Palace of Ponente - 3 months ago.
“In light of the Prince’s proclamation that the Silversea family remain unmolested until their 20th birthday when they are presented to the court. It was felt that it was only suitable that they have a tutor or governess to help them prepare for their entrance to the court. Now you have yet to mention how old this . . .” he paused as he looked at the documentation he had on hand. “. . . Aleera is. But every eligible daughter of a noble house is required to display the fact that they can wield the noble nine stats through a debutante performance.” The seneschal explained.
Cadmus and Mercurio stood there in silence as the situation was explained in detail to them.
“She can wield the nine noble stats, correct?” he questioned.
“We believe so.” Mercurio hedged. He was not quite willing to commit to a bet on the matter and was hesitant to be caught in an outright lie.
“Well, hopefully, that is the case. Indeed, the purchasing of a noble title should have been enough to unlock the stat. If not, then their tutor should be able to unlock it for them if they have sufficient resources or skill.” He continued.
“I have not yet agreed to be their tutor.” The lady interrupted as she stepped forward into the conversation out of the corner of the room. A fan flicked out in front of her face as she emphasised her point. The fan was a more recent fashion addition to the court an affectation from the Kingdom of Levante and its court.
“You had till this meeting to decide. By being present you are implicitly accepting the contract of privacy.” He argued back, clearly disgruntled at both the disagreement and the interruption.
“There is a difference between implicitly accepting a socially decreed decorum and explicitly following a legally binding rule. Besides a favour owed is but a favour, not a life debt. I have signed no contract and even then, it is not the same as being bound. I will make my own choice on the matter while I have my freedom still.” She declared without fear or concern for irking him further. “How old is Aleera Silversea?” She calmly asked Mecurio and Cadmus.
Cadmus replied, “I believe she is not yet ten.” While Mecurio nodded in agreement.
“So all is not lost yet then.” She paused for thought. “Her parentage?”
Cadmus opened with, “Her mother is a fine weaver while her father is a fine fisherman.”
Before Mercurio jumped in adding, “Her mother’s hand was the most sought after on the island a siren songstress as well as a seamstress of superlative clothing and weaver of the most intricate tapestries. Her father while a fisherman is no simple sailor. He is the eldest son of the local leader of the town and has levelled himself fishing the open sea surrounding the island on the very edge of the compass.”
“So somewhere in between then.” She moderated their responses, then turned to face the Seneschal, “And located at the very edge of the world.” She acerbically pointed out.
“Suitably safe and imagine what you could achieve without the distractions of court bothering you every day. A whole decade to help mould and form a noble without peer.” He walked his way around the point raised about the distance from the centre of Ponente. “You have long bemoaned the quality of the ladies of the court, why not raise your own without their peers polluting the quality of your education.”
“10 years on the edge of the compass.” She paused reconsidering before remembering the wording of the contract. “And how old is the youngest?”
Wincing internally Cadmus responded, “A newborn, not yet a year old.”
While Mercurio jumped in, “But bright beyond his years if he takes after his former older brother. The Silversea family truly is a pearl hidden in the depths of the ocean.”
“So, the full 20 years then.” She turned to the Seneschal. “If I take this tutor position, I expect you to protect my interests both here and there from afar. It is going to add a significant delay to my correspondence and I will expect timely attention to detail. This will be more than the favour owed and I will expect one in turn on my return, Scias.”
“Of course, Acacia. I promise to follow your correspondence to the letter. Moreover, on your return, there will be no hesitance on my part to return the favour.” He bowed deeply.
Mercurio and Cadmus who had been bystanders to the majority of the conversation followed it with interest.
“Very well, I accept. Citizens?” she answered Scias before she gestured towards the door. They found themselves opening it for her and following her out in accompaniment on either side as if forming her wake. This all happened before they had time to process her answer and request, or even consider following it such was the power of her skills and stats when applied with the deftest of touches.
They had reached the corner of the corridor and turned when they heard Scias shout, “And the contract?” But she continued as if it was unheard and at such a pace that Mercurio and Cadmus felt compelled to walk full speed ahead to keep up with the smooth gliding pace of the lady.
“We have a lot to collect if we are to depart on the next tide. Come along now boys.” Her head turned to the side to address them talking over her shoulder as they had still failed to catch up to her pace.
. . . . . .
Wester Isle
We had been happy but we had also been oblivious. We had been unaware of the effect of our actions. It was time to solve the problems we had caused and I was finally allowed off the island Aleera carrying me once more to witness it. The meetings with 3 branches of the Fisherson’s family went well. They seemed almost apologetic for asking Father to fish elsewhere while defending their request couched in their concern for the number of fish within the lagoon.
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“It ain’t that we begrudge you the use of your skill. It’s simply there won’t be much left to catch for any of us should you continue to use it within the lagoon.” They explained their position. Their three docks were in line on the coast a straight road running along in front of their houses. They were part of the old town and one of the founding families.
“Well I’ve taken a break from fishing the lagoon this week and next week I tackle the open ocean.” Kaius raised his hands in his defence.
“Now we’re not calling for that mind. There are fish enough for all here as long as we fishin’ in moderation.” The patriarch of the family cautioned.
“I’ve done it before. I can do it again. I know when to watch the water and when to run.” He replied.
We had stopped pulling fish from it every night now but continued to sail it every night to improve my skill levels and continue to allow me to search the lagoon floor for what I was sure had to be there somewhere, a tunnel to the sea. We had yet to find it. This was not the only reason we had sailed. Father seemed to be attempting to force every ounce of speed out of the sails and trim the sails as tight as they could until the boat could turn on an oyster's shell. He might have appeared calm about setting sail on the deep blue sea but it was equally clear he was preparing for both rougher weather and stormier seas.
As well as an increased intensity to father’s actions on the boat, we had continued to find plenty of Sea snails and oysters. The odd one with a pearl in it we marked but left on the lagoon floor, proof that we could have taken it had we wished, but evidence that we had left it for the diver’s daughters. That meeting did not progress so smoothly.
“We didn’t take every oyster with a pearl on the floor of the lagoon for a reason.” The eldest argued.
“We knew where more were but were simply waiting for them to grow bigger before harvesting them.” Another added, the smallest and possibly the youngest.
“You have stolen our shells and our prizes.” A third shouted in anger. While the remaining two remained silent.
It was not an auspicious start to our meeting. Aleera had attended alongside Father keen to argue the fact that possession was nine-tenths of the law.
“You have never begrudged the boys diving for pearls before or mentioned owning every shell on the sea floor,” Aleera argued back.
“That is because they didn’t strip the floor clear of every clam. The odd one they did find didn’t matter too much.” The eldest said exasperated.
“We haven’t taken every oyster. There are plenty out there still.” Aleera knew how many we had found and how many we had left behind. There were plenty still out there but certainly a lot fewer held pearls.
“Yes but only the empty ones.” The youngest complained.
“Not true.” Aleera defended our actions.
“We pulled up all the oysters in one patch and didn’t find a single pearl. We don’t know how you did it or what skill you are using but you can’t deny that you have robbed us blind.”
“We haven’t pulled a single pearl from the lagoon this week.” Aleera interrupted unwilling to let the middle child build up any more steam. “And . . .” she continued shouting over the top of her, “any my Father found that he believed did contain a pearl he has marked with our families symbol before leaving them there.”
“Aye, we noticed.” One of the silent sisters spoke up. “Again, we pulled up all the oysters in that patch and the only one with a pearl worth finding was in the sole oyster with this marked on it.” She held up the offending shell.
I was quite proud of the design. The Silverwood family had incorporated a stylised silver tree as their noble crest. Ours was similar in design a silver mountain pushing up through a silver sea on a mother of pearl background. The more complicated design would have a compass faintly etched onto the mother of pearl background but for marking oysters it was simple enough to scratch into them a simpler version.
“Look we promise not to pick up any more oysters from the sea floor.” Kaius tried to mediate. “You mark the shells you are saving for yourselves, and we will mark ours.”
“That’s a good start.” The eldest said in consideration.
. . . but what about all the ones you stole.” The loudest and most annoying sister still shouted pointing her finger at us. The presence of a baby might have earned us a calmer start to the proceedings but while we had made some progress with four of the sisters I doubted we would be making much progress with this one. We were also going to have to mark all our oysters with numbers and our emblem to make sure none of ours went missing.
“The last point we would like to raise if you are going to be selling or using the pearls within the town or on the nearby isles is to try and limits yourselves. We try to limit our purchases. It helps to keep the prices high as well as gives the pearls more time to grow before we pluck them. Try not to sink the market with your bounty of pearls. Call it one last request and a pearl of wisdom.” The eldest had the last word before escorting her louder sister inside before she could continue the argument.
We had a truce of sorts. We wouldn’t be able to continue expanding so rapidly but hopefully neither would we have any more issues with our neighbours.
. . .
Our last meeting of the day with widow Wanda went a lot smoother. She jumped at the chance to be paid to do some weeding of our hidden mountain garden. She might be a little elderly but the benefit of a world with stats meant that she was still fairly spritely. She lived in a smaller abode within the town but it was true that despite a long life without her former husband and without any children to support her she was significantly less well off than most. Still, her plot of land was full of plants, vines, trees, bushes, fruit and vegetables which boded well for what we would be asking of her. As we were leaving having visited her at home she held onto Aleera’s hand once more in the doorway.
“Thank you,” she gushed once more. “I truly appreciate the offer.” As she stood in the doorway.
“We apologise, Wanda,” Aleera replied uncomfortably, “I didn’t realise you relied so heavily on the sale of salt to make ends meet.”
“Now, now, you aren’t responsible for me.” She stopped Aleera from continuing. “The young need to grab every mote of experience they can.”
“Yes, well, Des and Sinis will be buy in the morning to pick you up.” She hesitated before continuing truthfully. “It might not be the sweetest smelling boat you will have ever ridden but we are using the town’s nightsoil to improve our soil on the island.”
Looking around at her garden from the back of Aleera I was impressed by how many large and succulent the berries, fruits and vegetables looked. I wondered if it was a skill or some other secret. Hopefully, she would be bringing both to our island when she worked there.
“I understand. A fruit tree that grows in a dung heap will surely blossom. The bigger the dung heap the better.” She seemed unbothered by the fact that she would be travelling with the town’s waste. “Have you ever tried adding guano? That’s what my husband used to fetch me from the foot of the cliffs sometimes for my garden.”
I mentally kicked myself. No, we had not tried using guano to improve the quality of our soil. So obvious in retrospect. I even vaguely recalled islands in the pacific or Atlantic being mined specifically for the nitrate-rich guano that had covered them from decades of seabirds pooping on them. But not once had I thought to apply it here. Doh!
“Guano?” Aleera questioned.
“Yes, dear. Bird poo. There is a fair amount of it along the foot of some of the eastern cliffs or in crevices found on the outer wall. It was not my dear’s favourite job but it was hard to argue with the food it helped produce so he collected it for me once in a while.” She explained.
“Could you maybe show Des and Sinis where they could collect some more tomorrow first? That would actually be really helpful. We would of course pay you for your time.” She quickly tried to capitalise on the information.
“It would be my pleasure. Nice to know some of you youngsters are willing to listen to your elders for advice and I am happy to help.” She smiled.
It was hard to tell if Wanda was happier about the job prospects, the money or simply being able to help with something new. Whichever was the case it looked like we had a new employee for our blossoming garden. With the situation with our neighbours hopefully resolved we returned to the island.
The next challenge would be sailing the open ocean but for now, I continued to hope to find some tunnel or cave that would help to explain the salty nature of our inner lagoon.