold coins for the both of you.”

Back on the ferry in Duncan’s personal chambers, Tulia just closed the door behind her. “Ah, you should have seen them. They were so adorable! Gaius’s first trade went better than I thought it would, but Gen’s first trade was about right.”

“Let me guess, a pretty face?” Duncan replied with a smile.

Tulia laughed as she nodded. “An Initiate Cook flashed him such a sweet smile, it was heart wrenching knowing that he was falling for her charm.”

“Better to be wary of a woman’s charm early on, than to . . .” Duncan stopped midsentence as he felt a cold chill run down his spine. He looked up to meet his wife’s gaze and smiled meekly.

“What is it about my charm that you must be wary of, dear?” Tulia sweetly inquired.

“Ah, nothing. Well, did you find anything out of the ordinary?” Duncan hurriedly changed topics.

Tulia kept her smile as she recounted her observation, “There were two men who seemed like they were following the boys. I spotted the two here at the docks from the beginning and they seemed to be interested in the same shops as our boys were. It’s more likely that they’re after the captain.”

“Hmm, probably, but we should still remain vigilant until we’re in your brother’s protection.”

Tulia nodded.