It took a few days to reach the next town. Sarah practiced her meditation a little more. She made slight progress. She could change the flow slightly but it wasn't anything very noticeable. They decided not to stay in a room. This was a town connecting to the royal city to inns would be even more expensive than normal. Karaan delivered his goods then went to the court to find more. There were many more requests in this town. While he was looking a man came up to him and asked "I haven't seen you around here before, would it be safe to assume that you're a merchant?" Karaan replied with the obvious "Yea it would." The man enthusiastically shouted "Great! I'm the head of a caravan. We have a deal transporting some apple wine to the royal city. If you're going through there we'd love to have you help out. Of course we'll pay well." Karaan asked "How well?" The man replied "Well normally we would give you about thirty silver pieces, however seeing as how this is last minute how does 50 sound?" Karaan replied "So what's the situation? Why do you need me?" The man replied "Well I probably shouldn't tell you, but if you'll agree to help us out..." Karaan replied "The price is still negotiable. But yea I'll help you for a reasonable price." The man continued "Ok, well this is kind of embarrassing but I got a little greedy and promised to transport more than we could really carry. We are two carts short." Karaan replied "And you can't just buy two more carts, is that it?" The man replied "Yeah, well even if we had the extra people there's only one cart for sale in this town." Karaan replied saying "Ok, I'll take the full profit made from my cart, sound like a good deal?" The man said "That's 120 silver, that's a little steep just for transporting isn't it?" Karaan replied "I have some friends with me that will help out, you are free to buy that other cart, that will cover all of us, and its only 10 silver more than you offered." The man though for a minute and replied "You're right. I'll be sure not to make such a stupid mistake again." Karaan smiled saying "Oh yeah. One more thing. I only have one horse. I'll expect you to provide the other." The man grinned "Sure I guess we can do that, but the horse will remain our property understand?" Karaan smiled saying "Yeah, just make sure it's not an old fragile one. I do trust you, but if something happens to my horse because the one you gave me can't handle its share of the load then I'll take one of your best to replace it." The man replied "And if something happens to it of your own fault then you will receive no payment. We'll have to pay the customer back for the loss of product, plus a little extra to maintain our good standing." Karaan replied "You have a deal!" as he stuck out his hand to shake the other mans. The man smiled saying "Meet us at the brewery in town tomorrow as early as you can. They will load your cart for you, all you have to do is follow us and get your friend to drive the other cart." Karaan smiled saying "No problem." He walked to the bar afterward and saw Sarah just sitting idly by betting against Zevesda. Half the bar was watching them. They had created a whole new game it appeared. They weren't just betting on the dice roll but on the suit of the card as well. Zevesda ended up coming a little ahead. One of the young men asked them how they were doing it "is it magic?" he asked. Zevesda replied "No I've been playing for over 60 years now and this little girl here just has a very good memory, there no magic involved." Another man spoke up "Yeah I can attest to that. I would've noticed if they had used magic." The young man asked "How good is your memory exactly?" They took the deck and started to name the cards one by one without looking. All of the people looked amazed. That is until they came to one that they disagreed on. Everybody was confused looking at them. Sarah said "I know it's the 4 of kings!" Zevesda replied "No it's the 6 of dragons!" Sarah asked "You wanna bet?" Zevesda obviously replied "YES!" right then an uproar began the entire crowd began placing bets left and right. They flipped the card. It was the 6 of dragons. Sarah sighed and pouted as Zevesda took even more of her money. They continued until it came to another stand still and another bet. Zevesda was right again. Sarah wasn't giving up. They had one of the men shuffle the cards and lay them face up one at a time. When he got through the entire deck they began again. This time when they got to a standstill Sarah was right. A few people in the audience earned a lot of money on that bet. The next stand still was Zevesda again. But the next two were Sarah. It went back and forth for several hours but they finally stopped when most of the crowd got bored and walked off. Sarah ended up coming ahead by two. After they finished they both sat with Karaan and had a few drinks before going back to the camp. Letholdus was off doing his tree thing again. Once he came back Karaan made an announcement "I've got something to tell everyone. Especially Zevesda I'll need your help with something. It's not much and you'll be paid well." She replied "Ok go on." He continued "Ok, I got a deal from a caravan today. Long story short we'll be helping them transport a few extra goods. They will buy an extra carriage and horses and I volunteered you to drive it. Well not actually volunteered you'll be paid twenty silver pieces in this country's currency." She agreed but Sarah spoke up "Wait. Why would they buy a carriage and horses just for her to transport some goods? Are they really that valuable?" Karaan replied "No not really. But they are valuable enough to sell the extra horse and carriage and make a small profit from it. However the profit isn't enough to go through that much trouble. He runs a caravan all they do is transportation jobs and very large ones at that. A single customer can pay more than a platinum piece at times. Of course that depends on the size of the caravan and quality of goods, and its split among all of the members of the caravan, so it's not a huge profit. But traveling together allows them to take those larger better paying contracts. The number one thing for a caravan like that though is customer satisfaction. If you displease a customer then that not only means that they will pay less in the future but you also risk losing them all together. Not to mention if they tell other potential customers. So they would probably take a small loss rather than not do a job correctly or fully." Sarah replied "Oh that makes sense. But why Zevesda?" Zevesda spoke up "Well I've driven carts before plenty of times. And while I'm sure he's let you drive before as well you probably aren't use to driving them in crowded areas. When you're traveling with a caravan then you're traveling with five or more carts very close to each other. Usually they will be side by side and they will remain like that for the entire journey. So among us I'm just the most experienced, other than him that is. Letholdus is pretty experienced as well though, just not as much." Sarah said "Oh" and it got quiet all of a sudden as that was the end of the conversation and no one knew what to say really. It was one of those awkward silences. Sarah began her meditation practice and the others began preparing the food for the night. As she meditated she noticed more differences. She began to focus on them. Before she knew it, it was time to eat. She ate her supper and continued her practice even after everyone else went to sleep. Before she knew it she had dozed off. However she was up quite late and achieved quite a bit. Just as Letholdus had mentioned it wasn't something that could be practiced it had to just come to you and she found it that night. The next day they met up with the caravan, there were more than thirty carts and 20 people. While she waited for the carts to be loaded Sarah decided to practice her magic control a little more. Right away there was a very noticeable difference, though she wasn't quite there just yet. They loaded up the carriages. It took about half the day to do so. They brought Karaan a new hoarse the leader saying "I hope you're happy it was hard to acquire three horses." Karaan chuckled "I am but you should be worrying more about your customer." He grinned saying "Yeah you're right." It wasn't long before they set out. It was certainly unusual traveling in such a large group. There were twenty people and thirty carts. Aside from Karaan and Zevesda. Every few hours everyone would stop preform basic checks on their wagons and horses and switch out. Ten people would walk leading two carts at a time and ten would set at their cart riding. When they switched out the ten setting people would guide two carts each and the ten walking people would set and ride. They were on the road for two days. Karaan met a few people that he got along with very well. Everyone did really. Except Sarah she was nervous and used the time to practice more. She had almost gotten the hang of it by the time that they reached the royal city. As they walked up the difference in this city were excruciatingly obvious. It was clear that only the richest of the rich lived in this city. Everyone in this city had to have had the riches of a king of at least a small country. The houses were so large and up kept. Every house, and even the streets were made of bricks of only the finest marble that money could buy. It would have almost been cheaper to just pave the streets in gold bricks. Letholdus was excited he ran into the first magic shop that they passed. Unlike in most towns with a town center that was home to many small stalls in this town all of the shops were indoors and in large buildings. An absolutely enormous castle standing over the entire city was a clear and obvious sign of power and riches. As they walked through the streets going to the buyer Sarah asked "Aren't they afraid of dragons with so much gold?" Karaan replied "No dragons don't really come to this region. And even if they did there's no way they would reach the gold in this town. This is probably the only town in the world that could fend off a dragon attack. That is by only one dragon at least." Sarah was amazed at that comment but she could believe it. All of the buildings in this town were made of a stone so solid that it would take nothing less than a dragon to do any damage to them. Amazingly the drop off was the royal castle itself. It was apparently holding a celebration for its staff. The head of the caravan asked Karaan as they were unloading their carts "So if it's not so much to ask, why you came here? It was obviously not for profit. A profit is almost impossible to make for someone from other kingdoms. So why?" Karaan replied "I came to see Edward of course." He laughed saying "Well you do have an appointment don't you?" Karaan replied "No not really. I was going to make one today." He chuckled saying "Well it seems you'll need somewhere to stay in the meantime. I doubt he'll get you in for a few days at least. Since you did help us out quite a bit I'll let you stay with us. Being such a large caravan and such frequent visitors in this town we know of a very extravagant inn. And we have very good relations with the innkeeper. If all four of you are willing to share a room then we can get you one for only twenty silver pieces a night. That is for five days at least. It might not seem cheap but for the quality it's quite worth it and the normal going rate is 50 pieces for a room for a single night. About 6 gold pieces where you're from. They have a bar, its free drinks for all customers, very good service for your hoarse, and a lot of other amenities. The food is very good and also free. You won't find another deal like it I guarantee you that." Karaan chuckled "You don't have to sell me on it. I'm in!" After a little while Karaan asked Zevesda and Sarah if they would take care of the cart and inn while he made an appointment to see Edward. They agreed and he walked off. He found the shop and there were two large lines. The store had an entire street blocked off just for it. He asked which was the line to make an appointment and one of the people in the longest line said "This one." Karaan walked to the back. It was almost twice that of the other line. Almost a mile long itself. It took him well into the night to reach the front desk. It was nothing but a window on the side of the building. It ran 24 hours a day in order to keep up with the large demand. There was a large man behind the counter. He asked in his deep voice "When would you like your appointment?" Karaan replied "As soon as possible please." The man groaned looking at his book. He said "I can get you in, in three days about noon. But only for a consultation. You understand that a consultation is one gold piece in this country's currency or approximately 12 pieces in the currency of the Kard kingdom. Yes?" The Kard kingdom is considered the currency standard of most regions because its currency value is the most stable and closes to the true, or perfect value in terms of stoans. Karaan replied "Yes." The man continued with a sigh "and you understand that should you need any actual treatment the amount for said treatment would cost you a full platinum piece. Correct?" Karaan replied "Yes." The man replied "Ok, your appointment is about noon in three days. Show up on time or you're out of luck. I recommend getting here quite early usually there is a line. I'm sure you noticed. We operate on a first come first serve basis. Basically we have several time slots if you show up during your time slot you walk in on a first come first serve basis if you do not get into the building within your slot then you are out of luck. Now what's the name of the patient that the appointment is for? And there is a one silver charge for making your appointment." Karaan replied "Karaan and I never heard of any charges." The man replied "Yeah I get that a lot. But if you don't want to see Edward then you can just walk off and ignore the charge." Karaan pulled out a silver piece and handed it to him. He smiled and wrote Karaans name down and handed him a receipt saying "This does not guarantee that you will see him, it's just proof that you made an appointment. If you show up without this card then you will not be allowed in. Next please!" Karaan walked back to the hotel room to see Zevesda, Letholdus, and Sarah all there waiting. Sarah was practicing her meditation, Letholdus was watching he said "Good, now let's try something different. Move your hands away from each other by about an inch and try the same thing." Sarah did it and was obviously unsuccessful. Letholdus said "Good now practice that and increase the distance slowly until you are fairly confident with this." Sarah shook her head yes. Zevesda asked "So where have you been for so long?" Karaan replied "I was waiting in line to make an appointment. I swear you almost need an appointment just to make an appointment with that man." Zevesda and Letholdus both laughed. Letholdus handed Karaan a silver piece. Karaan asked "What's this for?" Letholdus replied "Well I had an offer for my leaves that I couldn't pass up. The alchemy shops in this town are absolutely amazing! I mean I've been here once before but I never remembered how wonderful they are." Karaan chuckled. They continued talking for a little while before going to bed. Letholdus thanked Karaan for the room. He told him to think the leader of the caravan not him. All of them slept in the next morning. Karaan slept on the couch and Zevesda took the floor. Sarah and Letholdus each took a bed. They walked down stairs and ordered breakfast together. It was the same as a high class restaurant except no money was ever exchanged. After eating Letholdus went out to look at more shops. Zevesda joined him. Karaan and Sarah both went to the bar. Sarah drank a little. Surprisingly she didn't feel like gambling today. In fact she just practiced her meditation as she drank. She made some improvement but moving the flow outside of her body and into an empty space and continuing to control its flow outside of her body was too much for her. However she didn't expect to get it after only a day of practice. Letholdus told her that at the rate that she was going she would be lucky to get it down by the time they entered the desert again. This just motivated her that much more. Before going to bed that night Letholdus asked Karaan for his assistance in buying a new staff. "I found this very high quality staff, I have a staff but this one is just so much better. I hardly find use for the one that I have now but I could use this one for a lot more. Anyway as you would expect the thing is quite valuable and being in this region its price is higher than usual. But this quality is very rare for any staff so I would like your help lowering the price." Karaan asked him a few questions "What is the overall quality of goods in the shop? Are they all high, mostly low, or mixed?" Letholdus- "They're almost entirely high." Karaan- "What kinds of items does the shop sell?" Letholdus- "A little bit of everything, but everything in it is very high quality." Karaan- "What is the price and what do you want to pay?" Letholdus "Well the price two gold pieces. I would prefer to pay a Kard gold piece, or even two. It's just not worth twenty." Karaan- "Well, would you be willing to pay half the current price? That's probably the best that I can do." Letholdus- "For that quality I suppose I could pay 12 Kard gold pieces." Karaan- "Is there anything else in the shop that you'd want to buy?" Letholdus- "There are a few things I suppose but nothing for the price they would ask for." Karaan- "Well I'll see what I can do but no guarantees. You have to remember that we aren't usual customers and they do want to make a fair profit from the item. Not to mention I'm not rehearsed on the economy in this country so I'm out of my territory up here. So I'm warning you ahead of time that I may not be successful at all." Letholdus sighed and said "Yeah but it's worth a shot." Karaan and Letholdus talked for a while after about the supplies in the store, their normal value, and in general the economics behind magic items. After a little while they all went to sleep again. They woke up and ate breakfast again. They all talked about the previous day and then Karaan walked to the magic shop with Letholdus taking his cart with him. They walked in and Karaan looked around a bit. They had several staves in a row one was pure gold. Karaan asked "Is this the one?" He replied "No I'll never be able to afford something like that. Its this one." He said pointing at the one to the right of the gold staff. It was a tall wooden staff it was made of a thick twisted branch. It was thickest at the top getting thinner to a rounded point at the bottom. It was thick heavy wood. On top was a large piece of ember with several seals carved into it. But these weren't normal seals they were pure element seals for red, blue, brown, silver, black, and green magics'. I also had an addition seal, this is like a cik, it is a seal that when used correctly can increase the power of spells. Just as he had said the price was two gold pieces, in that country's currency of course. They looked around and Karaan asked for the value of other items in the shop. He compared the items values to their prices. Obviously the value of an item was multiplied in this country and so was its price accordingly. Karaan asked Letholdus "How much do you have on you, in this counties currency?" He replied "I have a little under 2 gold, why?" Karaan replied "I'll have to lend you a little, don't worry." He was worried though he asked "But I only want the staff." Karaan replied "Do you trust me?" He said "I think..." Karaan said "Well do what I say." He started picking up several items, mostly alchemic ingredients. Items that hold their value. And a few overly priced trinkets. He had so much that it was hard for both of them to carry. The shop keep was surprised. She was an elderly woman, thin and scrawny with a deep very raspy voice. She asked "All of this?" Karaan took the lead saying confidently "Yes." She laughed "That's quite a bit, what are you planning to do with it?" Karaan replied jokingly "Well it appears that we are going to do some alchemy doesn't it?" The woman laughed a little harder "That's a good one! I'll tell you what I'll give you a discount. Let's see. Usually I would ask for a platinum 7 gold for all of this but how about... hmmmm... 5?" Karaan replied "I'm sorry that's still a bit rough, we don't have very much saved up we're from the south you see." She chuckled "I suppose that would seem kind of high to you then but I can't bargain much lower. I can go to four and a half but that's it." Karaan said "We only have two gold pieces to spend. I'm sorry." She apologized as well. Saying "Yeah I'll be losing at that price I can't do it. I could go to 4 but that's that." Karaan said "We have three gold pieces between us, we really need these supplies. Can't we work something out?" She replied "No I wouldn't even be able to break even at that price, I'm sorry." Karaan sighed and turned around. And began to walk off. Letholdus was confused but followed him saying "We'll I guess it didn't work out. I really liked that staff." Karaan said aloud "That's it!" He ran back to the counter and asked Letholdus to grab the staff for him. He did and they took it to the counter Karaan said "I have a friend that was eyeballing this staff a few days ago. They told me about it but they were hesitant to pay for it. I bet that I can squeeze the two gold pieces from them. They owe me a bit anyways. So what about it 5 gold for all of this and the staff?" She replied "You only have three gold with you correct?" He replied "Yeah but I'll leave him here with you, he can help you around shop while I'm gone. My friend is shopping just a few stores down I'll run over talk a little magic and get the other two pieces. But I can only do that if I give him the staff." The woman thought for a minute "I guess I could make a small profit from that. And staffs like this aren't exactly easy to sell. My customers usually want the higher valued staves. I suppose that I can make that deal. Karaan excitedly said "Great! Let me just run out to grab my friend." He then turned to Letholdus and said ok give me what you have. He did so and Karaan handed it to the woman saying "Mine is in the cart I'll grab it when I come back with the other two from my friend." The woman replied "Ok but try not to be too long." Karaan ran out the door and down the street. After he left the woman said "Since you're getting such a good deal I'm sure you wouldn't mind helping me clean up a bit." Letholdus said "Sure." She took out two brooms and handed one to Letholdus and began sweeping. He helped her. They talked telling jokes back and forth for several minutes, then Karaan ran in the door and walked up to her handing her three more gold pieces. She smiled and took the broom back from Letholdus asking "I'm sure you don't need help loading this yes?" Karaan replied "Yeah we've got it." They loaded everything into the cart and walked off. Letholdus likes his new staff but asked "Was it really necessary to go through all of that? And how are we going to get our money back. Most of these ingredients are form this country and I don't have the first clue how to work with them." Karaan said "Calm down. Show me the alchemist store where you sold the leaves yesterday. We're going to sell these right back." Letholdus replied "Oh I see. But how will we do that? I mean selling them is easy enough but there's no way we can really make our money back is there?" Karaan replied "Normally, no. But we bought all of these at price, we have so many items that all we have to do is go to several different shops and sell them all slightly more than price, there are so many items here that we should be able to make up the difference. It will take the rest of the day and it will be tedious, but it will save us a full gold piece in this country's currency." Letholdus said "Oh I get it. You bought so much so that you could get it down to at price, but no one would ever sell items for price so you offered to buy the staff, one of the most expensive items in her store at full price meaning that she would make a profit. If you just bought it at half price she wouldn't have made the same profit. But we can just sell these items for a little more than value and make the money back on them." Karaan said "Yeah that's it." They walked to the store that Letholdus was at the day before and Karaan told the man that his friend Letholdus had told him how he offered such a great price for his goods so he asked if he wanted to buy anything. He ended up buying some fig branches and a few other lower priced items they made just over 1 silver above face value for the items, but it was a start. They did this for the rest of the day. Many shops Karaan would send Letholdus in with a bag of herbs and other ingredients and have him sell them at a certain price then he would go into the store himself later that day in order to make two trips to the same store. It took a long time but when they had finished they ended up with more than they initially planned. Karaan kept the extra, three silver, as his fee for helping. They went back to the room. Sarah was there practicing her flow manipulation. She had spread her hands apart about half an inch further than before. Zevesda was passed out on one of the beds. Karaan offered Letholdus the couch and he took the floor. Sarah went to bed soon after them. They got up early the next morning Karaan and Letholdus both skipped breakfast to get in line to see Edward. They waited in the line for hours before finally getting in the building. As they walked in they walked into a large waiting room. A counter at one end with a receptionist behind it. She was a young woman who asked for his receipt. She took it and asked Karaan for a gold piece. Karaan paid her and she wrote down his name then asked for Letholdus's receipt. He didn't have one she said "You can't go back without a receipt." Karaan spoke up "He's my guard." The woman replied "Oh. Ok, I'm not sure if Edward will allow him to come back but he can stay in here." Karaan looked at Letholdus who said "It's fine we can try." Karaan patted him on the back and sat down. After several more hours of waiting it was a about two now a man came out and the receptionist said Karaans name. Karaan and Letholdus both walked back. They walked through a thick red curtain covering a door shaped opening in the wall. A slightly older man, about normal size but with broad shoulders stood in the back looking at a wall covered in ingredients and potions of all kinds. It had a very strong, almost unbearably musky scent. It reminded Karaan of Agathas potion shops in the past. He said in a deep burly voice while still looking through his potions "I will only see one patient at a time, one of you please step out." Karaan replied "He's my guard, and a big fan, can he stay?" Edward replied "I am not to entertain." Karaan replied "Of course he will stay out of our way." Edward said "Fine but he will stay in the corner to his left and will not move or touch anything." Karaan replied "Of course." Edward said "Well what are you waiting for? Stop wasting my time, set down and tell me why you're here!" Karaan apologized and sat in an old wooden chair that was in front of him it was in front of a similarly old wooden desk. Karaan began to explain his condition. "I was born with a bone disease, I've been taking medicine to help with it but I was hoping that you could help me even more." He finally turned around after Karaan was finished explaining. He had an average face with face fuzz from his shaved beard and dark brown hair. He began writing a list on paper after he finished he said "Al" in a stern firm voice Holding the paper to his side. Just then a huge seven foot tall metal golem that had been setting motionless like a statue in the back began moving. It looked up and moved its foot as it took a step the pounding of its foot hitting the ground sounded like a walking giant. The golem appeared to me made of forged steel. It walked up to him reached out its hand grabbed the paper and walked toward the front desk. As it walked away Edward held up his hand as if to give Karaan a high five but he held just above the desk. He said "Punch my hand as hard as you can." Karaan was hesitant Edward said in a slightly louder more firm voice "Now." Karaan did as he said. He said "Again." In the same voice. Karaan did again. He said "Sorry I can't help you. Next." Karaan sat there for a minute in disbelief but without saying anything got up and began to walk out. Edward chuckled and said "Get back here and set back down." Karaan looked confused but he did as he was told. The golem walked back in and walked toward the corner where it sat before. Edward said "Usually my customers are spoiled rich kids that think their entitled to the world. It's a nice change of pace to have someone who knows humility in here. Let me see your medicinal list." Karaan took out the list that he usually gives to town alchemists. Edward examined it. The golem stood back in the corner in its original position. After a little time he got out another piece of paper and wrote down another list. As he did he spoke "Usually I would have gotten in an argument with the spoiled brat and had Alphonse back there kick them out. But before they were gone I would offer to help them out for the full treatment price at another time. Either they would agree or they wouldn't. Either way that's the whole fun of it. Someone like you with a little humility is no fun to tease or rob. Don't get me wrong I would under normal circumstances but just so happens in the past few years I haven't found money to be an object so it's become more of a game than anything else. I won't refund what you've paid so far because that would be unfair to everyone else and I would lose some reputation. That wouldn't hurt my career at all but I do like to maintain." He chuckled and handed Karaan the list that he wrote then grabbed a large skin and using a strange ink on it began to draw a very complicated seal. He didn't talk at all while he did. After he had finished he handed it to Karaan. I'm sure you're guard there will be able to take care of this for you. This will by no means cure you, in fact it will cost you more money. However money must not be an object if you've come to see me. This will work much better than your current medicine. Under the best circumstances it will heal the damage that has already been done, but that's over the course of the rest of your life. The old elf taught me this one haha. Apparently this condition isn't uncommon among the fairys. I'm guessing that you can't use magic?" Karaan said "No not at all." He laughed "Yeah it usually works out like that. But to have come this far on your own with such a weak body and no magic...... wait what did you say you're name was again?" Karaan replied "Karaan?" Edwards mood suddenly changed he got very angry "Are you the one who killed Agatha?" Karaan nervously answered "No. But I know who did." Edward stood up and Alphonse started moving very quickly toward Karaan. Edward turned around and in a rush looked through his potions near the top shelf where it appeared that he kept recipes and formulas, there were a lot of papers. He grabbed what appeared to be a very old dusty envelope and handed it to Karaan. Karaan took it hesitantly. Edward yelled "Take this and get out now! If I ever see you again I will kill you!" Karaan got up and backed up as Alphonse closed in on him Edward screamed "NOW! GO!" Karaan asked "At least tell me what I've done to you? I thought you hated Agatha?" Edward laughed "This letter is from that old witch Agatha. She gave it to me more than five years ago telling me that I would be cursed if I didn't give it to you. She told me that two travelers would come to see me. One would be a close friend of hers, he would be weak with a bone disease named and his name Karaan, and the other, the one who would one day kill her. I couldn't destroy it or anything I just had to hang onto it. There is a curse on me until you leave this building with that letter. I don't care what your relationship is with the witch, I don't care if you killed her or not, but any friend of hers is a grievous enemy of mine! Now get out and never let me see you again!" Karaan turned around and walked out Letholdus followed close by, they were both followed by Alphonse. As they walked off Letholdus said to Karaan "I'm sorry that happened but I can't believe that you actually knew Agatha. And that you actually know her killer. You are just full of surprises! Well what does the letter say? I'm dying to know." Karaan said "Knowing her this letter is cursed, it has to be opened under certain conditions or it will kill everyone in this town, including myself." Letholdus backed up a little saying "Wow she really sounds scary." Karaan replied "Yeah. She was like a mother to me however, well like a grandmother at least." Letholdus walked back up and said "Well let me see the letter if you don't mind.' Karaan handed it to him. He examined it for a while and said "Yeah it looks like some kind of timer has been activated on it. This curse is amazingly complex I can't even begin to decipher it. She really must have been amazing. But the curse should dissolve when the timer has reached its end. I don't know when that will be though." Karaan asked "Can you understand any of the curse at all?" He replied "Well there's this part it's a replicate used to replicate the curse a near infinite times I imagine then another part I believe that this is the part that's being replicated I can't tell what it does exactly but it doesn't look good at all something about turning inside out... never mind I don't want to know... Ummm, Ohhh this part... it's a transfer seal... oh no..." He looked at Karaan with tears in his eyes "The curse has been transferred to both of us, unless these opening conditions are met it looks like we will be turned inside out. Or at least I hope that's all that will happen." Karaan chuckled "hahaha, yeah that sounds about right. So all we have to do is open on to that and not let anything happen to it until the seal goes away." Letholdus replied "You seem awfully calm about this..." Karaan said "This is actually pretty normal for Agatha. I guess you could call it her version of a joke." Letholdus said "Well I fail to see how anyone could find this the slightest bit funny." Karaan laughed "And that's exactly why it is funny." Letholdus asked "So how long have you known her? He said she gave him this letter five years ago. I knew that she was a fortune teller but that's just, beyond amazing. That's even beyond the abilities of The Warlock." The Warlock is a nickname given to Karaans father by enemy nations sometime after his death. Karaan replied "Well she was quite the amazing fortune teller. She could even see her own death. That is a triumph." Letholdus replied "Yeah, your right. I just... I can't really believe that anyone could do that. To see your own death. Hey he mentioned that you knew the person who killed her. Who was it?" Karaan replied "Sarah" Letholdus stopped in his tracks with a blank expression on his face. Karaan stopped and looked back at him "You are lying. You're lying to me. Why are you lying?" Karaan replied "No, you can ask the king of Dissent, he'll vouch for me." Letholdus still somewhat stunned said "You met two of the four, you're travelling with the killer of one, and you're friends with a king. I think I'll stay on you're good side from now on." Karaan laughed as Letholdus kept walking. Letholdus asked "So how did she kill one of the four I assume it wasn't pretty?" Karaan replied "Well it wasn't much she just slapped her." They walked as he continued to explain what happened. Letholdus was amazed that Agatha not only saw her death but created it. Letholdus was amazed. He asked "But if you met her that day why couldn't she hand you this letter then why now, today?" Karaan replied "Well it probably has to do with you." Letholdus- "Me?" Karaan- "Yes you, she obviously had her reasons for not handing it to me then and wanted me to receive it after I became friends with a mage capable of understanding it as much as you, not to mention most mages would be scared off by a letter from Agatha but you... you love it." He replied "Yeah I do. But I still can't believe that she would be able to see five years in the future and beyond her own death at that. That is simply unbelievable. That goes beyond everything that I ever though possible." They continued to talk as they walked back to the hotel. Letholdus couldn't get over his amazement. As they walked back in to the room where Zevesda and Sarah both waited excitedly, Zevesda shouted "How did it go?!" Karaan replied "Well I was kicked out... but I did get this." Holding up the parchment and ingredient list that Edward gave him before kicking him out. They looked at it was disappointment. Karaan said "Well cheer up, this is a good day! I got to keep most of my money. I'm rich now drinks are all on me!" Everyone smile and they all rushed downstairs to the bar. They walked in set down and began drinking. After thirty minutes or so Karaan took interest in a man playing a game of cups off to the side. It was strange how he was playing. He walked up and the man shouted "Who next? Anyone want to play?" One of the men on the side said "You have an unfair advantage!" The man replied calmly in a sly voice "No I give you the advantage! C'mon someone come up and prove him wrong." Karaan had been watching for a while and felt that he understood the rules but still asked "How do we play?" The man chuckled." It's simple I give you a huge advantage with this. You're almost sure to win!" Zevesda, Letholdus, and Sarah all joined the crowd watching. The man continued to explain. "I have three cups here. You will turn around and I will stick this gold coin under one of these cups then mix then up a bit. I'll have you turn back around and pick your favorite choice. Don't worry though you aren't married yet. I'll show you one of the wrong cups and then give you the option to change your answer." Zevesda said "50/50, I like those odds!" but another man in the crowd replied "No, he's a nasty trickster!" The game master chuckled and asked "Are you ready?" Karaan replied "Yeah but what's the catch? Let me guess you want twice what you're betting?" The man replied "No we both bet the same amount. It's simple, easy, nothing to it and you have the advantage here." Karaan replied "I like those odds I'm in!" Sarah sighed saying "What are you doing? You're terrible at gambling." Karaan replied "This isn't gambling this is making money." He looked sure of himself. Several people in the crowd sneered at him as if waiting for him to loose for some humility. Beating this game didn't seem plausible it was always in the man's favor because he knew where everything was. Karaan bet a gold coin and turned around. Closing his eyes. The man asked the crowd not to reveal anything, Karaan did the same saying "It would be embarrassing if I cheated odds that were already so favorable." The man smiled and shuffled the cups. Karaan turned back around. The man said "Your favorite cut sir?" Karaan picked the one to the far left. The man turned over the middle cup nothing was under it, he said "Change your answer or not?" Karaan said "of-course!" he moved his finger to the other cup. The man pulled the cup off of the one to the far right. The crowd looked astonished but one man said "Beginners luck." Karaan laughed at that saying "Luck has nothing to do with it." He asked the game master if he wanted to play for double or nothing. The game master said "No, you'll break me at that rate." They played again this time Karaan picked the middle cup, he changed his answer again. Again he won. The crowd look astonished. Karaan laughed saying "I'll bet four coins to your two?" the game master backed off and declined the offer asking if anyone else wanted to play. Letholdus stepped up. He asked Karaan "How did you do it? Mined explaining?" Karaan said "Its simple math really just add and subtract. Normally you would have a 1 in 3 chance of picking the right cup. I this case the smaller chance is a good thing." Everyone looked confused a couple of people walked away from aggravation thinking that Karaan didn't know what he was talking about. He continued "You pick a cup it doesn't matter then he flips one over. That's the important part. There is a 2 in 3 chance that one of the other two cups is the right cup. But he's obviously not going to just show you the right cup so he's going to flip the other one over. That means that the cup you have has a 1 in 3 chance of being right and the other one has a 2 in three chance of being right. He basically tells you which cup is the right one. I assume most people loose by reading too far into it thinking that hes obviously goint to pick the wrong cup to make you switch so they don't, or they don't think about it enough and think theres an equal chance of it being either cup so they don't switch. That's why he's actually profitable. Against a normal crowd he'll win two out of three times. Which just so happens to be the perfect number to make new people play. He does that until someone figures out his game or people just give up. But he was telling the truth the game really is made in your favor that is if you think it through." Letholdus said "I don't really understand but I'll trust you." The game master said "Looks like I've been found out. I'll have to find a new bar now. Sorry people no more games tonight the odds aren't in my favor anymore." He chuckled a little as he stretched out his hand to shake Karaans he said "What's your name?" He replied "Karaan." The game master said "I'm Monty. I'll remember you Karaan. Next time you're in town apple cider is my treat. But unfortunately you almost broke me. Usually I bet in silver the gold is just for looks." Karaan chuckled "We'll I'll have to take you up on that offer some day. Don't forget!" They both laughed and the man packed up and walked off as Karaan, Zevesda, and Letholdus walked back to the bar. They drank a little more. The others didn't understand why the one cup was right even after Karaan explained it, so he took three cups form the counter and demonstrated it. It wasn't until they saw it that they understood. They were all amazed that he could figure that out so easily. The bartender laughed saying "You must be one of the smartest people I've ever met." Karaan said "No I'm just good with numbers." The man laughed again handing him a full glass "Well this one is on the house, for the man with too much modesty." Karaan happily accepted and chugged it down. It was starting to get late when Karaan finished his glass that they all decided to go back to the room and sleep. Karaan passed out on the floor as soon as they entered the room. They others went to sleep as well. For the first time in some while Karaan awoke with a hangover. After a while and some cold water, curtesy of Letholdus he felt a little better so he got up and they left. Everyone agreed to pay their share for the hotel. It almost coasted Sarah everything that she had earned. But she said that it was worth it, they had some good drinks, good meals, and some good times. They left fairly early in the morning and headed to the alchemy shop. With Letholdus' help Karaan had no trouble getting all of his ingredients right away. They set out to the next town right away. They didn't bother to find anything to transport, Karaan just wanted to get out of that town, understandably. As they walked Letholdus observed Sarah and noticed that she had improved quite a bit. She wasn't there yet but it shouldn't be much longer. He dint admit it but he expected her to reach the goal by the time they got to the next town. He admitted however that she was somehow moving much faster than expected he hadn't really expected her to get this far until at least halfway back through the desert. Most people have a lot of trouble controlling their emotions like that. At the end of the day Karaan helped Karaan by preparing his medicine for him. Not free of charge of course but at a discounted rate for a good friend. They went to bed that night fairly easily. They all slept well more or less Karaan awoke feeling very strange. Letholdus told him that it was probably just his body reacting to the new medicine. They walked the next day talking. Sarah made even more progress, Zevesda offered her a few pointers that didn't seem to help at first but after a few hours she understood them and it helped her improve a lot faster. Karaan awoke the next morning feeling very similar to the previous morning. It was a strange feeling, not exactly bad but not good. Like when you drink a lot of water and you want to through it up, but it wasn't a sick or nauseous feeling either. They didn't walk very long until they reached the next town. They agreed on a camping spot and went their separate ways. Karaan looked for more transportation jobs. This would be his last chance to get a job before going back to the desert. Sarah decided to stay at the camp sight and practice her magic some more. Letholdus stayed and helped her. Zevesda for lack of better options followed Karaan around and gave him a hand. As they walked Zevesda asked a few questions "So how long have you and Sarah been together?" Karaan- "About half a year now." Zevesda- "Oh so it's safe to say she doesn't know?" Karaan- "Yeah, can we not talk about that?" Zevesda- "Yeah sorry. I was just a little curious. But I suppose that curiosity killed the weaver huh?" Karaan chuckled a little, but he did so with a somewhat saddened face. Karaan found several jobs paying three silver pieces total, quite the good price. And went back to the cart. Sarah had all but mastered this meditation with Letholdus' help. They fixed a nice supper. The next morning they packed everything into the cart. Saran and Letholdus helped and they set out. Since Sarah had all but mastered the meditation Letholdus felt it was time to move on to the next step. He told her to focus it into her sword. It just took her that day to learn how to do that, but that was to be expected. He then taught her to activate the seals, that came a little harder and took another day but she got it down in a single day as well. The next day he had her continue focusing the flow onto the sword until they reached the next town so that she could feel how it drained her magic. She found this much more difficult than it sounded because the constant outflow in her magic was so different from what she was used to. He told her to concentrate on keeping the seal active for at least ten seconds at a time. Even this seemed impossible, her flow kept interrupting itself, but she tried. She kept this up until they reached the next town. They were on the road for another two days. They reached the next town with just enough time to set up their tents on the second day. The next morning Karaan dropped off the goods and found some shops selling supplies for the journey across the desert. He stocked up on the alchemic ingredients that he needed. It coasted him the full price of his job and another 20 silver pieces in that country's currency split four ways to buy the supplies water. He paid Sarah's portion and they worked out a deal that that would cover her coast for service. They prepared everything and set out after two more days.
YOU ARE READING
A Tale of Fortunes Cross
FantasíaThis is the story of Karaan a young magic-less merchant, in a world filled with magic and magical creatures. It was party inspired by "Spice and Wolf" But is by no means a "fan-fic". Karaans adventures takes him throughout a wonderful, enormous cont...
