Haley waited for the doors to the civilian bazaar to open, taking a deep breath to ready herself. As they did, a wave of sound, scent, and colored lights hit her, and she walked through with a pleasant smile.

The 'bazaar' was like a huge park mixed with a market. Perfect grass and cobblestone paths, hundreds of merchant stalls, dozens of system servants bringing everyone drinks.

It was the wet dream of a middle-class female shopper. And as expected, it was a madhouse. People shouted from stalls, from raised platforms, from across aisles and pathways and benches.

Small packs of people had formed everywhere talking excitedly, hugging like old friends, flirting and whispering secrets. Probably 80% of the civilians were women. And the conversations were getting loud.

"Haley!"

Rosa waved from one such pack. Sylvie and a cluster of the Sanctuary girls were all around Rosa's alchemy 'stall'. She'd pulled out a wide collection of her potions and oils, setting them up nicely in a display with a few signs. Haley wandered over and greeted all the girls, or at least nodded or smiled at each.

"How's business?"

Rosa snorted, then shook her head. She gestured to some of the other nearby stalls.

"They have so much more stuff than us. They have an alchemist club, or whatever they call it. I tried talking to them and they blew me off like I was some kind of leper. Unless I wanted to buy something. Though I guess that's pretty much how it is for everyone."

Haley nodded.

"They've likely been instructed not to talk to us about anything but business. I'll wander a bit. Check on our people. See if I can make any friends."

"Try the men," Sylvie suggested, no sign of a joke. Haley supposed she was likely right. Her looks had often made new relationships with women...difficult, but it worked entirely differently with men. Especially here in the system-protected zone, she had no concern at all of having to deal with unwanted attention.

She was about to leave when Sylvie grabbed her arm and lowered her voice.

"One thing I'm noticing," she shrugged, like she wasn't sure how to say it. "These eastern people. They're...skinny. You know? I thought it was just my imagination until I really looked. They just...I don't know. They don't look that healthy."

Haley frowned, but patted Sylvie's hand in thanks.

Then she wandered off, trying not to be too obvious in her people watching, looking especially for a man on his own. Male civilians proved difficult to find by themselves. They were usually in gendered packs, laughing and clearly enjoying one another's company. The rare man she saw 'alone' was surrounded by women. She'd nearly given up when she found Peni the smith with Hank and Billy and a few other male crafters from Nassau.

"Gentlemen." She smiled, happy when they all returned it. "Selling any moonshine, Billy?"

"Um." The young man went red, always a bit shy in Haley's presence. "Not really, ma'am. They've got...well, there's real brewers here. Like with oak barrels."

"We stopped trying," Peni said, expression hard to read. "It's the same for all of us. We look like ameteurs next to these people."

"Not all of us." Hank looked at the others and winced. "To be honest I just came to enjoy myself. Didn't set up a stall or anything. But there's people who know your class just by looking at you. Some kind of merchant classes, I guess. Anyway, people want fish. I mean, desperate like. They must not have much water. I only had a few in my storage but I sold them for..." he shrugged, "a lot more than seemed fair. And I think they'd pay more."

Haley felt her jaw clench as she really started looking at some of the nearby people. Sylvie was right. A lot of them looked too thin. And not in the kind of upper class, fashionably skinny way of certain countries. Like ‘weren't getting enough calories’ or overall nutrition thin. Though it wasn't all of them, like Sylvie said. It was maybe half.

"Oh." Peni glanced around, then pulled a blue crystal from his pocket. "But these they want. At least so said some kind of appraiser up by the fountain there. And badly. I didn't let on how much we have, and I only brought the ones I've got in my personal storage. But if Mason gives the OK, I expect if we set up a stall for the ore and crystal, these people are going to lose their minds."

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Haley nodded, the picture starting to make sense. The east had more people, a whole city of them, which meant more knowledge and expertise. But it also meant more mouths to feed. And she was beginning to suspect they had less 'natural resources'. They'd only been in the game for a few months. Growing crops and any kind of agriculture took time.

Meanwhile, it looked like half the population were practically starving.

"OK," she said, smiling at the men. "I'll talk to Mason. In the meantime, feel free to make friends. But be careful what you say. They're trying to learn about us. I don't want to give away any secrets."

"You mean like the fact we live in a giant..."

Hank hissed to interrupt him and Billy went even redder. Haley squeezed his arm, which probably didn't help.

"I think that's OK. They'll learn soon enough. But nothing about the...special tree items. Or about how we make anything. The things our players have done. Where we are exactly in relation to anything else." She frowned and shrugged as she looked at Hank and Peni. "Just be careful, and use your judgment."

"Don't worry, we'll be careful." Hank waved at a system servant and winked. "Besides, there's so many pretty girls around, some of us single-ish men won't have time to talk any nonsense."

"Single-ish," Haley said, raising an eyebrow. "You'd best not let that get back to your girl."

"It was a proverbial 'us'," Hank said, going a bit pink himself. "I didn't mean me."

Haley started to leave and Hank's smile dropped. "I didn't mean me, young lady! Not a peep now! I'll have your word!"

Haley stuck out her tongue then grinned as she turned, back on the hunt for possible new friends. It took a good fifteen minutes before she found a man on his own setting up a stall. He was maybe mid forty's, dark brown skin, the frame of a man who worked with his hands, and wasn't eating enough.

"Excuse me?" Haley put on her most innocent smile. "I thought I'd get in early. What are you selling, sir?"

"Nothing yet." The man grunted as he lay out some kind of shelves. "But I'll have some spices in a few minutes. There's also powders for common ailments, for poison, for spicing up your..."

The man turned and his breath caught when he saw Haley.

"For uh, well." He smiled and cleared his throat. "If you'll just wait a moment, miss. I'll have it all set up."

Haley smiled and waited, asking a few questions about the man's wares as she did. When he was finished setting up she was quite happy to buy most of his spices, which was a thing she sorely lacked in Nassau. She had only browsed a few shops, and looked at a few prices in civilian points, but she was starting to realize she was...rather wealthy.

She supposed it made sense. Her patron was almost certainly the most powerful player in the world. Her class caused her to essentially match him, which likely made her one of the highest level civilians in the world. The majority of her points had thus far been based on her levels, and behavior, which seemed so far to…make the system quite happy.

It all meant she could have bought everything the man had with what for her was pocket change.

"And what's this?" she gestured to something called 'love spice', and the man went pink as Billy the Brewer.

"Oh, I don't think you'll need that one, miss," he said, and Haley laughed.

"The world ended, and here we are in the apocalypse, still selling penis pills," she said with a grin.

"As long as there's one man left," the seller agreed, and Haley couldn't help but smile.

She kept on browsing, soon asking the man about where he was from and why he was alone. She felt a little bad when he hesitated, clearly unsure if he should say, but then told her anyway.

His name was Kwarta, and he was from the capital. He hadn't joined any of the 'guilds', calling himself an 'independent'.

"It's hard, but I've never been a joiner. Had enough of gangsters and the like in my old life. Taxes for the emperor are quite enough, thank you."

Haley smiled like she understood. She asked him about his life before, if he had a woman now. He'd seemed to have lost any worry she was from the dreaded 'west', happy to answer.

Nothing really stuck out until he mentioned where he lived. He looked a bit awkward, like it wasn't the sort of question you were supposed to ask in his city.

"East of the river, I'm afraid." He shrugged, looking like he'd aged a decade. "Your custom will really help me, miss. I appreciate it. It's not easy without the guilds. The greedy bastards." He shook his head and tried to smile. "But you don't want to hear a stubborn fool's problems. Beautiful girl like you. You must be married to a council member, eh? A new world princess." He smiled.

Haley just returned it. Then she gestured to the rest of the man's items.

"I'd like to take the rest please. Everything you have."

He stared for a moment, kind eyes getting a little watery. He seemed ready to say she didn't need to do that, to protest what he saw as charity.

"I don't live in the city," she said, hoping to leave it there. "Where I'm from we've almost no spice at all. I'm very happy to buy it."

Kwarta nodded, looking a bit confused as his eyes glazed and made the exchange. Haley took everything into her storage, then removed a little basket she filled with an assortment of food.

"Thank you," she said, leaving it on the man's counter as she turned towards the exit without another word. She didn't want to cause the proud man a moment of shame, so she hurried away with a cluttered mind and range of emotions.

It was clear there was considerable suffering in the east. That many civilians there didn't have nearly the lives of comfort and plenty that they did in Nassau. She wasn't sure what to make of that yet.

Except that Nassau and the soaring Tree City above it had plenty of room, and plenty of need for more human capital. And men like Kwarta would surely jump at the chance to come, if only they had that chance.

Haley rushed back towards Mason and the player promenade.