The bay sparkled in the early sunlight and a pleasant breeze danced over the waves, cooling down Depper as he rowed towards the fan-shaped island in the harbor of Choukishi. Some may have complained about rowing for a little over a nautical mile, but Depper stoically endured it as it A. Gave him time to consider how to whip his staff into shape and B. A healthy mind was found in a healthy body. To what he'd heard of his predecessor, Pannkuch, the man could use some exercise in returning the boat to Kaba.

He brought the vessel to a small set of ornately carved stairs that disappeared in the bay, listened for the satisfying bonk of wood on stone, then tossed his two suitcases, one clothes and one books, onto the shore. He stepped on shore, took a few steps up and was surprised at what he saw.

He had expected many things to his dislike, wanton staff, corruption, and slacking servants were at the top of his list. What he did not expect however was the trading post not being there.

That is to say, what once had been the flourishing factory was now mostly and and rubble. Only the base structure of what was supposed to become his quarters remained, though the top floor of that was also entirely burned out.

The only signs of life were two men and a woman sitting in front of a hastily erected tent, sharing a pot of rice. As a fourth companion, they had one of the small fat lizards that normally served as dinner. It whined at the humans for a share of the rice.

Depper walked up to them, forgetting about his luggage and arched a brow when none of them responded at his sudden arrival.

"Good... day?" he said, "I'm here to take charge of the island..."

The woman turned to him, a somewhat empty look in her eyes, taking a moment to register who was talking to her.

"Oh, thank the heavens!" she cried, dropping her bowl of rice, "We can finally do things!"

Depper's other brow went up, "Can I find a chair somewhere?"

"There might be a stool in there," the woman replied, gesturing to the burned out house, then picking up her bowl and hurriedly shoveling the fallen contents back into it before the tiny dinosaur could get to it.

Depper simply retrieved the stool, found one that mostly survived the fire and brought it outside, where he placed it in the dirt and sat down, giving him the impression of a teacher with a rather forlorn looking group of students.

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

He leaned down, balancing his elbows on his legs and studied each of the trio intently, before finally speaking.

"So," he said calmly, "From the beginning please."

They each told them their version of the story, which took some time and then a little longer for Depper to piece them together and make sense of what had been told.

It seemed that a few months earlier his predecessor had been called to the capital by the Gunari, who he gathered was some sore of high placed general second only to the Empress, and then never made it back. He had fallen ill while en route, or had been poisoned, but quite simply, he had never made it back.

Normally, his second-in-command, the most senior accountant, would have risen in rank to be the acting chief, which had happened and she had done her work admirably according to the trio, but... She had died a month later in a mysterious fire that had started in five places at once. Without any guidance, the three had resorted to a quiet despair and survived on handouts from the local government. He sighed, assuming the handouts were not so much handouts as loans that would have to be compensated when the cash was available.

He sighed and for a time quietly thought, considering his options.

"You three are dismissed," he said calmly, "Take the dinghy I arrived in. Report to captain Kaba and go home."

"Are we...are we..." the woman started, then finished the question in a whisper, "Fired?"

"But then we won’t get paid!” one of the men protested.

“How many of you were there?”

“Fifteen in total…sir.”

Depper did some quick mental arithmetic, then nodded to himself, “I will give each of year half a year extra wages and a letter of commendation.”

“Do we deserve that?” the third man, who had miserably stared into his rice bowl for most of the conversation.

“Probably not,” Depper mused, “But charity is grace the company could have more of. Please get ready to leave, find me a messenger and some paper. I’ll have to write fast.”

The trio remained seat.

“An order,” Depper said icily then smiled when they rushed to do as told.

He stood up and stared at his burned out quarters.

“Well,” he said to himself, looking around at the ashes, “At least I’ll leave my mark on this dung heap.”

Captain Kaba was not pleased when a bee-riding messenger appeared on her deck, muttering in his native language until she paid him off with a gold coin. She was less thrilled when she found she’d be delayed, if only a few hours.

This all turned to livid fury when she found she’d be having unwanted passengers.

She stared at the rising sun, considering her options and came to the conclusion she’d just make something up to sequester them below decks when she dealt with her personal escapades.

She checked her watch, hoping she’d still be on time, then sighed.

“I know it was going too well,” she said to herself, leaned down on the railing to await the arrival of her squatters, studying the movements of the fish below her.