Filing A Patent

When Van, Mrs. Cartwright, and Ms. Etta left the room they saw Cera sitting in a chair with her face in her hands. She looked up and sighed.

"You aren't in trouble, are you?" she asked Van while looking at the two women behind him.

"He is and he isn't. But you both have some explaining to do. But we will talk about that when we get back to the Merchants Guild." Mrs. Cartwright answered before Van could.

Van just walked over to the wall truck and grabbed his and Cera's gear before returning the seal to the receptionist.

"Shall we go?" He asked with an ear-to-ear grin on his face.

Mrs. Cartwright sighed, while Ms. Etta giggled, and Cera was just confused. The group left the Scholars Guild 4 hours after Cera, and Van entered it. On their way out they noticed some people holding pencils and talking excitedly about them. Van even overheard some people speculating who the young man named Van was and how much the pencils might cost.

As they were walking back to the hall there were many people watching the group. Some were stunned by the two beautiful women walking beside what appeared to be two kids. Others were cursing because they knew the two women were rich and probably carrying a lot of money. But those people also knew who Ms. Etta was and they were not dumb enough to try and pickpocket a Guild Leader.

After the uninterrupted walk back to the Merchants guild Van and Cera were interrogated about what happened today. Cera was scolded for actively participating and not stopping the foolish young man, while Van was scolded for dragging Cera into his plan. They were both sent away the take care of the stables as punishment. Van didn't care, He was looking forward to the profits he was about to make tomorrow.

"Don't be too hard on the boy, Hellen, that was a damn good marketing strategy. Granted it was a poor plan, but the results were amazing. He will make one hell of a merchant."

"I know, it is just such underhanded ways are not the trademark of a good merchant let alone a good man. I cannot argue with his results, he might have just secured a steady supply of materials, a workshop here in the city and potentially a long-term buyer."

"I am 100 percent sure his stall will be the busiest tomorrow. With all the Scholars Guild showing up that along will draw attention. And for 5 silvers a piece? He will make a lot of money tomorrow." Ms. Etta said.

"So, will you, is that not what you are most happy about? Since you take 10 percent of sales, and he has a thousand pencils… that's quite a bit of money from one person."

"He won't sell it all, I am sure of it. I bet he even holds some stock back just so he can sell it to the Scholars Guild. Even though he will take a loss, he will ensure future business. He is quite foresighted for a 9-year-old. Ms. Etta predicted. "The only thing I worry about is what the Scholars Guild will do once they appraise one of the pencils and find out it is extremely cheap and common materials. If they can make the pencils for cheaper, they will not buy from him."

"Excuse me ma'am, I am sorry for interrupting." Van said as he popped his head though the door. I just realized that I never registered my design, where do I go to do that?"

"Well two places, here at the Merchants guild and at the Magistrates office." Ms. Etta informed him. "But the Magistrates office is closed, but for a fee I can have your design registered immediately."

Hellen looked at Ms. Etta with a gave that asked, what are you planning woman?

"How much is the fee?"

"Oh, not much, I just need some of your blood."

"What! Why?" Van asked shocked.

"Well for one the seal, and two that is the price my fairy demands." Ms. Etta explained.

Hellen was about to smack Ms. Etta before she realized she wouldn't be able to even if she tried, and plus there was a witness.

"How much blood?" Van asked sheepishly and he hid behind the door jam.

"Come here and you will see, it isn't that much."

Van slowly entered the office and walked up to the desk and placed his design on it. Ms. Etta looked at the piece of parchment and took some paperwork out of her desk and filled it out. About a half hour later she looked up to see that van had stayed at the desk watching her fill everything out. It was paperwork stating the creator of the design, the date it was made, the date of the filling, the purpose of the item, and what it was made from.

"Is everything correct, look closely, if even one thing is wrong, we must fix it before it is submitted. If everything is correct sign your name at the bottom here." She instructed pointing to a line at the bottom of the page.

Van reviewed everything and then did it again. Once he was sure everything was correct, he signed the bottom of the page.

"Now this is where the blood comes in." she said as she pricked his finger and squeezed it to ensure enough came out. "Wet your thumb in blood and place it to the right of your signature here."

He did as he was instructed and watched as his blood and signature lit up with a light and then burned into the page, and every page associated with his design.

"There you have registered your Pencil with the Merchants Guild. If anyone tries to register something similar, we will know, and we can go after them for plagiarism." She spoke. "Please deliver this to the magistrates office and put a rush on it." She instructed her fairy.

After the fairy left Ms. Etta brought out a crystal cup that looked like a wine glass. Looking at Van, "now it is time to pay the fairy. Give me your arm."

Van felt compelled to give Ms. Etta his arm, so he did even though he and Alice were trying to fight the feeling, they just couldn't stop his body from moving on its own. Van leaned over the desk and held out his arm presenting his well-toned forearm to her. Mrs. Cartwright did nothing because she knew she couldn't. She also trusted Etta to not claim Van in her presence… Kinda.

Etta grabbed Vans bicep with strength that he had never felt before. As soon as she grabbed him, his instincts were screaming to run away, but he knew from the bottom of his heart he would be unable to even struggle. She positioned his wrist over the glass and waited for the vessels in his arm to bulge out of his skin. She then took a small knife and quickly cut down the length of the biggest vein and let the blood flow out into the cup. When he lost almost a full pint of blood and the cup was almost full Ms. Etta cast a healing spell on him. His vein healed up just as fast as it was cut and the blood he had lost was replenished.

"You may leave now Van." Ms. Etta commanded. "Go prepare for the market tomorrow then get some good rest tonight."

Again, van felt compelled to go and do what she said without hesitation. That evening he prepared everything. And got some of the best rest he had even had.

Back in the office Van just left.

"Was that really necessary?" Hellen asked.

"What, I was nice and didn't claim him as mine out of respect for you. I could have and you would have had to just sit there and watched. But I value our friendship too much to do that." Ms. Etta said as she took a small sip from the cup. "This way I get something I want, and you don't lose something you want."

The next morning, Van woke up and replayed what happened in his head. He could remember being commanded to do things and not being able to resist. He also remembered Ms. Etta's strength, it was inhuman, way too strong for someone of her size to have. He was pretty sure that if she and Harlod, the strongest man he knew, were to have a contest of strength she would win hands down, no contest. What perplexed him even more was the amount of blood. Do fairies drink blood? And her eyes, he couldn't help but think that when she had ahold of him her eyes had a tint of red in them.

~~ Alice, did you notice anything strange with Ms. Etta's eyes last night?

~~ {No, I did not. Why?}

~~ I must be imagining it, but I swear I seen them have red in them.

~~ {I didn't see any red in them but then again, I wasn't really looking}

Putting the thoughts of Ms. Etta out of his head and replacing them with thoughts of making money, Van went down to the wagons and started to unload his trunks. He had three trunks of pencils, so he brought them all to the market and found his booth. His booth was red and small. He was all by curiously all by himself in a corner of the market.

He set one trunk down under the table, one in the middle of his booth and the last one under a cloth behind his booth. Since he was in a corner, he wasn't too worried about someone going behind and stealing any. He grabbed two boxed of a hundred pencils out from the trunk under the table and placed them on top. He then grabbed some parchment and placed it on the table as well. Once he was done setting up his booth, he sat down on the second trunk and relaxed as he watched everyone else get their goods out on display.

The market was scheduled to open when the towns bell struck 7, so he waited.