Things seemed different around the temple since I started to be able to move on my own. Persephone doesn't hang around as often, but I still see here now and then. Bridgette is the one everyone seems to be worried about though. She is a Valkyrie's daughter, which makes her one too. I guess that would be a bad thing if I was killed in battle.

Mom has been shoving herbs at me anytime I'm awake these past three weeks. It seems Darrien said I needed to learn healing herbs. This attack scared everyone. I would be lying if I said it didn't scare me as well.

I've learned most of the plants she has shown me from Arlan, I'm still having trouble with the ones from our neighbors. Bridgette's Aunt Syr is supposed to be comming today to help. Apparently one of the jobs of the Valkyries is to administer medicine during battle, as well as honor the dead. Bridgette keeps repeating the Valkyrie's creed whenever she thinks the priestesses start getting too protective. 'Care for the living; tend to the wounded; honor the dead.'

Sounds like a good mantra to me.

Darrien showed me the ledger that he has kept on my expenses. There isn't stuff like 'food' or 'lamp oil' or things like that in it. But it does include stuff like 'Zeon Academy Runic Society' and 'Diane's Apothicary'. He explained that everything dated after the attack has been to try and heal me; when I asked him about all the charges before that, he walked out of the room.

"You don't know what they are for?" Bridgette asked me. I shook my head that I didn't.

"I'll be right back." She said through a smile. When she came back, she was carrying my cloak, and my ears and tails. "These are what they are for." She said setting them on a nearby table. "You can't have them right now, the runes will conflict."

"So my cloak, and all the ears and tails I didn't make are all enchanted with Runes?"

"Yes. Darrien, Natalie, and Michelle all wanted you to have a normal childhood, so they didn't tell you about them. You probably didn't know there was an embroidered oak tree on the back of this." She said as she held up my cloak. "That piece of work has been talked about since you left your name day reading. It left an impression."

"I knew there was an enchantment on the cloak, but I didn't know about my ears and tail being enchanted, and, no, I didn't know about the tree on the back."

Bridgette looked calmly at me, "Tasha, this temple has given a lot to you, and even though it's early, you have to show them that you have been worth every copper crown they have spent on you."

I looked away from her, "gold crown."

"What was that?"

"The ledger only showed gold crowns. Almost a thousand gold crowns have been spent on me since my name day." Bridgette's eyes enlarged to where I thought they would pop out. "How close to 'one thousand gold crowns' are we talking?"

"Eight hundred ninety three." The slight whistle she made, told me that it was a lot of money.

"Look, you're still pretty young, but even I have to admit that you are much smarter than I would expect, usally currency is taught in your next year of school, but I think you need to learn it now." Bridgett seemed to fidget as she began pulling coins out of a small pouch on her side. little squares that looked like tin, copper, bronze, silver, and gold.

"These little square coins are each called a bit, with the iron bit being the cheapest one." she held up the little square that I thought was tin. "its not actually made from Iron, its just what its called. next is the copper bit, ten iron bits make a copper, ten copper, make a bronze," she moved her finger and pointed at the one I thought was bronze. "ten bronze equals a silver, and five silvers equals a gold bit."

she reached into her little pouch and pulled out slightly larger metal coins, they were each in the shape of a rectangle.

"These are called bars. one bar is worth one hundred bits of the same kind." I nodded that I understood what she was telling me. she reached in one more time, and pulled out a round coin whose diameter was the same as the long edge of the coin called a bar. "This is a hearold. one hundred bars to a hearold." I nodded once more, and she pulled out a piece of tin, that looked like an ingot, but was no longer than her index finger. "And this is a crown, a crown is equivelent to one hundred bars of the same kind."

"Alright." I rearange myself some, still not seeing the point, only that the ledger shows that I have cost a few hundred gold crowns.

oh.

oh dear gods.

"by the looks on your face, I can see you just realized it. a single Iron crown can keep a family of four in good clothes and food for a year, as well as have a bit left over.