"I'm not arguing the outcome," Skye said quietly as she looked up at her boss. "I'm just saying it doesn't feel like an ethical way to drum up business."

Selene shrugged slightly as she reorganized the incense display, "Perhaps not. But then again, the outcome was more than satisfactory all around."

The young brunette frowned. "So the ends justify the means?"

"I don't know that I'd put it like that," the tall blonde replied with a frown of her own. "And I don't know that that phrase would always apply."

"So what then?" Skye asked. She wasn't exactly trying to be a pest, though that was a talent which came naturally to her at times. At the moment she was mostly just trying to understand her boss's actions and reasoning.

Selene finished straightening out the various packages of incense then moved to the table with all the crystals and other semi-precious stones.

She started tidying that up as she wondered aloud, "How hard is it to put things back where they came from? Surely that's a skill parents teach their children by age five? Yet so many grown men and women can't remember to put the rose quartz back with the rose quartz, or the onyx back with the onyx."

Skye smiled slightly as she continued sweeping the floor.

After a few minutes Selene spoke up again, "You know in the nineteen-fifties, there was an appliance salesman in Toronto. This was when refrigerators and televisions were still luxury items, mind you. He'd come along and install a refrigerator or a television in your home absolutely free for a week. No deposit, no questions asked. He'd come and install it, let you use it for a week, then he'd come back to collect it and you never had to pay a penny."

The brunette stopped her sweeping again and watched her boss while she listened to this story, curious to see where it would lead.

"Of course so many people would quickly discover the convenience of a refrigerator or the entertainment value of a television during that week," Selene continued. "Naturally people would realize having enjoyed that luxury for a week, they really couldn't bring themselves to part with it."

She shrugged, "That man sold a great many appliances that way. I believe he became rich. In fact," she paused and frowned slightly, "If I'm not mistaken he may have even become mayor of the city at some point? Or perhaps I'm thinking of someone else."

Skye frowned again and asked, "So it's some sort of sales tactic or something? It still feels unethical to me, especially with a spell like Verum Viam. Of course she wanted to keep it, it was her perfect life. How could anyone give that up after having a taste of it?"

Before Selene could respond she added, "It would be just borderline ok if you'd warned her or told her up-front. But letting her try it out without any kind of warning or consent is going a bit too far, in my opinion."

The crystals were all back in their proper places now, so Selene moved next to the display of candles and candle holders. She sighed as she started straightening them out next, "Someone's left finger marks on the candles again. I'm quite certain people do that intentionally."

Skye rolled her eyes as she resumed her work with the broom.

"Anyways, I never did say it was ethical," Selene added. "For that matter, I'm not even sure it's still legal, what that salesman did back in the fifties."

"So you agree it's unethical?" Skye asked with another frown.

Selene admitted, "I agree it's questionable."

She picked up a polished candle-holder and started rubbing the fingerprints off it, then added "I still stand by the outcome though. That poor girl might not have survived the end of the year if I hadn't offered her another option. She really was ready to give up."

"I know," Skye sighed. "And you certainly didn't get much of value from her either. You really let her off easy for that spell."

"Mmhmm," Selene responded noncommittally. She moved to the display counters to the left of the cash register and started cleaning the hand and finger marks off those next.

Skye finished sweeping. She moved back behind the counter and picked up the purple cushion from the corner near the window. She frowned at some small paw prints on the counter top, and started cleaning them off the glass. "I'm glad you did that by the way. It would have been insult to injury if you'd gouged her on the price ontop of everything else."

Selene scowled slightly, "Please child. I'm not a monster."

Her expression shifted to a slight smile as she added, "You're right though, depression isn't worth much. But you know, I think we still have some love in the back of the drawer?"

"So?" Skye frowned as she finished cleaning the top of the counter. "You told me that's not worth much either."

Selene replied, "Correct. On their own, neither have much value. But if you mix depression and love together just right, you can come up with a fairly potent form of melancholy. And that's actually worth quite a lot more than either depression or love. At least in certain circles."

Skye frowned as she thought that over. Finally she sighed, "Once again I have no idea if you're telling me the truth, or if you're simply pulling my leg."

Her boss gave her a small knowing smile and responded, "Mmhmm."

Skye rolled her eyes. "How did you find her anyways? She'd never been anywhere near the shop until after she found the spell."

"Oh, I encountered her at the hospital in fact." Selene turned and surveyed her store, checking to see if there was anything else out of place. "I was delivering a perfect health spell to a regular customer who'd run into a spot of trouble. I happened to see the poor girl come in on a stretcher, fresh from her accident."

Skye interrupted with a smirk, "I didn't know you did house-calls."

The blonde rolled her eyes, "As I was saying, I happened to see the poor girl on a stretcher. Beyond her physical pain, I saw the pain in her heart, her soul. I could tell her life was so far off-course she'd have never found her way back on her own."

"So you planted one of your most powerful spells in a snowbank in her path?" Skye asked incredulously. "What if someone else found it instead? What if she didn't find it? What if she found it and threw it away?"

"Please," her boss shook her head slightly, "Give me some credit, child. I knew she'd find it, and I knew she'd try it."

Skye frowned, "Why didn't you just hand it to her?"

"She was much too stubborn for that. Like a certain cat we both know, who turns her nose up at something if you put it in her bowl, but when she finds the same thing unattended on the kitchen counter she'll eat it all down to the last crumb."

That brought a grin to the teen's face as she suppressed a giggle.

Selene rolled her eyes again, "Anyways, as I keep saying the outcome was more than satisfactory. If you really want me to say it, then I'll even go so far as to admit that on this occasion, the end did justify the means."

Skye sighed, then pointed out "You'd be cross if I ever tried to sell a spell like that."

"Yes of course," her boss stated in a matter-of-fact tone. "You don't have anywhere near as much experience as I do."

The teen frowned, "You've been doing this practically forever. By definition I'll never have as much experience as you."

That brought a smile to the boss's face, "Funny how that works, isn't it?"

Skye rolled her eyes again, then gestured around the store "And why do you insist we do all this evening clean-up by hand? Why not just magic everything back to the way it should be?"

"Because I enjoy doing it by hand," Selene replied. "And I know you do too. Now come on. Let's turn out the lights, it's time to go home."

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