"Is that a good deal?" Risni was not attempting to be sarcastic or facetious. For him, it was a completely genuine question. Despite his intention, the tanner behind the counter didn't seem to take it as such, wrinkling his brow and quickly taking a defensive stance.<br/><br/>"It's the best deal you're going to get for leather this soft!" He barked in reply, grabbing the stack of deer and elk skins by one side and curling it upward before letting it drop back to the counter with a flop. "No smith is going to pick this up, even after I'm done with it. If I'm lucky, I'll still make a profit off a clothier from this." He was exaggerating, of course. He'd never of ought it in the first place if he wasn't sure it could sell, though he was completely honest that the leather from the skins would never make a decent hilt or shoulder piece. If he didn't know better, he might actually assume the strange man standing before him in clothes made of leaves and petrified bark wasn't a hunter at all, but had simply stumbled across a group of animals that had starved. "Tell you what. You spend a lot of time out of town, from the look of you." He could offer a little more, but he'd rather hang onto his coin, looking Risni over, the hunter might actually benefit from some of his poorer-selling goods. "I'll give you the thirty silvers, and I'll throw in a replacement to that old skin hanging off your shoulder." With that, he laid out a water skin on the counter.<br/><br/>Risni had never seen one like it, the mouth of it was a small piece of glass, padded and sealed tight by layers of leather, and held closed by a piece of cork that ensured it would not leak. "I'll take it!" He quickly replied, worried the tanner might change his mind about simply giving away such a treasure. In his mind, it was an amazing deal, he'd never owned a piece of glass before, the means to work with it was in short supply around the forest and the surrounding nomadic tribes. In truth, the deal was a fair one, though after a small amount of care and dye, the tanner would certainly make a fortune on Trade Town's slowly growing demand for clothes that provided form over function. Blissfully unaware of the slow shift from recession to expansion of the wastes over the last year, the larger towns and few true cities of the continent were finally beginning to show a growing interest in luxury goods over the last year. Many merchants argued that this was a sign of a "return to civilization" at long last, though there were few things they wouldn't claim in order to gain some coin.<br/><br/>He could see the first bit of sun peeking over the buildings as he exited the tanner's. by his count, the caravans he had seen in the town street were likely to be leaving soon, meaning he had little time to fill his skin if he wanted to speak with any of the wastelanders that were likely leaving with them. Most were willing to talk, but only if he was willing to pay. It was a silly and confusing system, in Risni's mind, trying to put a value on words. Sillier still, that this value could only be met with pieces of gold, silver, and gems. It was so much simpler to trade goods as needed, rather than attempt to to assign values to them in pieces of stone. How was it decided that the skin willingly given by an elder elk was worth less of these pieces of silver than a few pieces of cloth sewn together and stained with berries? Who had decided that words were worth any pieces at all? Still, if he wanted those words, where in the endless expanse of sand to even begin looking, he'd have to play by their rules.<br/><br/>"If you'd mind," Risni asked, approaching one of the carvaners, a young man tying down a set of crates. "I'm looking for somewhere to fill my skins, and for a group who frequents the wastes that might be ale to provide information."