Lia stood at her immaculate stall in the bustling marketplace, absently fidgeting with her wand. Business had been slow today. Behind her, the cloth sign displaying her services fluttered in the weak breeze.

COME ONE COME ALL! 

Can send messages to anyone, anywhere!*
1 gold per word 
Sustained relay conversations 5 gold/minute 

Can grant enhanced speed! 
10 gold / hour / Can cast illusions! 

Bring me anywhere! 
5 gold/ mile 
Great at parties!The text at the very bottom of the page was barely noticable and impossible to read from a distance by design. If anyone got close enough to read it, she would see them. She was growing to like life as a merchant. Or… what was the word? Entrepreneur. She made loads of money on good days and a respectable amount even on the bad ones. And the best part was, she had nothing to fear! She no longer risked her life or freedom on a day-to day basis and she made money anyway. She had been missing a whole world! She did hope business would pick up today though. She used her illusion magic to change the apparent color of the sign from red to yellow to attract attentions, and waited.

A young woman with a grey cloak and worn purple slippers walked down the street of the city. She had a hood that covered her head and face. On her back was a pack that was tied closed with strings. Most likely to avoid anybody stealing out of her pack. Tristana was the woman's name. She walked to every single market stall like a child who had never seen such wonders before. She first went to a jewelry stall that was selling jewelry for silver coins. But Tristana didn't buy anything. Then Tristana went to a stall for food and bought a little bit of food with her silver coins. Just an apple and some bread.

Perhaps she would find an inn later to eat a meal at. For now this would satisfy her hunger. She stuffed her mouth with some of the bread that she had just bought, enjoying the taste but wanting to finish it quickly so she could look at everything around her properly. Quickly the bread was gone. Then Tristana went to a strange stall. It was for magic it seemed. Curiosity overcame Tristana as she went closer to it to see what it was about. Her eyes went to the cloth sign that explained what it was. Gold coins?! Even Tristana knew that was expensive. This must have been some sort of stall for only the richest of nobles. After all most of the stalls she went to used silver. It was much easier to live with. Gold coins were extremely difficult to get and usually only the richest of nobles were able to use gold coins so easily. Tristana then saw Lia and gave her a smile. 

"Hi!" She said with cheerfulness, "How are you?"

Lia noticed a woman in a grey cloak approaching her stall. finally, a customer!  "hi!" she said, "how are you?" lia didnt have much patience for this kind of thing usually, but people at her stall looked good and she wasnt doing much else. and frankly, she was bored. "hello." she said "I' feel good today. how about you?"

Tristana noticed how not many were visiting this stall today. Then again the other stalls weren't exactly full either. Her eyes glanced up to the sign. Ten silver for a magic trick? That seemed fair. Although Tristana had magic herself so it wasn't as if she was foreign to magic at all. In fact she had a few tricks of her own but Tristana still had lots to learn. So she decided to see if that was an option at all. Perhaps it was. It would be great if that was an actual option. Then she could learn more magic for her journey. So Tristana decided to mention it. 

"I feel fine today." Tristana said, "I was wondering if there was an option for learning magic? I would pay well. It's just I know that there are more tricks for me to learn. If I can't pay then perhaps I can show you how to do a magic trick too?" 

Tristana was a little nervous. After all she was asking a complete stranger if she could learn some of this stranger's magic. What if this person thought Tristana was weird? What if Tristana was too forward? Maybe she was too …. well too much of something. Tristana felt unsure of herself in that moment. Perhaps it was better to have not said anything at all. 

Lia had to keep herself from laughing. What a rookie. She asked for something without a listed price and let her state first price? Pathetic. Oh well. She would learn in time. "You trying to take my customers?" Lia asked, knowing full well she wasn't but intending to get her off balance.

Tristana felt confused. She didn't understand why the girl at the stall had that reaction. Then again she had little experience to almost now experience when buying or asking for something important. Tristana felt a tiny…. a bit…. well certainly uncomfortable. She looked down like an ashamed child and didn't really know what to say. Perhaps she should leave? Maybe she was being too rude? Tristana fiddled with her sleeve a bit. 

"No! I wouldn't do such a thing." Tristana said worriedly, "I-I was just w-wanting to learn a bit from such a talented person. It's just it's the only thing I know a bit about and I thought it would be alright but if it's not then I won't ask again. I'm sorry." 

She was clearly genuine about the whole thing. Her emotions were extremely clear and not very well hidden. In fact she seemed very open. Even though that was a dangerous thing. Especially in this world. It was clear that this young woman was inexperienced in every way possible. Yet she wasn't noble clearly. Her robe was grey and dirty, her mannerisms were sloppy and the way she acted was as if she was any other commoner. So she wasn't a runaway sheltered noble. She was sheltered but it was probably strange since most commoners went outside to work and were taught the ways of the world. 

the woman stammered that she would do no such thing, and some compliments, and offered to leave. crap. lia had nearly scared her off. lia quickly backpedaled: "no, its fine. I can see youre not. what would you like to learn?" lia thought about the woman. she seemed very open. she would learn otherwise eventually. she also seemed to not know even basic haggling techniques, which would have marked her as a noble, if not for her ragged grey clothing and common speech pattern. curious. lia wondered where this woman had come from, what would have put her into this unfortunate situation. lia decided to try reading the womans thoughts. she was a customer now, she reasoned, and lia was curious. "where are you from?" she asked, keeping a close watch on the womans surface thoughts.

Tristana listened as the woman told her it was fine. Good. Tristana was worried for a moment that she had done something wrong. It was apparent that wasn't the case. The woman was probably just joking with her. Which meant that Tristana shouldn't have taken it so seriously. However the conversation was moving on so there wasn't any point in being concerned about something that's already in the past. 

"Well…. I don't really know what kind of magic you know." Tristana stated, "But I've seen some magic users summon food. So perhaps a food summoning spell? If you don't have that then do you know any electric spells? Oh and what do you think the price should be? I mean you're more of an expert on this then I am. What do you say?"

After all this was a merchant who probably had been selling magical services. Surely she would know better than Tristana when it came to the price of teachings. Then again Tristana didn't know if this lady had taught anybody before. That would have to be something she would have to keep in mind. Or perhaps ask. But for now it didn't seem to matter much. Tristana then listened to the woman as she asked about her home. 

"Well I grew up in the Plains of Bohar. Have you ever been there? It's really beautiful out there. A bit dangerous maybe but the plains are one of the most gorgeous things you could see. Then again there is the Viren's forest nearby but I personally like the plains better." Tristana was starting to ramble then realized this and shut up. 

Tristana was careful to not say she was born in the Plains of Bohar. She had no idea where she was actually born so she was careful to say she grew up there. That was true so she felt more comfortable saying it. And she really did adore the Plains of Bohar. She could remember the grassy fields full of herbs, flowers, and well grass. The sky was clear and blue and there were always some interesting animal to watch go about it's day. Of course Tristana was missing the part where there were dangers. She was lucky enough to not encounter those situations. Mostly because she slept in a hole in the ground but still. Tristana then made herself stop thinking so much and listened to see what the woman would say. 

lia began to feel pity for the young woman. how had she not learned anything? oh well. the rest of the world could teach her that. meanwhile, there was money to be gained. "yes, as a matter of fact I do know a spell to summon food. I can teach you the spell for 150 silver."  lia  had never attempted to teach magic before, but the woman didn't need to know that. lia had never heard of the plains of bohar though. she also didnt really care. lia remembered the womans name: tristina. might be useful later. lia went back to watching the womans thoughts as she listened for an answer. 

Tristana was obviously very new to well everything. She seemed very cheerful though. Even if she was naive to the world. Of course she wasn’t foreign to terrible things. After all she had been warned all her life that everybody around her would steal from her, burn her, kill her, and do other terrible things to her. Especially if Tristana had ever revealed her face. And Tristana had faced dangers and bad people before. But for her it was difficult to see through a kind facade and see how even simple merchants could be dangerous or at least unkind. “Deal!” Tristana said with a genuine smile. 
Tristana then took of her pack and untied it’s strings that kept it shut and safe from thieves. Quickly she looked around for thieves or anybody who would try to steal from her. Then she took out 150 silver coins and put them on the counter. Then Tristana tied up her pack with the strings and put it back on. Tristana then looked at Lia. “By the way what is your name? I never really got it. Oh, and I’m Tristana. I don’t think I mentioned it before.” She said. Tristana hoped that the woman didn't think she was too weird. Tristana also hoped the woman couldn’t see her face. After all she had a scar that went from her forehead to her chin and a white eye. Not to mention the freckles. Tristana was careful not to show her ugly face. After all nobody needed to see Tristana’s ugliness.