A book and many things to do

[Anastasia]

"I'll get them," Emily rises, "Will be be going today?"

[Iron Dragoon]

"No, he's going to be going back to negotiate the attendees point regardless."

[Anastasia]

Getting everyone together is easy - except for Bastian.

"He ran out for a little bit," Jarem says as he helps himself to a chair, "Said he'd be back within an hour and if anything came up, go on without him as long as it wasn't urgent."

That's as far as he gets as Ianvasah settles in herself, for Dolmaya enters. "Alyssa Songsteel," she declares, striding up. "What do you have to say about your sister?"

[Iron Dragoon]

Alyssa chuckles, "That she's my sister and my apprentice and I've dealt with her far longer than you. Why, what happened?"

[Anastasia]

"Well," With a voice like blue ice, "She wanted to seat herself before her parents, she wanted to serve peasant food at the celebration, she doesn't understand the different between a silk brocade and tafetta."

Jarem, his angle shielding him from Dolmaya, grins a bit at it.

"What is the difference between them?" Ianvasah speaks up, "Is it because one's colored or has golden threads, I think?"

"Oh no," Emily says, "They're both made of silk but they're spun differently and have different styles."

[Iron Dragoon]

"Dolmaya, you've lost perspective, I think. I think this might turn into an interesting lesson for you, also, oddly enough."

Alyssa takes a breath, "You're so used to the trappings of nobility, you've lost sight of what regular people live like. Dolmaya, my sister and I are born commoners. My father is a blacksmith and my mother is a seamstress. We didn't get taught manners and she's barely ever seen silk, much less a tafetta. I don't know what that is, by the way. I put her with you so she could learn these things. She's going to be part of the royal family here and I understand people expect us to know those things. I have a familiarity with them from my position in the Order and meeting diplomats and nobles, but we weren't born to it, and you have a hundred thousand years of experience to draw on. We don't."

[Anastasia]

Dolmaya takes a breath, "Then she'll learn. Still though....is silk rare in your world?"

[Iron Dragoon]

"I have no idea. I wasn't one for trade or fashion. I was a field researcher. Half the time I was underground and the rest was split between libraries and laboratory work. Silk doesn't survive any of that all that well."

[Anastasia]

"It's rare in most worlds," Jarem remarks, "Though there's usually exceptions to everything."

"Mmm-hmm, one of Mom's agents has a trade in salt, from a prime world that has gigantic salt deposits from a dried up sea," Emily speaks up, "He makes good money selling it for a profit from his contacts on that world. Salt's not rare, but it's extremely inexpensive and common on that world."

Dolmaya shakes her head, "Fine," she agrees, brushing back a bit of her hair. "You called us here about something important, Alyssa?"

[Iron Dragoon]

"Our negotiator returned. The nagas are open to working a deal out, but they want us to send a champion, a mage, to demonstrate our most powerful magic first. Alone, it seems. I don't plan to accept anyone going alone, but I wanted all of your inputs on it."

[Anastasia]

"Absolutely not," Dolmaya says right away, "That's so brazen a trap I almost wonder if it's not one. A fool's bounty is what will come of accepting those terms."

Ianvasah adds, "I can find nothing to quarrel with there, Dolmaya's words have wisdom. A thief and a scoundrel isolates their prey, rather than face them with the prey's friends. Wolves surround and chase down a single cow to devour. It is the way of nature to pull one away and slaughter them."

"It's also the way of strategists," Jarem points out, "Isolating and enveloping an enemy army is one of the best ways to ensure a victory." With a hint of a smile, "You don't talk to a woman and all her friends and family, you get her alone at a table and get to know her, one on one."

Ianvasah frowns a little at Jarem's words, "There's wisdom in those, too."

[Iron Dragoon]

"So, we're agreed. The next point is, who's going to be our demonstrator?"

[Anastasia]

"You will," Emily says quickly, "You're very good at this and have unique spells to impress them."

At this Dolmaya shakes her head, "Once the terms are adjusted, I'll show you. I have a long time and many unique spells over Alyssa. I'll do better at it - it's only natural."

Emily and Dolmaya share a gaze, sharp and appraising one another. As tension begins to fill the air, Jarem clears his throat.

"I don't know," Jarem says, "Alyssa has the benefit of being our leader, that adds more prestige to her performance." Sitting back, "Before we quarrel over it, are you interested in doing it yourself, Alyssa?"

More words are stopped as the door opens, Bastian coming right on in. "Did I miss anything?"

[Iron Dragoon]

"By the God's, Bastian. So much. The nagas are open for negotiation, but they were apparently watching us. They want a solo champion from us to meet their coven alone. They say they're only interested in our strength to improve their group and seem to have been quite taken with you, since you were the only male that they saw with me. Warm, strong green arms were some of the words used, but I cut him off before he went into more detail."

[Anastasia]

Bastian takes out a double handful of peaches, tossing you one and holding another up. Jarem nods, getting one tossed to him before Emily perks up and does the same. Ianvasah shakes her head and Dolmaya waves it off, "I don't like peaches," she says.

Emily pauses midway to biting into hers, "Really? You hate peaches?"

Meanwhile, Bastian rolls his neck slowly, cracking it before he says, "Wouldn't be the first time. I was not interested then, I am not interested now."

"The texture's wrong," Dolmaya shakes her head, "It's also not important, there's plenty of other foods."