Illi screamed, startled, and dropped everything again when Davishire yelled and tripped out of the tub. She immediately dropped to the ground and covered her eyes in fear that he might wander into the kitchen for some unknown reason.

After a few moments, Illi slowly called out, "You're in Mrs. Bensbourne's house. She saved you from the lake!"

Nitya raised an eyebrow. "Slow down there, why so quick to dismiss what I'm saying?" She smirked. "Don't believe in magic?" She let his comment about existing to serve go. It wasn't true, but she wasn't going to argue it in such a public place while on business.

With a tone of seriousness she hadn't quite used yet, Nitya added, "And you will do it again, but not right away. I will give you time to put yourself together again. Once this market gets busy, however, you'll need to at least entertain customers until I'm busy. As long as you keep talking with them, they normally don't leave."

Nitya let out a loud laugh that caught the attention of at least half a dozen people nearby. "What makes you so sure I was lying?" she challenged with a glint in her eye. "Maybe I can see the future. Maybe that girl will have good luck with love soon, and maybe the item she just bought from me will help because it will give her confidence. And maybe I do know that you will become a great trader someday. In fact, maybe that was the very reason I bought you. To ensure that you would!"

Nitya sighed. She was glad Kai had at least tried what she had said, but he was so far away from being successful. Luckily, the girl didn't look offended. Just... confused, uncomfortable, and wanting to get away. Nitya almost let her, but then she paused. She may as well show Kai how business was supposed to work.

Putting the money that she was pretending to count back into her purse, Nitya quickly stepped closer to the stall. "Excuse me, Miss. I'm afraid my slave here is not used to selling things yet." The girl looked at Nitya, but only because it would be rude to do otherwise. "You see, I have a gift of divination." That was a lie, but it sparked a little interest. "I have read my slave, and it seems he has a great future as a salesman." She laughed, and the girl hesitantly joined. "I know, it's hard to believe right now, but my powers have never been wrong."

"Never?" the girl repeated, hopefully. Nitya nodded. "Can you read me?"

"I already have," Nitya responded with a smile. "I can see that you are feeling unsatisfied with your love life. But do not worry! You have great success in love ahead of you—a young man, quite handsome." The girl smiled. She was lured in. "I saw other things as well, monetary stability, happiness, and the like... but there are multiple paths in the future, as I am sure you know. Unless some sort of intervention happens, everything I have stated will be true. But I also see that if you take extra care of your beauty for one month, your relationship progress will dramatically increase. Now, my wares are proven to be helpful, but, of course, you could buy anywhere..."

The young girl shook her head. She picked up the hair ornament that Kai had gestured to, and looked at Nitya. "How much would this cost me?"

"Three silvers."

The girl looked troubled for a moment. Then she shook her head, pulled out some coins, and handed them to Nitya. "I'll take it," she declared decisively and immediately put the accessory in her hair.

"I can see your luck improving already!" Nitya called out as the girl happily moved along to the next stall. She put the coins in her purse and then turned to Kai. "Learn anything?"

Nitya quietly laughed to herself. Kai was so awkward, it reminded her of the first time she had tried to serve someone. She hadn't even gotten used to her power yet, so she talked straight to the ground. To this day, she still wasn't sure if the man didn't hear her or simply chose to ignore her.

The girl's eyes kept skipping around, quickly judging every item. "Mmm, not really..." she stated, starting to glance over at other stalls.

Nitya nudged Kai with her elbow. Was he shy? Or nervous? She didn't know. Nitya looked at the girl. "I have to go through funds right now, so my slave will answer any questions. Please let me know if you need me, however." She was throwing him in the water.

The girl simply nodded, her eyes skimming the items.

Nitya shrugged. "If she leaves without buying, that's fine. But I'd rather you get your nerves out now."

Right on cue, the girl approached their stall.

The morning started slow. Most of the 'customers' were just fellow merchants scoping out competition. But as townspeople started slowly coming in, Nitya got to work. Normally she waited for people to come to her stall and talk to her to start working her magic, but she wanted Kai to get some practice. And she wanted him to succeed in selling something.

Nitya gazed around, searching for people who were moving through stalls fairly quickly. They would glance around at the next stall, constantly searching for what they wanted. So long as they would glance at her, even for half a second, while she was looking at them, she could give Kai advice. Nitya found a target very quickly.

"Kai," Nitya said quietly. "You see that girl, a few stalls away? The one with the short black hair and peacock feather necklace? She'll likely come over here soon. Try selling her one of our hair accessories. Tell her that it will look beautiful on her, and that any man would swoon seeing her. If you're up for it, you can even make up a fake story about some other lady who bought it and was proposed to shortly after." Girls with one-sided loves were always the easiest to sell to. Their hearts were desperate and their brains were weak.

Not hearing a reply, Illi decided to stay in the kitchen and see if she could make something else. She didn't want to eat without the host. Illi picked up the plates and bowls to move to the table (and free up the counter). But her balancing skills failed her and everything clattered to the floor. Luckily, it was all metal. Unluckily, the food scattered all over the floor. "Oh phooey!" declared Illi before starting to pick it all up.

Nitya wasn't convinced that Kai actually understood what she said, but she let it go. If he had questions, he would (hopefully) ask them.

"Watch the kids the closest. They steal the most often. Usually it's from food stalls, but sometimes they'll steal things to sell." Nitya wished she could give the kids money, but she had a stall to run. And once she gave one child money, they all would expect it.

Illi finished up her salad. "Mrs. Bensbourne, food is ready!" she stated loudly. After a few moments of silence, she poked her head out of the kitchen into the room where Davishire was in the tub (though she made sure not to turn her head anywhere near him). "Mrs. Bensbourne?" Illi called.

Nitya and Kai grabbed the boxes and brought them to the market. After barely finding a spot, they set up the stall. Nitya collected and trading all sorts of things, ranging from spices to jewelry to precious stones.

"Rules for trading. First off, look at customers in their eyes. And smile. And be nice. I would recommend not complimenting them unless they're a traveler, some Essyrni may take it offensively. If someone is upset, guide them to me. You do not know the prices of anything, so ask me how much something costs if someone wants to buy it. Or direct them to me. Keep your eyes on anyone who is touching wares though—they're allowed to, but make sure they don't steal it. As long as they know you're watching, they shouldn't." Nitya paused, thinking if there was anything she had forgotten. "Customers will barter. That is alright. The prices I set will be high enough to count for that—don't tell anyone who is willing to pay the full price that though. But if they want to barter more than a tiny amount off, let me know and I'll talk to them. Got all that?"

Nitya laughed, shaking her head. "I told you—I want to do this in one trip. If you were able to carry all the boxes, which you may have the strength to do, I don't know yet, but if you were able to, how would you see? You saw the boxes before. They aren't huge, but if you stacked them all... well, let's just say I don't want you running into people, buildings, or just things in general. Both for your sake, my sake, and the sake of all the valuables in those boxes."

She paused. Although she didn't mind carrying things, they might get odd looks if her load looked as heavy as his. Some of the more egotistical Essyrni might even call out at them—well, him. "Actually... well, alright. I'll have you carry the large box and the two square empty ones on top of it. I'll carry the two full ones, though. Deal?"

"I doubt most traders have enough money to buy a young slave," Nitya replied coyly. She was proud of her success, especially given that she started with nothing. She stood up and went to the counter to pay for breakfast.

"But remember the boxes in my room? We will carry those all to the same marketplace we went to yesterday. I normally sell there, it's the most busy in the city. The boxes will all stack so that we can make a stall out of them, it's quite convenient. I don't find the need to buy an actual stall to hall around, not with all the traveling I do." They started heading upstairs. "Just help me carry them all... if we're able, I'd love to do it all in one trip. I want the longer, rectangle one. That will be the base of the stall. Do you think you'll be able to carry it all the way to the market? We'll also bring two of the empty square boxes, and two of the full ones, but I can get those."

Nitya couldn't help it, she looked him directly in the eyes. She hadn't expected him to respond like that. Luckily, he was looking down, and she caught herself quickly enough to look away before they made eye contact. Despite years of training herself not to look at people's eyes, her instinct still told her to when she was surprised. Or wanting to understand people. For her, eyes really were the window to see people's emotions... and, like everyone, there was a part of her that wanted to know how people felt. But she didn't want to feel everyone's emotions herself, and thus she limited who she looked at and when she looked at people.

When people were in pain, she avoided their eyes at all costs. That's why she stayed away from most slaves and homeless people.

"I see," Nitya responded after a long pause. She didn't know how to break the mood. "Well, we should finish eating. Gotta head out soon." And so she quickly finished her eggs and bread and gulped down the coffee.

Nitya shook her head, sadly. "You don't understand. It's the two put together that is the worst." Slaves were often used, but female slaves were used in an especially degrading way. If being a concubine wasn't part of her having been a slave, Nitya didn't know if she would've felt such an urgent need to escape.

Nitya huffed. "Why of course! What man would like to be called milady?" she responded immediately, with extra emphasis of disgust on the word milady and fake pretentiousness overall. "An insult, it is. Do you not know the rules of Essyrn? A woman who pretends she is a man can be respectable. A man who pretends he is a woman is foolish."

"Oh no, definitely not. I would not expect you to make any error at all—but, if making a mistake is so tempting—I must profess that the title of 'Lord' has always appealed greatly to me." Nitya wasn't used to such fooling around, but she had found that in trying to lighten up the atmosphere for Kai all of yesterday and this morning, she had also improved her own mood considerably.

It didn't really matter if Kai called her Miss, not yet. But she could tell he regretted it, and it would be best if it didn't happen later, so she teasingly responded, "You know you can call me Mister, I won't punish you for it. Sir just sounds so much more..."—she lifted up her chin and turned her head a little sideways, as the rich often did in their portraits—"noble."

Nitya raised an eyebrow. "Can't you just add sugar to any recipe? Or some fruit?" It seemed a rather reasonable idea to her. "Plus, you could always learn here and then learn again elsewhere. Becoming well-versed in the different food cultures of the world might help you someday, who knows."