Mother of Magic

Bank

The banker across the desk looked every inch of the part. He was completely equipped with a three-piece grey suit, with requisite black pinstripes. He sported an odd little tie. The shirt collar had rounded tips. She expected given the tie that there would be silver tips, but no. Stephanie assumed the tie and collar combination was what passed for formal/dress-up in this world. The man was thin, affected a pencil mustache, and used a lot of hair product.

Le assumed if he took off his tailored jacket he would have a black garter on his upper arm.

"What can I do for you today ... Mr and Mrs...?" the bank executive asked. He had quickly taken in the wedding rings.

Stephanie did not answer immediately, and instead looked around the room. Typical bank. Could be in a small town back where they were from. Electric lights. Brighter than the Saloon. Tellers behind desks. Barred entry to a room in the back. She returned her look to the man. "I'm Stephanie Santiago. This is my Husband, Le Garten. We need to deposit a large sum of money. Make some change for a smaller amount of carrying around pocket money. Open an account and all that."

"How large?" The man asked curiously, not addressing that they were married but had different last names. That she was talking and pointing out the different names did not set him back too hard, but he was obviously if unobtrusively slightly surprised. Stephanie assigned him credit for not being unhappy about their ethnicities or the fact she was not wearing a dress.

Stephanie looked around again. No one was paying them any particular attention. She hauled out the pouch from Ava and placed it in front of the man. "We are not from around here, and our currency denominations are not the same. You'll have to tell us how much this is in local terms. Two pouches, filled like that."

One well-manicured eyebrow rose as he felt the weight and curiously opened the drawstring. His eyes went very wide. In a now familiar action, he extracted one coin and bit it. "Two. Like this, you say?"

"Yes." Le agreed and held up his without offering it. The pouches were not light, and it occurred to Le that one thing he'd be glad of is getting rid of the weight.

"I'd have to have the all assayed, of course, to give you an actual number. You are correct. It is a large number. I would not be comfortable carrying such as sum around. This will not be an issue. You'd want this on deposit, and to be able to draw against it?" The man asked.

"Yes. Also, as I said, be issued some much smaller denominations right now, to be able to buy things without having to buy them a month at a time." Stephanie explained. "Not much against that deposit, and ledgered against the final assay amount.

"Understandable. Very reasonable." The banker stirred around inside the pouch with a fingertip, clinking the coins together with a dull sound. Gold coins do not sound like nickels, dimes, and quarters of their world. Not even close. They were so dense and heavy, and you could tell from the clunky sound they were nearly if not totally pure. "Dare I ask how you came into this much pure gold?"

"Inheritance." Le said very simply, using their pre-agreed upon explanation. It was true they were given it.

"From someone back in the gold rush, it would seem. Very well. We can get you set up. No problem. To be honest, we have never handled this large a deposit. Not to worry: we have an excellent safe. This is probably equal to nearly a third of all the money we have on deposit for other customers, so it will be cared for. You as well, as premiere customers. Are you staying here in town?"

Oddly, neither of them was used to being treated as premier customers. However much money this is here, as highly paid baseball players, and even though they both donated huge sums to the hospital charity, they were well off. Married they had nearly doubled their wealth, and the various financial institutions they dealt with gave them excellent service. Different world, but some things remain the same.