Day 155
Standard Year 1118
Irikwae
In which Jethri rolls out the barrels.
A nice world-building touch: some things are still done a low-tech way because the obvious high-tech alternatives have undesirable side-effects.
And Jethri is smart enough that when he thinks of an obvious high-tech alternative, he can realise that somebody must have thought of it before and do his own research to find out why it’s not being used.
As an inveterate researcher myself, I felt right at home with Jethri on this point, which was helpful as a reader because I cannot connect with the “trader” abilities at all!
I still feel overwhelmed by all the facets of being a trader. I am terrible at haggling myself, and feel intimidated by it, actually—maybe because I tend to be too literal. Of course it is this very literalness itself that has led to my getting a couple of good deals, because I (literally) could not afford the item and kept trying to walk away!