Brilliant

I wrote to Ivellius tonight. He is the miner who told me my moon oysters were canal trash, and that I should dump them back in the water. I told him what they became. Pearl laminate. Two thin sheets.

He wrote back.

That's actually brilliant. Pearl laminate sounds durable enough for tool handles or armor plating. Do you have any samples I can inspect, or are you looking to trade?

Brilliant. The same shells.

I am not trading my two sheets. I keep things. That is who I am, and I am not sorry.

But I gave him something else. I told him exactly how to make his own. The reef at the canal for the oysters. The rainwater cistern just north of it for the mussels. One of each, at the workbench.

It cost me nothing to give away, and it was the most useful thing I had.

I also told him not to dump the next oyster back in the water.