Welcome to Gaia! ::

Hvergelmir had haggled before, so she had some sense of it, usually -- but being offered more than what she'd asked was an anomaly indeed, and usually meant only one thing: someone knew she was an emissary of Princess Cosmos, and was under orders to make her stay extra-hospitable. That wasn't something she'd imagined would be an issue here; she wasn't visiting on Cosmos's business, and the knights of the Cosmos didn't count on special treatment otherwise.

Hvergelmir could only guess the vendor was thinking, instead, of Sailor Iris standing behind her. Were they afraid of her? Hoping to curry favor with her?

Well, she certainly didn't want to cause him any trouble. The ring wasn't much, but it looked nicely enough made -- she slipped it on her finger to judge its size on her hand. Not bad.

She wondered if it was enough to trade for a meal, or if trading something onward was considered rude here. Some cultures took their gifts very seriously.

"If you see it as fair, I agree," she said, handing her Rhodesian coins out to the vendor with her best Cosmos manners. "Thank you for parting with such precious items."

Hvergelmir looked back at Iris again, silently asking: Am I done? Did I miss anything?

Hvergelmir turned back to Iris, joining her in studying the ring on her finger. In her other hand, she held the comb. "Ah," she said, grateful for Iris's identification of the ring she'd gotten as a free bonus. "What do you suppose it's bone from? Do you know?" She wondered, with some trepidation, if Iris was about to say a human, and hoped not.

After their examination of the ring, Hvergelmir twisted her hair up more securely, and slid the new comb into place to hold it. It felt good to have some of the stray hairs off of her neck.

"That depends," she answered Iris's question. "If I use this -- " She held up her hand with the bone ring and wiggled her fingers with a smile. " -- to buy us something to eat, will you tell me more about yourself?"

Food in exchange for conversation: she really was learning to barter.