Going into Business

Going into Business

A little over a week after Lon’s death and her conversation with Blondy, Rain finally felt like she could do things without wanting to cry. Now she just felt empty, as though after so long of being sad, she no longer had any emotions left in her. Compared to the pain, it felt nice. She hoped it would last.

Taking the roll of paper with the information the Watching Stars gave her, Rain unrolled it to see what it said. Manas had broken the information on the scroll into two lists, one of failing merchants and the other of major gangs. At the bottom, he had listed a few ways to get a hold of the Watching Stars should she want to buy more information.

Rain chose to focus on the merchants for now. She was sitting on a pile of money, which was doing her no good. Looking through the list, she saw five names.

The first name was Ard Dulman. He specialized in selling cosmetics and fashionable women’s clothes. Renowned as one of the best in the Mid Ring, he built quite a profitable trading company with suppliers all over the Isles. His lousy fortune came when he was caught cheating on his wife with multiple customers. Now, he had a long line of angry husbands trying to take him down and an equally furious wife. From everything Rain could see about him, it looked like he would be forced into an early retirement, and one of his kids would be taking up the business. Rain wished the man luck and moved on to the next name.

Low Porter was a second-generation merchant who was undercut in every item he sold. The most significant loss he sustained in recent days was when he spent a small fortune on frost silk from a distant northern island only to have one of his rivals start selling the silk two days before Low’s shipment arrived. Not only that, but his rival was able to sell at a cheaper price than Low could. That one shipment alone almost bankrupted Low, and it was hardly an isolated experience. From what Rain could tell from the information, the problem was that Low tried to do things exactly like his father and failed to adapt.

Rain decided to pass Low by for now and moved to the next name. Ack Friend ran a small shipping company that supplied fine lumber. The problem was that the island where he sourced his lumber had recently been pronounced a dead island after a plague broke out there. Ack was a vocal advocate for sending a team to the island to check on the state of the people there. However, until the island was pronounced safe or he found a new source of fine lumber, he would be a merchant with no wares.

The next merchant on her list was Ad Purson. He was a slave merchant, and that was as far as Rain read before moving on. She would not be partnering with a slaver.

The last name was Ind Markson. Ind was known as a savvy businessman who traded in all kinds of things and had connections across the archipelago. His current problem was that brigands were targeting his ships and caravans. The information speculated that one of his competitors had hired the bandits to attack only his shipments. After his last shipment was lost despite increasing guards, Ind was left with barely two opps to rub together.

As far as Rain was concerned, he was perfect. The man had a good sense for business and the contacts to make it work. However, he would be unable to recover without someone to get rid of the bandits and the money to restart his business. Rain was already forming a plan to get rid of the bandits, and she had money to spare. If she could pull this off, she would have a competent merchant making her money and providing her connections to the other islands.

Rain looked through the information on the man to get a better idea of who he was as a person and how she should approach him. He was married and had a son around Rain’s age. Any information on his family life seemed to paint him in a positive light. It made Rain like him.

After a little more skimming, she found a warehouse in the Low Ring that was all that remained of his holdings in the city. It sounded like he was spending a lot of time there trying to figure out how to get out of his current situation. Rain felt it was as good a place as anywhere to find him.

“Are you okay?”

The girl nodded, sitting up from where she had been huddled in a ball on the ground. Rain noticed she had a split lip and bruises all over.

“Are you hungry?”

A nod.

“Well, come on then.”

Rain didn’t offer to help the girl up, no matter how much she wanted to. Honestly, Rain wanted to hug her and tell her it would be alright; then, she would tell the girl that they would be good friends. But Rain couldn’t. She just didn’t know what might hurt someone, and she wasn’t willing to risk this poor girl.

Rain watched with pangs of guilt as the girl struggled to her feet and limped after Rain. The girl was clearly hurting. Rain led the girl to the end of the street in the opposite direction that the awful woman had run off in. As she walked, her aura returned to normal as her anger was replaced by concern for the struggling girl behind her. It took every fiber of self-control she had not to go back and try to carry the girl.

Eventually, they made it to a more crowded street, and Rain found a cart selling food. Telling the girl to sit, Rain bought them both some food and offered the girl her portion. The girl looked at Rain like she was a goddess. Rain tried not to preen too much at the admiration. She failed.

Once they had eaten, Rain looked at the girl. She was worried that the girl might be unable to find a safe place to live. It sounded like the older woman Rain had found beating the girl was her mother or something.

“Will you be okay?” Rain figured that the best way to find out was to ask.

The girl nodded.

Comforted, Rain got up and started back towards Mr. Markson’s warehouse. The girl got up and started limping after. It was at this point Rain realized there might have been a misunderstanding somewhere.