Sunday, August 31, AF 726
At breakfast, Genie suddenly stretched and announced, "Mario and I will be leaving on a book-buying trip on Wednesday. We'll be gone for about two to two and a half months, depending on what we find and the weather."
Mario lifted his face just long enough to say, "It also depends on how much profit we make from what we've bought here and sell when we get to Venice. Whatever we get there will be about 90% of what we'll be spending on the books." After saying that, he devoted himself to his food. Being on the road so much in the past decade, he'd gotten in the habit of eating quickly. When traveling, missing meals due to sudden emergencies happened now and then, and Mario hated it when his food was cold.
"What will you be taking with you Mario?" asked Danica.
After he'd answered her, Danica stared at him, dumbfounded. "Ah, as you know, I'm newly arrived here and not well acquainted with business, so forgive me if my question is presumptuous. Would you please tell me how a merchant makes a profit when he pays 40% more here than he'll get when he sells in Venice?"
Mario froze, with his fork part-way to his mouth. "What did you just say?" Hurriedly he continued, "No, don't answer that. I heard you. What I mean is, why did you say it?"
"Well, Stavros took me to have tea at a cafe yesterday, and there were a couple of men who must have been traders at the next table. They were talking about all kinds of things, but, near the end, one of them said that they needed to 'unload' everything they had of that particular item you just mentioned 'before the bottom falls out of the market'. They said that an entire shipload of it had just arrived in Venice."
Before anyone else could respond, Stavros jumped into the conversation, "What? Wait a minute. What? How.... I couldn't understand anything they were saying. I don't even know what language they were speaking! Just how many languages do you know?"
Giggling at his stunned and exasperated expression, Danica answered, "I have no idea what language it was. Somehow, after listening for a few minutes, I just somehow started to understand them."
Frowning, she rested her chin on her hand and softly added, "You know. For the past couple of weeks, I've been picking up bits and pieces of a number of languages, more so in the past few days. I wonder why that is?"
Suddenly both Sara and Mimi let out a loud, "OH!"
Everyone else turned to look at whichever of them was closest, but all had an expression that clearly said, "Explain. Right now!"
Mimi gestured toward Sara, and those watching her pivoted their heads in Sara's direction.
"Um... OK. Right." She whispered to herself, "That'll work," then continued loud enough for the others to hear her, "It's rather simple. Danica has been soaking in the bath for extended periods twice a day for several months. She's needed to do that because, if she doesn't, she still has quite a bit of pain in her legs at night. Mimi and I have both helped her with it."
Both Danica and Stavros suddenly showed great interest in their plates so as not to reveal their faces as Sara continued, "Given that Danica is still a teenager, and of an age for it to happen, the most likely thing is that, with the help of all the soaks, her ability has just manifested. My suspicion is that she's become a Resonant Linguist. The skill is rare but it's one I've seen mentioned in a list at the library. It's likely that she'll be able to understand, and eventually speak, any language she's exposed to for about half an hour. That's just an estimation, but it's probably close enough."
The looks directed at Danica were mostly astonished, except for Mario's. His was mostly thoughtful, with just a hint of greed. He needed to introduce her to Alicia and Aldus as soon as humanly possible.
"Ah, Danica. Since you're new here, why don't Genie and I take you to lunch at our favorite restaurant today, as soon as I get back from selling the materials in question. Besides lunch, there will be some friends there that we'd love to introduce you to."
Genie blinked twice, then understanding hit. "That's right. That's a great idea. I think that you'll enjoy the food and the company. How about it?"
Danica darted a quick glance at Stavros, who nodded slightly in response, after which she said, "That sounds like fun. We'll be glad to accompany you."
As everyone else's attention was directed toward the foot of the table, nobody besides Mimi saw Robert and Miranda turn to each other and nod. They both had ideas about how they could use Danica's talent, even though they realized that she'd be available only sporadically and for brief periods of time. They'd have to work around her schedule. Still, no matter how brief that time was, they figured that she'd be of immense help with certain matters.
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Danica thoroughly enjoyed herself. To begin with, it was a lovely day. She had rubbernecked the entire way during the carriage ride down the hill, asking Stavros to identify and/or explain everything she laid her eyes on, and lunch had been delicious. As she was excitedly still asking questions, she never noticed that Mario made a small gesture as Aldus passed by. Aldus almost hesitated for a moment, but decades of training kept him moving. The gesture Mario had made was in the private sign language of The Company. It meant, "Urgent that we speak as soon as possible."
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Shortly thereafter Alicia herself came to clear the table. As she bent unusually far forward to pick up one of the dishes Genie whispered in her ear, "She likes art."
After the table had been cleared, Alicia returned and spoke to Genie, "We've just acquired a lovely new landscape. Would you like to see it?"
Genie nodded enthusiastically, then turned to the others. "Would you like to come see it too?"
Danica nodded, after which Stavros, who was generally indifferent to paintings, agreed, not that he had much choice. Danica wasn't able to walk on her own yet. All four of them stood and followed Alicia to her office. When they arrived, they found that four chairs had been arranged opposite the two desks in the room. Aldus was casually leaning against his, with both his arms and legs crossed. He said not a word, but fixed Mario with a "get on with it" expression.
Once they'd heard Mario's explanation of Danica's ability, identical cunning expressions crossed Alicia's and Aldus' faces. As they were lost in their thoughts, Danica's words brought them crashing down to earth.
"Twenty percent."
Stunned expressions entered both their eyes. What was this girl saying?
"Isn't that the usual commission when a broker facilitates a deal between parties. Since I'll be be the one enabling you to fleece your targets more effectively, that seems to me to be a reasonable share of the profits."
Five people's chins hit the floor. Danica gently pushed Stavros' mouth shut then continued, "A girl needs to have some spending money after all, and I don't have any other source of income. I expect that, after my commission is invested back into your company, there should be enough for me to withdraw a reasonable amount now and then.
"Ten percent and no more!" exclaimed Aldus.
"Eighteen percent."
"Thirteen."
"Fifteen."
"Done," said Alicia.
Danica smiled and said, "For now, I'll have you invest 80% of my fee, and 80% of my share of the future profits, in your company. You can deposit the remaining 20% in the account I'll open tomorrow at Uncle Robert's Merchant's Bank with the advance you'll be paying me today."
After that, she held out her hand.
Before the astonished gazes of Genie, Mario, and Stavros, Aldus and Alicia both suddenly broke out in gales of laughter. Through it all, Danica sat unmoving, with her hand extended.
Once they had themselves under control, Aldus and Alicia exchanged a smile, after which Aldus walked behind his desk, sat down, opened a drawer, and was seen to be doing...something.
After a minute, he stood, approached Danica, and dropped a pouch in her hand. "There's 100 ducats in there."
Turning to Mario he said, "Since you indicated the matter was urgent, I presume that this advance is appropriate." He smiled, wolfishly, and continued, "It better be."
Mario flinched, then stood. "Yes Master, it is." He then explained what Danica had told him at breakfast. After hearing it, Alicia scurried out the door. She had some urgent sales to make, as she'd also accumulated a moderate store of the product under discussion.
Aldus nodded again, and said to Danica, "Depending on our success in arranging the purchase of another product..." He bowed slightly, "with your help if necessary...we'll begin the deposits you've requested. Now, if there's nothing else today, I have some other matters to deal with and..."
He was interrupted by Danica, "The contract."
Seeing her expression, Aldus laughed. "Test passed with a 100% score."
"I wish a certain apprentice of mine had been so astute in his early years..." He glared at Mario, after which he returned to his desk and was seen to be writing for several minutes. He carried two papers to Danica and said, "For your approval."
She read it carefully, noting that he had not only included her family name, but he'd spelled it correctly. She'd definitely hitched her wagon to the right mule. She smiled to herself, wondering how Aldus would respond if she said that out loud. Then she nodded and signed both copies with the quill he provided, right below his signature.
Turning to Mario and Genie, she smiled and said, "Thank you so much. It has been a most interesting day. Is there somewhere else you'd like to go, or should we go home now?"
Mario mumbled, "Ah, no, I don't think so. Do you have anywhere you need to go Genie?"
She was at least as shocked by what had just happened as he was. "No... No, I don't think so. Let's go."
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On the way back up the hill Danica took Stavros' hand, smiled at him, and said, "It's about time for you to start learning Arabic."
"Huh. Why?" So as not to look entirely like a dunce he hurried to add, "Not that I mind. I like learning new languages, but why Arabic?"
"There are two reasons. One, It's the only one you don't know that I can teach you, and, two, when we're eavesdropping on people, won't it be more useful if they think that we're foreigners? That way, it's unlikely that they'll think that we're able to understand them when they try to hide what they're talking about by speaking something other than Italian.
"Other than that, the only disguise needed will be clothing."
She looked him up and down. "Yes. You should be able to fit into some of my cousin's old clothes. If we're both dressed in what we wore in Soba, and speaking Arabic, it'll be easy to take you for a visitor rather than a resident. In addition, with your coloring, you could easily be someone from that part of Africa."
Genie and Mario exchanged a look and smiled. They did manage, just barely, not to express their glee by rubbing their hands together.
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During dinner that night, Danica suddenly asked, "Uncle Robert, may I have your assistance after dinner tonight...for just a few minutes, please? I need some advice about something."
The children rarely asked for his help any more, so Robert happily agreed.
Once Stavros had helped her to Robert's office, and had closed the door, Robert asked, "How may I be of assistance?"
"Uncle Robert, I've signed a contract with someone today, and, though I'm sure it's OK, I'd like your opinion. Should I insist on any changes in the wording? If there should be, it can still be changed, as long as I do it by tomorrow afternoon."
"Of course dear. I'll be glad to review it. Bring it here Stav."
Stavros took the contract from Danica and handed it to his father. After staring intently at it for several minutes, he looked up and smiled broadly. "No. No changes are necessary. Also, I thank you for your confidence in my bank.
"I presume that, at least for now, this matter between you is confidential?"
Danica nodded, he nodded back, then both of them smiled. Stavros was somewhat taken aback. Why did both of them suddenly look like sharks? His next thought washed the former out of his mind. If she was already like this at 15, what would she be like when she was his mother's age?
Right then he decided that he'd, somehow, have to find an extra hour a day to work on his studies. If he didn't truly focus, by the time they were married she'd be so far ahead of him that, even if he sprinted for the rest of his life, he'd never catch up with her. Surprisingly, he discovered that he wasn't at all upset by the idea. He hated being bored, and he realized that now he'd likely never be bored again for as long as he lived.