“Soft leathers are tanned using the smoke tanning method, which uses wood ash and eggs at various points during the process. The smoke tanning process takes only a few days, eight or nine, from beginning to end. Bark tanned leather can take anywhere from a few months to over a year, depending on the stiffness you want in the leather.” He flipped up several of the hides in the next pile he stopped at.
“This trader’s leathers are all good quality,” he murmured. “No blemishes, no overly thin spots. Very nice.”
They followed Willem as he made his way between the piles of leathers.
“Smoke tanned leather,” Willem continued, “can be made from pretty much any kind of hides, thin or thick. Bark tanned leather, however, is generally only made from thick hides, those from large animals like bison, cows, hogs and the like.”
He stopped at a pile of leather, natural in color. “This appears to be cow leather, but over there is a pile from deer, and over there, wild hog. Most of the leathers in here are pretty common colors, but there are a few that are pretty amazing. I may come pick up some of that blue leather there later this week.” He indicated a pile of beautifully dyed leathers sitting to their right. “We make a very nice green leather, and our black leather is the best, I think, but we don’t have the process to make leather in as deep a blue as that.”
They moved on to the next merchant’s tent. “Now this is more like it,” Willem said as he entered the tent. He moved to a pile of leathers dyed a very nice medium red.
“Good afternoon.” A large woman had stepped forward from behind a screen. She eyed the three of them, and her expression changed subtly, apparently thinking that no sale was going to be made to these youngsters.
She said, “I am Trader Faera, at your service. How can I help you?”
“Trader Faera, good afternoon,” Willem said. “We were just going to look at your leathers. I’m interested in leather dyed unusual colors. We just came from another tanner trader, and though he did have some really nice blue leathers, his were mostly fairly common dyes. I noticed that you have emu leather there in a very nice shade of red.”
Trader Faera’s eyes lit up. “Ah! You know of emu leather, then?”
“I do,” Willem said. “The pattern of well-tanned emu leather is striking.”
“Well, how do you like that?” Trader Faera asked. “It looks like I am in the presence of a leather scholar!” She beamed at Willem.
Sharrah and Aeron laughed. Willem was blushing.
“Well,” Willem said, “I wouldn’t call myself a leather scholar. I just love leather is all.”
“Nonsense,” Trader Faera said. “Emus are not very common in these parts. In fact, there’s maybe four people in this entire Caer that’d know emu leather on sight. Maybe. So I’d say you were pretty knowledgeable about your leathers, young man.”
She moved over to the pile of red leather. “If you like the red on this, I have some other leathers in it. I also have some nice greens, though you make a very pretty green here, and I have a very nice deep brown. Also, I have some white.”
“You have white?” Willem asked. “I’ve never seen the like in any of the trade caravans.”
“I’ve only recently joined Trader Methon’s caravan,” she said. “At first I wasn’t sure I’d like caravan life, but I find I do like the break it offers from my shop.” She smiled and said, “Come, have a look.”
She lead them to the back of her tent and stopped in front of two tall stacks of white leathers. “Stiff and soft leathers,” Trader Faera said. “In gorgeous white.”
“Wow,” Aeron said. “That’s amazing.”
“I don’t even dare touch them, they’re so pretty,” Sharrah said.
“This is incredible,” Willem said.
“White leather is my specialty,” Trader Faera said. “I’ve been making white leather for some time now. Much of the year I am at my shop, which is where we make my wares. But I travel with Trader Methon for two seasons while my journeymen run the shop.” She looked down proudly at the leathers. “No one else has figured out how to do white so it lasts as long as mine.” She leaned closer to them. “And I’m not telling.” She burst out laughing.
“Now,” she continued, “it is a little pricey, seeing as it is somewhat rare and the dye very durable. However, seeing as you are a leather scholar,” and she winked at Willem, “I will give you a good price.”
“That sounds great,” Willem said excitedly.
He and Trader Faera haggled over the price a bit, purely as a formality. In the end, he bought two full leather hides each of the stiff and soft.
“Can I leave them with you until later?” Willem asked her. “I’d hate to get them dirty as I walked about the fair.”
“Not a problem,” the leather trader replied. “I’ll set them aside, and you can pick them up at your leisure.”
“Perfect!” Willem said.
“That white leather looks amazing,” Sharrah remarked as they exited the tent. “What are you going to make with it?”
“I have a few ideas,” Willem said. “Pieces that I will try to have ready for the spring trade fair.”
“I bet they’ll fetch a good price,” Aeron said.
“Probably,” Willem said. “More so if no one else has any white leather items.”
When they arrived at the glassblowing tent, there was a crowd gathered outside. The tent was at the southwest corner of the fair, and the trader had set up another large tent, a special tent, to the side. This tent was almost not even a tent at all. It was open all around with only a few very narrow ‘sides’ which only covered the supports used to hold it all up. A large circle, the tent allowed viewing the activities inside it from all around. And the crowd was doing just that. The three friends quickly found an open spot and began to watch as well.
Large furnaces sat in the center. They were used to heat the crucibles holding the molten glass of various color and make. The glassblowers, or gaffers, twirled their blowpipes in the crucibles to pick up globs of molten glass. They would work on this ‘gather’ at one of the worktables using various tools. The gathers, which looked like extremely thick honey, emerged glowing from the crucibles due to their intense heat and slowly lost their incandescence as they were worked.
The gaffers periodically set the pieces being worked into a ‘glory hole,’ another furnace, to reheat it enough to be pliable. These special furnaces, large insulated chambers really, were heated with clean-burning fires, constantly being worked by assistants. The gaffer would open the furnace doors, place the end of the blowpipe with the piece inside, and then close the doors. There was a small hole at the center of the doors to accommodate the blowpipe, which rested on a support and was slowly spun as it sat in the furnace so the piece being worked would not warp or fall off due to its weight.
Watching the gaffers work the glass was a treat. They spun the glass, blew into the blowpipes just so, applied various water-soaked wooden tools or sundry molds, used much-practiced teamwork as separate pieces of glass worked by other gaffers were brought together and attached to become one incredible piece. It was all an amazing dance of great skill.
One of the gaffers was making delicate vases, another plates and platters, a third and forth were working together making goblets. Another was working on what looked like decorative pieces, fanciful balls of glass. All of the pieces were made from glass of striking color and pattern.
The three friends had been watching the glassblowers for quite some time when Sharrah said, “I’d like to see what they have on display in the main tent. How about you guys?”
“Sure,” Willem said.
Aeron tore his eyes away from the work being done, nodded, and followed his friends to the other tent.
Inside were many tables, shelves, and display cases, all filled with various items of glittering and shiny glass. There were large decorative items and platters all the way down to tiny delicate items, even pieces of jewelry. They wandered up and down the tent lookin
g at all that was on display.
Aeron was at one of the many display cases examining a small globe of glass, perhaps four inches in diameter, which looked to be a small version of Lethera. All the continents and oceans of their planet, set out in brightly colored glass, were presented in miniature, just below a thin surface of clear glass. He was astonished at the bauble and was trying to imagine how it might have been created.
“Oh my goodness,” Sharrah squealed. “It’s a little horse!” She was admiring a small miniature in another case.
“Wow,” Aeron said after he walked over. “I wonder how they were able to do something so delicate?”
Perhaps two or three inches tall, it was marvelous work. The details were astonishing. The artist had taken great care with the horse’s nose and eyes and hooves. There was even a tiny delicate saddle upon its back.
“Look at its mane and tail,” Sharrah said, almost hopping in delight, “the craftsmanship is amazing. I have to have it.”
She quickly made her way over to the trader table and began talking with a man there. He walked over to the case and retrieved the delicate equine. The haggling between them went on for several minutes. Eventually, Sharrah returned, a smile on her face.
“They wanted half a mark, but I got it down to forty pale.” She had a small box in her hand that she carefully placed in the pocket of her coat.
“Not bad,” Willem said.
“It’s so delicate,” Aeron said, “Is that box padded?”
“Oh yes,” Sharrah replied. “I watched closely and they used plenty of packing. I don’t want my horse to break!” She carefully patted her coat pocket.
“You know,” Aeron began, “I should probably go get that dragon’s eye from Trader Methon.”
“Oh yeah,” Willem said. “I almost forgot about that.”
“Sure,” Sharrah said. “If you are both done in here?”
Aeron nodded and Willem said, “Yeah.”
They made their way back to Traders Methon and Dellia’s tent. Though Aeron wouldn’t have minded spending more time examining the amazing items the traders had for sale, he saw that they were doing brisk business and he didn’t want to take up their time just case viewing. So, once he paid Trader Methon for the small semi-precious gem, he thanked him, and they made their way out.
“Have fun at the fair,” Trader Methon called out as they exited the tent.
“What should we do now?” Willem asked as they walked along the path outside.
“Well,” Aeron began, “I think it’s close to dinner time because I am very hungry.”
“Hmm,” Sharrah said. “Me too.”
“Dinner it is!” Willem said. “But I should go pick up my hides first.”
They agreed to meet up for dinner after they each dropped their purchases off, Aeron at his room, Willem and Sharrah in their footlockers in the dorms.
As with lunch, the Dinning Hall only served a plain dinner. Even so, the beef stew was hot, hearty and delicious and the warm cornbread was a sweet and divine accompaniment. Dessert was a simple, but delicious, berry custard.
Aeron stuck the last spoonful of his custard in his mouth and mumbled, “Mmm!”
“That really was tasty,” Willem agreed.
“Food doesn’t have to be fancy to be fantastic,” Sharrah said and licked her spoon.
“Speaking of food,” Aeron said, “Anaya will be waking soon, and I will need to feed her.”
“We should check whether Mallory will let you have scraps,” Sharrah said. “Then you only have to hunt once a day for a while.”
“It’s worth a try,” Willem said.
Aeron agreed. After busing their trays and dishes, they walked to the door of the kitchens and asked for Mallory.
“Well, hello, Aeron, Sharrah, Willem,” Mallory said, nodding to each of them.
“Hi Mallory,” Aeron said. “I was wondering. Could I bother you for some meat scraps and maybe a few chicken bones?”
“It’s not fer Smoke, is it?” Mallory asked. “Because Martin is back and getting scraps again.”
“Oh no,” Aeron said. “I have my own, um, animal to feed.”
“Yeh do?” Mallory asked, smiling and interested.
“Yes,” Sharrah said. “Her name is Anaya.”
“What a lovely name,” Mallory said. She looked back at Aeron a moment and then smiled. “Well, I suppose I can spare a few more meat scraps and chicken bones a day for yer little pet. Hang on a moment here.” She wandered off into the kitchen.
Sharrah was smiling from ear to ear and had an ‘I told you it would work’ look on her face.
Willem punched Aeron on the shoulder and whispered, “Golden! It worked!”
Aeron smiled back at him.
Mallory returned in a few minutes with a bowl of meat scraps, most of a chicken carcass sitting on top. “Here yeh go,” she said. “Just be sure ta take back my bowl in the mornin’.” She smiled at the three. “Oh, one more thing.”
Aeron looked at her. “Yes?”
“Will you continue to pick up yer scraps in the evenings? Or would you prefer mornings?”
Aeron scrunched up his face in thought and said, “Mornings, I think.”
“Okay, then. I’ll have another bowl waitin’.”
“Thank you so much Mallory,” Aeron said. “I really appreciate this.”
“Oh piffle,” Mallory replied, waving her hand. “Make no mention. It’s my pleasure.” She then smiled and turned back into the kitchens.
They walked down the road to the magic hall chatting excitedly.
“This will make my mornings so much easier,” Aeron said. “I don’t know whether you guys noticed, but I was leaving breakfast earlier and earlier so I’d have enough time to find food for her and still make it to my chores on time.”
“I wondered about that,” Willem remarked.
“Ah, I think I see,” Sharrah said. “You usually have plenty of time in the evenings after dinner to hunt, but not as much in the mornings. That’s why you want to get scraps in the mornings.”
“Exactly!” Aeron said as he nodded once to emphasize the point.
The late afternoon sun was low on the rooftops. Long shadows made wide bands across the street before them.
“Aeron?” Willem asked.
“Yeah?” Aeron replied, looking over at him. Willem had a confused look on his face.
“How are you going to get that bowl through the narrow part of the passage?”
Aeron stared at Willem a moment. He then grunted and turned his gaze forward. They walked without speaking for a few minutes.
Confused by his silence, Sharrah eventually said, “Aeron?”
“Yeah,” he replied, eyes unfocused. “I might have an idea. It’s going to be messy, but I think it will work.” He nodded slowly and said nothing more.
Sharrah and Willem glanced at each other as they followed Aeron down the road.
When they got to the extraction room, and before they took the passage that lead deeper into the caverns, Aeron handed the bowl to Willem and said, “Can you hold this for a bit? I’ll be right back.”
Willem took the bowl, nodding. Aeron then ran down the other passage that lead to the magic hall proper. After a few minutes, Aeron came back, his satchel bulging a bit.
Sharrah shot an inquiring look at him, but he only smiled and took the bowl back from Willem.
Within a few minutes, they were at the narrow section. Aeron set the bowl on the ground and opened his satchel. From within, he removed a large bath towel and spread it on the ground.
“Aeron,” Sharrah said, “tell me you’re not going to—”
Aeron dumped the contents of the bowl onto the center of the towel. It made a sticky wet sound, and the chicken carcass bounced off to the side.
“Oh, Aeron,” Sharrah began, with no small amount of disgust, “that towel is going to be ruined!”
Willem gingerly toed the chicken carcass back onto the bath towel. “I take it I grab one end?�
�� he asked Aeron.
“You got it!” Aeron replied, a large smile on his face.
Willem grabbed one end of the towel and Aeron the other. “Just be sure to let it sag in the middle, so nothing rolls out,” Aeron said as they made their way to the narrower section. It didn’t take very long for the two of them to make their way through, even with the towel dangling between them.
“I have to say,” Sharrah remarked as she dusted herself off, “As much as I hate how disgusting that towel now is, it was a pretty good idea.”
Aeron smiled, beaming. “I figure we can rinse the towel off as best we can at the water hallway.”
Sharrah raised her brows. “What’s this ‘we’ business?”
Aeron laughed. “I mean I will rinse the towel as best I can.”
Sharrah grunted and Willem chuckled.
Anaya woke before they got much farther down the passage and Aeron told her to meet them at the near cave, just this side of the water area. She had been more than happy to, because it meant she would get to run through the water.
When they got to the cavern, another problem presented itself. How were he and Willem going to get the towel and scraps down the rocky ramp? They thought about it for several minutes, but in the end, Aeron just tied the towel closed with the end of the rope and tossed it into the darkness down to the floor below. It made another disturbing wet sound when it hit, and Sharrah shook her head in disgust at the horribly abused towel. Willem untied the end of the rope, and Aeron used it to make his way down the ramp to join them in the cavern and wait for Anaya.
It didn’t take very long. Within a few minutes they heard Anaya splashing through the water, making happy rumbles as she approached. She came running out of the passageway to Aeron, almost knocking him off his feet.
Laughing, he hugged her and said, “Did you have a nice nap?”
I did!
“Good. We brought you some food.” He lead her over to the towel and spread it out to reveal the tasty scraps within. “Just be sure not to eat the towel,” he said as he tugged on a corner of the rather pitiful-looking terrycloth rectangle.
Food? she asked, walking over and lowering her nose to the scraps. It smells good. She tentatively ate a few of the scraps. It tastes good too! She then proceeded to eat the remaining scraps and the chicken carcass.
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