Chapter 133: 50: Fruitful Exchanges

"The week of hearts?" Danika asked.

"You don't know about the festival? In a month the heart moon will rise, and the festival occurs for the week of its full phase. This happens only once every four years," the young dwarf explained helpfully.

Danika tried to imagine what kind of solar configuration would result in a moon appearing for only one month out of four years, but still show a normal sort of moon phase, for a moment and then gave up and simply accepted the explanation. "The whole town had to go collect supplies?" she asked instead.

"The recent war between our kingdom and our neighbor to the south has depleted our resources," Intri K. Cogborn said sadly. "But the new Queen offered high pay to all craftsmen who go to help rebuild the capital city during the truce, and our town has always had some of the best craftsmen in the country. The adults said that they will labor for the Queen and then bring back the supplies we need."

Danika perked up and asked, "A truce was declared?" 

The young dwarf nodded, but he didn't look very happy about the news.

"Isn't that a good thing?" Danika questioned.

"The Queen had to allow an entire human guild into the country in order to buy us time," the dwarf said with disgust. "Apparently it's supposed to show us that allowing humans to reside beside us won't destroy our kingdom."

Danika glanced back into the square where the apparently human traveling merchant stood cuddling with his currently feline wife. "You don't object to the traveling merchant?" she pointed out quizzically.

"He never stays in one place for more than a few hours, he never asks to take up residence, and never asks anyone to change their traditions!" Intri K. Cogborn declared angrily.

"Oh," she replied. She couldn't think of anything to say to that.

"Do you want to buy anything?" the small dwarf questioned irritably.

"Uh," Danika thought frantically, and then asked, "can you suggest a better way to carry my pebble? It's uh, its enchantment prevents it from fitting into my storage ring, so I've been tying it to myself so that I can have my hands free while I fly." 

The young dwarf blinked at her and then focused his gaze on the small gray-green pebble tied against her belly. A thoughtful expression appeared on his small lightly bearded face. After a moment he turned back to the counter that he'd been using as a workbench and beckoned her to follow.

"Come over here and let me measure you," he instructed. 

Danika followed obediently, but admitted a little nervously, "I don't have a lot of coin, but I've got more plants that I can probably sell to the traveling merchant?" 

"Plants?" Intri K. Cogborn asked distractedly as he had her stand on the counter while he measured her dimensions and the movement range of her wings and limbs. 

Danika stood with her little arms and legs stretched out as far as they would go and told him, "Mostly some fruits and vegetables, and maybe a few seeds." 

"You're carrying fresh fruits?" the dwarf looked up from his measurements with a hopeful expression.

"Yeah?" she agreed.

"Would you trade them to me directly?! It's been weeks since we had any fresh fruits up here in the mountains during the winter," he told her. 

"Sure," she agreed. "You don't have any underground gardens even though you have artificial lighting in your town?" 

"We do, but it's all healthy greens," he said with disgust. "And we haven't had much coin to buy such things from the traveling merchants." 

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"There are other traveling merchants?" Danika asked quizzically. 

"Of course there are," he told her incredulously. "We often get goblin and centaur caravans. Humans too," he admitted after a moment.

Danika glanced back out the shop windows at the traveling merchant and saw that Kit was already gone. "I'll save the fruits for you, but I still have something to ask the merchant, can I come back in a little while?" 

"Sure," the dwarf agreed. "I'll create some designs for you to pick from."

"Ok, thanks!" Danika exclaimed and zipped toward the door, where she halted and looked back at the dwarf and asked a little plaintively, "But can you let me out first?" 

"What? Oh, yeah," he agreed, and trotted around his counter again to open the door for her. "Sorry we don't have an elemental race size access built into our shop. They don't seem to have much interest in anything but the raw material dealers."

Danika exited the shop and zipped over to the merchant, who asked cheerfully, "What did you need of me ZipZing my friend?"

"First, I wanted to ask you about your daily memories and how far back they stretch," Danika answered.

"I can recall the days of about seven years," the traveling merchant replied helpfully. 

"Years in 'Living Jade Empire' or in my years?" Danika questioned. 

"Years in the Living Jade Empire," the merchant clarified.

"How old are you?" Danika asked. 

"Old enough," the merchant replied with a knowing grin.

Danika gazed at him for a long moment and then asked, "Do you think I'm a visitor to your world?"

The merchant smiled and replied, "Of course you are, all players are merely visitors here."

"Are you curious about my world," she questioned finally. 

"I'll be happy to listen to anything you wish to tell me ZipZing," the merchant replied gently.

"I see, thank you," Danika said politely. She asked him to wait for a moment and gathered the few seeds that had ripened in her garden since the last time that she'd gathered them. Hikaru followed her back out and circled around her in the town square, while she traded them to him for coin and for a number of ordinary apples, which she stored in her embroidered pouch.

As usual, he prepared to leave as soon as their transactions were finished and there was no one else waiting nearby for his services. Danika asked quickly at the last minute, "Do you know anything about a King who possesses the pelt of a snow leopard?"

"It sounds like the sort of rarity that a king might treasure," he said cheerfully, "but I cannot tell you anything specific. I wish you luck in your search ZipZing." He hefted his pack, gave her a cheery wave, and strode away from the underground town square in the direction she and Kit had come from.

She re-entered her garden and Hikaru appeared beside her again a moment later. She gathered all of the ripest berries, currants, and carrots. She sighed and shuffled her inventory, and finally left a pile of items on one of the stone dragon prints, in order to carry the produce back out to the little dwarf's shop.

Danika almost wrote a message to Kit, but hesitated. "Hey did you realize that you're married to someone who's less than two years old?" sounded like an awkward thing to message.

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