A Fair Trade

Leanne found herself biting her lip as she rode through the heavy wooden gates to the Ulani town of Roshunda, her long dark hair shimmering in the cool breeze of the plains as she drew her horse to a trot. The Ulani, a predominantly peaceful race, thank the gods, dominated the town and could be seen everywhere.

Leanne found herself glancing sidelong at such a pair of Ulani, haggling over some trinket or another in their low rough voices and caught the eye of one, the rugged Ulani man eying her over briefly, appraisingly before looking away, seemingly satisfied. He had been eye level, she noted. Which was in impressive feat, given that she was on a horse. The Ulani typically ranged from nine to even ten foot tall and despite their peaceful nature and reputation, put the fear of the gods into her.

She had seen them before, her home city had had a small Ulani district, the buildings and streets, by design, having to be tailor made to fit the larger than life comforts of the Ulani people, but she had only ever seen them in the minority, one or two here and there. She had never herself, been the lone human in a crowd. But such was her task initiative.

At eighteen, Leanne had finally come of age, having been apprenticed to the Traders Guild of the Twin Swans at the age of twelve she had spent her life learning the valued art of trading and had, for her eighteenth birthday, been set her apprentices task of passage by her Master. Profit. She had been issued with goods, and would return with currency or goods of which her Master would value. The higher her profit, the higher her initial standing within the guild as an initiate. While it was an unfortunate truth, those that profited poorly from their test could spend their lives trading grain with farmers. Vital work no doubt, but lacking prestige or recognition. Those that failed to profit at all were given over to the book keepers. A fate, in Leanne’s eyes, worse than death.

The Ulani were by all accounts unparallelled craftsman, able to wield their strength in the creation of such fine and precise items, creating steels and alloys far superior to any the humans had yet to discover. However, due to their size, they struggled in the art of deep mining. While the Ulani were well known for their surface quarries, carving stones to be transported all across the kingdoms, when their mining efforts shifted below grounds, the size of the tunnels they created by necessity made the work slow, uncomfortable and dangerous, almost pointless, given the trading links with the Humans.

Leanne glanced back anxiously at the pack slung over her horse. Still there, the two bags each slung on each side rested, each holding three ingots of Dark Iron, an uncommon metal, though certainly not the rarest. The Guild wouldn’t risk too much of a loss on each apprentices first solo test after all.

While many of her peers had set off with their task bags to trade and barter in markets across the lands in hope for a deal, or preferably, an idiot with a lot of coin, Leanne had set out with a single shop in mind.

In her six years as an apprentice she had fed her mind lists of people she could trade with, noting who was exceptionally keen for certain items at certain times, or who was exceptionally good at producing or procuring certain goods. In her thirteenth year of age she had accompanied her Master as he met a visiting Ulani from Roshunda, seeking to forge a trade contract with the Guild. While the contract had never been agreed upon, Leanne had stared in wonder at the brilliant items and wears the Ulani had offered. An event that had stuck in her mind. Tula. The Ulani Blacksmith of Roshunda.

Leanne pulled her horse up besides a shop front. It felt a little awkward, addressing the man while she was still on her horse, but she found herself looking up at him slightly. She swallowed, trying to quell her baseless anxieties.

“Excuse me, sir.” she bit her lip, “I’m looking for the Blacksmith Tula, do you know where I might find her?..” she asked, trying to hide the quiver of nervousness in her voice, trying to sound as imperious as her Master did when talking to the lowly Guildless. Obviously by his bemused expression she hadn’t yet mastered this tone.

“Aye, little lass. Tula calls the building opposite the feast hall her own. Scarce miss it, keepin on that street three over and cross the narrow bridge, y’hear?”

Leanne stared at the man. She heard, but she wasn’t sure she followed. But it wouldn’t do to seem as confused as she felt. Always appear to know what you’re talking about, her Master had said. So she nodded assuredly!

“Thank you! Have a pleasant day!”

The man grunted and grinned as Leanne urged her horse into motion. “Aye n’ watch your arse!” he laughed, his low rumbling laughter rolling after her.

Leanne felt herself flush a bit at that but didn’t know what to make of it. She shook her head, dismissing it as some form of Ulani banter and tried her best to follow his directions.

She followed them poorly.

She had hoped to arrive at Tula’s late afternoon, work out an agreement and be able to catch an early night at the inn. With luck she would’ve been able to set off early and return to her Master in a timely fashion. As she finally arrived at Tula’s, the shadows growing long and the sky shifting hue into dusk she feared however she would have to forgo any serious trading or bargaining until the following morn, afraid even that Tula may have already closed shop for the day.

She was grateful, as she finally found the feast hall and the narrow bridge straddling a small clear stream, to find the front of the blacksmith’s stall open still, the forge fire lit and an Ulani moving about. Though with growing concern she noted the Ulani was tidying up her workshop as the forge fire was left to die out. She wasn’t yet closed for the day, but she wasn’t far off.

As Leanne approached the Ulani raised her head. It -was- Tula! A little older, perhaps, a little different, but the image of her had stuck in her head as clear as their first day. Tula showed no recognition in return, though why would she? Leanne had been but an apprentice. A child, practically.

Leanne drank in the view of the Ulani woman, standing at almost ten foot tall she was an imposing sight, her body was strong and lined with toned muscles, her hair cut short, spiked up and her whole form glistening slightly with sweat in the light of the fire pit. Despite the strength and muscles she maintained, she was in no doubt a feminine force to be reckoned with, Leanne noticed, hoping she wasn’t blushing, that beneathe the blacksmith’s apron her bust likely rivaled Leanne’s head.

Tula casually cleared her throat and eyed Leanne plainly, setting down a massive hammer on her anvil with a clang, wiping her hands against the front of her apron. “Just eying my merchandise?” she asked with a low but smooth voice, devoid of any sarcasm or implications, other than those Leanne made herself.

Leanne started, quickly jumping to her own defense “W-what? No I wasn’t staring at your-..” the merchandise. Leanne realised that the walls of the blacksmiths was covered in hanging tools and weapons, the tools mostly in Ulani sizes, the weapons mostly in human, though there were exceptions. “I, I was looking at the merchandise, yes.” she blushed, gesturing towards the walls. A part of her wanted to compliment the Ulani on the quality of the wares she saw before her but she knew that to do so would be to weaker her own position. She couldn’t seem too keen.

“Uhhuh.” she responded, clearly not convinced, but continued regardless, “Looking to buy or just browsing?” Tula asked, turning her gaze from Leanne as she took a cloth and began to wipe down her work surfaces, the Ulani’s eyes, a deep amber colour glancing out towards Leanne more often than not, appraising her much in the same way as the man had upon entering the city.

“Neither, actually.” Leanne bit her lip and leaned back against the saddle, with some struggle she reached back with a hand and freed one of the ingots from the pouch and held it in her hand, her arm straining at the weight of it. “Ugh.. Looking to.. Uh.. Trade..” she grunted, letting the Ulani woman get a good look at it and it’s Twin Swan stamp before placing it back in the saddle bag with a clunk, breathing a sigh of relief through her lips. It had been heavy, though not as heavy as she had made out.

“How many you got?”

Leanne shrugged. “Enough. Though I wasn’t looking to relinquish them all here.” a lie, but it wouldn’t do to let on that Leanne was rather banking on a single good sale here to see her through.

The prospect of the dark iron had clearly caught the blacksmiths attention, her eyes flickered between Leanne at the saddle pack. She wasn’t willing to let an opportunity to get some quality dark iron slip by, no matter the hour. “Give me half a sun beat to close shop and come back, if you’re willing. You can come in and see if anything catches your eye, eh?”

Leanne had no idea how long a sun beat was but if she had a chance to make the trade tonight her swiftness in returning to her Master with her profits would not go unnoticed!