#brightwindsbarony

"That's coooooool." She breathes.

"Very neat." Sylvi nods.

"He is" Hope says "But he's a hermit, just loves his bones"

"That sounds like somebody to meet. Meet, but not pester."

Grete looks up at the mention of pestering. Perhaps she has been accused of such! A lip jut. It's not pestering if you're just EXCITED about it.

"Well, hold on, in the back I got this..." And BettyKae goes back, then returns "The professor kept forgetting to pay a debt so one day I knock on the door and he hands me this"

The comment didn't seem to be directed at Grete, but she notes the look. "I think professors think that anybody asking questions when they're trying to do research count as 'pests.'"

"Near as I can tell, there's not a ton else in the county. The Count is all the way in Odessa..."

"Whoa."

"Oh, wowwww...."

"What did that come from?"

"A crocodile" She says

"A rock-odile."

A grin to Hope!

"Though I think it was a LONG Time ago" Betty Kae chuckles at Rock o dial

Another groan at a bad joke. "You two are just going to try to out-do each other, aren't you?"

A solemn nod.

BettyKae will try to make sure they buy things and offer some good deals. Of course, they were already going to buy things but she's so proud of the work here!

How could you NOT want a crystals for Serenity shaped in the form of the Firefly ship from the series of the same name?

Sylvi pays for her purchases with a credit card...and offers to cover a couple of other small purchases, too, if people hedge on whether they can afford.

Sparrow pays for Grete's rocks, and a pretty pair of earrings and a fancy pen... and there is very little cash left in her wallet after those.

Grete IS eyeing that petrified palmwood oval, if Sylvi is offering....

In addition to the two rocks? "Well....how much is this?" of the palmwood.

"I will pay you back when they find my allowance?" She asks, still lightly rubbing that smooth stone.

"Or you can hold it for me, maybe?" She asks the shopkeep, otherwise.

She quietly puts back the earrings and pen. "We can take the palmwood."

"Well...I tell you what...I'll buy it, but you can earn it from me by helping to be a tour guide for a few days?"

"No, Lady Sparrow, keep those. We've got a deal, Grete?"

"No." She refuses to allow SPARROW to pay, and nods to Sylvi. "It's a deal." Offering a hand to shake.

A shake. "Done and done."

A grin! "A wichtel always keeps her word." Nodding. "Or at least, this one does." Firm!

"Okay. It'll live in my room until the deal is done, but you can visit it sometimes while I'm there."

After that, well, SHOPPING is less likely, but touring is okay...

"I've heard of this place," Sylvi says as the approach the domed towers. "I never thought of it as a place you could just, y'know, visit. Like a museum or something."

"Alas, the Observatory is closed to the public officially" Hope says

"...Officially?"

"We can get in if you want, but it was.. it's not what it was" She says

"Harkson again?"

"What happened?"

Hope nods and explains further "We had dreamers who sometimes created random chimera, mostly harmless.. wonderful... and there was a trod here...which didn't open often, but it did open every September 13th. Well, that shut off. Doesn't work anymore, hasn't since the Baron decided it was too big a 'security risk'. And the Chimera? Well, after the COVID closure came... the Baron sent some of his goons and they ..well, they drained the chimera. Killed them for hteir glamour and parts. It's not unheard to do that, but ...nothing left. Martian blood drained, Tiny constellations dimmed. "

Sparrow looks heartbroken.

"That... there was no need!"

Sylvi scowls. "Maybe...it can be reopened?"

"the kithain who was there pointed out he couldn't muse dreamers like he used to so his 'tithe' would be less, and asked the Baron to Understand. The baron killed the chimera to 'pay for the debt'"

"And maybe...the chimera can be re-dreamed."

"Oh, that's just cruel."

Sparrow quietly flares with anger.

"Is the kithain still there?"