Interlude: A Boy's Journey (non-canon omake) Written by Flammy on AlternateHistory
Third day, Sixth Moon, 267 AC (+8 days)

Aedar refused to look back and he tried to keep his pace steady as he walked down the road. His hand was already getting sore holding his blanket which held most of his belongings. He'd need to find a stick to tie it to sooner rather than later. The numbness growing in his hand and fingers helped him focus on the present, rather than the shouting argument he'd had early this morning. He was glad the road was empty, and that he had headed north, rather than south towards the village. The empty road was the best company he could have hoped for at just this moment.

At the next creek, Aedar set down his belongings and started looking for a tree that would make a good walking stick. He found an appropriately sized maple growing near the creek and cursed his lack of an ax, but was able to bend it back and forth before it finally broke. He settled on the side of the road and used his knife to clear off the branches, then worked to safely tie his blanket and belongings to the far end. He used the time to refine the plan.

He'd been born somewhere in the Myrish side of the disputed lands but had been living in the North for a while now. He didn't remember Essos much, as his mother had left Essos with him when he was only 7. He carefully counted on his fingers and realized that while he had been born in Essos, he had now spent half of his life here in The North. The first 4 of those years were in Redbridge before his mother had remarried and they'd moved to this small, unnamed village south of Redbridge near the coast.

He was sure his mother would miss him, but… it was the right time. She would be plenty busy with his younger siblings, and he definitely wasn't going to work another day on a farm if he wasn't getting at least some pay or a solid promise of future ownership. No, he'd want a written promise. Well, he never had liked farming that much anyway, and heading back to Redbridge was something he'd been dreaming about for a while, most of those in the village kept that dream well fueled. He truly didn't know how his mother could stand it. He decided the first step was to stop in at his friend Jory's family on his way north and at least let his friend know where to find him. With that thought, Aedar stood up and balanced his belongings and the stick on his shoulder, and kept heading up the road.

It was less than an hour later when Aedar approached Jory's family farm. He could see Jory out with the sheep, and he jumped the fence to get there faster. He helped Jory free an idiotic sheep that had somehow managed to get its head stuck in the fence, as he told him he was headed for Redbridge. They talked as they put the fence back together, before heading to the farmhouse. Jory was clearly quite impressed, and maybe a bit jealous, but was a good sport about it.

Jory's mother, on the other hand, was not nearly as impressed and first demanded he unpack and prove he was ready for the trip while she prepared lunch. He carefully unwrapped his blanket, laying out his spare clothes, some fruit, a week's worth of fixings for a stew. He had a full waterskin, and his cloak would keep him warm and dry. He had a leather pot he'd be able to drop hot rocks into to heat his stew. He then carefully laid out the rest of his cooking tools, and finally, his two treasures: first his small collection of coins then his much-loved tinderbox, made right in Redbridge.

When Jory's younger brother and father came in from their work, he immediately got the expected "Aedar! Welcome, what is all this?"

Before he could start to explain again, Jory's mother cut him off with "Aedar stopped in to say goodbye." She let out a loud grunt to show what she thought of that. "He is headed for Redbridge." Aedar could only look on helplessly as they exchanged a few glances.

"Well… I could use an extra set of hands this afternoon. Why don't you help with some work this afternoon and we can make sure you get some good food to start your day off right tomorrow?"

Well, it was hard to say no to that. Aedar agreed, and after lunch found himself in the barn with Jory's father while Jory and his younger brother were taking care of their chores elsewhere. The work was straightforward, mainly cleaning and oiling the machinery used for planting and harvesting, but the interrogation during it was not quite as welcome.

Did he know how to get to Redbridge? Yes, it was quite easy, follow the main coast road north for about 5 days.

Was he planning on stopping anywhere on the way? No, he would sleep near the road.

Where would he stay once he got to Redbridge? Well, Aedar had lived there for 4 years when they'd first arrived from Essos, and he would head for the same neighborhood and look at sleeping in a barn or hayloft, hopefully in exchange for a few chores each week.

What work would he do once he got there? Well… Aedar had to admit he hadn't thought quite that far ahead. But everyone knew Redbridge was both the biggest and busiest town anywhere nearby, and it was the best place to go if you wanted to get paid in actual coin. Many jobs even paid by the day if you were willing to work hard! Maybe he would find work on the docks where ships were always arriving and departing.

Jory's father thought this was at least a decent idea, but recommended he take a few extra nights on the way and see if he could earn a few free meals for labor on the way, as well as gave him directions to a relative's farm that was on the way. He cautioned Aedar to horde his coin until he had a steady way to earn more.

That evening Aedar saw that while he had been working his cloak had been oiled to keep it waterproof, and Jory's mother sowed a small pocket on the inside of his spare pants. She also showed him how to sew half of his few coins into the collar of his cloak so that he'd need to cut the stitches to remove them. She also insisted Aedar accept a small washcloth and two portions of soap, one for him and one for his clothes. Aedar tried to protest but was firmly denied.

The next morning he was up bright and early and headed north. As promised he had been given a filling breakfast, but even more importantly he was surprised when given several wrapped flatbreads that had been made the night before. They weren't the larger, fluffy loaves he remembered from his younger years in Redbridge, but he realized they were special made for him, and given at the cost of a hug. He was told that if Redbridge didn't work out, they expected him to return promptly and help with the upcoming harvest.

It had taken Aedar 8 days and 7 nights to reach Redbridge. He had taken the advice to travel slower and earn his way. He had gotten several free meals, as well as a few wagon rides. He had realized arriving in the morning would be an advantage, and thus had ended yesterday a bit early. He was now being rewarded with a view of the town.

Sunset's Rest, the castle, was shining brightly in the first rays of the sun, while the town below it remained mostly in the shadows cast by the hills and mountains to the east. The castle was on a large rocky hill, overlooking the river behind it, the town in front of it, and the port off to the left. The town surrounded both sides of the castle and stretched to the coast, where the port was located in a cove.

Dozens of fishing boats were already visible on the water well out from shore, their sails white or gray lit up in the morning sun. Near the castle, several windmill-like structures on top of narrow scaffolds spun in the morning light. The town's houses were arranged in neat rows. Close to the castle the roads and houses partially circled the hill, but further out from the castle the houses were in straight rows. Separate a bit from both the densest area of the town was a set of houses and buildings that had numerous chimneys that were already billowing despite the early hour. As Aedar continued to walk down the road to the gatehouse near the port, he could hear the hammering of metal coming from the lit forges echoing across the town. There was both the rapid ping he was familiar with from the village blacksmith, but also the less frequent boom of a larger hammer striking metal.

As Aedar approached the simple gatehouse set in a section of the wooden wall surrounding the town, there were two wagons ahead of him. The first was being inspected, and from the sound of it, being taxed. The remaining guard waved him forward, and he was happy to not have to wait. He gave a wave to the guard as he approached, and greeted him with a friendly "Ala!" It was a trick many of the recent immigrants, especially from Essos learned. With just a few words of the old tongue and you were much more likely to be treated with more trust and less suspicion.

"Ala to you too. Are you new to Redbridge?"

"No Guardsman, returning from living in a village down the coast. I've lived in Redbridge for a few years before that."

The guard nodded. "Any weapons on you?"

"Just my belt knife."

"Very well, you're free to enter."

And with that, he was allowed in. Immediately through the gatehouse, he was in the outer sections of the town where the houses were a bit more spread out with large yards. The wall extended on both sides of the gatehouse, and from this side, he could see that it was a simple set of rough-hewn logs dug into a packed down dirt base. It was a simple wall with no walkway and other than some dirt backing it not much to hold it up. A few towers were present, including one near the gatehouse, but they were very spread out. He suspected he would have no trouble climbing the wall, and thought it was in place more to control traffic than for any true defense.

He headed straight for what he was already thinking of as his neighborhood: the melting pot of Essos immigrants from a half dozen different cities and cultures with a scattering of other immigrants who could only live in the cheapest neighborhood. He quickly left the port area which was to the west of the town, passing through the commercial district with various market squares, factory-warehouses, and commercial buildings located in the center of town, and bypassed both the loud and polluted production areas to the northwest, and the Castle to the northeast before, with only a few minutes walk, he started recognizing more and more places as he approached Ess, the neighborhood he had lived in for some 4 years.

It was named such as it was both the eastern, and newest, section of the city, but also for the roots of many of the residents. Little Essos, as it were. It was a strange feeling, seeing the place after both a few years and with his adult eyes: Some things were different like new buildings, yet others were tantalizing familiar. With a single glance around, Aedar could see more skin and hair colors than he had seen in the last 3 years combined. He could hear various dialects of Valyrian, each their own flavor that teased memories from long ago. It was like a breath of fresh air: he was home, he told himself.

Finding a job that afternoon proved to be rather different than he'd expected from the vague plans he had been thinking about during his week's walk to Redbridge. His new landlady had proved agreeable with both the rent (a spot in the barn loft for 3 buckets of water per day plus an extra 3 on wash days from the nearest fountain) and by pointing him in the direction of an odd structure in the nearest market square when he'd asked her recommendation for finding a job. With shelter taken care of, he'd have to figure out how he was going to feed himself.

The market square was one that focused on fresh produce, and the odd kiosk he had been directed to was immediately obvious: it was both the only structure inside the square (everything else was farmer's wagons and temporary stalls) and the kiosk was painted bright blue. It was nearly round, with counters on every side, and at the peak of the blue roof there was a large letter 'I' painted white. He approached the two bored looking men inside, sitting on tall stools looking out.

"Ala to you both. I was told you could direct me to employers currently hiring."

"Ah, greetings. Yes, we can help you with that. Let me just find the form…" The closer man poked around below the desk level before pulling out a piece of paper and attaching it to a board. "Just a few questions before we can make some suggestions. First, your full name?"

"Aedar Myran" He sure wasn't going to give his step-father's name.

The man behind the counter had been poised to write but froze up at the name. "Ah, and how do you spell that?"

Aedar provided the spelling, hoping he was remembering the spelling correctly and wasn't about to rename himself accidentally.

"Ah, and I take it you have some experience with reading and writing?" the man asked while writing on the paper.

"Yes, I attended the winter school here in Redbridge."

"Do you have your record from your attendance, by any chance?"

"Ah, I do not have them any longer." Aedar wasn't about to mention the last class he took was over 5 years ago, and he had been away from both Redbridge and the school last time the winter school would have been in session.

"Not to worry, not to worry… How comfortable are you with your numbers and basic operations?"

"Decently comfortable."

The man nodded at that, before giving him a searching look, measuring Aedar with his eyes. "Now, we can't recommend you for all jobs until you're a little bigger, but did you have a job in mind?"

"I was thinking about maybe looking for work down on the docks, but only because I knew they were busy and always in need of help."

"Well there are usually a few fill-in stevedore slots on days when we have a ship in port, or in case a union member misses their shift, but that is one of the jobs where size and strength are rather important. Hmm. Would you be interested in some traveling? There are several opportunities for junior sailors with no experience required, or a waived fee for an apprenticeship with a ship's carpenter."

Aedar's stomach gave an involuntary flutter at that. He had strong memories of the long voyage here from Essos. "Ah, not looking to set sail. Are there other opportunities, even away from the docks?"

The man didn't seem put out by his declining, and rather seemed to expect it. He fumbled around below the desk and hauled out a large stack of papers bound together. He flipped through a few pages, read a bit, and flipped a few more. "The Guards will be holding tryouts for young hopefuls in another three weeks. They hold a morning workout that isn't required but can help you get a leg up on the competition every morning at dawn outside the castle gate." He flipped a few more pages. "If you think you can pass a scribe's test for reading, writing, and numbers with a minimum qualification for all three I could recommend you to one of several positions… the bank has three openings... The Postal Service has one. The guard has two open junior scribe positions under the quartermaster." He raised an eyebrow at Aedar, asking if any of his suggestions had hit the mark.

"Ah, I'll keep the Guards in mind for later, but I was looking for something sooner." He suspected he wouldn't pass the scribe test if it was anything like the timed evaluations he had experienced in winter school. At least not without a fair bit of practice. "Is there anything that doesn't require me having the test completed immediately?"

A few more flips of the page. "We do have an opening as a messenger. It doesn't require any reading or writing skills but they do help. They do have some additional qualifications they will evaluate you on, however. I can send you to their director if you want?"

"What does that sort of work entail… and if I may ask, do you know what they pay?"

"I don't know what they pay, but you can see one of them over there," he said with a gesture towards one of the corners of the market. There was a boy a bit younger than himself with a colorful hat on. He was standing next to a wall and he was scanning the crowd. "Anyone can hire them to take a small package or simple message to anywhere in town. They're stationed at every square and the port as well. I know they get at least some pay even if there are no messages. You can also hail one down if they're running around, they often carry a few messages at once."

It wasn't really the type of grownup job he was looking for. Clearly, it was a boy's job, but it might keep him fed while he kept his ears open for a better opportunity. "I will take the job if they'll have me" he tried to say with confidence.

"Wonderful, let me just pull some papers together." He wrote down some more on the page he had been filling out, before writing something else on a different page. "If you can just sign your name on this form I can get you on your way. If the job doesn't work out you can return here anytime."

Aedar glanced at the sheet, it was full of names in a large grid. His was at the bottom, followed by some blank areas, next to each name was a job title and finally, for each row, there were signatures next to the various names and titles. He was a bit unhappy to see his job listed as 'messenger boy.' Aedar could see many of the others were marked with a simple X and a thumbprint in ink. It appeared that there had been several farmhands, three wagon drivers, a ship's quartermaster, several sailors, and a junior auditor hired before him. He signed his name and passed the sheet back. He received the paper that the man had been filling out and directions to a specific building on the 'Financial Square.'

From the Produce Market, his destination was only a few blocks away. The Financial Square wasn't even half as large as the Produce Market, but it was full of people and energy. There were all sorts of well-dressed folks hurrying around, most of them men. On one end, the Exchange building dominated the area. On the opposite end of the square was the Royal Bank of The North. Both had a wide set of stone stairs and large stone columns it looked almost like a southern temple and provided an aura of permanence and stability.

The Financial Square had a few stalls with hot food, but most of the remaining buildings seemed to be workplaces. He found the building he had been directed to via the number on a painted tile above the door. His destination turned out to be a narrow door that was tight between a cafe and an ink shop and led to a steep set of narrow stairs leading to the upper story. A middle-aged lady was seated behind a desk reading some papers when he entered.

Aedar explained why he was there, handed over the paper he had been given earlier, and after a few minutes delay, was escorted to another office. He found himself in a large room that was full of desks with papers. The walls had maps and chalkboards with lots of scribbles. There appeared to be a large table at the far side of the room with all sorts of painted wood blocks on it. Aedar wished he had more time to look around but found himself quickly being questioned by the tough-looking man in front of him in a guard's uniform.

The questions started familiarly enough: his name, his skills from the winter school, where he had lived in the past (both in the North and his vague recollection of Essos), but soon the questions grew stranger. Why did this man want to know what he would do if he suddenly found a gold dragon?

"I suppose I would buy a quality apprenticeship. I don't want to get trapped in one of the free or poorly structured ones, I want to learn and have a stable career. I suppose if I had a gold dragon that would give me a lot of options."

The man nodded at that. "Would your answer change if you suddenly found 10 gold dragons?"

What an absurd question. "I suppose I would save it to open my own workshop once I had completed my apprenticeship."

The man gave a grunt of acknowledgment and started writing on his papers. "Where was the information kiosk that referred you here located?"

"In the middle of the Produce Market." Was this man really a guard? His uniform looked like it to be sure, but maybe he was retired? What did he have to do with the messenger boy he'd seen?

"Good. I want you to start by describing the kiosk in as much detail as you remember."

Aedar started doing so, describing the color and size and how it was positioned in the market. He trailed off not sure what to say next.

"Describe those working the kiosk and your interactions with them."

Aedar started with the conversation, he couldn't remember all the jobs the man had mentioned but he felt like he got most of them. He tried to remember as many details about the workers and their clothing that he could. He then started talking about the paperwork and then mentioned the other jobs on the sheet he had signed.

"Did you read the sheet? Describe as much as you read and remember"

Aedar did so, mentioning which jobs had been listed, and how most of those who had signed it could not sign their own names, and how these were correlated more with the farming and sailing jobs.

"Good, good. You mentioned you saw one of my messengers in the square. Describe the boy."

This was feeling like an absurd game. Aedar supposed he was being tested on his memory, perhaps remembering messages was really what this was about. It did seem rather unfair, he was sure he would have remembered more if he knew he was going to be asked about it. Nonetheless, Aedar did his best to describe the boy, the hat he had been wearing, where he had been standing, and what he had been doing.

After that, the guard merely confirmed a few details about when and where he had attended winter school, and what ship he had arrived on. Aedar didn't remember the name of the ship if he had ever known, but he described getting on the ship in a small port on Essos, a stop in the Stepstones somewhere (he hadn't been allowed off), followed by another brief stop somewhere in Westeros, before they had arrived in Redbridge. The man seemed satisfied with that.

"Very well. I need to verify a few things, but you should be fine to start training as a messenger tomorrow morning. You will receive full pay during training but will need to pass a few simple tests within the week to be kept on. You'll be paid one iron bridge and two iron bricks per shift, we have both morning and afternoon shifts. Once you complete your training, you will keep all of your tips. During training, tips will go to whoever you are partnered with unless they choose to share some with you. Can I expect to find you here in this office before the second bell after sunrise tomorrow?"

"Of course sir, and thank you very much."

"Good. Don't be late. Get yourself a good meal tonight as you'll be working hard tomorrow." With that, the guard slid an iron bridge over to his side of the desk.

As he walked out of the strangest discussion he'd ever had in his life, Aedar looked at the coin. It was dull iron, with a semi-crescent punched out of it. Above the crescent were markings in the shape of a brick bridge. The edge was raised, probably so you couldn't trim the coin without making it obvious. He hadn't ever heard of these before and would have to figure out how much it would get him before he went spending.

xxx

The first two days of training were about what he expected: Show up at the office, be assigned to a senior messenger, follow the messenger around as they explain what they're doing and why, return to the office to get paid, then go home. There were numerous small tasks they had beyond running messages.

When they were assigned a location to work out of at the start of their shift, and they'd be given a stack of postal mail to deliver to the nearby homes and businesses before they took up their post. Then, every time the hour bell rang out, they had a list of announcements to shout out to all nearby. "Houses and apartments for rent by day or month! Visit the Redbridge Housing Office on Financial Square!" "Now hiring sailors for profitable voyages! Part of profit shared with all crew by contract! Inquire at the Blue Star Line warehouse at the harbor!" "Only the best fresh bread at the Redbrick Bakery! Ask about our morning delivery service!" "By order of Lord Ragnar, all market squares have stalls and wagon spots are available for daily rent on a first-come basis! Payment or suitable deposit must be made to the square's information kiosk!" "Tomorrow at Noon outside the Castle gates! The Ragnar Investment Company will listen to public requests for startup funding! Between 2 and 50 golden dragons to be invested in approved ideas. Mentorship available, some conditions apply." Aedar quickly had the messages memorized, as most of them didn't change from day to day. He also got very used to being ignored as he shouted.

The older messengers told him they also had to keep their eye out for crimes occurring and report it to the guard. Aedar could certainly say he was now much more familiar with Redbridge, especially the areas away from Ess that he hadn't visited frequently before. He also appreciated the opportunity to soak in the heat of the public baths that were located near several forges. One of his small iron brick coins got him several bath tokens for multiple visits. He saw the baths had a free day once per week, as well as some hours that were limited to each gender, while most hours were open to all. The bathhouse itself were several pools that cascaded into each other, with two small hot pools, a warm pool, and two cold pools. The hot pools had vents that spewed out a constant stream of hot water, apparently, the water was heated by traveling near the exhaust of nearby forges and smelters.

The third day of training was rather different. When he showed up to the office, he was not assigned to a messenger but told to wait. As each of the other messengers got their assignments, Aedar was left wondering if he would be allowed to deliver messages independently today to prove himself. Alas, it was not to be.

The guard who had interviewed him before was here giving out assignments just like every other day. Aedar had learned that his name was Captain Jay and that he was a guard but he was assigned to the investigation division, while most of the guards around town were part of the patrol division, whatever those were. Apparently, the entire investigations division was only four guards, and that included the secretary who manned the front desk. In addition to his work for the guard, Captain Jay also had the side duty of organizing the messengers, including hiring, training, directing, and paying them.

Captain Jay sent off the last messenger with his assignment and turned to face him. "You're with me today. I'll be with you in a few minutes." The secretary soon showed up with another member of the guard. While trying to blend into the back wall, Aedar listened as Captain Jay was addressed by the newcomer.

"Any update on the pickpockets that keep hitting the docks and Fish Market?"

Captain Jay shook his head. "No, I've warned the lads to keep a close eye, but without a real description to go on, we're probably not going to get lucky. Have you been able to reassign a guard or two out of uniform? I suspect that will be our best shot at em."

"Not enough slack, possibly once the next group of recruits is trained enough to start joining foot patrols. That won't be for at least four weeks minimum, and probably six."

"Fair enough. Did you get the copy of the arrival logs the harbormaster sent over?"

"I did. It looks like next week at the earliest for you to put some of your boys on it."

"That was my interpretation of the logs as well. I suspect my lads will be better at waiting around in one spot all night without drinking themselves to sleep or creating enough of a racket they'd get spooked away. I've had three of the more trustworthy lads assigned to occasional night duty as they've been calling it, they don't know the real reason yet. They think it is to watch for fires, but it has kept them awake when I've checked on them so better than your lot so far."

"As long as it works, we'll get the credit and that is what matters. Now, Operation Sneak Peek?"

"It continues. Literacy is the hard part. I've put in a job listing, and so far I've gotten one from that. That will bring me to a total of four once he is trained. The first three are much better with making sense of bad handwriting now and are mostly assigned to the north section of the town, so now we just need to intercept another note scheduling their dropoff, hopefully before the information goes stale this time."

"We'll have to maintain a sharp eye, and keep praying then. Are your costs remaining reasonable?"

"Wages are the main expense, then rent, then supplies. I'm currently averaging around 15 boys per shift, two shifts a day at 1 iron bridge and 2 iron bricks per messenger per shift. However the Postal Service is covering about 40% of my costs, and the advertising revenue fluctuates but is currently covering another 30%. For last week, the average outstanding cost was about 37 iron bridges per day."

"I'm glad the cost continues to be defrayed, and that is within the budget. Less than five guard's salaries, for many more eyes. Anything else?"

"Only thing is I will hopefully be soon getting some better info out of Oss. I've been feeling fairly blind over there."

"Ah, I see and that is both understandable and good news for the future. See you next week unless something changes."

"Ok. I'll send a lad once we start the night watch. You send one if you hear they're spotted earlier than expected."

"Very well." With that, the visiting guard took his leave, and Captain Jay stood up from his desk and waved Aedar to follow him without any explanation.

Aedar stumbled along behind him, trying to make sense of the guard's conversation. They approached the table covered in woodblocks. Looking down on the hundreds of blocks, many of them painted, they made an intricate pattern. He spotted some writing in one of the open areas not covered by the blocks and leaned closer to read it in the dim morning light. Fish Market it read. He couldn't contain a gasp as he leaned back and took in the entire table.

While many of the blocks of wood were unpainted, he now spotted a pattern to the more colorful ones, plus a few more intricately carved blocks here and there. There was a tiny bank building with its stone columns carved in intricate detail and painted. Miniature blue information kiosks were positioned in their market squares, including both the produce, fish, and meat markets. The castle itself was sitting on a large carved block, presumably representing the hill it stood on.

From above, it was apparent the town had been laid out to a larger plan than Aedar had previously realized. Near the castle, the roads circled the hill and the houses all shared walls with each other. If this map was to be believed, most houses had a flat roof that made them into a series of walls, slowly stepping down the hill.

Meanwhile, outside of that one distinct and the port, the rest of the town was laid out in a neat, rectangular grid. Most houses faced the streets that ran east and west. If a house faced north, it had a yard behind it both to take advantage of the sunlight coming from the south, and to let the light into the back of the house. Meanwhile the same was true for houses facing the street to their south, with the light coming in the front of the house. With the 'wide' section of the blocks running east and west, the vast majority of houses and businesses got sunlight all day long, ever-important when heating was costly, and light sources were impossibly expensive for most families

"Good, you've realized what you're looking at. I'm going to give you a location, your job is to point to it. Northgate."

Aedar pointed. That was easy at least. The table was even oriented so the miniature gate was near the north edge of the table, just like the real Northgate was compared to where Aedar was standing right now.

"Good. Dry Goods Market."

Aedar pointed. It was where you could buy flour the cheapest, but also leather, metal, wood, or woven goods. Or anything else processed or manufactured. It was also to the north, closest to the blacksmiths and bakers where the smoke from their fires would mostly blow away from the town, no matter if the wind came from the east or west. The tanners were the furthest out, with their awful smelling vats. It was near the river and massive pipes brought water from far upstream to power the numerous water wheels in the area. The blacksmiths used the waterpower to lift their massive hammers and power their bellows. Even some of the woodworkers were set up in the area, their water wheels powering lathes to produce everything from rocking chairs to wagon spokes and axles to bobbins and machine parts for the cloth industry.

"The Redbridge itself". He pointed. It was outside the town to the east, and the town, and especially Oss, was slowly spreading in that direction. The bridge provided access both across the river, as well as to the towns and farms up the coast and across the river, as the river road was on the far side of the river.

Captain Jay picked up a stack of small paper cards, and read off the top one. "Northern Wind Shipping Company's main office" He pointed. It was just down the block and on the Financial Square.

"Jasmine Dragon Cafe." He pointed it out.

"B&S Sailmakers." Aedar hesitated before pointing to where he knew most of the weaving and sailmaking happened near the north square.

"Wrong. There is no such company anywhere in the known world, much less here in Redbridge." Captain Jay scowed fiercely. Aedar shrunk back while mentally cursing himself. "DO NOT GUESS! If you're accepting a message, you need to know where you're going. If you get a letter with a bad address, make it the Postal Service's problem. If they're hiring us, we only accept messages to known locations in Redbridge. If you don't know the destination, you ask the customer! If they don't know where the destination is, you can still accept the message but I won't have you running around town half the day looking for a place that only exists in the mind of a drunk! We're not in the business of paying you to wander around lost. That is the same reason we don't hunt down a person if they're not at the given address." Captain Jay gave Aedar another glare and seemingly decided the lesson had been learned.

"Next. Whitesmith street" Aedar pointed to the correct location. "Use the stick hanging on the wall to trace where the street starts and ends." Aedar grabbed it and did so. It was a short street that was an offshoot from Smith Street. There were only a few smiths who worked in tin, after all.

"Wild Cherry Bar." He pointed it out.

"Sunset Whaling Cooperative Warehouse" He didn't know that one and said so. It was pointed out to him and he was gruffly told to remember it for next time. He noticed the small card for the Sunset Whaling Cooperative Captain Jay was reading from was set on a new pile than the ones Aedar had gotten right. Aedar realized he would be seeing that again soon, along with any others he missed.

They went on like that for a while. Captain Jay tried to trick him a few more times, and Aedar wasn't able to answer more as Captain Jay started asking about either more obscure streets or smaller shops. At least the vast majority of the residential streets were numbered and in order, rather than named. The worst were places like the smaller alleys which had three different names to three different people. It seemed like Captain Jay knew every one of the possible names.

"Take a break and drink some water from the pitcher. We'll continue with something else." Aedar's head was pounding, and he felt exhausted from only a few minutes of talking. It should have been easy compared to the running in the last two days, yet it left him feeling like he had just delivered a message to the castle gatehouse, then another to the port, then back up the hill to the castle gatehouse again immediately. His break came to an end all too soon. Captain Jay settled down behind his desk and gestured for him to pull up a chair.

"Here is what is next. I will hand you a message. Without damaging the message, and as fast as possible, you will open the message, read the message quietly or silently if you can, fold the message again, and put it on my desk. From memory, you will then read the message to me." Captain Jay passed the first message, a simple square of paper folded several times.

Aedar opened the message, read it, and refolded it. He then read the message from memory "Please increase my standing order of provisions of salt fish from 7, hardtack from 12, and freshwater from 22. Jebediah Kerman, Captain of the Swiftmun"

Captain Jay gave a pointed look at the folded note, then at Aedar. "Is that all?"

"Uh, yes. That is all that was written."

"Then why did you fold the note incorrectly?"

Aedar frantically picked up the note and unfolded it again, before carefully folding it so that the crease lines in the paper were bent in the same direction.

"Better. Don't make that mistake again. Here is your next one."

This one was a piece of paper rolled up with a ribbon holding it shut. After a few seconds of thought, he slid the ribbon over the end of the paper, so he could slide it back on without worrying about retying it. He read it, sealed it again, passed it back, before repeating it aloud from memory.

"Good." Another note.

Aedar quickly unfolded a note similar to his first message, careful to not flatten the page so he could refold it easier. He read it, folded, returned, and read it aloud. No problems.

The next note he got shouted at for smudging the poor quality, greasy ink with his thumb as he unfolded it. Sigh.

xxx

The rest of the exercise followed the same pattern before they went back to more shop-and-street pointing on the city map. And then a memorization exercise. And then more letters, but this time the handwriting was terrible, and the spelling was worse. Each one seemed to compete with the earlier ones to be even less legible.

Then Captain Jay grabbed an old, patched cloak and they sat on the corner of two busy streets, while Jay would occasionally ask a question about someone who had walked by within the last two minutes. Was that merchant wearing a coin purse? On what side of his body? Was that farmer's cart pulled by a horse or donkey? Was that lady's hair short, tied up under her hat, or braided down her back? Aedar had to admit he hadn't been looking at her hair. He didn't admit what he had been looking at instead. Captain Jay grumbled as they walked back to the office and told him to practice this every chance he got.

Back in the office, Jay sat him down at a seat in the corner with a large, thin book. The book turned out to be mainly paintings. The first section was about different hair types, each type with its name, with associated cultures and peoples that most often had that type of hair. He found his hair was apparently "3B" whatever that meant. The next section in the book was hair color. Then eye shape. Then eye color. Then nose shape. Then mouth shape. Then ear shape. Finally how to differentiate distinguishing features such as the difference between a knife scar versus a burn scar. That section was at least a bit interesting. He feared he would be tested on this sooner rather than later. He was right. Sigh. At least he was getting paid for this.

xxx

As promised, training only lasted the initial week. Aedar soon had earned a colorful messenger's hat of his own, and found himself mostly stationed near the main fountain in the Oss neighborhood. Each day he had three 'wanted' descriptions to memorize that he would be tested on at the end of his shift, as well as a random one or two he had been given to memorize an earlier day. He would also report on any 'interesting' bits he heard either while standing at his post or from the verbal or written messages he carried. Apparently 'interesting' was a wide range: trade items, possible crimes, juicy rumors, whispered accusations of abuse of power or officials lax in their duties, a specific farmer not paying a parking fee to sell in a market, it was all fair game. Not bringing in enough rumors and messages could get a messenger assigned to less desirable posts, or even less frequent shifts.

He would occasionally run a message, although they seemed few and far between. He thought it might be due to the neighborhood being relatively poorer than most others. The messages only cost a single iron brick, the smallest denomination of iron coin, but he supposed his fellow recent immigrants shared his habit of hoarding every coin he could his hands on. He could easily feed himself from his base wage, so missing out on extra from tips was a bit annoying, but not truly problematic.

At least he got plenty of practice in studying people as Captain Jay wanted him to do. Aedar would help some of his new neighbors fill water by pulling the rope while they held their buckets, jugs, and pots under the downspout, so at least he got to meet more of the neighborhood, plus re-introduce himself to a few he recognized from his childhood. He occasionally carried messages for them, mostly verbal messages as they were commonly illiterate, but sometimes someone wanted him to carry a written message, or more commonly help write out a written message, before delivering it either to the post office or to the recipient. He soon found himself assisting more and more with reading and writing when on duty near the fountain as word got around. He certainly didn't mind the tips, even if many of those tips were items like a fresh fish or a few apples, rather than a coin. He also realized that most of his information he delivered to Captain Jay was coming from these idle conversations, especially with the grandmothers and other queens of gossip from the neighborhood.

Afternoon shifts were spent in the office with more training unless Captain Jay was out of the office on other duties. The number of things to memorize seemed to always be growing. Recognizing the difference between a fire bell and the general alarm bell. What to do if he was on duty during a fire bell? Go to the fire, look for suspicious characters, and wait to be dispatched by any guard or one of the captains of the volunteer fire brigade. Which gatehouse should he report to for the general alarm bell? Most of it was boring, but he was soon offered extra shifts for extra pay and told to maintain his progress if he wanted to keep getting them. That helped focus the mind, to be sure.

The extra shifts soon proved his suspicions on tips from the Oss quarter: Getting assigned a shift in nearly any other part of the town proved more profitable than even two or three shifts in the tips from the Oss quarter. He had quickly come to suspect he was primarily assigned to the Oss quarter due to his Essosi heritage making him fit in better. It wasn't all bad, as the quieter shifts let him rest his aching legs and allowed him to bandage his blisters with the powder as he had been given at the clinic. He was glad he'd mentioned the blisters to another messenger, he hadn't previously known about the clinic or the services it offered. The young ladies being trained there had been kind and seemed to know what they were doing.

Getting assigned to an occasional shift at the castle gatehouse was interesting. Pages seemed to have many duties including running messages, especially within the castle. If the page didn't want to run a message into the town, or if any guards needed something delivered, it then fell to the messengers. Unlike every other messenger post, instead of one or two messengers being stationed at a market or square or the docks, the castle assignment usually had two or three messengers every single shift, plus bicycles too. The castle was also clearly exempt from the "we don't take messages to people, only locations" rule as well. If the castle wanted the harbormaster to report immediately, Aedar would have to first check the customs house, and if he wasn't there either ask around or try every ship in port. And then move on to checking the taverns. The harbormaster seemed to enjoy working out of the taverns, to be sure.

A week after Aedar had completed training, Captain Jay held him back after receiving his pay for a shift and told him he was proud of his progress and presented him with a voucher for a free pair of shoes from the cordwainer the guards had a supply contract with. It was the nicest gift he had ever received, and certainly the only time he had ever owned a pair of new shoes. Captain Jay made him promise to keep the shoes in good repair and directed him to a cobbler who was better at shoe repairs than the cordwainer. Cheaper too.

xxx

The most interesting training Aedar had received yet came about two months into his tenure as an official Redbridge Messenger. He and several of the other messengers were told to show up out of uniform to the office a bit later than normal. When Aedar arrived, the office was more crowded than he had ever seen it. Several men he recognized as officers in the guards, plus Captain Jay, were all present. In addition to his fellow messengers, there were nearly a dozen young men Aedar quickly realized were guards in training, which merely heightened his curiosity for what they would be doing.

It turned out the training was recognizing tools burglars, pickpockets, and others up to mischief might use. For catching cutpurses, they were shown a few types of rings and bracelets that concealed a blade used to cut the purse strings that secured the purse to the belt. For burglars, they were shown various tools for opening doors and windows, and the most common signs of damage these tools would leave behind.

That afternoon the training continued, but with two new experts being dragged to the front of the room and introduced to the group. Both readily admitted they were a former pickpocket team that was working with the guard for a reduced sentence. The most shocking thing was the younger pickpocket was much younger than Aedar himself, perhaps around 12 years old. They immediately got the room's undivided attention by asking which three of those in the room they had already stolen from, which caused everyone to start frantically patting themselves for their coins and any rings or other jewelry. Soon, not 3 but 5 victims were shamefully collecting their belongings the thieves had produced. The thieves shrugged and said they were going for two each but if they were just offering their belongings for the taking, how could they resist? That annoyed several of the guard trainees, and one of them started insulting the thieves, their heritage, and most especially the occupations of their mothers.

Perhaps an hour later, during what was already the most fascinating lesson Aedar had ever attended, the young thief moved past the mouthy trainee and tumbled to the ground. He was soon convulsing, and when rolled onto his back he was foaming at the mouth, with thick white bubbles pouring down his cheek, his eyes wide in panic as he struggled to breathe. Panic ensued as various guard trainees started moving and shouting and trying to render assistance and generally stumbling all over each other. Within twenty seconds, the other thief had searched the mouthy trainees' pockets and had found a wet cloth and bottle of poison, and was shouting accusations through his tears.

Accusations and counter-accusations flew wildly, with many of the uninvolved trainee guards seemingly pulled in multiple directions at the same time. Near a minute of chaos ensued, before the gravely poisoned thief promptly stood up and laughed in the face of the accused. Shock and silence descended on the room, as their experts quickly explained how every single trainee had just fallen for a simple deception, reinforced by some sleight of hand to make the 'poison' appear from the pocket of the accused. Some simple tricks, backed up by some acting, they explained, and completely distracted the entire room for almost two minutes. Plenty of time for a third accomplice to knife someone and escape, or to steal a key, or to unbar a gate, or throw some smuggled goods over a wall.

Faked or inflicted injuries, scattered coins, broken pottery, or a cute girl pushed into a puddle would immediately distract a huge crowd to allow any number of crimes to occur in broad daylight during the chaos. Distractions were the friend of the criminal, they explained over and over. The room was a bit soberer and much more attentive after that. The lesson ended with more concrete demonstrations of their specific pickpocketing skills, with them demonstrating silently stealing coin pouches and small bells from the pockets of a jacket hung from the ceiling for that purpose. They challenged anyone to beat their speed and stealth. Even the instructors gave it a shot, with all failing miserably before masters of their craft.

Needless to say, after the lesson Captain Jay had much to say about improving their observational skills and drilling them on how to recognize potential criminal behavior, and the proper procedure to follow regarding observing from a distance, memorizing suspects, and reporting to Jay even in the middle of a shift.

xxx

The most ...interesting... assignment Aedar had experienced came when he was fetched by a fellow messenger and told to report to the office immediately. He arrived and was soon joined by two other messengers pulled from their posts. Captain Jay joined them and told them to report to a certain office right across the square, with strong orders to follow all directives of one 'Master Tradesman Purdock' unless the orders were criminal and report back after, even if they worked all day and all night for a week to complete Master Purdock's assignment.

Aedar and his fellow messengers exchanged a glance, each as confused as the others, and within 30 seconds of heading down the narrow stairs and out onto the Financial Square, they found themselves entering one of the many other offices that surrounded the square. They were greeted by a tall, thin man wearing very expensive clothes. He was highly energetic and greeted them with a booming "Welcome, welcome, come in and take a seat!" The seats were high quality waiting chairs, where those waiting for an appointment or to be called could rest off their feet.

They were joined a few minutes later by two scribes, or so Aedar assumed them to be from their carried equipment. A third man soon followed, and once they were all seated and the door firmly closed, Master Purdock launched into his clearly prepared speech.

"I am Master Trader Purdock and I have the honor to be given the duty, by Lord Ragnar himself, of improving the operational efficiency of the local economy, especially as it relates to two merchant ships that are being inspected by the customs officials as we speak. And you are called to assist me to the greatest extent of your abilities." Master Purdock looked at each of them and perhaps seemed a bit disappointed they hadn't broken out into spontaneous cheering or something of the like. A moment of silence passed.

"Ah-hem. And what do you require of us, Master Purdock?" questioned the man who had arrived last.

"Ah, Master Trader please, Accountant… Durburry was it?" the man nodded slowly. "Very well, very well. All I require is for you to carry out your duties… accounting…" He gestured at Accountant Durburry "... scribing and working as receptionists" Master Purdock gestured at the two scribes "... and running messages" he finished, acknowledging Aedar and his fellow messengers.

"You have all been recommended to me as you are creative! Adaptable! Quick on your feet!" Master Trader Purdock glanced at the messengers. "Ah, well, I'll need all of you to use your brains more than your feet, as it turns out… no matter, no matter. What we're going to do, with the blessing of Lord Ragnar, and largely inspired by his teachings in the field of trade and economics, is to corner the market! And that will be the lever by which I will move the world!" Master Trader Purdock beamed a massive smile while looking expectantly at each of them. No one spoke up. "Hrmph. Well. Let me go over exactly what I need each of you to do."

What it turned out each one of them needed to do was act like Master Trader Purdock was the wealthiest, most important trader in all of Redbridge. No, he was the most important trader in all of the North! Everything they did was to demonstrate to everyone watching, but most especially the captains and merchants onboard the two arriving ships, that Master Trader Purdock was rich and owned all of the spun, dyed, and woven wool that the arriving merchants were certainly hoping to buy at low, low prices ("Much too cheap in the past!" he assured them).

The reality was… a little different. Master Purdock was apparently an expert at "inter-region trade dynamics in climate-specialized commodities" and had extensively studied "the multivariable, seasonally synced relationship between the price of raw and processed wool products." Master Purdock had managed to convince those in the castle, the bank, and the Exchange that "by allowing price inefficiencies to exist and significant profits to be captured by the transport elements of the supply chain, and due to the imperfect nature of location-based trade information and the lack of transport being the primary limiting factor rather than lack of capital or supply while faced with near-limitless demand…"

Well, Aedar lost a lot of the details, but Master Trader Purdock had a new system and had managed to convince Lord Ragnar and other notables of the town to back him financially and allow Purdock to experiment with these two trade ships. Purdock himself would be operating as a middleman. Both were known vessels, hailing from the Westerlands and the Reach respectively. Both were independently owned and operated, without any significant ties to a lord paramount. Each usually carried a captain who only owned part of the ship and part of the cargo, as well likely carrying between one and three other traders per ship who either had rented part of the ship's capacity on both legs of the journey or were part owners in the ship themselves. In other words, they represented a potential opportunity to improve the prosperity of Redbridge and Purdock was willing to risk his name to prove it.

Master Purdock hypothesized that what Redbridge and the Exchange needed was to be able to get independent ships like these to visit more often. Yet the problem was how to incentivize them to return every two or three months rather than every 15 or so months that seemed to be the average. At the same time, these traders could be incentivized to dedicate a higher percentage of their cargo to raw wool or other 'critical imports'. Master Purdock had 'run the numbers' and shown that this would improve their profits over what they might expect on other routes with their current mixed cargo, yet require them to be more proactive at nurturing sources of raw wool.

But the problem was any change would be disruptive and they had been coming to Redbridge on and off for years, and likely had certain expectations when it came to the price, availability of goods, and such. They'd need to be disabused of their expectations and convinced to sign onto Master Purdock's new system.

That meant first decorating Master Purdock's newly rented-for-the-week office. With decorations Master Purdock had apparently begged and borrowed from both Lord Ragnar and the bank that was financing this little experiment, he had the messengers hanging fancy whale oil lamps to provide light to the positioned desks, while the secretaries used the finest paper to draft an elaborate invitation that would be handed to each merchant arriving at the docks.

Two guards with a rather amused guard captain arrived with a wagon and supervised the unloading of some valuables from the castle. There was some frantic effort to carefully unroll the fancy borrowed rug in the back room which was now Purdock's private office, haul in a massive desk, chairs, rich decorations for the walls and corners, and even a bookshelf that was mostly full of borrowed schoolbooks but with false covers on them. The accountant had been studying the prepared (and faked) transaction book and was laying out his desk to be ready to quickly return any requested calculations.

Finally, Master Trader Purdock hung his own nameplate on the door of his office, looked around the office carefully. He looked a bit… nervous, perhaps? He took a deep breath and declared "Right, let's do this." Aedar and his fellow messengers were directed to take the just written invitations to the docks and to offer to guide any arriving merchants. But especially to make sure they made their way to the new office soon.

Aedar soon found himself guiding a newly arrived merchant first to the finest inn near the docks to secure a room, then to the office that a mere hour before had looked like… well it had not looked like much at all. When he arrived, merchant in tow, two guards were standing on either side of the door as if they were guarding Lord Ragnar's castle gate, and as Aedar approached the door one of his fellow messengers burst out the office and sped off, the message in hand.

No sooner had Aedar delivered his merchant and (as he had been told to do) loudly tried to decline a tip as he was being paid 'most generously by Master Trader Purdock' before 'reluctantly' accepting, he was given a message by one of the secretaries and told to deliver this 'priority' message promptly to the 'Northriver Trading Company representative at the Sleeping Giant Inn'. There was no such thing as a priority message, or even a Northriver Trading Company as far as he knew, but he took the message a mere two blocks to the townhouse they had been told to deliver all messages departing from his office to unless indicated otherwise by a secret sign.

He arrived to find his fellow messenger talking with the older lady of the house, who he soon learned was Purdock's mother.

By comparison to her son, she was very pleasant, much more down to planetos, and quite a good host. Aedar quite appreciated the drink of cool water and a snack while he waited. She had several hourglasses, and when he arrived she rolled a pair of dice and told him he could depart in 7 minutes, apparently using the dice as his delay.

7 minutes later Aedar departed with a new 'response' message and soon arrived back in the office which was rather more crowded as several more merchants had arrived. He handed off the message to one of the secretaries, who opened it and put on a look concentration before marching the message into Purdocks back office. It was most amusing to watch every merchant's eyes on the secretary and the message she carried, and soon Purdock's triumphant cheer echoed from the back office, causing all of the merchants to twitch and start muttering to each other. The accountant and remaining secretary continued their busy, but unhurried work, writing in books, digging into papers, and passing notes back and forth.

Master Purdock soon emerged and somewhat 'sheepishly' informed the gathered merchants he had secured not only the entire current supply of spun, dyed, and woven wool, he had just received confirmation he now owned the next three months production from the three largest wool factories in the region.

Master Purdock looked right in his element as he smugly ignored the immediate indignation, shouts, demands, and threats of the just arrived traders. When it became apparent Master Trader Purdock wasn't about to budge, one of the merchants stormed out, headed to the Exchange that had "treated him much better on all four of his prior visits." Not two minutes later than man was back, and looking rather pale as he informed his fellow traders that not only was the cost of all forms of processed wool on the Exchange much higher, but the Exchange had none in stock, and further the put price of raw wool to sell their newly imported raw wool had fallen by nearly 30% since his last visit. The merchants started whispering to each other and wringing their hands. Two of them quickly rushed out, seemingly intent on confirming the news. They too were soon back and looking rather worried.

At that point, Master Trader Purdock swept out of his office, deposited several messages to go out, and invited the longest waiting merchant to his back office to have a private conversation with him. Aedar and his fellow messengers were quickly sent out with these new messages, inevitably destined for Purdock's mother, and immediately split up as they were ordered to take different routes each time to the house.

Aedar quickly grew to enjoy the front row seat he had at the life-sized puppet show being acted out in front of him. Every hour he got to spend in the outer office was more outlandish than the one before. There was drama! Threats! And lots and lots of acting. Midmorning an employee of the bank showed up with two heavy chests carried by four strong guards. In the privacy of his mind, Aedar wondered if the chests were full of coins or gravel. That afternoon a man Aedar recognized as a silversmith's apprentice showed up and introduced himself as "Trader Mich White out of Whiteharbor" and was quickly escorted to the back office by Purdock himself as soon as the secretary announced "Trader White." Aedar kept running occasional fake messages to Purdock's mother until the early evening when Purdock shooed all of the merchants from the office and locked up for the evening.

The next morning Aedar showed up bright and early as directed. Soon after the office opened several of the merchants showed up. Two appeared rather nervous, while another looked to be drunk. Every time Aedar had to deliver a fake message to Purdock's mother, he found himself wanting to get back soon so as not to miss anything.

Around lunchtime, Aedar arrived back in time to see the president of the Northern Wind Shipping Company arrive and greet Master Purdock warmly. They started heading to the back office before Purdock stopped them and shouted to Aedar "Boy! I'm not going to make my regular reservation at The Golden Field Inn, go see if they'd bring my meal over here so I can keep working." He glanced around the outer office at the nervous merchants, and other staff. "Ah, see if they can bring something for our guests while they're at it. Tip them well too!" With that Master Purdock untied his coin purse and threw the bulging sack to Aedar before firmly closing the door to his office.

Aedar headed out immediately, wondering if this was another setup for the poor merchants. The Golden Field Inn was one of the nicest inns in the financial district, and probably one of the most expensive ones in the entire town. Arriving at the front door, the place was packed and he couldn't get the serving girl's attention, so he headed around to the kitchen entrance. He knew the kitchen had a door that was on a side street as he'd watched the place while out of uniform for a few days on Captain Jay's orders. At the kitchen, he soon learned that not only did Master Purdock not have a reservation, or indeed any set plans for food delivery, they had never heard of Purdock and didn't want anything to do with Aedar wasting any more of their time. They had Lord Ragnar himself seated in their establishment at this very moment and didn't have time to waste!

The kitchen door slammed in his face, and Aedar took a step back and thought about what he should do about the situation and everything he knew about Master Purdock's ongoing plan. With that, he opened the purse to see how much he had to work with. He was… unpleasantly surprised to find that the purse was filled with iron bricks, the lowest value coins available. He emptied the purse into his hat without finding even a hint of copper, much less any silver. Aedar honestly wasn't sure if the entire coinpurse would buy a single meal at the Golden Field Inn. Apparently, Purdock's latest setup was on Aedar! He returned the coins and closed the pouch tightly, and headed to Purdocks' mother's house.

When he arrived and explained the predicament, she just shook her head and muttered something about big talking blowhards under her breath. She told him to try to flag down a few messengers he would trust with a few coins so they could send them shopping in different directions. Aedar shook his head as he ran to the nearest post, he couldn't imagine not trusting every single messenger hired and trained by Captain Jay. Aedar knew that if he ever did something as crass as stealing, Captain Jay would happily hunt him down personally. Aedar was happier than ever to see the messengers were both present and not away on a delivery. He explained what he needed them to do.

A mere 15 minutes later he coordinated 6 other messengers in carrying 12 quickly prepared meals to the office. The fish stew came from the best stall on the docks, they had been amused to have 3 messengers show up asking for them to fill a pot with their stew. The fresh bread came straight from the oven, fetched by another messenger using a blanket as a bag. They were quickly combined into bread bowl soup. Aedar had picked out an assortment of fruits from the Produce Market. Finally, Purdock's mother took one of her plates and prepared something before covering it with a pot, hiding the contents from his view, and told Aedar to deliver it to her son privately.

The merchants and office staff were quite surprised to be served while they waited and worked respectively. Aedar carried the special meal into Purdock's office while loudly announcing "The Golden Fields Inn was a bit understaffed during their lunch rush and apologized for the delay. Your requested meal is here." Aedar set it down out of sight of the outer office, lifting the pot to reveal a single raw carrot still with leaves and dirt attached covered in dobs of fish soup that was still dripping from the pot. Aedar lowered his voice. "Ah, be sure to thank your mother for this. Also, you owe me 16 bricks." The grimace on Purdock's face was glorious.

"Ah, thank you, lad! It smells delicious!" Purdock's booming voice could surely be heard by everyone in the outer office.

xxx

By midafternoon Aedar got to watch as Purdock got close to finalizing an agreement with one of the merchants. A flurry of messages, real ones this time, went out. First to summon an insurance agent and witness from the bank, next to the castle to let them know a large business deal would be requesting a representative of the lord to act as a witness for a document signing shortly.

After Purdock and the merchant returned from the castle full of smiles and handshakes, another flurry of messages went out to authorize various goods held in warehouses that could be claimed by the purchasers. The remaining merchants seemed to lose some of their remaining backbone. A quick series of private meetings, one after the other, seemingly made more progress in 20 minutes than the prior day and a half. The bank representative was summoned again, and this time stuck around completing their section of one contract after the next as the scribes completed the documents for final review, then further trips to the castle, and then another flurry of messages. Aedar wondered if the stevedores would be running their handcarts through the streets late into the night getting the ships loaded.

As soon as the final merchant left, Purdock closed the outer door and ordered half the lamps to be extinguished. He threw off his fancy jacket slumped down, laying right on the floor. "Hurrah!" Purdock shouted at the ceiling, but his voice sounded more than a little horse compared to his volume the last two days.

Aedar wondered if the show was finally over. One of the other messengers asked what most of them were thinking: "Did your ideas of trade and such work?"

"Oh. Uh. Somewhat." Purdock stood up "I mean, for the most part. The deals were good. Actually, better than good. Lord Ragnar will be very happy. The Exchange will probably be even happier if this works out even half as well as I expect. I surely am very happy with this result." The wild energy he has been full of seemingly coming back to him the more he talked.

"The biggest surprise was half of those merchants were just stumbling along without really knowing what they did was working and what wasn't working. It seems like most of them operate by only buying or selling when something seems like a good deal." Purdock grumbled something else under his breath. "I mean you'll earn enough to feed your family that way, but it is so inefficient! If you keep clear records, you'll know exactly how much you profited on a dozen barrels of wine versus a dozen barrels of pitch. Then you do more of what worked best for specific customers, suppliers, and harbors! Sure there is more risk in specializing, but if you optimize even a small amount you'll easily be able to offset any temporary losses as your profits will be so much higher! Instead of hauling just what they expect will sell well at their next port, they're hauling all their unsold stuff!"

"I mean, just one of those traders brought 200 belt knives, a load of furs, and several tons of wheat here! Doesn't he know our iron products beat everyone else on price and quality, we produce and export furs unless it is close to winter, and our largest bulk export commodities is wheat mainly to the Iron Islands? Sure he also brought even more raw wool, wine, iron nails, and pitch that between myself and the Exchange we happily bought, but there was so much wasted profit! And cargo space! Profit and cargo space we could have used to sell him more of our exports! Even if they don't know the term, you'd think they'd at least respect the opportunity cost! Gah!"

Master Purdock paced around in an agitated manner. "I realized yesterday evening their biggest common goal wasn't maximizing profit, but to have steady and predictable trade. I admit I was surprised by this realization. That is when I started making real progress. They were quite worried but some written guarantees by Lord Ragnar's representative in the contract certainly helped. They were happy to agree to practically the same terms I offered them the first morning which they vehemently refused initially."

"The deal is certainly more complex than them simply sailing here and dumping whatever they can on the Exchange, buying some processed goods, and leaving as they have been doing. The new deal is we pay them a bit less for some specific goods, but the price is a minimum guaranteed ahead of time, and if they deliver enough goods from our Strategic Imports Priority A list in a six month period, mainly wool but it does include other things, we'll give them a bonus that is based on the volume of delivered goods. If they pull off one shipload with mostly priority goods, they'd probably make the minimums for a small bonus, which should work out to a bit more than what we've paid in the past. If they pull off two trips they certainly will have a nice payday and we'll be paying a premium for the goods. But that is the point; for many goods like wool and wine and sugar and processed metal and a few others, Redbridge already profits hugely on them. We just need more. So the limiting factor is the number of ships and the network of suppliers they need to further develop in different ports along the Riverlands, the Westerlands, and the Reach. Perhaps in the future, some ships will be fetching specific goods from Dorne or the Stormlands or even Essos for us."

"I suspect what will end up mattering the most is they will be developing an extended supply chain in many key ports along the west coast. On our behalf, they will be driving up the price of these priority A goods. It is clearly in their best interest to pass along a bit more of the profits rather than just these shippers soaking up as much of the profit as they can. We will of course get more goods, but we'll start pricing out foreign spinners and weavers and start taking economic control of the entire industry. That will in turn open up the market to supply thread and broadcloth back to these same markets. At the same time, every farmer or lord who profits from wool will dedicate more of their resources to producing more wool. And that will let us more easily import ever-larger amounts, which allows further labor specialization here in Redbridge. And further, as we get both more frequent ships and a higher percentage of cargo being wool or other essential imports to sell our exports to. And some of those merchants will have the confidence and the capital to either rent more cargo space on a different ship or contract an entire ship of goods." Purdock stared off into the distance. "A massive, beautiful self-reinforcing cycle of trade and mutual profitability."

Purdock refocused on the room with a large smile. "I suppose I'll have to work on some of my theories. For these traders, their view of the world does fit in rather well with a mercantilist model, but writ small. Their lack of proper accounting prevented many of them from conducting an honest analysis of the situation and turned what I expected to be a rational decision into a gut feeling decision. They are experienced traders who have numerous contacts, but really, when I started explaining how paying a better price to their suppliers will lead to increased volumes and faster turnaround time in port, they just don't get it. Much less when I had to explain things like the inflation contingency clause in the contract, half of them looked like wildling savages faced with a hungry direwolf…"

"Hmph. Well, the true test will be if this system will scale up with further merchants and if they will truly be incentivized to return more frequently. Their accepted terms should certainly push them in that direction, and they know the agreement may lapse if they're not here at least every six months outside of winter, but I suppose I shouldn't trust them all to be rational about that either. Anyway. Each of you should submit your hours and expenses for me to sign so you can be paid via your regular employers over the next few days. If there are any issues you can ask for me at the University."

Aedar grabbed a sheet of paper and made sure to write down his hours and his 16 iron bricks he'd spent for lunch. He was about to turn over to be signed when he thought back on Purdock's negotiating strategy of pushing hard until you got some push back, and then negotiating further even further from there. He wrote down a respectable tip for each of the messengers who had assisted him with lunch. They hadn't been tipped after all. "Hey, Accountant Durburry, what is a typical interest rate for an unsecured loan to a man with no assets?"

Durburry looked up, a bit surprised. "Oh, it isn't uncommon to see rates higher than 20% a month in such cases, but it is a risky thing if there are no assets to back such a loan. Usually, around here it is farmers getting farm machinery and horses, but in that case, the loan is backed by the value of the equipment and animals resulting in a lower interest rate, and in such situations the farmer never sees the coinage reducing the temptation of fraud."

"Hrm… thanks." 20% of 16… Or higher. The math was tricky, but rounding made it easier to be approximate. He added a new line item of 4 iron bricks of interest. High interest for a risky loan sounded about right for the situation. He passed the sheet over to Purdock and tried to keep a straight face as Purdock squinted at the line items and total, then at Aedar.

Purdock shook his head and grumbled something about cornering the market, before signing and returning the sheet with one last glance at Aedar.

xxx

Aedar had been working as a messenger for nearly 6 months by his count and his life had settled into a steady pattern. He had sent a package of some thread and woven cloth to his mother that he'd bought with some of his bonus pay for working with Purdock. The thread and cloth were wool, of course. He liked the thought that perhaps some of the wool his mother or siblings were wearing was from one of the trades he had helped with, at least in a small way.

He had considered moving from the barn loft he was living into a better rental as there were plenty of spare rooms, basements, attics, and even shared bunk rooms that wouldn't put much of a dent in his income, but he figured the barn was comfortable enough for now, although he had his eye on a few places he could grab if Fall arrived. He had heard some horror stories of 'sleeping on a rope' in a packed room for the poorest caught without a real option come winter and didn't want to find himself in that situation.

Aedar had moved on from getting trained to occasionally helping Captain Jay teach new messengers, at least with some of the lessons. He thought he was rather good at giving tips at spotting suspicious characters, as well as keeping track of them without being spotted out. He was certainly appreciative of the bonus he got for his tipoff leading to the bust of an innkeeper running a small, unlicensed brothel as a side business. He was pretty sure his bonus was based on a few percent of the fines collected.

As he was collecting his pay at the end of his latest shift, Captain Jay asked him to stick around. He was immediately excited, often these private conversations lead to interesting, special duties. The last special assignment had seen him assigned to the University's printing press looking for printing errors when they'd had a shortage of literate workers. It hadn't been exciting, but it had paid well.

"Are you still looking for an apprenticeship? There is an opportunity for you to consider."

"I am, and I'm open to hearing it." Between tips from customers, his regular pay, and the irregular bonuses from Captain Jay for odd jobs, Aedar thought he was doing quite well. He was keeping an eye on his growing savings and hoped he would have enough for an apprenticeship either before or to start during the next winter. From some of the friends he had made, he knew for many of the apprentices wintertime involved less grunt work and more direct lessons, although there were some exceptions.

"Good. I would like you to go through some basic training as a trainee Postman with the Postal Service. After completing the orientation that should take less than a week, you'll be assigned to a temporary teacher for field training. What he would not know is that you'll also be looking for irregularities, especially financial, as you assist the postman in his duties while learning from him. There was recently a kerfuffle with both of the long-distance postmen working the Osend to Stonefisk route, as well as one of the three postmen working the Osend to Silverhold route. This particular postman has worked both of those routes recently, and we know he has had contact with some of the indicted people."

"If you finish this investigation, regardless of if you find wrongdoing or not, you can choose to continue this career, or choose to return to your role as a messenger. During the assignment, I'll pay you the equivalent of working two shifts per day. Do you have any questions?"

Aedar thought for a moment. He would get to try a job with no risk of losing his current one. "This route… is it by land or by boat?"

"By land. From here to Silverhold. The route follows the river up into the mountains then back down again, it is a road the entire way."

Ah good. That seemed fine. "Would I need to buy any supplies? Or would everything be provided?"

"I would imagine everything would be provided, what were you thinking of?"

"Oh, I don't have a tent or proper bedroll. I'm not sure what I would do about food, I haven't cooked very many meals myself, and certainly not over a fire. By the way, how long would the journey to Silverhold be? And back, I presume."

"I believe it is about 10 days one way. I'm sure funds can be provided for those things, although I imagine the postman will provide food."

Oh man, 10 days there, 10 days back minimum was a long trip. Here he was thinking it would only be a week total. Well, it would give him plenty of time and exposure to the work of a postman to see if he wanted to continue with the job. "All right, I accept."

xxx

Postal service training was pretty boring by comparison to learning under Captain Jay. He was learning things, but learning how to pack a wagon securely, or how to properly wrap a package and to calculate the proper postage rates was quite dull. There were numerous other services provided by the traveling postmen, some he was introduced to others were left to on the road training. On the other hand, he got to learn how to ride a horse, although he was told most of the route would be riding a wagon, horse riding was still helpful if the wagon broke down or he had an injury that required him to hurry for help. Aedar had plenty of experience handling and harnessing horses on his stepfather's farm, but that had always involved walking beside the horse or riding the machinery. He was being trained with a saddle but was told he probably wouldn't have one with him on most routes.

Somewhat more interesting was evening tutoring with his old acquaintance Accountant Durburry, who taught him a few auditors tricks for finding fraud. He learned to count up the leading digit of every number on a page, and compare the frequency of 1s, to 2s, to 3s, etc. Somehow, the number of 1s should be more than the number of 2s, more than the number of 3s, etc. If numbers were being faked or manipulated, this would often lead to a distribution of numbers not following this pattern. However, Durburry was quick to point out this didn't constitute evidence of fraud but could guide further analysis.

Durburry also showed how some numbers like 1s could be turned into a 7, and a 9 or 0 could be turned into an 8, but not vice versa. This was especially a problem with signed contracts or receipts. He also had three thin sheets of a special stone that were nearly perfectly transparent. Each was dyed a different color, one being red, another green, and the third blue. When a suspect document was placed in the direct sun, and a colored sheet of stone held above it, the resulting colored light could reveal tampering such as rubbing out sections and replacing them with a different ink.

Captain Jay joined him for most of these lessons as they were held in his office, and he later cautioned Aedar to look for simpler forms of employee fraud such as theft, accepting kickbacks, intentionally mis-weighing or mischarging customers, rather than the more advanced forms Durburry focused on.
xxx

Once his training was complete, Captain Jay escorted Aedar to a meeting in the postal service building. They met with the director and Aedar soon was getting a lot more orders regarding his mission.

"The main thing is we don't have evidence one way or the other. The position of Postman is highly sensitive and can have nearly as big of an impact as a corrupt taxman. The issues we've identified with the other employees were primarily theft. They realized our security was lax for the lower value postage items. Additionally, it seems at least some of the employees were accepting bribes or gifts in exchange for reducing the price of services, and not recording these payments. Defrauding the postal service."

"The arrests have happened recently enough, and far enough from here, that it shouldn't yet be general knowledge here in Redbridge. Although it is possible you will hear the news while on the road or when you arrive in Silverhold, it is also possible you won't due to the distance from Osend to Silverhold is nearly 50% longer than Redbridge to Silverhold. His reaction may be telling, but we'd prefer for you to focus on his actions in person and record any suspicious behavior. Now, do you have any questions? The postman is now in town and knows he has a fresh trainee for his next run. He will be leaving tomorrow, and so I'll be introducing you to him this afternoon."

xxx

The two days with postman Jolf turned out to be rather different than Aedar had expected. The man was gruff and quiet. Both days had gone by with barely a handful of words being spoken, and most of those were directions for how to do his job. It was quite a different experience from his normal day working as a messenger, where he would regularly converse with dozens of friends and acquaintances, especially while on duty.

Most of Aedar's duties were relating to setting up and breaking down camp. One night they'd stayed in a village, sleeping on the floor of the schoolhouse. The other day was camping on the side of the road. Every mile or two there would be a clearing on the side of the road set up for travelers. Most had both a small line of firewood with a few boards to keep it dry, a simple toilet, and a trail to a water source which was usually a creek. It was pretty common for the camps to have a highline and water trough for tying up the horses at night. The line would run between two sturdy trees and be above the head height of the horse so they wouldn't get tangled. Each evening before they reached their camp, Jolf would send Aedar into the woods to gather some dried wood for their fire. If the wood he found was too wet, they'd take some from the camp stash and leave behind their gathered wood. Some of the villages they stopped at or passed through would have an inn with rooms to rent, but so far they had not indulged. They also hadn't even set up tents, preferring to sleep under the wagon in case of rain.

Jolf was a fairly large man and was even more noticeable due to him missing his left arm below the elbow. It didn't seem to slow him down much, although most of their activities so far had been loading the large post wagon in Redbridge, then stops dropping off and picking up envelopes in every tiny village they passed as they worked their way inland following the river that would eventually lead them to one of the Twin Lakes, and from there a short distance to Silverhold. Each stop was brief, usually only lasting minutes unless it was close to evening in which case they might spend the night.

Their wagon was quite ridiculous looking. First of all, it was a large 4 wheeled wagon. While it wasn't overflowing, Aedar had helped load up the many packages, boxes, barrels, fodder, and other miscellaneous bits that made up their cargo. Many packages were wrapped in paper, with writing indicating each package's destination. However, what was behind the wagon was what made it stand out. No less than three farming machines of various types, partially disassembled, were towed behind them. One piece of large machinery was towed immediately behind them, while the other two smaller machines were attached to a small cart by a second horse team that was tied by a long lead to the back of the wagon. Every time Aedar looked at the rig he had to shake his head. At least he didn't have to drive the second cart as the horses were accustomed to following their lead. It didn't even have a seat for a diver.

Aedar could see indications they were getting close to their next stop. There were pastures and even a few fields visible through trees, and while the road was still in good shape he could see signs of heavier usage. It was a sure sign that rather than a farmstead or three, they were approaching a larger village. Sure enough, a few minutes later the trees grew sparse enough that across numerous fields houses were visible, most of them tightly clustered together. Soon Jolf was turning off the main road and leaving a signpost indicating they were at Sweetbrook, while another sign indicated Redbridge was 73 kilometers away. As Jolf drove the postal wagon into the center of the village, Aedar estimated there might be as many as 20 houses, making this one of the larger villages they had seen so far. Numerous children were around, and as they spotted the wagon some went running inside houses, presumably to let their parents know that a visitor was in town. The wagon was soon stopped along the village green, next to the entrance of a large barn.

"Take the horses out of harness and get them into the inn's stable," Jolf ordered, gesturing at a public house partway around the village green. Aedar hurried to do so, although he was rather surprised. It was only midmorning, and every one of their prior stops in villages large and small had only been a few minutes before departing again. Certainly, they'd never stopped this early in the day and spent the night. He took the horses two at a time to the stable and was glad a boy emerged to help him. They had a total of four horses pulling the wagon, two more pulling an extra towing cart, and another two horses following on leads. When he was the only one doing the work at each camp, it was quite burdensome to handle all of the horses to Jolf's satisfaction.

He returned to where the wagon had been left next to the barn. It seemed like half the village was already present. Jolf had acquired a small desk and table from somewhere and was writing something on the inside of the now open barn doors while a line of villages waited in line in front of his table. On the outside of the barn, was a large board with about 25 trade goods listed. Each trade good had a name, a quantity, and two prices but those were hung on wood blocks that could be removed and updated. For the two price columns, one was labeled 'Put at Exchange' and the other 'Put Here'. The very first row was Wheat, 4 stone sack, 4.7 pennies, 4.1 pennies. Aedar took that to mean the farmer could haul their wheat to the Exchange and get 4.7 pennies per sack, or sell it to Jolf for 4.1 pennies per sack. He wondered if their already rather heavy wagon was going to be even more loaded down by the time they left.

Jolf was able to quickly update 4 of the prices before he ordered Aedar to bring him the sack of mail from the wagon. Jolf opened it, pulling out numerous smaller sacks. Each was tied closed and had a label written on a paper tag. Jolf found the one sack he was looking for and opened it. He pulled out about 10 envelopes and another 6 small packages. Three more slips of paper came out of the sack and were handed to Aedar.

"Find those in the back wagon, don't give them to the recipients but bring them here" Jolf directed him.

Aedar looked at the first slip of paper. Dest: Sweetbrook - SBK To: Mr. Tythis Ulen Desc: Medium size. Aedar climbed into the back of the wagon and started looking at the various packages. He soon spotted a package labeled SBK, although it wasn't addressed to the same person. He looked at the next slip of paper. This one matched the package he'd just found, so he set it to the side. After a few more minutes of looking through the stacked packages and he found his target. Aedar looked at the third slip of paper. Dest: Sweetbrook - SBK To: Mr. Borras Hulf Desc: Horse, female, 2 years, dapple gray Addl: Signature required on bank contract. Well, he wasn't about to find that buried under other packages in the back of the wagon. He took the two packages and the slips back to Jolf who seemed to be transcribing a letter on behalf of a farmer.

As the farmer paid then stepped back, Jolf looked over the packages.

"The last slip is for one of the horses now in the stable. Should I fetch it?" Aedar asked.

"No, wait to see if the man is even here." Jolf picked up the stack of letters. "Mail call! Keep quiet until I'm done!" and with that, he read out each of the names of the letters followed by the packages large and small. Some were addressed to family names, others specific individuals. Some came forward immediately and got their envelope or package and departed, others did not seem to be present. Jolf arranged for villagers to let their missing neighbors know that something had arrived and was waiting for pickup and would be available until early the next day. Many of the kids in the crowd seemed unduly fascinated with Aedar and he tried to ignore the staring and whispers. It wasn't anything he hadn't seen before.

Jolf passed Aedar a few sheets of paper. "Can you read these?"

Aedar accepted the papers and looked at the writing. It was a familiar format. He recognized some of the messages, word for word. "Sure, want me to announce them now?"

Jolf looked at Aedar, a bit taken back. "Yes. Sit up on the wagon seat and call them out in a loud voice. Pause between each message."

Aedar climbed up on the wagon and shouted out "Now hiring sailors for profitable voyages! No experience necessary! Part of profit shared with all crew by contract! Inquire at the Blue Star Line warehouse near Redbridge's harbor!" he paused. "The Ragnar Land Office is offering new, fully equipped farms in exchange for 1 year's labor. Land may be requested near existing villages. Announce yourself or send a letter of inquiry to the Ragnar Land Office of Redbridge" On and on it went. There were many more announcements than he normally had on any given day as a messenger. Businesses offering farming machines and parts, trade goods and tools available by mail order, even how to hire a crew of lumberjacks to clear land via letter. The number of trade goods mentioned was numerous, and most included mentions like "For prices and full listing, inquire about our magazine." Several announcements were different. Public service announcements regarding health and safety, services offered including the Exchange, banking, and crop insurance, announcements about winter school, and how a town could request a teacher before winter started.

The last page was different still. It seemed to be entirely news. Some were rather boring ("Three new villages founded on the Cedar River, five days travel up the coast from Redbridge.") others outlandish ("A massive whale, with two large white spots near the head and a prominent white hump, and 19 broken harpoons in its body has escaped again!") and others informative ("During the year of 266, now concluded, it can be stated with certainty that more ships and goods than ever before departed from the Stoney Shore bound for destinations in the Riverlands, Westerlands, Iron Islands, The Reach, and even Essos! The harbor at Redbridge was the busiest port not just in the Ragnar lands but also the busiest Northern port on the Sunset Sea, with 7 out of 10 of all sailings departing from its harbor!") Some of them seemed to be written to entertain often shared humorous rumors and stories especially to the detriment of those who were far away like the greed of the Braavosi merchants, the cruelty of Myrish magisters, and the strange fashions of the Tyroshi people.

While there were more announcements than he normally made at any one time, the thing that struck Aedar the most was the reaction of the villagers. When he read announcements in Redbridge, even a new message would barely get any reaction from most listeners. Here, however, the crowd grew quiet and focused on him. When he glanced up when switching to the next page, he could see that the crowd had grown even larger. When he finished all of the announcements, he had the rather strange experience of being thanked by children and adults, something that had certainly never happened no matter where he had been stationed in Redbridge. He returned to standing over Jolf's shoulder feeling rather confused.

Aedar watched as villager after villager stepped up to Jolf's desk and he assisted them. A few were sending letters, sometimes needing to buy supplies or get assistance, other times just buying stamps. Many more stamps sold than letters were mailed. Jolf assisted one in writing out a legal complaint. A few needed to send packages, which involved measuring, weighing, and looking up the cost based on the destination on a small reference sheet. Most of the packages were small and seemed to be headed to family members in Redbridge or Silverhold, although one was headed for "village at the turn of the river 2 days northeast of Deepwood Motte."

A few villagers later, and Aedar was given his next job by Jolf. One of the village women was asking for a magazine and Jolf volunteered Aedar to assist. He quickly found himself sitting in the wagon seat surrounded by several villagers as he read the tiny print of the mail order magazines in response to various requests. The larger magazines were ordered by type of goods but had so many offerings. One magazine had a 'tools' section that listed everything from farming equipment to seeds to hand-cranked washing machines. Other categories were even broader. Supplies like barrels, buckets, blankets, rope, needles, thread, resealable ceramic jars, knives, bows, arrows, arrowheads, feathers for bedding, skis, and snowshoes, and every type of clothing imaginable. Toys including balls, ice skates, cards, dolls, toy carts, and board games. Food from flour to salted fish to hardtack. If you wanted to build a house they'd sell you the wood, the nails, the roofing tiles (would you like to order wood or clay tiles?) the hinges and latch for the door, and even copper sheeting to keep the mice from climbing the floor posts and paint for keeping insects and rot away. They'd sell you the stove, the bedframe, mattress, pillows, and sheets. If you wanted to go big, you could get a sink and pipes (would you prefer the copper or wood piping?) too.

Several magazines had overlapping stock. Some were narrower in focus, like one on livestock but offered accessories like horse tack, carts, wagons, cattle brands, or designs for chicken and duck sheds. Prices, products, and minimum quantities varied. Some required full payment by mail, others had different terms, and a few large items offered financing with approval from the Royal Bank of the North. Many mentioned accepting transfer checks from the bank, others mentioned accepting stamps or postal checks. Each magazine had a small stack of envelopes to write out your order with a simple 'prepaid' logo and number printed in the place a stamp would go. Money or a different payment method could be included in the envelope.

Aedar needed a few sips from his waterskin by the time he'd finished with the last magazine. Several villagers and most of the listening children started wandering off, but a few started asking him more questions. How much was the 6 pack of needles from one supplier, versus the 10 pack from the other? Was there a picture in the magazine of the maple tree tapping equipment? Did the Belethor's General Goods accept Exchange transfers or only direct payments? Did any of the magazines guarantee the price of flour if paid on arrival? Sigh. A whole new round of squinting at details written in small letters followed.

The two days with postman Jolf turned out to be rather different than Aedar had expected. The man was gruff and quiet. Both days had gone by with barely a handful of words being spoken, and most of those were directions for how to do his job. It was quite a different experience from his normal day working as a messenger, where he would regularly converse with dozens of friends and acquaintances, especially while on duty.

Most of Aedar's duties were relating to setting up and breaking down camp. One night they'd stayed in a village, sleeping on the floor of the schoolhouse. The other day was camping on the side of the road. Every mile or two there would be a clearing on the side of the road set up for travelers. Most had both a small line of firewood with a few boards to keep it dry, a simple toilet, and a trail to a water source which was usually a creek. It was pretty common for the camps to have a highline and water trough for tying up the horses at night. The line would run between two sturdy trees and be above the head height of the horse so they wouldn't get tangled. Each evening before they reached their camp, Jolf would send Aedar into the woods to gather some dried wood for their fire. If the wood he found was too wet, they'd take some from the camp stash and leave behind their gathered wood. Some of the villages they stopped at or passed through would have an inn with rooms to rent, but so far they had not indulged. They also hadn't even set up tents, preferring to sleep under the wagon in case of rain.

Jolf was a fairly large man and was even more noticeable due to him missing his left arm below the elbow. It didn't seem to slow him down much, although most of their activities so far had been loading the large post wagon in Redbridge, then stops dropping off and picking up envelopes in every tiny village they passed as they worked their way inland following the river that would eventually lead them to one of the Twin Lakes, and from there a short distance to Silverhold. Each stop was brief, usually only lasting minutes unless it was close to evening in which case they might spend the night.

Their wagon was quite ridiculous looking. First of all, it was a large 4 wheeled wagon. While it wasn't overflowing, Aedar had helped load up the many packages, boxes, barrels, fodder, and other miscellaneous bits that made up their cargo. Many packages were wrapped in paper, with writing indicating each package's destination. However, what was behind the wagon was what made it stand out. No less than three farming machines of various types, partially disassembled, were towed behind them. One piece of large machinery was towed immediately behind them, while the other two smaller machines were attached to a small cart by a second horse team that was tied by a long lead to the back of the wagon. Every time Aedar looked at the rig he had to shake his head. At least he didn't have to drive the second cart as the horses were accustomed to following their lead. It didn't even have a seat for a diver.

Aedar could see indications they were getting close to their next stop. There were pastures and even a few fields visible through trees, and while the road was still in good shape he could see signs of heavier usage. It was a sure sign that rather than a farmstead or three, they were approaching a larger village. Sure enough, a few minutes later the trees grew sparse enough that across numerous fields houses were visible, most of them tightly clustered together. Soon Jolf was turning off the main road and leaving a signpost indicating they were at Sweetbrook, while another sign indicated Redbridge was 73 kilometers away. As Jolf drove the postal wagon into the center of the village, Aedar estimated there might be as many as 20 houses, making this one of the larger villages they had seen so far. Numerous children were around, and as they spotted the wagon some went running inside houses, presumably to let their parents know that a visitor was in town. The wagon was soon stopped along the village green, next to the entrance of a large barn.

"Take the horses out of harness and get them into the inn's stable," Jolf ordered, gesturing at a public house partway around the village green. Aedar hurried to do so, although he was rather surprised. It was only midmorning, and every one of their prior stops in villages large and small had only been a few minutes before departing again. Certainly, they'd never stopped this early in the day and spent the night. He took the horses two at a time to the stable and was glad a boy emerged to help him. They had a total of four horses pulling the wagon, two more pulling an extra towing cart, and another two horses following on leads. When he was the only one doing the work at each camp, it was quite burdensome to handle all of the horses to Jolf's satisfaction.

He returned to where the wagon had been left next to the barn. It seemed like half the village was already present. Jolf had acquired a small desk and table from somewhere and was writing something on the inside of the now open barn doors while a line of villages waited in line in front of his table. On the outside of the barn, was a large board with about 25 trade goods listed. Each trade good had a name, a quantity, and two prices but those were hung on wood blocks that could be removed and updated. For the two price columns, one was labeled 'Put at Exchange' and the other 'Put Here'. The very first row was Wheat, 4 stone sack, 4.7 pennies, 4.1 pennies. Aedar took that to mean the farmer could haul their wheat to the Exchange and get 4.7 pennies per sack, or sell it to Jolf for 4.1 pennies per sack. He wondered if their already rather heavy wagon was going to be even more loaded down by the time they left.

Jolf was able to quickly update 4 of the prices before he ordered Aedar to bring him the sack of mail from the wagon. Jolf opened it, pulling out numerous smaller sacks. Each was tied closed and had a label written on a paper tag. Jolf found the one sack he was looking for and opened it. He pulled out about 10 envelopes and another 6 small packages. Three more slips of paper came out of the sack and were handed to Aedar.

"Find those in the back wagon, don't give them to the recipients but bring them here" Jolf directed him.

Aedar looked at the first slip of paper. Dest: Sweetbrook - SBK To: Mr. Tythis Ulen Desc: Medium size. Aedar climbed into the back of the wagon and started looking at the various packages. He soon spotted a package labeled SBK, although it wasn't addressed to the same person. He looked at the next slip of paper. This one matched the package he'd just found, so he set it to the side. After a few more minutes of looking through the stacked packages and he found his target. Aedar looked at the third slip of paper. Dest: Sweetbrook - SBK To: Mr. Borras Hulf Desc: Horse, female, 2 years, dapple gray Addl: Signature required on bank contract. Well, he wasn't about to find that buried under other packages in the back of the wagon. He took the two packages and the slips back to Jolf who seemed to be transcribing a letter on behalf of a farmer.

As the farmer paid then stepped back, Jolf looked over the packages.

"The last slip is for one of the horses now in the stable. Should I fetch it?" Aedar asked.

"No, wait to see if the man is even here." Jolf picked up the stack of letters. "Mail call! Keep quiet until I'm done!" and with that, he read out each of the names of the letters followed by the packages large and small. Some were addressed to family names, others specific individuals. Some came forward immediately and got their envelope or package and departed, others did not seem to be present. Jolf arranged for villagers to let their missing neighbors know that something had arrived and was waiting for pickup and would be available until early the next day. Many of the kids in the crowd seemed unduly fascinated with Aedar and he tried to ignore the staring and whispers. It wasn't anything he hadn't seen before.

Jolf passed Aedar a few sheets of paper. "Can you read these?"

Aedar accepted the papers and looked at the writing. It was a familiar format. He recognized some of the messages, word for word. "Sure, want me to announce them now?"

Jolf looked at Aedar, a bit taken back. "Yes. Sit up on the wagon seat and call them out in a loud voice. Pause between each message."

Aedar climbed up on the wagon and shouted out "Now hiring sailors for profitable voyages! No experience necessary! Part of profit shared with all crew by contract! Inquire at the Blue Star Line warehouse near Redbridge's harbor!" he paused. "The Ragnar Land Office is offering new, fully equipped farms in exchange for 1 year's labor. Land may be requested near existing villages. Announce yourself or send a letter of inquiry to the Ragnar Land Office of Redbridge" On and on it went. There were many more announcements than he normally had on any given day as a messenger. Businesses offering farming machines and parts, trade goods and tools available by mail order, even how to hire a crew of lumberjacks to clear land via letter. The number of trade goods mentioned was numerous, and most included mentions like "For prices and full listing, inquire about our magazine." Several announcements were different. Public service announcements regarding health and safety, services offered including the Exchange, banking, and crop insurance, announcements about winter school, and how a town could request a teacher before winter started.

The last page was different still. It seemed to be entirely news. Some were rather boring ("Three new villages founded on the Cedar River, five days travel up the coast from Redbridge.") others outlandish ("A massive whale, with two large white spots near the head and a prominent white hump, and 19 broken harpoons in its body has escaped again!") and others informative ("During the year of 266, now concluded, it can be stated with certainty that more ships and goods than ever before departed from the Stoney Shore bound for destinations in the Riverlands, Westerlands, Iron Islands, The Reach, and even Essos! The harbor at Redbridge was the busiest port not just in the Ragnar lands but also the busiest Northern port on the Sunset Sea, with 7 out of 10 of all sailings departing from its harbor!") Some of them seemed to be written to entertain often shared humorous rumors and stories especially to the detriment of those who were far away like the greed of the Braavosi merchants, the cruelty of Myrish magisters, and the strange fashions of the Tyroshi people.

While there were more announcements than he normally made at any one time, the thing that struck Aedar the most was the reaction of the villagers. When he read announcements in Redbridge, even a new message would barely get any reaction from most listeners. Here, however, the crowd grew quiet and focused on him. When he glanced up when switching to the next page, he could see that the crowd had grown even larger. When he finished all of the announcements, he had the rather strange experience of being thanked by children and adults, something that had certainly never happened no matter where he had been stationed in Redbridge. He returned to standing over Jolf's shoulder feeling rather confused.

Aedar watched as villager after villager stepped up to Jolf's desk and he assisted them. A few were sending letters, sometimes needing to buy supplies or get assistance, other times just buying stamps. Many more stamps sold than letters were mailed. Jolf assisted one in writing out a legal complaint. A few needed to send packages, which involved measuring, weighing, and looking up the cost based on the destination on a small reference sheet. Most of the packages were small and seemed to be headed to family members in Redbridge or Silverhold, although one was headed for "village at the turn of the river 2 days northeast of Deepwood Motte."

A few villagers later, and Aedar was given his next job by Jolf. One of the village women was asking for a magazine and Jolf volunteered Aedar to assist. He quickly found himself sitting in the wagon seat surrounded by several villagers as he read the tiny print of the mail order magazines in response to various requests. The larger magazines were ordered by type of goods but had so many offerings. One magazine had a 'tools' section that listed everything from farming equipment to seeds to hand-cranked washing machines. Other categories were even broader. Supplies like barrels, buckets, blankets, rope, needles, thread, resealable ceramic jars, knives, bows, arrows, arrowheads, feathers for bedding, skis, and snowshoes, and every type of clothing imaginable. Toys including balls, ice skates, cards, dolls, toy carts, and board games. Food from flour to salted fish to hardtack. If you wanted to build a house they'd sell you the wood, the nails, the roofing tiles (would you like to order wood or clay tiles?) the hinges and latch for the door, and even copper sheeting to keep the mice from climbing the floor posts and paint for keeping insects and rot away. They'd sell you the stove, the bedframe, mattress, pillows, and sheets. If you wanted to go big, you could get a sink and pipes (would you prefer the copper or wood piping?) too.

Several magazines had overlapping stock. Some were narrower in focus, like one on livestock but offered accessories like horse tack, carts, wagons, cattle brands, or designs for chicken and duck sheds. Prices, products, and minimum quantities varied. Some required full payment by mail, others had different terms, and a few large items offered financing with approval from the Royal Bank of the North. Many mentioned accepting transfer checks from the bank, others mentioned accepting stamps or postal checks. Each magazine had a small stack of envelopes to write out your order with a simple 'prepaid' logo and number printed in the place a stamp would go. Money or a different payment method could be included in the envelope.

Aedar needed a few sips from his waterskin by the time he'd finished with the last magazine. Several villagers and most of the listening children started wandering off, but a few started asking him more questions. How much was the 6 pack of needles from one supplier, versus the 10 pack from the other? Was there a picture in the magazine of the maple tree tapping equipment? Did the Belethor's General Goods accept Exchange transfers or only direct payments? Did any of the magazines guarantee the price of flour if paid on arrival? Sigh. A whole new round of squinting at details written in small letters followed.