Beneath the Dragoneye Moons

3,539. The number floated above Amber’s map, letting her know the global average of what the map was ‘worth’.

The coin spinning on the map had no number, no displayed value. Given the unusual way it interacted with the world, Amber wasn’t quite sure it was real, for a given definition of real.

Worth and value were strange concepts, intensely personal. The detailed map of the entire southern continent was worth far more to Amber than its displayed value.

A more extreme example would be a loaf of bread to someone starving, firewood to someone who was freezing, or a horse to a [King] being overthrown. Amber’s job, fundamentally, was to find people who undervalued what they had - usually because they had an utter excess of it, like a farmer after a harvest - and bring it to people who needed it. Hungry people in a city.

Some parts of the world reviled her as a leech, a useless parasite on society that contributed nothing. Others recognized that she was a valuable matchmaker, a person who saved others time and energy to better focus on their craft.

The second set were naturally the correct ones.

Amber tugged her braid, mostly a nervous habit reassuring her. It was still intact.

It still had her literal fortune of gems tied into it. It was only part of her stash, her [Fae Trader of the Intangible] class dedicated to gemstones, helping her know exactly where each one of her gems was - and what skill they were charged with.

Amber glared balefully at her lucky coin from over the edge of her well dog-eared book.

The book wasn’t the best in the first place, and the years of travel Amber had put on it had it falling apart at the seams. Honestly, 1 was a generous assessment, Amber’s special eye struggling a bit with items worth less than a single coin.

Speaking of coins - her lucky coin was still spinning over the best map money could buy, refusing to fall hours after she’d set it spinning. Sun, Snow, Sun, Snow, the two sides of the lucky fae coin endlessly flashed at her. Refusing to fall, refusing to give Amber a hint where the next lucky place to go was.

There could be a thousand reasons why, but in the end, Amber trusted the coin and stayed right where she was. In the fabled City of Dreams.

Luck was when preparation met opportunity. Amber had loaded herself up with skills after her last trip to Shahrazad, the great auction city of Urwa, then started walking south, flipping her coin at crossroads to determine what direction to go next. She’d been daydreaming about wealth and riches when she stumbled into the fabled City of Dreams.

And oh, what luck it had been! The city was created by Genie in a wish, and people could only occasionally stumble into it. The city had its own thriving community, set apart from the rest of the world, and people knew if they left, they probably would never be able to come back. Yet it was a known safe haven, an impenetrable fortress, a stronghold against the problems and wars of the outside world.

Nobody looking for the city could find it. People could only stumble into it while daydreaming.

The parallel economy had morphed far beyond what the rest of the world considered common sense, and it had been an age and a half since a merchant had last stumbled in. Even longer since a merchant had arrived with all her wares intact.

The city’s separation had let the language drift fast and hard from anything Amber knew, but she had [Let’s Make a Deal], helping cross the linguistic barrier when negotiating deals. It also helped her pick up the language enough to get by.

The inhabitants of the city were also accustomed enough to drifters wandering through to have a protocol, and all in all, things went smoothly on that end.

Where Amber felt her lucky stars were shining on her was how different the economy was. Arcanite was extremely valuable in the City of Dreams, while they didn’t care nearly as much for diamonds, rubies, and emeralds as the outside world. Amber happily made a dozen trades on the gems alone, useless for her levels but fantastic for her pocketbook. Then she switched tracks, and offered skills that she carried, and purchased some of the city’s unique skills, provided by ancient Immortals who’d wandered in eons ago and never left.

Amber would be surprised if she’d ‘only’ tripled her total assets.

Which led to the current dilemma. Where to go next? Amber’s lucky coin wasn’t saying anything, continuing to spin over her map, defying every known coin physics in the process. The merchant knew better than to push her luck though, and if it meant staying in the fabled City of Dreams another week, it meant staying in the City of Dreams another week.

Maybe the coin was continuing to spin because the exit to the city was currently in the northern continent, or even the vast Danelantic Ocean.

Amber sighed and flipped back to the first page of the book. Time to read it all again.

The coin stopped, landing sun-side up on the map. Amber eagerly shot up, studying the map where it landed.

Sanguino. Deep in the Exterreri Empire, capital city of the vampires, Amber had debated traveling through the country to get to Shahrazad, but flipping her coin on that versus taking a boat had landed snowflake-side up for a ship-based travel.

Normally, after Amber’s coin suggested a lucky destination, Amber would do her research. Figure out what skills or needs the destination had, and work out what could be bought and purchased from her current location to fill that need. Luck was only one small part of the equation - hours upon weeks of hard work were needed to capitalize on that luck.

Amber didn’t have the luxury of research this time, or really any good ability to change anything about what she had. It was easy enough to pack up all her belongings. Amber traveled light, relying on the hundreds of gems she had and the skills inside to provide and solve issues she might find on the road.

Luck only went so far.

“Thank you.” She told the kind couple who’d opened their house to her. No travelers meant no inns, but friendly families were found the world round.

The elderly couple fussed over her like she was their daughter, speaking so quickly that Amber didn’t get the words, but got the message.

With one last dinner - they insisted - Amber slung her pack on her back, grabbed her gem-encrusted cane - most wizards would insist it was a staff - and started to limp down the only road the City of Dreams had. The only exit, the only entrance.

378,000. Her walking stick was easily the most valuable item she owned. Amber personally thought it should be worth more than that, but she trusted her eye.

Where would she end up? She’d never know.

But the coin had stopped spinning, suggesting this was a lucky time to leave.

There was no clearly defined border between the City of Dreams and the rest of the world. No swirling mists, no twisting trees, no mushroom rings. The world just subtly shifted around Amber, until she was sure she could no longer find her way back.

Fortunately, either due to Amber’s own luck or the sheer design of the City of Dreams, their road became a road in Pallos normal. The road was clear, and there were no obvious signs of where she was. Which suggested, from the stories she’d heard from other travelers, that she wasn’t in Exterreri.

The empty road had goosebumps going up and down Amber’s arms. She knew exactly what she looked like. Alone, limping, and loaded with money. A prime target for both bandits and monsters, all who sensed an easy payday.

Amber wasn’t a fighter, and she knew it. She didn’t have the stats to fight. She didn’t have the skills or the Skills, the reflexes - any of it.

“Rule 3. Not everything can be bought with money.” Amber muttered to herself as she chose which gems to activate. No sense in being coin-wise, rod-foolish.

Amber mentally shook herself, and fixed the idiom. She was in diamond-Pallos now, not rod-Pallos. No sense in being arcanite-wise, diamond-foolish.

Two gems and a skill were all she needed.

[Diamonds Are Forever] helped slowly recharge the skills she was about to use, letting her still sell the skill-infused gemstone later. Then she activated a defensive gem, and a movement gem.

[My Shining Aegis Will Stand Against All Foes, My Brilliant Barrier Shields Me From All Threats, Witness My Resplendent Protection] sprang up around her, a dazzling fortress of Brilliance that was practically impenetrable. [The Fleet Hooves of the Celestial Kirin] lent wings to Amber’s feet, speeding her along the road.

No sense in trying to cross the wilderness.

She quickly arrived at a crossroad - 58 was the value of the sign - and took out her coin.

“Sun, left, snow, right.” Amber quickly muttered before flipping the coin. Sun, snowflake, sun, snowflake, the coin spun through the air, entirely contained within Amber’s aegis.

The snowflake side landed face-up, and Amber turned to her right, continuing to travel down the road.

Amber continued her explorations and trades, continuously moving towards Sanguino. She wasn’t going to pass up any opportunity that she found, the journey just as likely to be the lucky aspect of what the coin was telling her as the destination. Merchants with false smiles tried to rob her, a sketchy adventuring team was as honest as could be and helped her with one of the longest, most dangerous legs of her journey, and thieves discovered to their dismay that Amber’s [Mine, Mine, they’re all MINE!] skill was stronger than their stealing skills.

[Jaded] kept her focused and mentally there when other traders tried to pull fast ones on her, and her ability to detect lies and see value meant she’d never gotten scammed.

Yet. It was bound to happen one day. Trust the wrong person, rely on an ability that got fooled. Perfection wasn’t possible. As long as Amber followed the rules, her losses wouldn’t be too bad.

An aspect to her eye that she hated was it showed the value of everything.

Leaf - 0.

Pebble - 0.

Stick - 0.

Log - 3.

Road - 802,000.

Jill - 42,500.

Including what people could be sold for as slaves.

Amber had grown up in Remus. Her values had been shaped by the culture of her upbringing, and she hadn’t quite understood why Elaine was always complaining about slavery, and why it was so bad.

Until she got to diamond-Pallos. Until she’d seen Urwa.

Then Amber had understood. Not all forms of slavery were the same, and it was oh so easy to move from one to another. She hadn’t been interested in the slave trade in the first place - too difficult, and not at all what her class wanted to do - but after Urwa she’d sworn off being involved with slaves in any way, shape, or form.

The ashen skies above the cities of Exterreri were fascinating, and Amber did brisk business, moving from city to city, finding powerful vampires and paying them to infuse her gems with their best skills that they were willing to part with. They were equally and unusually eager to purchase skills from her as well, making cryptic comments about how their money was worthless in coin, and so much more valuable as a powerful skill.

Amber liked Exterreri! Loads of Immortals willing to sell their skills, and freely parted with their hard-earned money? Cha-ching! As long as she could avoid any [Tax Collectors] she’d make another fortune!

She was in line for the gates of Sanguino when she did another check with her coin, a standard one.

“Should I enter the city? Sun, yes, snow, no.” She whispered, giving the coin a small flip. Someone in the crowd snatching her coin was one of her greatest fears. Her skills could help defend it, but Amber knew it only took one bad slip, one skill that could overpower hers, and she’d lose it.

Trading skills gave Amber an interesting perspective on skills and how they stacked up against each other. There was always a stronger skill. Always a counter skill.

To her great surprise, the coin landed snow-side up.

Amber paused. She’d been directed to the city by the coin, and now it was telling her not to enter. She barely hesitated, checking her lanes before crossing the road, and starting to head away from the city.

“Forwards, sun, back, snow.” She whispered to the coin as she flipped it.

Flip!

Sun. Forward.

Flip!

Sun. Forward.

Flip!

Sun. Forward.

Flip!

Edge.

Amber stopped, looking at the coin miraculously perched on its side in the palm of her hand.

The inn right on the side of the road was the obvious location. Amber checked the road, and crossed again, entering the inn.

“Amber!” A familiar face called out to her from a table, waving her arms wildly to catch her attention. “Hey! Long time, no see!”

Amber’s face lit up as she saw them, and she limped over at full speed to their table, her mismatched eyes gleaming with joy.

“Elaine! Auri! Iona. It’s so nice to run into you here!”

Her eye tried to give her a value, but Amber dismissed it. She knew what her friends were worth.

Priceless.

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