With a few days free in Dan’Tonk, the elves can take care of personal business. Tric needs to track down someone named Fazoul whose relatives went on an expedition across the Sandy Wastes. Heppa has a referral for a former resident of Hisanham named Roshanak who makes the kind of eyepiece Damal uses for tiny writing. Now that Heppa knows how to do Falcon Sight, she is not so sure she needs such a fragile instrument—or that she can afford one, given what they owe Alric—but she is still curious to check it out. Heppa also thinks this city would be a good place to look for the pottery she promised her sister Quaemilya. There are markets as far as the eye can see, both around Dan’Tonk and within it.
“Let’s find a place to stay first,” Tric suggests. “We’ve had pretty good luck finding places.”
“We have,” Heppa agrees. “But we did have a recommendation for the first place.”
“That’s true,” Tric acknowledges. Kachen’s first letter told them about Alric’s place. “So let’s check this new recommendation. It’s probably not going to be as memorable as the Parting Glass, so don’t get your hopes up too much,” he adds with a grin.
They soon locate one of the flophouses Knots told them about. It is not a horrible place; Knots and the Beard probably just have lower standards than the elves do. The two mercenaries like that it is cheap and provides a roof, but Heppa and Tric prefer something just a bit more. Namely, a private room. The operator of this establishment reads all this on them as soon as they enter the place. “While, yes, we have a corner of the floor available here,” the white man with wavy grayish-blue hair says, “discerning patrons such as yourselves might be more interested in the Northern Outlook, our sister establishment on the upper side, run by Heidl.”
Following his directions, Tric and Heppa locate the Northern Outlook, which is on the north side of Dan’Tonk. When they enter, they find a man behind the counter almost identical to the previous fellow, but with brown wavy locks and a distinguished stick-thin mustache. The place is pricier, with a private room running two coins a night per elf (magpies stay for free). It also has a stable to house Butterbell—at a small additional fee for the small pony. Heidl assures them that they can pay on a daily basis, since the elves are still not entirely sure what their schedule will be. He is also able to supply directions to Roshanak the glassworker and Fazoul the weaver, whose shop is just down the street from Roshanak’s. Heppa asks about potters, and Heidl suggests Waith, who makes and sells her wares at a really large barn outside the city walls. It is a communal market for many of the local sculptors and potters, which sounds just like what Heppa needs.
For now, though, the cousins follow Heidl’s directions to Roshanak’s shop. It is on a street that stands out from many of the others they have trod. All the businesses have signs with both lettering and artistic renderings communicating their purpose. The fronts of many shops are open onto the street, and rather than shutters or doors, many have heavy curtains. The humans themselves are of the same general mix of pigmentation as elsewhere in Dan’Tonk and throughout Wesnoth, but here many are sitting on rugs on the ground with goods spread out. To Heppa, it is reminiscent of dinner with Lonfar and Osian, and she wonders whether there are many Dunefolk about.
The sign for Roshanak’s Glassworks has a picture of a fancy glass bottle with a stopper. It also has two connected circles in a frame of some kind. The elves are not sure what that is. Further down the street, they see the sign for Fazoul’s Fabulous Fabrics. Heppa hears the caw of a falcon, and she sees one fly into a rooftop along the same street. As excited as she is by all the new things to see around here, it does make her miss Alric.
The woman at the counter in the glassworks has dark brown skin and hair that probably used to be a very similar color but is now shot with gray. She looks to be somewhat old by human standards, perhaps of an age with Serces or Damal. She wears her hair pulled back and twisted out of the way of her work. The interior of the shop is even warmer than outside, as there is a furnace for melting glass. Roshanak herself is wearing glass, two small circles of it in a frame resting on her nose and ears. It reminds Heppa of the tool Damal has for holding his magnifier while he writes. From the wares around the store, it looks like this craftsperson also often works with very small things.
“Some people just like to carry windows on their face, I guess,” Tric murmurs next to her.
Hearing them, the woman looks up from her task. “Greetings. Welcome to my shop. Are you Heppa?” she asks.
“Why yes!” Heppa replies, a bit surprised to be greeted by name, given how far they have traveled from home. She supposes Damal informed Roshanak that she would be coming, and it is unlikely many elves come by here. “It is nice to meet you,” she adds politely.
Tric is a little alarmed at the recognition, but then he remembers the falcon exchange and calms down. Damal informed Heppa of this glassworker; it makes sense that communication went in the other direction as well.
“I heard from South Tower that you might be interested in looking at my wares,” Roshanak confirms. And if you haven’t been to Sazid’s yet, you should stop in there.” At Heppa’s mumurred confusion, she clarifies she is speaking of the aviary just down the street.
Maybe we should send Damal a message to run for his life, Tric thinks, remembering Lonfar’s anger.
“I’m curious about the eyepieces,” Heppa says, “but I’m not sure I have the budget for that. I assume it is very intricate. But all this is quite amazing!” She gestures around the shop at the various pieces on display. There are no monoculars sitting around, but there are many glass jars with cork stoppers and fancy looking dishes.
Roshanak is happy to answer Heppa’s questions about her wares, including those mounted on her own face. While the children tend to call them glasses, she prefers to use the term spectacles, as they make the whole world clearer and easier for her to see. “While glass can be used to make decorations and serving materials, it also has a magnifying quality to it. Think about water. When you look through it, say at a submerged hand, things do not line up quite the same way. That is because of the way that the light moves through the water. The same is true of glass. The term we use for this is refraction.” From a secured area at the back of the shop, she pulls out a monocular similar to Damal’s for Heppa to try out.
“I do a lot of traveling,” Heppa says as she looks through the device, “so things breaking is a real possibility.”
“Perhaps you might also need to see far off, then,” Roshanak says. She pulls out a bundled up velvety cloth and a flat piece of leather. First she unwraps two lenses from the cloth, and then she rolls up the leather, setting one lens in each end. Heppa looks through the easy-to-transport telescope. It is not quite the same effect as Falcon Sight, as it does not alter her own perceptions, but it does make distant objects appear distinct. “Do you have anything like the monocular, maybe not as powerful, but hardier and maybe less costly?” Maybe something like that combined with Falcon Sight would be enough, Heppa thinks.
“If you are just interested in a one-piece magnifying glass, that would certainly be much cheaper than the monocular or the telescope,” Roshanak tells her.
While Heppa and the shopkeeper are talking, Tric drifts away. There are a lot of expensive looking things in this shop that he should be careful around. No, Mate needs to be careful! he thinks. There are a lot of shiny things. The magpie is on his shoulder right now, twisting his head every which direction, admiring all the reflective surfaces. The safest place for them, Tric decides, is over by a large flat surface that shows the clearest reflection he has ever seen of himself. Wow, there really is a lot of road dust on me, he reflects. Mate, not quite as intelligent as his mount, does not realize they are what is shown in the mirror. He takes offense that Tric is paying attention to the other bird and keeps tugging on his bandana with his beak to turn Tric’s head towards him.