Chapter 20: Lunch, Wagons, and Circling

Tak, of “Harmsson & Tak; *enchanted tailor*”. That was my (excuse me?! Your?)…umm, the redheaded elf’s name. Finally. ‘A name! My kingdom for a name!’ Isn’t that a quote of some sort? Bastardized, of course. ‘Tak’ had to be short for something, right? Elven names tended to have an appropriate fantasy sensibility, with the odd spelling here and there. This one was a little more, let’s say, abrupt. Hopefully, I might learn more on the subject, later.

But, in order to meet up with Tak again, I needed some product to sell. Wow, I did not mean to sound so much like a drug lord, there. The drum solo from ‘In the Air Tonight’ echoed in my head, a little Phil Collins. The re-makes were good, but nothing can touch the original. But, I digress. The first thing I need is materials. I had replaced Master Alric’s supplies but forgot to take one significant consideration. I had no wholesaler connections. That meant paying the full cost, damn. After expenses, my forty coppers lost some considerable weight. Twenty-five coppers worth, to be exact. The fifteen left went into a rusted tin can marked, ‘Tess’s Fund’. Only one silver, and eighty-five coppers to go. I guess I should have taken a few business classes at university.

Six scrolls for forty coppers boiled down to about 6.7 coppers apiece. Paying retail for materials ended up costing me around 4.2 coppers per scroll, netting a profit of only two and a half coppers each. Ouch. It was time to make my own connections. With the ‘Blind Eye’ a universal, there had to be other apprentices out there in the same position, so I just needed to tap into that network. And I knew exactly where to start. It was time to brace the cross traffic on Parchment Lane.

Today, Mr. Wordsworth was in when I took my lunch break. “Hello, sir.”

“Good day, book,” the elderly gentleman responded. “I’m not expecting any deliveries from Alric any time soon, so I guess you’re here for Magali.”

“If he has time for lunch, yes sir.”

“Magali!” he called back over his shoulder. “Lunchtime, my boy.”

The apprentice scribe poked his head out of the back and saw me standing there. “Hi, Book, how are’ya?”

“Wanna grab some lunch?” I gave him a casual, two-fingered wave. He looked surprised for just a second, then smiled. This was the first time I’d invited him to lunch. It felt a little bad, with it taking an ulterior motive for me to initiate the invite. I resolved to do more to try and be a true friend. I needed more of those.

“Food court?” I asked. There was a park a short walk from here, where vendors gathered to sell hot food out of wagons (can we say, food trucks!). It was one thing I didn’t need to add to my list. Too bad, it would have been an easy sell.

“Is that a new place, ‘Food Court’? I’ve never heard of it, before.”

Oh, yeah. (Oops!) I did it again. “I mean the park, with the food wagons. You know, the courtyard where they sell food? ‘Food Court.’”

“Ha, I like it,” said Magali.

“Clever, Book.” Mr. Wordsworth nodded his approval. “A nice play on words.”

“Thanks, Mr. W.” The master scribe was more accepting of my casual behavior than my Master. Maybe because Alric was such a stickler for formality. I'd thought it before, and I'll think it again. There was some sort of rivalry simmering under the surface. I’d have to ask Magali, someday.

“Sounds good, Book. Let’s go.” Magali hustled around the trademark sales counter in these shops and clapped me on the shoulder as we both turned to leave.

Before the door could jangle behind us, Mr. W called out, “Bring me back something, boy!”

“Sure, Dad.”

“Your brother’s too, don’t forget.”

"And Chet," I muttered our running joke.

"Can't forget Chet," Magali said as he grimaced and rolled his eyes at me, where his father couldn’t see. A non-committal grunt and wave, and then we were off.

The two of us walked at a quick pace, chatting about nothing in particular. We were getting to know each other a little better. Soon, we were standing amidst a modest crowd of lunch-goers. Eight wagons rested around the packed-earth courtyard, each at a compass point. North, Northeast, East, etc., with a melange of enticing smells trapped under the canopy of trees. We made our selections, a dumpling soup for Magali and another kabob for me. I was getting hooked on the things. All the wagons were offshoots of established restaurants from the area, so when I saw the familiar name painted on an awning, I made a bee-line for it. The independent, rolling mobile food stall wasn’t a thing yet, so I saw some room for improvement there.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Magali and I snagged seats at a rough-hewn plank table and started eating with the vigor of youth. We inhaled it.

“How’s the selling going?”

“The selling was good, it was the profit that sucked.” Did elves use that the same? Never mind, I wasn’t going to give that phrase up. I would just have to make it a thing, here, Earth slang be damned.

“Let me guess, Book.” Magali swallowed a dumpling and grinned at me. “You paid full price for supplies.”

“Yeah, sure did.” My returning grin was sheepish (ba-ahh!).

“Everybody does, at first, before they get the hang of it. And you are coming to me for advice, or…?”

“Or?” I gave my best hang-dog look. Then I smiled cheekily, “Both.”

“Sure thing, Book. I got you.” Magali slurped down the last of the dumpling broth and then pushed the disposable bowl off to the side. I had long since finished my meal. “Alright, let’s get my part out of the way. Yes, I can get you the parchments. They won’t be high grade, of course.”

“Wouldn’t expect otherwise. Or afford it.”

“There would have to be a minimal markup, for my pride’s sake.”

“Don’t hide the pride.” I knew Magali did not get the reference, but I loved inserting quotes from home (“Taste the rainbow”). Any corruption is all mine.

“Quills, too. The ink, that you’ll have to source for yourself, though I may have some ideas.”

“I’ll take any leads you have, Magali.” I paused, letting the hamster take a few laps on the wheel. “On the markup, Magali. I’m sure you have your own hookup, right? I’m thinking of another apprentice.”

“Correct. Paytin, her mom is the parcheminier on our street.”

“OK. She’s your insider, then you markup on her markup.”

Magali crinkled his brow, a look of hurt crossing his face. “Are you wanting to cut me out of the loop? Look, Book…”

“No, no, no. Nothing like that.” I assured him, not wanting to lose my new friend. “I’ve been thinking.” No Master around to make a crack. “And bear with me if this is already a thing, but what if we banded together? A coalition of apprentices, with each of us playing a part of the whole.”

“Working as a team?”

“Exactly.”

“Apprentices have tried it, and the Masters are usually good with it, as long as they don't draw too much notice. What would my part be, then? Providing the quills? That wouldn’t be enough to justify my part. Especially since even those come from someone else.” He looked downtrodden at potentially being left out.

I thought quickly, trying to come up with a good reason. I didn’t want to cut him out, the guy was way too smart not to include. That’s it! I leaned forward on my elbow, ignoring the splinters I’d have to dig out later.

“Your part is easy, dude. And the hardest, at least in my opinion.” (S’truth) I was going to dump some more un-elven slang on him. “Networking, and business acumen. You are a freaking genius, Magali. Certifiable. If there is something you don’t know, you can figure it out. You like research.”

“I like the mechanical stuff, Book. That is what I research, not business. And I don’t even know what ‘networking’ is.” He gave me an inquisitive look, inviting an answer.

“OK, think of a net.” I hastened to explain before I lost him. “Or a web (don’t go into the interweb!). Everything is connected, every knot and line, and it all leads back to the center, the origin. That would be you, the puppet master.”

“Nets, webs, and puppets, Book?”

“Sorry, I get a little loose with the metaphors (English Major!). But you get it, right?”

“I think so.” He tapped a couple of fingers along his jaw in thought. “Who would do the sales? I’m certainly not going to.”

Yeah, salesmen were quick talkers, and Magali had that down, but they also need to be understandable at speed. That, Magali was not.

“Me, neither.” I couldn’t even ask Tak for her name, for acorn’s sake. “Paytin?”

“No, that is somewhat beyond her. She has trouble hearing, which makes her hesitant to speak much. I do know this other girl, Tak. She’s the front person for her dad’s tailor shop.”

Tak, seriously? Surely this had to be a sign. “Yeah, I’ve met here, actually. I bought my new robes from “Harmsson & Tak”. I saw her at the adventure boards, too. Seemed like she wanted to go that direction. She heard I was selling scrolls on the side and asked me for some. Would she even have the time, what with her name already on a shop sign? And if she joined an adventure team?”

“Book, when do any of us have the time? Apprentices don’t have much of a surplus of that particular commodity. But we still make do.”

“So, you think she’d be into it?”

“Only one way to find out.”

“Yes,” I nodded along. “I am supposed to go and see her when I have something to sell.”

“Which is why you came to see me.”

“Yep,” I didn’t deny it. “And that started this whole circle.”

Magali glanced at the shadows, judging the time. I have a digital clock in my vision, nyah-nyah. We had been talking awhile.

“I need to think about getting back to the shop, Book.”

“Me too, Master Alric will have my hide if I’m gone too long.” I would bribe him with food, that should help. And there went my profits from my sale to Team Brawn, probably more. He had expensive tastes, so meat on a stick wouldn’t cut it.

“I’ll get you eight parchments—no cost—as my initial investment.”

“You are in, then? We’re doing this this?” I had feared, with his initial reaction, that he wouldn't be interested in my proposal.

“Yes, we are.” Magali gave me a firm nod. When he made a decision, he was all business. Just the person I needed to make this work. We’d have our own duties as apprentices to attend to first, and not much time, so ‘efficiency’ was the word. “I will talk to Paytin and see if she is interested, and you will let me know when you go meet Tak. I’ll go with you.”

“Sure, we can do it two days after I get the parchments. Apprentices, unite!” I gave my best fist pump, and he tried not to look at me cross-eyed. My grin grew as wide as it could without splitting my face in half.

He got up to leave, and I joined him. We both really needed to get back to our respective shops.

“I’ll swing by after I’m done for the night,” I told Magali. My friend nodded, then turned to hasten back to Parchment Lane. “Yo, Magali! Don’t forget to feed the fam!”

He stumbled a step, turned around, gave me a nod of thanks, and headed back to the circle of wagons. Now, what could I afford to butter up my Master? The smell of fried dough with cinnamon and sugar called to me.