Lord Katsa haup Gunndit, healers’ area, tent city, Black Falls

"Who is your second in charge of the wraiths?" I asked Lord Usruldes as he paced a hole in the ground cover inside one of the tents used by the healers. He was waiting for the Queen to finish her attempt to revive a young lady wraith named Flea.

"That would be Snow Bear," Usruldes said, pausing briefly in his stomp of impatience.

"If something happened to you, how does one contact Snow Bear?"

"The King can. He has two sets of the same summoning crystal set that I use," He started pacing again.

"You should rest," I told the Wraith of wraiths. "You've reached solid blue on fatigue."

"I have endured worst. Do not worry about me. This is nothing. My agent is more important than my sleep."

"Well then, do not complain to me when you fall over," and with that, I left him to find my mother. Mother was nearby talking with the bedridden Senlyosart about the process of moving the injured high priestess to Aybhas.

"Knock knock?" I said at the cloth door flap that served as a door. Mother's face brightened on seeing me.

"Well, don't stand there gathering dust," she gave me one of her signature looks, "come in, come in, and pull up a stool."

"Who's there?" asked Senlyosart, still strapped to a back support and not able to see the door.

"You remember my daughter, Katsa?"

"Of course I do, seeing that we see each other several times a year. Hello, Katsa. How are Musshia and the boys?"

I pulled up a stool and poured myself a beaker of tea. "Musshia is here, supervising the off-loading of more supplies if you want to say hello. The boys are split between Gunndit Town and the Manse, getting the next shipment ready. It takes a lot of stuff to keep a city and a shrine fed all at the same time. Frankly, it would be a lot harder to keep the materials rolling without the teamsters of the Queen's Villa, who showed up yesterday in Gunndit, unheralded and unlooked-for."

"They did?" my mother looked surprised.

"The Queen overheard that we were short of wagons. She mindcasted the Villa and had all the teamsters who do the deliveries for her brewery sent down to Gunndit. I had no idea she had twenty wagons to spare within two days' travel time from Gunndit."

"I shouldn't be surprised," my mother shook her head. "The Queen has a very good head for business. Her brewery is tremendously profitable and her clientele is extensive. She has a whole fleet of wagons for deliveries."

"Is it true her brewery is run by just her Coyn?" I asked. I figured if anyone knew the truth, it would be mother, one of the queen's only real confidants.

"Yes, right down to the brewmasters, and she pays them too, at half-again over what contracted Coyn labor usually costs."

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"No! Really?"

"Yes, really, Katsa," Mother took a well-timed sip of tea while keeping eye contact, just to make me wait. She knew it annoyed me when she did that. Her love of needling people was not one of her better qualities.

Then mother resumed her answer: "Yes, she pays them and still makes an avalanche of profit every year. She exports a lot of her ale stock down the river to Inkalim, in firkins designed to fit on Coyn ships as watertight cargo containers that the Coyn can move and manage easily. The Sea Coyn like working with her and she just rakes in the revenue."

Mother put her beaker down: "I have to amend that statement. The agents who do the selling are all Cosm because there are too many people who will not deal with Coyn in business deals."

"Well, that's probably a good thing," I said to startle mother with a misleading opening line. I succeeded too, which made me quite happy. Then I made her wait as I took a sip of tea. "If she was using her Coyn as sales agents, those little clever connivers would beggar the rest of us and end up owning the kingdom. The Queen's Coyn are really smart. Kattessat said they completely reorganized the loading operation in Gunndit, cutting the loading time by a third while allowing for a round of rest breaks so no one got too tired. I'm glad my boys were smart enough to let the Queen's Coyn do that for them. Unfortunately, some people persist in believing Coyn are not very smart."

"Things might improve on that front, now that two more of the old families invested in the Coyn slave trade will be gone in a matter of a few rotations," Mother frowned. "That will make two lord holdings reverted to the crown last year and two more this year. It worries me given that we'll probably be going to war with Impotu next year or the year after and will need all the soldiers we can raise. Imstay's already talking about patrolling all the routes over the mountains east to shut off the trade in copper and tin, including those used by smugglers. That will certainly rile things up on the other side of the mountains since we control the market in metals in the west."

"That's a bit worrisome since two of those routes drop into Gunndit territory and one drops into Black Falls," I counted up the usable passes and trails. "I expect it would fall on the lord holdings and the towns to do the patrolling."

"More than likely," mother said. "What are you smiling over, Senlyosart? Do you need your beaker topped off?"

"I'm out of sekanjabin so I'll wait until more arrives. I'm smiling because I'm amused." The recuperating high priestess laughed. "It's been a while since I've had the pleasure of listening to a pair of Gunndits verbally sparring with one another."

"Speaking of sparring," I grabbed the tin teapot off the table and topped off mother's beaker, "I came by, mother, for a little help sparring with a stubborn Lord Usruldes."

"Yes?" One eyebrow arched upward.

"The poor man is down the hall, pacing back and forth, fretting about one of his agents who is currently being worked on by the Queen. On one hand, it is reassuring to see a man with as sinister a reputation as Usruldes the Wraith worrying about those who work under him. On the other hand, the man is in the solid blue range of fatigue and won't take a rest. He does have a deputy who can take over for him but he will not stand down and rest."

"Well, he is doing the work of two people," mother put the tea beaker back down. "He's also doing the missing Captain Sertfos' job."

"She hasn't been found yet?" Senlyosart asked, looking sad. "She's probably dead in a berry bog somewhere. What a shame. She was a good friend. How is Lord Skalta taking it?"

"I've spoken with him several times," I grimaced. "He's quite stoic and not talking about his worry at all. It's a thick green fog all around him but he is walking around, taking care of his holding as if his missing daughter was not something that he has time to deal with for now. Poor man. We had been talking about marrying her to my Kattessat."

Mother shook her head, "so many walking wounded."

"He is at least busy enough to distract himself from his grief while he waits for word. But Mother, I was wondering if you might be able to do something for Lord Usruldes before he collapses from exhaustion?"

Mother smiled. My poor brother.

I found out later she cast deep sleep on him shortly after we talked and made arrangements for the king to wake him the next day.