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But more important than the buckets - as nice as they are - you were able to cover everything without resorting to using any of your largest denomination coins. To be sure, the Fishmonger's eyes bulged a bit when the twelve-talent followed the four eighth-talents and the two-talent, but he accepted it without comment or condition, and immediately set about making change for you. You are relieved - and also certain that had you used any denomination larger than a twelve, you would have ended up having to explain yourself.
> Lose one twelve-talent, one two-talent and four eighth-talents
There is however, a bit of delay once it becomes apparent that the Fishmonger doesn't have the right 'partials' to cover your change, so you need to wait while he makes them. You watch as he places an exceptionally battered looking eighth-talent into a notch in the counter in front of him, then presses his weight entire onto the coin so on its side, only half of its height is above the counter. Once he has gotten it snug, he retrieves a rusty cleaver and worn down mallet from underneath the counter, then with two quick but precise chops he cuts into the coin. Then he uses the cleaver to knock the coin lose, retrieve the eighth-talent and finally, twist the chopped segment until the coin comes apart. The segment that he hands over looks closer to a third than two-fifths of an eighth-talent, but you are not going to raise the issue - not when everything has been going so well.
> Gain one "shy" two-fifths eighth-talent
> Gain Fishmonger purchases
Anyway, you might be best served just by throwing the scrap of the eighth-talent away. It is illegal, after all, to knowingly possess, engage in trade, or to pay debts with debased currency ... though as you understand it from your father, those laws were almost exclusively used on shaved or clipped coins, not 'partials'. And even those who actually make the 'partials' apparently almost never get in trouble - in fact, prosecution of 'partial'-makers is so rare that most don't even realize it is against the law. This Fishmonger is probably among that number.
As you are the last customer in the establishment, you remain by the counter and watch him idly poke at and probe his portion of the eighth-talent with his thick calloused fingers while the rest of your purchase is brought over to you. Once you are satisfied that it is all there, you take a minute or so to arrange everything on your hand-cart in the best possible way. You are eventually able to get everything on and stable, but you are concerned that your new dresses might slip into the brine ... or just might take up the redolence. Honestly, if you only had more time, you might have gone to look for some perfume - considering that you are going to be mucking through a sewer, you should probably have gotten something to conceal odors. You can't imagine that any place that sells that sort of thing is still open at this point though, or will be open on Titheday.