Thea

“Whatcha thinking?” I asked Bryce as the door to the transit pod sealed. We had just finished our meeting with Milohsh and were on our way to Zen’s bar. Hopefully, this was going to be our last errand for the day because it was getting kind of late.

My girlfriend chuckled darkly as she settled into the seat across from me. “I’m thinking that Penn sent us here as a threat. He wanted me to know that if I continued to threaten and bully my way through the council, then they’d just offer me up to Milohsh and be done with it.”

“I mean, we just need one member on our side to stop that from happening, right? Is that why we’re meeting with Captain Aoyama?”

“In a sense.” Bryce hesitated for a moment before she continued. “We still owe Aoyama from when she helped us find Ithnaa, and while I don’t trust her as an ally, I absolutely don’t want her as an enemy. She’s way too clever. Ideally, I’d rather placate her, then throw my lot in with either Fiona or Takishi. Although, now that I know the real reason Fiona is letting us stay in her territory, I’m leaning more towards Takishi.”

“Seriously? Why him and not Nora or Penn?” It wasn’t that I trusted those two more than anybody else on the council. I just really didn’t like Captain Takishi.

“Nora isn’t an option. Aligning ourselves with her would be a direct insult to Aoyama, and like I said before, I really don’t want her as an enemy. Penn is more of a gray area, but it’s definitely dark gray, and I honestly just don’t trust him. He’s too…” She frowned while trying to find the right word before finally giving up and shaking her head. “Reasonable, maybe? I don’t know. Something about him just rubs me the wrong way.”

“Fine. I can trust your instincts here, but why does it have to be Takishi? That jerk tried to get me kicked out of the council meeting.”

“There are a few reasons, and honestly, him trying to get you removed is one of them,” she explained, then held up a finger to stop me before I could complain. “Just hear me out. That he wanted you removed means he has something he wants to hide, which we can leverage. Then there’s the matter of him never showing himself in person. It makes me think Takishi isn’t actually his real identity. That, combined with a pattern I noticed while reading through Aoyama’s notes, makes me think he’s using piracy to support some sort of legal, or at least mostly legal, venture.”

“Sounds complicated.” I wasn’t sure what pattern Bryce was talking about, but I still didn’t like Takishi. “Babe, I trust you here, but do me a favor and don’t forget that the guy is a liar.”

“I won’t, and I’ll do my best to ensure you’re there anytime I negotiate with him.”

“I mean, that was always the plan anyway, but good. So long as we’re clear.”

~~~~~~

“Hey, Les!” I waved to the bartender as we walked into the Electric Zen. The place was packed, but thankfully, my spot was still empty.

“Hey, Thea, grab a seat and I’ll be right with you,” she shouted back, and I pushed myself up into the chair as Bryce did the same beside me. It took a few minutes for Les to finish up with her customer, but then she turned toward us with a smile. A smile that disappeared a moment later when she finally recognized Bryce and she rushed over to us. “Captain Virra, I’m so sorry. I never would have made you wait if I had known.”

“It’s alright, Les. Seriously, don’t worry about it. We’re on a mission of peace here.”

She nodded, only a little reluctantly, before finally speaking up. “Alright, well, in that case, how can I help this peace mission of yours?”

“First, sorry about the other day. Bryce kind of summoned me out of nowhere, so I didn’t exactly get a chance to close out. How much do I owe you?” I asked after apologizing.

“I can get you the price for the bottle you had, but you might want to wait to get the actual total from Zen. That is assuming you’re planning on paying the whole thing back?”

“We are,” Bryce confirmed. “And would it be possible to get two cases of that whiskey that Thea likes so much? There’s another person we have to placate, and she has similar tastes. Not on credit, of course. We’ll be covering it all before we leave tonight.”

“Maybe? We were running low last I checked, and we don’t exactly get regular shipments here on Paradise. We kind of have to take what we can get.”

“Is there anything in that same vein that you have two cases of?” Bryce asked with a frown. “It’s somewhat important that we not show up empty-handed. Price isn’t an issue here.”

“I can check in the back for you. I’m sure we have something.”

“We’d appreciate that, but before you do, could you let Zen know we’re here? He should be expecting us.”

Les smiled sheepishly. “I did the moment I recognized you. He’s upstairs in a meeting, and asked that I keep you busy while he finished up.”

Bryce chuckled. “In that case, it seems we have time. If you wouldn’t mind?”

“Of course! I’ll be right back.” She turned on her heels and rushed off to the backroom.

“A different whiskey isn’t going to be a problem, is it?” Bryce asked, and I shrugged.

“No idea. I don’t know what I promised Lysc, remember?”

“Right, of course.” She grimaced.

“You know I don’t hold that against you, right? There was no way you could have known, and besides, I have just as much of a responsibility to read our contracts as you do. More, actually, since I’m not the one writing them up.”

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

“Except, Kai warned me to be careful casting spells after she gave me her mana, and I should have considered what it would mean for Sora to be one of her paladins. We should never have been in that position to begin with.”

“And I could have warned you to be careful around them. The way I see it, you can either keep living in the past and focusing on ‘what ifs’, or you can kiss me and accept my forgiveness.” I smiled up at her, and she laughed to herself.

“Alright, fine. I accept.” She leaned over and we kissed, only to be interrupted by Les returning with her arms full of bottles.

“Is it considered disrespectful to call a council captain adorable? I’ve never actually felt the need to do it before.”

“Definitely not if you give her girlfriend a discount after you do.” I grinned at the human, and she laughed before setting three bottles down on the counter in front of us with their labels facing away.

“In that case, you two are actually just the cutest. Respectfully, of course.”

“Of course,” Bryce agreed, which seemed to give Les the permission she needed to finally relax fully.

“Okay, so we only have about half a case of the Oaken Stone left, but each of these has at least 2 cases in the back. I know you said price wasn’t an issue, but I went ahead and arranged them in order of cost here.” She turned the first bottle around to show a simple brown label with a tree and no obvious name. Then she reached under the bar to produce two large, rounded glasses and sat one in front of both me and Bryce. “This first one is actually a gnomish whiskey that was intercepted on its way to Meridoth. It hasn’t sold well, but if the person you’re trying to impress is an elf, then maybe?” Les looked hopeful, but I shook my head.

“She definitely isn’t an elf.”

Les deflated a bit, but poured a small amount into each glass. “Worth a shot, I guess. Here, try it. Tell me what you think.”

We both emptied our glasses, but I spat the ‘whiskey’ back into mine. Les laughed out loud, but Bryce actually seemed to enjoy hers. Which made sense, because it tasted like flower petals that had been dipped into fruit juice. “Not exactly what we’re looking for, but I wouldn’t mind having a few bottles of it on the ship.”

“I can throw in a couple if you end up buying those cases,” Les offered as she picked up our glasses, and in one fluid motion, emptied them out then pressed them onto a device that rinsed them with hot water. She then sat them back down on the counter and turned the next bottle. It had a black label with a white outline of a bearded dwarf and the words ‘Star forge’ in a bold font.

“This is a full synthetic dwarven whiskey. It’s really strong, and I normally wouldn’t even offer it to someone who wasn’t a dwarf, but I have a feeling you can handle it. Uh, Captain Virra, I don’t want to assume anything, but you might want to skip this one.”

“Gladly,” Bryce laughed. “And thanks for the warning. I appreciate it.”

“Of course.” Les smiled as she uncorked the bottle and poured a small amount into my glass. “Here you are, Thea, but maybe take it slow? Just start with a sip.”

I gave her a skeptical look before downing the whole thing. That turned out to be a mistake. I quickly sat the glass down before holding my chest and coughing while the whiskey burned my throat. There was a molten metallic, kind of coppery taste to it that almost completely hid a note of honey covered berries. I let out a quiet, and very ladylike, burp that literally caught on fire on the way out. “Okay, I’ll admit, that was kind of strong.”

“Too much?” Les asked with a smile.

“I definitely want a bottle to bring to Lysc, but maybe not a case. What’s the last one? It looks familiar.”

“Actually, I was hoping you’d be able to tell me.” She spun the bottle around, and my face lit up when I recognized the label. “Zen bought a half dozen cases of this on a hunch, but couldn’t translate the name, so we don’t know what it is. I was kind of hoping to get Captain Aoyama to translate it, but she can be difficult to approach.”

“Looks like infernal,” Bryce pointed out, and I nodded.

“Yep! It’s Banshee’s Demise, one of my favorites. It’s distilled in Avernus, but aged in Acheron using ghostweave barrels.”

“Is it safe for mortals?” Bryce asked, and I paused.

“That kind of depends. Can I see the bottle?” Les nodded, so I picked it up and turned it over to look at the bottom. “Okay, here, look.” I leaned over the bar so both Les and Bryce could see and pointed to a small rune near the center. Then I pushed a tiny amount of mana into it, causing it to glow blue. “This is a safety seal from the department of mortal affairs. Basically, anything that you want to sell to mortals needs one, and if it glows blue, you’re good. If it’s yellow, then be careful, and red is deadly.”

“So, we’re good to sell it?” Les asked, and I hesitated. Not just because I wanted to buy as much of it as I could.

“Probably, but you’ll want to check the seal on each bottle every time before you serve it. Banshee’s Demise isn’t exactly made for mortals and is only safe for a few decades after it’s been bottled. If what you have isn’t all from the same batch, or if it’s on the verge of aging out, then you could end up accidentally poisoning people.”

“And the seal will be able to detect that?” Les asked, and I confirmed it would. “In that case, could you show me how to activate it?”

“Sure, here.” I handed the bottle back and directed her to place a finger on the edge of the seal. “Just push a bit of mana in, and it should activate.” She did, and it did, so I continued. “See? You got it. Now, when serving a mortal, it’s customary to show them the bottle before you pour and have them confirm that they see the seal active. Explaining why you’re doing that every time might get a bit old if people aren’t used to it, but spreading the knowledge could save a few lives if food from the hells starts getting popular.”

“Thanks, Thea. I can already think of a dozen people who would love to try this, and I can always sell the whole seal thing as part of the experience. But how dangerous is it if the seal is yellow, actually? Should I stop serving it altogether or is it okay to sell a shot or two?”

“Um, Banshee’s Demise isn’t going to turn yellow. It’ll go from blue to red. For anything else, it’ll depend on who’s buying it. Like, Captain Penn would be totally fine with as much as you can give him, but I probably wouldn’t serve any to a human. You’ll have to use your best judgment.”

“Alright, I’ll keep that in mind. Now, it seems like this one is a winner. Did you want a couple of cases?”

“That depends. How many do you have?” I grinned up at her, hopefully, but Bryce interrupted.

“Let’s just stick with the two for Lyscantra, and maybe a few bottles for ourselves. I think Zen is going to be able to sell the individual bottles for a pretty decent markup, and it’s not too difficult for us to run back to Hel to get more.”

“Yeah, Captain Virra is right,” Les agreed. “This stuff is probably going to fly off the shelves, no matter how high we price it. In fact, I bet Zen would be willing to pay top dollar if you were able to bring us back more in the future.”

“Alright, fine,” I conceded. “Two cases of Banshee’s Demise, a bottle of the dwarven stuff, and two bottles of the weird gnome-elf whiskey. Is that good?”

“Sounds great. Do you want it delivered to your ship?”

Bryce shook her head. “There’s no need. If you could just set it aside, we’ll settle things with Zen, and pick it up on our way out.”

“I can do that, and speaking of Zen, he messaged me midway through Thea’s explanation to say he’s ready for you, but I may have asked him for more time on your behalf.”

I laughed while she just smiled innocently back at us. Bryce, on the other hand, didn’t seem quite as amused. “You’ll understand if I tell Captain Aoyama exactly why it was we were delayed?”

“The captain is here?” Les asked, then paled, when Bryce nodded. “Right, of course. I probably should have realized that. Please, head on up. I believe you know the way.”