"Good luck with whatever you're doing with the seeds!"

Kevin snags one of the unclaimed jars of zinc carbonate powder and some plastic tubing from the back of another drawer. Cargo pants for the win.

"I'm going to use them for the healing potion I came up with! It's not especially powerful, obviously, I can't pull that off yet, but it's very mana-efficient to brew, and it basically boosts your body's natural healing mechanisms for a few days? So it won't help much with a serious injury, but it's great for healing up minor injuries twice as fast, and if you take it right at the start of cold symptoms then it shuts down the cold in its tracks." Shannon sounds about 1000% more confident and sure of herself when she's talking about her healing potion work. "Would you be interested in trading for some, once I've had a chance to brew up a batch?" 

"--We would, for sure, shutting down a cold in its tracks would be very valuable."

"That sounds useful, what are you hoping to trade it for?"

"This one is a lot more valuable than the mouthwash," Raleigh chimes in, since he's pretty sure that Shannon will NOT negotiate hard for what her work is actually worth. (And Raleigh has a very good sense of what it's worth; he was in all the discussions with his parents and the enclave, when they were agreeing on Shannon's contributions.) "She wants a day's worth of mana for one dose of it, or something equivalent in value." 

"We'd trade you a smaller dose of our mother's best healing goo, which will deal with serious injuries," Lucy suggests. 

Shannon's eyes go wide. "That would be amazing! You can get in on the first batch." 

And she looks over at Val. "Um, I don't think I know what your affinity is - what sorts of things would you want to trade for it?" 

"I'd ward a book for you for... three doses? The ward makes it unopenable by anyone else, though a senior burning a lot of mana can break it open. I'm not ready to sell the stronger version, short on materials."

Shannon has never thought about whether having some of her books warded against anyone else opening them is useful! She looks over at Raleigh. 

"I have had five flu shots but nothing about colds and those will start hitting any day now, will you trade me a dose for borrowing my water condenser for - a week of your choice? It can pull a glass of water out of the air every half an hour, it's good for skipping refill trips."

"I could trade mana, I guess, but I don't - I don't have storage yet and - my affinity's shields, I think?"

"Ah, so the idea there is it makes it less appealing for someone to steal it, and if they do steal it they won't be able to get at the spells in it?" Raleigh asks Theun. "Shannon, I think it wouldn't be a bad idea to get that for your notebook of potion recipes. Make sure no one else can nab your mouthwash, I think you're going to get a lot of business for that one all year." 

To the other kid, who he suddenly feels very bad for: "Sacramento has some spare tiny mana sinks that Cassie made. They're not amazing, they only hold like a week's worth, but Landon could temporarily bond one to you, and then you can fill it over a few days until you've got the amount Shannon wants?" 

"What are you charging for a loan of one of those?"

The first thing that occurs to Raleigh is 'babysitting duty with Vanya' which he really badly wants to get out of. That is, however, not a conversation to have in front of this entire group. 

"- I've got some recurring commitments that I'd love to have someone else cover for a week," he says lightly. "Not maintenance shifts, and it shouldn't be particularly dangerous. We can talk later?" 

"Yeah, let's. I've got stuff this evening but maybe there'll be time before it?"

Raleigh: only moving further up in Theun's opinion.

"That's what the book ward is usually for," he confirms, "Most enclavers come in with a warded book of family secrets, but usually it's unwise to write in that, so for spells or recipes you compose, or get from the void or in a trade, another ward is helpful. Some people won't trade their spells unless you can give them a credible promise you won't let it spread further."

- Aaaaaah that's so many people saying things in short succession! She needs to take NOTES on this. 

"- A batch makes about three doses," she says. "But I want one for myself, so two doses to trade. I can trade one to you, uh, Lucy, right? For the healing goo. And one to...Theun? For the book wards."

She pauses. "I'm going to make more batches later, I'll probably do one every weekend. So - I'm really sorry, I'm forgetting your name -" her brain is telling her that it's not Kane, great brain so helpful, "- but yeah, a water condenser sounds amazing as a trade for one of the second batch doses?" 

"She'll want a week with it later," Raleigh jumps in. "In three weeks to a month, once the mals are getting bad. That acceptable?"

And Shannon turns to Val. "Do you think you'll have mana or something shield-y to trade in a week?" 

"I think I'll pass for the first batch. I'll look you up later when you have more spare."

"Maybe I can get back to you on that after I've talked with Raleigh?"

Shannon nods to Val. 

"Makes sense," she adds to Theun, though she's slightly disappointed. "It's got a decent shelf life, it's good for at least a month, so I'll probably try to keep some extra around and people who do come down with a cold or, like, sprain their ankle or something, can come trade with me for it then?" 

"It's worth less to me in a week, I want to be able to catch it if I get something from all the new induction germs. - and my name's Caio."

"- Okay sure, it sounds like Theun doesn't want in on the first batch anyway, so you can have a dose tomorrow night once I've brewed it." She's going to have a very busy Saturday and she hopes Raleigh is still good on his offer to help her divert her gas lamp into a burner, she really doesn't want to hang out in the lab by herself on a weekend.