She doesn't actually look delighted about that - maybe she's still reading it as charity, but from him? Juan has no idea, honestly, he just knows that Evelyn doesn't in fact have piles of money to throw around, and probably spends more than she really should on getting nice things for her foster kids. And it's dumb and frustrating for Iomedae that she can't work. Stupid immigration law. At least she's apparently not getting deported, so there's that. 

Does Evelyn seem on board with it? 

Evelyn is thinking that even $450 is a pretty oof amount to spend on a second-hand bike, though if anyone is going to get their money's worth it's Iomedae. She could push to look at the cheaper road bikes, but they'll have used parts and Iomedae might just ride them into the ground within a year and need replacements. 

Iomedae looks kind of stressed, but Iomedae looks kind of stressed at like 80% of interactions, lately, and if she's not going to say what's bothering her then Evelyn really can't guess. 

"That's very kind of you," she says to Juan. "It looks like a lovely bike. I can see you worked hard on it." 

Juan is beaming proudly. "It's a beauty. I'll feel good knowing it's in a good home." 

If Iomedae doesn't seem about to actually object to their plan, he's going to give her a little lecture in Spanish on bike care. Evelyn should have everything she needs for it at home, but she'll want to check the tires regularly - they should feel very hard to the touch, like this, and read at least 80 psi on the gauge, if she lets them get softer she's more likely to end up with a puncture and it'll slow her down a bit. She needs to check the chain regularly and oil it once a week and clean it with a chain scrubber kit once a month, or more often if she plans to ride in winter when there's salt on the roads. This is how to change gears, it's different from how Evelyn's bike does it. The bike has brand-new disk brakes that should be good for ages but here's how to tell if they're wearing out. She should DEFINITELY NOT leave the bike out downtown, even locked, and she should ask Evelyn for a good-quality U-lock and a chain to loop through the wheels so no one tries to make off with them. The front tire is quick-release, for ease of transporting the bike in a car trunk, so it's especially important she lock that; he recommends she actually put the U-lock through it and the frame, like so, and use the chain for the back wheels. 

Iomedae will be a very attentive student to the bike care lecture and ask him to repeat a bunch of things because she doesn't want to get them wrong. 

Juan will explain as many times as she wants, and is also very hands-on about demonstrating. 

She's a good kid who deserves better than the foster care system even if she did get lucky enough to land with Evelyn, and Juan feels pretty pleased with himself about sticking one to the government by letting her de facto work to cover the cost of a nice bike herself. Most people don't deserve a bike this nice, they wouldn't take good care of it and they'd forget to lock it and it'd get stolen and show up at the other second-hand bike shop. (Juan has a GRUDGE against the other bike shop, which undercuts his business by being skeevy.) And she's clearly smart and diligent and he'll get her trained up on basic bike maintenance so she knows how to patch her own tires and replace her own chain (which also means he can give her some of the routine maintenance people bring bikes in for, during her "volunteer hours.") 

He gets the bike adjusted properly for her, and lends her a helmet and suggests she take it for a spin around the block, which also buys him a couple of minutes to have a discreet conversation with Evelyn at the cash register. The other foster kid is sort of lurking, but he'll lower his voice, and it seems like her English might be even worse than Iomedae's. 

"Your foster daughter said some worrying things," he whispers to her. "She said she used to be free with rich parents, and she seemed to think now she's in foster care you would make her work and not let her have hobbies. And she thought you wouldn't want her to have a car because she could use it to run away." 

Evelyn winces, but - yeah, that fits. 

("Rich parents"????? Who didn't have running water in their home. ...But who might have been genuinely wealthier than most of their neighbors, if Iomedae really is from some abjectly poor Central American country. That part is also none of Juan's business and she's not going to bring it up.) 

"She's had some bad experiences." Which Evelyn also has no intention of going into detail on. "She's a bit skittish, but I'm sure it'll get better with time." 

...yeah, sounds like she had one of the bad foster families first. Poor kid. "Yeah," Juan says, and fills out a receipt for Evelyn before putting the details into the ancient credit-card reader. 

Iomedae rides her bike around the block. She continues to have no particular knack for balancing on a bike, and falls off twice, but she likes it; it goes really fast. It'd be useful in a normal place but it is in many senses the ideal vehicle for Reno, where the roads are flat and smooth everywhere. She returns and carries the bike over to Juan.

It's a good bike! Way better for going fast than Evelyn's (he would never say this out loud) granny bike. 

"Why don't you bring it in on Saturday?" he suggests. "Then Evelyn won't have to give you a ride." And she'll have it right there if she wants to do some modifications, like putting on a cheap rack from his pile of dismantled bike parts in the back. 

Oh no Juan doesn't have any context on the fact that Iomedae is super super religious - Evelyn thinks it's somehow failed to come up in this entire conversation, which has got to be a record - and has religion-based assumptions about the appropriateness of being alone with men. 

"I don't mind giving you a ride," she quickly assures Iomedae. "But of course the point of having a bike is to go where you like." 

"I work at bike shop Saturday? I ride bike to bike shop, work here all day, ride to Evelyn house?"

"Does this Saturday work?" Juan checks quickly with Evelyn. "We open at eight, if it's not too early I'm usually here at seven-thirty to get ready. I'm just thinking - one second -" 

He digs out an ancient calculator from behind the desk and does some math. 

"It'd be eight dollars an hour if she had papers to get paid, so that's - 25 hours, to cover the $200. I close at three on Saturdays, so that's seven and a half hours, which would be - three Saturdays and a bit. If she does four Saturdays I can throw in a lock and some parts from the back, if she wants a rack and a bell." Smile at Iomedae. "Lots of people bring their bikes in to have it done, so I'll want to show you how, and you can do it yourself once you're done working for the day." 

"I don't think there's any issue with her coming in starting this Saturday," Evelyn agrees. 

Iomedae is internally conflicted. But it's the same kind of internal conflict as last night with Evelyn, where she knows what the right thing to do is and just doesn't like actually having to do it.

She has incurred a debt. She has incurred a debt that she didn't actually want, under conceivably false pretenses, because she isn't wholly sure she'll stay with Evelyn for a month. She'll have to leave if Jeremy tries anything, for example. Juan is trying to be helpful, and it is an injustice to him, to agree to this debt while intending to conceivably leave before she's paid it, but she also does not intend to promise to stay for the next month no matter what -

"And if there's a problem before I have repaid you," she tells Juan in Spanish, "and I have to escape, I will leave the bike here in the place of the debt."

Telling him this is of course very dangerous because she'll get in trouble for contemplating leaving but she cannot, actually, bear to take on debt under false pretenses, even if the alternative is getting into a lot of trouble.

Evelyn mostly didn't catch that. Juan is making an interesting constipated-looking facial expression and she thinks Iomedae said something about - bringing the bike? returning the bike? - but not why. Maybe she thinks Evelyn will make her return it? Why would Evelyn do that?

- it'll be fine. Evelyn does not really feel like it's definitely going to be fine but there's nothing actually productive to do with the uneasy feeling. Iomedae doesn't trust her, and so her reassurances mean nothing, and - if there's one thing she's learned in twenty years of fostering traumatized children, it's that you can't force trust. You have to give it space to grow, and - hope for the best. 

She thanks Juan warmly before they head out, and tries to make eye contact in a way that will hopefully convey that he can call or text her if Iomedae just said something horrifying, but that there's no non-awkward way to have another private conversation right now. She beckons for Alfirin to follow them, and they can head out to the car and remove the front wheel of the bike to fit it into the trunk and go home. 

(Juan is aware that Iomedae's dark backstory is none of his business, but what he's guessing is that her last foster family was, not just kind of shitty, but maybe downright abusive, one of the horror stories you hear. That also makes sense of how a polite lovely girl who really does not seem like she has behavioral issues would end up with Evelyn, a specialized experienced foster carer who almost solely gets the kids with serious problems. He's not going to poke his nose in any further. Evelyn knows what she's doing, and it's awkward when he puts her in the position of having to gracefully deflecting someone being nosy.) 

Alfirin is so curious what happened but isn't going to ask about it until later, because Evelyn maybe doesn't like it when they speak too much Taldane in front of her.

Iomedae isn’t sure she understands what happened but Juan didn’t tell Evelyn she is planning to escape (she isn’t, she’s just planning how she’ll manage her debts should she escape, but she’s not sure this is a distinction people care about with their slaves). So probably that’s a success.

She feels abruptly exhausted. This is so much worse than picking fruit in the hot sun all day. “Thank you very much for the bike,” she says to Evelyn.

"You're welcome! I think Juan was delighted to sell it to someone who'll get as much use out of it as you will." 

And Iomedae definitely seemed stressed and bothered about something, which could be for any number of reasons but it might just be that she's uncomfortable having people spend money on her for nice things when there are still poor kids going hungry. Or maybe she's confused about whether this is legal or - a normal thing to do? 

"- It's a good deal," she says. "Remember when you asked me which clothes would last ten years? I bet this bike will last ten years, even if you ride miles every day, and most of the others in the shop wouldn't and you'd just have to buy a new bike in a year or two. And - I've been buying bikes from Juan for ten years, usually multiple bikes a year for new kids, so I figure I'm a favorite customer. It's not the first time he's given me a special discount, or done me a favor - he always patches tires for me for free. And I think he thought you - don't want charity - and that's why he suggested a deal where you help out in the shop, instead of just convincing me to buy it at full price. Which I'm sure he could have done, he's a great salesperson, but - he tries to be generous to his repeat customers, so I'll want to come back and buy more bikes from him later for other kids. And I think he feels badly about you not being allowed to work, and thinks it's unfair." 

This is too many words too dense with concepts for when Iomedae is this tired.

That's not what Aroden would feel, probably. It is not a thought worthy of anyone who means to surpass him.

Evelyn continues to not punish candor. That is insufficient reason to be candid about things that affect other people, but sufficient reason, maybe, to be candid about things that affect only Iomedae.

"I have never before take money a person on my word I pay it later," she says. "And my word mean nothing to you people, so he not agree on my word, he agree on your word. Your word you make me go and work? Or your word you give the bike back if I don't?"

That seems like a bizarre way to think about it but...maybe it's not, in the world Iomedae lives in? 

"I'm not going to give the bike back!" she says quickly. "It's yours, now. ...If you have a - bad time - when you go on Saturday, and don't want to go back, then - it's okay, I'll just pay Juan the rest of the price we agreed on, and then you and I can figure something else out, so it's not just - charity from me instead. Like, maybe we arrange for you to babysit Lily a few nights week so I can have some me time, or do extra chores to earn allowance. - I'm going to give you and Alfiirin an allowance anyway, I do for all of my foster kids, but I usually do ten dollars a week and I imagine you'd prefer not to spend the next five months paying for the bike, and I think five dollars an hour for babysitting Lily is fair. - of course, if you do decide you like volunteering at the bike shop, you can babysit Lily anyway and have some money to save or buy other things for yourself." 

(Evelyn would actually be fine just...paying for the bike...if it comes to that, but she definitely has the sense at this point that Iomedae would not find this reassurance actually reassuring.) 

"So the take money on word I pay it later is to you? How much money? I think, I not like take money on word I pay later for so much money when so confused, but I give the bike back, if too much money. If that is not true I need - how much money."

Why does this have to be so complicated and fraught and tricky to navigate. Evelyn is also abruptly very tired. 

"The difference we agreed on - the amount I haven't paid yet - is two hundred dollars. Which - I know it's a big deal to you, but it's not, really, for me? It's - not something I would spend frivolously, it's not money I can afford to throw around on nice presents every week, and it's - not an amount I'd agree to loan most foster children when I've known them a few days, that part is because I trust you. But - I spend that much on Christmas presents for most kids. Heck, I spent more than that on replacing things Lily broke in her first two weeks here. And - I mean, of course I want to be fair to Juan and not a terrible customer, and I'm sure the reason he offered at all is because I've always been a good customer to him and he trusts me, but it's not - he wouldn't have agreed to this so casually if it'd be a disaster for him not to get the money or your work." 

Dooooooooes this seem to be helping or just upsetting or confusing Iomedae even more? She's trying to speak slowly and choose words she thinks Iomedae knows, but it's a complicated topic to talk about while driving. 

Now she's angry. She tries to conceal it. 

Apparently what happened, which she did not understand was happening, was that she agreed to pay Evelyn two hundred dollars for the bike, and Evelyn agreed with Juan that this money would be paid in the form of Iomedae coming to work for Juan until she had done work that would earn her two hundred dollars were she not a slave. She would never have chosen to spend two hundred dollars in that fashion. There is a sense in which it makes no sense to be upset about it, because it's not as if she ever had the option of, instead, having two hundred dollars, since she is a slave. But now Evelyn is speaking as if she will give Iomedae money, and give her two hundred dollars less such money to account for Iomedae's bike purchase, and that means it is like spending her own money.

This is of course unambiguously her own fault; she agreed to the plan where she pay for the bike by working at the bike shop, because the bike shop seemed interesting and the bike seemed useful, and she was too stupid and reckless to bother clarifying how much money it was and whether it was in fact permissible to bring the bike back in lieu of payment - all right, in slight fairness to herself, she did clarify to Juan that she would do that if she were to escape before she had repaid the debt, and he didn't object, so maybe it is okay with him, though not with Evelyn -

- and none of it matters, because the money is a game Evelyn is playing, it is not legal for anyone to pay Iomedae money for her labor because she is a slave, the only option is for people to give her things in generosity when they care to, which she can only receive appreciatively and obediently, and she wouldn't previously have claimed to care all that much about being paid for her labor - she has no idea if the order she'd been travelling to has any pay for novices - but there's something here in this bizarre space between pay and not pay, where she can incur debts and have the debts deducted from pay she is otherwise supposedly getting. For babysitting Lily. Iomedae has been doing lots of babysitting Lily, and not getting paid, and she does not know whether Evelyn is claiming that this will change in the future or that the pretend-pay is already being put towards pretend-debts and -

- Iomedae is capable of detecting when she has worked herself up into a righteous fury that may or may not bear particular resemblance to the actual situation. Evelyn is wholly entitled to force Iomedae to work for whoever she wants and to compensate her not at all for it, and if the thing Evelyn is doing involves more stress and more entangling Iomedae than that, this doesn't make it overall worse, and not even especially worse along any particular dimensions. The only person it makes any sense to be angry with is herself, for agreeing to a contract she didn't fully understand; the only person here who has acted wrongly is her, and it would be profoundly unjust to be irritated with Evelyn for the fact that she was an idiot. 

"I understand, ma'am. I should asked more at bike shop. I am sorry."