My name is Mayne. I’m a simple merchant making my way through the “Holy” Talnalyn Empire. Something I was told by my father when I was an apprentice for the family business is that no one is holy, people can always be swayed. He was absolutely right. I’ve just left Marcurios and in a few days I’ll arrive in what used to be the Talnalyn capitol city. I tried doing business in Marcurios but you can’t bargain with happy people. After a time I learned that the people in the west were starving, poor, dying. It’s just what I like to hear; people that will give all they have for the smallest of items. Sounds like paradise to me.

      When I entered the city I was able to confirm what I’d heard. These were people with so little they’d simply given up. I began to set up shop in the middle of town, showing off some of the choice items I had acquired for this trip. After everything was set up I lifted the curtain and flinched at what I saw, officials. I spat on the ground. They stepped over to my stall and announced their business, leaders from the church that basically owned the area. they immediately began asking me questions about who I was, were I was from, what I was carrying, I told them well enough but in spite they confiscated most of my choice stock. I tried to argue with them like any good businessman but they kept shouting about it being the will of the gods or something. As a result of this I was forced to close up and set the items I had left to make up for it, so ended my first day in paradise.

      In the morning I set up shop once again in the hopes to sell something, anything, to make up for yesterday. The best items were taken relatively quickly for a decent price. I didn’t get much money, instead some priceless family heirlooms and whatever these people had on them that interested me. My absolute best item however, a barrel of flour, I wanted too much for. I thought I might have to bring down my asking price when a family arrived at my stall. They asked for the barrel of flour but they didn’t have anything of worth to me. As I denied them time and again the patriarch took me to the side and made me a new offer. In the end they got their barrel of flour and I received their young daughter; she must have been around ten years of age but her father assured me she’d be a hard worker. I’d never dabbled in the sale of people before, my father used to tell me plenty of stories about my grandfather, one of the premier slavers of his time; maybe if I try my luck with this girl I’ll find that it runs in the family. I took the deal and closed up shop early for the day. She helped out sure enough, did what she was told, didn’t complain, took care with the merchandise, with a little work she could easily fetch a good price. After we finished packing we retired to my tent, she sat across from me looking down at her shoeless feet. She was wearing boys clothes, I assumed that everything she had had been passed down through her brothers. I asked her name, without looking up she spoke in a soft voice, “Auriel.” I set a place for her to sleep and stepped out for a few minutes to think about what had happened today. In the night I could hear screams and pots shattering and I thought to myself just another night in paradise. Returning to my tent, I found Auriel already asleep.

      It was the morning of my third day and, surprisingly enough, Auriel hadn’t run off in the night. I guess all she had now was what her family expected of her; she didn’t even have the family. I rose and stepped out of my tent to see a man preaching in the streets. He stood on an old, broken-down wooden box that could only barely support his weight and spoke about redemption and the relationship between man and the gods. As I watched him speak I could hear people in the crowd whispering to each other, occasionally someone would cheer or gasp. After a time, the officials who had been listening stepped through the crowd and relieved the man of his box, dragging him off. I assumed he’d be thrown in prison, or put to death, or worse. I set up shop alone that morning. After some quick transactions for some of the items I had placed on a pedestal to try to get rid of, Auriel crawled out of the tent with her head hung low and quickly apologized for sleeping late. She worked even harder that day to redeem herself. After a time I began to receive less and less business so I went ahead and closed for the day with her help. I put together a plate of dried meat and cheese for dinner that night, with ale for me and water for her, and took it into my tent. She watched me with wide eyes as I ate, clutching her mug of water and patiently waiting her turn. I nodded and she dove onto the plate. I ended up watching her as she ate; she had quite an appetite for one so small. Suddenly her eyes met mine and she froze; dropping what she had, she curled up in the corner with her back to me. I realized then I’d been staring at her the whole time with this silly grin on my face, kid must have taken it the wrong way. I’m a businessman, not a fiend. I turned my back to her and lied down, sipping from my mug; she enough she returned to the plate and began eating again. After a moment of silence I glanced behind me to see she’d bedded down. She’d left some food on the plate for me, it must have taken all her restraint, so I finished it off and fell asleep, ending my third day in paradise.     

      I awoke in the early morning to sounds outside my tent, it sounded like someone was rummaging through my cart. I immediately rose but by the time I left my tent the thieves had fled, taking some of my most important goods. I turned and found Auriel looking up at me on the verge of tears. No doubt she somehow thought the theft was her fault; she was probably raised that way. I patted her on the head and she immediately went to pieces, hugging my legs. I thought to myself over and over that I couldn’t get attached; she was just a product after all, just one of my wares. The day continued on normally enough after that until a man in a dark cloak approached my stall; I welcomed him and he shook my hand, a sweaty and unpleasant grip. I wiped my hand on my trousers as he paced about the stall, feigning interest in my wares, casting glances first at Auriel, then at me. As he bent over to get a closer look at some iron nails, I noticed dangling jewelry emblazoned with the mark of the religious faction that controlled the area. I did the only natural thing and called him out, asking what he wanted, if he was there to confiscate more of my stock. He said he was there to take the girl. I’ve been a businessman for more than 20 years, trained in the art by my father, one of the best. He taught me how to size up a crowd, how to read people like they were storybooks for children. Since I’d already discovered he was a religious official, he tried to feed me his dull lies about taking her to some wonderful church sponsored orphanage. The fact that he hid his religious uniform under his cloak spoke the real truth. I ordered Auriel into my tent and told the man to beat it. With his cover blown his next move was to quote me some outrageous sum, I made my counter offer by taking him by the collar and flinging him to the ground. He stood up, spouting some nonsense about the gods and cursing me before he finally fled. That night I found myself asking Auriel if she wanted to go back to her family. She burst into tears, asking if I was unhappy with her and promising she’d work harder. I calmed her down and told her I just wanted to know what she wanted. I was surprised when she said she wanted to stay with me. She said if she went back she would be a failure to her family. As she spoke I thought to myself, a girl that hasn’t even been alive much more than a decade shouldn’t be in this kind of situation, she shouldn’t have to make decisions like this. In the morning we packed up what was left of my stall and began to head out of town. As we passed the various people, the same people I saw when I arrived, I couldn’t help feeling differently. After spending 4 days and 5 nights in “paradise” I was seeing things differently than before. This place had taught me a lesson: I wasn’t the hardened businessman I thought I was. This was a place where people suffered and died for the same reasons others prospered. Auriel was having an effect on me too but, even before we met or even if it wasn’t her, could I have really said that whatever the customer wants of the product, even if it’s a person, is his own business? As we approached the end of the street, I stopped and set down my cart. I turned to Auriel saying, “Let’s go.” She smiled and nodded her approval. I picked her up and placed her on my back as we walked out of the city, leaving my cart behind. I was on my way back to a world I knew but with different eyes and Auriel was on her way to a world she’d only heard of. In a few days we would pass through Marcurios again.