It was around midday when Cisco lead the way to Olaf’s establishment.
When they entered, they didn’t see anyone, but they did hear a ringing sound of hammering coming through the door in the back of the shop.
“I don’t recognize what’s making that sound.” Jax said, listening intently.
“Me neither,” Piper said, her ears spiked straight up trying to determine what she was hearing.
“I believe that’s the sound of metal beating on metal.” Cisco said with a grin. “Maybe Olaf is making me that copper shovel.”
When there was a pause in the noise, Cisco called out, “Ho, Olaf, you’ve got customers.”
There was the sound of tools being laid down and a very big cat sporting braids in his cheek fur appeared in the doorway.
“What customers?” he said with a booming voice. “I only see my friend Cisco.”
“Oh, now I see, these other two cats must be the customers.”
“These are my friends, Jax and Piper.” Cisco said, stepping aside so the two could come forward to greet Olaf.
“Well, isn’t that something. I’ve heard many stories about you two.” Olaf said,”You’re the famous pair who founded the Rangers. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you.”
“I expected to see Baxter before now. He was pretty excited to learn about working with metal.”
“He’s still interested, but our whole group is working on something important that’s taking up all our time.”
“He also found another interest that’s keeping him occupied. He met a lady cat who seems to be just what he didn’t know he was looking for.” Cisco laughed. “They seem to be very good for each other.”
“That’s good to hear.” Olaf laughed. “Isn’t it wonderful how life can surprise us when we least expect it.”
“So what brings you here today? Perhaps another shiny ax?”
“I was specifically told that I was not to buy any new toys.” Cisco grinned.
“Oh, so you also have a mate.” Olaf laughed.
“Yeah, funny how these things happen.”
“And what about you two?” Olaf asked Jax and Piper. “You’ve known each other for a long time.”
Looking at Piper with a warm smile, Jax said, “We met when Piper was just a kitten.”
“Jax wasn’t all that old himself,” Piper smiled, “but he did manage to rescue me when I was lost with a broken leg.”
“That was a lucky day for both of us.”
“What about you Olaf?”
“All my kittens are grown and have families of their own.” Olaf said with a sigh. “But I do go home every night to a loving mate and a warm home. What more could I ask for.”
“But I’ll bet that you didn’t come all this way just for friendly conversation.” Olaf said rubbing his hands together. “What do you need today?”
“Well,” Cisco replied, “we’re after a few things.”
“First of all, we need forty pounds of Lustralite and another forty pounds of Stellarite. Both in granular form in five pound bags.”
“Since your last visit, I stocked up on both of those, so I’m sure I have that much.” Olaf stated, “but I’ve only sold a small amount of either of those minerals, so I’m glad you came back for more.”
“You might want to stock up again.” Cisco told him.
“We’ve developed a device that requires those minerals to operate. We’ve only traded them to one other tribe so far, they showed an interest in acquiring a large number of the devices. They’re going need a source of the minerals.”
“And just what kind of device are you talking about?” Olaf asked showing definite interest.
Piper stepped forward and handed him one of the shiners.
“Go ahead and look it over.”
Olaf gave the shiner a thorough examination. From giving the clear window a close look, to pulling the stopper and peering inside.
“Well, the body is obviously bamboo and the stuff inside must be Stellarite and Lustralite.” Olaf said as he turned the shiner over to look at it from all angles.
“That leaves a few questions. What material the window and stopper made of, and more importantly, what does it do?
“Okay, first of all,” Piper warned him, “don’t drop it.”
“Give it a couple of good shakes and see what happens.”
“This thing isn’t going to blow up, is it?” Olaf asked suspiciously.
“Oh no, I promise it’s perfectly safe.” Piper laugh. “Besides, what could possibly go wrong.”
“Oh, that makes me feel better.” Olaf replied sounding doubtful.
“Okay, here goes.” he said holding the shiner at arms length and giving it a shake.
Luckily the shiner was pointing away from him when the bright blue light shot out of the tube’s window.
While Olaf didn’t drop the shiner, he did reflexively raised an arm to shield his eyes. Once he was over the initial surprise, he relaxed and started shining the beam around the room.
“This isn’t the ‘pretty blue light’ that we talked about on your last visit.” Olaf said in wonder.
“How did you make the light so bright?”
“You told me when we first met that I shouldn’t tell all I know.” Cisco said with a smile. “That is one of those things that we’d prefer to keep to ourselves.”
“We have another variant of the device that produces the dimmer blue light that you were familiar with. Those are useful too.”
“So, I think you’re going to be selling more of the minerals that you have been.”
“I would think so.” Olaf said. “and I can guess what you’re trying to decide.”
“Do you buy the minerals from me and supply them to you customers, or do you just send them directly to me.”
“That’s right,” Cisco said, “and then there’s the delivery method.”
“Do they come to us or to you for the minerals, or do we or your deliver the minerals to them.”
“Or do you deliver to us and we set up a trading post for the minerals, the devices and anything else we have to trade?”
After giving it some thought, Olaf said, “My advice would be to ask you customers what they would like to do. Try it their way and see how it works out.”
“That is the obvious answer.” Cisco said, “I knew you were the right one to ask for advice.”
“So, on a related subject. We brought a half dozen of the shiners with us. We thought you might want to sell them in your shop.”
“I’ve been thinking about that since you showed it to me, and the answer its yes, I would be interested in selling them.”
“It seems to me that primarily you would be trading me shiners for minerals you need, so why don’t we try this out.”
“You give me the shiners and if I sell them, I add what I sell them for to your account. You can use that credit when you need more of the minerals.”
“That’s fine for us,” Jax said, “but you’re not making any profit off the sale of the shiners.”
“That’s true,” Olaf agreed, “but look at all the minerals that I’ll be selling to keep those shiners going.”
“The only flaw I see in this plan is, how am I supposed to get any more of those shiny copper nuggets from you.”
“Well, now that you mention it,” Cisco grinned, “as you can see, we’re kind of in the business of inventing new things and developing new ways of doing things.”
“To make this easier, we could use some metal tools.”
“I hope you have a whole pile of those nuggets.” Olaf stated. “Anything of any size, takes a lot of copper.”
“I was thinking more in the line of a chisel or two. Maybe some small carving tools, for carving designs on alabaster, possibly an awl for punching holes in leather.”
“We do have all these tools made of stone or antler or even bone, but metal tools would be better.”
“Good, you provide the copper that goes into the tools and nuggets to pay me for actually making the tools.”
“Another thing I wanted to ask you about.” Cisco said.
“We’ve come across a very hard material that we need to grind down and polish. Do you have any suggestion for what abrasives to use?
“Just how hard is this material? Olaf asked.
“It’s what we’re using to make the windows in the shiners.” Cisco replied, “It’s hard enough that a flint knife won’t scratch it.”
“That sounds like obsidian or something like it.” Olaf mused. “How brittle is it?”
“Well you can smash it with a rock if you really try, but I wouldn’t call it brittle.” Cisco replied.
“I tell you what,” Olaf said, “I’ll make you up some samples to take with you. You can try them when you get home to see what works best.”
“Thanks, that’s really helpful.” Cisco said as he set out the rest of the shiners to leave with Olaf.
“I think that’s all we wanted to discuss with you. Shall we get everything together and packed up so we can head back home.”
“Let’s settle up what you want for this load of minerals.” he said bringing out his pouch of nuggets. “then we can start out fresh with the shiners for minerals deal.”
With packs full of bags of minerals and a pile of nuggets paid to Olaf, the three cats were ready to head back to Sunny Meadows.
“You know, I do have some nuggets left,” Cisco stated. “Why don’t I leave them with you.”
“Use what you need to make me one or two chisels and take out what you need for your labor. If there’s any left over, just put it on our account.”
“Sure, I can do that.” Olaf replied. “Describe just what you want.”
“I’m picturing chisels about six inches long,” Cisco said holding his hand that far apart, “and say three forth inch across.”
“I’m assuming you want the angle of the chisel point suitable for working on stone.” Olaf said.
“Exactly, I don’t want it blunt, but there’s no need for a razors edge either.” Cisco replied.
With that, he emptied the rest of the nuggets in his pouch onto Olaf’s counter top.
“Anything else?” Cisco asked Jax and Piper. Getting a negative response, he said, “Alright then, lets hit the trail.”
“We’ll try to make it back in a few weeks to see how thing are going.” he told Olaf as they left his shop and headed for the edge of the village.