The way back was easier on Denziu's body and mind. Zie was hardened by the exercise of the way and no longer struggling with each market to sell various goods, but filled zir wagon at Choave's guidance to sell at the distributors of which Choave was familiar.
Serafustin spoke to zir again when zie got back to Lorilaine. The land god appeared as a pink crystal vashael this time and walked alongside Denziu for a distance telling Denziu about what would have happened if not for Serafustin's intervention. Denziu would have taken the last pot back to Denxalue only to discover that the artist refused to travel to Evonthe, and nothing would have become of it save a growing resentment. Meanwhile, the kalla would have bought something else, and then almost certainly hated it, which (Serafustin said) she might do anyways with the pot that Denziu sold her, but changing Fate offered her a better chance at being happy with the art in her house. That the two were Fated to walk so near each other without interacting was what Serafustin had prevented by telling Denziu to watch for the kalla in the fur coat.
Serafustin said one other thing as well, which was curious, "You have broken somewhat with the Fate your mother wove for you, but you will have thereby pleased her greatly. She wove herself into something of a corner giving you the things you sought as best she could. Some of what she hoped for you will work better on the Fate you have now. Probably."
They loaded up with glasswares at Raldrani while passing Tonturaseer, with Choave calling Raldrani’s glass a major trade good on the southbound leg. The price at Xeladash was pinned by heavy shipping, but they could get a decent price carrying it on to Mosdenechrak.
Most of the caravan flew over the Xang Sea with Denziu this time, letting the slower ship catch up to them at Xeladash. Ships were necessary for cargo, they agreed, but there wasn't really much need of staying and resting upon a particular ship for any but the longest crossings. Denziu was pleased to have innovated on their practices and tried to forget that the innovation only happened because Denziu had gotten seasick.
Taioma sought out Denziu again when they passed Inaildoro and Denziu once more agreed to join her for the night. This time Taioma started with the cake she had wanted to summon before, and so the two had what Taioma called a cake. The 'cake' stretched the term for it was a dense fudgy monstrosity topped with cookie bits. Denziu ate a slice with Taioma, and once again Taioma did that curious thing of encouraging Denziu to eat more as though it would satisfy Taioma's own hunger better. Zie still matched Denziu's consumption exactly, which in that case meant she only got the one slice for Denziu then refused to have more of the heavy confection. Afterwards, Denziu was this time forbidden to bring any back. "They are not ready for a cake like this," said Taioma with comical solemnity. Denziu thought zie wasn't either.
Denziu visited the great ziggurat of Uttermost Dark again when the caravan passed Mosdenechrak, and thought zie would probably visit it occasionally by flight forever after. While deep inside the meditation labyrinth of the ziggurat, zie wondered in the silence and darkness there how it was that even when dragons crowded the structure, it seemed like there was always eventually a quiet place to use if one went inside deep enough. Struck by gratitude for that, zie thought with bowed head a quiet prayer that all who cannot find peace and quiet should find a place that protects their silence.
Finally returning to Denxalue having sold all of the pots, Denziu had a stack of sales slips to show to eight pottergons in the theome. Each of them had the habit of painting even the most utilitarian pots they sold, and so each of them had painted a skillful pattern across a large stoneware pot and then sold it to Denziu as though it were an grain storage pot:
Zirakkle, who had painted an intricate floral pattern all across a pot, learned that Denziu's new vest and a considerable sum of gold was fetched for zir pot in Mosdenechrak.
Denziro, who had painted a skillful though grotesque portrait of Lauvera incarnate on each side of a pot, learned that Denziu had gained a good price plus four bolts of magic cloth for his pot in Mosdenechrak.
Tasabao the Vain, who had painted the pot depicting Raul's incarnation dominating the sky over Zyrine, learned that Denziu had gained an awesome price for zir pot in Atney.
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Han-Iawo, who had painted two rows of dragons running about a pot in an outdoors environment, learned that Denziu sold zir pot in Polser. The sum was respectable, though not impressive.
Wendayora, who had painted a panorama of Badyen that extended all the way around a pot, learned that Denziu had sold zir pot in Polser. The sum was respectable, but as it had been Denziu’s favourite pot from the collection, reporting that it was one of the three pots sold for a low sum was rather painful.
Atherviu, who had painted around a pot the visage of weeping willows in a swamp, learned that Denziu had sold zir pot in Polser. The three pots sold in Polser had sold for a decent price though not as though they were great works of art. Denziu hastened to reassure the three artists that their pots had gone to myrghon and myrskor of the deep-under who would truly cherish them.
'Icy' Vendao, who had painted a picture of a gentle wilderness scene with a dragon implausibly surrounded by animals, learned that Denziu had swapped his pot for an armring of magic sight in Mania. The price of the armring was the price of a minor magic item, and established well that the pot had sold for the price of artwork.
Finally, Ybury the Tame, who had painted the pot with the dragon poling a boat through the swamp, learned that Denziu had sold the pot all the way at the far end of the Tachanigh-Kelkaith for a sum that was very excellent for a single pot. Denziu added that Ybury would profit more traveling with the caravan some year, as the 'Pan-Theoma Hall of Ceramic Sculpture' was interested in Ybury's work.
All eight pots had been sold to dragons who would cherish them, and the majority had been sold for the price of artwork rather than for the price of pottery. Denziu hadn’t really enjoyed trying to sell a few items dearly like that and thought zie wouldn’t remain an art dealer after the trip, but zie was proud of making a small contribution to breaking Denxalue’s reputation as a great mudwallow that produced nothing of cultural significance.
Fingering zir vest with its colourful ceramic bands, zie wondered if zie would ever meet Zwerenn again. The vest no longer had a purpose as anything but a relic of the journey if Denziu wasn’t going to try to sell more of Denxalue’s most artful pottery. If there was anything zie still hoped to someday do to help Denxalue’s pottergons break free of merchantgons devaluing them, it would be to draw Zwerenn directly into Denxalue itself. There was a merchantgon who would keep moving their best pots over many years if she were introduced to them directly.
The vendorgon vest from Zwerenn and the little cornucopia charm of arsenical bronze from Lorvaza were Denziu’s only keepsakes from the journey, though zie also had from Velrilari a copper ring and a small blotchy purple box. They were faintly magical and very durable, yet they seemed to do nothing. The ring might be saleable, but the box was an oddity that might just have to be thrown out.
The notes zie’d taken along the way might qualify as a greater keepsake than any of those. These zie let zir siblings read. Aleicree was most interested in them, and thought Denziu's account of Choave's use of necromancy to be awe-inspiring. "I’ve heard rumour of this spell, but you’ve lived it!" said Aleicree.
Even though Denziu had spent the journey meddling with necromancy and planning to meddle with it more, Praoziu seemed very pleased with Denziu, and with the gentle strength of a mountain hugged on zir.
Denziu also kept one of the ever-burning necromantic lanterns as a gift for zir mother. Zie was deeply curious how Praoziu would regard the necromantic lantern. "A curious device," she said. "It truly does seem to me that it sheds darkness when you ignite it, and only with an effort of will can I remind myself and see that it is shedding light rather than darkness."
Taisach called for a celebratory feast for the family, and Praoziu used the excuse to summon up an otherworldly meal for the family. They ate precisely shaped oddities that had to be cut open from little packets, and Praoziu burst into giggles at some private joke every time they praised the strange food, as though they were eating something secretly ridiculous while treating it as the food of the gods. "You wouldn't enjoy these foods much if you knew them as they were originally invented," she said, stonewalling their queries, but she was avid and glad that they liked the foods she summoned for them.
There was a strange final detail in Denziu's accounts. Having left zir profits from the journey with Choave, zir savings were arguably gone. Zie had lost a goodly pile of treasure with little to show for it besides a scroll tube of paper attesting to zir partial ownership of a caravan. Zie was poorer in coin and wealthier on paper, and zie wondered if that was true wealth at all.
Taltios made it known that zie didn't think it was, and laughing said, "You have lost the value of ALL of your pots, every phial of pigment you worked so hard to make before setting out, and almost everything you acquired out there! Baggil took it ALL away! All for that paper!"
That only meant Denziu was committed to this path. Zie would get zir value out of Choave’s caravan over years persistent, and in the off-season now zie had a plan to join with Ekis as a merchantgon to the deep-under. Even as zie feasted and spoke with zir family, Denziu looked forward to meeting Ekis of Tonturaseer once more in Tekagol!