There was only a single line to sell the things they'd gathered on the way to Mazehold. The group Sophia saw directed down the hallway when they arrived was clearly trying to sell things, because they were already there, talking to the woman at the counter.

It gave Sophia a chance to examine the room. It was nothing more than a chilly stone box with shelves against the walls and a large table in the middle. The shelves were more than half empty, but the contents varied from trays filled with monster bits to elaborately decorated boxes that were probably enchanted to properly store their contents to bins full of plant matter. Sophia couldn't identify most of it, but she did see a significant number of feathers.

The woman at the table was nothing like the room with its focus on functionality rather than form. She was entirely human, with dark skin, clearly old enough that her hair was beginning to turn white. It was tightly braided in many small braids that were then pulled back into a large bun that had a single larger braid descend from it. Colorful beads were woven into her hair to catch the light as she moved. Large tasseled earrings dangled from her ears and emphasized every time she shook her head.

Her robe was just as complex and colorful as her hair, with several different colors of fabric and a braid-like pattern on the thick outer band. A fancy dyed rope belt held it together in front. Sophia couldn't see her shoes, but she was certain they were no less fancy than the rest.

"Please wait outside," the woman said with a smile. "There isn't enough room in here for all of you. I'll get to you as soon as I can."

There was no waiting area. Sophia wasn't sure what to think about that; surely they needed one?

The Registry building in Casterville hadn't had one, but they'd never tried to sell anything and found anyone else in there. Most people sold directly, because they'd been around long enough to find out who to sell things to.

The Registry building in Izel was the opposite, with several people buying things during busy times. It technically didn't have a waiting area either, but there was a small bar just around the corner where people often waited. Sophia was certain that was the waiting area and that it was a deliberate way to separate people from some of the cash they were about to earn.

The sales room was near the end of the hall, so Sophia opened the door that actually ended it to see if the setup was similar. Instead of a bar, the room beyond the door looked like a full-fledged restaurant, with half a dozen tables that were all set up for six to ten people. Only two of the tables had anyone at them; one had a full team that looked like they'd just gotten their food since they were concentrating on their nearly full plates, while the other held a collection of books and papers spread in front of a mug and a smaller plate that held only crumbs. Whoever was working at the table was missing.

"Sophia? They're ready for us." Dav called.

Sophia turned to look and saw Dav leaned against the wall next to the sales room. She frowned in concern. That wasn't like him; he was usually even more interested in exploring than she was. She really couldn't wait until he'd recovered enough to heal himself. If that didn't happen soon, she'd start asking about whether or not they should find another healer. There had to be a way to heal whatever damage Dav took from trying to channel fire mana.

Sophia followed the rest of the team into the room. She didn't think she'd spend much time here, and it would definitely be someone else's job to sell things, but it was still good to have some idea how everything worked.

"Is this your entire team?" the woman asked with a soft smile. "You are small for a Maze team."

"Yes, this is all of us." Unexpectedly, Xin'ri stepped forward and answered. "We're not ready for the Maze yet. We're new to Mazehold, but we heard it's easier to pick up the Wisps to reach the third Upgrade here than anywhere else."

"Almost anywhere else," the woman agreed with clear amusement. "The Endless Desert, the Skylands, Frozen Mountain, Atlan's Shallows, and the Land Below all have Wildlands that are better for reaching the third upgrade. The only advantage Mazehold has is that it's a city. Only the outskirts of the Maze are safe enough for people before the third upgrade, and even that's only because you can run when something too strong to kill comes for you."

Sophia had heard of exactly one of those places, unless the Far Desert Los'en mentioned and the Endless Desert were the same thing. She'd certainly only been to one of them, and she could say that the Skylands' Wildlands really didn't seem that bad. Los'en was strong enough to shoo away anything they couldn't fight as they traveled, so she wasn't so sure that it was really a good place to get Wisps. Maybe she meant somewhere else in the Wildlands?

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"We'll choose that for ourselves," Xin'ri said. "If this place is worse than the desert for us, maybe we'll leave and come back later. Somehow, I don't think it will be; there, we had to travel weeks away from a city before we found anything that gave worthwhile Wisps. We're willing to work for it."

The woman laughed. "Now, I didn't say getting Wisps, did I? I said that they were better for reaching the third upgrade. You'll see that when you're closer, I suppose. Only experience teaches. Now, I will tell you how this works. You show me what you have and I tell you what I'm going to pay for it. I will not bargain and sometimes I will tell you that you should look elsewhere because I can only pay far less than what something is worth. If you want to haggle, find yourself another place to sell things."

Maybe she'd be spending more time here than she thought. That was something Sophia knew she could actually handle; however much she liked haggling, she knew she was absolutely terrible at getting good prices that way. A single fixed price was something she could manage.

"I didn't expect that here," Xin'ri admitted. "Don't you get a wide range of things?"

The woman shook her head. "Fewer than you think. People know what sells and collect exactly that. So we only buy what we know we can sell. There's little point in finding another place to sell those things, so most of them go through us; it's the oddities that go elsewhere. So, knowing that, what do you have?"

Xin'ri glanced at the rest of the team, then smiled at the buyer. "Most of a skyeagle and some fireflower leaves and fireflowers. I think that's all we have that would be common here."

"Fireflowers aren't that common, but we can sell any we can get. Show me what you've got." She nodded as Xin'ri pulled out each item from her pack and noted it down in a small leather-bound book. When they finished with the skyeagle, she seemed surprised. "No feathers? They are fairly useful, skyeagle feathers often have a minor water or wind element, so they're worth a bit more than feathers from an ordinary bird. Not too much more, but a bit."

"I need the feathers," Sophia admitted. She hadn't noticed any differences in how things worked based on what feathers she used, but she was certain she could push things that way if she wanted to. Elemental feathers would almost certainly work better for some things than others, whether or not her Ability said they would. That made the skyeagle feathers even more worth keeping. "I can use some other varieties if you have them?"

The woman chuckled. "I don't sell, not here, but if you're looking to buy in quantity you can talk to Jakari. He won't sell one or two, but if you want an entire bird's worth of feathers, especially mixed ones, he has them. Tell him Rinata sent you."

Sophia nodded. There had to be something she could do with that, if she could get enough different feathers. The fact that she could effectively make her own from mana with her Plume Shift Ability was great, but turning herself into her feathers was only a start. She already had to have feathers for other things. Maybe she could harness the power of elemental feathers to use other elements?

Sophia tried to pay attention as Rinata examined the gathered fireflower leaves, most of which were in Sophia's pack, then moved on to Xin'ri's fireflowers. Rinata gave a price for each bundle or boxed fireflower after a quick examination. Sophia didn't know how she did it, but she seemed to know which ones came from the larger fireflowers without being told; those got higher prices. At least, Sophia was pretty sure that half a pound was a higher price than three ounces. She wasn't sure why the prices were done by weight, but Rinata definitely wasn't weighing the bundles.

When Sophia pulled out the first firewater plume that held a fireflower, Rinata examined it and then shook her head with a smile. "I can buy them if you can put them in one of my boxes, but I'd have to lower the price for the use of the box. Hm. You should take those to the Sweetfire Armory in the Smith's district. Aloysius Sweetfire is always interested in new materials for his weapons, and I'm fairly confident that he can do something with that, something he can't do with an ordinary fireflower. He'll pay more than I will for the chance to experiment with it; if it works out, you could have something that will pay your way as long as you're here."

That made Sophia blink as she tucked the plume back into her pack. Maybe she should keep some of the Firewater Plumes for exactly that reason. So far, they seemed to work like other feathers other than the fact that she could start fires with them if she let the feather destroy itself, but maybe there was more she could do. She'd already been thinking about elemental plumes; what was this but an elemental plume with two elements?

"Thank you," Xin'ri answered. "Should we tell him you sent us, as well?"

Rinata shook her head and grinned. "Oh, he'll know. Aloysius always does. Do you have anything else?"

"I don't think so," Xin'ri answered with a glance at the others. "How much does it come to?"

"Twenty-eight pounds, seven ounces," Rinata answered easily, "At least if you want it in infused aurichalc. Which you do if you're staying here, but you should remember to convert it to another currency when you leave. Everyone in Mazehold will take aurichalc, not everyone will take outside coins. Talk to the front desk if you want any walking money, but you shouldn't carry too much. Even for Called, carrying too much is dangerous."

Rinata paused and glanced around the group. She smiled and shook her head. "I see most of you have no idea what I'm talking about. Infused aurichalc is used in almost every high-end enchanted item; that's why it's worth enough to carry. It also attracts monsters. You'll find that guarding a miner as they work to pull it out of the Maze is a rewarding but risky job. So don't carry too much. You can always get a letter of credit from the Registry for large purchases; that's safer for everyone."

That was enough to make Sophia wonder if anyone used "infused aurichalc" specifically to attract monsters. It seemed like it would work, but it also seemed like something you'd have to be careful with.

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