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Steel wakes up. This is not where she went to sleep. She has a peek at the stream -
- And lets out a surprised yelp at the nonsensical cacophony.
"What in the blue hells is this place?" No answer is immediately apparent, so she climbs to the top of the ravine, carefully avoiding the various inexplicable things in the area. The snake-goat hybrid was particularly grotesque.
The top of the ravine has a road. She tries to fly, but can't. Again, very strange. This is a pretty nice road, physically, but magically it's completely undeveloped. She walks towards the city, peeking at the stream once in a while only to see fog, and seeking an explanation.
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sturdycoldsteel
namesthesky
"They'll have reason to listen to you if you wind up rich and famous and a known expert."
sturdycoldsteel
"Here's hoping. Okay. I've written up fact sheets about the medicines I have ready, how to tell them apart, what they do, how much to give for what, possible side-effects, recommended price. I'd like you to read them, I'll quiz you later. This is so you can mind the shop for me for a few hours while I go and give out Aelare's Blessings."
She hands over a thick notebook, full of lots of detailed information. "Just read the first fifteen pages for now, the rest of it's meant for reference."
She hands over a thick notebook, full of lots of detailed information. "Just read the first fifteen pages for now, the rest of it's meant for reference."
sturdycoldsteel
Steel goes in the workshop and makes more things. When the front bell rings, she sells some pills for almost nothing to one more desperate customer. Then she quizzes Aya. "Try to answer without your notes, if you can."
The questions are mostly memorized facts. What does this pill do, what color are the feverfew pills, how many aspirin should one take and how often, and so on.
The questions are mostly memorized facts. What does this pill do, what color are the feverfew pills, how many aspirin should one take and how often, and so on.
namesthesky
Aya gets most of it right, although she mixes up a couple numbers and hesitates on some of the other questions.
sturdycoldsteel
"Pretty good. But if you're not sure about something, look it up. Consider it at least as bad to sell someone the wrong pill than to sell them none at all. I think I've given you more than enough work for today, though. I'll see you tomorrow."
sturdycoldsteel
"Yes. I'm already renting the place, after all. And like I said: I can sleep anywhere. I'd appreciate if you keep bringing me meals, though."
namesthesky
"I can do that. Should I expect to take over the rent at the boarding house after the duration of the first payment is up?"
sturdycoldsteel
"I hadn't decided whether to increase your pay to account for that, or to simply keep paying for it myself. The former is probably neater, in case you want to move or something. Remind me when that happens."
namesthesky
Aya writes that down. "I will. Anything else for today? Can I take the notes to study from while I cook?"
sturdycoldsteel
"Sure. Just don't damage 'em or new paper will come from your pay. And I'll see you tomorrow."
namesthesky
Aya nods, takes the notes, sleeps, and brings breakfast and undamaged notes in the morning.
sturdycoldsteel
Steel eats breakfast, gives her the shop key, wishes her luck, and tries to locate the families she gave medicine to the other day and see how they're doing. If she can't figure out where they live, she'll go to the slave market and pretend to be considering the offerings, instead.
Nobody left their address with her, so she'll have a hard time finding anyone she sold to.
The slave market: exists.
The slave market: exists.
sturdycoldsteel
She walks around the market, pretending to consider various people at no clear pattern and applying her tattoo-removing technique to them. Hopefully the proprietor won't kick her out for loitering before she gets a majority of them. It might help that she gave him a significant amount of money to free Aya, a few days ago.
Nobody stops her. Some of the slaves look at her suspiciously or assessingly, but none of them try to talk to her.
sturdycoldsteel
By the time she's swept the market, it's nearly lunch. She goes back to the shop and asks Aya to start rumors of Aelare's blessing occurring on the next full moon, almost a full month from now.
Is business any better today than it was yesterday?
Is business any better today than it was yesterday?
namesthesky
Aya has done quite a business compared to yesterday while Steel's been gone - for values of "business" that involve honoring the promises of free product - maybe people just like the native-looking shopkeeper more. Aya can spread that rumor, sure.
sturdycoldsteel
Hmm. Even at this rate she won't need to make more medicine any time soon. So she takes over shopkeeping again, counting the number of passers-by and the number of people who actually come in, and being excessively helpful to those who actually do come in.
When Aya comes back later in the day, she waits across the street for half an hour and counts how many people go in compared to how many pass by. Looking at the numbers at the end of the day, does it seem like people are just more likely to come in when Aya's at the storefront?
When Aya comes back later in the day, she waits across the street for half an hour and counts how many people go in compared to how many pass by. Looking at the numbers at the end of the day, does it seem like people are just more likely to come in when Aya's at the storefront?
namesthesky
Aya gets fewer "curious" and more "actually want things" - so, no, but more relevantly interested people come in.
sturdycoldsteel
She decides to have Aya shopkeep for most but not all of the day. After the third day, she takes down the FREE sign, but continues to sell everything at the cost of ingredients (definitely cheaper than competing pharmacies). Steel visits every concentration of slaves in the city under various excuses, and loosens the tattoo of any slaves she sees on the street if they're standing still enough, and revisits some places, expecting some amount of turnover. After a few days she mixes up another large batch of pills.
Does the shop's reputation seem to be improving after a week of this? Any loyal customers who keep coming back?
Does the shop's reputation seem to be improving after a week of this? Any loyal customers who keep coming back?
Aspirin in particular with its obvious and frequently useful effect is popular. One lady is hooked on the allergy suppressant, and a small family who seem to be primarily motivated by spite against their previous herbseller-of-choice come back with a list of things they want her to stock or come up with replacements for.
sturdycoldsteel
If nobody is listening closely enough, she starts telling the slaves whose tattoos she unbinds that they will get Aelare's blessing if they wash their heels under the light of the next full moon.
Over the course of that week Steel slowly increases the prices from 'at cost,' to 'just a bit cheaper than most other herbsellers,' makes an assembly line for production of aspirin, and looks into mixing up a stronger painkiller or even an anesthetic. She advises the allergy-suppressant lady that taking more than two per day will hurt her throat. She manages to stock or replace all but one of the spiteful family's list of things.
Then she makes a big batch of everything that's been selling well and pays Aya two weeks' wages in advance, telling her that she'll be visiting the markets in some of those other cities and if anyone wants white pills, they should come back in a couple of weeks.
Over the course of that week Steel slowly increases the prices from 'at cost,' to 'just a bit cheaper than most other herbsellers,' makes an assembly line for production of aspirin, and looks into mixing up a stronger painkiller or even an anesthetic. She advises the allergy-suppressant lady that taking more than two per day will hurt her throat. She manages to stock or replace all but one of the spiteful family's list of things.
Then she makes a big batch of everything that's been selling well and pays Aya two weeks' wages in advance, telling her that she'll be visiting the markets in some of those other cities and if anyone wants white pills, they should come back in a couple of weeks.