On her way to Lowtown, Seira decided to stop at the market. Since she was going into Lowtown, she thought it might be a good idea to buy a weapon. Even if she didn't know how to use it, simply having one might keep people from trying to mug her. But buying a weapon took a certain kind of courage that Seira wasn't sure that she had. When she first tried to approach the displays that had weapons for sale, the merchants shooed her away, telling her to go pester someone else, or threatening to summon a guard to arrest her for shoplifting, or pestering the paying customers. So, in order to gather the courage she needed, and give herself some time to come up with a plan, she began to browse through some stalls that were selling musical instruments...something she did know a lot about.
It wasn't her intention to buy an instrument, but when she found a beautiful fiddle made out of a nice, dark wood, she couldn't resist. At first, the merchant didn't take her seriously when she asked to buy it. It took her unpacking her hang drum, and playing a quick song to prove that she was a bard, not just some stupid kid. Even then, he didn't believe that a kid like her could afford such a fine instrument. It took a small fib about it being her birthday, and having birthday money to spend to finally convince him that she could afford the fiddle.
He tried to interest her in a drum, too; not a hang drum like the one she already owned, but the kind made out of a tanned animal skin stretched tautly over both ends of a cylinder. Seira hesitated over spending so many nels on something other than the weapon she had set out to buy. But after careful consideration, she realized that she could afford it. And the instruments would be a lot more useful than a weapon she didn't know how to use. Learning how to play more instruments would give her more options when it came to her street performances. In the long run, it would earn her more money than knowing just one instrument would. Especially if she could gain enough skill with the instruments to be able to offer lessons in how to play them.
The merchant gave her the opportunity to try both instruments, and she did. Despite not knowing hoe to do them justice yet, she did like the nice, clear sounds they produced. So she counted out the 80 GN for the fiddle, and drum. Nels, and instruments exchanged hands, and the transaction was complete. Seira packed up her new instruments, and left the stall.
This time, when she approached a near by weapon stall, the man who had sold her the instruments vouched for her. The weapon seller gave her a dubious look, but did not try to shoo her away again. Seira glanced at several blades, but it must have been obvious that she had no idea what to even look for, because after a while, the weapon seller approached her with a friendly smile.
"Will this be your first weapon?"
It was phrased as a question, but the man's tone suggested that he already knew the answer. Knowing that he would be able to tell if she was lying, Seira didn't even bother to try.
"Yeah...is it really that obvious?" she asked with a rueful grimace.
"Yes, but don't worry about it. You're just a kid. No one would expect that you would know anything about weapons at your age."
Seira scowled at the comment about her being "just" a kid, but she didn't bother denying it. The man chuckled at her annoyance.
"You want to look at the smaller weapons. Someone your size isn't going to be able to manage the bigger ones. Especially a girl like you."
At Seira's deepened scowl, the man was quick to continue.
"I don't mean to offend you. But what I said is nothing but the truth. Girls tend to have less strength in their arms than boys do, unless they've worked out a lot to build up their muscles. Work like that shows."
He gestured at his own arms. They were huge, maybe even thicker than her legs. And they were very muscular. It was clear than the man knew what he was talking about, so she decided that his words weren't really an insult.
"The larger blades are a lot heavier than the smaller ones are. Without the proper arm strength to wield them, you'll tire easily, especially in a long fight. And it will be easy for an opponent to knock the sword out of your hands. What you want is a smaller blade. Something like this tanto, here."
Seira remembered how difficult it had been to carry Vivian's sword when they met each other during her friends' "treasure" hunt; it had been so heavy, it was all she could do to just lug the thing around. Using it in her poor attempt to attack one of the bandits they'd encountered had taken all the strength she had.
She eyed the weapon the man showed her carefully. The entire thing looked to be close to 2' long, shy only by a few inches. The blade itself took up most of that length, and was maybe a bit longer than 14". It gleamed silver, and looked very sharp to the eyes of the untrained girl. The hilt was black, and had a leather grip with a diamond pattern on it. The sheath beside it was black as well, and had a beautiful design etched into it. Seira admired the weapon's deadly beauty.
"This weapon is well made. It will serve you well in a fight. But I won't try to lie, and tell you that it is the master work of some well known swordsmith. My son made it. He's hoping to open a shop and sell only weapons that he makes himself some day."
Trust didn't come easy to Seira, but she decided to cautiously accept what the man was saying on face value. He didn't appear to be trying to cheat her.
"How much do you want for it?" she asked at last.
"It's a good quality weapon, so 24 GN is a reasonable price for it."
Twenty four gold nels seemed like a lot of money to Seira, but then weapons seemed like a thing that should be expensive. And a good instrument would cost a lot more than that. So she nodded.
"I'll take it."
The man smiled.
"Can I interest you in a set of throwing daggers, too? You'd get five in a set. If you can learn how to use them well, they will be a hidden sting that can counter the disadvantage that a smaller blade will have against an opponent with a longer one."
That made a great deal of sense to Seira. But after buying two instruments already, and wanting to buy the tanto, she wasn't sure she could afford anything else. She had some nels saved up, but most of what she earned went to feeding her and Seri, and keeping them in decent clothes, so they wouldn't drive people away with their ragged appearance.
"How much?" she asked again.
"It depends on the quality, just like with any weapon. An average set would cost you 2 GN. A good quality set would be 4 GN, but the blades would be sharper, and they would hold their edge longer, so you wouldn't need to sharpen them as often. Their balance is also better, so it would be easier to throw them with more accuracy once you got the hang of using them."
Seira added the cost up in her head. She'd already spent eighty gold nels on the instruments. But the tanto was less than she'd expected she would have to pay for a decent weapon. Combined, the tanto, and throwing daggers would cost her twenty eight gold nels. She would be able to afford it as long as she was careful about what she spent for a while.
"I'll take a set of the good quality throwing daggers, too, please."
Nels exchanged hands once more, and the weapon seller handed Seira her new weapons. Then Seira made her way home to drop off her new instruments before making her way to Lowtown.
