The Quantum Wanderer

I enter my house,  Ipê is at the corner. I use a Comm Gem to talk to Dávrin.

“Good morning, master Marcelo! We are ready on this side!”

I open the portal, and his group comes over. It is composed of Dávrin, his family, Andvari and another dwarf. They all step outside the portal, taking a look around. They are a little bit uncomfortable, though.

“Welcome, Dávrin, Brokkr, everyone.”

“Thank you for the opportunity, master Marcelo!” He extends his arms out, as if to keep his balance. “A little bit tricky walking here…”

I laugh.

“You will get used to it in no time, don’t worry.”

Dávrin looks around, and notices Ipê. Ipê is also staring at them with curiosity.

“Good morning, lady…”

“You can call me Ipê. Big brother always brings in new things. I had never seen one of you up close.”

Dávrin turns to me.

“Did you get our permission to visit from a child?”

“She is not a child, she is a dryad. They are a big deal around here. Don’t let the appearance fool you, they are the bosses.”

Ipê just smiles. She doesn’t confirm nor deny what I say. Dávrin just shrugs. I gesture them to sit on the couch. The couch they get close to gets a little lower, as if it were designed for them.

“Thank you, master Marcelo.”

“Oh, don’t thank me. That was Ipê’s work.”

Dávrin turns to her, without skipping a beat.

“Thank you, lady Ipê.”

She again just smiles.

I use the Comm Gem to call Rajesh. He is also ready. I open the portal, and his group come in. Rajesh, Sidhu, their families and another couple of demons.

“Good morning, friend, how are you?”

“Good morning Rajesh. Good morning, Sidhu, all.”

The couple that was accompanying them drop to the floor, kowtowing.  Ipê gets close to them, touching the guy’s horns, with some curiosity. I say in [demon].

“You can just stand up.”

They stand up. Ipê is looking at them.

“These ones we have seen. Not me, but some sisters. They said that they were not seen in a long time, though.”

“What is a long time ago for you, Ipê?” I ask.

“A little more than a thousand years… We are not really that good counting time, big brother.”

“Really? How did you meet some of their race?”

“Oh, they were all over. Like most humanoids. Humanoids tend to go around for large distances… We don’t remember much, though. There is just so much happening all the time! Life flows.”

There are several moments of silence. I can see that Rajesh and Sidhu are interested, but they don’t want to spend too much time now with this. Rajesh turns to me.

“Friend, where your wives? I expected to meet them here…”

“They are strolling around the city. The city is much bigger than one would guess. Why don’t we walk around a little?”

I walk towards the front of my home, it opens up by itself. Everybody passes through it normally, except Brokkr, that stays at the opening, taking a look at it.

“Amazing… It is almost as if it were alive…”

I get back a little bit.

“Because it is. The whole city is alive. The dryads are the spirits of the trees. My house, every construction you see, the floor, everything is part of the trees. It is part of the forest.”

Brokkr extends his senses. He looks at the way the house connects to the ground. He looks at the wooden ground, the intertwined wood composing a very solid pathway.

“I see…” He says, finally standing up. He looks satisfied now. We walk back towards the group. I address them.

“Do you want to go to the herb store first? The cooks will take a lot of time there. There are all kinds of flavors and smells. We can leave them there, and then go to the fabric shop.”

“We don’t know, we will follow your suggestions, master Marcelo.” Dávrin answer. He looks at Rajesh, that seem satisfied with that answer as well.

As always, we start walking, and I can see Autumnstart approaching the group.

“Lord Marcelo! Good morning.”

“Good morning, Autumnstart. How are you?”

“Doing well, doing well. Are these the friends you talked about?”

“They sure are.”

“What an odd group, friend.”

Rajesh laughed.

“You make friends really fast, sir Marcelo.”

“Oh? Ooooh. I am sorry for the misconception… Friend of the forest is his title here. I was just shortening. But… I am glad you never objected, sir Marcelo.”

I laughed. I really didn’t expect this.

“It was a nice misunderstanding, then. No issues…”

We all laughed. We continue our walk towards the herb house. There are a lot of murmuring where we pass. But the faces are curious in nature. People don’t get away. They don’t get close either, they talk a little and then continue with their day.

We arrive at the herb house. We enter, the smells hit us, just like usual. Even my nose, that is not even close to Opal’s, can feel the big punch of odors while entering this store.

Both chefs and Ildra are phreaking out. They both come from places with different and little herb growth. The dwarven chef stops in front of a purple pepper display.

“YOUR HIGHNESS! LOOK AT THIS! PURPLE PEPPERS! MORE THAN ONE!”

I laugh at the scene. Dávrin slaps his own face, Brokkrs laughs. The other chef hear him, and runs to the same display to take a look.

I am close to the counter. The saleswoman turns to me.

“Lord Marcelo… Have those guys ever seen food?”

I laugh some more.

“Truth be told, the lands they come from do not have much in terms of herbs. The demon empire has a dry land. They are working with some devices to use sea water for the plants. The dwarves live under the ground. They do have plants, and they cultivate them, but it is not the same variety you guys have here.

“Nowhere is the same variety you guys have here.”

She nods, with an understanding. I turn to Muninn, on my shoulder.

“Can you leave a birdphone?”

“Sure, father.”

The saleswoman looks at me, she tilts her head. A bird comes from outside, lands on top of a high shelf. The bird doesn’t try to eat anything, it is just looking. I approach the two chefs.

“Excuse, sirs…”

They are inspecting each pepper individually. The demon chef has a lot more respect for the peppers, he avoids handling them, while the two dwarves are a little more enthusiastic. They are commenting about the characteristics, each of them trying to show the other their superior knowledge about the mythical ingredient in front of them. I clear my voice again. They don’t notice my presence.

Dávrin gets close, and clears his throat as well. Nothing. They are talking about the legends, how the first pepper was born in the battle between Nergal and Wrax. SLAP!

Dávrin slaps his chef in the back of his head. He almost takes the dwarf down. I am laughing at the scene. The demon chef stops talking. He starts shaking when he notices me, and Sidhu’s killing intent.

At that point, both chefs turn to me, pleading eyes. I clear my throat again.

“As I was saying, we are going to leave you here. Each of you is going to have his budget. Once you are done, wave at that bird there, and the bird will guide you to wherever we are.”

I look at Dávrin and Rajesh.

“Did you provide the bags of holding?”

“Yes, friend.”

Rajesh answers, Dávrin nods.

“Alright then. Let’s go for the second store.”

“Friend, how much should we provide them?”

“That is a good question. Let’s ask the lady at the counter.”

We walk over the counter and ask the saleswoman how much Roberta would have spent in the store.

“Lady Roberta actually bought a lot of herbs. I had to tally, even with the dryads paying, so that I can keep control of my stock. She would have spent a little short of a gold coin. I even asked her if she was going to feed a platoon.” She laughs. “I told her that after some time the herbs loose their taste; she mentioned that she was buying a month’s worth. Does that help?”

I turn to Rajesh and Dávrin.

“There you have it. The number she had in mind is 150 people.”

“Are you providing this kind of food to your houseworkers? “

“Sure, it is not that expensive.”

Dávrin looks at me curiously.

“How many people do you have working in your household?”

“Around… 26, I think…?” I take some time thinking… “Oh, the girls eat a lot. Specially after their evolution.”

“I had forgotten about that for a minute. I am sorry.” Dávrin mentions in a lower voice.

“Nothing to apologize for.”

We get some moments of silence while we are walking towards the cloth shop. I can see that the two groups are a little bothered in this city. The dwarves are still having a little of uneasiness walking on the street. It is as if it is not solid enough. The demons, on the other hand, are bothered by the humidity.

When we arrive at the cloth shop, the women are bulging their eyes. Dalvina start jumping in place, shaking her right hand.  The women all get in. Dyrgja touches her on the shoulder.

“Your beard is not curly enough to behave like that!”

Dalvina calms down. The women enter the shop. I can see that they are barely holding themselves. They start looking at the several rolls of cloth.

I turn to the four men with me.

“This one is going to sting. This shop is a lot more expensive than the herbs one, as it should be. But you will really enjoy the results.”

The guys walk calmly through the aisles. It is not something that really triggers their passion. The girls are talking about the several types of cotton available, we are looking at them. I clear my throat.

“There is something that I would think we would have more fun. Their arms shop is very skewed towards bows and arrows. I believe that would get you interested.”

“Everyone has bows and arrows.”

“Not like those. Specially in your case, where you have ballistas, their bolts would really come in handy. Trust me.”

Dávrin is shaking his head. Brokkr intervenes.

“Nephew, an official master smith is telling you his opinions on arms.”

“Of course, my bad. But back to the subject at hand, how much should we leave with the girls?”

“They have basically three different types of cloth. Cotton, and that’s the cheapest. But their cotton is already better than anything nobles in the human empire can put their hands on. Then they have the silk and then the spider silk. The spider silk is the really expensive one, it is a gold coin for a roll. Silk is a lot cheaper, some silver, and the cotton can be acquired for some copper.

“I would guess that 10 gold coins would be enough for several clothes. The girls changed the uniforms for everyone in my household with that value. But then it is up to you. And in the future you can just get in touch, we can come back here again.”

Andvari passes his hand over one of the cloths. He looks at me.

“Would they be willing to start trade?”

I gesture towards Autumnstart.

“Ask him. He is a councilor… Is that a city council or a kingdom council, Autumnstart?”

“We don’t have a centralized power as some other races, friend. The council is a city wide one.”

I continue.

“There you have it. Talk to him, check out logistics, I don’t know.”

I shrug. Autumnstart raises a hand.

“Why don’t we talk about this a little bit later? Perhaps after the rain?”

Andvari takes a look outside. It is a little bit past 10, and the sky is blue. He looks at the elf. I intervene.

“That is roughly at 2:30 in the afternoon. By then we will probably be in the ‘Soaked Leaf’, an inn or restaurant that is pretty good. Sometimes there is a show by a bard there. Although it is a little… Embarassing.”

Meanwhile, Rajesh is counting the dwarven gold coins. He whispers to Sidhu.

“Sidhu, my friend, do you need dwarven gold?”

Sidhu, from his higher height, smiles at him.

“No need, your highness. The church has been doing great. We have even been exporting ‘The Great Adventurer’s epic’ volumes we have translated to common like water. It sells as if the well is dry.”

This feels like a good opportunity. I get close to Sidhu.

“Sidhu, have you ever thought about pressing the books instead of having them copied?”

“I’m sorry, your godliness, what do you mean?”

Andvari and Autumnstart pretend they are checking out the cloths around, but they approach us. I ignore that, it is not like I am trying to give them any preference, nor that I want this to be a secret.

“Picture this… You create metal figures of letters. The figure is standing out. You put them in a box. Now you paint just the part sticking out… Then you pass paint on the letters, and after that you press paper against it. The passing the paint and pressing the paper are quick operations. One person can generate thousands of copies of the same pages in a single day.

“Of course, the positioning of the letters in a page takes a little longer, but you can print 1000 copies of a 120 pages book in 60 days. Of course, assuming that you place one box for each two pages. And that could be done by a single person.”

Andvari is frozen.

“Holy shit…” Andvari mutters. Dávrin and Brokkr are close, but they don’t realize the implications. I can see Andvari’s merchant mind going crazy. He doesn’t even pretend not to listen.

“But then you would need people to be able to read.”

“Yes, but a lot of people don’t have material to read. Teaching orphans to read will break the cycle. The state has to take care of orphans, right?”

“Yes.”

“Once orphans learn to read, and possibly write, they can take some better jobs, like merchants assistants, state officials, accountants, letter writers. People like to hear bard stories, but right now the average person can only hear them from bards, or hear rumors. People would be able to consume stories from books.”

“Holy… Fucking… Shit…”

Andvari says, slowly. Brokkr slaps the back of his head. This is apparently common amongst the dwarves. I giggle. Rajesh is also thinking about the whole thing.

“You look far, friend. Very far.” He turns to Brokkr and Dávrin.

“Would the smiths be able to build this?”

Brokkr smirks.

“Even demon smiths should be able to construct this device. Of course, not just any moron, but a reasonable smith should be able to.”

I shrug.

“A copper piece, made in a mold, might be able to solve the issue. I don’t think it has to be steel. But then again, I can be wrong. I never built something like this myself.”

Sidhu’s reaction to the whole thing is the strangest one. His eyes moisten a little, he holds a tear in, while the rest of the guys are thinking about opportunities for this. The idea is a good one for this world, but I don’t quite think it is an emotional topic.

After some minutes of silence, I clap my hands.

“Shall we go to the weapon shop?”

Each one of them approach their families, and hand them the gold. I ask Muninn to leave another bird here and we give them the same instructions we had given the chefs. 1We leave the shop, and again walk towards our next shop.

The group is still very distracted. We are not even chatting while we walk the wooden streets. We get to the weapon store.

Again, the big store. This time, we are all taking a look at the weapons. I bring Brokkr and Dávrin to the arrows. I show them one. Brokkr is amazed with the arrow, Dávrin doesn’t really understand what he is seeing. Brokkr sighs.

“Sometimes I don’t understand how you can be a dwarf. And the king, for the prophet’s beard. First, pay attention to the weight. Second, see that the equilibrium point is just a tad after the midpoint? It is properly constructed.

“But then we have the details. The wook on the tip is strong, a lot stronger than the middle, and the tip itself is just inlaid into the arrow. No cumbersome tying it. The air flows a lot more naturally. And then we have the back of the arrow. See how the wood in the arrow’s butt is a different kind? It is also a lot stronger, so that the bow’s chord won’t split it in half. The cotton used as feather is also very nice. It makes for a light material. I really trust it would do very well.”

The same sales elf is behind the counter. He seems a little thinner. It looks like his mouth is swollen. He interjects.

“Oh, I see the gentleman knows his arrows! Even if he is not an elf! You can call me Thalorian. How should I address you, sir?”

“You can call me master Brokkr.”

“Master Brokkr, master Brokkr… Somehow, that name-“ Then he salesman looks at me. I wave at him. He sighs.

“Of course. It had to be. Good morning, sir Marcelo.”

“Good morning. Are you alright? You look… Different from what I remember…” I gesture towards my mouth.

“So, the great friend of the forest came here to gloat? Know that my honor is paid in full.”

“Not really. I was just concerned. What happened?”

“Seriously? Don’t you even remember the purple pepper?”

“Oooh. Sorry about that.” I laughed.

The guys are staring at me, waiting for the tale. The elf sighs and start telling them.

“He appeared in the store with an enchanted adamantite armor. He was looking at the goods, and I noticed right away that the armor was a kings heirloom! But then he turns around, and the armor is scratched! Four scratches! So it had to be a fake!”

Dávrin is holding his laughter, while Brokkr is throwing me daggers with his eyes. Sidhu is agreeing with the tale, enchanted adamantite armors just don’t scratch.

“I called him on it, then we made a bet that if his wife could scratch a shield I provided, I would eat a purple pepper. It wasn’t fair! It wasn’t even hard!”

“What material was the shield?” Brokkr asks.

“Enchanted mithril.” He answers, while coming out from behind the counter. He has a piece of a plant with him, the stem of a flower. A rather large stem. He continues the tale.

“His wife didn’t even bother. She wrote on the shield! Then she removed the very middle of it with her hand! I am telling you, not even a dragon is supposed to be able to do that!”

He is closer to us. He points at the wall, the shield is there on the wall.

By this time, everyone but Sidhu is laughing. Sidhu is just paying attention to the story, trying to look respectful.

“Then I lost the bet. I have been suffering since.”

“Wait! Aren’t those about the size of a finger? The ones we saw were pretty small, right?”

“Except,” The elf was now shaking, “He of course is an arbomancer! The pepper just appeared out of the ground! THIS WAS THE PEPPER’S STEM!”

He shows us the stem. The stem itself has the thickness of a pinky finger. Now even Sidhu looses it. The elf, dejected, just goes back behind the counter. It looks like he was fishing for sympathy, but this is the wrong crowd.

The elf sits on a chair behind the counter. The group is just laughing. Some stop momentarily, then look at the stem that the elf left on top of the counter. Then they start laughing again. They eventually tire.

Andvari clears a couple of tears from the corners of his eyes, and walk slowly towards the counter.

“Sir, I can understand your suffering. I really can. Sir Marcelo here doesn’t really have the concept of common sense…”

Andvari makes a sad, sympathetic face, and keeps nodding. After the fifth nod, the elf nods as well. Then Andvari continues.

“That being said, what sizes of arrows can you provide? What are the bows’ pressures? Can you provide ballista bolts?”

“The bows pressures can cover any soldier-“ He looks at me “any normal soldier you can provide. We have pressures that go from 20 pounds up to 300 pounds. I am guessing that it would enough even for your big friend here?”

He says, pointing to Sidhu with his chin. Sidhu just smiles. He goes over to a bow that has a rather thick limb. He hands the bow to Sidhu.

“Try this one, tell me what you think… It is a hunting bow.”

Sidhu pulls the string. When the his hand approaches his chin, he seems amazed.

“This is absolutely fantastic. How do you do this?”

The shop keeper smiles. Sidhu passes the bow to Brokkr. Brokkr pulls the string, but he doesn’t feel anything. The shop keeper turns to him.

“I am sorry, sir, but your arms are too small. In order to activate it, you have to pull the string a little more. Come with me, please.”

He picks another bow, a smaller one, from another section.

“I must apologize, but your race is not really known for coming here. This bow has a smaller pressure, but it will allow you to understand how these work. If you put in a request, a model with this size but the appropriate pressure can be grown.”

Brokkr tenses the bow. Then he feels the difference when the string reaches his chin.

“I understand now. It is a pretty nice trick. Doesn’t this make the arrow slower?”

“Just a little bit, sir. The bow still uses almost the same energy, it is just something to help with aiming. You just loose that last half an inch pressure.”

Brokkr relaxes the bow, and passes it Dávrin. Dávrin experiments with it, passes to Andvari. Rajesh is next. I test with Sidhu’s bow. Like the seller said, it is a hunting bow. The bow’s pressure was a tough one, but it became really light for the last inch. When my hand is close to my chin, it gets really light. I smile. Magic at work here.

Rajesh is considering the possibilities. Andvari is asking about volumes that can be provided. Time to deliver. I just keep looking around. I am happy with being able to help these guys.

After some time, we leave the shop. The Rajesh and the dwarves are talking excitedly about what they had seen so far. They look like children talking about new toys. At some point, they stop and look back.