Skaffwory disliked walkers' Quartzal but grudgingly grounded herself there when she had to, that was, when she had to make an income.
She was well versed in many trades but her best song involved the soothing of salamanders, which she spent most of her days calming and collecting into baskets woven of water-proofed wools and treehatch palms. She was quite a good fire elementalist, which was evidenced by the fact that she had a constant stench of smoke and smolder and her talons and nails and feathers were stained and crusted with ash, but most greatly evidenced by the fact that she still managed to keep any of her feathers at all. Fire was a thing terrifying for most passerine and she profited from that instinctive fear quite nicely.
She did not only sell to passerine, of course. All manner of walkers from Quartzal would purchase little salamanders for their fireplaces and stoves and simple lighting solutions. Hers was the best name in the business of Anthem Low, the one associated with the least number of accidental burning-downs of entire buildings; often other "elementalists" would sell off improperly soothed beings who would jump their wire fences and stone barriers and proceed to destroy everything in sight.
She only ever sold the lowest class of salamanders, most of which no larger than the knobs of her beak, several of which could be held in the fist of her hand. Skaffwory was a humble and realistic person and only very rarely trusted herself to sell any higher classes of salamander, though she had become popular to the point where she would not uncommonly come across salamanders with bright blue points, which could be almost the length of her forearm.
Every once in a while she solicited a sylph into her throat to smooth her voice and make it intelligible to listeners, and then she would rent out a square of space in the day-rent distribution of the Quartzal marketplace, baskets piled up high all around her, glowing gently.
"Salamanders," she would crow, "Salamanders for sale! The sweetest-tempered salamanders in all of Quartzal, indeed in all of Anthem Low! Heat your home and cook your food with greater efficiency and speed! Skaffwory's salamanders have never burned down a house or a feather! Unless you are stupid," she would append with a cough at a passerby, "which you, sir, most certainly are not -- and especially not stupid enough to pass up such a deal, yes? Yes? Each basket contains at least half a year's worth of salamanders, for only seventeen sixths!"
She did not only sell to passerine, of course. All manner of walkers from Quartzal would purchase little salamanders for their fireplaces and stoves and simple lighting solutions. Hers was the best name in the business of Anthem Low, the one associated with the least number of accidental burning-downs of entire buildings; often other "elementalists" would sell off improperly soothed beings who would jump their wire fences and stone barriers and proceed to destroy everything in sight.
She only ever sold the lowest class of salamanders, most of which no larger than the knobs of her beak, several of which could be held in the fist of her hand. Skaffwory was a humble and realistic person and only very rarely trusted herself to sell any higher classes of salamander, though she had become popular to the point where she would not uncommonly come across salamanders with bright blue points, which could be almost the length of her forearm.
Every once in a while she solicited a sylph into her throat to smooth her voice and make it intelligible to listeners, and then she would rent out a square of space in the day-rent distribution of the Quartzal marketplace, baskets piled up high all around her, glowing gently.
"Salamanders," she would crow, "Salamanders for sale! The sweetest-tempered salamanders in all of Quartzal, indeed in all of Anthem Low! Heat your home and cook your food with greater efficiency and speed! Skaffwory's salamanders have never burned down a house or a feather! Unless you are stupid," she would append with a cough at a passerby, "which you, sir, most certainly are not -- and especially not stupid enough to pass up such a deal, yes? Yes? Each basket contains at least half a year's worth of salamanders, for only seventeen sixths!"
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