Getting out of town was easier than getting in.
The guards barely looked at me. I kept the permit in my pocket and stopped beyond the gate to unfold the map.
There was one main road heading toward the Mauren Plains. I followed it, checking again when the walls were some distance behind me.
I'd paid a copper to avoid getting lost. I might as well use the thing.
The road was better than the one I'd taken to town. A cart passed, followed later by two men carrying baskets in the other direction. None of them paid me much attention.
My shoulder still hurt, but the walking was manageable.
At the hill marked on the map, I left the road. The ground flattened out ahead, mostly grass with scattered bushes and trees.
Several people were already searching it. Some walked with their eyes on the ground. Others crouched beside patches of leaves, putting what they picked into baskets.
Mauren Plains.
At least I'd found the right place.
I put the map away and took another look at the request. I knew Bitterleaf: dark green leaves, several on a short stem. The picture on the paper matched what I remembered.
Fifteen of those. Two copper.
I started looking.
The first grew beside a rock. I crouched, pulled it free with my right hand, and tucked it down one side of the sack, away from the bread.
One.
The second wasn't far away. After that, I spent a lot more time looking at grass than actually picking anything.
Bitterleaf wasn't rare. There just wasn't that much of it around. Sometimes I found two close together. More often, I walked for a while without finding any at all.
The other gatherers were having much the same day, except that several of them reached the plants I spotted before I did.
After I'd collected six, I saw another a short distance away and headed toward it.
A man carrying a basket was closer. By the time I reached him, he'd already pulled it up.
"I was about to take that."
He put it in his basket without answering and went on searching.
I stood there for a moment.
What exactly did I expect him to do? Put it back?
I turned away.
Still annoying.
The work was simple. Walk, look, crouch, pull. I kept the sack on my right side so I didn't reach for it with the wrong arm.
There was nothing difficult about it. After an hour of doing the same thing, that didn't make it any less tiring.
By the tenth plant, my legs ached. At twelve, I sat in the grass and took out some bread.
The gatherers kept moving around me. Nobody stopped to talk. I watched one bend over a patch I'd been about to search, then decided I could finish eating before finding out what he'd found.
Three left.
I'd spent most of my time in the same area as everyone else. When I got up, I headed farther out.
That helped. I found one near some stones, then another beside a bush.
Fourteen.
The last took long enough that I began checking plants I would've walked past earlier. Twice, I went out of my way for leaves that looked right from a distance and weren't.
When I finally found Bitterleaf among some taller grass, I crouched and checked before pulling it up.
Then I counted the whole lot.
Fifteen.
I put them away and stood up slowly. Several hours of walking and bending, all for two copper.
Nobody had tried to stab me, though.
I was willing to count that in its favor.
* * *
The sun was farther across the sky by the time I reached the town walls. I took out my permit before either guard could ask.
One glanced at it and waved me through.
No fee.
I put the card away. At least that part had worked as promised.
The same clerk was behind the counter in the mission hall.
"Back already?"
"Fifteen Bitterleaf."
I set down the request and opened the sack. She checked the plants, moving them aside one at a time while I waited.
"All good."
She gave me two copper.
I held them for a moment before putting them in my pocket.
Twenty-three now. At least I'd actually gotten paid without any trouble.
"Can I take another request tomorrow?"
"If it's still on the board."
"Alright."
I left the others where they were. My shoulder hurt, my legs hurt, and another trip to the plains was more than I wanted to attempt today.
I needed somewhere to sleep.
Inside, preferably.
There were several inns marked on the map. I went to the closest.
It looked decent. The moment I stepped inside, I could smell cooked food.
A woman behind the counter looked up.
"Room?"
"How much?"
"Four copper. Meal included."
Two trips to the plains for one night.
"Anything cheaper?"
"Not here."
"Thanks."
I left before I talked myself into paying four copper just because I was hungry.
The next inn wanted three copper without a meal. Still too much.
The third was farther from the busy streets. Its sign was old, and one shutter hung crooked.
That looked more like my price range.
An older man sat behind the counter.
"Room?"
"How much?"
"Two copper."
"For one night?"
He gave me a look.
"Yes."
Of course he meant one night.
I rested the sack against my leg.
Two copper for a room. Another copper a day for bread. Three to keep myself fed and sleep indoors, and I'd earned two.
I couldn't count on doing two gathering trips every day like this. Not with my shoulder, and not if I wanted my legs to carry me out again the next morning.
"That's your cheapest room?"
"Yes."
I looked toward the door.
I could keep the money and find somewhere outside. I'd done it on the way here. I also remembered getting up cold and stiff, already tired before I started walking.
Tonight, I wanted a bed.
"One night."
I put two copper on the counter. He took them and handed me a key.
Twenty-one left.
The same amount I'd had when I set out, and less bread in the sack.
I closed my hand around the key. I'd barelly earned a night's sleep. I hadn't earned enough to keep doing this.
Tomorrow, I needed to find a better way to make money.