That restaurant visit had been a good start towards Choave’s recommendation to give a day over to being a tourist rather than trying to be a merchantgon in the competitive markets of Mosdenechrak, but Denziu eventually left it feeling overfull. Wanting a quieter place and feeling self-conscious about the expense of letter-writing, after visiting the local post office Denziu decided to visit the local Temple of Uttermost Dark.
Zie knew it would be a grim and dreary place, quite deliberately, as they worshipped darkness and silence. Each Temple of Uttermost Dark housed a sacred labyrinth at its centre, where were provided places for meditation and prayer. It was said to be a very healthy thing to meditate at a Temple of Uttermost Dark.
These temples were very unusual places to go as a tourist, but Denziu had visited the (crumbling and swamp-sunken) Temple of Uttermost Dark in Denxalue, and was curious about the equivalent here, as zie had read that it was a very large place.
Indeed, what greeted zir (visible from blocks away, and dominating several city blocks that were obligingly themed dark) was something like a ziggurat that mounted up in great winedark stone over the whole of the local city. Said city did not cease to be a commercial affair at all, but became full of markets selling such things as dark cloth and fate-charms "for contemplation". Denziu browsed them this time, considering whether zie could sell Tekagoli luck charms here. Zie did not quite know Lorvaza well enough to justify purchasing gifts, though the thought occurred to zir. None of these fate-charms would be uniquely new to Lorvaza’s collection, as zie recently had cause to know.
Whether they sold sacred goods or not, the vendorgons here were quieter in word and attire. They murmured and beckoned rather than crying their goods. It was as though shouting were illegal here. There were charms of silencing cloth on display as well, with gold-gleaming thread in blessed patterns through the round cylinders of black cloth bolts. Denziu saw at one point a merchantgon took pay from someone in such a bolt of cloth.
Zie visited a silent food merchantgon with a signboard declaring that customers should order by pointing, and there zie bought a bowl of hard bread with some cubed fish partially filling it. The fish was good. The breadbowl was aptly summarised as not too hard for a dragon's jaws to rip through.
Denziu passed onwards, gnawing on bread, through the flooding crowd of shushed dragons wearing dark cloth. As zie approached the ziggurat zirself, zie felt like zie was glaring bright in the sunlight, zir beige scales having never been such a burning sacrilege compared to all the dark-swathed others. They weren't all wearing black, but they wore greens and blues and purples; most of all however, they wore dark colours, and in each shade they were off-black. Denziu's own beige was like a shock white by comparison.
Yet none rebuked zir. This darkness was custom, not regulation. Still, it was terribly different from how the much smaller Temple of Uttermost Dark worked in Denxalue. Despite zir light colours, zie proceeded to climb the ziggurat itself. It ascended in three layers of platforms and had doors into its interior at every level. Upon the first level the crowds continued, and Denziu saw many dragons pass through into the interior. When zie asked one who had a priestly guise where services were held, zie was told that the sacred labyrinth was accessible to the public through the doors in the first platform level, but the sermon courtyard was achieved by ascending to the second platform, then passing through to the centre of the ziggurat. The third platform was only for the priesthood.
The second platform ascended above the crowds, but still no barred door or other warning sign blocked zir, so Denziu continued to the second platform and entered in under an arch to a courtyard lofted up from the ground here in the second platform. Zie saw looking up that the third layer of the courtyard had four pulpit platforms reaching up from the ziggurat, one per side of the four-sided structure, and here on the second there was a great open space for attending sermons. There being no sermon presently performed in the courtyard, this was currently empty (rather than full of shushed dragons in dark cloth), so that it gave a sense of vastness in the light.
Satisfied, Denziu climbed back down to the first level platform of the ziggurat, and went into the sacred labyrinth. The famed silence of the Uttermost Dark temples closed around zir as zie went into the dim-lit interior, although here where the faithful crowded so much the silence was at first imperfect. Enchanted light fixtures here provided light without noisome elements such as smoke or sound, but they did not provide much light.
The first meditation niches were not deserted. Undeterred, Denziu continued into the sacred labyrinth. This occupied the bulk of the ziggurat's interior, and Denziu was surprised to see there were even internal stairways, splitting the path both downwards and upwards. The farther zie went to the centre of the labyrinth, the more intense the silence around zirself, and the dimmer were the light fixtures. Eventually, zie had gone far enough to escape the crowd, and continued no farther (so as to avoid meeting dragons who insist on going in until there is no farther in to go), but occupied for some time the next meditation niche zie found vacant, where the darkness and silence closed about zir entirely.
There was nothing to the Uttermost Dark.
One must simply be capable of loving darkness and silence to understand them.
The rumours of healing potencies to meditations within their temples had not been proven.
Denziu came out some unknown time later, and departing through the sacred labyrinth was treated to the slowly restored crowds and gradually increasing lights, until zie stepped free onto that first ziggurat level once again. Even here where the Uttermost Dark had secured influence over several city blocks and the dragons thronging did so in faithful attire, the difference between inside and outside was intense, so that Denziu understood at a moment why the largest Temple of Uttermost Dark zie had ever been in was surrounded by so much city of faith: they were lessening that shock of inside and outside.
The hushed city blocks could not help being louder than the hushed temple interior, the darkened city blocks could not help being brighter than the darkened temple interior, and yet the shock of stepping outside was reduced. The dark quarter was beautiful when its hidden vibrance could be appreciated.
Indeed, it was awesome how much brighter and more vibrant the world seemed, and Denziu drank in the dark palettes of the clothes of the faithful. Their dark hues stood out better now. Zie was tempted to shop for attire of silencing cloth, but... It was expensive, and Denziu reflected that zie did not truly need it. Nobody had confronted zir on the way in, nor did anyone confront zir on the way out. Denxalue's Temple of Uttermost Dark was just large enough to contain its central labyrinth, and this one was an extravagance of a city of merchantgons where the locals had a great deal of time and energy over what it cost them to wrest their bountiful harvests from the earth.
Zie would, zie thought, set aside the funds to dress faithfully if ever zie moved to Mosdenechrak. Or perhaps if zie was someday fabulously wealthy, and could afford to have attire for every location... but that was a strange thought. It would be against the virtues that Baggil taught in Tekagol, chiefly persistence. Having an outfit only for use in Mosdenechrak would be doing something and then not persisting in it.
That didn’t stop Denziu from journaling the thought with zir lev-i-quill. Zie wanted that attire someday. Zie also now recognised Honom’s dark and gold-lettered clothing as silencing cloth. He was ‘Honom of Mosdenechrak’, one of the quietest members of the caravan, and Denziu now knew he was from the dark district of Mosdenechrak.
That evening at the caravanserai, two things happened. Firstly, Choave took an inventory of open carriage potential, planning to fill the wagons with food from Mosdenechrak the next day. Secondly, Denziu spoke to Lorvaza about seeing fate-charms for sale in the dark district, and suggested that they set up Denziu's wagon in the dark district and try to sell her charms to the faithful of Uttermost Dark as well.
It was not a difficult conversation. They were soon agreed that it would be a good first test of the two using Denziu's wagon to make their goods seem more magical. Lorvaza transferred a treasure chest of jewellery to Denziu's wagon, and Denziu felt a little faint at just carrying it. Too much magic… Denziu understood now why Lorvaza had offered only 2%.
Mosdenechrak was all over with markets. It was a great crossroads city, proud to be on two different trade corridors. Here was where the north-south Tachanigh-Kelkaith trade corridor met the east-west Pan-Tachamund trade corridor. The city was a celebration of trade crossing to distant lands. It was also a place of great leisure, where the farms of its rich grasslands had driven down the prices of daily necessities so greatly that there were theatre halls, arenas, and gymnasia.
Denziu thought about this while pulling zir flying wagon along towards the dark district. There were murals on many of the walls, which gradually darkened in palette as they approached the dark district. There was leisure here in which artistic skills were developed. Denziu felt rather hopeful seeing that; it meant that zir paints might sell today.
For a moment, Denziu called to Lorvaza to stop at one of them. It was a public service mural telling the public about the importance of saving carefully between major purchases. "I've never seen an exhortation like this," Denziu said.
"Mosdenechrak is a well-organised city," said Lorvaza. "They're telling residents something important. You can get anything you need in the markets here, but reckless spenders can't afford the prices."
After a moment of further examination, Denziu said, "Let's continue," and then added, "Do you think the city government commissions the other murals, too?"
"They might, or local businesses might. Mosdenechrak is quite patriotic, and it's a way to be public-spirited," Lorvaza said, and Denziu wondered if any of the other murals were tasteful advertising. Zie wasn't used to being surrounded by iconography like this.
When they were in the dark district itself, the murals largely gave way to simple dark painted walls with occasional leavening from white-, silver-, or gold-painted calligraphic lettering that proceeded vertically or horizontally across the walls. This seemed to be the fashion of Uttermost Dark in Mosdenechrak, strengthened by the gold-lettered black cloth that was like a local currency for the silence-shrouding enchantment it bore.
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Since Lorvaza and Denziu didn't have the appropriate attire, they searched the edges of the dark district rather than sticking out sorely in the centre. Eventually, they found a clear space large enough for Denziu to set up zir wagon, and Lorvaza busily arranged her charms for display.
Denziu unwrapped a few of the pots in the wagon to show them off, just in case someone took an interest in the artfully painted pottery.
Despite the levitating wagon behind them, the two dragons had some difficulty drawing attention. Without being able to cry their goods, it was a great contest of body language to try to hook dragons in, and the great majority of dragons broke away to continue on their way. When they lured someone, Denziu mostly let Lorvaza do the talking, and so heard still more of the fate-charms, once more presented as "for contemplation".
After hearing one of these pitches presented successfully, zie asked, "Why do you say that the fate-charms here are 'for contemplation'? That is the same pitch the local charm sellers tried on me yesterday."
"Oh, well! It's a natural way to use them," said Lorvasa, smiling brightly. "Have you never taken a fate-charm into the labyrinth of an Uttermost Dark temple?"
"I have not," said Denziu.
"There in the darkness and the silence, many dragons contemplate the values represented by one or another of the mystic charms. It's a form of prayer that realigns an individual's Fate," Lorvasa said, and then she turned around to look through her displayed charms for a moment. She came up with a cornucopia of arsenical bronze upon a twine strap, and held this out to Denziu saying, "This is a farmergon's fortune charm. It’s sold on a farmergon’s budget, so it’s one of my cheaper charms. If you were to take this into a temple of Uttermost Dark and think about the farmergons you work with outside of the caravan, it should be worth good fortune to them."
"Oh! Like putting a shrine to one of them in my pantheon room," said Denziu.
Lorvaza nodded and said, "Yes, and much cheaper than that. Although less permanent, if you do it often, it'll be quite good for them. Here, I'll give it to you at a 20% discount, or you can have this one free if you forswear your share from today's sales."
Denziu frowned at that offer, but thought it seemed friendly to accept, and so acquired a second charm to wear. The bronze cornucopia was fitted to a pocket on the right side in the pottery-vendorgon vest that zie was wearing, so that on the left breast there were the five ceramic bands, and on the right breast there was a cornucopia of arsenical bronze. "Do you think it'll distort my own Fate to wear a farmergon's fortune charm?"
"No, or not really," said Lorvaza. "Only in that other dragons will think you're a farmergon when you're not a merchantgon, and that's no great cost. The land gods will not make that error, especially not after you've taken it into a dark temple for prayer."
They sold more charms after that, so that it seemed (rather painfully) to Denziu that zie had probably made a mistake by taking the charm 'for free' rather than at discount.
Eventually, a passing izerah asked about the pots on the wagon. They surprised Denziu by being most interested in the grotesque pot featuring Lauvera incarnate, and they offered a very good price that seemed nevertheless rather low to Denziu, who knew it as a very good price only relative to the price of less artful pottery. That price became an excellent price when Denziu produced the little pewter marks for each of the displayed pots and spoke about the work zie'd gone to in collecting pots for years to sell the finest artwork produced in Denxalue. Recognizing a successful haggle and not wanting to push zir luck, Denziu accepted this second price, and was soon gladly done with another pot, sold from zir collection to the market of Mosdenechrak.
There was but one catch to the deal: the izerah who bought the great storage pot and carried it off could only make the price “excellent” by offering four bolts of silencing cloth from local markets. Denziu nonetheless recorded with zir lev-i-quill the price in coin and magic cloth that zie had gotten for the pottery, to be ready for showing it off to a pottergon in Denxalue used to selling to derisive merchantgons.
"Next time I do this, I should enchant the pottery!" exclaimed Denziu to Lorvaza when the pot had both been carried off.
Lorvaza tilted her head a bit and said, "But aren't enchantments usually pragmatic in some way? What would enchanted art-pottery do?"
"I'm not sure, but I'm sure there must be something. Maybe a room-wide enchantment of some kind," said Denziu. "An artful pot is a good place to put a ceramic tile with a permanent enchantment."
Thinking about the question of how to enchant a pot to sell better while the two tried to draw their next customer, Denziu hadn't long to think before zir mind turned to imagining the snow-covered landscape that zie'd read dominated in Hydalath, far to the north. "A warming enchantment," zie said. "Something that keeps the room warm. Oh, it'd be perfect for a fiery-painted pot, but I could get a better price for any of them if they were sold with a warming enchantment."
Lorvaza laughed at that, just a short 'hah!', and then said, "Aren't you getting ahead of yourself? I'm not saying that's a bad good to trade, but why bundle them? Maybe you should go search the markets in Mosdenechrak to see if anyone is selling ceramic warming spells and just sell them at markets along the way. Go on; I'll keep your wagon safe."
"Will you sell any more of my pots?" said Denziu, who didn't know as zie asked whether zie wanted to hear a 'yes' or a 'no'.
"I heard the price you extracted from that izerah. How about this," said Lorvaza, "I'll sell a pot if I can get at least seven bolts of silencing cloth in exchange. That should be profitable. Oh, but get a necromantic box while you're out! Your warming spells may disenchant between theomes if you don't box them right!"
Thus did Denziu agree to let Lorvaza sell zir pottery while zie went searching Mosdenechrak's markets for ceramic warming spells.
Now, Denziu had some idea what a "ceramic warming spell" should look like. It should look like a small rectangular or nearly rectangular (half-rounded) ceramic plate with some manner of lettering glazed onto it. That was a fairly common way for spellworks to be sold anywhere in Theoma, as far as Denziu was concerned. Curses were sold on special brittle plates so that they could be broken, while benevolent charms were sold on hardened plates to avoid breakage. (One might think that curses would be as hard as possible so that their target would be more stuck with them, but the land gods were prone to ill-regarding curses and distorting Fate to hurt their wielders, and so curses survived better in attempts to afflict targets if they could be broken dramatically upon discovery.) A warming spell would be a benevolent enchantment, so it would be a good stout little piece of ceramic.
It should be possible to tell even just passing a vendorgon if they had warming spells for sale, because a bin full of warming spells would warm the entire street. Finding them thus required no attention to anything save the warmth of the air, which was an interesting task for a vashael. As Denziu was, though zie had been so ground-bound during this expedition that zie had almost forgotten the little wind that swirled around zirself. If at any point in crossing the city zie felt an unexpected warmth or chill, zie would ask nearby merchantgons if they sold temperature-modifying tiles. It was nearer summer than winter, so zie expected cold air rather than warm.
A necromantic box was a much stranger thing to Denziu, who had never dealt with necromantic anything before meeting Choave. Zie decided to take Lorvaza at her word, and find the necromantic box first, and so zie flagged down passers-by to ask the way to the local Querent-Querent library. That seemed like the best place to ask about a good supposedly essential to trade, and an excellent place to learn where in Mosdenechrak such a thing could be acquired. It turned out to be nearby, just past the edge of the dark district, and quite a large building.
As zie entered the great stone-walled library, festive with great metal trees adorning its street-facing walls, aglow with pink metal flowers blooming from their branches, zie was struck again by the wealth of Mosdenechrak. There were so many minor shows of fortune here. This city was good to artists.
The mood indoors was much more dour than the frontage of the building, but the librarian at the counter brightened up immediately when Denziu said, "Hey, I'm a merchantgon seeking information on trade. May I ask you questions about your collection?"
"You're a merchantgon!" gasped the librarian. "And I'm a geomancer who needs to file 'how have you helped trade or travel' documents in a city where nobody travels ever. Please, ask me anything! Not just about our collection. Ask me things directly."
So Denziu asked about necromantic boxes, and was told to check shops near the necromantic academy in Mosdenechrak, which advice came with street-by-street directions. Zie asked about warming spells as well, and got an apologetic, "Sorry, I don't know about that."
The streets near the necromantic academy looked remarkably, even self-consciously ordinary. There were bright-painted facades on the buildings, with creative and colourful motifs that even looked a bit garish, and there was no sign of death-theming in any way whatsoever.
When Denziu looked in a few of the shops, zie eventually found one whose signboard outside held a picture of a jewellery box, and when zie stepped through zie found that it was just full of boxes. Floor to ceiling the shelves were covered in ornate boxes! This must be the place.
And it was! The proprietor behind the counter was a halfway transparent red vohntrai, who emphasised that Denziu should tell her exactly what kind of object was to be transported via necromantic box. When Denziu said that zie wanted to export warming enchantments to the northern theomes, zie was offered a fiery-painted box full of padded slots for warming spelltiles. It was two layers tall, with a removable top layer to get to the bottom. Zie was told to pray regularly over it for the land gods to protect the enchantments being shipped. "Never lie!" warned the proprietor of the box shop. "This box is for warming spells only!"
Somewhat mystified, Denziu bought the box and set out to return to Lorvaza by a different route to maximise the odds of finding somewhere selling warming charms. Zie walked somewhat self-consciously with the expensive box in hand, and had no luck finding anywhere with a bin of warming charms, as zie'd imagined zie could find somewhere in a place where the markets famously held everything.
Lorvaza saw the box and cheered for Denziu, only to stop when Denziu's expression fell to the cheer. "No luck?" she asked. Denziu shook zir head, and stashed the box in zir wagon.
"How about you?" Denziu asked.
Lorvaza shook her head, gesturing at the wagon with seven pots and seven bolts of silencing cloth in it. All was as Denziu left it, in other words.
"Oh!" said Denziu. "Well, I'm not surprised. These are difficult goods."
"There was one point where I thought I'd lured someone rich to look at your pottery, and I confess I bid high. She walked away in shock!" said Lorvaza.
Denziu reached into the wagon and fingered the black cloth from one of the seven bolts. "Tell me, do you think I should trade these for silencing clothes?"
"No, I don't," said Lorvaza. "Hold onto them. Where a good is a local currency, it’s a distant exoticism. You can count on that. I'd say keep them at least until Xeladash, where the next major market will bolster their value. Orrr you might want to hold them until Jiasote, where dragons are a bit crazy and will love having something they can insulate a wall with. Public service if you do that, really." She smiled at that last bit.
"I think I will!" said Denziu, excitedly. "Baggil will protect me better if I hold onto the silencing cloth until I'm sure it's good for other dragons that I sell it."
"Now, you should go back to searching for warming charms. Really, you should be able to find them somewhere in Mosdenechrak. Let me do our sales for the rest of the day, and come back to the caravanserai in the evening."
So Denziu continued trekking across every street market and every signboarded street zie could find, until eventually zie found a street where a shop-tent glowed with strange glooming enchantments. The air as zie approached it was hot and sleepy, and zie knew zie'd found a likely place. The price for the spells was a bit eyewatering, so that Denziu had to trek back to Lorvaza and ask a loan to cover it, but Denziu did negotiate a bulk discount on something the other merchantgon had expected to sell far more slowly. The two merchantgons were sure that the sale of the warming spelltiles would be a profitable thing to sell individually across the northern theomes. Lorvaza said that the loan was no more and no less than her claiming a share of the profits from the warming spells!
In this way, Denziu became a little more of a magic vendorgon to match zir flying wagon, and as zie packed away hot little pieces of ceramic into the padded slots of the fiery-painted necromantic box, zie wondered if zir Fate was being pulled by zir wagon itself.