Jachiel made his way into Etzos through the southern gate and turned left into the citizen's market, looking for clothes more suited to the hot cycle than the heavy ones he currently wore. As always when he left the farm, his gladius rode on his hip, and his right hand was tucked into a pocket so that his bad arm didn't flap and bring unwanted attention. The stalls here held all kinds of crafts - here were cooking pots, there were crooked piles of wooden bowls, there a rack of plain functional tools, or leather goods. He paused to look over the leather, but the only wearable things that stall had were belts, and he didn't need another of those - not now at any rate. He moved on, sweat prickling under his woolen shirt, and turned another corner.
Here, at last, was a clothing stall. Already made clothes hung in a small, neat, row, and the rest was cloth samples for a tailor to work from. Those that had been made were plain, unadorned, work wear rather than anything fancy, but since Jachiel didn't intend to go out partying, he reckoned they would be perfectly good for his needs. He kept his face neutral as he looked over the samples, but the tailor came over anyway and began to extol the virtues of each sample. Probably because Jachiel was the only customer stopping for now.
Jachiel swallowed back a sigh and said plainly, "I'm looking for something lightweight that can take a lot of wear and tear. Suitable for hard work in Saun."
The tailor nodded without taking offense, and replaced the set of samples that Jachiel had been looking at with another set. "These will be more what you're looking for then," she said. "This is linen, the hardest wearing, and can be woven either light or heavy. Cotton is thinner, but lets the air through more easily, and this is ramie, thinnest of all, but not suited to trousers, only to shirts. Are you looking for ready made, or for made to measure?"
Jachiel nodded, listening to the explanations. "Something to take away immediately, something to be made up for later," he replied, fingers drumming silently on the edge of the stall. "What are the available options on ready made?"
"Among the ready made clothes, I only have linen in your size," the tailor responded, fetching a shirt and a pair of trousers and showing them to him. "Sturdy, hard-wearing, lighter than what you're wearing, though still long sleeved not short sleeved."
"Not difficult, that last," was Jachiel's dry response. "I prefer long sleeves - they can be rolled up, but short sleeves don't roll down." He couldn't actually roll sleeves up these days, it was a two-armed task he hadn't yet mastered, but a long sleeve covered the burn scars better anyway. "How much?"
The tailor looked him over carefully, while Jachiel tried not to look too rich, or too invested in the outcome. "Ten gold nel for both..."
Jachiel added it up, his index finger flicking as if using an abacus, and snorted. "Made to measure price for ready made goods and then some? Come off it, I'm not so green as I'm cabbage-looking." He named a counter-price, somewhat lower than he expected to pay in the end. The tailor's eyes gleamed, and they settled to some serious haggling.
When they finally came to an agreement on price for the ready made outfit, they turned back to the discussion of other clothes. Jachiel fingered the cloth samples to get a rough idea of what they would be like to wear, considered the options and decided on two shirts, one cotton and one ramie, a second pair of sturdy linen trousers, and two new sets of cotton underwear. The tailor named an individual price for each one, then a deal for the whole lot that was incidentally higher than the actual total. Jachiel shot that down, and they haggled again until they found a price that they both considered to be fair. "Half now, half on completion," Jachiel finished, and the tailor nodded as if that was quite normal.
Jachiel paid up the up front price, and then took an 'at ease' stance when the tailor brought out her measuring cord. The tailor raised an eyebrow. "Army?" she asked, running the cord down his legs and across his shoulders. "Lift your arms please."
"Ex-army." Jachiel's mouth tightened at the request, but his bad arm barely twitched. "Injured out. That arm's - still healing." Better to say that, he reckoned, than to say it would never work again. "So, sorry, no can do. You'll need to work round it."
The tailor's other eyebrow went up to match the first one, but her hands remained gentle as she slid the cord under his bad arm and finished her measurements. She noted them down and gave him a date to come back for his new clothes. Jachiel nodded, thanked her, and made a mental note, before taking the already made clothes, tucking them under his arm like a parcel, and leaving to head home.
Receipt
Price list prices for Jachiel's purchases.
(I'll let the reviewer decide how the haggling went)
Used, in Fair condition
1 linen shirt - 14.4 sn
1 linen trousers - 6 gn
New
1 ramie shirt - 13.2 sn
1 cotton shirt - 21.6 sn
1 linen trousers - 7.5 gn
2 cotton mens underwear - 7.2 sn
Total: 19 gn, 1 sn, 4 cn
(I'll let the reviewer decide how the haggling went)
Used, in Fair condition
1 linen shirt - 14.4 sn
1 linen trousers - 6 gn
New
1 ramie shirt - 13.2 sn
1 cotton shirt - 21.6 sn
1 linen trousers - 7.5 gn
2 cotton mens underwear - 7.2 sn
Total: 19 gn, 1 sn, 4 cn