The large man rummaged through the comparatively small wagon, making the sound of rustling objects loud and clear. With his upper body hidden away inside the cart, Tamma turned to Miwah. Her eyes were opened wide as she stared at the customer.

"Everything fine?" the hunter mouthed in silence to the seamstress. Miwah pointed to the man inside the agon and wagged her finger, indicating she wanted Tamma to come closer. With Tamma at her side, Miwah put one hand up to the side of her head as she leaned in towards the hunter's ear.

"That is him..." she whispered.

"Who?" Tamma quietly replied.

"Captain of the boat. Eijnar, I think."

Tamma's eye grew at the statement. Her face carried a look of worry as she stepped back. She stared at Eijnar and watched him continue to shift through her wares. With a slight tilt of her head, she glanced at Miwah. "What should we do?" she whispered.

Miwah shrugged her shoulders and shook her head. "No idea," she said in an even softer tone.

It only took Eijnar a few moments to come back out of the wagon. He had the pelt Tamma had offered to him still hanging on his shoulder. Underneath his arm was a long slab of animal ribs while his other arm had a bolt of fur wedged between his bicep and upper torso. Tamma's eyes quickly darted to the jar containing the slain maggot from the grizlewulf's body.

"That's a lot you've got there!" Tamma said, faking a smile to divert any attention from her shaky demeanor.

"Aye. We've got a crowded ship. One of our own was slain not too long ago. We're going to have a little ceremony and a feast afterwards in his honor." He then jostled the bolt of fur underneath his arm upwards. "We managed to fish his body out from the sea. We're going to wrap his body in this before we burn it and cast it back out in the water."

Tamma closed her eyes, trying to hide her discomfort. "I see. I apologize for your loss."

"Thank you. But you should be feeling sorry for the tramp that killed him!" Eijnar lowered his head, the deepening of his breath shown by the way his chest expanded. "Poor Halvor. He was one of my most loyal companions. Don't know what I'll tell his sister when we get back." Miwah lowered herself as Tamma and Eijnar continued the situation, obscuring the entirety of her body behind the wagon and next to Lug. The brillick looked at her, ready to make a whimper until Miwah put one finger to her closed lips and made a soft shush sound.

"That's so sad," Tamma replied as she put her hand across her heart. "Losing family is hard."

"That's for sure. Some stowaway got the best of him. Don't have the heart to tell his sister that it was a small woman."

"A woman?" Tamma said with fabricated shock.

"Just keep this between you and me," Eijnar stepped forward, looking down at Tamma who stood more than a foot shorter than him. His dark brown eyes carried a disheartening mix of anger and sorrow. "It was dark and raining so I couldn't get a good look at her. But she had some crazy bladed weapon. And her outfit... looked like some kind of dancer. Ornate. Tight. Never seen anything like it. She and Halvor landed in one of the escape boats and we found him drifting away an hour later."

Tamma sighed and shook her head. "I'm sorry for what happened. No one should have to find their friend like that. I hope you manage to find whoever killed him."

"I'm sure I will." Eijnar clenched his free hand. "And we'll make her pay."

"I don't want to come off as rude, but you did just mention the word pay. Are you going to put up an offer for everything you got on your person?"

"What do you think all of this is worth?"

Tamma walked closer to Eijnar, slowly looking around at all the items he was holding. She started with pelt hanging on his shoulder. "Let's see here. That's worth about two medium golds. And then the meat is worth a large. I can give you a discount for that fur since you're using it for ceremonious reasons."

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"Appreciate it."

"I'm thinking a large and a small gold coin for everything. Or the equivalent coinage if you don’t have that on you. But there's one thing that I'm not sure about." Tamma lowered herself to be next to Eijnar's hand. "That jar. You know what's in it?"

"Huh? This thing?" Eijnar lifted his hand as much as he could to look at the dead maggot inside the glass. "It's a jar. With... something in it."

"I'm just not sure what that something is. So I can't put a price on it. Since you seem to be interested in it, I thought you might have an idea."

"No clue either. Just thought it was some kind... of mud."

"Right. I can see why you'd think that. But if you don't know what it is, I can just take it off your hands. No point in paying good money for something that you have no clue of its value, right? No point in gambling your hard-earned money on something that's most likely worthless." Tamma placed both of her hands on the specimen and tried to pry it free from Eijnar's hands. The man clenched his grip tighter.

"I want it. I'll give you seven hundred for it. A small gold and a couple of silvers."

"Appreciate the offer," Tamma said with a struggle as she continued to try and free the jar from the customer's clutches. "But that thing was never meant to be for sale."

"I could walk away with everything if you'd rather me do that," Eijnar said in a voice lower than usual. Tamma stopped trying to remove the container from his hands and focused on his face instead. The sorrow that he carried was gone. Instead, he looked frustrated as his narrowed eyes pierced through her.

"What happened to that friendly tone you had before?" Tamma let go of the jar completely and rested her hands on her hips.

"When you're strong, you don't need to be friendly," he growled. Eijnar used his free hand to dig into a pouch that he had secured to his waist. The coins jostled around as he his finger fumbled through the pouch's contents. He pulled out a small handful of coins and showed them off to Tamma. She looked at them, turning angry upon counting the sum.

"You might as well steal them at that price!"

"Would you rather me do that?" Eijnar then tilted his head up. He pursed his lips together and took in a deep breath through his nostrils. The man made a loud a sharp whistle that caught the attention of everyone in the area.

Emerging from the crowd were men barely dressed in the same kind of fur as Eijnar. They closed in on his position and surrounded both him and Tamma. There were four total, including their captain. All stared at the hunter with blank looks with their arms across their chests. Tamma stepped back upon noticing that the rest of the men had no intention of moving away.

"What do you fellas think of these?" Eijnar unraveled the bolt of fur wedged underneath his arm and showed it off to his men. Each one placed their hand on it to get a feel of the material.

"Feels nice," one said.

"I'm more interested in that rack of rib ya got," another pointed out.

"How fortunate!" Eijnar said with a cocky smile. "This little lady was going to give us a discount on it. Isn't that right?" All four men looked at Tamma again. With all eyes on her once more, she tilted her head over her shoulder and noticed that Miwah still hid behind the wagon. With the seamstress out of view, she returned to the conversation.

She lowered her head and stretched out an open palm. "Yes," she said quietly.

"You've got business sense. I'll give you that." Eijnar plopped the money into Tamma's hands. She wadded up her fist and quickly stashed the few bits of coins into her pouch. When she looked back the men, they were walking already away towards the docked ships in the harbor. The captain turned his head, still smiling while the rest of his men laughed. "Thanks for the deal! I've got a feeling me and my men are going to come here more often!" All four let out a cacophony of laughter as they vanished into the crowd while walking towards the harbor.

"I am so sorry Tamma!" Miwah got up from her position behind the wagon and placed a hand on the hunter's shoulder. "I wanted to do something..."

Tamma's clenched fists remained at her side, her body shaking from her anger. "It's not your fault, lass. Knowing what those men did to your village and family, I don't blame you for not wanting to confront them." Tamma stretched her back before sitting down crisscross on the ground. She rested her hand on her cheek and propped her head up by putting her arm on her thigh. "That's just one of the risks of being a merchant. People bigger than you can just stop by and rob you in broad daylight and no one will do anything about it."

"Tamma..." Miwah said as she put her hands over her heart. Tamma kept her gaze fixated at the passing crowd of people that paid her no mind. "I could have—"

"I doubt it," Tamma said with a wave of her hand. "Those men said they were looking for you. Because you killed one of their own. If you had done that transformation magic... I think things would have taken a turn for the worse."

Miwah remained silent, staring at the floor with a guilty face. Tamma noticed the seamstress' somber expression and snapped her finger. "Hey," she said. Miwah faced the hunter. "Let's just get home. I don't think either one of us is really in a 'market' mood at the moment. I think getting some rest is in order."

"Are you sure?"

Tamma shot up to her feet. "Yeah. I can try to make up what was taken tomorrow. I'll just start my day earlier." She then whistled, making Lug stand up straight as well. "At least I know Lug is happy! He's got less of a load to worry about!" The brillick dash forward and rubbed his snout against the hunter's leg. She patted him on the head and gave the back of his neck a thorough rub. "Oh yeah, he definitely doesn't mind."