A great merchant delivers both joy and profit. Then profit gets reinvested in more joy.

Pre-Fall businessman

The few days coming back to Zahl had let them discuss plans further. Even though Mark was not interested in joining them in the East, they could open up a little more now that he knew about what they could do.

Johanna’s discussions had comforted her with her ideas. Mark, as a Hero Ranger, was going to be far better at guarding and securing the Zahl County than any of his non-Talented guard colleagues. He’d even remarked that Zahl could use more of those powers.

“If we had more Talents, like you five…”

“That is going to take more time. As I’ve explained, a year ago, we couldn’t do that. We’re still making it as we go. But that’s the idea.”

“Too bad. If you’d made a set for someone rather than those random parchments…”

“There was enough for maybe two more people.”

“I’m sure we could find more Ancient books in Zahl…”

“That will take too much time. As I said…”

Johanna had not elaborated too much about why they were running from the Montana. Mark was a city guard, after all.

“… we have an objective. More than a few Ancient Books. But do not worry, we’re not going to forget you and Zahl.”

“That expedition still sounds insane, even with that kind of payoff.”

“And that is why we’ve recruited Petra here.”

“Tremor?” she asked.

Johanna had to laugh.

“Maybe not that. But I’ve spent weeks, no, months, thinking about what it’s known about the coast. And our limitations.”

“Seriously? Limitations? You’re all… we’re all so powerful,” Mark half-exclaimed.

“But we do have limits. We haven’t tested yours, but we run dry after a while. I can sustain flame for several hours, and then it’s gone, and I need a full night to get it all back. I can chuck sixty… maybe a little more now, of those fireballs, and then I run dry as well.”

“The east coast is full of Changed monsters, you mean. So you need more fireballs.”

“Yes. Once we run dry in whatever fuels Talents, be it Sorcerer’s Mana or Hero’s Stamina, since the Talents make a difference between the two, we’re not much better than an ordinary person. If you run empty and there are dozens of Changed still coming at you… Well, if you can’t Tremor or something because you’re out, you’re fucked. Even Heroes run dry, I know that from Tom’s training days.”

“So… you want a backup,” he realized.

“Yeah. Just combining Petra’s Earthbind and someone with a serious range like my Fireballs or something like your Ranger skills is good, but we need more teams than the one we have now. I’d hoped to get you to accompany us, but you can still do the world a lot of good even if you stay in Zahl.”

Petra laughed.

“I wish I could listen to you explaining to your half-fiancée how you got so much better with a bow.”

“I could do that,” Peter said.

Mark looked at both of them.

“You are ridiculous. The way nobody can even try to pay attention to you… you could rob people’s houses blind. Even banks.”

“I just sneak into pubs and listen to people telling me tidbits of stuff. That’s plenty enough.”

“Sure. You believe him?” Petra asked Laura.

The Combat Fixer shrugged. “I don’t ask him what he’s doing without me and he doesn’t ask what I’m planning for him.”

“So. What’s the plan back in Zahl?”

“We have to sell all of our salvaged stuff. And the next day, we move out. Unless there’s a major problem with the weather or something at the last moment.”

“Down to Independence State. That is going to be weird,” Petra said.

The morning was almost over, but the Zahl’s gates were finally at hand.

“See, in time for your patrol,” Petra said.

“The captain would have adjusted. Not that there are many Changed roaming around in winter, even with this mild weather. Late April, maybe we’d see something.”

“You’re sure you don’t want to come? Last chance,” Johanna said.

“No, thanks. And besides, I’ll be much better at my job from now on.”

“The Power the World needs,” she said, almost intoning it.

The guard at the gate itself waved, then waved even more energetically once he noticed Mark.

“There we are.”

“Thanks for the opportunity to see the upside,” he answered Johanna.

“That weird village will still be there,” she said.

“And maybe one day, I’ll get back. Somehow,” he insisted.

“Can’t tell the future,” Tom injected.

“So, we agreed,” Johanna replied.

“I’ll keep quiet about what really happened, no worries. At least until you’re well away.”

Both Petra and Mark seemed to agree that Birdy’s Shipping was the best bet to sell the stuff, matching the rumors Johanna had gotten last year. That business was the most diversified in the city, doing import and export all over the State and even with adjacent places.

Even though the business had slowed over the winter, Birdy’s was open this Tuesday, so Johanna went in immediately after knocking and found two men playing a card game with two young kids.

“Hello there. Do I know you?” one said.

“What brings you to our sunny offices?” the other smiled.

“I was pointed to those very sunny offices, as someone told me you’d be my best prospects for selling.”

“Selling?”

“Do we sell?” the other asked, looking at the first.

“You mean, do we buy?”

By now, she’d noted the two looked much like each other, although not strictly identical. Brothers, assuredly. Well, it was a merchant family, after all. And unlike farms, it was easier to split branches of business between family members. Even if one had to work for the other.

“Excuse me, didn’t introduce myself. Carl Birdy,” the first man said.

“And Johan Birdy,” the other added, confirming her ideas. “The little scamps here are our nephews. Hey, is that you Mark?”

“Yep. I’m not representing Dad’s shop today, though. I’m just accompanying her.”

“Johanna Milton,” she introduced herself.

“Ohhh, almost the same as you,” Carl said.

Those two are jokers, worse than Peter, she decided.

“So, what brings Johanna Milton to our winter office?”

“Which is the same as the summer office.”

“As I said, looking to see if you’re interested in buying things. Specifically, Ancient salvaged goods.”

The two men were startled. Whatever offer they’d been expecting, that wasn’t it.

“We’re professional salvagers. We… we used to work in the Montana Marches, but life got complicated, and we decided to leave.”

“And you want to start salvaging in Zahl?” one – Johan – asked.

“Not long term. We’ve got plans, and we’re heading further southeast. But we took the occasion to scout locally, with the help of Mark here.”

“Mark? Wait, did you go to Fallen Hill?”

“We did. And I finally saw what grandpa never managed,” the guardsman replied.

Carl Birdy frowned.

“The top? It’s real?”

“Not huge ruins, but mana preserved it.”

Then he laughed, adding, “And I did my best keeping those safe.”

“The real question is, did mana preserve the money,” Laura added.

Johan Birdy snorted.

“A woman of my mind. Sorry kiddos, got to work.”

“Aww. I was winning!”

“In your dreams. But I think we’ll have to draw again after. In case you looked.”

“That’s cheating.”

“No. That’s against cheating. Wait for us. We’ll try to be quick.”

Johanna had an idea.

“Hey, want to see something?” she addressed the two kids that were already looking bored.

“Uh?”

She rummaged into her bag until she found the small glass jar she’d picked in the village ruins.

“What’s that?” “Looks bizarre.”

She carefully spilled the content at the center of the table next to the cards.

Glass marbles.

She’d found those in the second house. That wasn’t the first time she’d seen those, and she knew by now it was a game for Ancient kids. The insanely perfect colored glass spheres were universal and used in distant parts of the Ancient world.

“That’s a game from the Ancients.”

“Ohhhh?” “Really?” “How did they play?”

“No idea. You can invent your rules.”

“Hey, that’s for us?” one realized.

“Yes. Don’t let your uncles steal your marbles and sell them.”

“No way!” “That’s ours!”

She laughed as the two kids started to inventory their goods.

“Bribes?” Carl Birdy asked.

“I have nephews back home. I was always bringing them some little stuff from salvage.”

She turned, and added, “Don’t worry, we have plenty still.”

They started pulling out everything they’d gotten on the hilltop weird village. Lots of clothes, the entire collection of boots – minus the artifact ones, – tools, entire sets of cutlery, and of course the bottles of “vodka” spirits. The three houses they’d ransacked before their bags were full had multiples as if it was some kind of commonplace drink there.

“Potato Spirits?”

“You tell me. Is that what’s it made from?” Johanna asked.

“As far as I know.”

“It was made in Europe, mostly,” the other Birdy added. “How did you find any?”

“Fallen Hill looks like it was a big Changestorm thing,” she said. “Completely displaced village. Nothing written in English, save a few things.”

The two traders looked at each other briefly.

“Is it easily accessible?”

Mark was the one to answer that question.

“Not that easy. If it had been, it wouldn’t have lasted until now. The right people, yes. Otherwise, forget it.”

“Even you?” Johan Birdy asked.

“I’m less hesitant now, but I wouldn’t. Not without the right people, as I said.”

The two brothers turned back to the wildly varied inventory. Johanna stopped briefly when they pulled to the old calendar.

“Kids,” she warned, but a brief look showed them engrossed with the marbles.

Carl looked inside, snorted in laughter, and put it very carefully aside. Johanna spent ten more minutes trying to argue about some parts, but she was happy about the over three thousand dollars they’d ended up getting. It was a more than reasonable haul by their old standards. Cheap given the treasure trove of the Fallen Hill, but then the Birdys didn’t deal regularly with salvage.

“Are you staying long?” Carl asked.

“No. The weather looks good enough, we’ll hit the road again soon.”

“Too bad. If that was a regular thing, we’d probably get better at gauging how much that’s worth.”

“Hey, if you got the scavenging fiber going with Mark and Petra, maybe it will become a regular thing. What do you say? You’re going to do it on the regular?” Johan Birdy asked.

Mark immediately shook his head.

“Not going to abandon my regular job, at least not yet. Now, if there are well-prepared scavengers, and they want protection…”

“Aw.”

Johanna had to warn them.

“It’s still a small village. It’s well preserved, not what you’d get from fifteen decades, but it’s not the size of major ruins. My professional opinion is, if you sponsor regular salvagers, you’ll need to branch out, or it will be empty within two to three years. And of course, they need to be good and ready to take on Changed beasts. Even if Mark gets guard duty, it’s not going to suffice, I think.”

They settled in for the final negotiations. The two brothers were shrewd negotiators, not bothering to use tired “bad for business” arguments or anything. But Johanna had little choice. Just like in Valetta, selling it whole saved time, and she was antsy. Nearly four months locked in Zahl grated on her nerves.

“So. $3400?”

“In fifties silver.”

“Not gold?”

“Easier to change in town. Gold might be good enough for you merchants, but folks like us…” Johanna said.

“Good thinking. I think I may have enough. Let me check.”

As they were leaving, Johanna spotted one of the kids jumping excitedly, trying to explain the magical rules of marbles to one of his uncles. It looked like a satisfying evening, for everybody young and older, if for different reasons.