The walk to the market was familiar now. The Chief's hut was in the center at the top of the village. It was the highest point anyone could live. Below it was a clearing that the residents would use for gatherings. The market was off to the side close to the mountain.
Cut into the face of the mountain were what I called shops. Each of the shops did something a little different. Some sold baskets, some sold fabric. Several sold different kinds of fruits and vegetables.
No one family owned the shops. They were just general spaces that people had decided to use for those types of products. It was very much like a farmers' market and craft fair combined.
At the furthest end was a granary. The fields were actually owned by the village so all of the grains were stored in a central location. The men who tended the fields would get a predetermined amount of grain, depending on how the fields they were responsible for did. They could either take and store the grains themselves or allow the village to manage the distribution. Meat from the hunt was brought and exchanged.
Depending on what the men and women did, they could barter goods daily. With our haul, I could see some of the vendors glance at us greedily.
"So does everyone only barter with items?" I asked Ocello.
"We do, but there have been some complaints. It is hard to determine the value of some things. And the value of goods is seasonal. Vegetables in the winter months are worth more than in the summer when they are being harvested every day."
"That makes sense."
"But the game we hunt has the same value all year, no matter how difficult it is to catch." Uchel said. "I wish there was a way to account for it."
"Why don't you use tokens to track the value of the items?" The two beastmen looked at me in confusion.
"Tokens? How would that help things?" Uchel leaned in, his curiosity getting better of him.
I lived in a world where money was the primary source of wealth, and I hesitated to introduce it here. They say money was the root of all evil, but having a token that represented value so that you wouldn't have to lug items all over the place was convenient.
"Essentially, a token is a unique item that is small and easy to carry. The price of items is set to equal a certain amount of tokens. Like for a measure of grain it might be two tokens and for a small animal, it might be five tokens."
"That way, instead of having to carry all this game around, we could take it to a person who could butcher it. They would buy it from you for a set number of tokens. We could then go and buy grain with the tokens we earned."
"What is a butcher?" Ocello asked.
"Oh, right," I thought for a moment. "A butcher is a person who takes game, cleans it and cuts it into smaller pieces so that it can be distributed more evenly. He might also strip its hide and sell it to a tanner to make hides or clothes for others."
"Wouldn't he lose money doing that?" Uchel asked. I realized that when they brought the game home from the hunts, often they would already be field dressed. Hides removed, guts removed and blooded.
"I guess many of the villagers do their own butchering. But in this case, the butcher would charge a small fee above what he bought the game for to recoup his time and make a profit."
"That does sound interesting." Ocello said, his hand on his jaw thinking about it. "But what keeps the butcher from charging to much for the game? If he is the only one providing meat, doesn't that mean he could set how many tokens to charge?"
"That is a good question. The truth is no one can keep him from doing that. You would control that either by making a village rule that would prevent him from charging too much or you would have more than one butcher so that they would compete for the same customers."
"Sounds complicated." Uchel said, shaking his head. "it would be difficult to implement. Everyone would have to be willing to take tokens instead of trading for something they can actually use."
"You are right," I said, looking around. Everyone moved so smoothly as the market was, but if we introduced something new, village life could be destabilized. I didn't want that for my new home.
We continued walking till we heard a familiar voice yelling at us. Turning, I scowled as Rayen marched up to us. She reached out and tried to take one of the game birds away from Uchel, but he stepped back.
"What are you doing?" I asked her.
"What do you mean what am I doing. Uchel hasn't brought us any game since the banquet. He owes us." I looked over to Uchel and Ocello unsure of what to do. Did families still own the people who raised them after they left the home? I was saved from having to say anything because Ocello spoke first.
"Once a man leaves home for a wife, he is only beholden to the wife." Ocello stood between Uchel and Rayen looking down on her. "You already know this, so why are you trying to steal Uchel's catch?"
"We aren't stealing. We raised him! Ungrateful bastard should still be giving us something." I stepped up and held my hand up when Ocello tried to say more.
"I have a question for you, Rayen." I took her arm and guided her to a nearby bench. Anyone watching us would have thought I was guiding a respected elder. Rayen, thinking that she had somehow charmed me, smirked at Uchel. I'm certain she felt I would be easier to convince than the two men.
"You said that you raised Uchel, right?"
"That's right. Ever since he was born."
"Hmm, that must mean that you knew your sister quite well?"