Currency of Eslura
The currency of Eslura runs on three named coins: the kap in gold, the yerling in silver and the presp in bronze. Each is struck with its own name on the face.[1][2][3] They pass in the desert city of Varaar, which claims independence from the kingdoms, as readily as in Ovallia and at the Avonbourn on the mainland.[1][4]
The kap
The kap is a gold coin with the word kap on it. Tabitha Glowdish tossed one onto the counter of a weapons stall in the Varaar market and was handed two knives, each half an arm's length long.[1] She carries her kaps loose in a trouser pocket, and in The Way Shadows Live flicks two of the few she has left to a man to buy his silence and a meal.[5]
Kaps are what a large sum is counted in. Alpin Loomin demanded several hundred kaps in his paws as the price of escorting Beatrice Tidal and Reagan Hideaway to Galecrest, and would not settle for thanks.[6] A gang goon says Fawn is worth more kaps than his crew could count.[5]
The yerling
The yerling is a silver coin with the word yerling on it. Aero Ellisvat flipped one across the bar of the Avonbourn and Reslyn Keiser poured three large jugs of Oakenale for it.[2]
The presp
The presp is a bronze coin and buys small things. Aero pays for a single Oakenale with a few bronze presps.[3] An Ovallian shopkeeper who catches Barnaby Britto biting into a stolen fruit the size of a fist calls after him, "You got a presp for that, kid?"[4]
A few presps is also what a person of no means has. Explaining why he went after the Eyearke Stone with the Nelazgians, Aero says he has nothing but a few presps and some sword tricks to his name, and Ayala of the Hollowed Shadow tells him that the few presps he once stole from her were all she had.[7][8]
Money and its absence
Coin buys passage as much as goods. Tab says the Gangs of Varaar do not care who comes and goes through their territory so long as a traveller has kaps in their pockets, and she pays her share at gang establishments to be tolerated there despite being an Olphin.[1][5] She also pays men outside a bar to watch her mount while she is inside.[5]
Refusing payment is a gesture. Reslyn pushes Aero's coins back across the bar and tells him to keep them, and he answers that she will have to accept his payment one day if the place is to stay open.[3]
What one coin is worth against another is nowhere recorded, and neither is who mints them or whether Eslura uses paper money at all. The prices on show run in the same order as the metals: a gold kap buys two knives, a silver yerling a round of drinks, a bronze presp a piece of fruit.
Behind the scenes
All three names are listed together at the end of the pronunciation guide at the back of both novels: Kap as Cap, Presp as Press-puh, Yerling as Yur-ling.[9][10]