When the party arrived in Seagrass, Ray-Do-So the selkie elder for the square came out to greet them. She seemed relieved and disappointed when there were only seven of them.

“It is good to see you returned to the true god’s domain,” Ray-Do-So said in greeting.

“It was a good trip,” Grandmother responded. “My square prospered even in my absence.”

“Your Harry is an honorable warrior,” Ray-Do-So responded. What impressed Grandmother was that Ray-Do-So had done a fairly good job of pronouncing Harry in her high voice. The selkie language was almost completely note based. The shaping of sound with tongue and lips was a new concept for them. They thought the humans were hopelessly monotone. “What brings you to my shore?” Ray-Do-So asked.

“Sarah brought books for Enchanter. She and Companion will continue their tutelage of the human language with her. In addition Ellen has come to attend to her duties as apprentice to the jeweler. Kai and I are both shopping, Alex has agreed to speak for us to the shopkeepers. Todd is like Harry, too honorable to be left behind,” Grandmother explained.

“I..” Ray-Do-So started to say something, but then stopped herself while she organized her thoughts. “I was wondering if you plan to visit other selkie squares in the future,” she said after a moment. “I have received inquiries from several allies who would be interested in seeing the spell books.”

Grandmother barely stopped herself from smiling. For some reason selkie always seemed terrified by her smile. She didn’t want to frighten the selkie elder with her happiness. She put off going to another selkie settlement last year waiting for word of the humans to spread. She hoped it would make their visits less dangerous. Having squares asking about them was more than she expected.

“I do plan on visiting more selkie squares,” Grandmother replied. “I want to buy spells in their market just like I did in yours last season. If you could tell me which squares are interested in a visit, I can target them first.”

“Good,” Ray-Do-So pronounced. She reached into a pocket on her wizard silks and pulled out a stack of map sections. The stack contained at least ten sheets. They visited eleven squares plus Chicago last season, twelve squares if they included Seagrass. It appeared they had their work cut out for them this year.

“Thank you,” Grandmother responded, as she accepted the stack. Having accomplished her task, Ray-Do-So wished them a productive visit, and headed back across the shallow pond, that was the selkie square’s equivalent of a central courtyard.

“I’m heading over to the tailor shop,” Grandmother told Kai. “I think the tailor’s nephew might be able to help you with your sand. If he can’t we can go ask the potter after that. I think they use sand in pottery, along with clay.” The four of them, Kai, Alex, Todd and Grandmother waded across the pond to the shop Grandmother pointed out.

“Most glorious lesser god you have returned. Let me fetch the master crafter to serve you,” the sales clerk said in a slightly panicky voice. She slipped out the door to the back room before any of them could respond.

“Is she always like that?” Todd asked.

“She’s getting better,” Grandmother replied. “She whispered the first time Ellen and I came in.” The master tailor came out from the back room. His liquid eyes scanned the room and took in the four humans milling around his shop.

“Lesser god,” the tailor said, “Your presence brings honor to my shop.”

“She prefers the title Elder,” Alex said to the tailor in selkie. “It is what So-La-Do calls her.” So-La-Do was Companion’s pure selkie name. The master tailor was surprised to hear one of the humans speak perfectly understandable selkie.

“Elder it is then,” the tailor responded. “You are?”

“Alex,” Alex responded. He went on to introduce Todd and Kai.

“I am interested in the little humans the younglings had,” Grandmother said after the introductions were complete.

“Do you want them back?” The tailor asked after Alex translated her words.

“No, not those two specifically. I want to purchase newly made ones,” Grandmother responded.

“They take more time than you would expect, being so small,” the tailor started. Grandmother smiled. The tailor looked a little startled, but then Grandmother saw the selkie push aside his first reaction and continue on in his effort to talk up the value of the dolls. In a strange way Grandmother was even more happy with him.

“I couldn’t sell one for less than a silver,” the tailor finally offered.

“Eighteen iron,” Grandmother countered, cutting the price in half, “I want more than one.”

“How many are you interested in?” he asked.

“Thirty six,” Grandmother responded. “I’d also like to see a selkie version. I wouldn’t buy them this season, but maybe next season.”

“I will have to send my nephew out for the sponges, so I can’t deliver for at least seven days,” the tailor warned.

“That is acceptable,” Grandmother responded. “Do we have a deal? Thirty six human dolls and one selkie doll for eighteen iron each?”

“Yes,” the tailor responded. He reached down to activate the pay surface built into his service counter. He entered in the order and totaled it up to eighteen silver and eighteen iron. Grandmother paid the total with a quick hand movement.

“One other thing,” Grandmother said after the transaction was complete. “Kai here is interested in sand. Is that something your nephew could pick up when he goes for the sponges? Or is there another source for it in the square?”

“They use sand in pottery,” the tailor replied honestly. He may have decided the lesser god wanted to be treated as a normal customer, but he wasn’t stupid enough to lie to her. “They might sell you some if you want it today. My nephew was gathering sand for them when he picked the first sponges for me. So if you're willing to wait he can get it for you.”

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“What do you think Kai?” Grandmother asked.

“With all the Staging glass I need to try to convert there is no rush. Ask him how much for a gathering bag full,” Kai answered. The tailor called into the back room for his nephew to come out. As Kai, with Alex’s help negotiated with the nephew for a bag of sand, pure stone not mixed with shell or mud, Grandmother took Todd over and showed him the tapestry on the wall. Ellen and Grandmother admired it on their first visit. It was still impressive.

“What is that thing?” Todd asked. The tapestry showed a lone selkie facing off against a multi-tentacled beast in the depths of the ocean.

“The reason we should stay out of the water,” Grandmother responded. “The tailor told us, but I forgot the notes. I called it a Kraken, which is a beast from Earth legend.”

“It is beautiful work,” Todd observed. “It is every bit as good as the tapestry in the queen's suite. I wonder if I could order one.”

“Do you want to ask?” Grandmother offered.

“No, not this trip,” Todd responded.

When Kai and Alex finished, the party waded back out into the central pond.

“Let's go to the potter’s next,” Todd commented.

“I agreed to buy sand from the tailor’s nephew,” Kai said. He thought maybe Todd missed the deal.

“You can check your price with the potter. I’m interested in planters. I asked last season and the potter said he could make them, but there was no demand. If he was a human shopkeeper, he’d have a couple made by now just in case I came back by. We haven’t found any of the really big ones the Galleries have in wildspace. I think Muriel would really like them.”

This was the second time Todd mentioned Muriel this trip. Grandmother wondered if there was something developing between the two of them. Muriel was much younger than Todd, but Grandmother thought it could happen. She knew Harry, Muriel’s father wasn’t Todd’s father, but there was still an uncanny resemblance between the two men. Grandmother suspected that Muriel was some kind of relative to Todd. That could be the explanation for Todd’s interest. She decided their relationship was none of her business.

The potter did have planters. His selection started at the smallest ones they found commonly in wildspace and went up in size to something that was about half the size of the big planters in the Galleries. All of the planters were empty. It appeared to Todd that the selkie still didn’t understand what they were for.

This time Todd took the lead with Alex translating beside him. As the two of them negotiated and Kai watched on, Grandmother did a full survey of the shop. The pottery shop contained a lot of containers for holding items. Each container came with a tightly fitted lid. The quality of the material varied from a porous red clay, to an impenetrable white clay that was very very close to porcelain. The white clay versions were all much smaller. Holding one of them up to the light, Grandmother decided she was shortchanging the potter, these little pots were porcelain.

On the other side of the storage pots were knives with white blades. The handles were wrapped in a black material. These small knives were the size of the cutlery on the Speedwell, although the blades were all shaped differently. Grandmother thought their extremely sharp edges would cut through soft fruit without crushing it. Grandmother wondered why there weren’t any larger examples. All of these were too small to be effective in a fight. On the other side of the knives was a handful of shields. The shields too were small. Grandmother wondered if they were meant to be used on land or in the water.

As she turned the shield over to look at how it was held, she was struck with how close it was to a plate. The selkie used large half shells from some sort of clam to serve most of their food on. Humans tended to serve on wooden planks split out of a short length of log. Grandmother wasn’t certain why that was. Woodworkers could easily make smooth short planks. In wildspace they ate off of stiffened squares of leather. Although everyone called them plates, they had to be handled carefully or they would fold over and dump your food on the floor. The plate that this little round shield reminded her of was one from the Speedwell.

Grandmother picked up the smallest shield and walked over to the counter. The sales clerk gave Grandmother a cautious look. Grandmother motioned for them to continue on. She knew it would be easier to describe what she was looking for if Alex translated. She wasn’t much of a crafter, but she was not totally unaware either. She knew that the patterns crafters followed could be altered in small ways. Human tailors and leather workers were able to remove the unneeded sixth finger from glove patterns from nearly the beginning.

Todd purchased the largest three planters. They very conveniently fit inside of each other. Kai asked about sand. The price the potter quoted was higher than what the tailor's nephew wanted. Kai thanked the potter but declined to buy. Grandmother set the shield on the counter.

“I’d like to get a custom shield made,” she explained. The sales clerk explained that Grandmother needed to talk to one of the potters directly to see if the changes she wanted could be done. The clerk stepped into the back room to fetch someone.

When they returned they were joined by another selkie. This second selkie was wearing leathers that were heavily stained with clay. Grandmother was pretty certain this was the first time she’d seen a selkie in leather. As far as she knew there wasn’t even a leather crafter in the square. The selkie’s leathers were shaped and sewn in the same pattern as wizard silks. Grandmother couldn’t wait to tell Ellen.

“This is Ray-Do-Ti, one of our potters,” the sales clerk said, introducing the selkie. Alex introduced the humans to the potter. After the introductions, Grandmother started explaining the changes she wanted done. She flipped the shield over and pointed to the slits and holes on the back where strapping for a handle was obviously meant to attach.

“I’d like these attachment points removed,” she said.

“What do you want instead?” Ray-Do-Ti asked.

“Nothing.” Grandmother pointed to the top edge where the surface was smooth. “I want it to look like there, everywhere,” she said, circling her finger around the edges.

“I should be able to do that,” the potter admitted.

“I want it flatter too,” Grandmother explained. “I still want the edges to come up, but I want this whole center section to be flat. The inside section being flat is more important to me than the outside.”

“You want something,” the potter suddenly announced. Grandmother looked to Alex, hoping he could translate the selkies last word. Alex shook his head.

“We don’t know this word, something,” Alex admitted to the potter.

“If you can wait, Elder, it is easier for me to just show you,” Ray-Do-Ti responded.

“Yes, we can wait,” Grandmother responded. The potter disappeared into the back room. The sales clerk returned the shield to the display. Todd and Kai began wandering around the shop.

About twenty minutes later the potter along with two assistants emerged from the back of the shop with a large assortment of greenware, or unfired pottery. Grandmother was always surprised at how many selkie were in the back rooms. The pieces were made out of coarse red clay that was the lowest tier. The two assistants set out the pieces on the top of the service counter. As they laid out the pieces Grandmother realized with some shock that it was a full set of dishes. There was a little salad plate, a mid-sized luncheon plate, a dinner plate, a serving platter and something so enormous you could put a whole roasted squirrel on it. There were bowls, pitchers, shakers, covered dishes, teacups and teapots. There were all different sizes. There were pieces in there Grandmother had absolutely no idea what they were for. It was absolutely fabulous.

Grandmother suspected the potter put these all together in the last twenty minutes using magic. Since the clay was unfired, she thought he could recycle all the clay if she didn’t want any of it. She thought about Ellen’s description of patterns used in crafting. Since Grandmother didn’t see any of these items in use in the selkie square she suspected the potter must have just recently gotten access to these patterns. She wondered if Todd’s planters triggered it.

“I can put a glaze on this porous stuff to seal them, or with an up charge I can make them out of a porcelain that is naturally impermeable,” the potter said nonchalantly.

Grandmother started ordering.