Nanavanidak smiled as the last customer for the day walked away with their overprices wool. He was an experienced trader, almost twenty years on the silk road, so he knew how to let just enough sand in, in order to make the wool feel like it was worth more. He also knew better than to try and sell near his fellow countrymen, men from Smarkland, as they used all the same tricks. He was a business man and business men had to turn a profit somehow. He stored his left over goods and counted his money. He had more than enough to but Chang’an goods that would be popular on his side of the road. He walked from stall to stall, purchasing ornaments, jewelry, and drugs. He also bought his wife a little something special to show her he was thinking of her. The trips back and forth across the Silk Road took months and he knew she missed him.
With all of his chores done, Nanavanidak could finally relax. He met up with friends from Chang’an and Smarkland as well as other he met on the Silk Road. Together they all went out and got drunk, even though Nanavanidak’s religion, Manichean, would not approve. He loved Chang’an, especially the dancing girls at the bars, they were good entertainment and good “friends”. It was one of the reasons Nanaivandak became a trader, to experience new cultures and all they had to offer. Time away from his nagging wife was just a bonus.
Trading was also in his family. His uncle, who became like a father to Nanaviandak when his father disappeared during a rebellion, got his started in the business. Traders were often protected during revolutions because the goods they brought kept the economy running.
It was more than that, though. Nanaivandak also simply loved traveling. He loved to see the new places and learn from the different cultures. He found the different environments and sights on the Silk Road to be quite beautiful as well.
The journeys were dangerous and very long. It took months to navigate the Silk Road and as merchants they were in constant danger of being attacked by bandits. Therefore, merchants often traveled in groups, either with other merchants or whoever else they might meet along the way. Nanaivandak remembered on his first journey when two merchants got greedy and in the middle of the night started out on their own. The group found their mangled bodies about mid day, all of their goods were gone. From that day on he never traveled alone.
Besides the danger from the bandits, the land itself was hard on travelers. Sun bleached bones with the flesh picked clean off them served as a warning to the unwitting traveler.
Two days later, after Nanavanidak had sold all of his goods, he began to get ready to make the long journey back home. It was better to go now, as the was an ominous air in Chang’an he did not want to get caught up in anything that did not concern him.
The ominous feeling did not stay in Chang’an however, it followed his group as they made their way home, sometimes, it even surprised them by beating the travelers to towns and cities along the way. Nanaivandak usually loved traveling along the Silk Road, what ever way he was traveling. Yes, even back toward his nagging wife. However, all he could think of was getting home.
Unfortunately, he would never leave home again. The negative energy that Nanaivandak and his fellow travelers had felt soon escalated into wars all along the Silk Road. China, for the safety of its people and its government soon closed its doors to foreigners.
