Sonder went through her pack slowly and pulled out the money Lady Thiliel had given her.
She hesitated at first.
She'd seen how the four-armed mage react to the money and really hoped that these sailors wouldn't be like him.
She set the money down.
The woman examined the paper money with a puzzled look.
"What's this?" she asked.
"It's money from Gloam," Sonder said. "It's hard to come by and should be respected anywhere tied to them, especially with House Nesh."
The woman examined one bill thoroughly, holding it up in the air.
The man leaned forward despite himself, eyes narrowing as he looked at it.
Both seemed interested in the money beyond its value.
"Strange, ain't it?" The man said.
The woman lowered the bill and looked at Sonder.
"You're not trying to pull a swindle on us, are you? You're not a fraud, trickster, or cheat? because you do have a bit of a dark look about you."
"It has worth. It's not just some cheap paper," Sonder said, and tried to discard the comment.
There was a moment of silence, and then the woman nodded. "It'll do. More than do. But it's double the usual rate."
The man sighed, scrubbing a hand over his face. "The captain's still going to complain."
"Of course he is," she replied cheerfully. "That's what he's good at."
"Excuse me, but what's the usual rate?" Sonder asked.
"It's fifty silver coins, but I guess since these aren't coins, I want at least a hundred coins' worth."
"You don't even know the conversion rate," the man said.
"Then we'll just have to guess," she said and went through the money. She looked at the bills. "I'll take about… this much."
She held up a wad of notes. "That should come to about a hundred and ten."
It was about a quarter of all the bills.
"Does that seem right?" the man asked.
"Too late to ask now. The deal's already been made. You fine with that, right, girl?"
Sonder nodded. She guessed that someone willing to accept Gloamish money outside of Gloam, especially a non-Thole, was better than nothing.
So losing a quarter of it was acceptable.
"I'm fine with it," she said.
The woman grinned, satisfied, and gathered the selected bills into a small stack. She tapped them against the table to straighten the edges, then folded them once and slipped them inside her coat.
"Good," she said. "Then we've got ourselves a passenger."
The man still looked doubtful.
"You're going to have to explain this to the captain," he muttered.
"I will," the woman said breezily.