Magic without a magic

[sturdycoldsteel]

Steel wakes up. This is not where she went to sleep. She has a peek at the stream -

- And lets out a surprised yelp at the nonsensical cacophony.

"What in the blue hells is this place?" No answer is immediately apparent, so she climbs to the top of the ravine, carefully avoiding the various inexplicable things in the area. The snake-goat hybrid was particularly grotesque.

The top of the ravine has a road. She tries to fly, but can't. Again, very strange. This is a pretty nice road, physically, but magically it's completely undeveloped. She walks towards the city, peeking at the stream once in a while only to see fog, and seeking an explanation.

Comments

[sturdycoldsteel]

She decides to have Aya shopkeep for most but not all of the day. After the third day, she takes down the FREE sign, but continues to sell everything at the cost of ingredients (definitely cheaper than competing pharmacies). Steel visits every concentration of slaves in the city under various excuses, and loosens the tattoo of any slaves she sees on the street if they're standing still enough, and revisits some places, expecting some amount of turnover. After a few days she mixes up another large batch of pills.

Does the shop's reputation seem to be improving after a week of this? Any loyal customers who keep coming back?

[alicornucopia]

Aspirin in particular with its obvious and frequently useful effect is popular. One lady is hooked on the allergy suppressant, and a small family who seem to be primarily motivated by spite against their previous herbseller-of-choice come back with a list of things they want her to stock or come up with replacements for.

[sturdycoldsteel]

If nobody is listening closely enough, she starts telling the slaves whose tattoos she unbinds that they will get Aelare's blessing if they wash their heels under the light of the next full moon.

Over the course of that week Steel slowly increases the prices from 'at cost,' to 'just a bit cheaper than most other herbsellers,' makes an assembly line for production of aspirin, and looks into mixing up a stronger painkiller or even an anesthetic. She advises the allergy-suppressant lady that taking more than two per day will hurt her throat. She manages to stock or replace all but one of the spiteful family's list of things.

Then she makes a big batch of everything that's been selling well and pays Aya two weeks' wages in advance, telling her that she'll be visiting the markets in some of those other cities and if anyone wants white pills, they should come back in a couple of weeks.

[namesthesky]

"All right, I can mind the store," says Aya.

[sturdycoldsteel]

So Steel sketches a route and buys a seat on the next wagon going in the right direction. Assuming she doesn't encounter trouble, she tours the major markets of each city she passes, unbinding every heel tattoo she can and continuing to spread the rumor of Aelare's blessing.

And is back a little over two weeks later. The full moon is only days away, now.

[namesthesky]

Aya has managed to build up a decent customer base in her boss's absence and has taken the liberty of rearranging the displays and painting a few new signs (with pretty decorative borders, even). "Where did you hit?" she asks, when Steel is back.

[sturdycoldsteel]

But the question about the store is: Is it profiting?

She names nine cities. "Major markets, mostly. A few labor rentals. One brothel - I don't have as much excuse to be in those and they're not a convenient place to work. Did anyone order white pills?"

[namesthesky]

"A handful of people. They should be back today or tomorrow."

[sturdycoldsteel]

"Alright, then. I think I want to research non-magical ways to do make my medicines. There's only one of me, after all."

"...I'm a bit anxious for the full moon. I can't help but think there will be violence."

[namesthesky]

"It's not impossible. Or quick surreptitious illegal re-tattooing. But it should get some people out."

[sturdycoldsteel]

"I hope my medicine and antiseptic is saving people, too. This place is a bit terrible compared to what I'm used to. But at least I can be useful. I should research ways to produce medicine that don't rely on magic, let the good spread around - I know most of the principles of transmutation, it should be possible."

[namesthesky]

"...Transmutation without magic?" says Aya. "Could I learn it? We could trade off, one of us teaching classes or something while the other minds the store."

[sturdycoldsteel]

"Well, I call it transmutation. But it's really more like - manipulating the physical properties of things. If you mix two things and heat them up just right by magic, it's transmutation. And if you do it with your hands, it's still transmutation, just without magic being involved. I can try to teach you during slow hours, sure."

[namesthesky]

"So it's like cooking?"

[sturdycoldsteel]

"A bit. There's some overlap - not that much, but some."

She starts by explaining that the entire world is made up of extremely tiny indivisible particles of stuff, arranged and connected exceedingly complex ways. Sugar, for example, is made pieces of one thing and another and a third all arranged in a ring. Living things are some of the most complicated of all, and they're not fully understood by a long shot.

These explanations could take a while.

[namesthesky]

They certainly could, but Aya (in between selling things to people who come in) is fascinated.

[sturdycoldsteel]

Steel explains that transmutation has applications in things other than medicine. Building materials are mixed just so, so that they will last as long as possible without rotting like wood or being too heavy and brittle for tall structures like stone, for example.

She readily admits that her memories are not all that clear, that she studied her magic first of all and the physical world second, but her knowledge is enough to be getting on with. Soon, though, it's bedtime.

[namesthesky]

Which is Aya's cue to close up shop and go back to the boarding house.

[sturdycoldsteel]

The next morning, Steel asks Aya, "Where can I buy or catch small animals? I want to test some new medicines. Mice, rats, birds, rabbits. Mice in particular mostly work like humans medically speaking, despite the size difference."

[namesthesky]

"I saw someone selling caged birds - mice and rats I'm not sure where you'd buy them, but they're pests, some will be somewhere eventually and you might be able to trap them if you left out food."

[sturdycoldsteel]

"Hm. Birds aren't ideal. Do you think anyone will take me up on it if I go around greengrocers and such saying I'll pay half a seo each for live rats or mice? Or should I just build traps myself?"

[namesthesky]

"I could see grocers switching to live traps for that kind of incentive, easily."

[sturdycoldsteel]

"I don't need an infinite amount of them, but a steady stream would be nice. I'll have some chats with a few places later. You did good with the store while I was gone, by the way. And since I don't want to be a bad boss, how are you liking your job lately?"

[namesthesky]

"I like my job very well, more than anything else that could reasonably have happened to me post-market and more relevantly better than what I was doing before that or what I would have done if my owner's death had freed me as she promised."

[sturdycoldsteel]

Nod, nod. "I'll be back this afternoon, if anyone comes in wanting their tattoos blasted."

And she goes upstairs and pays this month's rent on the storefront and goes to four greengrocers and tells them she'll pay for live rodents and (still avoiding that one guy) asks a couple of surgeons if they've heard of aspirin and if so might they like something stronger for their patients?