Stephanie sighed and looked up at the old man, who seemed to have started the party without her.

"I sleep on a makeshift bed of hay and blankets. Not much worse than you'll do at the nearest inn, and it doubles as a food source for George or to sell if I get in real trouble. As for my wares-"

But Stephanie squeaked in terror as the Dullahan descended, flinching and taking a few quivering steps backwards. If the woman was almost any other creature, she might have seemed pleasant, but Stephanie had heard the tales and [i]none[/i] of them painted the Dullahan in a positive light. Then again, if all the tales were true, she'd probably be dead at the moment. No, she'd most certainly be dead if the Dullahan desired her life. With this in mind, she gathered up her courage and spoke back.

"...H-honestly, I couldn't care less about Valstand. Everyone's hopes were banking on Nathaniel losing his hold soon. With this development, investors will pull out left and right and the currency value will dip. Hard. Valstand is dead, but if you plan on invading, tell me. I can hook you up with some nice weapons if you have the coin."

Stephanie hopped into the back of her wagon and retrieved a keg of beer and a bottle of wine. The beer, of course, was to get her drunk. The wine was going to be for when she made her big peppercorn sale. But that apparently wasn't happening.

"Anyways, I sell a lot of things old man. After a transaction went sour, I learned to diversify. You can make a lot of coin if you buy and sell a lot of one thing, but if it doesn't pan out, you're dead in the water. One gold for the wine, if you want it. It's good. It was supposed to be celebratory for when I made my big sale here."

She tapped the beer keg and filled a couple of mugs to the brim, sliding one across the ground to the Dullahan, still wary.

"Six copper on that. Drink up," said Stephanie, hastily grabbing her own mug and managing to down the contents in one continuous drink. She let out a satisfied groan and licked her lips, already feeling the warm embrace of her best friend: copious amounts of beer.