The work had carried on above and below, and the progress was stark. On the third day following the opening of the vault, a fair few of them had returned to the keep in anticipation of Arch and possibly Galaxer arriving with their various ordered goods. Tom definitely wasn’t gonna miss it, and neither was Jacky. The warehouse had been coming along well, and the weather was holding for now. The framed walls had been erected and mostly clad, with Jarix working the saw while Yldril had flown for more timber. The young blue had in turn gone on a hunting expedition the day before once Yldril was back and able to work the saw, so they may hold a proper welcome feast for the arriving traders.

Tom was rather astonished by the rate of progress, but he supposed the Amish could raise a barn in a day, so doing it over several weeks was not much of an achievement. But they had done it alongside getting all of the wood cut and prepared to be put up, which had in reality been most of the work.

Kullinger had shown him around the new building in a bit more detail than could have been arranged previously, the carpenter eager to show anyone who made the mistake of asking about what he was clearly beginning to see as his work. It would have been hard to replace him, but the obvious metal flanges visible all throughout the building were certainly something Kullinger didn’t draw attention to during his showcase. Tom knew the man could do wooden joinery as well as the best of them, but it was a slow process. And with price being of little concern, nails and flanges it was.

‘I need to start making screws,’ he pondered to himself, thinking of the frightening difference that would have made. Though to make them in the needed quantity would be a vast amount of work. ‘Something for the factory that isn’t just killing people… a power drill would be nice too.’

The real meaning of the tour had been to kill some time. Baron had only arrived just after noon, just in time for Tom to get in a midday snack, and they had hoped the traders would arrive by late afternoon. Some work was going on, but it was half-hearted and had mostly devolved into idle chatter. Even Shiva was affected.

The hours crept on by and the light started to wane, with more and more dragonettes starting to conclude that maybe it wouldn’t be today anyway. Then the bell rang, Herron for once not sleeping at his post.

“Two dragons spotted, white and blue,” the call came down.

In an instant the keep came alive once more, the chatter flowing like beer at a tractor pull. There had hardly been the need for Nunuk and Dakota to start giving orders, everyone had started preparing for their arrivals. It would not be a full feast, but the tables would be decked extra well, many likely wanting to try some of the things they bought. Tom knew a lot of them had come together to buy some small kegs of cider, which did sound quite interesting to try out.

There had been some contention about where to get it from. The girls decided on a small bar which Ray remembered going to in the past, and the guards had been talked into buying some from Grevi’s family estate on the recommendation of the various Royal Guard present at the keep.

Tom was hoping to stay impartial in the name of becoming the judge, certainly not because he would quite like to try both, and cider was quite unlikely to cause any problems unlike last time he had indulged in alien alcohols. Though he should probably take it quite slow to start with just to see if he suffered any ill effects.

He knew Jacky had bought some stuff too, so that was likely a tactic he would have to use more than once in the near future. He hadn’t actually bought anything specifically for himself, and he had scrapped Maiko’s idea for getting Jacky and Saph a matching set of jewelry after a chat with Essy. With the green light from the older huntress, he had instead sprung for a set of earrings with dark green emeralds in them. At least that’s what he had asked for. If Vulzan had been able to deliver remained to be seen.

As the dragons drew nearer, fires were lit and spits mounted with a couple of hastily prepared whitetail deer from Jarix’s little hunt. They would all be able to get a slice, but the kitchen was also working on a few things. Jacky had been talking about how Essy was making some sort of pie or tart with berries from the same patch Saph and Fengi had stumbled upon during Yldril's first fateful logging expedition. With the use of some sugar to balance out the tartness, it should make for a pretty good bite.

‘Oh yeah, food machines, pasta makers, a blitzgel powered blender… so much potential there,’ Tom had pondered, as he tried to think of anything nice and simple which would still be new and useful to them. It was a thought for another day though.

As swiftly as the preparations had begun they soon stopped again, save for those who could not leave their posts as everyone made ready for the greeting parade. It was hardly needed with Arch and Galaxer, neither of whom seemed to be sticklers for tradition, or even decorum in Galaxer’s case, unless it suited him. But, understandably enough, no one wanted to wait too long to figure out what they had managed to get from their wish lists.

And so they all lined up. Dragonettes in front, dragons behind. Meaning Jarix and Baron, since Yldril was told to go lay down under her little pavilion, so she wouldn’t sour the moment with some rude or snarky comment.

As the traders came in for a landing it was indeed Galaxer, and Tom could feel the whole keep sigh in relief after the two dragons’ backs came into view and the elaborate fur coat of Joelina was nowhere to be found. In fact there wasn’t anyone aboard Galaxer who stood out as inquisitorial personnel, though of course that didn’t mean they weren’t. Tom guessed they were trying to keep suspicion to a minimum.

The crews had dismounted, and Vulzan along with Galaxer’s partner – Tom wasn’t sure, but he was pretty sure he was called Carnegie or something close to that – had greeted the Bizmati family, who officially welcomed them to the keep. There were smiles all around and an air of anticipation as Vulzan stepped forward, Carnegie standing just behind him and to the right. Both traders had most definitely done well off this trip as well and it showed. Vulzan had a big welcoming smile on his face as he stepped towards the lined-up keep dwellers after he finished greeting Linkosta, producing a rolled-up parchment from inside his fur-lined coat, the mage stepping aside and trying to sneak a peek at the parchment.

“Very well then folks, it is good to be back out here with yah. I carry letters, news, and all manner of goods and goodies, as I am sure you all know by now. So I’m thinking we best get on with it. We have labeled the crates with names, often more than one name per box. I trust yah can all work out who’s who. When you find yah things come by me or this sprightly young gentle man here and we shall cross it from the list. Sound good?” The trader called out gesturing back at Galaxers partner.

“Yes sir,” the keep dwellers echoed in a discordant chorus. It almost reminded Tom of a summer camp roll call or something, it was quite funny all things considered.

“Very well, no pushing, some things are delicate.”

And with that, the trader stepped aside gesturing towards Arch and Galaxer. The blue dragon had been mid-wave to his son, who was watching bemused from behind the Bizmati line, and Galaxer had his eyes trained on Tom.

‘Oh does he want scritches again I wonder? Very well then, I’ll see if I can make time,’ the human chuckled to himself. The keep dwellers advanced on the dragons and their crews in a hurried but mostly orderly fashion, and then Jacky grabbed him by the arm.

“Right, come on!”

__________________________________________________________________________________

Oh this was exciting. Saph didn’t know what she had actually gotten after all, nor what it would cost. She hadn’t been too extravagant with her spending. There were many other things to spend money on after all, chief amongst them her family back at Vulcha, and maybe even her brother and sister.

She had pitched in a share for the cider that Ray had recommended, but her big ticket items had been the books she had asked for and the sapphire ring. She really hoped it hadn’t been Vulzan himself who had gone shopping for reading material. It wasn’t like she had any specific titles in mind: her request had just been for “leisure reading, not too expensive.” Hopefully Udanti or Canabrera had picked out some popular printed books for her.

It had taken some time before her crate was found, since they had to be unloaded first after all. But eventually, Unkai had called out that he had found it and she made her way over, pushing around and past the crowd going through boxes. A quick hop and flap of her wings later and she gracefully set down next to the young healer, who was already rummaging through the box. Apparently they both had stuff in here. Picking through the straw Saph soon dug out what felt a lot like a book, wrapped in some sort of simple cloth. Unwinding it she was indeed correct. It was a brown leather-bound book, rather unassuming looking all things considered. It looked brand new. She had thought that she might get something second hand, but if the price was good then she was very happy. Opening up to the first page, it read The Chronicles of Hanik Stone, Explorer of the South.

‘Well that’s certainly not the worst thing he could have gotten,’ Saph pondered to herself. It certainly sounded interesting, even if she had no idea who this Hanik Stone was. Hopefully it wasn’t complete fiction.

Unkai picked out a small wooden box painted a beautiful blue, Saph cocking her head looking at it for a moment. It looked a lot to her like a jewelry box.

“Oh uhm, it’s uhm. I wanted something uhm…” the healer stumbled as Saph kept staring, wondering if that was his or hers. It soon clicked why the guard had a box of jewelry and she chuckled a bit.

“Oh I won’t tell, do open it though. Might be mine.”

“Oh right, yeah.” He gingerly opened the hinged lid to have a peek inside, closing it back up again and holding it over towards Saph with a slightly embarrassed expression. “Yeah, I think that’s yours.”

Saph took the small box without any complaint, after all how could he have known? Peeking inside she was shocked to see a beautiful golden ring, polished to a mirror finish and with an almost flowerlike pattern at the top like two leafy twigs sliding past each other. In the center sat a large beautifully square cut Sapphire, which was flanked by no less than six smaller ones set in the leaves of the two twigs. It was beautiful.

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

Saph didn’t want to think about what it might have cost, maybe Vulzan had taken her rather short list to mean she wanted to spend it all on this. Then again it all would be like 120 gold, and that was impossible to spend on a ring, at least she thought so. But it truly was beautiful.

“Yes,” Unkai let out quietly as he peeked inside a box that looked awfully similar to the box Saph’s ring had been in. Saph glanced over to see what it was, but Unkai quickly shut the lid again before she could see.

“Oh a secret is it?” Saph questioned. She knew full well what it was, and it was nice to see him make some sort of effort towards Fengi, at least it probably meant he hadn’t given up.

“Ye-yes,” he stammered in reply, putting the box away inside his armor.

“I’m sure she will love it,” Saph replied with a chuckle. Going back to the box she fished out another book. Opening it, this one read The Mystery of Tashkent Keep. ‘Huh, I guess a horror story or something? That should be good.’

For her there had also been some of the dried cured pork sausage she remembered from her time in the capital. It was a snack she would often spend some of her winnings on back when she didn’t make much at all and treats were few and far between. She had enough here to last the whole winter if she only had a bit every now and again. It would definitely beat the jerky and trail mix they made at the keep, and winter rations normally got rather boring after the first few weeks of being stuck on them.

Looking around she saw huntresses, guards, and crafters alike trying on new items, tasting snacks, and looking in boxes. It was a merry scene to be sure. She noticed Galaxer’s trade partner walking up to Dakota and Rachuck and presenting them with an ornate looking box, Dakota opening it and taking out a stoppered fine glass bottle with a yellowish liquid inside. It almost looked like it glowed to Sapphire. ‘Oooh, they bought potions.’

“Awww yeaaaa, check this one out guys!” Saph heard Balethon break out, Unkai looking up as well. He was holding a very fine looking blade in one hand and a blue leather sheath in the other, even the sheath had silver decorations on it at both hilt and tip.

“Oh you got that one aye? What did it cost?” Herron asked, he himself looking up from whatever he was doing.

“Don’t know, don’t care, Mithril Blade Baby, come at me.”

Saph stared a little, pondering if that was a good or bad idea the guard had there. They were making brand new weapons unlike anything ever seen and here he was buying what was surely a very expensive sword, even if it didn’t look enchanted. It didn’t sound like Tom intended on making any superior swords, so maybe it wasn’t the dumbest thing ever.

Looking back to the box she found what looked like another book. Unwrapping it, this one was smaller and looked a bit more elaborate. It was bound in blue leather and even had some gold leaf on it. Turning to the first page she was a touch surprised to see it say Scriptures of Itova.

Initially she thought she might just have gotten her hands on a collection of smut, whether she liked it or not. Turning a few pages it turned out though to be quite the opposite. It was a holy book, full of scriptures and prayers of all things to the goddess of life and love, Itova.

“Uhm, Unkai… is this yours?” Saph questioned holding up the book. The young guard took it and paged a bit before nodding.

“Yeah, you know, for good luck… in not dying that is… oh god,” Unkai replied, seemingly working out halfway how that could definitely be interpreted wrongly. “No-not like that, like… you know. I like her… I just wanna give a proper prayer that it’ll all be alright, that nothing bad happens.”

Saph could understand the sentiment, and she was sure guys had beseeched the gods for less in the game of love than to pray their beloved wouldn’t kill them by accident. Glancing at the guard’s other hand he had a small silver figurine, with what looked like some sort of tiny pink gemstone for eyes.

“Well… best of luck. Hopefully she’ll watch over you,” Saph just said, not sure what else to add as she shrugged. Looking back into the box there was one more book and Unkai had seemingly ordered some sort of smoked meat she didn’t recognize, other than that the box was now empty.

Opening to the first page of the book it read The Legend of the Silver Wing.

‘Silver wing? I’ve heard that before I’m sure… huh very well.’ Looking into the now empty box she did ponder to herself. ‘No cloth though?’

__________________________________________________________________________________

Tom had ended up watching Jacky unpack a few things. It had mostly been harmless: some bottles of nice looking fruity liquor, a vast amount of various kinds of meaty snacks, and even some kind of little biscuit or cookie. Apparently they were called honey bites, and she had always wanted to try some after being told they were only for rich people by a trader years ago.

They had both tried one and come to the conclusion that they were alright. To Tom’s relief, though, there was no sign of a bottle of wild brew. But when he brought up that fact she answered “Noo, sadly” with entirely too much snickering.

Tom just sighed as he once more tried to run through the contingencies for just what he was going to do in case of a drunk, high, Jacky. It was a futile situation even in the world of the imagination.

They had tried some of the snacks, and to be honest, a lot of them were very, very good. Maybe that was frontier cooking starting to lower his standards, but the peppery strips of fatty cured meat were absolutely delicious.

“What is this?” Jacky questioned, pulling out a small bottle with a stopper cap sealed with wax. It looked to Tom like it might even be a potion of some kind, dark red but very thick. “Ooooh. This is for you,” she went, seemingly recognizing the writing on the little tag dangling from the chain.

She held it out for him and he took it, curious what she might have gotten him. He already had two potions, but, well, those had been handed over to her cause’ he no longer actually dared to drink them, so surely it wasn’t actually a magical potion. Flipping the tag so he could read it he strained to make out the small runes. That stuff was hard enough to read when it was large and clear, and whoever had written this had not done well in handwriting class.

“Fi-Fir…Firkoune?” Tom tried. “Is it like some sort of fire oil?”

“No no, firesauce,” Jacky corrected. “It’s for cooking, it’s from down south.”

“Oh… ooooh,” Tom went, realizing what he was holding. “Chili sauce.”

“No? It makes things hot. You know, spicy, hot like fire,” Jacky explained, Tom chuckling.

“Right yes, fire sauce. Huh… thank you.” He was really hoping this stuff was safe for humans, ‘cause as it stood his spices would not last forever and they were probably worth more sold, being exotic as they were. But locally produced hot sauce opened up all sorts of possibilities for everyday cooking, rather than just special occasions. He really should have brought chillies too, but they hadn’t really registered as essential in his packing lists, nor was he sure they would do very well here without a greenhouse.

They would definitely need that at some point anyway, but that was something to consider for later.

“You’re welcome,” Jacky replied, magnanimous as ever. “I think that’s about it… where is your stuff by the way?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Didn’t order that much,” Tom admitted, looking around for where it might be. Secretly he also knew that at least one of the things in there she shouldn’t know about just yet, so it might be best if she wasn’t there when he unpacked. Then again, when was he gonna give them to her? Later that night maybe? She had also just given him an assumedly pricy gift. He had no idea what firesauce might sell for, but it had to be from somewhere far away.

Then someone he didn’t really recognize cleared his throat behind him. Turning around to look, it was Galaxer’s trade partner.

“Hello again Tom, been some time.”

“A bit yeah,” Tom responded politely, wondering what the man wanted.

“I have a few messages for you, as well as a small private package. It is from Joelina.”

“Oh, I see,” Tom said, not sure if that was a good or a bad thing, but it was hardly unexpected. He held a hand out and received the handful of letters, which did surprise him. ‘Why not just write one long one?’ They were all wax sealed too, which he supposed made some sense. With the other hand he received the small parchment and twine-wrapped box. It felt like wood underneath.

“I was instructed to be careful with that. It is probably fragile.”

“Got it… I wonder what it might be?” Tom questioned, resisting the urge to shake the box. “How private we talking?”

“I don’t know, she didn’t give any instructions, other than it was for you personally.”

“Well in that case.” Tom handed the letters to Jacky, who dutifully took them as he started to unwrap his package. He was kinda hoping for some sort of magic device. As the waxed parchment slid away it did indeed reveal a box with a sliding lid. Tom didn’t see any reason to delay, letting the parchment fall to the ground and sliding the lid off the plain-looking box.

Inside was a stark contrast to the simple outside, it was lined with fine blue silk and had soft pillowy sides divided into three compartments. In one lay a single earring along with a small piece of card. In the next two were a pair of polished, seemingly steel cylinders, with what he assumed to be magic etchings covering them and another small paper card with some writing on it wedged down by the side of one of them.

‘Great, more handwriting. I wonder what those are though?’ he pondered, taking out the card and having a read. Having a look at it, it was at least substantially better than the label on the hot sauce.

“For you and li-link- oh Linkosta. To ea-ease her… troubles?” Tom read aloud, looking at the odd cylinders.

“What troubles?” Jacky questioned, mimicking his own sentiment.

“No idea, but there is a card with the earring too. I’ll ask Lin, maybe she knows,” Tom added, picking out the second small card. “I have… questions.”

“Oh for the love of the gods,” Jacky complained as they both worked out what that earring was likely for. “Could she not have at least given us a set so we would have some use out of it?”

“That would have been nice, yeah,” Tom concurred, picking out the small silvery earring, though he guessed it was actually mithril or some other magical alloy.

“It is still a quite generous gift,” Carnegie the trader pointed out. “Such items are not cheap.”

“That much is true,” Tom concurred, putting the ring back inside and closing up the lid. “Thank you. I should probably put this somewhere safe.”

“Yes, a fine idea, but Arch does have another package for you. It’s a bit more sizable. Jacky if you wouldn’t mind giving Vulzan and his crew a hand with it. I do have some lists to check off.”

“Oh… that big? Well, good luck on the paperwork,” Jacky replied, already having her attention turned towards the large blue dragon and setting off at a brisk walk. Tom just followed with his new box wondering what this might be about.

__________________________________________________________________________________

After Saph had gone to get her personal items struck off the list and paid up to Carnegie, she had asked what had happened to the fine cloth she had ordered. She had sorta been hoping Essy would help her turn it into a dress or something along those lines, for any more festive events that might be coming up.

“Oh you were not alone in your wishes for that. Vulzan bought a few larger rolls, got a better price. Then you can all divide as yah see fit,” Carnegie replied chipperly before getting on with working out how much Pho owed him, which seemed to be quite a lot.

“Oh I see… uhm where is it?”

“Don’t know, it’s a big box. Arch should have it. Over there somewhere,” he said pointing with his pencil, which now that Saph noticed was definitely a capital design.

“Thank you, I’ll leave you to it,” Saph replied gratefully, jogging over to where a larger-ish chest was being lowered down from Archeon's harness by some crew, Tom and Jacky standing on the ground ready to receive it.

“Need a hand?” she questioned, as she stepped in to help lower the box down into the soft grass. Vulzan came up fiddling with a keychain, finally getting out a rather elaborate-looking one.

‘Damn, this must be some fancy fabrics,’ Saph went to herself in surprise as the presumably arcane lock was opened with the special key. Her total had only come to about 9 gold, which was still a LOT of money, but it shouldn’t warrant something like this. Unless there was something else in here too.

“Right, there we go,” the trader said as the click was heard, and with a solid yank on the two handles affixed to the lid the chest opened up.

“Oh,” was all Saph got out as the contents were revealed.

“Joelina Hashaw sends her regards,” Vulzan went with a smirky grin, leaning on the chest lid and looking to Tom, who was staring down into the chest along with everyone else.

“I know, I told her it would win you over, but damn…”

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