Sylvia, while understanding of his irritation, has also told him that if he doesn't stop getting orders wrong, he is going to stop having a job.

The answers from the traders will vary. Most come from other fortified villages or small settlements that have been either overlooked, or blessed in some strange way - Astor has the roses, others have apple trees or hay stacks. Lekkites mention a city in the mountains. They have a tendency to look suspiciously up at the sky, and over time it becomes clearer that when they say 'in the mountains' they actually mean literally 'inside the mountains'.

His rhetorical manoeuvres get him punched in the face on more than one occasion.