The barn where the local potters have communal work and shop space is outside Dan’Tonk’s walls. However, it is close enough that Tric and Heppa can walk over there for the afternoon after Roshanak gives them their magnifying glass and small mirror following Dune School. The sun is hot, and the shade of the barn’s interior is quite welcome when they reach it. The enormous amount of goods is overwhelming, though. Shelf after shelf is covered with many varieties of pots. Some are plain with just a single glaze for color. Others are etched following the application of glaze, allowing for some relief patterns. There are coiled pots and spun pots; the list goes on. Additionally, there are sculptures for sale. Many humans fill the space too, making sales or looking for goods.
Quaemilya requested a piece she could store something in—probably herbs or jewelry—that was artistic by human standards. Heppa does not have much of a sense for artistic things, elvish or human. Following their innkeeper’s suggestion, she locates the crafter Waith in a very prominent location with an enormous urn on display to catch the eye. The olive-skinned woman has her black hair pulled back out of the way, and she is bent over her work, applying pigment to an unfinished piece with a finely tipped brush. Her wares come in a variety of sizes and include plates as well as jars with cork stoppers. A lot of it seems more decorative—so presumably more artistic—than what the elves passed on their way in.
The level of effort Waith is exerting on her current piece suggests these are also more expensive. At a bit of a loss, Heppa looks around for anything that reminds her of Lala and is small enough to be safely transported over the rest of their journey. “Tric, can you help me?” she asks her cousin. “What do you think of this one?” She holds up a small green jar with intricate carving and a lid. “Do you think it’s artistic? Do you think Lala would like it? I’m not sure how what’s artistic from a human perspective would be different than from an elvish one.”
Tric does not know his older cousin very well. He grasps after what little he knows of her interests. “She recently graduated from sorceress training. They wear darker green than the shamans do, and that looks close to the right shade. Sure, I think that would be good. But… let’s pick a few options so that we have something to work with when we discuss what we’re interested in with Waith,” he suggests. “And the first rule is, we’re not going to show how much money we have upfront.”
“Oh, no. Of course not,” Heppa agrees, surprised at the thought. When she has done things like that in the past, it has been in a completely different context, with people she already trusts like Alric and Damal. She would never do that with a total stranger.
They look through a few more samples and bring some options to the potter, but the dismal news is that everything here is on the order of hundreds of coins, way beyond Heppa’s budget. The elves compliment Waith on her superb work but move on without making a purchase. They wander around, idly looking at other wares in the giant barn. It is all quite overwhelming, the sheer volume of choices, and Heppa does not find pots themselves to be terribly interesting. She also does not want to spend all her money on pottery, not when they still owe Alric for covering her alchemy expenses. Heppa had not realized how troublesome this commitment would be when she agreed to it. Of course, at the time, fixing Kachen’s ring was more important to her.
Tric is less worried about their debt to Alric, confident as he is in his ability to earn coin as an entertainer. He does agree though that settling the pot matter right now is not necessary; they will likely pass through Dan’Tonk or Weldyn again on their way back home.
“Let’s just go back to the room,” Heppa says after a while. “I can write my letter to Alric so Kilkk can go home.”
As they begin making their way to the front of the barn, Tric and Heppa discuss their next steps. It is now the fifth week of summer, leaving seven weeks until their appointment with Kachen in South Tower. Heppa and Tric have gained familiarity with the roads they have traveled and could retread them more swiftly without a caravan, but there are still things they need to do for Thrandolil out here. All they have gotten for him so far is the inscrutable Lay of Gritta. Kachen already knows about that, so it is not truly new information, even though it will be new to Thrandolil. However, it by itself is insufficient for this outing; Thrandolil asked them to find out about the Society of Shadow. If that ends up taking a long time, they can always send a falcon—or even Mate—to South Tower to reschedule the meeting with Kachen.
Their lead on the Society of Shadow places it in the area near Carcyn, which is the next stop for Rhodri’s caravan. Heppa tells Tric what she overheard at Dune School about the lightning bandits. “We should share this with Rhodri even if we don’t sign back up with them,” Heppa says. “Just as a professional courtesy. Hopefully they won’t have the prisoners with them by the point the road gets dangerous, but I didn’t hear the specifics of exactly where the bandits were.”
“That sounds like a scary story meant to keep people away, a rumor that may or may not be true,” Tric says, giving his professional opinion. “And it also sounds like the people we’re looking for.” Poring over Heppa’s map, they see that the name of the forest near Carcyn is the Grey Woods. As far as they know, there are not elvish settlements there. In the past, Glammur shared rumors with Tric and Heppa about rebellious mages based out of there, which is likely this Society of Shadow.
“It can’t be more than three week’s travel to get from Carcyn back to South Tower, especially not if we’re traveling on our own without a caravan to slow things down,” Heppa judges. “We know the route now. We should still be able to meet Kachen at the start of autumn.”
“And if not, we’ll catch him in the winter,” Tric says, making a pun on their friend’s name. “We could always hire another pony to ride back faster if we waste too much time around here. But I really don’t think we need to go all the way to Carcyn.”
“You don’t think Ulf’s information on where the society is based is correct?” Heppa asks.
“Oh, I think there’s information to be had in Carcyn. But I think that if we keep our eyes open on the road, we might be able to make contact with them sooner. It would save us time to travel onwards alone, but we would make less money.”
“But do you think Tomos is going to be able to handle a bunch of lightning mages?” Heppa asks, still feeling responsible for the safety of the caravan, or at least the friends she made in it.
“If Rhodri doesn’t hire us, they’ll hire someone else,” Tric says, unconcerned. “Besides, I’m not convinced there really are lightning mages. It could be a rumor spread by mercenaries to increase their pay on that route. I mean, c’mon. Lightning mages? Pff! No one can verify that.”