Hippall was the first Reese found, "Beeson? Today, he'd probably be in the kitchen at this time."

Only, in the kitchen Beeson was not to be found, "Beeson? You just missed him. He’s probably at the silver gate inspecting some inventory, east side of the castle."

With a light jog, Reese arrived at the smaller gate to see a few wagons still being unload. "Beeson? No he already inspected these. He's headed out to the market to check on something in the city. Couldn't tell you what but you might want to hurry."

Moving from a jog to a run, Reese made it to the main gate just in time to stop Beeson before he could disappear again. Before he could approach, he was forcibly stopped by Olithma, the halfling he had meet earlier. The young man was a hair shorter than Reese despite clearly being older. Regardless of his size, Reese expected the halfling had enough skill to put him on the ground.

“Not so fast boy, Beeson is in a rush.” Olithma said with a smug smile.

“It’s ok Olithma, I have a few seconds, what I can I do for you Reese?” The elf man spoke with his signature neutral smile.

"Beeson. Sorry. You're a hard man to find." Reese panted between words, his labored breathing a sign his cardio was less than he would like. He'd make a note later to work on that.

Beeson grew a bit concerned. "Is something wrong?"

Reese shook his head "No, sorry if that worried you. I just had a question. Would it be possible to use the blacksmith forge? I have some experiments and I need metal working equipment."

Olithma laughed at the request, Reese did his best to ignore it.

Beeson on the other hand paused as if considering the request.

Trying to put off any reservation, Reese frantically protested with, "I'd provide my own resources of course! I just need the space for a few hours or so when it’s not in use."

"Oh, I don't have a problem with it, Reese. But you'd want to speak to my wife, I generally leave issues of the castle grounds to her and Hippall, for the most part. You'll probably have to discuss it with our new blacksmith as well, Annsa I believe her name is. Good luck with that, she's… cold."

"I see. Do you know where your wife is then?" He still felt hopeful he could do this before noon.

Beeson smiled and shifted his gaze with a blush. "I suspect, somewhere in the city, checking on… somethings. She'll probably be back in a few hours."

There seemed to be some kind of innuendo there that Reese couldn't be sure of. It was probably best not to probe. The affairs, sometimes literal ones, of nobles were best not looked at too closely.

With a defeated sigh, Reese’s head gave into his fatigue and fell, "Well, this can wait. I've got other projects I can work on."

Again, the halfling smiled smugly while waving him off. Reese wondered what his problem was?

But, before Reese could walk away, Beeson had a request of him, "Since you're here, I could use your assistance. I need someone who is good with numbers."

"I don't have anything else to do, but I'm not sure how much help I'll be?" He spoke meekly.

“Sir, I assure you I can provide anything you need. There’s no need to bring the boy.” Olithma protested.

The interference caused Reese’s blood to rise a bit. Suddenly he had a growing desire to join Beeson on whatever errand he had.

"Non-sense. I suspect there are some irregularities in our orders. Your assistance will be most welcome, even if you tell me there's nothing you can see."

Reese smiled, and turned to the halfling, “In that case I would love to assist.”

The walk through the high market was an interesting one. Reese had ridden in through the eastern parts of it, but hadn't had a chance to get an in-depth look into it. All the shops had exceedingly high priced good on display. Items that Reese wouldn't be able to afford with even a year of labor.

Passing a tailor, he was captivated by the quality of the clothes and their appearance through the window. Which was odd since he didn’t normally care about such things. The materials seemed to be something akin to silk and the inside of the garments shined. The sign for one of the shirt was 10 gold, a year's work and then some for most commoners and an unimaginable sum. Perhaps most insulting though was on earth it would probably have just been a few hundred dollars. A hefty sum, but affordable by all, if they wanted it.

Olithma chuckled at Reese’s gaze. Perhaps finding the faux noble’s wonderment to be a sign of his false station.

"Expensive, aren't they?" Beeson seemed to read Reese’s mind and paused for a moment in front of the shop.

"A bit. Just surprised. Wollseeth didn't have anything this costly." Reese knew he was reaffirming Olithma’s view of him.

“For a boy of his station, that shirt must be more than he’s ever seen.” Again, Olithma spoke with a mocking laugh.

Only to be pushed back by Beeson. “Thank you Olithma, but I was asking Reese.”

The halfling, stopped laughing and lowered his head. He seemed to whisper something that sounded like, “Of course, I’m sorry lord.” But it was hard to tell.

Beeson turned back to Reese, "Do you think 10 gold is a reasonable price for this shirt?"

The merchant and tailor for the shop quickly came outside hopeful of the prospect of a sale to the local lord.

"I'm… not sure. I don't know fashion very well." Reese fumbled as thought how he might come up with a better answer, seeing that Beeson wasn't willing to leave just yet. "If I had to guess. I don't think it's unreasonable, maybe?"

The merchant jumped on that comment, "Indeed! This shirt is made with the finest silks from the wood Elves of Absiter. The other cloth is pure fine wool from the Alpita in the great mountains. It is exquisitely soft and waterproof you would not get wet in even the heaviest rains. The colors you'll notice are exceptionally vibrant, I dare say no other merchant or tailor has the dye skills I possess. If you come inside I'd be happy to get your fittings."

Beeson looked to Reese again, "So, your thoughts? If you had the coin would you buy it?" The offer seemed to be hiding something behind it. It wasn’t a gift, it almost felt like more of a test.

The halfling bit his lip, a gesture Reese was keenly aware of. For a moment, Reese wondered if it was to keep from saying something or just out of frustration. It was hard to tell, and in truth he didn’t really care.

Considering what the merchant said and the shirt in front of him, again, he simply had no idea of the value of these clothes. But maybe he could guess at the cost of the materials at least.

"Well, if the silk came from Absiter, what I know about shipping costs and taxes, it would be at least triple what native silk costs, maybe 50 silver a square yard, I'd guess that shirt has about 2 to 2.5 square yards worth. The Alpita fur, I'm not sure. I know it's comparable to sheep's wool, but higher quality, and thus obviously more expensive. The dye process on it would also give it a significant value I'd guess 45… maybe 50 silver per square yard, and again probably 2.5 square yards. So a bit more than 3 gold, 50 silvers for all the materials, give or take. Obviously, he deserves to make a profit on the item. Is 6 gold, 10 silvers a fair profit or is a 160% markup fair? I'm not sure, I need to compare it to other merchants, but on the surface… It does seem to be a bit high, maybe shave off 3 or 4 gold?"

Beeson stood in silence maintaining his full composure, the merchant had a look on his face between being both impressed and annoyed. Reese didn't know if that's because he was right, insulting or just wasting his time.

Beeson turned to the tailor, "Is that accurate?"

"Uh” The merchant didn’t seem to know what to say or do. His stance fell a bit as his neutral smile turned slightly truer. “It’s very close." The merchant’s tone was as if he was admitting some kind of defeat.

With a nod of approval, the lord had one more question for Reese. "Would you like the shirt, Reese? At the 6 gold you suggested?"

He had no idea how to respond. None of his books prepared him for such a scenario. He had no real desire or appreciation for clothes, preferring function over form, and that shirt for as nice as it was, was all form. It didn’t even seem to have pockets. Olithma’s hands seemed to be shaking a bit as he further chewed on his lip. It was clear the halfling wanted to say something, and possibly hit something. Why though? The halfling was legitimately becoming a puzzle to Reese, and puzzles needed to be solved.

However, that would wait. Reese shook his head ‘no’, "Beeson, I greatly appreciate what I'm assuming is a very generous offer. But as nice as the shirt is, it's not to my taste, and I couldn’t make you pay that much for a gift."

The older elf smiled, as if welcoming that answer and continued walking, "Coin is no major concern, so long as the item is fairly priced. That was a very impressive breakdown for someone who claimed they didn't know. Bit wordy, but informative. Once you marry Feuer, I'm going to have you attend court in her stead, gods know she won't."

The marriage, his marriage. The idea still seemed foreign to him, even more so then the rest of his second life. With a deep breath, Reese pushed down the thoughts.

"Come along, after that I really want an opinion on a few things."

For the next two hours Reese and Beeson looked over various items while Olithma stayed behind them and stewed. All the items seemed food related. Olithma refused to say anything further to him. Merely handing the various logistics issues that came up and scowling whenever Reese found a price to be a bit high. Though, there wasn’t a lot of conversation in general. For the most part, it seemed like Beeson was over paying a bit for most things. It led Reese to worry if his advice was bad. Could Beeson have been this wrong in setting up these trades? It just seemed unlikely that a very skilled merchant and noble would be this wrong. It was causing his own insecurities to steadily grown.

For the last part of their inspections, the three had found themselves taking a carriage down to the southern part of the city, just outside the lower walls and mesa. They approached the docks of the city that sat inside the silver lake. They were surprisingly small, for the size city anyway. Which isn’t to say it wasn’t impressive.

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Several moderate size ships sat anchored or moored to the dock, one in particular they were currently standing in front of. They had already inspected a few of the items that were leaving on various carts. Again, most were only modestly over priced, by Reese’s estimates. But this current one, he was afraid to give his appraisal on.

"What are your thoughts on this box, do you think there's enough for the event, and what about the price? I think it's high." Beeson verbally pushed Reese into giving an answer he didn’t want to give.

Finally, Olithma spoke up. “Sir, I assure you I got the best deal I could on these.”

“Oh, yes! I’m quite sure you did, sincerely. But I would still like Reese’s opinion.” Beeson shot the halfling down a few more notches.

Suddenly, Reese felt like he had a piece of that puzzle. Shame that piece seemed like it was sharp enough to cut him.

Focusing back on the current question though, the box in front of him was fairly large, about a yard or a meter on each side. Inside were assoias, a medium sized squash like vegetables, mostly round, about 5" or so across. They were quite sweet and when baked they would have a nutty aroma and flavor too. Almost like candied pecans. They were not a cheap produce, Reese could remember a few times his parents had one for special occasions, they went for about 4 silver. Which for food was a very large sum. Apparently, they were hard to grow, and would only grow in cooler conditions. Up in Yoth, where they were quite a bit cheaper.

Thinking about the numbers, the crate’s total would depended on how many were in there which itself wave based on how they were packed. At most there would be about 540, assuming an optimal packing, at the lower end maybe 340. Give or take.

"Without counting it's hard to know exactly how many are in there. Between 340-540 should be possible. At 4 silvers each, the crate should be 22 to 36 gold. Give or take." Which was Reese’s non-answer answer.

"So 34 gold is on the high end?" Beeson again prodded, though he already knew the answer.

"I mean, middle of the road number would be 29 gold. If they won't let you take them out and count, I probably wouldn't pay more than that."

The merchant rolled his eyes. "I can't let you empty the crate here Lord Beeson, I would have to let everyone do it and it would cause an absolute mess. These docks aren’t big. You can see what’s in the crate and if I short you any, we can make up for it later. I already agreed to lower the price for your halfling there anyway."

Reese thought that could be a fair point, though, would they bother to come back and true up later? If they did, would the merchant really believe them. Would they even be here? This was a ship after all.

"I trust the word of my young advisor here. I'll give you 30 Gold now; that’s more than the midpoint of what he’s saying. If we find there are more, then…" Beeson paused trying to do the math in his head.

"450 assoias " Reese jumped in.

"Thank you Reese, if there are more than 450 assoias I'll personally guarantee the difference, and have my staff come by with the rest of the coins, and a few extra for the trouble. Is that acceptable?"

The merchant didn't want to negotiate, the price was what it was. But he also knew there were barely 400 fruits in that crate. If he tried to further stiff the lord it wouldn't go over well.

"Deal." The merchant nodded and accepted Beeson’s signature on some papers. It was the same process they had done elsewhere. Reese wasn’t completely sure how it worked, but those papers were basically banking contracts. Agreement to be given a set number of coins from a given account. Effectively, a primitive version of a check.

Beeson smiled and called over his escort to begin the process of bringing this crate and the others back to the castle, it would not be accompanying them on this carriage. Olithma broke away from the two of them, rushing to help ready the crate for transport. Perhaps, he wanted to be seen doing something useful today, after Reese had whittled away so many of his dealings.

Still, the whole process seemed an inefficient way of dealing with bulk produce like this. In fact, many of the halflings faults could have been easily fixed with other methods of determining value. “You know, rather than paying by item, paying by weight could be more efficient.”

The elf noble’s eye shot up, surprised by the point. “By weight?” He asked back.

“Yes, you just put them on a large scale, and pay for weight of the goods, rather than guessing the count. It would lead to far less error.”

“Interesting idea…” Beeson’s smile grew, and he almost laughed, “Very interesting, but a scale that big would be unwieldy. How would you set it up?”

That was a valid point. On earth they’d just have electronic scales, but here, it would have to be a more physical device, possibly with leavers or pullies and of course large counterweights. “I can think of a few designs off the top of my head. Pullies or large lever arms could work. You’d need counterweights of course, but those could be made cheaply enough. Given how it would reduce the uncertainty and risk of each transaction, the cost would be worth it.”

“You know, you’re not the first to suggest it, but, we looked into it before. Too many challenges. Consider just the container itself, how would you separate the weight of the crate from the goods inside without emptying it? An untrustworthy merchant could add a few heavy rocks at the bottom, or thicker and heavier wood for the crate to add deniability to their actions.” Beeson seemed to enjoy schooling the otherwise intelligent scholar.

The answer to that seemed obvious, “You’d weigh the container beforehand… But is it that simple?” He corrected himself.

The elf noble laughed, “Ha ha! Exactly, how do you do that? Each port would have its own scales as well, but how do you know those are accurate? What do you do when there’s a discrepancy. Even if they weren’t, how do you transfer that number, stamp them into the container? But how do you trust their integrity? Answers that just lead to more questions, but, I do like your thoughts. So few in this family have the knack for this. Gods blessed us with Virume, but she is only one person.”

So far, Reese had only really talked with Feuer, and to a lesser degree Lueismar and Beeson. Most of the rest of the family were either avoiding him or more likely just hadn’t taken any interest in him. Virume in particular, barely even nodded at his existence when sitting down for dinner. The only times he even saw her.

It did leave Reese a bit curious and he desired to move the conversation away from the failings of Olithma. There was a growing fear in the back of his mind that the halfling might just try and kill him. Figuratively, at least, he hoped so. “I’ve heard some of the staff mention good things about Virume. I haven’t had much of an opportunity to talk with her, how does she compare to her sister Feuer?” Reese asked.

Beeson did his best to hold back another laugh, but was not completely successful. “Ha-hmm.” He tried to cough and hide most of it. “Well, I do love my daughters, all of them. I wouldn’t want to compare them.” He waved the comment off.

“Right sorry. I shouldn’t have asked.”

Olithma stormed over, “No you shouldn’t have.” He gave a distant whisper towards Reese as he passed him and approached his lord. “Sir, they’ve got a carriage ready to take this crate and others back to the castle. It should be at the silver gate within in two hours.”

Beeson considered the sun overhead, it was just before noon, “A bit later than I’d like, but acceptable. Thank you for the hard work Olithma, and I do mean that.” The halfling fell behind Beeson by a few steps as the two began to leave the docks, towards their own carriage.

Quickly they departed, quite a bit faster than they had arrived. There was a clear speed to what Beeson was doing, and Reese had to ask, “Is there something happening tonight?”

“Oh, right. You might not have been informed. We’re hosting a monthly gala in the castle. Um, hmm…” Beeson trailed off, as if realizing something unpleasant.

Given the smirk from Olithma it didn’t take Reese much thought to realize what the future ast-Vallhorn wanted to say. “I suppose, there are projects I want to work on. I’m a bit behind on a few of them. I’m not sure I can attend?” He squinted lightly, still unsure if that was the direction Beeson was going towards.

“Ah, I see.” The elf seemed relived, but fanned some concern, “That is a shame, but your projects are important to you. We are planning another gala at the beginning of Abelee, I would like you to attend that one. And perhaps future ones, after that.” He emphasized that last point.

Olithma nearly bolted out of the carriage upon arriving back at the castle. He seemed interesting in getting the few items they did bring back with them off the carriage, and perhaps more importantly to him, putting distance between them.

Before Reese could wander off in search of Sencta, he was stopped by Beeson, who held a warm smile. "Reese, I am extremely impressed. I was prepared to give that man 34 gold for the crate, and with you in toe, we saved 4 gold on this. With the others, I believe we've saved nearly 12 gold very impressive for a days work. I'm curious how you got those numbers for that last crate though?"

"It's just packing volume. Since the vegetable is basically round, a sphere or close enough, you can calculate how many can fit in a volume like that box, depending on how you put them in there… I've always been good with numbers and math it's actually what one my degree is in."

"Fascinating… Degree, Don't think I've heard that word before?"

This did happen once in a while. You might expect Reese to be familiar with it, but still he found himself Fumbling. Reese tried to come up with an explanation that wouldn’t make him sound, frankly nuts. "Oh, it's just something I read, it means… to devote a lot of time and coins on an interest."

"Interesting word.” Beeson didn’t seem to pay any real mind to it, while Reese still fidgeted in uncertainly.

Beeson continued, “Well, this morning has been quite informative. I don't think anyone has said this to you yet, but I do think you will make a very fine addition to this family, in time. Welcome to the Vallhorn. Reese, sincerely I am glad you're here, and I am sorry you can’t join us this evening.” Beeson looked in the distance and smiled. “But, I do believe that’s my wife if you’d like to ask her about the forge. I doubt she’ll complain. If she does tell it’s payment for today and that you saved us 12 gold coins already."

The statement took Reese aback a bit, as small warmth filled his insides. In his previous life, he had rarely been afforded complements, and thought they were more common this time around, they still hit him in a way that was hard to explain.

With that the older elf practically ran from the carriage back towards the castle. For someone who didn’t seem to take an interest in castle activities he certainly seemed to be focusing on this.

Turning around, Olithma continued to glare at him as he moved a few baskets off the back of the cart. As much as Reese wanted to apologize and talk to the halfling, all he could get was, “Don’t talk to me boy.” As he marched off towards the castle carrying a basket that seemed just a bit too big for him.

Well, that seemed like a bad relationship made worse. Shaking it off, Reese could do only one thing as he made a bee line towards Sneacta in the distance. She seemed to be focused on something with the bushes as she firmly and almost in yell, commanded the grounds keepers to do something. “I don’t want to tell you again. These bushes must be taken care of. Am I clear?”

“Yes, my lady.” The small group spoke in unison and ran off together.

Sneacta’s long red hair bounced as she rubbed at the pain in the back of her head. Her almost blood red iris’ turned toward Reese as he approached. It was hard to tell, behind her neutral smile, but the rest of her body language showed that the elf woman was not happy.

“Ah, Reese. Is there something I can do for you. I am a touch busy at the moment.” She turned towards the bushes that had seen better days.

“It’s not being watered enough?” Reese asked, hoping to start a bit of conversation before asking about the forge.

“Among other things.” She sighed. Her gaze was cold as she glared at him, waiting for Reese to get on with whatever it was that he had interrupted her for.

“Sorry. I was just hoping to use the forge. Beeson said I should ask you since you manage the castle grounds?”

“Ah, did he now. I haven’t my husband all day, where is he?” She looked around, not really acknowledging Reese’s question or presence anymore.

“We just got back from the docks and markets; he seemed to think we were being overcharged for somethings.”

“Yes, he had mentioned that before.” Turning her head, she gave him an almost dismissive smile, “But we left Olithma in charge, he’s young but shown to be a very shrewd negotiator.”

Once more Reese began to understand why Olithma was not happy with him. “I didn’t know that.” He said meekly.

“Yes well. I have other things I must attend to; we can discuss your forge access later.”

Quickly and with a stammer Reese verbally reached for her as she tried to leave. “Uh! Beeson to mention I saved you 12 gold, and that using the forge would be a fair payment.”

Stopping her tracks, her smile dropped and for a time she thought he might be lying or telling some poor joke. “You managed to save an extra 12 gold, in addition to what Olithma saved us?”

“Yes?”

“I’ll have to talk with my husband about that, but I’m impressed if true.” Closing her eyes, the red head elf rubbed that annoying pressure in the back of head while debating if he was telling the truth. Though, if he was lying that would be that she would just never trust him again. Opening her eyes, her neutral smile returned, “I suppose you may use the forge, but you’ll have to provide your own materials and you’ll need to convince Annsa you won’t be in her way. I am not going to have that conversation with her, so good luck.”

As Reese and Sneacta departed from each other, the elf woman couldn’t help but turn around and consider him as he ran off. There was no hatred of the boy, but she hadn’t fully agreed with her husband’s decision to wed her daughter to him. It was a minor sore point in an otherwise amicable marriage.

Yet, if what Reese had said was true, then perhaps she was mistaken to doubt the both of them. Well, she’d have to ask to discuss it further with her husband and get the truth. After all, she knew Fortus to be a liar in somethings, it wasn’t inconceivable that his son was as well. All investments had risk, and the riskier did have a chance to return the most.