Morning-glory writes back in person to accept the meeting.

The trade council representative is Vinjar Jörvason. He looks about sixty, he's wearing the same almost-a-suit that function as formal clothes here, neatly shaved beard and slightly pinched face and short greying hair and rectangular glasses calculated to make him look sharp and diligent. He brings two assistants with him to the meeting also in not-quite-suits and looking a fair bit younger and somewhat nervous, and introduces everyone formally.

"Good afternoon, miss Morning-Glory. I represent the Known World Trade Council, which is mandated to oversee and enforce international trade and monetary policy while keeping all five nations' interests in mind. I'm also acting as a representative of Iceland to an extent, though my official capacity is as a delegate from the trade council. I'm here to discuss the future. Given the uneventful quarantine and activity so far with no issues, we're not concerned about infection at this time, but I'm sure you can imagine that is far from the only concern one might have with an interdimensional organization after thinking we were alone in the universe and surrounded on all sides for decades. We have copies of the organization's charter and the most relevant laws we foresee possible issues with, here, if you would like to peruse them."

Morning-Glory, wearing an immaculate actual suit, takes her due time reviewing the documents. Lily sits at her right hand and stays silent. 

"I am a Morning-Glory formally, Mr. Jorvason, but you may call me December, which is my chosen name. I am pleased to see that the majority of your regulations are common-sense measures common to many worlds, and the rest are largely attributable to your current situation. There are one or two items I would wish to discuss, but they are minor points. My concern is to secure regulatory and physical safety for the Oifilei Trade Consortium in this world, and I will be negotiating to that end."

"I think we have a lot to work through. I take it you have done similar negotiations before?" He fails to quite hide a grimace.

"I am one of twelve department heads under Director Saivon, Head of Acquisitions and Demiplane Management. As the OTC is constantly contacting more worlds, negotiations like these are routine. I hope to strike fair terms for both of us that respect your sovereignty as well as the rights and freedoms of all your people. Those rights and freedoms, of course, include the rights to health and life, freedom of employment, and freedom of expression. For all that we come from strange and far-flung places, Mr. Jorvason, our goals are largely the same. You will likely find us more amenable to your laws than you expect."

"It is easy to say such things."

He lets the meeting move on to details, trying to keep a level tone.

They have a unified currency and would like OTC to not counterfeit and have no idea how to set an exchange rate because it hasn't been a concern in living memory. They have a 3.2% sales tax for international commerce which they expect OTC to pay and they reserve the right to adjust the rate slowly in accordance with their charter.

They think OTC's employees sourced from this world should still count as citizens of their respective nations and pay their scaling income tax, as long as they're still living here. There are programs where the employer can take on their employees' income tax as a benefit to the employee, and then get tax credits for providing employee benefits such as healthcare and vacations, and they see no reason OTC can't join that, here are the regulations for it.

They think the various governments may wish to institute an explicit payroll tax if people living on other worlds but working for OTC in this one becomes a common practice. The taxes all fund public efforts, of course, with public safety and the military being the number one expense.

They have reasonable consumer product safety laws but think some of the products are a bit hair-raising and should be restricted or banned. Here are their gun safety regulations - essentially just a minimal training certification. They have reasonable fraud protection laws, and reasonable protections for businesses against frivolous suits and such.

They have lendee-friendly financial regulations, and strong restrictions about getting people to pay up on loans and installment plans, strong enough that it stifles the private lending market a fair bit, in fact. They are not interested in comrpomising on this.

And this last part isn't strictly in the domain of the Trade Council, but the Icelandic government at least is concerned about how OTC would pursue and punish thieves, and in ensuring that law enforcement is equipped to respond to crimes committed with OTC products.

They are entirely willing to pay a 3.2% sales tax.

OTC will take on their employees' income tax as they expect their current programs for employee health and benefits to provide a significant tax break.

They are willing to restrict items reasonably. They give up Thirteenth Hour and Worry Beads to the banned pile without much of a fight, but Morning-Glory argues that the ability of Panacea to cure genetic diseases that casts cannot and the very limited circumstances under which it is dangerous mean it should be restricted only. Forgotten Song can be banned. Flight-granting items can be restricted or banned. On the whole the OTC is largely willing to abide by any restrictions so long as it won't kill people like outright-banning Panacea would. 

Morning-Glory negotiates to have laser rifles and stunners classified as firearms and regulated the same way. 

OTC will cease offering loans and installment plans in this world. 

In the event of theft the OTC would contact the local police force, tell them the exact location of the stolen item, and send an agent like Thorn with them to retrieve the stolen property. The agent would likely only become majorly involved if the stolen property was something like a Forgotten Song that the local police were unequipped to handle, and would of course use nonlethal methods first defaulting to dispel and stunner. 

He'll start the process for assessing just how much of a tax break the benefits plan earns them.

The concern with panacea is twofold - assurance that it is actually as reliable and side-effect-free as advertised, and the statistical near-certainty that someone will eventually be desperate or stupid or greedy enough to attempt to analyze one and suffer the consequences. If the panacea is only permitted for sale with a doctor's approval or for clear emergencies like the non-immune contracting the Infection, that limits it a lot and they can probably allow it.

Laser weapons and stunners and tasps can count as firearms, they're agreed on that.

They absolutely cannot have OTC arresting people, or stealing back property without getting local authority involved. If there's some kind of dispute about whether the item is in fact stolen, it'll have to go to a court. He doubts the government will approve of forcing thieves to mint back any of the magical currency they've stolen and used, especially takkarash or ka, though they can probably be made to pay restitution fines or have their wages or savings garnished. Sometimes the police are busy and can't move on something right away. He doubts 'the OTC says it's there' suffices as sufficient evidence to get a search warrant. Video surveillance showing the theft would suffice, though. Of course, hopefully such things will come up very rarely.

The OTC welcomes the Trade Council's assessors. 

They will agree to sale of Panacea as a prescription drug. It is safe and reliable in all cases they have encountered across many hundred worlds. It is regrettable that someone will eventually cause harm to themselves with the product, but the lives it can save far outweigh the costs. 

They have no intent to steal back property without involving local police. They can argue about the validity of OTC tracking capabilities as probable cause for a search warrant later, the point is not a significant one to the OTC. Like all large companies it factors in a shrinkage percentage. 

Vinjar seems a little uncertain, as if wondering what the catch is. But all they've worked out seems agreeable. He can't officially agree to the terms they've worked out on his own but he doesn't foresee the people at home wanting any changes that go beyond minor quibbles about wording and can come back with signature-ready copies in a week or so. He thanks her for the productive meeting and says he hopes contact with other worlds benefits the people of Iceland and all the Nordic nations.

Morning-Glory echoes his happiness with the meeting and his hope that the people of Iceland and the Nordic nations can benefit from the OTC's influence on their lives. She'll be happy to sign the papers as a representative of this branch of the OTC as soon as they cross her desk.

He says that OTC will probably receive invitations to appear before legislatures soon-ish and it would be a good idea to accept, then leaves without buying anything.

That's fine, that's what Morning-Glories are about.

Morning-Glory goes back through the portal. (It's an unacceptable security risk for them to linger unnecessarily.)

Business is brisk, but the craze of individuals rushing the store dies down after the first few days and traffic is mostly limited to those who visit by boat, which is still substantial - a few hundred a day, sometimes up to a thousand if a big passenger liner arrives.

Irene proves to be a very capable and motivating manager, rearranging the stock, adroitly managing her people's schedules and preferences, creating displays, successfully talking one of the cashiers out of trying to steal something, and getting to know the customers. She's a little disappointed OTC can't offer loans here, and starts grooming one of the cashiers for supervisor and itching for special projects once the storefront is running smoothly.

Lindis closes her massive sale with the delivery of two entire pallets of magical seals on thick, durable paper and two curious mages who came along for the ride. The man who bought all that ka has hired his own private security and private boat and is a bit fidgety, triple-checking everything. Lindis is smiling like a cat, soothing him and arranging the counting and delivery, and imagining what she's going to buy with the commission.

Marit comes back after a week or so, and presents Thorn with an invitation to visit the Eide Hunter-Clan. The letter's handwriting is poor but says they're really excited to hear about an adventurer from another world with cool combat toys to sell, and to see Marit again after so long too.

They take on staff as necessary to handle demand and otherwise don't worry much about it.

Lily starts grooming Irene to take over the rest of her duties at the branch. She's reliable and competent and with a trustworthy second to run the night guards she'll be able to manage the place on her own. 

Lindis gets a substantial payout and a meeting with Lily, at which she is promoted to sales team for the world with benefits comparable to Irene's. She's instructed to quit her cashier position and start hunting leads full-time. 

Thorn accepts the invitation, of course. She doesn't really belong with Lily in a bustling shop. She's supposed to be scouting.

Can Lindis afford with some combination of benefits and commission something so she can travel despite being terrified of boats? Given the generous 10% commission and the huge quantity of ka moved, she has just over 55000 OTC now. Body enhancements and magic therapy, one of the death insurance policies, or something?

"We have a boat to catch, then. Come on, she ships off in two hours and the next one's tomorrow."

She can't afford death insurance, unfortunately. But flawless magic therapy is available at that price and if she spends her benefits for this year she can get one complex modification done simultaneously. 

Thorn throws a few things in her pack and follows Marit to the ship. 

(Lindis is not sure she wants to stop being afraid unless she can also get something to make her safe in case of the worst. It's a fairly rational fear; Boat losses to sea-beasts are rare but do happen. What about a reasonably quick emergency teleport thing, or a panic-shield-bubble similar to the storm carapace and an OTC grade search and rescue service subscription, can she afford that?)

The ship proves to be a wooden-hulled thing aping a Viking longship, though it does have nods to modernity such as an engine in addition to sails and oars, and it's much bigger than true longships. The Norwegian crew is loud and friendly and shows them both to adjacent (small) cabins as they busy themselves manhandling crates and barrels aboard. The captain is named Olaf and has a beard at least 30% as magnificent as Captain Olsen's. Marit makes introductions and gives the ship and some of the crew a ritualistic blessing of luck. "That's how I paid for the tickets."

She can afford an emergency teleport back to a set-point in her own property but they'll have to negotiate the existence of such things in this universe with the Trade Council. The same for OTC search-and-rescue operations. They're pretty sure the case comes under "danger to life and limb" and thus will fall under the same set of exceptions as Panacea, but they can't be sure yet. Thank you for bringing it to their attention, Morning-Glory herself will hear about this. Likely she'll have to wait at least a few weeks before she has an answer. 

Thorn settles into her cabin, looking forwards to the journey. Marit is good company, the kind she used to have back in Sigil, and she can't wait to meet the hunter-clan Marit fought with back in the day.

(Lindis will continue her sales work confined to Oresund for now then.)

Marit brings her back above deck after a little while to put her things away. They're still in dock, but the pile of crates to tuck away is mostly gone. "Have you ever gone sailing?" Marit smiles at her. "Want to help with the rigging? Olaf says it's alright, and I figured it's something you might enjoy."

"I've been on boats, but I've never crewed one. I'd love to learn how it works." says Thorn. 

"I need to learn too, if I'm going to be a contractor. We're ready, cap'n!"

Olaf summons over another young lady, tall, brunette, sharp-faced. "Hiya! I'm Rona, and I'm here to show you the ropes. Literally!" She whips out two lengths of rope. "You hafta know your knots before you go up."

Thorn knows overhand knots and figure-eight knots and reef knots and bowlines and the half hitch and the highwayman's hitch and a few others. She doesn't have anything heavily specialized but she knows the basics along with a few odd one-offs.

Marit has been tying knots for a while, though naval ones are new. They are quickly pronounced sufficiently skilled. Marit, still wearing her 'old' glamour (though she's letting herself slowly look younger) gets some hemming and hawing but she lifts a barrel over her head and this convinces Rona to let up.

The ship is being pulled away from the trade station by a tug now. When they're set loose from the tug, the two of them can ascend into the rigging with Rona and three others and learn how to let out the sails! It's surprisingly complicated. There's a happy atmosphere and shouted instructions and physical work on the swaying ropes.

Thorn enjoys it thoroughly and makes few mistakes. She takes it carefully and methodically and works the faster for it.