ELLEN

After the children left, Ellen turned back to look at the crafter. He was almost perfectly still. Ellen thought he might be in shock at how close disaster just brushed against his family. She made her hand motion again.

“Bigger,” Ellen said.

“See if there is a tougher version too,” Grandmother offered. “A core of firmer stuff, with the softer ones on the outside might work even better.”

“One thing at a time,” Ellen countered. Their little side conversation allowed the crafter to gather himself. His large liquid eyes rolled as he eyed the two humans. Ellen could see something click in his head. He blinked.

“You want a bigger one?” he asked.

“Yes,” Ellen said in selkie.

“My nephew went and got them for the toys,” the tailor replied. “I have very few left, and they are all this size. They grow much larger,” he continued. He held his hand up about four feet above the floor. “You can find them as large as this. More commonly they are about this size,” he said, shifting his flipper hands to indicate something about two feet in diameter.

Ellen tapped the counter and then tapped the sponge, crushing it under her hand. “This one is soft,” she said to the selkie. “Can I get one that is tougher?” She tapped the sponge again and this time when she tapped the sponge, she used much less force trying to show the reaction of a sponge that was harder to crush.

“I don’t understand that one,” the selkie replied. Ellen danced around for several minutes trying all kinds of variations of ‘this one is soft, I want one that is stronger.’ Just when Ellen was about to ask Grandmother to smile at the selkie, he got it.

“Do you want one that doesn’t collapse as easily?” he asked.

“Yes,” Ellen sang, with some relief.

“Just a moment,” he said. He went through the door to the back room. He returned with five more sponges. He squeezed each sponge and set it down on the counter in a certain order. Another selkie emerged from the back room. Ellen was beginning to wonder how many were back there. Were their back rooms larger than in Home Square? Ellen only knew this was a new selkie because unlike all the others that wore orange, this one was wearing yellow. Although his skin was browner than the craftsman’s. The children were very brown. Ellen wondered if this meant the new arrival was young.

“This is my nephew, Ti-Do-Me,” the crafter said, introducing the new selkie.

“Greetings, Ti-Do-Me,” Grandmother sang Selkie’s name. Ellen really needed to work at getting better at the notes in names.

“Why did you want me, Uncle?” the younger selkie said nervously.

“These two newcomers are shopping. They are interested in your sponges. I know you don’t really enjoy tailoring, perhaps there is a business here for you.”

“The sponges?” the young selkie said with surprise. “They would pay for them? Can I charge them a lot?”

“No,” the crafter responded, “You will charge them what is reasonable. A warning to you, youngling, they understand our words quite well.” Ellen knew that calling someone a child who wasn’t one in selkie society was a pretty big insult. Since these two were related it probably wasn’t that big of a rebuke, but it was definitely a chastisement.

Ellen was squeezing each of the sponges in turn. There were all different shapes and colors. She thought this might be the selection Ti-Do-Me brought for his uncle to choose from. The crafter arranged them from most squishy to least. The last one was so firm, Ellen thought it might actually be a rock. She picked out two and pulled them from the line up.

“How much for five of each,” she asked, “in your two feet size?” She danced around making hand gestures as she asked the question. Holding up her fingers to indicate five, and giving the two foot size with her hands. The two selkies stared back at them in silence. Ellen thought they were not understanding that one at all and was thinking about how she could try again. The craftsman nudged his nephew.

“The newcomer wants to know if she can get those two kinds in the larger size,” he said. The boy looked at his uncle with an expression that clearly said, you expect me to talk? The crafter gave his nephew a significant look. That wasn’t exactly what Ellen asked but it was progress.

“Yes,” the boy said. “They both get that big. That one is easier to find than the other,” he said, pointing to the softer one.

“How much for five?” Ellen tried again. This time she put her fingers up one at a time and counted along out loud. “One, Two, Three, Four, Five,” she said. She pointed to each of the two sponges. “How much?”

“You want five each?” the boy said.

“Yes,” Ellen said in selkie, relieved to be making progress. “How much?” she tapped the payment surface on the shop counter.

“Here,” Grandmother said. “This might help,” she reached out and dropped a handful of physical coins on the counter. There were about half a dozen iron coins in the pile. “I don’t seem to have any silver on me,” she commented, “only bronze and that seems too much.” Ellen would say so. Ellen picked up the coins. She set one iron coin down, then moved one of the more common sponges over and used her hand to indicate the larger size. She looked at the two selkies.

“Is she saying she will only pay one coin?” Ti-Do-Me asked his uncle, “Or is it one coin per sponge?”

“You need to ask her,” his uncle told him. “Phrase it as a yes or no question. Something like: is that per sponge?”

“Yes,” Ellen said in selkie. She saw the disappointed look on the young selkie’s face. “Do you want more?” she asked. “Two?” she sat another coin down.

“Are you asking me how much?” Ti-Do-Me asked Ellen.

“Yes,” Ellen said in selkie. Now he looked thoughtful. He glanced at the coins in Ellen’s hand and the two on the counter. He looked at the sponges and then at his uncle.

“Two coins per larger sponge for that kind.” He pointed at the other sponge Ellen selected. “Three coins each for those. Twenty five coins total. You will have to come back for the sponges. I can gather them today, but it will take about six days for them to cure.” Ellen was so relieved she didn’t have to try to communicate the time of delivery she smiled. The two selkies jerked back, looking slightly alarmed.

“Yes,” she agreed, before they could retract the deal. She scooped up the physical coins and handed them back to Grandmother. She went over to the net bags and picked out one of the smaller ones. She carried it over to the counter and sat it down.

“How much?” she asked, taping the pay surface.

Ellen paid for the sponges and the net bag. They would come back in eight days for the sponges, but she carried the net bag out. Ellen really hoped they didn’t throw them away if they were late. She wasn’t certain they would work for stuffing, but she was excited to find out.

“I told you we didn’t need Alex,” Grandmother commented.

“I don’t remember you doing much of the talking,” Ellen responded.

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“I didn’t need to,” Grandmother commented, “you were doing so well. Look, the next one is a stone sculptor. We can try your tools on them.”

They got lucky in the next shop. The apprentice on duty at the counter did sell her spells to them. She gushed about every tool Ellen showed her. She talked about inscriptions and inside corners. She pointed out the finished products in the shop where this tool or that was used. At one point she said, “This is the fine version of the multi-chisel. Remember I sold you the spells for the heavy version, they all work on this one too.” Which was an eye opener for Ellen and explained why they didn’t see these tools when they bought spells.

Finally they got to a tool the apprentice frowned at. She turned it over in her hands.

“I think it is a…” a word Ellen didn’t recognize, “tool,” she said. “Check with Do-Fa-Ti at the…” another word Ellen didn’t recognize, “across the pond.”

Grandmother bought a stone box before they left. There was a tray inside that lifted out, dividing the space into an upper and lower section. The tray and the space below were both separated into four compartments. It cost ten silver, the rent on a shop for a month.

Grandmother proceeded to slide it into her gathering bag, not the large one she used for skins either. Technically the mouth of the bag did open large enough for the side of the box to fit in, but it should never have slid in that easily. The bag was not nearly deep enough for the entire box to fit. When she pulled the drawstring tight, the bag looked full, but it did not have the square straining shape it should. Ellen recognized that although it looked like stone it was actually a fully integrated product. The gathering bag compacted it down for Grandmother. Since the box was all empty space inside, Ellen suspected Grandmother could have pushed two or three more in after the first.

Grandmother fixed the bag to her pack. She swung the pack up on her back like it weighed no more than before, even though the sales clerk showed some effort setting the box onto the counter. Ellen made a note to try to craft a bag with a really large opening but no depth. Maybe they could pack a workbench in it to bring to Enchanter on the next trip.

They crossed the pond and headed to the shop the apprentice pointed out. They stood outside and looked into the window, but it was hard to tell what the shop sold. The selkie weren’t big on window displays. The pond floor was down from the bottom of the windows, in addition selkie were on the short side. When they looked into the windows they were looking at the floor.

They two women stepped inside. They found a very small display room. The shop counter ran across the entire space. A selkie in green sat behind the counter. This selkie appeared to be napping. All the goods in the shop were behind the counter on the built-in shelves.

“It's a jewelry store,” Grandmother said with some surprise. There was not much jewelry among the human settlements. There was some. Grandmother’s amulet, which was actually a camera, never called any attention to itself, since others would wear a beast tooth on a leather thong or a pretty feather on a string.

Here the amulets were made of metal and cut stones. There was iron, steel, bronze and even copper. The stones were everything from what looked like a chunk of granite gravel, to a brilliantly cut diamond. A lot of the stones were colored by magic, red, violet, blue, green, yellow, orange. Among the amulets were bracelets and even rings. Ellen wondered how the selkie with their flipper-hands could wear them. A closer look at the sleeping shopkeeper revealed a bright copper ring around one tusk.

“It reminds me of Joe,” Grandmother said suddenly.

“Joe?” Ellen asked, “How so?”

“We call Joe a woodworker, but actually he has an archery shop. Woodworkers can also make furniture, but he never does. This is like a different version of a metal worker. They specialized in the small. It is also a tiny version of a stone sculptor, mixed together,” Grandmother observed. “I wonder if they do anything.”

“What would you expect them to do?” Ellen asked.

“They could behave like an enchantment. You know how a leather water flask automatically keeps the water clean and you don’t have to enchant it for that. What if putting on that gravel amulet makes your skin tougher?” Grandmother asked.

“That’s an interesting idea,” Ellen said, intrigued.

The selkie snorted as its head lost its fight with gravity and rolled to the side. They straightened up and smacked their lips together. They rubbed their right eye with one flipper-hand. The selkie dropped its flipper-hand and turned to stare at the two humans. They grunted in a kind of doomed acceptance that someone really was in the shop.

“Show them the crafting tool,” Grandmother prompted. Ellen could tell that Grandmother liked this selkie, probably because there was no awe in the person's gaze, nor was there any fear. Ellen fished the tool out of her bag and set it on the counter.

“Can you tell me what this is?” she asked politely.

“What?” the selkie said. “Do you want to sell that to me?”

“No,” Ellen sang.

“You want me to teach you how to use it?” the selkie countered. This was an unexpected opportunity, and not one Ellen was going to let pass.

“Yes,” she sang back.

“Ten silver,” The selkie counted, a smug look on his face like no one would pay him that. These two newcomers would go away and leave him to his nap. Grandmother slapped a physical oxidized bronze coin onto the counter.

“Teach her everything you know,” she said to him. The selkie picked up the coin and rolled it in his flipper-hand. He peered at it intently as if deciding if it was real or not. Even though Ellen never heard of counterfeit coins, his keen interest in the coin made her wonder if it was possible with the jewelry crafting skills.

“The apprentice fee is three bronze,” The selkie countered, still intent to get back to his nap. Grandmother put two more greens on the counter.

“Fine,” the selkie muttered. “I am too old for a full time apprentice. Don’t come more than once a week,” he said. “Once a month will be better. You have tools, you can practice on your own. I am Do-Fa-Ti. Who are you?”

“Ellen-Green,” Ellen said, singing her name as Companion did, adding the notes of the color.

“I can see you’re a green. I am not blind,” Do-Fa-Ti said back grumpily.

“No, Green,” Ellen sang. “Ellen-Green.”

The jeweler rolled his eyes at her, his expression pretty much saying she was spouting nonsense. Then surprisingly, he said, “Fine, Ellen. Let's get started, I got an afternoon nap scheduled.” He flipped open the counter access and went back into his workroom.

“Good luck,” Grandmother told Ellen. “I’ll come check on you after lunch.”

Ellen picked up her tool and tucked it into her bag. She stepped through the counter and carefully closed it behind her, before following the jeweler into the back.

GRANDMOTHER

“He’s a thief,” Ellen reported early the next morning, after their return to Home Square. “Or maybe a spy of some kind, although I am not certain who he is spying for.” Grandmother considered that. She wondered if telling Ellen her own thoughts would put the young woman in more danger or less.

“Why a spy?” Grandmother asked.

“He understands our language just fine,” Ellen observed. “I think he has spent time in one of our squares.”

“Probably,” Grandmother commented. “He is a higher tier than he appears. I would say five. I think one of his amulets is masking his tier. Perhaps even that bit of gravel I was talking about before he pretended to wake up. I noticed he was wearing one.”

“Pretending?” Ellen said, startled.

“His heart beat never altered,” Grandmother observed. “He showed no surprise at two humans wandering around his shop when he supposedly just woke up. When I requested he teach you all he knew, he countered with that apprentice comment. That was when I decided he understood us. I thought it might be the ring on his tusk translating for him, it still might be, but I’ve had another thought on what it might be doing.”

“Should I be worried?” Ellen asked.

“No,” Grandmother said. “He said you were his apprentice, I could hear the sincerity in his voice. I think if anything I should be worried he will steal you away from me.”

“But you're not worried,” Ellen said with certainty.

“Of course not,” Grandmother replied, “because you don’t belong to anyone but yourself. You know that. You have always been very clear with your goals. Learn all you can from him. Do what you think is best with the knowledge. Don’t let him force you to make choices you don’t agree with. Don’t let me do that either.”

“Ok,” Ellen said.

“He may be a spy or a thief. I think he might be retired or on the run. Companion told me the jewelry shop has been there for years. He also said the jeweler is kind to apprentices in a gruff kind of way, but he has never taken one of his own. The selkie do not have the concept of an apprentice fee, which makes me think he may not be selkie,” Grandmother said.

“What?!” Ellen exclaimed.

“The ring on his tusk,” Grandmother said. “I think it might be a kind of don’t notice me spell, only much stronger.”

“Do you think he is human?” Ellen asked.

“No,” Grandmother responded. “There are us and there are the selkie, who knows how many other races have been caught in the game. Or,” Grandmother admitted, “he may just be a spy from another group of selkie, there to recruit Enchanter.”

“If that is the case, I should warn Sarah,” Ellen commented.

“That is probably a good idea,” Grandmother responded.

Ellen headed off to open her shop shortly after that. Grandmother was happy her comment about the jeweler’s heartbeat passed unnoticed. She was listening to it because it wasn’t right. It didn’t sound like a human heart, nor a selkie one. She thought about confronting the jeweler, but decided against it. She would see how he played the game.