She's pulled into dock on the edge of the woods. There's no one else there, which isn't too unusual, just the edge of the world behind her, the soaring cliffs before her, and the forest spilling down either side like tumbling locks. It's nighttime, and she takes a moment to look up at the wandering stars. What this island loses on remoteness it makes up for in scenery, and the rooms carved into the cliff face are generally comfortable. And free. A port without fees is always nice.
"Most new books run about two silver crescents each; these are mostly used?"
Kar nods. "Prices vary, but they're about six Bajildan pieces - those're twenty to a crescent - to one crescent. Newer books cost more, of course."
"That's really really cheap. A copy of the Bible would cost... Uh... Forty crescents? Lovril's weather almanac cost I think it would be fifteen?"
"Well, here, you put blocks with letters on them into a frame, then ink the letters, then press them onto a page. I think there's a new invention, too, making that all faster. You can do lots of copies of books very quickly that way, so books tend to be very cheap."
"...How many things like that and engines are there? I might need lots of books when I go home."
"The one I'm thinking of has pictures most pages, but, yes, that is a consideration. Hmm, let's see if we have something geared more towards your age group..." And he vanishes off into the stacks. After a bit, he comes back with a book floating behind him. "It's not as thorough as it could be, but this is part of a Madezan encyclopedia set for children. Don't have the rest of the set, I'm afraid, so it'll be just eighteen Bajildan pieces. It has lots of drawings, so the price is a bit higher." The book is bound in faded but still intact cloth, and was once a bright green. It's titled 'Encyclopedia of the World: Technology and Science.' "You might be able to find the rest somewhere bigger, there's also a book on history, geography, and biology in the set."
"I'll buy it!"
With some of what seems to be the fairly large amount of money Sarati is paying her. It's a bit of a novelty.
He gladly trades her one silver crescent for the book and two smaller silver coins that he identifies as the Bajildan pieces. "Thank you for shopping with us!"
"Well, if I remember right, there should be somewhere to get brooms this way..." And indeed there is, along with other wooden goods. (Most people make their own brooms, but the carpenter sells slightly nicer ones, for people who can't be bothered.) The brooms are fairly affordable - the carpenter will sell them for ten silver Bajildan pieces each.
She floats idly on a few and picks the one that works best. It's wider at the end than most of the rest.
Clothes after that? And she kind of wants to buy a knife if bringing it up doesn't alarm Sarati. "Even a little knife is useful for lots of things."
Clothes! There's a tailor, who doesn't really sell ready-made clothes, but has a pattern for quickly adjusting skirts and loose blouses, which'll be ready to pick up before they leave. (Sarati's fine with her buying a knife; they can head to the blacksmith's after clothing for a proper little utility knife.)
Gren's opinions on clothes are 'they should be cheap and durable'. The knife should have a nice sheath she can put on her belt.
Cheap and durable is practically a specialty!
There's a variety of nice sheaths available for knives, some of them decorated with faintly glowing swirls like stylized waves, some of them plain, all of them fairly good to high quality.
After Grenadine picks out a sheath, Sarati says, "Anything else? There's bound to be somewhere to buy toys or something."