Elisa jumped right on the party. “You’ll find love one day, Riv. And then you will get her drunk enough that she still thinks it’s a good idea to cuddle with you the next morning.”

“Let me shoot them,” Aethe said. “We don’t need them, if you think about it. We can find others.”

“Not yet,” Marco said. “Wait until they really deserve it. When it’s time, shoot Riv first. Elisa’s pretty reasonable. Sometimes she can be convinced by the mistakes of others.”

Elisa laughed. “Snarky. And here I thought I had some leads on equipment for you. I guess I shoudl just forget those before I get an arrow for my troubles.”

“Oh, fine,” Aethe said. “I won’t shoot you two. Don’t deprive my boyfriend.”

By the time they had made the walk to Elisa’s source, the worst of the hungover grumpiness was neutralized. They were laughing and joking when they made it to the small roadside stand. The sign read Junk and Oddities, and was manned by a dark-skinned woman wearing a white garment more like a robe than a dress. She sat with her head cradled in a single hand, the weight of it resting on the table via her elbow.

“Welcome,” she said. “Who sent you?”

“A man with a footlong beard who was also picking up breakfast,” Elisa answered. “Nice guy.”

“Hugh. Yeah, a good man.” The woman stood up and motioned towards the table. “What are you looking for? Metals? Wood fragments?”

“Neither of those. He said you might have gear for a duelist,” Elisa said.

The woman froze.

“Did he,” she said, a chill in her voice. “Did he?”

“He did? I’m sorry if I’ve done something…”

“No, no.” The woman shook her head sadly. “It’s just that what he’s talking about is something he’s been trying to get me to get rid of for a long time. He had no right to send you here, but you couldn’t have known.”

Marco stepped into the conversation. “Oh. That’s okay. Sorry for bothering you, I suppose.”

“No, no. Wait. He’s not all wrong. At the very least you can see the items, I suppose. He probably sent you to look at these.”

“It’s funny. The way you hold that.” The woman glued her eyes to the gun as Marco set it down carefully next to the rest of her wares. “It’s a lot like he did. More careful than you need to.”

“It’s because if you hold it any tighter than that, it throws off the aim. And when you fire, it hurts,” Marco answered.

“Ah.” She looked at Marco for a long moment. “I didn’t know that. You know, I had to hire someone who specialized in diving to even get these after his ship went down. It took months, and most of the money I had back then.”

Marco got it. He couldn’t really imagine how it must have felt for her, but he thought he got it anyway. This wasn’t the kind of memory you just let out of your sight.

“I can’t believe I’m about to just give these away.” The old woman sighed. “Take them before I change my mind.”

“What? My skill will destroy them.” Marco recoiled slightly from the gear despite how much he wanted them.

“Not entirely, no. It will put them to use, from what you told me.”

“They are too important.”

“You know, both you and that bearded jerk at the restaurant both said that, although only one of you meant the right thing by it. I’ve let these get too important.” She shoved them across the table at him. “Take them. Hold them. Let it happen.”

Marco looked at the items for a long time before he picked them up, watching them like a not-yet-boiling pot until they glowed gold, dissipated, and sunk into his current clothing. It was a magical process and made Marco feel as if the ceremony was just as important as the concrete improvements. When the glow dimmed, he was wearing the brand new suit, perfectly fitted to his body. He could feel the jump in capabilities even off his ship. The sword, the gun, and the clothes were all much, much better as a base than his old stuff had been, and it apparently wasn’t a small difference at all.

“Well. Look at you.” The woman wiped her eyes. “You look a lot like he did, at that age.”

The woman shook her head and smiled as the team admired Marco’s new gear. Though Marco had barely found these items, it was overall much better than what the others had been able to get. It wasn’t that their gear wasn’t good, it was just that his gear was a step beyond good. It was good equipment made better with care and memories, and suited his class like The Foolish Endeavor in water.

As the woman packed away her goods with big sweeps of her arm that led into big crates she pulled out from under the counter, Marco moved around a bit in the armor. It was good. A few fires of the pistol gave him real ideas for how he’d be using it in fights from now on, swarming enemies with distracting little floods of bullets. The rapier wasn’t that much longer to look at, but once he held it in a fighting stance it felt like he’d have feet of extra range.

Once the woman was packed, she came around the counter.

“It does look like it suits you. Now come on. There’s only so much daylight.”

“Wait, where are we going?”

“Out and about. You kids are young and if I don’t miss my guess you haven’t been in the big wide world very long. There’s things I know that you don’t know.” The woman started walking down the road like she expected to be followed, and the legs of the crew were suddenly in chase. There were no skills making it happen, she just seemed like the type who needed to be obeyed. “Shiny gear is shiny gear, but young people always miss the boring parts. That’s gold weighing down your backpack, right? Good. You are going to need every single coin.”