"It'd explain the lack of sorcery. But I'm slightly surprised you're not a rock."

"Chi is an old Chinese word referring to life-force. But life's just chemistry plus mutation and selection pressure, really."

"I do not know what Chinese is. Anyway – what's your name? I'm Akien."

"You can call me Nick. I think there is opportunity for trade here, even if you two are rather badly lost..."

"It will probably be quite small-scale, for the time being. Seeing as how there are two of us."

"I have no clear idea how much sorcery one can do in a day. Or even what it can do besides wind. But new resources are generally rich in potential profit-space."

"It is in fact limited but can do quite a few different things – elemental manipulation is part of it, small extrasensory details, is often useful in a fight or if you might be attacked by monsters. Possibly less of an issue here, but still."

Evara coughs. "Uh, I'm Evara, by the way."

"Akien, Evara. Bladesquid probably count as monsters. Can you do permanent effects?"

"Well, most of my tools here, they're permanently magical in some way, but it's mostly as magical aid. Other than that – extremely limitedly, but yes. It takes a long time, a lot of effort, and a lot of potential to backfire, with quite a restricted pool of things you can do."

"Permanent effects, or trivially refreshable ones, will sell extremely well. I'll buy some even."

"Anything in particular you'd want?"

"Your wind effect! The wind is critical, it's the breath of life and the blade of the reaper around here. A hundred small ways a breeze or gust or a stilling of the wind will help, most of them in moving around, which I do a lot of as I am a trader."

"That sounds like a less trivial thing to make permanent than – I don't know, an object that glows briefly when you pick it up."

"Quite a bit less trivial, from what I know."

"A flameless light will do well too, but you could practically buy your own boat for a permanent wind thing.... Actually, we should talk about payment if you want me to do something other than drop you two the first place that seems far enough from the storm."

"What sort of thing might you be proposing? Not that we're not grateful for your help."

"I normally don't take passengers, just didn't want to leave you two to die. The first place we see is likely to be some middle-of-nowhere rock with some onions and a tree. The first inhabited place is going to be a small farming village, possibly without even its own ship. I'm eventually headed towards the tradewinds cities - low-altitude cities further north that are big centers of industry because they take advantage of consistent opposing winds for power. Those are probably the biggest centers of civilization around. But it's also about a week's journey, much further than usual for me, and if you want to come that entire way I want some sorcery things."

"… If we're the only source of them, and you all don't even have chi, then they could be worth quite a lot."

"Supply and demand is a thing but limited marginal purchasing power is also a thing. A, say, special unbreakable rope might not be worth that much even if it's one of a kind."

"Could do increased durability but not unbreakability."

"– Okay, but still, our ability to do sorcery is a trait possibly unique to us. Unless you are a fluke and the only talking should-be-a-rock around here."

"And now this is a negotiation, lovely. So, my minimum fee for not putting you down at the first place that has people, since you don't have local money or other useful objects, is a couple of magic things. You're not at a trade hub, you're not high on liquid currency, I have the bargaining advantage."

"You do," she concedes. "Magic things take a long time to produce, though – I've heard of people spending years attempting to replicate things they've seen in the wild and outright failing, often… with fatal consequences."

"Well, don't attempt to replicate anything you've seen in the wild on my ship. You mentioned objects that can glow without heat as relatively easy. If it's about as bright as a lantern two of those would do nicely for food and fare to a trade hub and playing 'local guide' to help you learn your new surroundings. Or a dozen or two smaller ones."