"We are Tsingani, the Travellers," Hyacinthe said with a shrug. "We spend our lives following the Lungo Drom; we don't settle down in homes or own businesses or invest in banks."

Generally speaking, anyway. Hyacinthe and his mother were saving up to purchase the building they were living in, but theirs was a special case.

"So we needed a way of carrying money that was as mobile as we are. Galb allows us to have funds at the ready no matter where we are. And yes. When I was a stripling, my mother's necklace was only a single row of coins. Now it is seven! Six," he corrected himself, absently stroking his bracelet.