"When it is part of a long game, or when both parties believe themselves to be getting the better end of the deal, or when it serves multiple ends simultaneously."

"And if you trade with other faerie, for being a gatekeeper, you will very, very often know much more than they do about exactly how much currency's actually worth, will you not?"

"It would be worth whatever others believe it worth, child, that is how faerie courts work. You're suggesting that it might be worth more in one place than another. But ferrying between them would be a profit, not a challenge or a game."

"You obviously know more about faerie courts than I do," she says, inclining their head, "but they do have value for themselves—namely, what the Lord of Montreal will redeem in power for them. And they're a complicating factor, a new resource for your competitions—gambling works a lot better when the losses are as tangible as this, instead of just a strike to what the spirits fancy as worth."

"But what if we prefer it that way? A strike does not need to be any lighter for being ill-defined, and anything becoming too predictable could defeat the purpose."

So even if she convinces her, she has no reason to announce that she has been convinced. Got it.

"I understand," she says, conceding defeat. "I shall stop wasting your time, then." She reaches inside her bag for a few coins and offers her them. "For your trouble. Regardless of whether you'll use them or not, they have some value, and are, anyway, pretty."

They are pretty. Probably not up to faerie standards or to whatever Gwyll's unorthodox aesthetic sense is, but very neatly designed. The faerie squints and frowns at the motto spiraling around the side showing the diagram that represents Sadde's seal.

"Thank you. I'll consider myself well compensated for the time and trouble.

And allow me to offer you a gift as well. It fits the theme, when the pretty young wanderer with the mysteriously long past meets a crone in the wilderness and treats her well." She reaches into her own purse—no wait, that is a pot—and removes a piece of a branch with no green and three pine cones. "If you find yourself needing it, break one off and throw it to the ground. The first will create dense woods, the second an impassable maze, and the third will call me. If I am nearby I will help if I can."

She accepts it. "Thank you very much." And with that, she leaves.

Now, who's next on her list?

The Dullahan, a headless horseman type who mostly just runs around hunting, and a djinn named Eblis who can be found in the reflected version of the market district. The first dislikes being seen while on his errands, if that applies in here, so she might have to be careful finding him if she wants him to listen.

She can probably walk around his usual hunting spots talking to herself about the advantages of money, then.

The screams give a pretty good indication of what direction he's in, but they also mean he's not paying much attention to economics.

Once they quiet down and a horse walks up to her and a low voice says it's fine; she can look. He's in a black cloak, his horse is black with sparks flashing from its nostrils, and he's carrying a whip made of a spine. Probably human. His head is twice the size of a normal person's, and it's currently secured in front of his left stirrup.

She... is not quite sure what her pitch should be, here. She'll try the basic and go from there, see what sticks.

He has no goods to sell and only the one service. But he'll consider selling it next time he's around Montreal.

That counts as a success, right?

Sure, why not.

Next?

While she's on her way, some vestiges furtively move away from where the horseman was last seen. They're talking to each other. No one's watching them, though, unless Sadde counts.

Talking to each other? How cute. She'll follow them discreetly for a bit.

It's very realistic. A pair of children, sneaking away from the monster, talking in low voices about which way they think will get them out of here.

...yeah. It is quite realistic, isn't it. Anyone else liable to spot her or them that she can notice?

They might spot her, but otherwise anyone present is being even stealthier.

Then she'll follow them around for a bit longer before moving on to her next, ah, customer.

They speculate a bit about who was the person who managed to stall the horseman and how she did it. No guesses good enough to be worth trying.

...

Okay she really doesn't want to think about it now, there's nothing she can immediately do, and she'll—go to her next customer.

The Djinn looks to have set up a dukedom of his own. He is a tall, brown-skinned man with glowing eyes, and has filled the area corresponding to the Jacob's Bell market district with some very incongruous architecture. It's populated by other humanoids of the same general description, with varying amounts of fire in their eyes and smoke around their edges, but not so heavily populated that she can't just walk in and ask to see Eblis.

He isn't interested in the money. Says he predates both this god and his city, and he has little use for a currency backed by the word of a newcomer. Others in his court do take notice.

And if she tries to explain fiat currency, making analogies with the way magic trading works and how the spirits' "beliefs" shape it all...?

He understands how it's supposed to work; he just also thinks it's not for him. If he wanted that he could have set up his own.