Chapter One Hundred and Sixty-Two - Dine Another Day

Mister Sebastien and Mister Geoffrey sat down across from us and remained very silent for a while.

It got a bit uncomfortable, awkward, even.

“I’m sorry,” I said. It was only nice to extend the first olive branch. “That was sort of rude of me. We’re your guests, and I did the whole rank thing. I mean, it was kinda fun, since I never got to do that before, but still mean.”

Edmund coughed into his fist as if to hide a very inappropriate grin.

I didn’t have a full picture of how things were going down between him and the company men, but I could feel a bit of tension between the two.

Sebastien, the younger of the pair, cleared his throat and spoke up first. “It’s... all well, Captain Bunch. Please forgive Geoffrey and myself. We acted rashly. You are, of course, guests, and deserve all the courtesy that comes with that.”

I nodded, a big smiling coming on. Civility was so nice.

“Yes,” Amaryllis said with a tone that had me worried. “I imagine that you treat all of your guests with such wonderful hospitality.”

I placed a hand on her thigh under the table, a small gesture to tell her not to go too far.

She huffed and rolled her eyes. “So,” I asked. “You two don’t look like lumberjacks,” I said. “I can’t imagine there’s all that much busywork to do in a camp like this.”

“You’d be surprised,” Edmund said. “We do need to keep track of supplies and the like, not to mention how much lumber’s being shipped down south, and how many goods we need from up north.”

That made some sense. “Why do you get things from one direction and send them to another?” I asked.

“The river,” he said. “There’s a little river that runs all the way down to Needleford, or at least a little village between us and the city where they can load the lumber up onto wagons to haul down to Needleford. We get most of our supplies from Cherryhold.”

Awen perked up. “My family sells a lot of things that end up there,” she said. “It’s closer to ship to Cherryhold than to Needleford. Or, well, it’s faster and safer. Otherwise you need to go the long way around the Seven Peaks.”

“Neat,” I said.

Geoffrey grumbled something and shifted on his seat. “We’re here on official business,” he said. “Nothing that ought to bother you, ladies.”

That... was fair. I probably shouldn’t pry. “So what sort of business?” my mouth asked before I could rein it in. I slapped a hand over it, just in case. “I’m sorry! It’s none of my business.”

Edmund snorted. “They’re here to make peace with the dryads,” he said.

“Unfortunately,” Sebastien said. “It’s not going as well as it should.”

“Did you snub them?” Amaryllis asked rather snobbily.

Judging by the quick grimace that crossed Sebastien’s face, the answer to that might have been a resounding yes.

“They’re trees!” Geoffrey said. “Trees! No money, no property, no idea of how propriety works.” He smacked the table. “They’ve no king or nation. I’d call them savages, but even savages have some form of society.”

Edmund’s expression darkened quite a bit. “And yet they’re beating us at every turn. Ever since they got that leader of theirs.”

“I met a really nice dryad once. He was pretty cool. He helped me find some flowers and we fought some monsters together. I don’t know if he had a nation, or a king, but he was a nice person,” I said.

“That’s not most folk’s experience with the tree people,” Edmund said. “They can be mighty violent and territorial.”

“Well,” I said. “You are encroaching on their territory.”

“This territory belongs to the East Mattergrove Company,” Geoffrey said.

I had the impression I’d heard that before in a history lesson or two. It didn’t usually end well. “How much did you pay the dryads for it?” I asked.

Amaryllis snorted and, to my surprise, Bastion chuffed in withheld laughter.

Sebastien, probably sensing that his friend was about to be rude again, waved his hand down before Geoffrey and looked my way. “Captain, you mentioned speaking to the dryad. Did you encounter one that can talk common?”

“The killer oak can speak common,” Edmund said. “It’s broken and slow, but it’s mostly understandable.”

“Uh,” I said. “No, I’m pretty sure I can speak tree.”

“Is he the one you got that spear from?” Amaryllis asked. “The one you carried around for a bit and that you obviously don’t know how to use.”

I snapped my fingers. “Oh, I forgot all about that,” I said. “Yeah, Oak gave that to me.”

“Oak?” Edmund asked.

I nodded. “That’s his name.”

The man eyed me for a bit. “Well, I suppose it’s a common enough sort of tree around here,” he said.

“If you speak tree...” Sebastien began. “Miss... Captain Bunch, how long do you intend to stay in the area.”

“Only until morning,” I said. “We really don’t want to impose.”

The man leaned forwards. “I see. We have a bit of a problem right now, and if you could act as translator, I think we could remedy it with far less bloodshed and trouble. I understand if you’re busy, but perhaps the East Mattergrove Company could make it worth your while.”

“I, uh, I’m not saying yes or no so soon,” I said. “Could you tell me how things have been going so far?”

Edmund raised a hand, finger up in a ‘one moment’ sort of gesture. “Food’s coming. We ought to serve up before getting into the heavier talk.”

A glance over to the kitchen showed a couple of the younger guys grabbing some stacked plates and little baskets filled with utensils which they started distributing around the tables. Another group came up bearing some big pots filled with steaming food.

As they approached our table, I could make out the scent of boiled... everything. When they came over to our table and started slopping some of the food onto our plates, my suspicions were confirmed. The chefs here just boiled everything together.

“Delicious,” Amaryllis said before taking so much as one bite.

“Awa, it’s... probably not that bad,” Awen said. “Um. I’m sure I couldn’t do better. Probably.”

I took a spoonful, blew on it until it was cooler, then nibbled it down. “Hey, this is alright.”

“The boys out back don’t know how to make the food look good, but it always tastes just fine,” Edmund said. “And it’s hearty too. This is the kind of warm grub you need after a day’s work.”

I took another bite and made agreeable noises around it. There was some meat, which still tasted a bit off, but the veggies and the broth made up for that.

Sebastien poked his food a bit before he started to eat, and Geoffrey looked at it with outright disgust before he started to spoon some into his mouth.

My friends were far less picky, it seemed. Bastion was chowing through his meal like a soldier, matching some of the lumberjacks for speed and efficiency, and the girls were nibbling away at their meals.

“So, Mister Sebastien,” I said. “You were saying about maybe having some work for us?”

The man nodded quickly, then dabbed at his mouth with a handkerchief. “Indeed, Captain. We have been trying to meet with the dryads to set up some sort of peaceful accord. We could... solicit aid from the army, but bringing troops here from Mattergrove would be expensive, and seeing as how the dryads are now armed and seem quite capable, a protracted battle in these forests would be incredibly expensive for the East Mattergrove Company.”

“Not to mention morally... uh, bad,” I added.

“Yes, of course,” Sebastien agreed. “One of the bigger challenges we’re facing now is not only reaching the core of the forest, where the leaders of the dryad stay, but also communicating with them. You seem to have a solution to both.”

“That’s nice,” Amaryllis said. “But while we have those solutions, we don’t exactly have much in terms of incentive to assist you.”

Sebastien considered that.

Personally, I was okay with a bit of a detour. Maybe we could help the dryads out, and Oak too, and then we could find a nice, peaceful solution to everything.

“The East Mattergrove Company is not without some financial resources,” Sebastien said.

Awen nodded. “They are one of the biggest companies in Mattergrove,” she said. “We used to have a lot of them come to Greenshade because it’s a trade city. They’re probably the richest non-noble group in Mattergrove.”

“Richest in one of the poorest countries,” Amaryllis said. “That means they’re a small fish elsewhere.”

“Perhaps we could give you a favourable deal on some cargo,” Sebastien said. “Or if your vessel is at capacity already, we could offer you a letter of introduction, perhaps a rebate on some of our wares.”

“Do you have fuel for ships?” I asked. “And a place to maintain them?”

Sebastien nodded. “We do. The East Mattergrove Company does a lot of shipping between Mattergrove and Deepmarsh by sea and air. We’re the principal traders with our eastern allies.”

I looked to my friends for guidance, Awen first, since she knew the company best.

“Awa, they’re, um, a company. But we do have something they want, so I think they’ll be fair,” Awen said.

“It would take up some of our time,” Amaryllis added.

“We’re not in that much of a hurry, though,” I said.

Bastion hummed as he gestured for seconds. “The main diplomatic mission is only leaving in a week and a bit. We’re set to arrive quite a bit earlier than they are, even if we make a little detour to assist these fine gentlemen.”

“Mister Sebastien, would it be possible to receive a permanent discount on any purchases we make?” Amaryllis asked.

The man frowned and looked to his older partner. “I’m not senior enough to make that kind of deal,” he said.

“I am,” Geoffrey said. “A permanent discount sounds like a whole lot of trouble.”

“Ah, but it’s to fix a problem you’re not competent enough to fix yourself,” Amaryllis said. “I’ll have you know that Captain Bunch here, despite her appearances, is an expert negotiator. Not only would you not have to hire your own negotiator, you’d have transportation to and from a dangerous area, and it’s safe to say that no one on this side of this table is a slouch when it comes to combat. Awen takes after her uncle, Broccoli came in second place at the Rosenbell tournament this year, and I’m an accomplished mage myself. Bastion here is, well, he’s a royal paladin, I’m certain that I don’t need to elucidate on his abilities in combat.”

One of Bastion’s brows perked up. I could sympathize, I was wondering what Amaryllis was up too as well.

“That’s... quite tempting,” Sebastien said. “Maybe if the sum of the discount is low enough we could make it permanent.”

“No more than two percent,” Geoffrey said.

“That’s a pittance,” Amaryllis said. “We’d lose more than that dealing with transportation to and from such a backwater. Ten percent.”

“Ten! By the king’s beard, are you trying to bankrupt us?” Geoffrey asked. “Three.”

“Three? For a tiny, insignificant company run by bureaucrats too incompetent to be hired by the royal family? Seven.”

“Five, and I’ll have you know that the crown wishes it had our astute business acumen,” Geoffrey said.

Amaryllis hesitated. “Five, and the right extends to anyone in our crew.”

“Anyone? Are you mad, you bird?” Geoffrey asked. “We’ll give it to the Captain and the Captain alone.”

“Fine, then ten percent, seeing as how any of us would need to go through her as an intermediary anyway.”

Geoffrey huffed, then grumbled something under his breath. “Four, and it’s transferable.”

“Five, and it can be transferred to any of us,” Amaryllis insisted.

The old man nodded. “Five.”

I had no idea what just happened, but Amaryllis looked particularly smug, so I decided that it was probably for the best to just push on. “Then it’s decided,” I said as I extended a hand over the table. “Tomorrow morning, when the sun’s up, we’ll see about flying you closer to the dryads. And then I can act as a translator for you, if you want.”

***