“Not … exactly. We’re being plagued by counterfeit coinage, and they get counterfeit coins in change—and then are accused of passing them when they try to buy something else. You knew this was a growing problem in the south, I assume.”

“No … no, I didn’t.”

“Well, it is. The Guild League coins have been respected for generations; the Guild League has had a system of testing that eliminated most counterfeits. The only difference between the Guild League mints was the design on the obverse, the seal for each city. That testing still does eliminate counterfeits of the types seen before … if the counterfeit is light in weight or the wrong density to be a genuine coin.”

“It must be one or the other to be worth making,” Arvid said.

“Yes, you would think so. But the Guild League is now seeing counterfeits—we found some last year—that have too much silver or gold. Mostly silver.”

“That’s … ridiculous.”

“Not if someone’s trying to trust in the coinage. It doesn’t matter which way it’s wrong—unpredictably wrong is even worse than predictably wrong. It slows down the transfer of funds.”

“And what do you think I can do about that?”

“As a merchant you have a reason to express concern, and as a former thief you may have ways of finding out who’s passing the counterfeits here in Ifoss. In Vonja last year it was a Guild trader who claimed he’d been coerced by a gang … He thought Alured was involved, and a family member had been taken.”

“I can try,” Arvid said. “But I don’t know—the yeomen here know I was a thief—”

“Porfur told them? He shouldn’t have.”

“Somebody did,” Arvid said. “I thought it was Porfur and was surprised, but maybe his yeoman-marshal, Gan. At any rate, I think it’s likely others in the market will know. Makes it hard to ask questions without being noticed.”

Arcolin looked thoughtful and worried both. “If the yeomen know … some of them trade all the way to Valdaire—could the Thieves’ Guild there find you here?”

“It’s possible,” Arvid said. “There’s only a small Guild presence here—most of ’em in Foss Council are in Foss itself. More traffic on the road, more … targets.”

“Have they shown any interest in you?”

“No. And I would know if they were,” Arvid said. “I’m keeping my oath, but I still have eyes and ears.”

“Still … they could hear from the yeomen if they’re halfway competent.”

“They could. At least the Marshal didn’t make me use my full name.” Porfur had insisted on knowing that full name but allowed him to keep using Burin as his surname.

“Perhaps I shouldn’t ask you to do this…”

“I don’t mind. It’ll be a challenge.” Arvid grinned. He relished the thought of getting back into that familiar world, even on the opposite side.