It was the seventh day of observing the merchants. Not much of note happened besides a stomachache induced by overeating fish which both Xet and the merchants suffered from.
On the eighth day, Xet saw the vulture approach the river from afar. The bird was gathering fresh water and doing some work on his plants. The bird flashed the bags of samples, his glass containers, his tools… It was like an advertisement. The seawyrm wondered if he was being taunted, but he quickly realised it was only his failure-induced bias talking. When the vulture was done, he placed everything in a large bag and left. Xet had no plants to tend to, so the only reaping he could do was his own blossoming disappointment.
On the ninth day, the river became narrower. The merchants all set up their tents closer to the lake as if there would be competition for fresh water. Greedy bunch, Xet thought, there was more than enough for everyone. On the tenth day, the merchants repeated the act, but the vulture’s tent was much closer than the others. It was so close that Xet felt more comfortable springing the distance to his green salvation. Still, the river would narrow even further, so he would wait until the next day. His time was running short, he would have to risk it sooner or later.
On the eleventh day, the tents were closer still. The vulture’s tent was only a few body lengths away from the river. Even the entrance was turned toward the water. Xet could see the bag of samples at the far end of the tent, set on the ground, beckoning him. His patience had finally paid off.
As soon as the merchants went to eat together during the early evening, Xet decided to go for it. He checked that the vulture was present with his colleagues, and indeed he was. Xet charted the path that would expose him the least and pushed himself out of the water, then dragged the rest of his body along. He waddled and wobbled toward the tent, keeping all frills close to his body. It would be very generous to say the fish was being surreptitious, but at least he put a lot of effort into failing. Xet reached the tent, lowered his head to fit, and went directly for the bag. He carefully grabbed it in his jaws, turned to leave. Immediately the two pieces of cloth that formed the entrance collapsed and closed. The scared seawyrm nearly dropped the samples, but he contained himself. His lower body, however, flailed around involuntarily. Before Xet realised, his tail was wrapped around his own legs, which, in turn, were pointed up in the air. Quite the contortion act.
“Took you long enough, eh?” It was the vulture! He was blocking the exit with his body, inspecting Xet. The boastful look and relaxed posture indicated the bird was not physically afraid of the intruder despite how much larger Xet was. “Put the plants on the ground before you try to speak, I don’t want you dropping them.” Xet obeyed, but only because he didn’t want to damage the containers either. After that, silence. The bird did not speak first, he only stared.
The stream of consciousness in Xet’s brain flowed. He felt the pressure build until it forced his mouth to open and release a floodwater of nonsense. “Hello merchant. I have some reports you are in possession of contraband. I came here to inspect your goods. It will only take a moment.” Floodwater? No, it was sewage.
“Uh-huh” The bird said, raising a brow and striking an exaggerated thinking pose.
“I will take these to the river, and I will be back in a few minutes. Provided they aren’t illegal, that is.”
The bird looked amused at whatever Xet was attempting to do and began cackling. Xet took the opportunity and began to casually unwind his contorted body. As soon as he even thought about moving toward the exit, the bird, still laughing, blocked him with a wing. After taking a moment to collect himself, he opened his beak again.
“Good one, ‘officer’. Come now, tell me your name.”
“I am the Kelp Inspector General…” Xet looked around for any hints to come up with a name.
“Oh. Oh no… It was funny at first, but it’s sad if you insist on it.”
“It is no jest, citizen. You see, some of these plants can be dangerous for consumption. You wouldn’t want anyone to think you want to poison them, do you?”
A frustrated sigh left the bird’s beak. “Fine, I’ll just have to speak for you, then. Let’s see…” He tapped his beak with a finger, pretending to think. “Royal scale patterns, so I am guessing part of the royal family. More specifically…” The bird glanced over Xet again, trying to assure himself that his guess would be correct. “More specifically, prince. First in line, and so far from home! Does your family know you’re out here pilfering plants?”
Xet’s unperturbed demeanour was disarmed. Even his frills had unwound and opened in a display of attention and surprise. He didn’t know what to say for a few moments. “How do you know that?”
“You’re still wearing your bracelets. It’s obvious for anyone that is familiar with Eastern Claridian politics.”
“Then I assume your buddies are waiting outside to capture me.” He said it with the casual frustration of a child that got caught stealing coral sweets from their mother’s jar. His frills were dangling limply.
“Those dimwits? If they discover you tried to rob me, they are going to start arguing whether we should chop off your hand.”
Xet gulped drily (a hard feat for a sea creature). “And what is your opinion on er… chopping off hands?”
“My opinion is…” He glanced over the worried fish. “There are more profitable alternatives.”
“My frills?” Xet was only half joking.
“I don’t want to chop off anything if I can help it,” The bird reassured Xet. “Hear what I have to say, and, depending on your answer, I will decide the most profitable course of action; letting you go or telling my pals outside you’re here.”
“You’re blackmailing me?”
“Precisely,” Osso winked “But let us not stay on bad terms. Please, introduce yourself. It’s rude of me to do business without knowing your name.”
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“My name is Xet.”
“If only I had known more of politics, I could have made an even more impressive guess, eh?” The bird reflected, then bowed his head politely and said, “Nice to make your acquaintance, Prince Xet-”
“Don’t call me that. I’m not a prince.”
“Thief Xet?”
“That’s better.”
“As you will,” The bird cleared his throat and continued, “I am Merchant Osso, and I want to make a proposition. You are keenly interested in my plants. How about I give them to you?”
Xet was immediately put off. “I don’t have any money. None. And no royal backing.”
“I don’t want money in exchange for these plants.”
“Then what is it you want from me?”
“I was waiting for you to ask that!” Osso looked happy and proud but kept his voice down to not alarm the others in his group. They were still being loud, both tent occupants could hear their voices in the background. “You fled home, and I imagine you don’t want to be exposed because your family will come after you, yes?”
“Good guess, but I don’t see how that’s relevant unless you want whatever bounty they set up.”
“Ah, it’s the most relevant thing! You can’t earn money unless you know someone, and now you do! But what kind of service can you provide me, you might be asking yourself. And the answer is the reason I wanted you to have my plants. It’s hard for me to grow them, not being aquatic and all. Seawyrms have an excellent history with medicinal plants. I imagine you know something about it, being the prospect Warden of the Forest of Kelp and all.”
“You want… you want me to grow plants for you?” There was a twinkle in Xet’s eyes, a twitch of his frills. Neither went unnoticed by Osso.
“Indeed. You grow these plants for me, and we split the profits once they are sold. There is a lot of money on this, I tell you.” Osso gestured his wings as if trying to embrace a gigantic pile of gold in front of him. It was impossible to ignore the theatre in those feathers.
Xet considered the idea, then said, “I’m not interested in money. If you haven’t noticed, I can’t buy anything without drawing attention.”
“That’s a pity. Hmm…” Osso thought for a moment, he was still trying to figure out why Xet seemed so excited about the plants. “How about I provide you what you need directly? Whatever it is, I will get it for you in exchange for growing the plants. Surely there are things you want, and all you have do in exchange is work for me.”
Suddenly, Xet’s expression changed. “Work for you? Your own personal gardener? No, thanks. I’ve had enough of that. I’d rather be hunted for sport.” He grabbed the bag again and began to stand up, the little bird would not be able to stop him.
“Wait!” Osso ordered with the hint of a plea, blocking Xet’s way with a wing. The vulture had a momentary crack in his composure, but he recovered in a heartbeat. “Before you do anything harsh, look into the bag.” Xet hesitated. “Come on, have a look. You’ll like what you see, I promise.”
Xet placed the bag down carefully and opened it slowly and suspiciously. Inside were the carefully crafted samples he had seen Osso take out near the river. So many plants, some he had to look at the labels to find out the name. While Xet was staring at them, daydreaming about a beautiful garden, the bird decided to strike. He had figured out how to read the frills, Xet needn’t say a word.
Osso spoke softly and confidently, “All this and more. Let us be partners. I won’t force you to grow more than you can, I only ask for a fair trade. How about it, Gardener Xet?” The inflection of the word “gardener” was soothing.
“It’s uhm… It’s missing red lilies.”
“Ah, a favourite of royalty!” Osso smiled, then realised Xet did not like the mention of royalty and lowered his enthusiasm. “Of course, I will get it for you. Like these small plants, this is but a sample of my future— our future inventory! Our partnership will blossom like your garden on a spring morning.” He opened his wings imitating a blossoming flower with such exaggerator that Xet couldn’t help but chuckle. Osso was pleased by the reaction.
“And you’ll let me take these to my lake?”
“Yes. I would like you to preserve them through this winter while I stay in town. Then, come spring, we can resettle somewhere more permanent. I was heading East.”
“Why resettle?”
“We can find a lake near the sea at a good enough distance from a town so that I don’t take too long to reach you but far enough that you won’t be bothered. A town where I can sell my product and buy whatever you need.” Xet was somewhat unsure and Osso picked up on it. He immediately corrected course. “But no need to worry so far ahead. I will be staying nearby so we can stay in contact rather easily. Let the wind carry us when the currents change. For now, just enjoy your plants.” This regained Xet’s attention.
“Choose the path when the river forks.” Xet confirmed.
Osso smiled and continued, “Think it over. I will come by in a few days to check your satisfaction as a customer. We can talk in more detail then.”
Xet thought it over for a few more moments. “Very well, citizen. I will take these goods to inspection. Come by in a few days for the results. I am sure everything will be in order.”
Awful, Osso thought, but he could not say that to his brand-new partner. He just nodded.
Xet picked up on it and changed his tone, “If I may ask, how did you know I was around and what I wanted?”
“You’re not as sneaky as you think, not with those scales. Especially when they are transitioning to another season. Watch out for that in the future. I thought you wanted to attack us at first, but I saw you were especially focused on my tent, it wasn’t hard to figure out what you wanted. I was trying to tempt you to go for my plants so I could spring this…”
“Trap.”
“Proposition.”
“Trap.”
“Fine, ‘trap’. I was afraid I made the bait too obvious, but you went for it,” He shrugged.
“Hm… I have another question. How do I know you won’t contact my family?”
“Oh Xet, of course I won’t. I could have alerted my ‘buddies’ of your presence. I can’t overpower you, but together we can. Easily. I know how poorly sea-wyrms manoeuvre on dry land. They would be on top of you before you reached water.”
“You could want all the reward for yourself,” Xet said without skipping a beat like he expected Osso’s answer.
“You’re sharp,” Osso answered, pleased. “I won’t insult your intelligence. There is no way for me to prove that isn’t the case. You will have to trust me.” Osso assumed a sober cadence. “If my word is worth anything, then I’ll tell you that I much prefer building something than getting a handout for ruining your life. I can see you are of a similar nature, leaving your family to build your own life.”
“Oh, it’s nothing so grand. I just don’t like appointments.” Xet rocked his head-frill from side to side, deep in contemplation. “Fine. I will go on my way. See you in a few days, Osso. I’ll be in the lake upstream.” Osso nodded in agreement.
Just as Xet was about to leave, Osso stopped him. “Remember that thing about not being sneaky? Let me make sure the others don’t see you. Then you can run to the river.” Osso began to walk out of the tent.
“How am I going to know you’ve distracted them?”
“You will, don’t worry.”
Xet was alone, and he stayed that way for a few minutes. He could hear the crowd outside being loud. Osso’s voice joined them eventually and, after waiting some more, one of the merchants loudly said, “Look over there! The bird is gonna eat it!” Followed by loud chants of approval and disgust. Xet figured that was the signal. He poked his head out of the tent and saw Osso on top of a branch showing off a massive chunk of bone. The whole crowd was staring at the bird’s theatrics.
For just a moment, Xet locked eyes with Osso. He saw the sharp, attentive expression. Then the fish clumsily slithered to the river, the crowd’s chants becoming more distant until Xet hopped into the water with a satisfying splash.