Bjorn just stood there for a few moments, the words of what she said sinking in. As he stood there watching her he could see her visibly wilt under his attention. When he finally grasped what those three words meant he stirred himself into action. He rushed forward and swept her up in his arms spinning her around in circles as he hugged her, no words escaped his mouth, but his actions spoke loud enough.
At first she was stiff in his arms as he spun her. As they spun in circles she began to melt in his arms. The wordless exuberance he was showing put her at ease, getting her to finally relax. Her voice was very quiet when he finally did put her down. “I am scared.”
Immediately Bjorn took both of her hands in his and put his forehead against hers. “I know it can be scary. But we will get through this together. We will meet whatever challenge that comes our way together.”
She just slowly nodded her head. “Yeah you’re right. We will get through this.”
“How long have you known?”
“I have known for about a week now.”
Bjorn then thought back to all of the ways that women could tell if they were pregnant back on earth. As far as he knew there weren't any tests like that in the Eld. “How do you know?”
“I missed my period.”
“It could just be that your period is running late.” Bjorn said. “That happens to human women all the time.”
She just shook her head. “No, not elves. Elven women have their period once every 3 months. On top of that for me it happens on the exact same day every three months, the 4th. It is now the 12th, and I haven’t had my period. Therefore I have to be pregnant.”
Bjorn was thrown for a loop that the menstrual cycles for different species were not the same as they were for humans. It made sense. It wouldn’t have made sense if they were all the same, after all each mystical race was basically a different species of creatures. When put that way it made sense that each species would be different.
“Alright then, I shall trust you. How far along are you, do you know how long it will be until you give birth? How long does it normally take for elves to give birth?”
Meira just laughed at Bjorn’s constant questions. “Relax, everything will become clear in time. As for those specific questions I will answer them in the reverse order at which you asked.”
“As for how long it takes to give birth, that is a difficult question. It purely depends on who the parents are. Elves are slow at giving birth. If a child had both elven parents it will be roughly a year before the mother gives birth. That number increases and decreases depending on the growth time of the parents. With humans it is usually anywhere from 7 to 8 months for them to give birth. So I am due somewhere between 8 months to 1 year from now.
She skipped over the second question as it was basically the same as the first question. “As for how far along I am, that one is quite easy. I am a month and a half along. Elves ovulate exactly in between their two periods. Which means that we had to conceive while I was ovulating. Which if my memory serves me correctly, which it always does, was right around the time of the harvest festival.”
Bjorn’s mind quickly flashed back to that night which they shared in the community center and blushed slightly at their actions. “You know no one can know what we did. How this child came to be.”
Meira gave him a wry smile. “I know that. As for you calling our baby ‘this child.’ It is a he.”
“What? How can you know the gender already? Don’t tell me elves know what gender the child will be when born.”
A laugh escaped her lips. “No, nothing like that. I don’t know exactly how I know it. All that I do know is that the baby in my stomach is without a doubt a boy.”
They spent the rest of the night talking about all of the million little things you had to talk about when it came to a child. That night Bjorn lay in bed next to Meira thinking about how he is going to be a father. It made him happy.
As he spent countless hours laying awake he began to hatch a plan. Early the next day he made his way to town to talk to Chrome. Two weeks later he went back to town to collect what he had Chrome make for him. Giddy, he made his way back home. The closer he got to home the more nervous he became.
When he got home he found Meira hunched over behind their house working over a small fire. When she saw him she stood up to her full height and smiled down at him.
Nervously he made his way around and up the hill. The thing in his pocket weighed him down as he climbed. He made his way around the back of the house where Meira was baking a loaf of bread in a pot that basically was a Dutch oven. As he approached she looked over, and gave him one of her dazzling smiles, she met him halfway and pulled him in for a kiss.
“How was your trip?” She asked. Her tone was suspicious, she knew that he was up to something, she just didn't know what exactly.
Bjorn swallowed hard and managed to say, “It was good, thanks for asking.” In a shaky voice. She noticed the tone of his voice and cocked her head. Right before she asked about his tone he continued speaking. “Meira, I love you with my whole heart, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”
She smiled sweetly and she opened her mouth to reply but Bjorn pushed on. “You are my whole world, and I want you to know that.” With that he dropped down to one knee and pulled the weight out from within his pocket. He held out a gold band. “Will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”
If he surprised Meira she didn't show it. Instead tears began to stream down her cheeks as she dropped down to her knees beside him and wrapped him in her arms. “Yes.” She said simply and gave him a long, slow, passionate kiss.
When they broke away from each other Bjorn took her hand and placed the gold band on her ring finger on her left hand. If he had his way he would have put a gemstone in the ring. Unfortunately even though they were likely the richest people in Leefside it would cost most of their money to buy a gemstone the correct size to fit on the ring.
The craftsmanship in Dwarven metal couldn't be understated. Bjorn had given Chrome 3 gold coins for him to smelt down and cast it into a ring. The bottom half of the band was made to look like 5 different vines that were interwoven. 4 of the vines were made of gold, the last one of silver. The upper half the 5 vines combined to 2 vines that were also interwoven. The 2 vines on the top of the ring were also made of different metals, one was silver, the other gold. If you paid close enough attention the silver vine was continuous. It was interwoven so good that it wasn't possible to remove it from the rest of the ring.
“I don't know the customs of the Eld when it comes to marriage, but where I am from, a ring is a symbol of marriage and love. I wanted to give you a small piece of myself, so Chrome and I worked on the design for the ring. The gold is supposed to signify you, Alaric, Tayla, and Rickie. The silver is obviously me. The idea was for it to be a symbol of our life together.”
As he spoke Meira was quietly listening as he babbled. She sat there patiently, which didn't help Bjorn's nervousness. As he talked he grew more and more nervous, especially when she sat there not saying anything. Eventually he stopped and grew quiet. “It's sappy, I shouldn't have done it.”
She leaned forward, taking his hand. He raised his eyes to her. In them all he saw was love. “It is sappy. But I don't care, I love it. I love you.” She leaned in and kissed him once again. When she did so all of his worries melted away. In that moment he felt like a fool for even worrying.
“What are the customs in the Eld for marriage? Are there weddings? Do you throw parties?”
“It is fairly easy to be considered married in the eyes of the land. There aren't any special ceremonies that need to be done. Of course people have their own customs, and those customs will be different depending on where you go. As for parties and weddings, a lot of people do them, but it isn't necessary, and I would rather not do one. I have never enjoyed them and to me they seem frivolous.”
“Oh, OK. That seems easy enough. When do you want to do it?”
“I see no reason to wait, do you?”
Bjorn was a little taken aback by the rate at which she wanted to get married, but he saw no reason not to. “I don't. Okay, so what do we have to do?”
“It is quite simple. All we have to do is hold each other in our arms and exchange vows. Once we do that we will be married in the eyes of the Eld.”
“Perfect. We should do it inside. That wind is a little cold.”
“Sure, give me a few minutes, the bread should be done soon.”
Bjorn gave her a kiss and went into the house. It was warmer inside, but it wasn't perfect. Even though they did a good job making it not drafty there were inevitably cracks that both let wind in and heat escape. It was getting better though as they made progress with filling the walls with straw.
He had gone to town under the pretense of getting chairs as they didn't have any, and didn't want to spend the few weeks making them for the time being. He placed them out in the almost barren home and took a seat in one, and began to think.
A few minutes later Meira came back into the house and took off her outer layer of clothing, hanging her coat up. She made her way over to where Bjorn was sitting and took the other seat. “Are you sure you want to do it right now? We can wait if that is what you want to do.”
He placed his hands on either side of Meira’s legs and looked her in her eyes. “I am sure. I was just surprised. You see, where I am from getting married is a big thing and there are a lot of things that are expected of you when you get married. So to hear that it is easy to get married here I just wasn't expecting it.”
“I can give you time and space if you need it.” she punctuated her words by trying to rise to her feet.
She failed though as Bjorn held her in place with his hands. “I am serious, I am ready. I just needed a few minutes to decide what I wanted my vows to be. Let's do this.” he got to his feet and pulled her to hers.
They stood there arm in arm looking deeply into each other's eyes. Meira was the one who gave her vows first. “Bjorn, my love. I promise to hold you and keep you. I promise to care for you, to stand by your side. I promise to respect you and trust you. I promise to follow you and protect you. These I swear to you as long as we both shall live.”
Her words sent shivers down his back. “Meira. I swear that I will stand by your side no matter what life throws at us. I swear that I will protect you with everything that I have. I promise to love you and stand by your side. I swear that no matter what happens I shall never leave you. These things I swear to you as long as we both shall live.”
He didn’t know what to expect by his declaration, what happened though was not something he had ever considered.
Would you like to take Meira Tanis as your wife/life bound companion? Yes/No?
Without hesitation Bjorn obviously mentally clicked yes.
Know this, these next prompts shall be seen in unison by both parties. This is in light of the gravity of the bond you have just entered into.
Although the way the two of you met was unusual the bond you have formed between the two of you is not common. No, you have, against all odds, happened to find your soul partner. The concept of a soul partner is a nebulous idea which many think to be a fallacy. Take solace in knowing that is not the case. Across all time, space, and dimensions everyone has a soul partner. It is almost a fluke when those two souls come across each other.
The bond between soul partners is unbreakable, and is strong enough to bend the rules of reality. As such you have gained the following benefits.
25% of all experience earned by one soul partner is given to the other mate regardless of the distance between you.
When in close proximity to one another you may sacrifice up to 50% of any of your resource pools to give it to your other half.
You have gained an increased mana regeneration rate by 25%.
You no longer have to stand in place while channeling a spell.
She has gained a permanent 25% increase to all of the experience she earns.
She has gained a 75% increase to the rate at which her skills advance.
Your increased vital energies have intermixed with Meira’s magical potency. As such she has manifested a weak regeneration factor. The two energies have mixed inside your body and increased your base mana regeneration.
There is more to learn about the bond between soul partners. Deepen your bond.
That last line of the last prompt made Bjorn curious. It wasn’t like it saying “Deepen your bond.” Was straightforward, what the hell did that mean? No matter how he raged against the universe he knew that he would never get a solid answer.
A little annoyed he came back to the present and actually drank in what happened. He knew that somehow he was drawn towards Meira, he hadn’t known why. Now that he knew they were soul partners it all made sense.
A body quickly crossed the small distance between the two of them tackling the pair to the ground. They fell to the ground in a tangle of arms and legs and giggles. “Soul partners!” She exclaimed. “Can you believe it? I knew there was always a reason I was drawn to you. I just never could have guessed that this was the reason for that. I can’t believe that we were soul partners this entire time!”
Her exuberance was like nothing it had ever seen before. She was excited at the soul partner thing, as well as the fact that they were now husband and wife, and as a cherry on top she was pregnant with their son. Life was good, and she was happy. The entire thing was almost enough to make her forget why she was worried about childbirth.
“Wait, wait, wait. Hold your horses. I thought I saw something about a healing factor. Meira I think that means you can regrow your leg.”
She stopped for a second and her mouth dropped open as she gasped. “Oh my gosh, I think you are right. Hold that thought, let me check something.” She fell quiet and her eyes took on the now familiar look of someone digging through their menus.
He waited a few minutes with no response from her. He started to let his guard down and relax when she suddenly moved, reaching out to put her hand on Bjorn’s thigh. “You are right!” she exclaimed excitedly. “I found a countdown that has just over 9 months on it. When I gave it more attention it clarified for me what it was. And it was exactly what we thought it was, so in 9 months I will grow my leg!”
She sat still for just a second before she began wiggling her butt like she did when she got excited. The movement was adorable, reminding Bjorn of a golden retriever puppy when it gets too excited. She jumped back on Bjorn once again. “Best day ever!” She exclaimed excitedly.
Bjorn had to agree with her, out of his many years in life nothing had even come close to comparing to today. Throughout his long life afterwards he often thought back fondly to this moment, and he agreed this day was the best day of his life.
The next few weeks were amazing. Meira was excited, and happy. Bjorn got a trickle down effect and was also excited and happy all the time. They worked together to make progress on the house. They managed to fully insulate both the east wall and the south wall. Unfortunately they then ran out of straw and had to put the project on hold for the time being. But with just those two walls double thick and having the straw as insulation the house was now considerably more comfortable to live in.
Only on the truly cold nights did it seem cold inside the house. On those nights they just pulled out extra blankets and shared them as they slept. One thing that they hadn’t anticipated when they built the basement was that it radiated a lot of heat. The ground under the basements stone heated the stones just enough to make the house always a constant 45 degrees at the very least, even when there was no fire going. The constant heat made it less costly to heat.
It was never comfortable inside the house yet, unless they were heating the space with a fire, but it was better than being outside. Everywhere they went inside the house they wore layers of clothes to keep warm. Most of Meira's day was spent either preserving herbs, prepping their crops for the next year, or making planks for the house.
After they ran out of straw to use for insulation, Meira switched to building the walls that were meant to separate the rooms. These were mainly easy to make, it just was time consuming to shape the planks to fit the walls.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
On his side Bjorn once again began work on the kitchen. They hadn't really made shelter for him to work with his stone. He decided to use the wood working area to keep the snow and wind off of him while he worked. It was great because it allowed him to work on the stone longer before he needed to stop because he grew too cold.
They spent the winter together in bliss, riding the high that their new found marriage, and knowledge that they were soul partners created. It was fantastic, and filled with a thousand small chores that needed to be done. They constantly cleaned, worked on prepping herbs, and crops. Repairing tools, and making new ones. Meira even started making furniture to go inside the house.
The furniture that Meira made still left alot to be desired, but it was better than what they had, which was nothing. She made a table, and 2 more chairs to go with the 2 that Bjorn bought. She made a low bench to sit by the entrance, that way they could take their boots off before traipsing through the house. She even started working on a couch, but they didn't have anything really soft to make it comfortable. So it remained a half finished project for now.
Bjorn finished the walls to the kitchen that he was building. They took the left over clay shingles from the house to start roofing the kitchen. After all of that was taken care of he moved on to making nice countertops for the kitchen. He even carved out a basin to hold water to do the dishes in. Adding a spout in the bottom to let the water drain into a bucket.
With all of that done he started on his next project, that being a more permanent bridge. The wooden beams to cross the river were always supposed to be a temporary solution. The raw wood sat in wet ground for months at a time, meaning it had already started to rot away.
His plan for the bridge itself was to have a single stone pillar in the middle of the river to provide support to the bridge then anchor it to the banks on either side. To build the center stone pillar they took two of his now normal stone blocks and tied them together with the cement. They then maneuvered the blocks to the center of the river and set them in place. They placed the stone bricks on top of the ice at a 45 degree angle to the flow of the water, in hopes to help part the water.
The winter had been a cold one so the blocks stayed in place on top of the thick ice. Fortunately for Bjorn, when he reached level 25 in masonry his perk made stone weigh another 25% lighter. Making it weigh only half its initial weight. This made working with the large heavy stone significantly easier, as well as moving it. Especially with the weight not being diminished, it was impressive that the ice held up and the stone stayed on top of the river. After they put the next layer of stone on top they could hear the ice starting to groan. So they decided to bury the stone after it was fully set.
Before they did so though Bjorn cut a small square notch out of the top of the stone that would be the pillar. In that part of the river the water was currently around 3 feet deep. At the highest it was during the spring it was at 5 feet.
After the stone was fully fused together they got the pickaxes out and began chipping away at the thick ice that covered the river. It groaned for a minute before a loud snap could be heard throughout their clearing as the 1200 lbs. of stone finally broke through the almost 6 inches thick ice. The thick ice was actually a blessing in disguise, as it helped guide the stone into place. It fell to the bottom of the river making a splash as it fell in, displacing 2 cubic feet of water. It floated down into the bed of the river and held in place after it landed, it fell exactly how they wanted it to go.
With that taken care of, the next step was to make the blocks that would sit on top of the new pillar. But their work was done for the day. The pillar falling in made a large enough splash to soak Bjorn and Meira all the way through. Them being soaked and with a chilly breeze they decided that was enough. By the time they made it to the top of the hill their clothes began to freeze in place, and chilling them to the bone.
When they went to go set the next layer to the bridge in place the ice had frozen over again and they had to make a hole again. This time they were careful as they placed the block. Well to be perfectly honest Bjorn was extremely careful as Meira didn't want to get wet again. She let Bjorn be the one to finish off what they were working on. Once again after the next layer was in place that was the end of the work for the day.
The stone blocks were 3 feet tall at this point, almost perfectly level with the top of the water, they sat just barely over the top. Making the next layer easy to place and cement in place.
The next two layers switched the direction making them sit parallel with the shore, in hopes of that being where they would build the bridge itself. The end product was 3 feet over the current water level, and hopefully 1 foot over the max height that the water sat. But at that point the weather was starting to turn once again.
At just over 5 months into her pregnancy she was starting to show signs of her pregnancy. Her belly was starting to swell up as they knew it would. Even though Bjorn had spent several years in the Eld it still threw him for a loop when it came to talking about time. When Meira had told him that the pregnancy could last anywhere from 8 months to a year he was still subconsciously assuming that it was 8 months to 12 months. The fact that a year in the Eld was 16 months had eluded him.
On earth the average pregnancy lasted 270 days or roughly 9 months. I'm the Eld that is the equivalent to around the 8 month mark. But when elves pregnancies last 16 months that meant 512 days, or almost double the earth pregnancies. He hadn't even began to comprehend that when Meira told him that. Which explained his confusion when she just barely had begun to show signs. Meira very quickly set him straight.
Throughout the winter he alternated between helping Meira shape planks for the walls to separate rooms, cutting stone that they could use for a bunch of various projects, and finally doing something he had enjoyed since coming to the Eld. He put the herbs that he and Meira grew in the herb garden to use. He practiced alchemy for the first time in almost a year and a half.
It had been so long since he did alchemy that the townsfolk of Leefside had begun to question if he was actually an alchemist. Or if that was a lie he and Meira had come up with to get people to leave them alone. Not that they needed it as they were well liked by everyone.
In a year and a half he had grown just a tad bit rusty, his hands weren't as steady, his movements weren't as sure. That didn't last long as he soon brushed the rust off and he brewed with all of the competency of a professed alchemist. He slowly worked through the potions he could make with the herbs he had on hand.
After eating the herbs he didn't know, and making Meira mad again, he began substituting them with similar herbs his potions called for. It took quite a bit of trial and error but eventually he managed to make potions almost as good as the original recipes. He began stockpiling them as word spread like wildfire around town that a trade caravan was going to be making its way through Leefside in the spring.
They prepped the crops that they wouldn't need for their own eating and for replanting their crops. After that there wasn't much left over to sell, but they prepared that as well to sell. Bjorn brewed potions that they could use to barter and sell. Meira prepared other small things they had made during the winter, such as a few wooden toys while she was bored, and other small Knick knacks. She also took stock and wrote down everything that could be useful to have in preparation for the caravan.
It was early spring and the ground was starting to dry out enough for them to plant when word reached them about the trade caravan finally coming to town. From what they heard the caravan would be in town for a week before they packed up and headed off to the next town. They waited for the morning of the 3rd day before making their way into Leefside.
The reason for the wait was Meira’s leg. With the basic regeneration her leg was slowly growing back. By this time roughly half of what was lost initially was already back. She had gotten out of the habit of wearing her fake leg because of how long it was taking to grow back, and the fact that it was constantly growing back. They would have to constantly make adjustments to the fake leg so it would fit on her stump. So they waited so she could cut it down and reshape the bowl part.
On the morning of the 3rd day they packed up everything that they wanted to trade into their spatial folding bags and took the 30 minute walk into Leefside. When they entered town through their normal channels they found the caravan had set up shop in the communal open space. There were 8 wagons in total that made up the trade caravan. There were heavily armored guards standing around and wandering around, there were a few that had pulled out a small table from one of the wagons and were playing cards.
They very quickly got the rundown on the way things worked by the small girl Cass. When she saw Bjorn and Meira coming out of the trees she quickly ran over to Meira with her arms splayed out to the sides. Meira bent down and picked up the little girl who giggled as she was lifted.
As it turned out the trade caravan comes to town every year in the spring. The previous spring Bjorn and Meira weren’t popular enough really to have been warranted to be told about it. Which stung a little, but ultimately wasn’t anything really to get annoyed by. Every year it was the same group of traders who made their way out to Leefside.
They would buy all of the food stuff that the farmers wanted to sell. There was a specific waggoneer who bought it for the whole caravan. The hope was that they would fill their wagons full of goods such as bolts of cloth, spices, sugars, and a thousand other small things that are useful in the day to day. Stuff that Leefside didn’t have a way to produce themselves.
Bjorn and Meira borrowed a table and two chairs from Cass’s parents and set up a small booth where they could sell their stuff. As Bjorn was getting ready Meira went to the waggoneer who was buying all of the food stuffs and sold what they had prepared. She then made her way through all of the wagons and tried to find items that they would need.
Throughout the day Bjorn slowly sold off potions that he had made over the last few months. It was the first year that he sold anything so the efficacy of his potions weren’t tested yet. Not that the townsfolk didn’t trust him, it was more along the lines that they didn’t know how useful they could be.
They spent the whole day selling potions and talking. Towards the end of the day one of the traders made his way over to their small booth and began examining his potions. He picked it up and held it up to the evening light. He first looked at the potion for a few seconds and then over at Bjorn, then back at the potion. “You made this?” He asked.
Bjorn just simply nodded back at the trader.
“And you are selling it for?”
“That one is 1 silver and 10 coppers. It should heal roughly 143 hp over 20 seconds.”
“And this one?” He picked up a vial filled with a transparent light blue liquid.
“That should cure the common cold, but you will need to buy 3 doses. As one just makes you feel slightly better. It’s 20 coppers per dose, or 50 coppers if you buy all 3 doses at once.”
It might have been Bjorn’s imagination but he could have swore that he saw greed cross the man’s face. “I will buy your full stock. Everything and anything that you have I will buy it all.”
For most people they would jump at the potential to sell everything that they brewed all at once. Not Bjorn though, he knew what he was doing. The first healing potion could easily sell for up to 30 silvers in the right market. And the other one could easily sell for a silver a dose. But Bjorn wasn’t selling his potions to try and make a profit. There were many of his neighbors who couldn’t afford those prices. To help combat this he was deliberately significantly underselling the value of his goods.
Bjorn made a show as if he was considering the offer before he spoke. “You know, I appreciate the offer but I am going to have to decline. Unless there is a potion that you specifically need then I think it is best to not sell you my full stock.” He put on a fake sorrowful smile.
He could see the trader visibly deflate when Bjorn rejected him. “Why not? You'd be able to pack up for the day and browse our wares. You won’t be getting a better offer from anyone else around. As a matter of a fact I saw how many townsfolk came by to buy a potion. I just don’t want to see you waste any of your time.”
His arguments might have been able to sway many people, not Bjorn. As a matter of fact the comment from the trader only served to infuriate Bjorn. Bjorn beckoned for the trader to come closer, which he did. “Alright look at me.” Bjorn said. “And then I want you to look at those you see in this town. Seriously look at them. Tell me what do you see?”
The trader was slightly taken aback by the vehemence in Bjorn’s voice but he did exactly what Bjorn asked of him. “I see a bunch of farmers and townsfolk with not much to their names.” He said slightly sheepishly.
“Trust me, I know what my potions are worth. I know what they are capable of. Now tell me, do you think that they can afford to pay 30 silvers for this health potion.” Bjorn held out the vial that the trader had examined earlier. “I can and will say with certainty that they can’t afford my potions. Almost none of them can. So yes I can sell them to you for the prices that I have set just so you can turn around and price gouge the next person who comes along. Or I can sell my potions for a fraction of what they are worth and those who need them have them.”
For his part the trader did look slightly abashed for the greedy thoughts that he had been having. “I understand.” he said.
“Do you? I don’t think you do. Almost everyone here can't afford to pay what the potions are worth. Because of that they wouldn’t buy them. But what happens when farmer Jimmy accidentally cuts himself while sharpening his scythe and will bleed out in mere minutes. What then? Do you think that your greed will clear your conscience of the fact that he didn’t have a cheap healing potion to keep him alive?”
“I-”
“Of course your conscience wouldn’t be affected. You will be gone by then, but I will still be here. I will have to deal with his wife who struggles to keep their farm going without him. Let alone his two small children who haven't eaten in months because their mother struggles to feed them. But no, you saw the ability to make a hefty profit and as such you condemned this man to death.”
Bjorn paused to take in a breath, not realizing that he had been raising his voice as he talked to the trader, this raised a few eyebrows from the townsfolk around them and the other traders trying to figure out what exactly is going on. He took a deep breath and let it go. “No, I will not sell you my potions for a discounted price. If you want them add 10% to the estimated price to each potion, and trust me I know them all.”
The man looked thoroughly chastised and walked off not bothering to look back at Bjorn. There was one good thing that came out of their interaction. Once those around him heard how much Bjorn was going to charge the traders his booth became more popular. Once everyone figured out that Bjorn’s potions were the real deal they flocked to him to buy whatever they needed to prepare in case something happened.
One downside to brewing potions was that every single potion had a shelf-life. It could be a week, or even a year, but every potion eventually lost its magical abilities and just became a vial of rotted liquid. There were a few ways to help mitigate those problems. You could add an extract of Blood root vine mixed with arrowroot to your potions, that would greatly increase the longevity of the potion but cut back on the efficacy ever so slightly, the amount lost changed based on the potion. There were special vials that helped slow down the process. And the amount of time between the potion being finished and being bottled played a role.
Another reason as to why he was selling his potions for so cheap was due to the potions might not be used. At the same time he wanted the villagers of Leefside to have some on hand at all times. Just what he told the trader, those potions could be the difference between life and death for some of his fellow townsfolk. He and Meira lived 30 minutes out of town on the best of conditions. If anything ever happened it would like time to get them into town. Time that someone might not have.
As his thoughts ran through dark channels he distractedly got Meira to watch the booth as he got up and made his way through the traders stalls to browse their goods. Word must have spread through the traders already as everywhere he went they gave him a wary look. He ignored them and kept looking through to see what all they had.
For the most part they didn’t have anything that interested him. Most of the goods that the traders had were tools and items that would be useful for a town. Knives, pots and pans, and even an apple peeler and corer. Bjorn was impressed to see the peeler, it looked almost exactly like the old 1900’s apple peeler that was back on earth.
The one trader who piqued Bjorn’s interest the most was an old grizzled dwarf man. His table was filled with all sorts of interesting items. Where everyone else’s tables were filled with more mundane items, his was filled with more magical items. Where the other tables were filled with townsfolk this traders table was mostly empty all day.
As Bjorn approached the dwarf perked up. “Hello, and welcome. My name is Caleb, what can I do for you?”
“Hi Caleb, I'm Bjorn. I am just browsing for now.”
“Of course, look as long as you’d like. I’m not going anywhere.”
Bjorn just gave a half grunt reply and started looking over his wares. The first thing that drew Bjorn’s attention was a dagger. It looked to be made of high steel but the blade was coated in a pale blue sheen. Frowning slightly, Bjorn identified it.
He looked back up at the trader. “This item has charges, how does it regain charges?”
The dwarf gave Bjorn an appraising look. “Ah you have some way to identify items, yes?” Bjorn just nodded. “When an enchanted item uses up some of its charges there are two ways for the item to regain them. The first one, and the cheaper of the two, is to simply wait. The item will slowly regain the charges to its enchantment. The other way is to expend a soul stone.” The dwarf indicated the pile of pale purple stones that Bjorn saw last in the undercity of Vanta’s black-market. “If you have the enchanting skill you will be able to expend the power trapped inside the soul stones and it will refill some of the charges on your enchanted item.”
“Huh, thank you.” Bjorn said and went back to looking at his wares.
“Of course.” Caleb said and was quiet for a few moments before speaking up again. “I just want to let you know I think what you did to Jason was right. He has no scruples, as such he is willing to do anything and take advantage of anyone if it makes him money. I just want to let you know that I think he deserved that and I admire what you are willing to do for your fellow man.”
Bjorn at first was going to ignore what the dwarf said, then he thought about it. “Thank you. I just hate people like him. These are good people, I don’t want to see them hurt just because someone wants to make a quick buck.”
From there they made small talk between the two of them as Bjorn continued to browse his wares. There were a few things that caught Bjorn’s interest. There were a small handful of arrow tips that had magical effects on them. These ranged from extra elemental damage on hit to chances to apply status effects on hit. Bjorn bought the lot of them, as well as the dagger.
The next item that caught his attention was a small wooden chest. When he reached for the box the dwarf caught Bjorn’s wrist. “Be careful with that one, It can be dangerous if exposed to your skin for too long.” With that he withdrew his hand. Cautiously Bjorn reached out again and touched the box. When his fingers came in contact with the box it was cold to the touch. Lifting the small chest he opened the lid and inside lay a single stone. The walls of the box had a thin layer of ice and ice crystals.
Looking at the stone Bjorn had an idea what he could use it for. So he bought the ice stone as well. So far his total purchases set him back 2 gold, 37 silver, and 11 coppers. For most people in Leefside that amount of money was a year's worth of wages, and they could live off of that for probably years.
The next thing he looked at was the magical rings that sat on the table. After he inspected them nothing really jumped out at him. They all had increased health, stamina, or mana rings. He was currently quite happy with his assortment of rings that filled his fingers. So he skipped right over them.
When he finished looking over the wares that Caleb had he was surprised to see no spell books. Finally he looked up at the dwarf and asked him about it. “So, I don’t see any spell books, you don’t happen to have any do you?”
The dwarfs face had a pained expression on it. “I do, I have two spell books, but I haven’t put them out because everywhere we go I haven’t been able to find someone willing to buy them. I picked them up almost a year ago for cheap. I now know why, there aren’t many who could cast them, as magic is rare enough. If you want I can get them to show you.”
Bjorn nodded so the dwarf stood up and walked into his wagon, he reappeared not 30 seconds later with two thick tomes in his hands. He set them down on the table in between him and Bjorn.
“I figured seeing how the spells went hand in hand they would sell, but that hasn’t been the case. I think it has to do with the high requirement for the create soul stone spell. It also might be because we mainly travel between backwater towns. Either way I would be willing to part with them both for 10 gold. That was the price I paid for them.”
Bjorn didn’t need to deliberate before he had decided on buying them. Not to seem too eager though he put on a show of trying to decide. “I will take it.” He finally said when he finished his act.
He handed over the gold and walked away considerably poorer, but at the same time richer.
