Both children sat there in silence for a few minutes each thinking their own thing.
After a while Zia poked Nick's arm, "I wanted to ask you long ago – why is your skin so dark? Are you from the Sand kingdom?"
"No. Actually I was poisoned. I came to Aurora to find information on how to cleanse the poison. Uncle Ben told me that the royal doctor is a very good alchemist and maybe he could help me. It also might be enough if I could find some encyclopedia on healing herbs or cleansing techniques." Nick explained.
"What is 'encyclopedia'?"
"Oh, it usually is a big, thick book with a lot of information."
'She really is still a child.' Nick smiled to himself.
"You can read?"
"Hahaha, of course, I can! How else can I learn all the secrets that are in the books!"
"What? There are secrets in the books?" Zia was shocked, jumped on her feet and bunny ears on her boots flapped around.
"But, of course! Don't you know that all the wise old men write books to hide their secrets? If we want to find out everything, we have to read a lot. But there is a trick to it. Do you want to know?" At this point Nick was the first male in the history of the Mainland continent who tried to seduce a girl into reading.
"Yes!"
"Ok, listen carefully! There are many, many boring books, but you have to find the ones that are interesting. Think of what do you want to learn and know. Which secrets do you want to learn, then find those books and read them all! That way you will be the smartest person in that field. For example – you can become the best cook if you know more recipes than any other, or you can become the best hunter if you know more techniques than all the other hunters. If I only learned from uncle Ben, I could never become better hunter than him, but if I read all the hunting books – I will become the best hunter in the world." Nick glanced at her with a serious expression and then said in hushed voice, "This is a big secret and not many people know of it. Do you realize why no one reads books? It's because this is a real secret!"
The bright glint that was in Zia's eyes a moment ago resurfaced and shone even brighter. This time it was there to stay till the end of her days.
Nick didn't notice anything and had no idea how he just changed the girl's life, he simply stood up and said: "Can you bring me back to the kitchen – I will get lost on my own."
"Why do you want to go? Didn't we have fun?" Zia immediately got upset.
"We had and I can play with you another day, but uncle Ben will get worried and you also have some stuff to do. If you think about what we just talked, you will also have to make new plans. Otherwise you'll just loose time while aimlessly running around." Nick smiled again.
"Yes! I have to make plans! Let's go!" Zia shouted, jumped up and ran off towards the kitchen.
'Can't she just walk normally?' Nick grumbled, but still felt good. Even though this was a harmless conversation, it brought him back memories of his parents as well as reminded of his own dreams and goals, 'First, I'll cleanse my body, then I will cleanse that sect. Then I will travel the world!' Nick was smiling while running after Zia.
Ben was still patiently waiting in the kitchen when the two twisters stormed in.
"Don't forget to come tomorrow!" Zia waved and ran off.
Ben and Nigel both looked stupefied at Nick.
"How did you do that?" Nigel finally asked.
"She is a lonely little girl in a big palace. Just talk to her, you might actually like her. Even though she talks a lot, she is smart." Nick just shrugged back.
Ben shook his head, "I think you'll get in trouble."
When they tried to pass through the doorway on their way out, they were blocked by a huge stature that was carrying even bigger baskets.
"Who's the kid?" A thunderous voice sounded from high above.
Nick looked almost straight up to see the man's face. He was so tall, he had to duck to enter the door. In the each hand he held a big basket reeking of fish.
"Nicky, my nephew." Ben replied, "This one is Paul, he's responsible for supplying the seafood to the royal kitchen."
"Isn't everything frozen over in the winter? Or do they somehow catch the fish under the ice?" Nick was confused. He was not a big fan of fishing and he much more preferred to go diving with Olle. And considering the warm climate in California he had not the slightest idea how the ice fishing worked.
"Hahaha! Where are you from if you don't even know that?" When Paul laughed it felt like the palace floor was trembling, "Everyone knows that the Sun has blessed our city and is sending warm currents into Aurora bay and therefore it almost never freezes. We can fish through all the winter. The trade ships also are on their routes the whole year long. Ben, where did you get him?"
Ben ignored the question and tried to squeeze through.
"Don't be like that." Paul still laughed, "Nicky, come over to my boat later – I'll show you how we fish here."
"Thank you, uncle Paul." Nick nodded and followed Ben's example and squeezed through the door between baskets and Paul.
"He is a good guy." When they got out, Ben explained "You should visit him in the spring, he can really show you some beautiful fishing spots."
It was already past noon when they left the palace.
Nick asked Ben to take another route home, to see a bit more of the city and maybe they could even visit a bigger alchemy store.
While looking at the sights, they came to a marketplace. This one was much bigger than the one they were shopping at yesterday. Nick was curiously inspecting the goods, when they were passing a milk stall. An unhappy client was shouting at the merchant that the latter tried to sell milk which has gone bad.
When the guards started to pay attention to the commotion, merchant quickly compensated and took the bucket of milk back.
"Mister, I heard your milk has gone bad, is that true?" Nick pulled Ben towards the upset merchant.
"Are you here to laugh at me as well, kid?" Merchant angrily retorted. He was a thin, tall man, dressed in plain gray clothes and leather boots.
"Why would I? What kind of milk was it? Can I have a sip? Maybe it is not all that bad?" Nick asked.
Merchant's eyes lit up when the silly kid simply delivered himself to get cheated, "It's not gone bad at all, it has exactly the specific taste! It's a rank three beast's milk! Very good for a growing child like you!"
Nick turned to Ben, "How can anyone know that it's really milk from a rank three beast? Can't he just take any random milk and claim it's expensive?"
"Kid, my milk maybe isn't the freshest anymore, but you can't slander me like that, I have a reputation here! You can ask any guard at the marketplace – they have known me for years. And more importantly, I work for the Meyer family and that name is a guarantee itself. This milk comes from the prairie lama farm south-west of the capital. They are rank three herbivorous beasts that we have herded for tens of years." Merchant proudly stated, but Nick continued to look at Ben.
The latter thought for a bit, "Guards are trustworthy and the corruption in the capital is very rare. And actually I have heard of that farm, there is one like that. It's highly likely he only had some delivery delays, therefore milk has gone bad before he was able to sell it. And no one would really claim they are from the Meyer family if they weren't, the consequences might be as bad as those of a treason. But in any case, if he is a merchant representing that family, he should have the Meyer family token."
While Ben was explaining, the merchant took out a round iron token of a gray color with two big letters 'M' drawn over a pile of money.
Nick nodded, then checked out the milk – it had really gone a bit sour.
"How many buckets do you still have?" Nick asked.
Merchant's eyes lit up, "Four buckets."
"Can I use your cellar for a few months? I want to test out something. If it works, you might like it as well." Nick asked Ben.
Ben looked at the boy in front of him, "It won't be anything weird from 'that place'?"
"No, don't worry." Nick obviously understood Ben's worries that it might something to do with Holy Order's practices.
"Fine then, I want to see what are you up to. And make sure it doesn't smell bad." Ben laughed.
"I'll give you two silver for each bucket and the price includes the buckets and the transportation cost to our home." Nick smiled and took eight silver from his 'pocket'. One silver was not much but not too little either. In the capital a poor family could manage with one silver a day, but richer people sometimes easily paid fifty for one meal.
"This is a milk of a rank three beast, not water!" Merchant tried to argue.
"No!" Nick interrupted, "This was a milk of a rank three beast." Then he smiled towards the merchant like he had finally met his grandmother.
"Four silver a bucket!" Merchant said.
"Ten for all or no deal!" Nick kept smiling.
"You are killing me!" Merchant turned to complaining tactics, "You want my family to starve to death?"
Nick pulled Ben's arm to leave, "I don't think Meyers will start starving any time soon."
Merchant looked incredulously for a moment at the back of the kid who could bargain not worse than himself, then started to laugh, "Hahaha, deal! I like you, kid. Come tomorrow again!"
"Will you have bad milk tomorrow as well?" Nick grinned and passed over ten silver.
Merchant was still laughing, but stopped when he saw the silver coins, "Wait, this is silver from the Lori kingdom!"
"So? It's still silver, right?" Nick actually didn't know what different types of currencies were used here and how they were valued on the continent.
"Lori kingdom's silver is worth less in our Sun kingdom's, the same with the silver from the Sand kingdom." Ben explained.
"Oh sorry, didn't know that. Here, another one as a compensation. But I don't have more, don't even try to ask!" Nick made a serious face as he compensated.
He knew the grand elder had quite a lot of different currencies somewhere in the wristband, but he hadn't had the time yet to organize the books that were important to him, much less the boxes and sacks of money.
While still in the marketplace, Nick bought two different kinds of citrus fruits. Both resembled a regular lemon, but he had not seen them before and Ben didn't recognize them either – exotic fruits from the Eastern continent were not a regular food for the common people like him. Nick also grabbed a big iron pot that was even bigger than the milk buckets servants were carrying behind them and bought high quality salt as well.
Before they got home, Nick requested to visit a tailor shop. There he purchased cheap, thin linen type cloth pieces that one could even see through. And on the way back they stopped at a small shop that was selling some books and pictures and Nick bought few pieces of paper which could be used for runic formations.
When Ben wanted to ask about it, Nick explained, "I'll show you at home. Even though those freaks tortured me a lot it doesn't mean I wasn't learning anything."