* * *
The Matriarch heard and saw Kukurnal’s sign, advising her that the eccentric had accepted her request and company. She was a bit surprised at his own surprise that she would be willing to meet him here, and while it was quite a bit beneath her normal station, if an adventurer of his digits chose to mingle in such a place, who was she to complain or even question his choices. She wouldn’t dare to demand a seven or eight digit to attend her. It was only her place to attend him.
She quickly slipped over, several of her visible guards stationing themselves around the table at respectable distances. As she had seen Kukurnal remained in his seat, neither standing or bowing, she came forward and simply sat in the seat offered her. She found being so close to him quite a bit more terrifying than she expected, and the presence of her guards much less helpful. He’s so… close!
His presence was… overwhelming, but through no fault of his own, as the entire inn was unbearably close in any case. Maybe I should have emptied the inn, but... She stopped that thought, strangling it before it even formed as she had no desire to offend an eight digit. He could accept and even seem to enjoy such a place, therefore she would, in no way, denigrate this man’s choice of living quarters.
“It is my great pleasure to be offered the chance to greet you, great one,” she offered, desperately resisting the urge to bow her head.
With surprise, she saw shock slide across his face and shock echoed through her own heart in response. How can he so easily reveal himself?
The great one sighed and laughed, “I… am… hm…”
He paused for a moment before looking up again and shaking his head, “I appreciate the respect and consideration, but I am not a great one. I’m just… a simple … what… free citizen? Is that the right word? What would you say? Hmm… maybe…” The great one shook his head and continued more firmly, “It doesn’t matter. I’m just another man in your city. I have no need of such respect. It is greatly appreciated and accepted with gratefulness, but I am nothing special.”
At this, the Matriarch almost found herself unable to hold in her shock as it almost slipped to surface on her face but she stilled her expression, wiping it clear with a subtle smile, “You … are very kind, great one.”
Joe’s face flushed with frustration and she suddenly froze, fear shuddering through her entire torso. I should have not come. The powerful… offense comes so easily and I have doomed us all to anyth... Her thoughts froze when he began speaking, breath bated in fear.
“What is,” the great one sighed and continued, stifling his anger, “Why do you guys always try to offer me titles of which I have no need, desire, or want.” The great one turned to look at her, “Matriarch. You are the one with a title. I am a simple visitor in your city. You have no need to call me by any title. I already took months trying to break these three from calling me Master! Call me Joe. It is my name, and it is more than enough for me. Why would I wish to seek another name and reject the one my parents gave me?”
The Matriarch’s eyebrow’s fled to her hairline with this, easily catching Kukurnal’s surprise shock as well which quickly changed to a coughing laughter.
“As always, your thoughts are so strange but shockingly profound! Indeed, why would any reject the name their parents gave them in favor of titles given by strangers.”
Joe smiled at that, “I understand the allure of titles, don’t get me wrong. There are some among my people who have similar views. For some, titles are a form of respect given to those who are greater than them, in some ways. But for these same people, the greatest people in their lives are their parents. I find it…,” The great on… Joe took the time to ponder before continuing, “amusing? That such great respect is given to everything about their parents but often they will shed their names almost immediately for a title to gain respect from others. I don’t know. It doesn’t bother me. I’m not offended by it. They may live their lives as they choose. I find no… it is what it is. I simply do not like it nor seek the praise, fame or pretention. I wish to be a simple man and maintain my simplicity. So, please, simply call me Joe, Matriarch.” Joe ended by looking to her before offering a bow, nothing more than a simple nod of the head, but much more respect any such great on… Joe! should ever give to one such as her.
“I will find… it will be a struggle.”
The gre… Joe offered an easy smile, “New things are always a struggle. As I said, I’m not deeply offended if you continue or choose to continue, so do as you please. I do, however, prefer to have a friendship, not a partnership or business… relationship. Although, I guess… such things are the norm. Maybe I am too naive.” Joe ended in a sigh, shaking his head slightly.
She turned to look at Kukurnal at this, her shock too great to hide and saw Kukurnal smirking, his look seeming to be one of acceptance only tinged slightly with shock.
Kukurnal shrugged as he looked back, “His … if he is any example of his people, they seem to be much more… blunt.”
The Matriarch looked to the g… Joe with some trepidation but only saw a smile on his face.
“We have been regularly… labelled as such. There is a very negative side to bluntness as well, though,” Joe shrugged with a smile, looking between the two.
Kukurnal smiled as well but replied on her behalf, “You might likely have to forgive the Matriarch. She has been steeped in such a life. It is her way.”
“Ahh… a ‘person trained and working in governing, leading, and mediating at clan level interactions’ person. Yeah. I understand the necessity and importance of such people, but always having to play at power and worry at duplicity isn’t a relaxing life style. Fear over who to trust never leads to a happy life.”
Kukurnal nodded sagely and the Matriarch almost felt herself joining, her head twitching before she froze, her breath speeding up a little. She dismissed her surprise at almost breaking her façade. The comment, however, was reduced to a mild interest by the fact that his mouth finished the sentence before what she heard was completed. It was … incredibly odd to watch. Some… communication magic of some kind? Kukurnal satisfied her curiosity by asking Joe of the oddity.
“Can you please… offer that word one more time? It was an interesting one.”
“Ah… another word? Hmm… ah! I bet I know which… ok, I’ll say it slowly. Pa Li Tic Al. Political. Were you able to hear it now?”
“Yes. Much better. Could you explain it more carefully?”
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“Hm… well… it’s basically a word that describes a person steeped in politics… hmm… that doesn’t help much, does it. Let’s try politics then. Um… political is a person who makes decisions and interacts with people in a political way and a political way just refers to the word politics. Politics is doing something or working in such a way as to use, gain, integrate, activate… well… anything that has to do with it really, but it has to do with working with large groups of people to lead, grow and develop. So, I guess… amongst your people, it would be the clans and running a city, as the Matriarch does. She must balance several different powerful people and factions, accommodate both, while also balancing her own interest, as well as the interests of her clan and even her individual city as well, hoping to advance her own responsibilities while maintaining the relationship, position, and face of those other powers and influential people or groups who are also in her city.
“She must also balance the other clans, cities, and powers around her city as well, making sure to please them but also gain from her and this city’s relationship with them, fostering trade, the growth of the city, its influence, increasing trade, increasing knowledge, well… again, like I said… it’s a pretty big idea, but anything to do with that.
“It tends to make people very calculative as people do not think in terms of relationships, but in gains and losses for them and their cities or clans, thus they don’t often make decisions that are … moral… so much as they are beneficial or the best of some options, or even betraying others if they no longer have use.”
The table took on a heavy mood, thoughts turning dark and the Matriarch hid her own offense at his not so subtle jab at her integrity, but she did well to hide her anger.
Kukurnal flickered a glance at her, offering an apology before continuing, “You have a low opinion of… political… people.”
Joe smiled and chuckled, shaking his head, “hmm… there are some jokes among my people, but I’m not sure I could explain them well, but… How can I explain,” he took some time to think carefully before beginning, “Let’s say this, there are certain people who are known or believed, amongst my people, to be less scrupulous than others. There are, however, some people who are very honest have great integrity in their work. I believe our people simply find it easier to see and notice moral failures in public figures who everyone sees and are the subject of a lot of gossip while simple people who are also likely to be just as dishonest and evil are less known by people. Someone known by many failing is great news. Someone known by none failing is nothing. Likely, political people are no more evil, on average, than any a merchant or a farmer. But few people sit at bars or in inns and speak about the ‘great’ farmer over there!”
Kukurnal laughed at this and nodded. She could easily see his thoughts already turned to pursue Joe’s statement even as she also took some time to consider it. She quickly realized that the eccentric was simply making a broad stroke of a group of people and not an attack on her. She found that the attack still offensive, even if it wasn’t specifically aimed at her. The table fell to silence for a bit before Joe turned to her.
“So, Matriarch. How may I help you?”
She shook her head quickly, “Ah, I simply wished to meet you. I had no purpose.”
“Oh, excellent. Did you wish to join our discussion tonight? We seem to already have started on politics, which might interest you. It’s your field and expertise, I would assume.”
“I…” she pondered, wishing to accept his invitation despite having originally intending to simply introduce herself, but his openness showed a realness that told her he sought truly what she desired and that refreshing openness was something that realized freed her from a fear that others sought to use her, “I believe I would truly enjoy it.”
Joe turned to Kukurnal, “Three people debating is a lot more fun than just two. What do you want to talk about?”
Kukurnal thought or some time then firmly set forth his idea, “Finances!”
Joe sighed, shaking his head, “We’ve already spoken about this, yes?”
“You spoke of… economics… but I wish to speak of money, instead.”
“Money?”
“Yes.”
“Hmm… OK. What do you want to speak about specifically?”
“Hmm… then… compare our financial system to yours.”
“Whew… that’s… going to be hard. There is so much about finance and money that… it would be a deep struggle for me to … it’s huge! Besides, my knowledge of it would be … very rudimentary.”
“You have little to offer on this?”
“Hmm… I’m uncertain … well, one easy difference is that we do not put too much on money or coin. Most of our wealth is counted on ‘small flattened sheets of material made from the ground fibers of pulpy woods’ or stored ‘in a form that is not physical but on an object for storing information.’”
Kukurnal seemed to struggle for a moment, even as she found herself flooded with strange thoughts. Her mind roiled over what a flat sheet could be made from ground wood or what object could store information … or is he saying all wealth of all people are stored on crystals! She brought her thoughts back when Kukurnal quickly interjected excitedly.
“Two new words. Could you explain them? One is small flat sheets made from ground wood.”
Joe took a moment to think, face crunching up in confusion before understanding struck and he once again spoke slowly so the new word could be heard, “Pay per. Paper.”
“Paper,” Kukurnal considered carefully before continuing, “Could you explain such a thing?”
“Well, it’s a way to… wait, I have an idea,” Joe quickly stood and left, running up the stairs to his room before returning, bringing a curious object in his hand and setting it down. It then seemed to open, almost as a small chest or some kind of box, but inside there was no room or place for anything. Inside was only a flat surface. But suddenly she felt shock come to her as he pulled up a single small layer of the inside of the box and it seemed to peel from below. He then pulled several more, a sliver of layer after layer as it soon revealed to contain hundreds of these small slivers of … paper!
Kukurnal hunched forward excitedly, “Incredible! Paper! And its purpose is for money?”
Joe smiled and shook his head, “No. One of the purposes is money, but there are many. This one is called a book; a notebook, specifically. Its purpose is to record information and contain that information that I may learn and remember my thoughts. That is the main purpose, but it can also be used as money.
“But you need to be careful to make sure that it is not easily copied as such things would make money worthless. So intricate paintings or such other details are added so that copies cannot be easily made.”
“Worthless? Why would a copy be worthless?”
“It would inflate the market.”
Kukurnal looked to her and both seemed surprised, confused by his statement and she responded with confusion, “It would cause the market to become larger? To fill up?”
Joe looked at her for a moment before smiling and shaking his head, “Ah, right… sorry. Heh. No. Ummm… if … hm… let us say that I have a nickel coin. A nickel represents a specific amount of wealth. If I have a nickel but find a way to take and make more copies of a nickel, then now I have increased my wealth but it doesn’t accurately represent what I have offered society.”
She cocked her head, finding herself also becoming intrigued by the conversation and this time interjected before Kukurnal could, “So? If they make more nickel coins, it is of little meaning.”
Joe quickly shook his head, responding quickly, “No, such a thing will destroy a ‘a system of trade’ because the individual doesn’t have the wealth that the nickel coins he has represent.”
“But it would be of little concern. If they find nickel and make it into nickel coins, then it would be …” she shrugged, happy that her meaning was expressed well enough.
Joe paused at this and nodded carefully, deep in thought before beginning again, “If the value of a nickel was equal to the weight of the nickel in the coin, then yes, it would have little meaning and work well enough, but…” He stopped to consider again for a bit before beginning again, “But what about gold. If I found a nugget of gold the size of my fist. How valuable is that gold?”
She looked to Kukurnal, submitting to his expertise.
Kukurnal nodded and replied, “Possibly about a few brass... maybe even an iron?”
“But how many gold coin could I make from that gold?”
“I’m uncertain. Maybe fifty or so? Maybe?”
“For ease, let us say fifty. If I take all that gold and turn it to fifty gold coin, would this be OK?”
She immediately rejected his statement, uncomfortable with what was said, but uncertain how to explain why she though this. She looked to Kukurnal and found he also struggle and she let Kukurnal respond, “I do not believe that is … no.”
“Can you tell me why?”
“It’s not… he is not that wealthy.”
“Yes. The wealth the coin represents is significantly greater than the actual object. Paper, amongst my people, is very cheap and has very low cost, so it is easy to take cheap paper and turn it into something that has more value, such as money. To stop this, the people in charge of money take great effort to make money difficult to duplicate.”
Both considered carefully before the Matriarch sacrificed her pride, “I agree with you, Gre… Joe, but I struggle to grasp why.”