He was a nobleman, his robes portrayed that well, but he didn't dare carry his jewels or treasures, save for his weapon. The streets he walked were lively if not those of his own land, here in the sands of the Kressa expanse he found himself unable to frown. These people could sell you anything, and they would buy it back happily, the weavers made glass strands into sheets of thorny fabric, the alchemists would scrape any moisture mineral or salt from anywhere you let them, the street vendors sold the most delicious meats whose origin only their family knew. It was so wonderful to the Urdak noble, he even let the alchemists take to their hearts content a few wonderfully invasive times, he still had the treasures to show for their generous payment back in the embassy. He walked the sandy streets, passing by back alleys that held dealing he might love to be a part of but this afternoon he was heading down the streets for the reason of his own knowledge.
	Kessera watched from a rooftop as Ambassador Tokime wobbled drunkenly down the street, he'd not had any drinks but the dry heat of the afternoon hotter than the Urdak summer day, something that made the ambassitor's facilities shut down like a drunkard's would. So he made his way threw the streets bathed in ambrosia sunlight as his eyes searched, Horde's Breech was one of the few settlements that could claim independence in this realm and as such had it's own spies. Kessera was one such, responsible for looking after a far flung noble from a land far richer in water and minerals than the dessert that allowed our independence. She figured her outspoken criticisms of the nobles of the breech put her in her current assignment, not that it didn't spawn change.
	She watched with disinterest as the foreign noble made his way to one of the slave markets, carts becoming lighter and more scarce as slaves followed new and old masters back and forth from the markets. Most slaves were for magical tasks or menial labor, only nobles had the water to spare for slaves for pleasure and this noble was one who had just acquired such wealth. The magic of this world so dense and plentiful that anywhere with the water and minerals for life to sprout had either cities standing on it or hordes of monsters spilling out. To deal with those monsters little more than blades and bows found use, though some artificers like to take some of the less useful minerals to try and formulate longer ranged weapons of thunder and smoke. Get rich quick schemes the lot of them, though the other desert of note was home to the Kerakki people had the most advanced artificer weapons. Their cities rode on vast iron carpets and ferried metal, wood, water and other needs from mine to anvil to oasis and around again, smiting down any monsters or bandits with their rattling cannons... if the travelers were to be trustworthy.
	Kessera paused on the roof as the noble waltzed into the slave market tent, cages stacked in a pyramid starting at either side of the longer than wide tent, the roof raised up about the height of a cage, sloped with the angle of stacking, tarp walls covering three sides. A few of these city run markets are distributed threw out the shopping centers, the slaves being debtors and petty criminals, those who could be obedient with promise of food water and shelter, though to mark them as slaves and ensure their obedience they were castrated, with promise of restoration at the end of their term of debt. An isolated nation lives and dies on the reliability of it promises and even in cases of political involvement slaves are restored at the end of their terms, given half the youth they lost and all their injuries healed to scars as best as the state healers can manage.
	Tokime smiled, the haze of heat made him feel light, he could almost see it wafting off his body as he looked over the displayed beastmen, many whose mammeries and/or maleness had been trimmed and cleaned, if not for their collars that marked them as slave. Not one wore clothes below the waist or to cover their markings, though a few were still shy and covered with tail or hand, managing to look adorable but not appealing to him. He had eyes for a defiant one and as he neared the back registration desk he saw one. His iron bars supplemented by brass runes, soaking any mana organized or not that would enter or leave the cage, his neck holding a collar upholstered with a rough fabric. That collar the only mark of servitude on him.
	“Ah a mage,” Tokime intones with a deep voice, getting the attention of the lone clerk and two nearest guards, “and a healer at that, I have use for such a specimen” 
	Half those who cared to pay attention groaned at his obvious allure, while his robes may not have shown his desire his voice dripped with it. The clerk groans as he didn't even have to flip threw his book to find the price for the warlock for rent, the custom cage, the space it consumed, the constant unruliness, the pranks. A shiver ran up the clerk as Tokime gave one guard a pointed look over, the goblin swaying his hips and winking back, teasing the noble in his form fitting armor of scant riveted mail and layered textile. 
	“760 pins an-”
	“seven hundred and sixty!?” Tokime was shocked out of his stupor bu the amount, a normal working person made at most 50 pin over the year and even nobles considered 500 to be prohibitively expensive and an investment rather than purchase.
	The fox beastman grinned, “I am not so easily bid upon” he said with a gruff voice, making the shocked ambassador turn to face the clearly powerful creature as he turned the brass of his cage red hot with a magical flex.
	“It'll be 790 if we have to replace those again” the elf grumbled out, making the fox whimper and stop
	“I could just fix them you know” 
	“We are not letting you fix your own cage, we aren't dumb enough to ever do that, so if you wanna see outside again you wait for the sod to cough up the pins or serve in the army” the elf grumbles and stares down at the fox.
	“Could I uh get you a down payment and fill out the total upon delivery?”