The door on the third knock squeaked open on its own. As we peered in, we saw sitting at a desk, a female pixie, shuffling papers around and stuffing them into a multitude of folders. She was about a half a foot high and wore a tailored business suit and tie. The only thing that was out of place was her extremely spiky blond hair and pink highlights. The pixie raised her head and smiled at the duo.
"Welcome wanderers, to Allien Baum. The largest hotel in Holzlan" said the pixie with a pitch similar to any other female human.
"Well," said Sensei. "This is a bit unexpected. Where is Gifvala?"
"The Mistress is on the top floor, basking in her daily sun. Would you like to join her?"
"Umm, yes I would like to 'speak' to her. That would be most favorable, young sprite. Where is this entrance to the top floor?"
"Ah-Ah-Ah. You must rent a room first before you even think of socializing with the Mistress."
"Ah," said Sensei. "What price do you ask for?"
"One Elmer a week. One Welet a month. Or an Oakal for a year."
. . . . . . . . . . . .
The Druidic currency has a fairly interesting history. In the beginning of the druids (about 15,500 years ago) the ancients used perfectly round stones with intricate carvings as mony. But after Torlin the Enlightened created the Shape Rock spell about 10,000 years ago, the druids searched for money that would not be so easily counterfeited. For 300 years they converted to the human's silver and gold system. But they soon found that robbers and bothersome adventurers appreciated this metal more than stones and the Druids soon became the object of such theft. After the Great Bank Robbery of 8109 of the First Great Age, the Druids abandoned the precious metals.
Finally, a druid of the name Bremin discovered a twofold plan to cure the currency crises. He genetically modified oak, walnut and chestnut trees to create extremely valuable nuts. These trees took a couple decades to mature and would only produce a small amount of nuts per year. This new magically enhanced system of currency was tried unlawful twice by the High Druid Court of the 9th Circle as an "unnatural abomination to the Great Mother [Mother Nature]." It is true that the Third Law of the Druids state "Thou shall not disturb the balance of nature," and that an alteration of genetics was entering the unnatural domain most trodden on by the wizard. But, the Great Druid twice ruled that the Bremin currency was of "legitimate value. Its creation was foul, but in times of economic downfall had served its purpose twofold and then even more so." A compromise was made, that in result synthesized the Tenth Law of the Druid, "All alterations of an organism(s) are to be approved by a warrant and then tested by the 8th Circle."
So currently, in present day, the Druids have three different types of money.
Name – Original Tree –Years till Maturity– Nut Production
Oakal – Oak – approximately 50 years – 1 silver acorn per year
Welet – Walnut – about 35 years – 20 white walnuts per year
Emler – Chestnut – about 30 years – 50 to 100 chestnuts per year
In addition, the nuts contain magical properties.
Oakal – The acorn point (opposite to the acorn cap) points north when laid down on a flat surface.
Welet – The white walnut glows in the dark with the potency of a torch.
Elmer – The chestnut changes color depending on the holder's condition.
Chestnut Brown – No organism possesses the Elmer
Black – Negative emotions
Green – Neutral emotions
White – Positive emotions
Gray – Undead
As there was nothing preventing Druids to create acres of these trees and inflate the currency. Bremin, in addition, added magical properties to the timber of these trees.
Oakal – Smoke of burning lumber forces the inhaler to always tell the truth.
Welet – Wood glows faintly
Emler – Wood dried in the sunlight creates positive emotions when burned. Wood dried without sunlight creates negative emotions. Wood soaked in blood and then dried is deadly when burned.
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
Sensei opened his large burlap bag on the doe and pulled out a chestnut brown purse with an intricate red pentacle at the center. He placed his fingers upon the rune and it emitted a soft white glow. The bag opened immediately. Sensei placed his index finger right above the bag. A silver acorn floated upwards towards the finger and was gently caught between Sensei's thumb and index finger. Sensei tapped the rune again and the bag closed shut.
"Here you are. Will this include breakfast?"
"No sir, breakfast lunch and dinner for one month is one Elmer." smiled the pixie as she placed the acorn upon the table. It turned counter clockwise for about 180 degrees and then immediately stopped.
Sensei grunted his disapproval as he went through the same process of opening and closing the bag to appear with twenty six green chestnuts. (There are 13 months. 12 of them consisting of 30 days and the last one is 6 days with 7 days for every fourth year.)
The pixie with a toothy smile opened a trap door on the desk and pushed all of the nuts into it. She then fluttered over to the board of hanging keys behind her. She returned a silver key with a heart shaped handle.
"Room 169. You can't really miss it," winked the pixie with her pink eye lid.
Sensei awkwardly smiled back. "Were are the stairs ma'am?
The pixie pointed behind her to a long hallway of doors. "At the very end Sir. The rooms increase by increments of 50 every level."
"Thank you ma'am," bowed Sensei. I also smiled, did a short polite bow and quickly followed Sensei who was already a good distance within the hallway.
The receptionist pulled out a glass ball fitted to a wooden stand. She then placed her finger upon it which created a short electric spark. Immediately the globe grew bright.
"Hello, yes Lola?" said the globe.
"The druid is here. The one with the lovely curls."
There was a short scream of excitement resonating from the globe. "Tom's here! Where did you put him?"
"The Pink Passion Palace, of course. Though I don't think he's going to be too happy about it. He has a kid with him."
"You don't think?" stammered the voice.
"Of course not. Druids often have many apprentices. Should I give the kid a separate room?"
"Well," said the relieved voice, "put the kid in a room two doorways away. We don't want him to hear anything."
"Of course Gifvala."
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
It turns out that our room was the largest on the floor. It also was the most feminine. We opened the wooden, heart decorated door and saw the most fluffy, pink bed room in existence. Sensei shut the door as fast as he opened it, slowly.
Sensei looked very sternly at me. "I should have expected a set up like this. Follow me; we might get some endurance training up these stairs."
"Are we going to meet Gifvala, Sensei?"
"Are we meeting the most love desperate dryad in all of Holzlan? Sadly, yes."
Author's Note
I am a beginner. An author in the making, and would appreciate greatly a little review. You can like it or dislike it. All feedback is greatly appreciated and will help me understand how to make better stories. (If you have any criticisms at all, please, please tell me so I can fix them now or in later writings)
Thank you.