Chapter 9

Ashur heaved a sigh and leaned back in his chair outside of one of the moderately sized cafes. Across from him sat Ternat, sipping her drink and looking over the crowd. He had been in town now for over a month and a half and, after a week of being unable to come up with a better idea for finding Xakelle’s promised “helper”, he had accepted her offer of employment as a broker of sorts. He was still trying to figure out the concept of buying and selling goods that he would never actually lay his eyes on but, after some coaching from Ternat and Mera, he was starting to get the hang of it.

“I was impressed with how you dealt with Santin yesterday,” she mused. “I didn’t think anyone could get him to come down another three percent. He has been such a stickler for market prices that it’s almost a law of nature.”

Ashur smiled and picked up his own tea. To his human eyes, it looked like so much muddy soup, but his Brenphan tongue thoroughly enjoyed it. Santin had been a tough negotiator, but Mera had been able to discover that the normally savvy trader had over-extended himself on a stockpile of specialty tools that would lose their value by a hefty percentage if he couldn’t get them started on their nearly month-long journey to a growing town in the next few days. It had been serendipitous that Ashur had heard of a caravan company that had lost out on a bidding war and now had a whole convoy of empty wagons. He had used that tidbit of knowledge to persuade Santin to drop his price on Ternat’s deal by a very profitable margin.

“I’m getting an idea of it,” he told Ternat as he put his cup down and picked up a small meat and berry pastry. “It’s all about what you know, isn’t it?”

“It really is,” she replied. “But I want to know how you knew about his dilemma. I knew about the tools, of course, but I had no clue that he was in such a bind over them.”

Ashur waved a hand in small circles and tipped his head to one side in an unconscious human gesture. Ternat was coming to think of these as “foreign mannerisms” since she often had to guess at their meaning by his conversation.

“I think it was in his body language. He seemed a little anxious about something and, from what you described, that’s unusual for him. Plus, I saw his expression when you were talking about transport companies. He wasn’t happy and it related to that. I guessed and took a chance. I’m glad it paid off.”

As Ternat smiled again at the skill of her pupil, Ashur breathed out a silent sigh of relief. Everything he had just said was a fabrication to hide the fact that Mera had rooted around in Santin’s mind while they talked. This had been the third such successful deal and Ternat was obviously planning on hauling him to a few more in the next few days.

Of course, he had no plans to decline if she did. Trailing behind the businesswoman had expanded the number of people he could speak with almost exponentially.

“What I ‘d really like to know,” he continued, “is how he plans to get them through Fetud Pra with the tariffs you mentioned. If they really are as high as you say, he’s still going to be taking a huge loss on this deal.”

Ternat tapped a hand against the table thoughtfully. “He may, but I doubt it. He knows the right people to bribe and how big the bribe needs to be. On the other hand, sometimes reputation is more important. If he loses his reputation, then he will start to lose contracts and money and speaking of which...” She pulled a small stack of large bills from her pocket and passed them over to him. “I’m supposed to pass along that Santin trusts that you will be discreet about the numbers of the deal. He’s grateful and you now have a favor to call on at some point in the future.”

Ashur fingered through the money. It was enough to cover his hotel expenses for the next three months. Then he looked up at Ternat. “This isn’t from him, is it? What I saved him was less than a quarter of this and his reputation is more than strong enough to weather what a tyro like me could brag about. This is from you. Where are you making the profit?”

Ternat barked a sharp laugh. “I knew you were quick! No, this isn’t from him. I have someone in Contremet on the other side of Fetud Pra who will offer to buy the whole load at Santin’s price. Then she will go ahead and sell it for a fifteen percent markup to Santin’s original buyers. Santin apparently doesn’t know that two other shipments that they were expecting have been delayed at sea for almost another month. If he did, he wouldn’t have been so eager to take your offer. That,” she waved at the bills he was slipping into his satchel, “represents your cut of the deal ... at a student percentage, of course.”

“Of course,” Ashur replied with a chuckle of his own.

“With that out of the way,” she continued, “I have an offer and invitation for you. There is a party coming up that I would like to have you attend with me. It’s mostly the Council, Shentets, guild leaders and other dignitaries, but it’s also open to the more prominent business owners in the city. I’ve been attending for years, but I’ve almost always gone alone. It’s rare that I actually meet someone that I feel could be an asset instead of just an arm-pretty.

This dinner is one of five of the most important get-togethers for anyone in business here in Couset. In fact, it’s probably safe to say that just about every deal and transaction at this party would be make-or-break for a majority of the smaller traders in this city.”

She leaned back in her chair and looked around at the milling crowds as she continued.

“Now, I don’t expect you to handle any negotiations or come to any arrangements. Quite the opposite, really. More than anything, I need your insight. You show an amazing grasp of how people are likely to act and react and I want that with me while I’m negotiating. I will be doing the talking, but I need you to be an extension of my eyes and ears.”

Ashur tapped a finger on his chair arm and stared off into space as though considering her offer.

I don’t really see any reason not to, Mera mused in his mind. The more connections you make, the better chance we have of coming across our helper.

The Guardian broadcast his agreement then focused back on the Brenphan.

“What’s in it for me?” he asked with a small smile.

Ternat’s answering wry grin was much wider. “What if I said that you would be getting an amazing amount of experience in one night?”

“Then I would think something had happened to your mind.” He tapped the side of his head.

“I didn’t think that would work,” she chuckled. “I do, however, think that I might have been disappointed in you if it had. I was planning on cutting you in for a percentage of profits that come from any contracts agreed to that night.”

Ashur eyed her in mock suspicion. “How much of a percentage?”

“Well, my student, how about two across the board as an incentive to join me, three if you catch something that helps me find a good deal, and five if you help me close the deal?”

Although Ashur really wasn’t worried about the money, he had been finding a certain amount of pleasure in the act of bargaining during the last few weeks.

“Well, my teacher, I’ll agree to the two as a base, but I’d be more amenable to seven and twelve.”

Ternat laughed again. “Hah! You’re not that good yet! Let’s say more four and seven.”

“Six and ten. Like you said, you need my “insight”.”

“Let’s settle at five and nine. I want your “insight”. I don’t need it.”

Ashur smiled and held out an upraised hand with two fingers extended in what he had come to learn was the Brenphan’s version of a human handshake. Ternat returned the gesture and they touched palms and went back to their breakfast.

Seye pushed back in her chair and grinned at a clear workspace. Her punishment had finally ended a few days earlier. She wasn’t certain if the Prime had finally forgotten about her or if Anrit had simply decided that enough was enough, but she had walked in one morning to find a normal sized pile of requests on her desk. The young clerk’s smile had lasted until well after lunch.

“Careful,” a surly voice grumbled directly behind her. Seye half turned to find Meseth glowering at her over a large stack of files. “Some of us actually have to work now.”

As the older clerk stalked off, Seye remembered that the bulk of her punishment had come from Meseth’s workload. Now, it would seem, her holiday was over.

Seye stood and started to collect her things with the intention of helping Melat and his project. She was brought up short, however, when she noticed that not only was he not at his desk, but that it had been completely cleared off. Confused, she looked around until she saw the young man waving at her from the far side of the room.

“What are you doing over here?” she asked him when she joined him. Her coworker was bouncing up and down on his heels in excitement.

“They gave me one of the capital desks to use! Look at all this space!” He waved behind himself and she took in the large table covered in files and paperwork. The capital desks were a commodity usually reserved for the senior clerks because they offered more workspace. Most of the time that extra acreage was unnecessary, but the desks had become a sort over status symbol over time and it was rare for someone of Melat’s relatively junior rank to have access to it. His project must have been more important than either of them thought. Now his work was spread across a table that was longer than either of them were tall and a little less than half as wide. “Isn’t it great! I don’t have to lay stuff out on the floor or the cabinets anymore!”

Seye smiled at his enthusiasm and patted him on the shoulder. “That’s great,” she said. “This will really help.”

“I know! And the best part is that I don’t have to put anything away at the end of the day! Anrit gave me a special dispensation to keep any files I have to pull out. If someone wants one of them, they have to ask my permission first. Even the senior clerks! Isn’t that great!”

The young woman nodded as she strolled around the massive table, then looked up at him sharply. “This is going to make it harder for me to help you. If I’m always over here, then Anrit will know that you came to me for help. Will that be a problem?”

“Nope. Anrit said that this has top priority and to use what resources I need. I can officially ask for your help and I have. Anrit said it was ok.” He paused thoughtfully for a second. “Maybe that’s why you’re not in trouble anymore. He knows that you’re one of the best here and wants this done!”

Seye nodded as she wandered around the table. Her thoughts were no longer on Melat’s effusive praise and were now focusing on the problem before them. The large table would definitely help, but it looked like Melat, in his usual fashion, had grabbed his papers and heaped them in unrelated groups across the surface.

“Have you organized any of this,” she asked absently.

“Not yet. Right now, I’m just gathering resources. I figured we could start that tomorrow.”

Seye nodded and fingered a page or two. She guessed that it would probably take them a day or two to put some sort of order to the mess and, strangely, she was looking forward to it. Anything would be better than pulling files.

“Well then,” she said, looking back up at her grinning friend. “We may as well get started.”

Two days later, Anrit summoned the both of them to his office. He sat behind his desk and waved them both to take a seat.

“How far are you in your work?” he began without preamble.

Melat looked to Seye before replying. “The capital desk has been a big help. We’ve transitioned the majority of the files over to it and we’re setting up a new organizational pattern. We should be able to get back into collating by tomorrow or the next day at the latest.”

Anrit tapped his fingers pensively for a moment or two before nodding and sitting up straighter in his chair. “Alright. That will work. Do you have any idea when you might have the final analysis ready?”

Melat shook his head.

“Unfortunately, no. I can say that my original time frame will be moved up considerably with the capital desk and Seye’s help though.”

Anrit’s gaze turned to her. “Has he fully explained what it is you are doing?”

“Not completely,” she replied with a shake of her head. “So far, I’ve just been helping with the more difficult computations, but I don’t really know the full picture.”

“Hmm.” Anrit tapped his fingers again. “Okay. That’s not the reason I called you both in here, but I can take a few more minutes so that I know you’ll be heading in the right direction.

The bi-annual budget committee meeting is coming up and the Prime would like to raise a few points during the discussions. It would seem that she thinks there needs to be an adjustment to the local incoming tariffs and wants to make certain that she has the information she needs to argue her points.”

Melat cautiously held up a hand. “Sir, is she thinking of raising taxes again? I know that the Shentets just did that last osapt and it wasn’t very well received.”

Anrit waved a diffident hand. “She might, but that’s not the focus of this meeting. She simply thinks it’s time we revisit import duties from the surrounding countries. It’s been some time since they’ve been recalculated, you know.”

The young man settled back in his chair. “Thank you, sir. I was slightly worried. I have friends who were hit very hard by last osapt’s changes.”

“Yes, I think we all do,” Anrit agreed. “To be perfectly honest, I wasn’t a fan of them either. However, that kind of decision is not exactly on our level, is it?” When they both shook their heads, he continued. “So, what I want from the both of you is a thorough summation of import and export duties for the last five osapts. Your report should catalogue origin by country and city as well as by type and quantity. It’s shouldn’t take more than a few days. Plenty of time before the meeting.”

Seye’s breath whooshed out of her in a rush.

“Is this going to be a problem?” Anrit asked.

“Oh, no!” she squawked. “It just took me by surprise. I didn’t think the project was quite that big.”

“Yes, I can see how that might be a bit shocking. Do you have any questions about the objectives?”

“Not at the moment, sir.”

“Good. Now, let’s get to the real reason I called you both in here. As you may or may not know, one of the annual business galas is coming up. The Prime will be attending, for obvious reasons, and I need one or both of you on her retinue. You’ll be there as record keepers only, so make certain your attire is nice, but muted. Since neither of you have been to this before, one of the senior clerks will take some time to train you on the specifics but suffice to say that you are neither to be seen nor heard. The Prime will be expecting you to catch the information that she throws out without addressing you directly, so stay aware and on duty at all times. I cannot express that enough. Not seen nor heard. Understand?”

When the clerks had nodded their understanding, Anrit leaned back in his chair. “Good. Now get back to work.”

Seye squirmed in her chair for a moment before standing up and Anrit caught her discomfort.

“What’s the isue?” he asked.

“Well, sir, I’m not entirely certain that I might be a good choice for this if I’m going to be near the Prime.”

Anrit cocked his head. “And why not?”

Seye sat back down and hung her head. “If she’s still mad at me, she might be distracted by me being there and if something goes wrong because I’m upsetting her...”

“Ah. That.” Anrit nodded in understanding. “I wouldn’t worry about that. I doubt she even remembers your face. I know she doesn’t remember your name because she never knew it. I think you’ll be fine. The Prime has bigger worries than you two. I guarantee she’ll ignore you the whole time. If she does notice and remember, don’t worry about it. I’ll handle it. You two are good and I try to look out for my people. Honestly, if she hadn’t been so focused on trying to make an impression on that wandering noble, she wouldn’t have been nearly so upset with you on the road. Any other questions?”

“No, sir.”

“Excellent. Get out of here and get me those numbers.”

Melat near scurried from the office, but Seye was a bit slower. Part of her knew that Anrit was probably right about how much Vernlat would remember her, but another, more apprehensive part, worried about how bad it might be if he was wrong.

“Well, this is getting to be a bit more than I expected.”

Once again Ashur sat across from his mentor, but instead of sipping tea, they took up opposite sides of Ternat’s desk in an office close to the city center in District 8. Paperwork was strewn in small piles across the surface in mute testimony of the Guardian’s inexperience with filing. Ternat (and Mera) had begun to make gentle jokes about his lack of order.

“Why don’t you have a system?” the Brenphan asked. “Surely, you’ve managed an estate somewhere where you came from?”

Ashur ruefully shook his head. “No. The most paperwork I ever had to deal with was mostly handled by a clerk under me.” He moved several sheets around trying to find a contract from the previous day. After several grumbling shuffles, he finally started to gather everything into one great pile. Ternat’s hand shot out and halted him before he could collect more than one or two piles.

“No! We’ll never make sense of it if you do that. How are you so adept in dealing with people yet so inept when it comes to this?”

“Lack of experience, I guess. Like I said, I’ve never had to do this.”

While Ternat tutted at him under her breath and attempted to make some semblance of order to his mess, he sat back and mentally checked on his partner. Most of Mera’s time and attention now was spent in studying the changes in the area which he had come to call “The Vault”. She had even taken to sleeping in the immense cavern beneath the Library proper to save on distraction.

He was relieved that the number of necessary “repairs” had eased of late, but Mera was less sure. She seemed to be growing ever more certain that something substantial was just waiting for the right moment to pounce on her. She couldn’t say what it was yet, but her level of disquiet was rising by the day.

Unfortunately, her greater focus on the Vault meant less time for helping her lover learn how to file his business paperwork. Like Ternat, she ribbed him about his cluttered style, but she also apologized for not having the time to help him with it.

After about ten minutes of sorting, Ternat finally leaned back and waved at the mess.

“That’s the best I can do right now,” she muttered. “To get any further, I’d have to ask you about every page and, at that point, I’d have to start charging you for my time.”

Ashur’s lips quirked in half a smile. “You already charge me for your time.”

“Yes, but that comes as a cut of your commission. This would be extra and I think I would charge more for the frustration. Look, you really need to find someone to teach you how to do this or do it for you. I’d really recommend you learn it yourself, but I don’t know if you have time.”

The big man looked up sharply. “What do you mean?”

The look his mentor gave him was that of a parent who caught their child out in a very poor lie.

“You aren’t the only one good at reading people. I’ve learned your mannerisms over the last few months and I can tell that you are getting restless. I don’t know if it’s because you are feeling the pressure of not finding what you need here or if you think it’s time to move on to the next city, but something has you increasingly jittery. Either way, if this,” she gestured towards the mayhem on her desk again, “is going to be a hinderance to you, you need some help.”

Ashur grimaced in a very human way. His frustration and Mera’s trepidation must have been leaking through to his general behavior. He leaned back and rubbed a hand over his face.

“I didn’t realize it showed that much,” he admitted. He had come to trust Ternat marginally more since their first meeting, but he was a long way off from telling her about why he was really looking for someone particular in Couset.

“It’s not really so much that I’m planning on leaving any time soon. I’m pretty sure I’m in the right place, but I do have responsibilities back home that I have been neglecting and I guess I’m just feeling that pressure right now.” His gaze sank back down to the desktop and, once again, he started to gather up the paperwork but in a more organized fashion. “I am going to need some help with all this and I really don’t have the time to learn it the right way.” He dropped the stack into his satchel and stood. A side table with drinks and finger foods sat a few steps away from their work area and he picked up the tray holding the snacks with one hand and two glasses with the other. “Where would you suggest I look for someone to hire?”

Ternat leaned forward to take a small bit of something that Ashur’s human brain wanted to think of as cheese even though it was made from nothing remotely dairy.

“I really don’t have anyone to recommend right now that isn’t already employed. Your best bet might be to talk to one of the clerks at the main capitol building. There is always someone who’s required time is almost up.”

Ashur nodded and changed the subject. “What happened with your theft of Santin’s tools?”

She gave him a look of feigned outrage. “Theft! Dear sir! How could you think so lowly of me? And here I thought we were friends.”

His bark of laughter joined her chuckles as she continued. “Actually, I almost lost it on the Fetud Pra border. It would seem that some of the customs officials aren’t happy with the usual bribes. I’m not entirely certain why, but I have a few ideas.” She pensively tapped a finger on the table. “I’m starting to worry about trade going through there. If they really are starting to turn expansionist again, it’s going to make getting goods through a lot more expensive than normal.”

Ashur ate a bit of food before asking, “Do you think they are?”

“Sadly, yes,” she replied. “I can’t say for certain what their time frame is, but it must be in the next osapt or two. This one feels different from past invasions, however. From the history I learned, Fetud Pra likes to invade slowly and surreptitiously. Like mildew, I guess you could say. But this...”

He waited and ate for several minutes while she collected her thoughts.

“A few of my sources in the country are telling me that their army is mobilizing and has been since the Prime Shentet’s last visit. They’ve been buying up more supplies and the types of steels you would usually use for armor and weapons in greater amounts. They’ve got to be preparing, but I can’t get any kind of information on a timeframe.

I usually have several contacts in their government, but two have been recently ousted and the rest have either shut down or aren’t in the right circles anymore. The only source I have left tells me that funds have been flowing in and out from slush funds in exorbitant amounts. I’m told that someone is getting bribed, but I don’t know who and that worries me.”

Ashur nodded. He had heard of similar occurrences on his own world. “If they do decide to invade in a rush, what will you do?”

Ternat twiddled a breaded sweet between three fingers. “I’ll have to make a few changes and alter more than a few contracts, but I can integrate into a new regime fairly easily. To tell you the truth, however, I really don’t want to.” She tossed the confection back onto the plate with a bit of force. “This is my home and always has been. I know the people here and I really don’t want to see them under Fetud Pra’s thumb.”

Ashur nodded again. “I can understand that. Let’s hope it doesn’t happen any time soon.”

Seye’s frown deepened as she looked back and forth between the same five pages that she had been staring at for over an hour. All of them were from different sources, but they should have been the same amounts. Instead, what she was seeing were discrepancies that totaled tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of vills.

“Melat,” she called. “Can you come check this for me?”

Her coworker stepped from his side of the table and looked over her shoulder. They had long since finished Anrit’s requested tariff analysis and had been steadily working through Melat’s original project.

“What’s the problem?” he asked.

She handed two of the documents to him and indicated the other three.

“Can you check these, please? I don’t think I’m off, but this can’t be quite right.” She stood up and moved aside so he could take her place. Melat pulled a blank sheet of the ledger paper over to him and started his own calculations while Seye stepped away. It didn’t take him long to finish and he looked up at her.

“This can’t possibly be right,” he exclaimed, putting his finger to the paper underneath his worksheet. “Just by these eight accounts alone, there’s over six-thousand vills that are unaccounted for. And over here,” he pointed to one of the other sheets, “there’s a variance of almost thirty thousand in twelve accounts. I don’t understand.”

“Neither do I,” Seye said. She pulled the other chair up next to him and picked up his calculations. “You got the same numbers as I did. All I can think of is that these are all reporting errors.” She looked over at the imposing pile of files they hadn’t yet had a chance to do their preliminary analysis on. “Do you think we should tell Anrit?”

Melat nodded. “I do. If it were just one or two accounts, I’d say that someone had made a mistake, but this many has to be a training error somewhere. He’s going to want to know if one of the senior clerks is teaching their novices wrong.”

Soon after, they were sitting across from their supervisor with the offending documents in hand.

“Alright,” the head clerk said. “What’s going on?”

The two younger clerks had agreed that since Seye was the helper on this project, Melat would explain their concerns. Anrit sat quietly through the explanation and asked a few questions afterward while looking at the documents in question. Eventually, he leaned back in his chair with a frown.

“To answer your concern, it’s not a question of training,” he muttered. “Very few of these are handled by the same department, let alone the same people.” He tapped a finger on his desk in his usual thinking mannerism. “Are these all the errors you found?”

“No,” Seye answered. “We’re only about a third of the way through our initial analysis.” Melat nodded in agreement.

“Damn,” Anrit cursed under his breath. “Damn.” He looked at the numbers and tapped for almost ten minutes while the two clerks waited nervously. Finally, he focused back on them.

“Alright, here’s what we’re going to do. The gala is a week away and I need to look into a few things before we start to figure this out. Both of you are on hold until then.” He pointed to Melat. “After the gala, however, I want you to continue with the original project as much as you can while working around this.” His finger shifted aim to Seye. “Your new job is to track this down. Technically, you’re a lot too junior to handle this, but since you’re already this far into it, and I know you’ve got the skills to do it right, I’m leaving it up to you. I’m going to want regular reports on what you find.”

He gathered up the documents they had brought him and held them out for Melat to take. “But until after the gala, both of you are on leave. I don’t want you to get caught up in any other projects, but I do want you to prep for your escort duties.”

They started to rise, but he waved them back down. “Look, you two, I get the feeling you’ve stumbled onto something big, bad, and deep here. Right now, you are the best I can put on this because you are so junior and no one really pays attention to what you are doing. You’re basically non-entities and that gives you a certain amount of invisibility and I need that right now for the preliminary stages of this.”

“However,” he continued. “This may put you at some risk and I want you to know that right now. Melat, you’ll have some safety because you won’t officially be working on the dirty part. Seye, on the other hand, until you can get me enough information to run with, you’ll need to keep your head down. Don’t tell anyone what you’re working on and if anyone asks, you’re still just helping Melat.”

Anrit heaved a sigh. “That’s the only advice I can offer you until we’ve either proven this is nothing or a really big something. The last time something like this happened, we lost four very senior clerks; two to circumstances I don’t want to talk about. I wish I could tell you that you could say no to this, but you both are already attached to it if someone really comes looking so you may as well see it through.

In the meantime, I’m going to be making some quiet preparations. If and when this gets to a certain level, I need to be able to break you both away from it for your safety.”