You have a deal!

[Silvern Gleam]

October 29, 3:00 pm

(( Overview: Ida's assistant Stellar buys artifacts from Silvern Gleam, who wants to find out more about her new customer ))

This time Sil wouldn't lose her again. It had cost most of her sleep, but as a result the artifacts she had in her saddlebags now acted as beacons for the blind unicorn. Simple, for Sil easily recognizable high energy signatures next to the healing spells. Okay, actually there was still a chance that Sil would lose track again since preparing the artifacts had cost most of the magic she had regained over night and she had emptied one of her few storage crystals, but the range in which she could spot that other mare would now be highly increased, if Sil sold her one of the artifacts.

Sil patiently waited, not exactly where she had told the other mare to come, but in the building next to it, so that she could check for unwanted bystanders before showing up herself. Her focus constantly wandered over the street outside, searching for the new customer. Her amulet stayed inactive for the energy needed for it was now too valuable.

[Ida Fjölnir]

The sun is shining and a chilly breeze blows through the street as Stellar arrives at the spot where she should meet Silvern Gleam. In Stellar's saddle bag is a wooden box where she had put in the money . Stellar enchanted the box with a locking spell, so only she can open the box. "At least she won't get the money, if she robs me." Stellar thinks. She looks around, but can't see the mare anywhere and nervously paws the ground. "Oh Celestia, please don't let me missed her."

[Silvern Gleam]

Eventually Sil found her new customer already waiting in the neighboring building, apparently she had missed the mare while she still had been on the street. Well, that could happen without using the amulet. Now however she activated it once, and noticed that nobody else was in range. Sil walked into the other building and downstairs.
Hello there, she greeted the waiting unicorn with a slight smile, but mostly her expression was now one of a professional getting a job done. Quickly she put down her saddlebags, without levitation, as would probably be noticed since unicorns almost always used levitation to handle things. Another thing that could catch her customers eye was the wound on Sil's lower lip and possibly a few other light scratches from the accident the day before.
Silvern Gleam had already found the money before she had entered the basement, and was already proceeding to take the first artifact out of the transport box: A silver horn ring with a red, opaque stone embedded.
I have three possibilities for you, depending on what exactly you want to do with it and how much money you want to spend. This one here is quite simple, but efficient at what it does and quite cheap, she began explaining, directly giving the small ornament to the other unicorn. It can only handle normal wounds, and not even big ones. I wouldn't attempt to heal deep flesh wounds with it, it's not meant to patch up destroyed muscles. For most of daily life that is absolutely enough, but when you have a major accident you probably should use something else or fetch a doctor. The advantage is that it's highly efficient and requires only the minimum amount of energy, and it's very simple to control. Focus on the spot of the wound, channel energy through the stone, and everything else takes care of itself.
If her customer would wonder why Sil was giving it out of her hooves so quickly, that explanation followed instantly. Just to make sure you don't have any strange ideas: Should you leave this room without paying, you can expect every artifact you take with you to be totally useless.

[Ida Fjölnir]

Stella makes a little jump as she hears a voice. She quickly turns around, ready to get robbed, but relaxes as she sees the mare. "Oh good, it's you!" she says with a sigh of relief. Stellar notices the little wounds on Silvern Gleam, but doesn't really bother about it. "I guess the life in the underground isn't that save." she thinks with a short smirk.
She nods as Silvern Gleam explains the artifact and after she finished Stellar says "Don't take it personal, but I would like to test the artifacts first before I buy them. I want to be sure I don't buy some hoax artifacts. I see you have some little wounds, so I would like to test the artifact on you. If you are okay with that."

[Silvern Gleam]

I expected that, that's actually the reason why I haven't taken care of it myself, Sil replied smilingly. Go ahead!
If Stellar tried to do anything else than using the artifact on Sil, that would be noticed immediately and the yellow mare was ready to cancel every other spell targeted at her the moment it was being constructed, but she didn't expect anything suspicious. She believed that this was really about buying artifacts for now, but she didn't know for what purpose and how Stellar had found out about her, that was what bothered her.

The artifact itself would turn out to work just fine. Stellar would see the wound healing up quickly, and as promised with almost no energy being used. Depending on how much she had used, the healing process would have been quicker or slower, and after the wound had been completely healed, further energy would simply intensify the red glow of the stone.

[Ida Fjölnir]

Stellar nods. "I will be careful. I promise" she says with a smirk. Actually these little scratches aren't a problem for Stellar. She has to cure little scratches like that all the time for Miss Fjölnir. Stellar concentrates her magic and her horn begins to glow in a light blue as Silvern Gleam's wounds begin to heal. Stellar nods after she finished the healing. "Okay, since I know they aren't fake I want to say that I need a better one. It should heal wounds caused by talons or knifes. It would be also great, if I could heal damaged veins with it. Do you have something like that?"

[Silvern Gleam]

The test passed as expected, with nothing out of the ordinary happening. Good. At least this far this unicorn could be trusted. The question for something stronger wasn't surprising, Sil simply nodded and reached with her hooves for another artifact in the box, this time not a piece of jewelry, it was only a simple - though polished - flat, white rock, about hoof size and with a pictograph on one of the two sides, a horn pointing over a heart. Healing veins is possible with this one, that's a wish I can fulfill. But it has disadvantages as well. For one, it doesn't work from the distance anymore. You have to place it over the wound, but then you could theoretically go as far away as you can reach with your magic. Its workings are a little excessive, it even heals what isn't damaged, it simply renews everything. Effective, but inefficient, it could easily be that you need several sessions to heal an injury completely because you run out of magic before it's finished. Unfortunately, too deep wounds are once again a problem, since its range is so limited. As I said, you have to place it over the injury, and there it heals everything in a certain area. If you don't watch out, you might close the wound to the outside, but still leave an internal injury. Legs are no problem, only head and rump might be in this regard.
They didn't have a possibility to test that as well, and so Sil simply continued with the next one, a bronze brooch a thin silver lining on its surface, running around a moonstone in the center. And finally, though it doesn't exactly fit your description: This one is for broken bones. It's actually no real healing spell, it sets the fracture and creates a magical cast around it, but I figured that already helps a lot. Since it creates an enchantment that has to stay for some time it demands some energy from the caster, but if your low on magic, it's only said enchantment that falls short, the fracture can still be set with relatively little magic.
That was it, more Sil didn't have with her. Actually it was already a good selection, artifacts didn't grow on trees and Sil wasn't able to create them herself, to have three that could do some kind of healing was luck. Patiently the artifact merchant was awaiting a possible decision.

[Ida Fjölnir]

"I see." Stellar says and nods. Preferably she would buy both artifacts for their research project. They really need some better healing artifacts in their collection. Till now they have only some healing artifacts which can heal scratches and some combat artifacts. But Stellar doubts it that she can buy both artifacts right now. She has only about 100 bits in her box.
"So, what are your prices?" Stellar asks as she levitates the box out of her saddle bag.

[Silvern Gleam]

The horn ring is the cheapest with 80 bits, the bone healing you can have for 140, and the remaining one is at 180, Sil answered, stating her standard prices for the artifacts. Expensive for sure, but fully justified from her point of view. Sil probably was the only one in town who offered such artifacts, and she risked being found be the griffons which is why she had to keep the circle of customers small. She had to make a good amount of money per sale, otherwise her business simply wouldn't bring in enough. And it wasn't like the acquisition didn't often cost Sil something as well. But though she didn't say it, she was willing to do some bargaining.

[Ida Fjölnir]

Even tough Stella knew that she wouldn't get two artifacts for 100 bits, she is a bit shocked that she only gets one crappy artifacts for her money. "Maybe there is a chance I can bargain and get the bone healing artifact for 120 bits." she thinks. 120 bits would be her limit for today even with her own money she carries with her. "So, 140 bits for the bone healing artifact, huh? I think I can get it for 110 bit somewhere else." Stellar says with a calm voice.
Actually Stella never bargained before and she knew that she will be terrible at this, but at least she has to try it.

[Silvern Gleam]

Finally Sil broke out of her cool professionalism as a wide grin appeared on her face. Before the war, she would have never allowed herself that, but this wasn't before the war and things had changed. She was way more picky about her customers now, and if somepony felt insulted, teased or mistreated in any way, she simply didn't care that much anymore.
I can't tell you about the prices others demand, but I can tell you that there are no others, she said with a chuckle, clearly amused over Stellar's statement. However, Sil wanted to sell and so it would be stupid not to give in a bit. Alright, let's say 130.

[Ida Fjölnir]

Stella notices that Silvern Gleam changed her face expression. The grin can only mean that Stella is really really bad at bargaining and Silvern Gleam is right or at least Stella doesn't know anybody else who trades with artifacts."Okay plan B. Maybe I can convince her to sell me the artifact for 120 bits, if I make the offer to give her another artifact later." Stella thinks. "Well, listen. I'm honest with you. I only have 120 bits with me, BUT I could trade my artifacts I don't need with you. How does that sound?"
In fact they have some artifacts in the basement they don't need, since Ida Fjölnir is only interested in healing artifacts.

[Silvern Gleam]

Sil perked her ears at what she heard, a clearly baffled expression on her face. This unicorn could sell her artifacts? Quickly she fell into a very pleased smile. You have a deal!
Now she was beginning to feel glad about the unexpected customer. There really was anypony who had artifacts for sale and maybe there were some interesting items to get from this unicorn.
Sil put the two unsold artifacts back into the box again and decided to do some casual conversation while she waited for the money, a lot more relaxed than before. I suppose we could lighten up the mood a bit. I'm Silvern Gleam, and you are?

[Ida Fjölnir]

Stellar is glad that she has the deal, but at what price? Now Silvern Gleam knows that she has artifacts and that's a risk, but Stellar has still hope that this will end well. She unlocks the box and floats it with the rest of her money to Silvern Gleam. "I'm Stellar Light. " she says with a smile.

[Silvern Gleam]

I'm really curious about what you can offer me, it certainly doesn't happen every day that somepony has artifacts to sell, Sil said smilingly, while quickly counting the money and transferring it to the box she also stored the artifacts in. Do you mind if I simply visit you sometime and take a look at them? Or we could simply meet here again, whatever you prefer.
A casually asked question, but Sil knew quite well that Stellar wouldn't tell her where she lived just like that. If she did, it would surprise Sil a lot, though it would help her a lot, of course. Sil's shop was still out of question as long as she didn't know how Stellar had found out about her. But Sil didn't want to bring up that topic directly, the more Stellar thought everything was alright, the better.

[Ida Fjölnir]

Stellar perks her ears. "Uhm...I would prefer that we meet here again. You have to be careful these times who you invite to your home." She says with a more or less calm voice. She doubt it that Silvern Gleam would be happy, if she finds out that Stellar lives together with a griffon and works for her. "Like I said I'm more interested in healing artifacst and therefore I could trade some of my combat artifacts, if you are interested."
Now Stellar just hopes that Miss Fjölnir has no problem with that. In fact Stellar didn't ask her about trading their artifacts with Silvern Gleam.

[Silvern Gleam]

I'm interested in almost everything, as long as it has some spell on it, Sil answered cheerfully. Combat artifacts weren't the most interesting type, but there still were some unorthodox enchantments to find among them, and they were easy to sell in these times. Only one question remained when Sil was finished with the counting and took up her saddlebags again, still using no magic at all. Same time tomorrow?

[Ida Fjölnir]

Stellar nods as she levitates the artifact in her saddlebag. "Sure! I'm glad we can make some business" she says with a smile."But I need to go now" she says and slowly leaves the building "See you tomorrow". Stellar waves without turning around as she reaches the door.
"Even if it's was rather expensive to buy this artifact I'm glad that we have a business partner now." She thinks as she casually trots along the street. Today she doesn't have to hurry and she is in the mood for a quick visit in the park.

[Silvern Gleam]

Sil followed Stellar upstairs, but stayed inside at first. It's becoming a pleasure to have met you. See you then!
Despite her good mood, she still wouldn't blindly trust Stellar. The plan still stood, and when her new Customer was around the corner, Sil quickly walked to the nearest entrance to the sewers. Once inside - after the usual procedure of checking for spectators -, she took the quickest route to main street she knew of and along the tunnel underneath it. She ran past her target, she was sure of that, but she had to concentrate on the way before her to avoid another accident like the day before. Once she decided she was far enough, she simply stopped and directed her inner eye on the street above her. She had some time to recover her breath until she finally spotted the artifact she had just sold. Shortly after that, she recognized the signature of the pony carrying it as Stellar's. A satisfied smile appeared on Sil's face as she followed the artifact, though nopony was there to see it.

After some time Stellar left main street, and with that the route that was easy to follow her on, in the Underground there was no tunnel leading exactly the way she walked. Sil had expected this and wasn't disappointed by that, but the place where it had happened worried her a bit. If she wasn't mistaken, they were near the park, not in one of the residential districts. Hopefully Stellar didn't want to take a nap there...
The next tunnel leading in the right direction was a good distance of the way, Sil hurried again in the hope of not completely losing Stellar, but in the end she had to take a guess, and that guess was that she would search the park, as far as the tunnels allowed her to.

[Ida Fjölnir]

Stellar enjoys the sun on her face as she trots through the park. The park is her favorite place in the city. The world seems to be halfway alright here. For a short moment Stellar closes her eyes and flees into her private world where the city is still a prosperous one and she isn't a pony slave. Her smile on the face disappears as she bumps into something. Quickly opening her eyes she realizes that she bumped into a griffon. "I-I am so s-sorry" she stutters as the griffon glares at her.
"You better are, slave" the griffon says with a cold voice. Apparently he noticed the brand on her flank where usually her cutie marks should be. It shows that she's property of a griffon. Property of Ida Fjölnir.
"Where's your master?!" the griffon now almost shouts. "S-she is at home ,S-sir" Stellar stutters as she levitates a sheet of paper out of her saddlebag and holds it in front of the griffon. "B-but I'm a-allowed to do purchases alone." The griffon grabs the paper and
reads it. "You're lucky this time, slave. Bugger off!" the griffon says with a voice which sounds almost a bit disappointed. Stellar nods, quickly puts the paper back into her saddleback and trots out of the park and home.

[Silvern Gleam]

Sil had luck in the last moment. She had almost given up, too much of the park was hidden from her without going to the surface, and with her already relatively low magic reserves, use of her amulet was restricted as well. But in the end she had found Stellar. And in a most unsettling situation, a griffon stood somewhere near her, if Sil's crude sense of location didn't lie to her. She noticed a small spell being cast, probably levitation, and then Stellar moved again. Details of the situation hadn't been clear to Sil, too far away the tunnels forced her to be.

What had happened there? Normally an encounter with a griffon wasn't a good thing, but it didn't seem like Stellar had much trouble. Sure, not every time it had to end in obvious trouble, but Sil already was suspicious, and it might have been an appointed meeting to pass information. Certainly not the artifact, that was still with Stellar, who luckily was coming a bit towards Sil. However, before they left the park, Sil had already lost her again. One of the top rules of the sewers: You can never go anywhere on the direct route. Detours had to be taken, too many parts of them were inaccessible. Guessing from the general direction where Stellar would go, Sil took the shortest route to a almost certain waypoint to the western residential district, as fast as she could and waited again. Waited for her artifact passing on the street above her.

[Ida Fjölnir]

As Stellar trots along a street,which leads to the western district, she lets her head hang low. Usually she can flee into her private world, if she's in the park, but the encounter with the griffon pushed her back into this cruel world and pointed out again that she's just a slave,who is property of a griffon . It's not like she's is very thankful for Miss Fjölnir and how she treats her, but the labor camp still left some marks how she thinks about griffons in general.
After a while Stellar turns into a side road, where their house is located. She stands in front of the front staircase and puts a smile on her face, before she trots upstairs and knocks on the door.

[Silvern Gleam]

There it was again. Sil's guess had been right, and almost instantly after Sil had sat down to wait, she had noticed the artifact on the surface. She was a little out of breath from the hurry, but Stellar wasn't walking quickly and made it easy to follow her again. That is, until she decided to take a turn again, into a direction that would have forced Sil to crawl into a tube half as big as it would have needed to be to allow a pony to crawl through. Not to mention the sewage Sil would have gotten into her fur. On the surface it would have been easy now, simply walking where the street went, but unfortunately it would also be too risky. Sil wouldn't even notice if she was seen by anybody standing a little too far away. Teeth-gnashingly she made her way to the next tunnel that was big enough, the one running underneath the next street over, and in a hope for random chance flashed the environment with her artifact, once and only for short time, more she couldn't allow herself. The more pleased was her smile when it actually worked. It was almost out of range, being in the next street, but the artifact was there. Okay, maybe she could allow herself a second time. And it was still there. Knowing the range of her own sight quite well, Sil came to the conclusion that Stellar was not moving, and standing on the near side of the street. So she probably had arrived at home, and the building itself was of course nearer to Sil and a part of it in her normal sight range. Maybe there would be something to pick up.

[Ida Fjölnir]

A brown griffon opens the door. "Oh, it's you. Come in" she says and lets Stellar enter the house. "And? What did you get,Stellar?" Ida asks and looks at the Stellar's saddle bag. Stellar sighs. "Well I only got one artifact and it isn't even that good. Artifacts are damn expensive on the blackmarket." "Well, what can it do?" Stellar levitates the artifact out of her saddle bag and gives it Ida. "It can heal broken bones." Ida nods "Well, something new at least. You can rest for the rest of the day,Stellar. We start our researches tomorrow." Ida says and looks interested at the artifact. Stellar slowly trots upstairs to her room. She wonders when she should tell Ida what deal she made with Silvern Gleam.

[Silvern Gleam]

Sil's heart skipped a beat as she realized what she had done. A griffon. She had sold an artifact to a griffon. A griffon who certainly knew how she looked. It had been only for a few moments that the half bird had been in sight after Sil had found him (or her?), but it had been enough. All the years Sil had managed to stay unknown to the occupiers, giving her the possibility to move relatively freely on the surface, but now... those times were over.

No, it wasn't that bad yet. If this griffon had told others, they would have already tried to get Sil, they had enough chances. So maybe her existence was still a secret to the griffon officials? Maybe this was really just about trading artifacts. But why would a griffon be interested in that? Without any magical capabilities there was no way how to make use of an artifact, it needs a unicorn to do that. Stellar was a unicorn, of course... Why was this pony helping the griffons? A traitor or a slave? Stellar didn't seem like a slave to Sil. It had seemed like Stellar was doing this on her own free will. The initial shock was replaced by anger, Sil would have liked to storm the building and confront Stellar right away, but had no other choice than to turn around and head home. The damage had already been done, and she would probably meet Stellar the next day anyway. For a moment Sil considered not to come, but it would probably do more harm than good. Anyway, she would have a full night to think about it. Another night without much sleep ahead of her, and even if she had the time, the worries probably would keep her awake.

(( Continued in Confrontation ))

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