Rewards and truth.

Rosa awoke early to the sound of conversation in the main room of the attic. Madame Mulberry and her mother were familiar voices, the man's voice was not. It was hushed, but very hostile sounding.

'What's going on?' Rosa used sneak and got dressed in her favorite outfit as quietly as she could. A brush was run through her hair and tied up with the ribbon. Only when she was presentable did she feel brave enough to listen at the door.

"Hue-" Rosa winced at Madame Mulberry's sharp tone. She was angry.

"It was an informal request. Nothing was ever written down-" The man's voice growled right back.

"Because time was of the essence! You promised-" Rosa closed her eyes, troubled.

"If there's no contract, there's-"

"Verbal contracts stand! Do you want me to bring this to godly trial?" Rosa's jaw dropped. Godly trial was just that, people went before the powers that be and asked them for judgment. It was a firm last resort, one Madame Mulberry was willing to take.

"You wouldn't dare!" There was silence. "You would!? Are you insane?"

"You know she deserves it. If it wasn't for Rosa and that weapon she dreamed up-"

"I don't believe a thing that report said-"

"Don't ever doubt Commander Kristian in my prescence." Madame Mulberry screeched.

'Well, there's no use hiding now. That will have woken up the neighbors.' Rosa let the door creak open. The movement made everyone in the room turn to look at her. Rosa cursed in her head, it was one of the five men from yesterday: an aristocrat. The man was scowling.

"Rosa, sweetie, why don't you go to the morning market and get some sausage for breakfast." Eleanor asked with a forced smile. The man was about to open his mouth to comment but a fierce glare from the madame shut him down before he could start.

"Yes mama." Rosa walked up to her mother, gave her a hug and had a coin given to her. There was an uncomfortable silence in the room as she put on her shoes. Rosa glanced up to see Madame Mulberry gearing up for a fight.

'Maybe I should diffuse the situation a bit. Young children are given a little leeway when speaking the truth.'

"Mr Hue-" Rosa said at the doorway, shoes on. "-a person's reputation is important. Don't go back on a promise." Hue was so shocked at being scolded by an actual child, he forgot to be angry for a moment.

"Rosa!" Eleanor was scandalized.

"-But if you're having problems, talk it out." Rosa continued undaunted. "People are understanding and will surprise you sometimes. That's what compromise is for." Rosa purposefully said compromise as comp-rah-mise, it was a little too eloquent for a seven year old. She was pushing her luck with the word reputation.

"Compromise. Com-pro-mise." Madame Mulberry corrected on autopilot. Rosa dutifully copied her with a sweet smile.

"Bye. It was nice meeting you." Rosa waved as she scurred down the steps. The man looked dumbstruck and she swore she heard laughter as she left.

It sounded suspiciously like Madame Mulberry's.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rosa came back with a new skill and a whole lot of food. It seems word got around last night about her contribution to the raid. Food was being given to her for next to nothing. The first time time it happened Rosa was suspicious; the third time was a conspiracy.

"You have learned skill: Barter. Trade food, items, services and money. Things at market will be 10% cheaper."

"I can't believe I had to argue to even pay." Rosa grumbled as she heaved home bags of food just about as tall as she was. It was now official, she could learn skills by fighting with people.

'I wasted so much time.' Rosa nearly cried, it was late morning now. Everything was quiet when she arrived at home, which was a relief.

"Mom, I'm home." Rosa called out. "Can you open the door?"

"What took you so long?" Eleanor trailed off as she took in the sight of her daughter with a huge amount of food. "What!?!"

"A little help please?"

After food was put away, they sat down to a late breakfast. It was as they were finishing their meal that her mother cleared her throat.

"We have to talk about something." She began. Rosa nodded along. A talk was overdue.

"Kay." Eleanor sat up straight and began.

"You have to know, no matter what you decide, I will support you." Rosa grimaced at her mother's starting statement.

'Something big must have happened.'

"The man promised that he would help pay for your education into one of the guilds of your choice when you turned ten." Eleanor said with a little anger in her tone. "That was before you left for the wall and everyone was scared."

'That should be pocket change for an aristocrat. Why would he be going back on his word?' Rosa sat letting her mother continue.

"The problem is that he's been banned from sponsoring by the guilds. Some sort of scandal that he says that wasn't true." Eleanor spat out in distaste.

'Ah, there it is.' Rosa's eyebrows went up.

"So he suggested either one of two things. That he provides you with money-" Eleanor snorted "-or that he provides you with a tutor when you turn ten."

"Money." Was the instant reply. Her mother gaped at her in shock.

"Are you sure honey? You can make more money if you get tutoring to go into one of the higher rated guilds." Her mother could be very persuasive when she wanted to be.

"Yes. I am sure."

"But-"

"Mom, there's something you should know." No parent ever wants to hear those words out of their child's mouth. "Stop me when you hear a familiar word, system, skills, crafting station-"

"What!?" Rosa's hunch was right, her mother was a highly sought after seamstress for a reason. She had the crafting system.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"You are at crafting station: sewing desk. What would you like to craft?"

Rosa looked over to her empty recipe tab and sighed. They were downstairs in the back of the shop. This was where all of the clothes were made by hand for the store. One of her mother's requests for work was that she had her own private workstation.

"Well?" Her mother asked anxiously.

"I don't have any blueprint, patterns or recipes." Rosa stated plainly. Her mother sat down on a pile of folded fabric directly behind her.

"You can see it. You can really see it." Eleanor stated in awe. "You activated it so young."

"Yeah. But I can't do it if I don't have a recipe to make it work." Her mother lost her dazed look and turned serious.

"Tell no one else about this." Rosa was shocked by her mother's firm tone.

"Mom?" Eleanor crouched down to look her square in the eye and gripped her shoulders.

"Rosa, I am dead serious. People go missing that have our ability. Tell no one." Rosa was a little frightened by her mother's words.

"I won't. But mom? That's not the only system I activated." Eleanor choked on air.

"What!?!"

"I have battle skills, gathering skills and-" Rosa whispered "-magic."

Her mother looked like she was about to have an aneurysm.

Some time later, her mother sat down and went over all her clothing recipes. Since her sewing wasn't at level one, she could only learn zero quality recipes. These were things any average person could do, like sew a button onto a shirt. Her first recipe to learn was of a simple rounded pillow. Her mother gave her a pattern to follow with clear instructions.

"Now, you have to concentrate and visualize every step in the process- " Her mother was trying to guide her through the art of sewing as that how her system worked. Rosa knew her focus needed to be on the outcome, not the process.

"Mom, can I have the needle please?" Eleanor was startled at being interrupted.

"But you haven't learned-"

"Mom. I think our systems are different." That stopped her mother dead in her tracks. "Give me the materials and we can try it." Her mother was skeptical but did as she asked.

"Alright sweetheart." It was clear she was just playing along, she didn't expect anything to come of it. Selecting the simple design of a circular pillow, the crafting station warped, startling her.

'It's fine. This is new to me too.' Rosa studied how the crafting station had changed. It had space for crafting tools at the top and two grids beneath for the materials. There were ghost images in the slots. She tried to put the needle in the needle tool slot only for it to be rejected. Clicking on the system message, she realized it was incomplete.

"Mom? Do we have thread?" Rosa was given thread and some scissors. Scissors went over one grid, the needle and thread combined over the other.

"You are trying to make: circular pillow. 1 Ap will be consumed. Do you wish to make: circular pillow?"

Rosa tapped the yes button and felt her energy drain. The crafting was instantaneous.

"+ 20 sewing. You have learned crafting skill: Sewing. Each level will increase sewing quality by 0.5."

"Recipe lvl up. Circular pillow +1 quality."

A little round pillow sat on the sewing desk in front of her.

"You did it." Eleanor said stunned. "That-that..." Rosa listened to her mother stutter.

"It costs me action points. I have three action points and using them makes me tired." Picking up the tiny brown pillow had her examining it more closely.

The pillow was a little frayed, the stitching was visible and the stuffing was lopsided. It was brown and soft.

"This gave me twenty sewing experience, my sewing is now level one and I learned the recipe. I should make a better quality pillow next time." Eleanor took the pillow, examined it and nodded.

"It's a start. Here, try again." This time, a different fabric and thread was given over. Rosa looked at them noticing that they looked of better quality. Using the exact same method, another pillow was created.

"Mom?" Rosa asked stunned as she read the system message and identified the pillow.

"Rainbow silk pillow created: +100 sewing exp. Sewing lvl up to 3. Recipe: circular pillow lvl up to 3."

"Rainbow silk pillow: quality 1.5. Item: adds a little luxury to any room it's in. +3 to presence."

Looking up to her mother, Rosa saw her hands clasped and eyes sparkling in joy.

"My baby's a seamstress!"

That's how Rosa got a crash course on items, quality and special job abilities.