He has absolutely no objections to giving up on the market and heading in right now. He leads the way.

"I want to talk to you about politics and laws that kind of thing some more, it's actually interesting when I don't have to. And also an idea I had."

"Sure. I also know more about your market than I told you, I can help you with your next project."

"You finding buyers and us splitting the profits isn't necessarily a 'no', but I don't think fifty-fifty is quite fair, by the way."

"I can do more than find a buyer. I've talked to people about what they want from a calculator. I've figured out how much the alternative costs and I can help you avoid undervaluing your work."

"I already have a list of calculator features to build up and I can go out and talk to people myself. I figure you made yourself about two thousand rings last time, and doin' those things for me is valuable, I don't have to navigate the market - but maybe not two thousand rings of valuable, is all."

"Yeah, of course. What sort of split were you considering?"

"I was thinking twenty five-seventy five on new things, thirty five-sixty five on repairs once people start needing repairs."

(She has no idea how business works but acting weak gets you taken advantage of here, so...)

"That works. Want to figure out your next project now or talk about laws and politics first?"

"Laws and politics. And my other idea... I'll need to hire a structure mage but I want to ask you if it sounds like it'd work." She hesitates, "Maybe I pay you a few rings to point me to a good structure mage." Because everything runs on money here, apparently.

They should be near Valanda's apartment now?

Yeah, they're already well within the outer illusion, not that she has any way to know what's covered or how well. He lives conveniently close to the market.

"Which structure mage you want depends on what you need done. I might know who you want, I might not."

"My idea is to have a structure mage make the substance in coffee that wakes you up. I really want some, and maybe I could sell it to other humans. Don't know if it works the same on other species. I know what elements it has and what the structure they're arranged in is."

"Unless it turns out another species likes it too you'll have trouble selling it. The hardest part will be finding humans. You really want to start by figuring out if it's safe for other species, I'm not sure how to do that..."

"Well, I want some for myself even if I can't sell it. Caffeine withdrawal was... Definitely at least a part of why I was so miserable a few days ago."

"That's weird, I thought it was being in a new world and suddenly enslaved. If you know the elements and the structure you can get it from any structure mage at all, it'd honestly be taking advantage of you to sell you a recommendation. If you hire Gema the agerah who lives across the hall from me and tell her you chose her on my recommendation it'd be useful to me but she won't be better than anyone else, just closer."

"I mean, the slavery was definitely most of it, but you can't ignore physiology. Would Gema be here now?"

"I'm not sure. I can wait while you check. Oh, don't try to open her door yourself, just call out that you're there and want to hire her."

"I was going to, uh, hit the door - I guess what's polite is different here?"

"Sure, hit the door, also tell her why you're there so she knows whether to answer."

She knocks. "Hello! I want to hire Gema the structure mage!"

There's a short pause and then the door opens a crack. Gema sticks her head out.

"What's the job and how much'll you pay for it?"

"Making a pound or two of a chemical I want. I can describe the structure in detail and it should only need air for materials. Uh," she does some quick mental math - she'd pay a lot more but she can downbid and move up if necessary - "Forty rings?"

Gema considers for a few seconds. "Maybe fifty rings?"

"Alright, deal." She starts counting rings out. "How should I explain the structure to you? I have, uh, reason to think that I think of structures differently, probably."

"Depends. At worst, if you know how atoms bond you can describe each bond. If you happen to be an illusion mage you can try a diagram in case I can figure out what you mean from it."