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Her siblings and their allies had returned from their adventures, bearing the spoils of trade, and Malta was among the first to begin perusing them. With an affectionate headbutt and a purred greeting to her brother, and a few nods to other traders she knew, Malta began to peruse the wares on display. As an alchemist, she of course sought alchemy ingredients, but she was always on the look out for other things brought in from the Magescian lands. Cloth and artwork fascinated her, and made excellent additions to her lair, and jewelery... well, jewelery was pretty. Malta sniffed around, ignoring the claims and making her own decisions on what to buy. Which, alas, wasn't much - today was, apparently, a sparse market day...

[To Jeweler's stall]

[Tall Jeweler's Stall]

A glitter caught Malta's roving eye, and she trotted over to a friend of her's, grinning fondly. “Almar!” she greeted. She'd known Almar for years. Ever since she'd returned to the settlement, the gaili miner had been a reliable source for good-quality gems and mineral substances. Malta couldn't imagine the bravery it took to delve into the caverns of the expanse and claw stones from the walls. It had nearly been too much for her to leave her mother's tribe, and they had been terrifying. “Almar, how are you?”

“Doing pretty well, Malta.” he grinned at her, outwardly flirtacious. Of course, he was flirtacious to everyone, but Malta liked to think she got a little something special. Or perhaps not. It was immaterial – he wasn't what she was looking for in a mate, and she had one already. For now. “Here, take a look – I managed to claw out some really nice ore!” he showed her stones – unremarkable save for the vein of shimming silver that flowed through it, “I bet the metalworkers in the south quarter will have a field day with this! Can you imagine – silver anklets, maybe...” he smirked, “Maybe some tail-lets to match your pretty grey markings!”

Malta laughed, a little coquettishly. She did like her silver blotches, and from what she had seen, silver did go nicely with them, but she wasn't after silver. “Maybe some other time, I can try them on...” She sniffed at a pile of flame-orange stones. “Are these amber?”

“That they are! Found a great deposit, with fossils too! Amazing, isn't it?” He spread the stones out for her. Carefully, with two claws acting like pinsers, she selected out a few.

“I'll take these.” Malta said, negotiating a price. Amber was useful in all sorts of things...

[+6 Amber]

[Tattoooed hunter]

Malta was tired after her altercation with the hunter, and sought out one last stall of the day. Her bright blue eyes brightened at the sight of her own siblings, the twins Samudi and Madjen. Surely, they would not be as trying as Horkain. However... she stalked up to her twin siblings, offering them a wary smile. One never knew what they would do, those two. They were kin, but also unpredictable. Their smiles, though, upon seeing her coming, reassured her that she would, at least, have a decent deal.

“Malta.” one of them said smoothly, coiling around their stall with perfect coordination as the other nodded in greeting, “I see you found hides. How nice. What will you be doing with them, sister deeeear?”

“Oh...” Malta nosed at her hard-won leather hides, “Well, make myself a nice new bed, maybe... or try sewing...”

“Sewing? With your pudgy little claws?” they laughed in unison. Malta hated it when they did that.

“Save yourself the trouble, daaaarling sister... Although...” They turned to each other, as if discussing amongst themselves. “Although, didn't we hear that our deeeeaaar sister might be tapped to become a khehorian?”

“Yes we did.” Malta had always had trouble telling them apart. “Yesss we did. Can you imagine, little Malta, a khehorian...” They laughed again, “Well, who would have expected...”

Her? A khehorian? Malta didn't have the time or energy to think about such a thing now. “How much for the copper?” she asked, gesturing to the glittering lumps of metal.

“Trade it to you for...” one said, tilting her head.

“A few of those hides you managed to squeeze out of that old geezer.” the other said, “We'd like to have our own bed before you ruin all the hides.”

“She wouldn't ruin them if she had hands, Madjen...”

“True, but she doesn't yet...”

“Could have her magescian pet do it for her. Or her Giogimar. She isn't without means, sister.”

“True...”

Malta put the hides on the bartering cloth, as well a few other things of value – nowhere near the amount she'd paid for even one of the hides, but it was well within the value of the copper. “I'll take these,” she said, “For these.”

“Oh, all right then.” they said. They seemed disappointed – Malta wasn't sure why. It was a fair price, a good one for both of them. “See you later, dear little sister...”

[+6 leather hides]