Chapter 194
There were only two more items on auction, and Jay's group were too wrapped up in their own celebration to notice.
The first was a mirror that showed the weather for the following day. It was bid up to 68 gold and finally purchased by room #3 which had elected to remain private.
The second was for a never ending bottle of wine from a long dead society that had focused on brewing as their main method of worshiping their goddess. The bottle had gone to Mayor Figs for a final bid of 89 gold, a truly tremendous amount – but gaining the ability to serve guests a wine vintage that no longer existed anywhere else on Eden was too great of an opportunity to pass up.
The black stage curtain had then lowered and the auctioneer smiled widely.
“Thank you to the King, the Mayor, and everyone else who attended our auction tonight! The Stringe Auction House is honored to have been of service! Bidders will receive their winnings and pledged gold shortly! Refreshments are available in the lobby. Once again, thank you all for coming!” the man said as one of his eyes slid to the side before it snapped back in to its correct orientation.
The lights slowly came up and everyone began to file out of their seats and over towards the front lobby. A knock sounded at the Glimmerhide's door and after a moment it popped open. Their attendant entered with a tied coin pouch carried on a silver tray.
“Good evening! I hope you had a wonderful time. As you did not pledge any actual gold there is no gold to give back to you. Your signed bank draft, paired with a credit check, provided the required proof for bidding. This purse,” the attendant said as he nodded with his chin towards the tray, “contains your winnings from today's auction, 50 gold. Would you care to count it?”
Jay took the coin pouch and thanked the attendant. “Yes. One moment please,”
M'redith nodded in approval as Jay opened the pouch and began to hand out gold. He handed M'redith, Aiden, and Norri each 10 gold. Then he counted the remaining coins out – there were twenty of them, ten for him and ten for Glenda. The missing five gold had been automagically transferred to the Adventurer's Guild to pay their Guild tax.
“Perfect, everything looks to be in order, thank you,” Jay said. Jay went to attempt to hand the attendant a tip but he refused to take it.
With a wave of both hands he refused Jay, “That will not be necessary, sir,” he stated emphatically. “We are well taken care of here at Stringe House. No tip is needed or required. If you have no other questions I will remain outside until you are ready to proceed downstairs.”
Jay apologized and returned his coin to his pouch. After the attendant had left M'redith looked at Jay and laughed.
“What?” Jay asked in confusion. What was it he didn't understand this time?
M'redith smiled brightly and looked up at him. “You don't tip an attendant in another person's house! It's insulting! It would be like being served dinner and trying to slip the person who brought you your plate some coin!”
“But this isn't a house – its an auction...house.” Jay attempted to explain but trailed off as he realized what he was saying.
M'redith furrowed her brow and made a frustrated noise. “Only you would say a place with the word house in it didn't qualify as a house. The 'house' in auction house means that it is family run and they treat it as a family enterprise. When you come here you are in a house – Constance's house. Although an auction house can at times be called an auction hall an auction hall is never called an auction house. Does that make any sense?”
Jay shook his head, “No. That sounds ridiculous but I'll try to keep it in mind all the same.”
M'redith pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed but smiled as she did so. She found Jay frustrating and adorable all at the same time.
“So what did Jay just do then?” Aiden asked. He hadn't been aware of the differences between auction houses and halls and was as confused as Jay was.
“Jay, by attempting to give the attendant coin, was intimating that the attendant was not being taken care of well enough and must require some supplemental income. An insult essentially to the house but to be more exact, an insult to the head of the house. Jay just basically insulted Constance without meaning to. He said in effect that she did not pay her staff well enough – and that Jay would do better.” M'redith explained in the voice that one uses when one knows exactly what they are talking about.
Seeing Jay react M'redith quickly smoothed it over, “I don't want you to get upset over it, I just wanted to make you aware of what your actions meant. Here,” she said as she stood up and walked over to the door, “let me fix it. Just don't offer him anything else, ok?”
Jay made his eyes wide and nodded his head yes which made Norri giggle. Even M'redith smiled briefly.
M'redith opened the door and leaned out to speak with the attendant in a hushed conversation. They spoke for a minute before M'redith returned and shut the door behind her.
“What did you say to him?” Aiden asked. Norri bounced in her seat – she was ready to be moving around again and was getting restless.
“I told him that Jay isn't from around here and comes from a place where not tipping is the height of rudeness. I explained that you were trying to be respectful and tipped only as a way of indicating gratitude for his help. I stressed to him that no other message was intended and that it was all a misunderstanding. He seemed very understanding.” M'redith said with a smile. “See?” she said, “All fixed!”
“Do you really tip everyone on Earth?” Norri suddenly asked.
Jay shrugged, “Sometimes it felt like we did.”
“That's weird.” Norri said after a short pause.
Jay nodded, “No argument here. Hey, can we go? It's getting late and I'd love to be in bed in time to get some sleep before we have to go to class in the morning.”
Aiden laughed, “Oh are we out past your bed time? Do you need tucking in too?”
Jay playfully pushed him but barely moved him. Aiden had gotten big and smiled as Jay failed to move him even an inch.
“Don't make me sic my girlfriend on you,” Jay said with a grin.
M'redith showed her teeth to Aiden in a not quite smile and Aiden laughed.
“Let's goooo!” Norri insisted and the group finally collected what little they had brought with them and left the room.
Their attendant was waiting and appeared to be a bit happier as they followed him downstairs.
The attendant had pegged Jay's group as a bunch of rich kids out to spend their parent's money. They hadn't acted that way though – they'd been kind and polite and hadn't left their room in a state of disrepair. One of them had even attempted to give him money! Money! As if he needed it!
One of the girls in their party had come out specifically to speak with him about it and had explained that it had been done as a sign of respect, not scorn. She had seemed quite contrite and after a moment to consider whether or not they were playing with him he had decided that she was just being honest.
How sweet!
The attendant wasn't familiar with the Glimmerhides but would be more than happy to attend them again should they ever come back for another auction.
“I hope you all have a pleasant evening, or what remains of it,” the attendant said with a bow of his head. “And congratulations on your winnings! Have a good night!” the attendant had said as he finished escorting them to the ground floor and out in to the lobby.
Jay and his group had thanked him and then Jay had offered to shake the attendant's hand which surprised everyone involved. M'redith shook her head but kept quiet with a smile directed towards Jay's odd behavior.
The attendant had looked a bit surprised and unsure of how to proceed but finally shrugged and shook his hand. A stranger in a strange land, Jay had acted just as a foreigner would. Oddly.
It was something that just wasn't done normally. Perhaps that is why the attendant felt so happy after the interaction. Jay had made him feel appreciated. Coin he wouldn't accept, but appreciation was always...appreciated.
Jay and his group departed and became lost in the crowd. The attendant sighed with a smile and turned around to head towards the offices. He'd need to send his nightly report and wanted to write it up while everything was still fresh in his mind. Constance had made it clear that all interactions with Jay and his group should be included in the nightly intelligence reports.
The attendant let himself through a concealed door along the edge of the lobby and shut it behind him.
As he left Jay and his group were just working their way through the crowd. The crowd wasn't homogeneous but was made up of smaller groups all standing around talking or moving about and vying for floor space. Eventually they made their way over towards an area that had been cleared by Kingdom Guards. The clear space was centered around one man, the King, who stood and held court with those who had gathered around him.
As Jay's group approached the Kingdom Guards moved others aside to make room for them. As others turned about to find out why they had been moved aside they inevitably focused on Jay and his group's unique appearances.
The black clad group slowly made their way over to the King who smiled when he caught sight of them.
“My Glimmerhides! Congratulations! You did really well tonight!” King Ferrigualt called out loudly just as Jay and his group reached the border of the clear area around the King.
The fact that the King had referred to the Glimmerhides as His was not lost on the gathered crowd, even if Jay missed it in the moment. M'redith raised one eyebrow but Jay wasn't facing her and missed the look.
Jay smiled, “Congratulations to you as well, you made some fancy purchases there.”
The King laughed. “I did! Although they were a tad on the expensive side, wouldn't you say?”
Jay grinned, “I would say I can't imagine spending 100 gold... but I can!” Jay said and managed to surprise the King who laughed in reply.
After his laughter died down a bit the King spoke again, “Yes I believe you could spend 100 gold very soon couldn't you? Word is that someone is looking to purchase a rather sizable lot in the city. Contiguous – not easily done. That wouldn't be you would it Jay?”
The others in the crowd had become quieter as they focused on the byplay between the King and Jay. Buying land was expensive. Buying land in a town was more expensive. Buying land in a city was very expensive. Buying a lot of land inside the city that was all contained within one continuous lot was practically unheard of and quite difficult to do. Money alone would not accomplish it.
The King knew what he was really talking about but Jay was just trying to keep up. Jay thought that perhaps M'redith could tell him later what they had really been talking about, as she often would.
Jay wasn't sure what to say. Be honest? Make a joke? Lie? Lie to the King – no way that would possibly end up causing a problem. So lying was not an option. Jay decided to go with choices one and two.
“I like room to stretch out, you know?” Jay asked jokingly and the King smiled.
“Well. If you can't find what you're looking for in K'tharkle let me know. Perhaps I could find you something close by but not inside of K'tharkle – at a more reasonable price of course.” The King said. As he did so Jay noticed that his eyes were searching the crowd but for who Jay wasn't sure.
This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
A voice from off to the other side of the group suddenly called out, “Is that who has been trying to buy up acres of my city?”
Bones and bodies are mostly the same size between people. A hand is roughly the same size as another hand - but some people are just built bigger. Their hands are bigger. Their bodies are bigger. Their bones are bigger.
The crowd pulled back as another figure made its presence known – and that figure was not just big but was bigger than the others.
While not taller than Jay the hulking figure was just larger in every other way. Muscled but with barely an ounce of fat on him the Mayor of K'tharkle looked as if he dead-lifted weights for fun in between his more serious workout sessions.
“My advisors were just mentioning that earlier today and were concerned that a foreign power may be attempting to establish a hold here. You don't look like a foreign power to me though,” Mayor Figs stated flatly in a deep gravelly voice.
“I'm not,” Jay said but the King corrected him.
“This is Jay. He is the Patron of Kagan's Dome, a Ruler in his own right,” the King explained. “He's also not from around here,” the King stated without explaining further. He had just identified Jay as a man of power, a ruler, while at the same time explaining that he was not from around here – a foreigner. A foreign power.
“So he is a foreign power,” the Mayor said with a laugh, “Just a little one. My advisors will be relieved! Well, no harm then. So the King wants to talk you out of living in my city hm? How much room are you looking for?”
M'redith tugged at his suit jacket and he immediately leaned over towards her. He had learned long ago that when M'redith asked for your attention you gave it to her – or paid the price for not doing so later.
She quickly whispered to him, “Nine. You want no less than nine!”
Jay nodded and spoke up, “I'm looking for nine acres,” he said but was unprepared for the response. The crowd murmured among themselves at his answer and seemed to find it a bit ridiculous.
The King though didn't look the least surprised at all and looked as if he had expected the larger number.
The Mayor however coughed. “Nine? That's a lot of land to look for in a city, even one as huge as K'tharkle. Of course..” the Mayor said as his voice trailed off in thought.
The Mayor wanted Jay in his town. He knew exactly who Jay was – anyone in K'tharkle with an intelligence gathering apparatus did at that point. You couldn't take Kagan's Dome and turn it in to what it now was without drawing the eyes of others.
There was a reason for the Mayor's desire to keep Jay in K'tharkle – wherever Jay went things seemed to happen. Good things. K'tharkle had already benefited greatly from Jay's presence once. Perhaps even twice if the Mayor included the tax evasion ring that had been shut down when Jay bought out the putt putt course. The City Guard had submitted a report indicating that Jay had been extremely helpful in one of their nastier investigations as well – that made three times he had helped out the city. In roughly one month!
Jay was good to have around whether you were a group member or a city. Or, in the King's case, a kingdom.
The King grinned as he needled the Mayor just a little, “Well if there is no room then there's nothing that can be done. I'll see what might fit what you're looking for and maybe we can find something for you just outside of K'tharkle.”
Mayor Figs shook his head, “Now let's not be hasty. I haven't said no, just that it might be difficult is all.
The crowd all watched the back and forth as the two rulers publicly fought over who would sell Jay land. It was an auction of a different sort where the bidders were not offering coin but real estate – or the sale thereof.
There was no talk of price, it was just expected that Jay would be able to afford whatever would be asked – or he wouldn't have been looking for that much land in the first place. The silence grew as the Mayor became lost in his thoughts.
Jay, of course, had no idea what was going on outside of the fact that they were discussing the sale of land.
M'redith smiled next to him as she watched the discussion. Jay bet that she knew what was going on.
“If you can't find room for him I'm sure I could find a place for him in the Kingdom...” the King said with a crooked grin in an attempt to pull the Mayor out of his thoughts.
The Mayor looked at the King with a straight face, “Now you're just poking fun at me.”
The King smiled and apologized, “A little? Sorry.”
The crowd laughed and Figs smiled to show he was not angry and was playing along.
“The best I can do at such short notice is offer you some help. Rather than trying to search for land while remaining undetected just send someone by my office. Between the two of us I'm sure we could find something. What's your man's name?” the Mayor asked.
Jay paused. His man? Which man?
M'redith again leaned forward, this time she whispered in to Jay's ear. It tickled the soft hairs in his inner ear and he squirmed without meaning too. The King smiled as he watched the two of them interact.
Jay spoke up quickly after M'redith had pulled back. “Boland,” he said. “First K'tharkle.”
“Boland is yours? I'm impressed. I've always liked Boland. Sure, send him by and I'll see what we can do,” the Mayor insisted. The muscled man extended one thick hand.
Jay marveled as he took his hand in his own and shook it. Even Figs' hands were muscled.
“Thank you, I look forward to it,” Jay said in an attempt to be polite.
The Mayor was then distracted by an aide who had a question for him and the King spoke in to the resulting silence.
“I have a riddle for you Jay,” the King said and the crowd hushed as they all strained to hear whatever the King might say over the loudness of the room's other conversations being held at varying levels of volume.
M'redith, next to Jay, wrapped one hand around his right arm and held it close to her as Jay replied with a nod.
“Ok – but just so you know, no one told me there would be a test. I'm unprepared.” Jay joked and hoped that would be appropriate.
The King laughed and those in the crowd did as well. “I think that you will get this one right, or at least I am told you will. Here is the riddle: When you sleep and dream but are awake instead...whose voice calls to you?”
M'redith next to him let out a quiet hrmm sound and looked down at the floor as she thought. That wasn't like any riddle that she had ever heard of. It made no sense.
The crowd murmured to each other as they tried to solve the riddle.
The King watched M'redith and Jay closely as M'redith wracked her brain for the answer.
Aiden and Norri were there as well, but were more a part of the crowd than a part of the conversation. The King had yet to single either of them out.
Jay tried to play for more time, “What do I get if I get it right?”
M'redith's eyes had unfocused as she thought furiously next to him. What a strange riddle, she thought.
The King smiled widely as the crowd all made shocked and approving sounds. “Of course! I offer you a choice – you may choose between knowledge and riches. If you reply correctly and choose knowledge I will tell you a secret about your chosen that not even she knows – something that you might never learn without my help. Should you choose riches I will instead pay for your nine acres regardless of where it is finally located.”
The crowd grew loud as they all discussed the King's sudden largess. The King's offer was not in single gold pieces, or tens, or even hundreds of gold but quite possibly in the thousands of gold. In comparison, the offer of a secret pertaining to his chosen, whoever she was, sounded barely worth the time it took to consider it.
Jay guessed the meaning of chosen from its usage and assumed that it would be about M'redith. Jay knew she had secrets, but apparently there was one that not even she knew. Jay instantly knew which of the King's offered choices he would pick.
Kings could be capricious. They could shower a person with riches just because they were feeling good at that moment in time. Perhaps the King merely wanted to grace Jay with a present for no reason in particular. Or perhaps he was doing it to send a message? Or was it as a way of rewarding Jay for a privately performed service? Was the King using the interaction as an opportunity to snub someone else? No one really knew so everyone watched so that they could discuss it later with others at length. The King's actions were saying something – what that something might be was up for future discussion.
M'redith was pulled out of her thoughts as the King said chosen. It wasn't her name but the King could only be talking about her. A secret? About her? What a waste of time! She instantly hugged Jay's arm against her chest tightly which did two things.
First, it pulled Jay close enough to her that he would be able to hear her speak. Second, it pushed his arm firmly up against her chest which instantly drew his full attention to her. Not even a King could compete with that.
“Pick the riches!” she hissed just as Jay said loudly, “I'll take the secret!”
M'redith frowned in a mixture of disappointment and displeasure.
The King smiled widely as he watched the two of them.
The crowd all groaned and booed Jay. Even M'redith still looked surprised. Jay almost always went with her advice. She thought that this might be the first time that he had gone against her. Why was that, she wondered.
The King let the crowd work themselves up until they had enough time to let their feelings out – loudly. As the crowd quieted down on their own he spoke.
“Before this goes any further who here would have taken the riches?” the King asked with a thin smile.
The crowd erupted in to cheers and clapping. It died down quickly.
“And who would have taken the secret?” the King asked with a raised eyebrow as if to indicate that choice was a potentially foolish one.
A handful of claps and hollering could be heard but the winner was clear. The crowd would have taken the riches.
The King clapped once, loudly, and everyone stopped speaking to listen to him.
“A man with oranges is offered a choice – receive a ton more oranges, or a peach, which he has never had. The man can grow his own oranges, but the peach – he will never find another peach. Which should the man pick?” the King asked and the crowd kept quiet as everyone worked through not just what the King had said, but more importantly what he had meant.
“While they all think on that I think it is time Jay. When you sleep and dream but are awake instead...whose voice calls to you?” the King asked with a raised eyebrow.
Jay didn't have to wonder, he suddenly knew the answer. It had happened only a few times but each time had left a lasting impression on him. He would fall asleep but wake up – not just in a dream but... somewhere else. Each time there had been one being that always showed up to speak with him.
“Gaia,” Jay responded simply and the King smiled and nodded as the crowd gasped at the answer. What kind of riddle was that?
The King waved at Jay and M'redith to approach and two Kingdom Guards instantly flanked the two Glimmerhides and escorted them up to just in front of the King. The guards kept close enough behind the two that they could take immediate action should either prove a threat to the King.
As for the King, he leaned forward and whispered to the two of them. He looked M'redith in the eye.
“I know what you are, even if you do not. There's a reason your father wanted you at home. It wasn't a very good reason – but it was a reason. His greed might be his greatest enemy yet,” the King said as he looked thoughtful and paused for a moment before he shook himself and came back to the matter at hand.
“For now I will tell you only this. You are what was once called a False Weaver, something very old and very misunderstood, even back when it was relatively new. What you might become, well that is something else entirely, and a topic for future discussion.” The King waited until M'redith nodded, once. It was a confused and frustrated nod, but a nod nonetheless.
The King turned to stare at Jay with frighteningly clear and intense eyes, “A glade that isn't but is surrounded by nothing. Have you been there?”
M'redith looked frustrated. Another riddle that wasn't a riddle at all. Who could answer that?
But Jay looked suddenly surprised as he remembered visiting a place just like that in his last meeting with Gaia.
“You too?” Jay asked simply to which the King nodded.
“Something big is coming. We've already taken up too much time. We will speak more later,” the King said and before Jay knew what was happening the two Kingdom Guards grasped Jay and M'redith firmly by their arms and pulled them somewhat gently back behind the line that separated the King's area from everyone else's area.
“Jay has answered the riddle correctly and I have given him his reward just as promised!” the King called out to the crowd who clapped appreciatively. Most of the crowd thought that Jay was certifiably insane for choosing knowledge over riches.
M'redith still wasn't sure how she felt. What in Gaia's name was a False Weaver?
Jay looked happy though and he had good reason to be. He had just learned more about M'redith's background in a moment than he had in over a month.