Bethany found herself awoken by a loud annoying noise from a small machine next to the bed. Bethany jumped out of bed and pressed random buttons on the thing till it stopped squawking at her,

“If only it was that easy to stop my mother from shouting at me in the morning” Bethany said to herself before immediately feeling guilty and looking around to see if anybody had heard. Now awake, Bethany went to turn the kettle on feeling much more confident than she had the previous day. She had always been a morning person and a sleep had given her perspective on how luck she actually was with the situation. If she had been at a Trial like her previous one, she would be starving and probably would have to return home that day. Instead, she was full of delicious food she had never tried before and was surrounded by technology that truly blew her mind. Further she was getting paid to do something she enjoyed and was safe to survive.

She jumped into the shower while the kettle boiled, having quickly got the hang of it, she thoroughly washed her body and hair. Enjoying the feeling of being properly cleaned after several days in prison, unable to wash. Once it was washed and dried, she plaiting it to ensure it was out of her way for the day ahead. She had to put on her previous outfit which was now quick dirty from a day at the market and the several days in jail before hand. She’d have to work out how to wash it that evening. She was sure there was a machine that could do that for her. Either that or buy a new outfit with her earning. She liked that idea. The fabrics here were so different to back home and their colour and designs much bolder. Plus, she thought with a hint of pride, people back in the village were unlikely to have them and it would let her be known for something that wasn’t Solarslut. She could possibly pick something up for her mother too.

Bethany didn’t know if Stilwart expected her to come and find him and his booth but she doubted it, so she took her cup of tea and curled up with a book she found on her bedside table. She wasn’t really a big reader normally, preferring to escape with her imagination alone but the concept of a book from another world was exciting enough that she gave it a go. She wasn’t far into it when she heard the door knocking and abandoned the book to go answer it. She was struggling with the story due to the large cultural and technological differences but was enjoying it none the less and wanted to continue reading it if she wasn’t too tired later.

She let Stilwart in and offered him a cup of tea, the two sat and made small talk for a while before Stilwart placed the mug on the coffee table and leaned forwards to talk business.

“Right then, I’ve made a couple of changes to the stall because honestly I wasn’t expecting watching you work to be such a draw. You were only really visible because I didn’t want to rent a place nearby for you to work. For one I’ve changed the signage to be a little more-“ Stilwart paused here to try to find an inoffensive way to refer to Bethany’s obviously technologically underdeveloped world. “Rustic? Yeah rustic, you are also going to have your own area where the whole process is visible.

If you are up for it, I’ll want you to be as chatty and friendly as possible with the customers who are watching you work. I’ll be setting up a sample station with you as well. I know chatting to the customers wasn’t quite what we agreed but I’d be willing to give you 5% of all our earning in return.”

This wasn’t exactly a larger percentage but given the fact she had been earning exactly 0% previously it was a large increase to her. With that she was confident she would be able to actually afford an outfit for her and her mother. Possibly a couple so she had stuff to wear while she was still there. Despite that her mother had taught her to always barter if the person seemed like they could afford it and given the context Stilwart clearly could. Even if bartering meant talking more than Bethany was usually comfortable with.

“You want me to interface with the customers, as well as attract them in AND give them samples, so you can do what? Just take the money and keep 95%? Surely 15% is a little closer to fair?”

“My dear Bethany, I took you for a noble woman not a common thief. Who is granting you access to these customers, who is providing the stall and ingredients? We had already agreed that working for only Trial Credits was fair. You tried to swindle me then it wounds me that you are doing it again. 5% is more than reasonable”

“I tried to swindle you? Good sir, you took a ‘rustic’ girl from her home and made her a deal with a currency she didn’t even understand. For all you know I have a flourishing butter business back home where I could be making hand over foot more currency than I am here. A 12% cut would be extremely reasonable.”

It quickly became apparent that Bethany wasn’t nearly as good as Stilwart was at this as he clearly felt no real need to increase his offers while she felt obligated to lower her’s every time. Eventually they agreed on 7% but in all honesty that felt like Stilwart was doing her a favour rather than being the result of her actual negotiation technique.

She followed him back to the booth which had as promised undergone a large change. It now much more resembled the kind of booths she experienced back home, in fact it looked like a poorly made booth from home with a slapdash painted sign, boards of varied lengths making up the sides and front and a couple of crooked nails sticking out in various directions. Bethany could tell it was all intentional having been around these kind of stalls for years, but she had to acknowledge it stuck out among its neighbours and certainly resembled home more than she had expected. She set herself up in the area clearly set aside for her and noticing a small tray that was clearly meant for her tips and tossed a couple of her own coins in to get the ball rolling.

The early morning crowd were already out in force, and it wasn’t long before Bethany had kids and adults alike watching her work. She felt oddly self-conscious about the whole affair, normally nobody paid her any interest except to be cruel but here she was an exciting commodity. She tried her best though, she smiled at everybody and made sure to say hi as people approached. She explained the process she was doing to nearly everybody who visited her in the booth. Making sure to offer them all samples as she did so. She could clearly tell from Stilwart's smile and the frequency of purchases that the booth was much more popular this time than it had been the previous day.

At times they had to close the stand for an hour so that Stilwart could join Bethany at another churn in quickly outputting butter to sell. Despite Bethany's obvious speed and familiarity with the process she couldn't magically speed up the process or even increase the volume of butter she was producing. Instead, all she could hope for was to be as quick as possible. While chatting she couldn't actually churn as fast as she normally would resulting in slightly less product being produced than normal. Despite having to close the stall on occasion to focus on butter production Stilwart didn't seem all that worried. They clearly were closing at less busy times and further they still got customers coming up.

When the crowds picked up again Stilwart quickly abandoned working with her and went back to selling despite them not actually having any product to shift. Instead, he took down address' and promised to send his son around with the butter later that evening, he didn't try to take any money at that stage and alarmed Bethany with the pure quantity of orders he was taking. There was only so fast she could and even focusing more directly on the churning she still had to take breaks and still wanted to say hello to the children who came to watch her work. When she expressed her concern to Stilwart though he assured her that he had a unit full of butter he could deliver. He would have brought more that day, but he hadn't expected to be as popular as they had been.

Lunch was a very similar affair as it had been the previous day. Bethany requested a different meat to maximise the variety of foods she was sampling while there. This time she got a lighter meat that Stilwart explained was from a filloflop, a type of bird bred for its meat, much like the chicken Bethany was used to. It tasted different however, it was a stringier meat and had a natural sweetness to it as though it had been marinaded in honey for some time. Bethany once again had three skewers and the two of them chatted as they took their lunch break. The topic stayed fairly light and breezy until Stilwart asked about her title.

"I didn't want to impose but I feel like we are friends now. We are friends, right?" Stilwart asked not waiting for an answer before continuing "I think we are friends. Anyway, you have a title, they are not exactly the rarest things, but they aren't common either. Plus, it isn't one I've personally seen before. What's that about?"

Bethany winced at the reminder, if she was honest, she had forgotten her nameplate screamed to everybody met her that she was a 'Solarslut'. "I got it when our planet joined this whole thing, the kids back home, well they weren't exactly the nicest and this was what they would call me." Bethany was going to stop there but Stilwart was looking at her with so much understanding she felt compelled to talk further. After all, in a week she would never see them again. Who can you tell your secrets to if not aliens on a literal alien world?

"In truth it hurt a lot and I wish I could leave it behind. I've always been in awe of the stars and think about them in my spare time. I told my best friend at the time, and she immediately betrayed me and told somebody who didn't like me very much. He gave me the nickname. But it's not really the nickname that hurts, I’ve heard it enough by this point. It's the fact the nickname came from her betrayal, I trusted her, and she didn't care. Every time I hear it, I’m reminded of how much it hurt." She found herself brushing away a tear at that. It was the first time she'd ever admitted it aloud, not even trusting Steven with that information.

Stilwart sighed and rubbed Bethany's back, in that moment it immediately became apparent to Bethany he was a good father and was about to attempt to impart some fatherly wisdom "People suck, always have and always will. Friends betray, partners leave, and children say things just to hurt you but despite that people are also amazing, yes in this circumstance maybe other people but for every villain there is a hero even if those roles are not quite so black and white and though I never expect you to thank or forgive this friend their cruelty may prove to be a blessing. Non-skill titles are rare and name-based titles are only awarded to planets going through initialization. Some people would kill for such a thing."

Bethany snorted,

"No obviously that doesn't matter to you, yet you are still a fresh planet, and the hurt has affected you for years but hopefully you are stronger because of it. It hasn't broken you. Nobody else gets to decide if you are broken or not only you."

At this Stilwart realised he'd kind of ran out of steam mid-point. Instead of trying to build up momentum again he slapped her back lightly twice and removed his hand and suggested they got back to work. Despite him not exactly being the most gifted with words Bethany appreciated it none the less. She wasn't going to forgive Mandy any time soon, but circumstances meant she wasn't stuck in a world with Mandy anymore, this Trial showed there were other worlds she could find and appreciate worlds the likes of which she hadn't seen yet.