"What?" Ulric said dumbly.
Taipan was grinning from ear to long, narrow ear.
"It is not yet the season for catching flies Ulric, but I applaud your attempt." His Shadow laughed at him.
"What do you mean 'dowry' Taipan?" He asked.
Okay Ulric, just calm down, it probably means something different out here, what are the odds that a tradition like that would even exist out here?
She laughed then, loudly, not the light titters that typically accompanied something she was amused by, this was an actual gods honest laugh. She managed to control herself for a moment to explain.
"It is a common enough practice amongst the highborn, Ulric. Children who will not inherit the seats of power or controlling interests in their families are less desirable than the direct heirs and so they are given away with a dowry commensurate with their value, typically a sum of coin, to secure a worthy spouse." She instructed, telling him exactly what dowries were in his old world.
Oh gods, what the fuck? How did this happen? When did this happen? The expression on his face must have been worth as much as the purse to her, because the dusky Elf sitting beside him was all but laughing hysterically. Full on rolling belly laughing.
Ulric was too stunned to muster a response other than to watch dumbly as the woman enjoyed herself at his expense.
Wiping a tear from the corner of her eye, she managed to control herself enough to pick up the purse and put it back on Ulric's belt.
Finally, he managed to form some kind of response, "Aren't dowries for married couples?"
Real fucking genius Ulric. Just the biggest brain.
She grinned again. Oh no, he thought, there's some kind of nonsense Elven cultural fuckery about to go on isn't there?
"High borne in times of war, frequently due to the distances between them, offer three gifts to declare their intent to marry. You gave me my brother's life, you gave me my life, and then you gave me my father's life. What three greater gifts could I have been offered? And we are in times of war, are we not?" She said, driving the nails steadily into his coffin.
Yep, there it was, cultural fuckery spotted!
"Father said it was perfectly legal. Mother Vedyr said it would be unthoughtful to reject two proposals for marriage, if you recall the incident with the [Forest Lord]'s core. So, before my Mothers and Father, I accepted your offer. Father regrets though that there could be no wedding, since I abdicated my place in his household when I declared myself dead. Brother Lumyt'seit, Lord of Iriel made it official, and had the royal family trees updated accordingly. The dowry, father gave me to do with as I pleased, since, as he said 'This coin has no use to me now but to make me smile'." Taipan let the story unfold with obvious delight.
Bald'rt Iriel, you bastard! He'd got what he wanted after all, despite Ulric's best attempts to slip the net. Ye gods, He'd never had a chance, had he? And they did love their pranks, did the Iriels. He started to wonder how long she would have gone before telling him, no, before springing the trap.
"Exactly when were you planning on telling me that we were, with regards to your kin, married?" He questioned.
The cat that had the canary never showed so much satisfaction as his Shadow.
"When either you made an attempt to escape or asked me. I decided that this was close enough to an ask, you are thicker than Varda's bones." She laughed again at him.
The shock was starting to wear off. He supposed, it hadn't been much difference than being married these past two months, had it? She'd already been tied to him, dooming him to her company for basically forever. Or until he could be far enough from Bald'rt that that Elf didn't kill him for breaking his oath or finding a way to keep Taipan from tracking him with her [Hunter's Mark] voodoo. He hadn't even noticed a difference so…it didn't matter?
He glanced at the Elf and very deliberately discarded that thought immediately. If he said that out loud, he was pretty certain he didn't live to eat lunch.
Sighing heavily, he returned to organizing the inventory for their impromptu shop. For some reason he felt slightly more invested in its success now, and that was horseshit! Nothing had changed, they were still doing the same things, in the same places, pretty much without any difference. And, yet, he almost felt obligated to be successful at it now, where'd he'd almost been unable to care about it before. Godsdamned Iriel'en.
He briefly wondered how many people knew? Fucking all of them, if he knew how Bald'rt's evil twisty mind worked. All but him. It was too rich a joke for that jackal to resist.
Wait. All but him and, he'd bet his boots, one other, had been deliberately left out of the loop. The other victim though? Galed Uldin. Him, because it was hilarious for him to be running around married and not knowing it. Smith Uldin, so that he'd have to wait until Ulric and Taipan returned to Iriel to make a big deal about his "Little Girl" being wed. That was the kind of spiteful shit for which Bald'rt godsdamned Iriel lived to do to his closest friends.
These Elves wore him out.
Glancing up he couldn't help but observe to his Shadow, and, apparently, wife, "You know? It figures that your idea of a honeymoon is traipsing for months through monster-infested wilderness on our way to go murder a bunch of war criminals."
Taipan nodded in agreement but asked, "What is a honeymoon?"
So, Ulric was obligated to explain the practice of his old world for a wed couple to take a vacation just for the two of them to enjoy each other's company and, at least in the most ancient forms of the tradition, sire a child.
"The first we will do aplenty Ulric. The second, I think not for a while yet. I am another year outside my time in any case. For now, we are adventuring like the heroes of old Ulric! Bringing wrath and flame and vengeance on them, our enemies!" She declared, sounding so much like her little brother when Ulric had made the lad a wooden mask that it was scary.
"You know what? Fine. It's totally fine, more than fine. I'm married to an absolute ten out of ten tigress of an Elf? Sure thing, couldn't be better." Ulric declared, giving in.
"See? I knew you would come around. Especially because…" Taipan began and then started whispering things that Ulric was pretty sure used to get you arrested in some overly dictatorial theocracies.
She'd convinced him sufficiently within a couple of minutes.
"My question, " Ulric started, as the two of them sat in the doorway of the shelter with [Bloodstarve] cores, Ravager pelt, butchered meat, bones that Taipan was scrimshawing into various Elven luck charms she said Hunters favored, remains from the damned tree net monkeys, and the smaller pelts and cores of various small game the woman had hunted on their way, "Is why would you want to remain my Shadow, now that you're official? I thought that was supposed to sort of invalidate the whole lifelong servant thing."
Her attention didn't waver from the carving, her hands turning the piece and working the small, razor-sharp knife she kept specifically for that use when she answered.
"Because it's more fun.” She told him, still smiling as her hands moved the dainty carving knife.
Her expression lifted with her voice, lilting musically, “Why would I wish to remain behind in Irielhos while you go out seeking an adventure from story? Besides, all of mine life I have wanted vengeance against the ones who caused my family pain. Now, you are off to go do this very thing and I should stay back? Never, Ulric. I will go together with you and we will make the ones responsible for our suffering taste it in spades. What more could a Hunter ask for?" She asked and answered a series of questions that fairly well encapsulated for Ulric the sheer insanity of anybody making enemies of the Iriel'en.
These Elves were full throttle, and he couldn't really see anything wrong with her response. 'Cause I wanna was a pretty good argument in Ulric's playbook. Life was worth losing sometimes.
In addition to the sheer radical hazard of leaving the safety of the city walls, that come what may willingness to throw themselves into the world was probably what accounted for the somewhat lack of older individuals. These folk knew what it was to live a life, not to merely endure one.
All of this was just him trying to get over the fact that he'd gotten married without knowing and he now had to lament that he was no longer allowed to sip the sweet nectar of sin while bedding his lawful wife. When life hands you incredibly hot, athletic, uber competent sylvan princess wives, you just gotta make do, he told himself sardonically. There was little point to denying that he did not deserve to have her company and that he would have to try to be a better person because of it, a mindset that he'd struggled with throughout most of both his lives. Being a naturally slightly misanthropic personality did not lend itself to being a romantic very well. Struggle with one's own flaws was just a part of things, he supposed.
Now what really chapped his ass though, was that he'd gotten the feeling that his destiny was less and less his own ever since he'd gone to the Iriel'en fortress city. No, rather, before that, when he'd met the little princeling in distress. Yeah, all the way back then his conceit of living a calm, peaceful, witch-man life out in the wild was thrown off course. Never a man to blame the heavens for his fate, Ulric nevertheless had met a creature that claimed to be a god, and backed it up with tits that had to come from Paradise, and he'd witnessed a living storm that reached into space and spoke to him, in some kind of half-remembered way. It was possible there was a guiding force out there somewhere, pulling a few levers to push the odds in certain directions over others, just a few subtle nudges on probability would have been enough to make the difference.
The wisdom of using mental resources on such a problem was questionable. He simply had no way to know, everything felt like the logical consequence of a choice made. It made him think of some of the more bizarre treatises of quantum determination, how one state changing led to another state changing, leading to a cascade of events that resulted in macroscopic, almost pre-determined, outcomes. His decision way back then was to pretend that he'd never read that mind-bending text and to live his life. It was a good plan then, and, he figured, it was a good plan now.
It suddenly occurred to him that, if he'd satisfied the conditions of some archaic practice and freed Taipan from their bond, she could have left at any point those months ago. Which meant she was here all this time by choice. She'd said nothing though, not a hint. Not so's he could determine, though, as she said, he was thicker than a nuclear waste vault. It was an oddly understated way to declare her intentions, by doing rather than saying.
He was jarred from his ruminations when a villager, an older Elf with the faintest strands of salt peppering his short shoulder-length hair, stopped by their impromptu stall.
"Ey there, laddy, what're ye askin o those Hunter's charms?" He brogued.
It took a moment to parse the accent, but Ulric got there and passed a glance to Taipan whose eyes flicked down, leading his gaze to where she held three fingers discreetly by her thigh, then made a zero, followed by another zero and tapped a bronze servant, which was tied to a leather thong around her thigh, along with a servant of argentium and electrum. Ulric hadn't seen her secure the leather cord with its metals, an incredibly sharp move to pass Ulric prices.
She presented one of the two completed trinkets, as Ulric channeled over thirty years of exposure to advertisement crafted by expert head crackers to prospective customers crying, "Those finest examples of Iriel'en hunting charms are a mere three Eld drakes! Carved from the teeth of a savage beast killed only yesterday, they wear the blood of its last kill still! A fine selection, finer for the cost. They will only go up as my partner’s fingers warm up this morning, I can promise you."
The Elf looked even more interested, leaning in "Hooh now? 's that so? I am havin' te admit they carry a sort o' sense o' the beast in'm. Alright then, ye'v yer'self a deal!" He said, before he pulled two eld drakes and a crown from his purse, passing them along.
Ulric didn't know if it was intentional or a mistake, but he counted out change immediately holding it up to the Elf.
"Done, and with my blessings on your hunts good sir!" He declared cheerfully, as Taipan handed the carving to the buyer.
As the man wandered away, Taipan nudged him. He glanced over to see her frowning at him.
"What?" He asked.
She shook her head slowly, "Since when do you sound like a seasoned merchant hawking goods from his shop? You were even pleasant!" She probed, astounded.
How did a person even describe modern civilization and its pervasive exposure to advertisement? Best not to get into it really, he wasn't prepared to unleash that kind of evil on this sweet, innocent, planet.
Rather than go into consumerism and broken materialistic societies predicated on endless consumption he shrugged, "It is a thing you pick up in my homeland. Masters of trade are constantly shouting into your ear with their pitches, selling all manner of nonsense at all hours of day. Eventually it just sort of crawls into your brain and lives there."
"Really? You are being serious now, no jokes?" She asked, flabbergasted.
He nodded, not sure why she thought this was the oddest thing he'd told her about his past, what with all the marvels of flying, a rail system, electricity, etc.
"Ulric, that sounds…that is like a form of torture. I would not do that to my worst enemy, to offer no peace, no silence, to disturb their every waking thought with shrill nuisance…terrible." She said, with actual pity in her voice.
"It is no wonder you are worms in the head" She concluded.
He couldn't even disagree with her on that one.
His parents had said it was much, much, worse back in the pre-collapse eras. Endless shouting, blaring, loudspeakers ranting about the latest this or the freshest that. Somehow, a few marketing strategists had survived the collapse and they bred like flies in shit. In his own time, things were more muted, there were decibel limits and enforced light pollution ordinances to prevent undue waste of electricity but when your entire world is connected to an information network, it wasn't hard to be nearly constantly exposed to some form of advertisement. Glad he was to have never lived pre-collapse, although, he supposed, there were still great forests then, at least a few.
"Anyway," He said aloud, breaking out of those pointless meanderings, "I do have some experience, through exposure, to the game of marketing."
It was not good enough for the woman. She had this matter like a dog on a ham bone, locked between her teeth for proper chewing.
"And that you were being nice?" She asked.
"What do you mean, I wasn't that nice. Just being a little energetic is all, you know, projecting a certain air of joviality for the customer." He defended himself.
"You could do with a little of that attitude more often." She told him, pointedly.
This from her? The member of a clan of Elves that was considered biting and unsociable even amongst their own, and she herself widely considered to be amongst the more difficult of their kin? Taipan was an asshole cubed. He did have to grant her, grudgingly, that he could be a little dour sometimes. But, C'mon, pot and kettle over here.
"Yeah, okay lady, maybe I could spend my energy being a little more happy-go-lucky, but I'll do that when you stop picking at my every flaw." He outlined his conditions.
"But… how else will you grow if I do not point out everything you do wrongly?" She asked, slowly, as if deeply confused.
"By calmly, and gently, and without most of the sarcasm, indicating what to improve on. Fewer insults, maybe slightly less gloating." He answered, as matter of fact as he could manage.
"But…how then am I supposed to enjoy fixing all that is wrong with you?" She asked, still confused.
Yeah. That's about what he thought.
"I am glad that we have these talks, Taipan. I truly feel fortunate to be able to get to know you better." He said, drily.
"You are welcome, Ulric. It is good that you are aware that you should be grateful for my company." Was her retort, equally serious.
Actually, by this point, he wasn't even sure if it was sarcasm anymore, or a genuine expression. It was a particular talent of the Iriel'en to do both at the same time and his brain hurt trying to parse it out.
He didn't have further chance to hurt himself in his confusion because another Elf, this one with an apron that suggested prolonged exposure to high heats, but with an earthy, floral odor, that said that they weren't a smith. Fine, close-fitting gloves indicated a need to prevent direct contact with things but desire for fine dexterity. An herbalist or pharmacist?
"I see that you are in possession of some interesting cores there, Trader. Would you care if I inspect them?" Opened the Elf, her hair woven into a complex set of miniature braids, sort of reminding him of fancy dreadlocks.
She spoke very quietly, as if in a whisper.
He had no objection to that and told the prospective buyer thusly.
Her delicate gloved hands, the leather stained various colors, took up a [Bloodstarve Broodling] core with long fingernails on the thumb and ring finger of one hand acting like forceps from a slit in the glove material. She studied the core intently turning it around. Next, she extracted what looked like a small jeweler's lens and continued her examination. The core's facets and colors burned brightly in the morning light, crimson and rust, emanating from within. Eventually, the Elf appeared satisfied with the [Bloodstarve Broodling] and picked up the brood mother's core, giving it a similar treatment.
Her eyes flashed silver and Ulric knew that she was using an ability similar to scan, perhaps an appraisal skill, to dissect the core magically.
He considered that he might want such a skill himself. It would have potentially saved an incredible amount of tedium, along with some misery, in determining herbaceous toxicities in the glade. Mentally, he put a check box next to that one to follow up with Taipan later.
Whatever this examination revealed, the Elf turned her eyes to him with naked desire for the core.
"I would have this and all of the other [Bloodstarve] cores you have available for sale." She stated, softly.
"Can you tell me, if it is not against your business interests, where you located a swarm of these creatures? They are not common to these woodlands, are, in fact, quite rare outside of Iriel's darker forests and caves." Inquired the Elf woman softly, almost too quietly to pick up.
Ulric had already discussed these types of questions with Taipan and they'd agreed that it wasn't necessarily revealing anything that they'd encountered them near the border of Iriel and Celestin.
"About three days south and west, though I could not tell you with more certainty, my guide here does most of the navigating when we enter the less traveled trails.” Ulric reported.
“I cannot read the Iriel'en markings, and she refuses to reveal too many of her peoples' secrets, even after all this time. It was when we came across such markings that I even knew we had crossed over the border, drifting too far South to escape a blizzard. Still, there was a wide river, frozen, and the beasts were snatching up anything that moved. I am afraid you won't likely find any more, my partner here assures me that the creatures were far outside their ranges this far north, even as you say. It was this, buried in the body of the brood mother, that spurred them out of their normal territories." Ulric reported, telling the agreed-upon tale and revealing the, up to this point, hidden gem that was the [Mindworm] core.
The Alchemist, if that's what she was, went still at the sight of the sickly yellow hues. So. She recognized it instantly.
"A [Mindworm]!? Leading a swarm of [Bloodstarves]? I have never even heard of such a thing…are you aware of how fortunate you are not to have been turned into the parasite's host and become a vector for atrocity, Trader?" The Elf asked archly, but still quiet.
"Aye. I did not know of it, nor did my talented guide, not until we'd brought down the brood mother and the little horror came shambling after us, piloting the corpse like some macabre puppet. It was my guide who realized the danger, you have her to thank for ending the threat." He explained earnestly, the memory of jerking legs and tentacles vivid in his mind.
The Elf had reached for the core instinctively driven by sheer curiosity, but Ulric covered it with his hand.
"This one we're being a little more careful of, fair customer. We had planned to turn it in for the bounty, in Trachn'ir some day or two further along the road. Would you better or match their offer?" Ulric pressed.
If he could unload this foul feeling thing, he'd be glad to, but, according to his Shadow, it was going to fund their entire journey, which he was starting to suspect was going to be more expensive than he'd naively conceived at its outset.
The alchemist didn't even flinch, even knowing the cost. She rose back to her full height, characteristically short as her other kin, compared to the Iriel'en he'd come to familiarity with, and made to be off.
"I will return with haste, I did not carry so much coin on my person, who in their right mind would? You will hold this, and the [Bloodstarves]! I will return!" The woman demanded urgently, hiking up her pocketed dress to run full tilt.
He looked at his partner. "Well? What do you think?"
She wore a thoughtful look, but "A bit too skinny for your tastes." was her answer.
He blinked a few times until that registered. When he did, he ran his palm over his face, slowly, until he could figure out what to say that didn't involve cursing. She was right full of it this morning.
His mouth opened to object to her, as a person, when she cut him off with a laugh.
"I jest, of course, Ulric. If she has the coin to cover this, we should certainly sell all the cores we may. No one questions a trader carrying coin, but there will be many inquiries that accompany the presence of [Bloodstarves] and, even more so, [Mindworms]. It is best to unload these problems in a backwater like Seinajok, rather than a more prolific place like Trachn'ir. This serves our purpose well." Taipan summarized.
He was glad she'd found the time to give him a useful response in her busy schedule of taking the piss out of him today.
Well, it was fine. He probably even deserved it. Ulric was fully aware that he could be an utter bastard. It was one of his defining personality traits. Unlike him, who tended to respond to provocations in immediate history and obtain satisfaction in the moment, Taipan had a gift for gliding over perceived slights, like a small boat in the high surf, only to stockpile it for future address. The result is that he was never precisely sure what he was paying for, only that she was collecting on something.
Speaking of collecting.
"Alright, well I'm glad we're agreeing on that then. So, quote me a price for the swarm fiasco. Oh! No, wait, let me try to guess first." He demanded, trying to determine what a blood thirsty swarm of monsters and a mind-controlling parasite were worth.
Some amount of finger counting occurred, accompanied by mumbles of incoherence, but he arrived at the wild assed guess of "It's right about one and a half Aur Crowns isn't it?"
Taipan smiled and gave him a pinch of fingers, indicating "close" before she tabulated the values.
"One Aur Crown for the [Mindworm], as I have told you before. Each [Bloodstarve Broodling] is a Sil Squire, of which we have twenty and five. A [Bloodstarve Brood Mother] is going for a Sil Drake." She listed.
Ulric started doing the math. Twenty-five Sils by ten was two hundred fifty Sil Servants add in the Drake, a thousand Servants and you got about twelve hundred fifty Sil Servants. The [Mindworm] was a crown, ten thousand Aur Servants. Nope, he was way off. The entire [Bloodstarve] swarm was just about one and a quarter Aur Servant.
Gods' blood! The [Bloodstarves] weren't even close. He was immediately confused. Why did they rate so little compared to the [Mindworm]?
His baffled expression must have given him away.
"You are confused?" Taipan stated the obvious in the form of a question.
He had to know.
"Why in the hell are those vampire bat monsters worth so little?"
Taipan waved her most recent piece of scrimshaw at him like an instructor's baton.
"It is because they represent vastly different levels of threat, Ulric." She replied, clearly enjoying lording her experience over him.
This is what he got for trying to explain radio waves to her, he thought. That had been a three-hour disaster and had ended up with her refusing to hear any more "witchcraft" from him. He'd nearly choked on the irony of hearing that from a woman who could track him by a concoction made up of his bodily fluids and thaumaturgic ritual.
"The [Bloodstarves] are simple creatures, almost without thought in their aggression, and whose signs of activity are very clear. Their dens are easy to find and, as you saw with my poison phial, easy to empty. Not only that, they can only act freely at night or in very limited capacities in shaded regions of the deeper forests, where few people would live or work anyway. So, easy to find, easy to kill, and of limited range, thus, not dangerous." Taipan summarized succinctly.
"The [Mindworm], however, is nearly impossible to recognize by its presence alone. Even [Scan] does not detect it within its host. That makes them, very difficult to locate and destroy.” His worldly partner narrated gladly, always happy to talk shop.
“Additionally, they have an instinct to disperse themselves as widely as possible, and, because they carry the knowledge of their motherworm who extracts knowledge from her host, they can be exceptionally devious. They are also capable of killing and changing hosts very rapidly, jumping from one to another in but a few moments, thus, are highly dangerous to engage in close quarters.” His Iriel’en Wife, which still somewhat shocked him, continued to instruct, describing the horrors in detail.
The lass wrapped up her lesson on [Mindworms] and the Hunter economy.
“To summarize then, they are almost limitless in range, extremely hard to detect, and lethal combatants attacking from close range using the body of a friend or loved one to seed with their offspring," Taipan explained, reiterating some of her prior points and reinforcing the insidious nature of that creature, "Hence, the bounty of a single electrum crown, ten-thousand Aur Servants, to reward the eradication of this menace, before it can spread its taint and ravage an entire nation."
There was some spooky shit inhabiting this planet, he concluded.
"Wait, that's huge. That's a fucking huge amount of money." He said, confused for a different reason.
"How the hell does that random stranger in the middle of nowhere have that kind of money lying around?" He questioned.
Now, Taipan was pleased with him.
"There, Ulric, that is the proper question, the deep thinking. If, as I suspect, this woman is an Alchemist of high repute, choosing to remain in a remote place to hide her research, then she is likely very wealthy. Her research expenditures might even be covered by the Alchemist's guild, if she is ranked highly enough." She explained without sarcasm.
"It is such people that discover the means to create reagents for processing cores, imbuing materials, synthesizing antidotes, and creating elixirs. Unlike mages, who use their own cores to enact changes on mana, the Alchemist learned to use what is already there, to weave the magic of the world into new forms. Unlike mages, whose abilities largely die with them, the Alchemists guild leaves a legacy for all the future." Taipan told him, with a touch of reverence.
He was unexpectedly happy to hear this regard for, what sounded to him, like the first instance of a culture of modern science that he had heard. The smiths hoarded their secrets and techniques instead of sharing them, but the Alchemists seem to have gathered to regulate and share their art, even if they didn't exactly promulgate it publicly.
Neat.
He thought it was a slightly silly question, but he had to get more information on the state of scientific discourse and research in this odd world, "Why then does this maybe secret Alchemist hide her research?"
Taipan didn't comment on the question itself so maybe it wasn't so dumb.
"Because, until it is published officially by the Guild, it might be stolen and the accolades given to another who only perhaps fine-tuned a few steps or made minor modifications based on inspiration gained by accessing her findings. There have been cases of an Alchemist murdered by their colleagues, due to jealousy and greed, their entire lives work stolen along with their lives." Taipan said, clearly regretful about such goings on.
"A large amount of wealth can be attached to the discovery of a new way to heal wounds, or separate metal from ore, or to empower a core to survive awakening. I should mention now that you must never, under any condition, share your knowledge of how you cured the Bane from my father. I do not think even my family's aegis would shield you from that." She warned him.
Oh shit. He'd forgotten about that. Lurking around in his head were probably a few things that might be worth a man's life, even if he didn't recognize what they were. Damn. He'd have to be doubly careful talking about his old world's technology now.
The Alchemist returned then, with a somewhat larger pouch and a large crossbow hung heavily from her belt, he noted.
She took every core they had, all of them. He said nothing about the purchase, acting as if it was just every day that a transaction for the value of the village in which they sat traded hands, the vast majority of which came from that single yellow and orange core.
Thanking the Alchemist (probably) for her custom, he sat back a little taken aback.
"Taipan, is this why people make a living risking who the hell knows what heinous monsters out there? If you get lucky just once you sort of win for life?"
"That is part of it, Ulric." The dusky Elf agreed.
"For some though, it is for duty and love of kin. Many would be left naked against such creatures. The Hunters of Iriel donate the vast parts of their fortunes back to the coffers of the nation, keeping only the greater items of their careers to fund their lives. Some give it all away, content to live and strive against the wild, feeling never alive while in the safety of the tamed lands. I was never one to find comfort within the walls of a room." His Shadow answered, eloquently.
He wanted to confirm this next part even if it might hurt.
"So, you don't regret coming along with me on this little journey or getting stuck babysitting an ignorant Human that might get you killed?"
She replied instantly, "I am having the time of mine life right now Ulric. You are growing and I will grow with you. I feel that, if we survive, we will eventually walk every shore that Varda has to offer."
He felt a warmth that he'd never known before then, like a lamp lighting next to the thrum of his core.
That was nice.
"What?" Ulric said dumbly.
Taipan was grinning from ear to long, narrow ear.
"It is not yet the season for catching flies Ulric, but I applaud your attempt." His Shadow laughed at him.
"What do you mean 'dowry' Taipan?" He asked.
Okay Ulric, just calm down, it probably means something different out here, what are the odds that a tradition like that would even exist out here?
She laughed then, loudly, not the light titters that typically accompanied something she was amused by, this was an actual gods honest laugh. She managed to control herself for a moment to explain.
"It is a common enough practice amongst the highborn, Ulric. Children who will not inherit the seats of power or controlling interests in their families are less desirable than the direct heirs and so they are given away with a dowry commensurate with their value, typically a sum of coin, to secure a worthy spouse." She instructed, telling him exactly what dowries were in his old world.
Oh gods, what the fuck? How did this happen? When did this happen? The expression on his face must have been worth as much as the purse to her, because the dusky Elf sitting beside him was all but laughing hysterically. Full on rolling belly laughing.
Ulric was too stunned to muster a response other than to watch dumbly as the woman enjoyed herself at his expense.
Wiping a tear from the corner of her eye, she managed to control herself enough to pick up the purse and put it back on Ulric's belt.
Finally, he managed to form some kind of response, "Aren't dowries for married couples?"
Real fucking genius Ulric. Just the biggest brain.
She grinned again. Oh no, he thought, there's some kind of nonsense Elven cultural fuckery about to go on isn't there?
"High borne in times of war, frequently due to the distances between them, offer three gifts to declare their intent to marry. You gave me my brother's life, you gave me my life, and then you gave me my father's life. What three greater gifts could I have been offered? And we are in times of war, are we not?" She said, driving the nails steadily into his coffin.
Yep, there it was, cultural fuckery spotted!
"Father said it was perfectly legal. Mother Vedyr said it would be unthoughtful to reject two proposals for marriage, if you recall the incident with the [Forest Lord]'s core. So, before my Mothers and Father, I accepted your offer. Father regrets though that there could be no wedding, since I abdicated my place in his household when I declared myself dead. Brother Lumyt'seit, Lord of Iriel made it official, and had the royal family trees updated accordingly. The dowry, father gave me to do with as I pleased, since, as he said 'This coin has no use to me now but to make me smile'." Taipan let the story unfold with obvious delight.
Bald'rt Iriel, you bastard! He'd got what he wanted after all, despite Ulric's best attempts to slip the net. Ye gods, He'd never had a chance, had he? And they did love their pranks, did the Iriels. He started to wonder how long she would have gone before telling him, no, before springing the trap.
"Exactly when were you planning on telling me that we were, with regards to your kin, married?" He questioned.
The cat that had the canary never showed so much satisfaction as his Shadow.
"When either you made an attempt to escape or asked me. I decided that this was close enough to an ask, you are thicker than Varda's bones." She laughed again at him.
The shock was starting to wear off. He supposed, it hadn't been much difference than being married these past two months, had it? She'd already been tied to him, dooming him to her company for basically forever. Or until he could be far enough from Bald'rt that that Elf didn't kill him for breaking his oath or finding a way to keep Taipan from tracking him with her [Hunter's Mark] voodoo. He hadn't even noticed a difference so…it didn't matter?
He glanced at the Elf and very deliberately discarded that thought immediately. If he said that out loud, he was pretty certain he didn't live to eat lunch.
Sighing heavily, he returned to organizing the inventory for their impromptu shop. For some reason he felt slightly more invested in its success now, and that was horseshit! Nothing had changed, they were still doing the same things, in the same places, pretty much without any difference. And, yet, he almost felt obligated to be successful at it now, where'd he'd almost been unable to care about it before. Godsdamned Iriel'en.
He briefly wondered how many people knew? Fucking all of them, if he knew how Bald'rt's evil twisty mind worked. All but him. It was too rich a joke for that jackal to resist.
Wait. All but him and, he'd bet his boots, one other, had been deliberately left out of the loop. The other victim though? Galed Uldin. Him, because it was hilarious for him to be running around married and not knowing it. Smith Uldin, so that he'd have to wait until Ulric and Taipan returned to Iriel to make a big deal about his "Little Girl" being wed. That was the kind of spiteful shit for which Bald'rt godsdamned Iriel lived to do to his closest friends.
These Elves wore him out.
Glancing up he couldn't help but observe to his Shadow, and, apparently, wife, "You know? It figures that your idea of a honeymoon is traipsing for months through monster-infested wilderness on our way to go murder a bunch of war criminals."
Taipan nodded in agreement but asked, "What is a honeymoon?"
So, Ulric was obligated to explain the practice of his old world for a wed couple to take a vacation just for the two of them to enjoy each other's company and, at least in the most ancient forms of the tradition, sire a child.
"The first we will do aplenty Ulric. The second, I think not for a while yet. I am another year outside my time in any case. For now, we are adventuring like the heroes of old Ulric! Bringing wrath and flame and vengeance on them, our enemies!" She declared, sounding so much like her little brother when Ulric had made the lad a wooden mask that it was scary.
"You know what? Fine. It's totally fine, more than fine. I'm married to an absolute ten out of ten tigress of an Elf? Sure thing, couldn't be better." Ulric declared, giving in.
"See? I knew you would come around. Especially because…" Taipan began and then started whispering things that Ulric was pretty sure used to get you arrested in some overly dictatorial theocracies.
She'd convinced him sufficiently within a couple of minutes.
"My question, " Ulric started, as the two of them sat in the doorway of the shelter with [Bloodstarve] cores, Ravager pelt, butchered meat, bones that Taipan was scrimshawing into various Elven luck charms she said Hunters favored, remains from the damned tree net monkeys, and the smaller pelts and cores of various small game the woman had hunted on their way, "Is why would you want to remain my Shadow, now that you're official? I thought that was supposed to sort of invalidate the whole lifelong servant thing."
Her attention didn't waver from the carving, her hands turning the piece and working the small, razor-sharp knife she kept specifically for that use when she answered.
"Because it's more fun.” She told him, still smiling as her hands moved the dainty carving knife.
Her expression lifted with her voice, lilting musically, “Why would I wish to remain behind in Irielhos while you go out seeking an adventure from story? Besides, all of mine life I have wanted vengeance against the ones who caused my family pain. Now, you are off to go do this very thing and I should stay back? Never, Ulric. I will go together with you and we will make the ones responsible for our suffering taste it in spades. What more could a Hunter ask for?" She asked and answered a series of questions that fairly well encapsulated for Ulric the sheer insanity of anybody making enemies of the Iriel'en.
These Elves were full throttle, and he couldn't really see anything wrong with her response. 'Cause I wanna was a pretty good argument in Ulric's playbook. Life was worth losing sometimes.
In addition to the sheer radical hazard of leaving the safety of the city walls, that come what may willingness to throw themselves into the world was probably what accounted for the somewhat lack of older individuals. These folk knew what it was to live a life, not to merely endure one.
All of this was just him trying to get over the fact that he'd gotten married without knowing and he now had to lament that he was no longer allowed to sip the sweet nectar of sin while bedding his lawful wife. When life hands you incredibly hot, athletic, uber competent sylvan princess wives, you just gotta make do, he told himself sardonically. There was little point to denying that he did not deserve to have her company and that he would have to try to be a better person because of it, a mindset that he'd struggled with throughout most of both his lives. Being a naturally slightly misanthropic personality did not lend itself to being a romantic very well. Struggle with one's own flaws was just a part of things, he supposed.
Now what really chapped his ass though, was that he'd gotten the feeling that his destiny was less and less his own ever since he'd gone to the Iriel'en fortress city. No, rather, before that, when he'd met the little princeling in distress. Yeah, all the way back then his conceit of living a calm, peaceful, witch-man life out in the wild was thrown off course. Never a man to blame the heavens for his fate, Ulric nevertheless had met a creature that claimed to be a god, and backed it up with tits that had to come from Paradise, and he'd witnessed a living storm that reached into space and spoke to him, in some kind of half-remembered way. It was possible there was a guiding force out there somewhere, pulling a few levers to push the odds in certain directions over others, just a few subtle nudges on probability would have been enough to make the difference.
The wisdom of using mental resources on such a problem was questionable. He simply had no way to know, everything felt like the logical consequence of a choice made. It made him think of some of the more bizarre treatises of quantum determination, how one state changing led to another state changing, leading to a cascade of events that resulted in macroscopic, almost pre-determined, outcomes. His decision way back then was to pretend that he'd never read that mind-bending text and to live his life. It was a good plan then, and, he figured, it was a good plan now.
It suddenly occurred to him that, if he'd satisfied the conditions of some archaic practice and freed Taipan from their bond, she could have left at any point those months ago. Which meant she was here all this time by choice. She'd said nothing though, not a hint. Not so's he could determine, though, as she said, he was thicker than a nuclear waste vault. It was an oddly understated way to declare her intentions, by doing rather than saying.
He was jarred from his ruminations when a villager, an older Elf with the faintest strands of salt peppering his short shoulder-length hair, stopped by their impromptu stall.
"Ey there, laddy, what're ye askin o those Hunter's charms?" He brogued.
It took a moment to parse the accent, but Ulric got there and passed a glance to Taipan whose eyes flicked down, leading his gaze to where she held three fingers discreetly by her thigh, then made a zero, followed by another zero and tapped a bronze servant, which was tied to a leather thong around her thigh, along with a servant of argentium and electrum. Ulric hadn't seen her secure the leather cord with its metals, an incredibly sharp move to pass Ulric prices.
She presented one of the two completed trinkets, as Ulric channeled over thirty years of exposure to advertisement crafted by expert head crackers to prospective customers crying, "Those finest examples of Iriel'en hunting charms are a mere three Eld drakes! Carved from the teeth of a savage beast killed only yesterday, they wear the blood of its last kill still! A fine selection, finer for the cost. They will only go up as my partner’s fingers warm up this morning, I can promise you."
The Elf looked even more interested, leaning in "Hooh now? 's that so? I am havin' te admit they carry a sort o' sense o' the beast in'm. Alright then, ye'v yer'self a deal!" He said, before he pulled two eld drakes and a crown from his purse, passing them along.
Ulric didn't know if it was intentional or a mistake, but he counted out change immediately holding it up to the Elf.
"Done, and with my blessings on your hunts good sir!" He declared cheerfully, as Taipan handed the carving to the buyer.
As the man wandered away, Taipan nudged him. He glanced over to see her frowning at him.
"What?" He asked.
She shook her head slowly, "Since when do you sound like a seasoned merchant hawking goods from his shop? You were even pleasant!" She probed, astounded.
How did a person even describe modern civilization and its pervasive exposure to advertisement? Best not to get into it really, he wasn't prepared to unleash that kind of evil on this sweet, innocent, planet.
Rather than go into consumerism and broken materialistic societies predicated on endless consumption he shrugged, "It is a thing you pick up in my homeland. Masters of trade are constantly shouting into your ear with their pitches, selling all manner of nonsense at all hours of day. Eventually it just sort of crawls into your brain and lives there."
"Really? You are being serious now, no jokes?" She asked, flabbergasted.
He nodded, not sure why she thought this was the oddest thing he'd told her about his past, what with all the marvels of flying, a rail system, electricity, etc.
"Ulric, that sounds…that is like a form of torture. I would not do that to my worst enemy, to offer no peace, no silence, to disturb their every waking thought with shrill nuisance…terrible." She said, with actual pity in her voice.
"It is no wonder you are worms in the head" She concluded.
He couldn't even disagree with her on that one.
His parents had said it was much, much, worse back in the pre-collapse eras. Endless shouting, blaring, loudspeakers ranting about the latest this or the freshest that. Somehow, a few marketing strategists had survived the collapse and they bred like flies in shit. In his own time, things were more muted, there were decibel limits and enforced light pollution ordinances to prevent undue waste of electricity but when your entire world is connected to an information network, it wasn't hard to be nearly constantly exposed to some form of advertisement. Glad he was to have never lived pre-collapse, although, he supposed, there were still great forests then, at least a few.
"Anyway," He said aloud, breaking out of those pointless meanderings, "I do have some experience, through exposure, to the game of marketing."
It was not good enough for the woman. She had this matter like a dog on a ham bone, locked between her teeth for proper chewing.
"And that you were being nice?" She asked.
"What do you mean, I wasn't that nice. Just being a little energetic is all, you know, projecting a certain air of joviality for the customer." He defended himself.
"You could do with a little of that attitude more often." She told him, pointedly.
This from her? The member of a clan of Elves that was considered biting and unsociable even amongst their own, and she herself widely considered to be amongst the more difficult of their kin? Taipan was an asshole cubed. He did have to grant her, grudgingly, that he could be a little dour sometimes. But, C'mon, pot and kettle over here.
"Yeah, okay lady, maybe I could spend my energy being a little more happy-go-lucky, but I'll do that when you stop picking at my every flaw." He outlined his conditions.
"But… how else will you grow if I do not point out everything you do wrongly?" She asked, slowly, as if deeply confused.
"By calmly, and gently, and without most of the sarcasm, indicating what to improve on. Fewer insults, maybe slightly less gloating." He answered, as matter of fact as he could manage.
"But…how then am I supposed to enjoy fixing all that is wrong with you?" She asked, still confused.
Yeah. That's about what he thought.
"I am glad that we have these talks, Taipan. I truly feel fortunate to be able to get to know you better." He said, drily.
"You are welcome, Ulric. It is good that you are aware that you should be grateful for my company." Was her retort, equally serious.
Actually, by this point, he wasn't even sure if it was sarcasm anymore, or a genuine expression. It was a particular talent of the Iriel'en to do both at the same time and his brain hurt trying to parse it out.
He didn't have further chance to hurt himself in his confusion because another Elf, this one with an apron that suggested prolonged exposure to high heats, but with an earthy, floral odor, that said that they weren't a smith. Fine, close-fitting gloves indicated a need to prevent direct contact with things but desire for fine dexterity. An herbalist or pharmacist?
"I see that you are in possession of some interesting cores there, Trader. Would you care if I inspect them?" Opened the Elf, her hair woven into a complex set of miniature braids, sort of reminding him of fancy dreadlocks.
She spoke very quietly, as if in a whisper.
He had no objection to that and told the prospective buyer thusly.
Her delicate gloved hands, the leather stained various colors, took up a [Bloodstarve Broodling] core with long fingernails on the thumb and ring finger of one hand acting like forceps from a slit in the glove material. She studied the core intently turning it around. Next, she extracted what looked like a small jeweler's lens and continued her examination. The core's facets and colors burned brightly in the morning light, crimson and rust, emanating from within. Eventually, the Elf appeared satisfied with the [Bloodstarve Broodling] and picked up the brood mother's core, giving it a similar treatment.
Her eyes flashed silver and Ulric knew that she was using an ability similar to scan, perhaps an appraisal skill, to dissect the core magically.
He considered that he might want such a skill himself. It would have potentially saved an incredible amount of tedium, along with some misery, in determining herbaceous toxicities in the glade. Mentally, he put a check box next to that one to follow up with Taipan later.
Whatever this examination revealed, the Elf turned her eyes to him with naked desire for the core.
"I would have this and all of the other [Bloodstarve] cores you have available for sale." She stated, softly.
"Can you tell me, if it is not against your business interests, where you located a swarm of these creatures? They are not common to these woodlands, are, in fact, quite rare outside of Iriel's darker forests and caves." Inquired the Elf woman softly, almost too quietly to pick up.
Ulric had already discussed these types of questions with Taipan and they'd agreed that it wasn't necessarily revealing anything that they'd encountered them near the border of Iriel and Celestin.
"About three days south and west, though I could not tell you with more certainty, my guide here does most of the navigating when we enter the less traveled trails.” Ulric reported.
“I cannot read the Iriel'en markings, and she refuses to reveal too many of her peoples' secrets, even after all this time. It was when we came across such markings that I even knew we had crossed over the border, drifting too far South to escape a blizzard. Still, there was a wide river, frozen, and the beasts were snatching up anything that moved. I am afraid you won't likely find any more, my partner here assures me that the creatures were far outside their ranges this far north, even as you say. It was this, buried in the body of the brood mother, that spurred them out of their normal territories." Ulric reported, telling the agreed-upon tale and revealing the, up to this point, hidden gem that was the [Mindworm] core.
The Alchemist, if that's what she was, went still at the sight of the sickly yellow hues. So. She recognized it instantly.
"A [Mindworm]!? Leading a swarm of [Bloodstarves]? I have never even heard of such a thing…are you aware of how fortunate you are not to have been turned into the parasite's host and become a vector for atrocity, Trader?" The Elf asked archly, but still quiet.
"Aye. I did not know of it, nor did my talented guide, not until we'd brought down the brood mother and the little horror came shambling after us, piloting the corpse like some macabre puppet. It was my guide who realized the danger, you have her to thank for ending the threat." He explained earnestly, the memory of jerking legs and tentacles vivid in his mind.
The Elf had reached for the core instinctively driven by sheer curiosity, but Ulric covered it with his hand.
"This one we're being a little more careful of, fair customer. We had planned to turn it in for the bounty, in Trachn'ir some day or two further along the road. Would you better or match their offer?" Ulric pressed.
If he could unload this foul feeling thing, he'd be glad to, but, according to his Shadow, it was going to fund their entire journey, which he was starting to suspect was going to be more expensive than he'd naively conceived at its outset.
The alchemist didn't even flinch, even knowing the cost. She rose back to her full height, characteristically short as her other kin, compared to the Iriel'en he'd come to familiarity with, and made to be off.
"I will return with haste, I did not carry so much coin on my person, who in their right mind would? You will hold this, and the [Bloodstarves]! I will return!" The woman demanded urgently, hiking up her pocketed dress to run full tilt.
He looked at his partner. "Well? What do you think?"
She wore a thoughtful look, but "A bit too skinny for your tastes." was her answer.
He blinked a few times until that registered. When he did, he ran his palm over his face, slowly, until he could figure out what to say that didn't involve cursing. She was right full of it this morning.
His mouth opened to object to her, as a person, when she cut him off with a laugh.
"I jest, of course, Ulric. If she has the coin to cover this, we should certainly sell all the cores we may. No one questions a trader carrying coin, but there will be many inquiries that accompany the presence of [Bloodstarves] and, even more so, [Mindworms]. It is best to unload these problems in a backwater like Seinajok, rather than a more prolific place like Trachn'ir. This serves our purpose well." Taipan summarized.
He was glad she'd found the time to give him a useful response in her busy schedule of taking the piss out of him today.
Well, it was fine. He probably even deserved it. Ulric was fully aware that he could be an utter bastard. It was one of his defining personality traits. Unlike him, who tended to respond to provocations in immediate history and obtain satisfaction in the moment, Taipan had a gift for gliding over perceived slights, like a small boat in the high surf, only to stockpile it for future address. The result is that he was never precisely sure what he was paying for, only that she was collecting on something.
Speaking of collecting.
"Alright, well I'm glad we're agreeing on that then. So, quote me a price for the swarm fiasco. Oh! No, wait, let me try to guess first." He demanded, trying to determine what a blood thirsty swarm of monsters and a mind-controlling parasite were worth.
Some amount of finger counting occurred, accompanied by mumbles of incoherence, but he arrived at the wild assed guess of "It's right about one and a half Aur Crowns isn't it?"
Taipan smiled and gave him a pinch of fingers, indicating "close" before she tabulated the values.
"One Aur Crown for the [Mindworm], as I have told you before. Each [Bloodstarve Broodling] is a Sil Squire, of which we have twenty and five. A [Bloodstarve Brood Mother] is going for a Sil Drake." She listed.
Ulric started doing the math. Twenty-five Sils by ten was two hundred fifty Sil Servants add in the Drake, a thousand Servants and you got about twelve hundred fifty Sil Servants. The [Mindworm] was a crown, ten thousand Aur Servants. Nope, he was way off. The entire [Bloodstarve] swarm was just about one and a quarter Aur Servant.
Gods' blood! The [Bloodstarves] weren't even close. He was immediately confused. Why did they rate so little compared to the [Mindworm]?
His baffled expression must have given him away.
"You are confused?" Taipan stated the obvious in the form of a question.
He had to know.
"Why in the hell are those vampire bat monsters worth so little?"
Taipan waved her most recent piece of scrimshaw at him like an instructor's baton.
"It is because they represent vastly different levels of threat, Ulric." She replied, clearly enjoying lording her experience over him.
This is what he got for trying to explain radio waves to her, he thought. That had been a three-hour disaster and had ended up with her refusing to hear any more "witchcraft" from him. He'd nearly choked on the irony of hearing that from a woman who could track him by a concoction made up of his bodily fluids and thaumaturgic ritual.
"The [Bloodstarves] are simple creatures, almost without thought in their aggression, and whose signs of activity are very clear. Their dens are easy to find and, as you saw with my poison phial, easy to empty. Not only that, they can only act freely at night or in very limited capacities in shaded regions of the deeper forests, where few people would live or work anyway. So, easy to find, easy to kill, and of limited range, thus, not dangerous." Taipan summarized succinctly.
"The [Mindworm], however, is nearly impossible to recognize by its presence alone. Even [Scan] does not detect it within its host. That makes them, very difficult to locate and destroy.” His worldly partner narrated gladly, always happy to talk shop.
“Additionally, they have an instinct to disperse themselves as widely as possible, and, because they carry the knowledge of their motherworm who extracts knowledge from her host, they can be exceptionally devious. They are also capable of killing and changing hosts very rapidly, jumping from one to another in but a few moments, thus, are highly dangerous to engage in close quarters.” His Iriel’en Wife, which still somewhat shocked him, continued to instruct, describing the horrors in detail.
The lass wrapped up her lesson on [Mindworms] and the Hunter economy.
“To summarize then, they are almost limitless in range, extremely hard to detect, and lethal combatants attacking from close range using the body of a friend or loved one to seed with their offspring," Taipan explained, reiterating some of her prior points and reinforcing the insidious nature of that creature, "Hence, the bounty of a single electrum crown, ten-thousand Aur Servants, to reward the eradication of this menace, before it can spread its taint and ravage an entire nation."
There was some spooky shit inhabiting this planet, he concluded.
"Wait, that's huge. That's a fucking huge amount of money." He said, confused for a different reason.
"How the hell does that random stranger in the middle of nowhere have that kind of money lying around?" He questioned.
Now, Taipan was pleased with him.
"There, Ulric, that is the proper question, the deep thinking. If, as I suspect, this woman is an Alchemist of high repute, choosing to remain in a remote place to hide her research, then she is likely very wealthy. Her research expenditures might even be covered by the Alchemist's guild, if she is ranked highly enough." She explained without sarcasm.
"It is such people that discover the means to create reagents for processing cores, imbuing materials, synthesizing antidotes, and creating elixirs. Unlike mages, who use their own cores to enact changes on mana, the Alchemist learned to use what is already there, to weave the magic of the world into new forms. Unlike mages, whose abilities largely die with them, the Alchemists guild leaves a legacy for all the future." Taipan told him, with a touch of reverence.
He was unexpectedly happy to hear this regard for, what sounded to him, like the first instance of a culture of modern science that he had heard. The smiths hoarded their secrets and techniques instead of sharing them, but the Alchemists seem to have gathered to regulate and share their art, even if they didn't exactly promulgate it publicly.
Neat.
He thought it was a slightly silly question, but he had to get more information on the state of scientific discourse and research in this odd world, "Why then does this maybe secret Alchemist hide her research?"
Taipan didn't comment on the question itself so maybe it wasn't so dumb.
"Because, until it is published officially by the Guild, it might be stolen and the accolades given to another who only perhaps fine-tuned a few steps or made minor modifications based on inspiration gained by accessing her findings. There have been cases of an Alchemist murdered by their colleagues, due to jealousy and greed, their entire lives work stolen along with their lives." Taipan said, clearly regretful about such goings on.
"A large amount of wealth can be attached to the discovery of a new way to heal wounds, or separate metal from ore, or to empower a core to survive awakening. I should mention now that you must never, under any condition, share your knowledge of how you cured the Bane from my father. I do not think even my family's aegis would shield you from that." She warned him.
Oh shit. He'd forgotten about that. Lurking around in his head were probably a few things that might be worth a man's life, even if he didn't recognize what they were. Damn. He'd have to be doubly careful talking about his old world's technology now.
The Alchemist returned then, with a somewhat larger pouch and a large crossbow hung heavily from her belt, he noted.
She took every core they had, all of them. He said nothing about the purchase, acting as if it was just every day that a transaction for the value of the village in which they sat traded hands, the vast majority of which came from that single yellow and orange core.
Thanking the Alchemist (probably) for her custom, he sat back a little taken aback.
"Taipan, is this why people make a living risking who the hell knows what heinous monsters out there? If you get lucky just once you sort of win for life?"
"That is part of it, Ulric." The dusky Elf agreed.
"For some though, it is for duty and love of kin. Many would be left naked against such creatures. The Hunters of Iriel donate the vast parts of their fortunes back to the coffers of the nation, keeping only the greater items of their careers to fund their lives. Some give it all away, content to live and strive against the wild, feeling never alive while in the safety of the tamed lands. I was never one to find comfort within the walls of a room." His Shadow answered, eloquently.
He wanted to confirm this next part even if it might hurt.
"So, you don't regret coming along with me on this little journey or getting stuck babysitting an ignorant Human that might get you killed?"
She replied instantly, "I am having the time of mine life right now Ulric. You are growing and I will grow with you. I feel that, if we survive, we will eventually walk every shore that Varda has to offer."
He felt a warmth that he'd never known before then, like a lamp lighting next to the thrum of his core.
That was nice.
