The Depth of Perception

Making First Contract

Oriana wandered around the market for awhile, gazing in wonder upon the assortment of strange items that were for sale. She couldn't make heads or tails of most of the items, but occasionally she would see something more familiar; a stall selling bows and arrows, fresh produce, animal pelts... These were the ones she skipped past, though—she wasn't here to see the same old things she saw every day.

Eventually, she began to grow somewhat self-conscious about the fact that she didn't have a register with her. She drew stares constantly for it and all the shopkeepers would eye her even more suspiciously than usual when she drew near their wares. It wasn't long before she stopped wandering at random and began to seek out a place to buy one.

This proved to be very difficult. She had assumed that since everyone had one, they must sell them all over, but she failed to realize that since everyone got one as a kid and took the utmost care with them, there was very rarely occasion to sell one.

The stall she was looking for turned out to be hiding away in the far corner of the market, an area looking distinctly more run-down than the rest of the market. The children here were rail-thin and covered in dirt, the stalls needed repair rather desperately, and the wares were mostly very unpleasant looking devices Oriana couldn't figure out the use for. It wasn't until a shopkeeper demonstrated one to a potential customer that Oriana realized they were traps, like the kind she used to catch animals sometimes, but made for people.

She shuddered and made her way over to the stall with the book emblem above it. "Sirene's Register's and Seals" was emblazoned below it, and it stood out in stark contrast to the rest of the stalls in the area. It was well-maintained and the wares were in good shape (and not deadly). It seemed that although 'Sirene' didn't make very many sales, the ones she did make offered her a generous profit.

Oriana closed the distance slowly, walking as she stared at the registers that were available. They were beautiful! Oriana had seen books before, but not like this. Even the registers the villagers carried around didn't look nearly this nice. Maybe it was due to wear and tear, or maybe she just wasn't in the nicest part of the village, but the ones here put everything she had seen so far to shame.

Though she kept the customary Cynic gaze of general distrust on her the whole time, the shopkeeper here, Sirene, didn't seem to mind Oriana's presence nearly as much as the others had. It probably had a lot to do with the fact that Oriana not having a register on her, while an oddity, was a rare opportunity to do business.

When she reached the stall itself, Oriana put the coins her mother had given her on the stall, following a process that had been explained to her back at the cottage during one of Oriana's many questioning periods in the last two years. It gave the shopkeeper a chance to check the authenticity of the currency and was the only real way to convince them you weren't going to steal their wares. And for their part, shopkeepers had a standard contract posted that stated they would not steal their customers' money.

Once she made sure Sirene was satisfied the money was genuine, she took a closer look at the registers. Sirene seemed to be hinting subtly that a lot of them were out of Oriana's price range—guiding her toward considerably less ornate books when she stopped to stare at the most expensive-looking ones—but her mother had given her a fair sum and her selection was still wide.

She knew she had found her perfect match as soon as she saw it in amongst the others. It was a green book, the exact same colour as the leaves in the forest back home, and it was trimmed with real gold with a matching gold pen. The chain coming off of it looked like very sturdy steel, but was light and very shiny. It even had a picture of a cottage that looked kind of like the one she lived in on the front of it. It was her own little slice of home in such an unfamiliar location, and for once, she didn't mind the familiarity.