by Varian Morn
“It only takes fifty or so years, Jamthi,” I reminded him.
“Hm. So I've heard,” he said.
Looking up to the sun above, I noticed the severe lack of clouds. Not even a tiny one. The sky was clear.
A place like this probably only got rain a few times a year, at best.
And there were no major rivers anywhere near here... We had circled the city a few times on approach, and while waiting for Yevin's return from his greeting. There not only wasn't a river around here, there wasn't a lake or an oasis either.
Which meant their only water most likely came from magic or an underground reservoir.
Neither lasted long.
“Let's go and prepare then. We can expect to start trading immediately, if they're this desperate,” I said, returning to the Front-Line.
“That confident?” Jamthi asked.
“For an optimist you're being rather pessimistic,” I said.
“Just seems... odd. Didn't you notice their attire? They were covered in gold and jewels,” Jamthi said.
“Probably to show they were wealthy enough to trade,” a nearby guard said.
“Why would a Line abandon such a wealthy trading partner then?” Jamthi questioned.
I smiled at his question, since I was surprisingly able to answer that question.
Or at least, a madman's journal could.
Not that I could tell anyone else that... since after all, they'd all end up thinking I was mad too if I did.
And I didn’t need my own people thinking I was more mad than I already were.
Chapter Seven – Silence in the House of Derri
The House of Derri was in a strange state.
It was fuller than it's been in years... yet quieter.
Considering it was usually as quiet as a desert mouse, this was an odd thing.
“Telleya?”
Hearing my name, I put the small bundle of necklaces back into the box and exited the room.
“Here,” I said, and saw Marli farther down the hall. She heard me, and with a big smile ran to me.
“What're you doing?” she asked with a little too much excitement. Maybe she had been given permission to help me, and was free of her normal chores.
“We're all on call, so... really nothing. I was helping Lindali and the rest clean out this storeroom but we finished awhile ago,” I said.
“Oh... Anything cool in here?” she asked as she entered the room.
“Just the normal stuff. Boxes full of stuff we can't eat or drink,” I said.
“I'm told the rest of the storehouses are the same. Not just ours either,” she said.
“Huh?”
Marli nodded as she propped open one of the wooden crates and covered her mouth as the dust rose. “Yep. Even some of the wealthier houses I guess don't have much,” her muffled voice said.
For a long moment I pondered that. It made sense after all... even though we were suffering horribly, that didn't mean no one else wasn't. Even Bormor's house, the wealthiest, most likely was still lacking in certain goods and resources.
“The meeting is soon. All of the elders are waiting. It's too bad we were ordered to be on standby; otherwise we could go see the Linesmen. Guess they dress kind of weird,” Marli said.
“There aren't enough of us to do stuff like that anymore,” I said.
“I know,” she said softly as she picked up a small statue. It was of some kind of animal that was long forgotten.
Outside of the room, far down the hall, I heard the sound of voices. People were in a heated discussion, and I chose to ignore it.
I wasn't in the mood to get yelled at or listen to grown men whine over their lack of wealth.
It's not like we were any poorer than we were before the Line showed up... nor was it like we could actually do anything about it.
“Telleya, I was talking to the rest. Everyone is trying to go over all the old stories and legends, about the Lines,” Marli said.
“There are many. I'm sure you've heard most of them by now though,” I said.
“Probably. I guess... though only Helen said it, but I guess they want people sometimes?” Marli asked, tilting the small statue in her hands without paying attention to it.
“So I've heard. They need people to work on the Lines or something... or maybe for goods, too,” I said.
“Yeah... you think that might happen to us?” she asked.
“What? Get sold? Maybe, but I doubt it. Our house doesn't have enough of us to spare, not even for wealth,” I said.
After all, there's no point in wealth if there wasn't anyone around to use it.
“True... I don't really know what else we can trade though. What would they want, after all...? These things?” she asked, in doubt of her own thoughts.
“There was a time they were worth something... though that was before you and I were born,” I said.
“Yeah, and now they only collect sand,” she said as she tossed the statue back into the box. It clanged as it fell, and I wondered if it broke anything.
Not that it mattered much... half of the stuff in here was broken, one way or another.
It's what happened when useless junk got thrown around for decades.
“The Elders will want seeds or catalysts. But who knows if we'll get any,” I said.
“I bet there's way more to get though... I mean think about it Telleya, they've been all over the world! Who knows what they have in that machine!” she said, hopping away from the box and towards me.
Watching her hop around in excitement, I felt somewhat bad. She was going to be horribly disappointed when that thing finally left... and found that she'd never get to see or enjoy anything that is gotten from it.
Even if the House of Derri somehow negotiated for something... no matter what it were, the odds of Marli or me getting to enjoy it or even getting to see it was...
“I bet there're loads of unique things,” I said, choosing to let her enjoy this moment. Better to enjoy it while lasted after all, like food or a bath.
“Surely! Clothes, food maybe even... Wonder if there're animals? What kind of strange creatures could there be?” she asked, not really searching for an answer.
“At this point I'd be willing to see any animal, even a rat,” I said.
“I know right!”
While Marli danced, lost in her fantasies, I wondered just how much of her fantasies were real.
They most likely indeed possessed such things... even animals. If anything at least for sustenance.
It would be neat to see a large animal again... I couldn't even remember the last one. I vaguely remember there being herds of such creatures not just within our city walls, but beyond them... but for some reason I couldn't quite picture them in my head.
I did remember the war that came from the slaughter of them, however. The houses who had claimed ownership of them had not been happy to find their food being hunted and stolen by other houses.
Many people died.
As I remembered such a thing, I wondered if that was what the Line would bring us.
Not food, or seeds, or wealth. Not a saving miracle, but instead...
If only a few houses got to trade... would the other houses simply stand by and allow it?
No house was strong enough to fight the rest alone. Even two or three would be unable to do so.
After all, not all were like us. Most still had people... still had some semblance of stability.
This city of sand may very well become stained red then, if it wasn't done properly.
“Huh?” Marli asked.
“Huh what?” I asked back, but found her to be looking at me with confusion. She had thought I had said something.
Before I could tell her I hadn't, someone ran past the room at a brisk pace.
The hurried footsteps startled the two of us, enough so that Marli had retreated a few paces to hide behind some boxes.
Although I too wasn't in a hurry to be seen by someone causing such a ru
ckus, since it undoubtedly didn't mean anything good... I still stuck my head out of the room to see what was going on.
Far down the hall already, I watched as a well dressed man headed deeper into the building.
A man not dressed in the attire of the House of Derri.
“What is it Telleya?” Marli asked, still hiding within the room.
“I'm not sure...”
“Let's leave it be. The way the city is now, who knows what it could be,” she said with a harsh whisper.
Glancing to the young girl who found a new box to dedicate her attention to, I hated how quickly she had gone from a jubilant child full of excitement to a terrified young girl.
Such was to be expected in the House of Derri.
“I'll go check... I'll let you know,” I said.
“But Telleya...”
“It'll be fine. What's the worst that can happen?”
Her face told me, and I feigned a smile in return.
Leaving her behind, I followed the commotion.
It was odd how loud they were being, especially since I couldn't hear the sounds of battle or heated tensions...
Normally such loud voices were accompanied by the sound of screams or metal clashing, at least in the last few years.
“We need to hurry!” someone shouted, and I increased my pace.
Like Marli, I didn't wish to incur someone's wrath or anger... but at the same time, I didn't want to have that anger simply postponed. If they were looking for me, or one of the healers, then...
Rounding a corner, I came up to a few of the female workers who were watching a group leave the House of Derri.
“What's going on?” I asked.
Only one of the women turned to look at me, and I noticed it was one of the elder's daughters. “We've been summoned! To the meeting with the Linesmen,” she happily declared.
A great wave of relief washed over me, and I noticed my heartbeat quickly calm itself.
So nothing horrible had happened...
At least not yet.
“We go, to bring honor to our house!” someone shouted, lifting a decorated staff high. I didn't recognize the staff, but it must have been important since it was in the hands of the eldest male.
“Honor!” some of the crowd shouted back, beyond excited.
“Why were we summoned?” I asked, but no one seemed to hear me as they all followed the elder and his group out of the main building.
I chose not to follow, and instead watched as the several dozen people accompanied the Elder as far as they could. If not for orders, they most likely would have gone with them all the way to the meeting.
But of course, such a thing wasn't allowed. Only the elders of the houses, and their chosen guides were allowed.
Chances were only a few guards and handmaids were to accompany them.
“Such luck! Maybe the House of Derri will survive after all,” someone said, a little too loudly.
Normally such a phrase would have incurred someone's wrath... but not today. Not right now. Others only agreed, or chose to silently pray alongside them.
The sight of everyone having such happy faces, and speaking with such splendor and hope... made me sick to my stomach.
Turning away, I hurried back deeper into the main building, glad that everyone else was still at the entrance. No one would be able to see the emotions that I was undoubtedly failing at covering up.
No one else would be able to witness my distaste.
If anyone saw how... “Telleya?”
Looking up to the young girl, my heart sank as her worried expression studied my own.
“What happened?” she asked, most likely fearing something horrible had happened.
And she was right... at least, in part.
After all, a daughter of the House of Derri just saw my true feelings.
“Nothing. Our House had been summoned to the meeting with the Line, so the Elders and the rest left,” I told her, unable to be anything but honest to her.
“Then...” she stepped around me to look down the hall behind me, as if in search for the cause of my expression.
She went silent when she found nothing, and most likely comprehended that my distasteful and unsuitable look had not been appropriate.
Marli was most likely too young to truly understand, but that didn't mean she couldn't at least comprehend that much.
“Telleya...” she whispered, but I only shook my head.
“Depending on what happens we'll be needed. Though the meeting may last awhile,” I said softly, walking past her.
Marli said nothing, and her silent gaze felt heavy on my back as I headed for the small healer buildings farther in the Derri household.
Leaving the young girl behind, the usual silence of the House of Derri returned, as if it had never left.
Now though, a new sound accompanied it.
The sound of failure.
My own.
Chapter Eight – A Grain of Sand for a Grain of Wheat
I had expected this, but not to this level.
“I don't understand! You'll trade with us, yet wish to meet the Derri personally?” the old man asked with a loud voice.
“And I don't quite understand your complaints...” I said in return, albeit not as loudly.
“The House of Derri is not wealthy!” the only woman in the group said.
“As you've said... but this is not a matter of wealth,” I tried to reason.
“Then what is it! Why the Derri?” another man asked.
For a moment I sat in silence, staring at the six whom although were sitting, were not doing so quietly.
Each one of them were heated, almost as if I had walked in and stepped on their toes or had made some kind of outrageous demand...
No, maybe I did. Just because to me it wasn't that political or strange, to them it might be... there were rather strange customs in the world, especially in such places as these.
“Please, calm yourselves. We are here to bring about a peaceful trade between our peoples, not to become enemies,” I said.
Although I knew my words meant little to them, they still calmed them... after all, no matter how angry they became they weren't stupid.
They were the leaders of their perspective families, of their... houses. They knew better than to overstep.
“We apologize, Linesman. We mean no disrespect. However, you have to understand... the House of Derri is indeed one of the old houses, one of the great ones. But today it is broken, poor and weak... they no longer are worthy of being part of these negotiations,” a gray haired man said.
Although they had all introduced themselves, and their houses, thanks to them so quickly becoming agitated I had failed to properly memorize just who was represented who. Although I remembered a few, like the old woman who I had first met.
“Have we not already started such negotiations? And part of my condition was to speak to those of the House of Derri... I fail to see where the problem is,” I said.
“A condition we have no choice but to accept, thanks to our personal predicaments. Yet we have a right to know why,” the elder woman from the House of Hombil said.
“Indeed you do. And I have already said so. I am here to meet the family of a very old friend,” I explained.
“Who was this friend?” another asked.
It was my turn to shift in my seat, as if agitated... but I was far from it. Instead, I became antsy as I tried to formulate a proper response to their question. “Just a man who I knew. I'm afraid I am bound by certain agreements and cannot reveal much until...”
“So you admit to having a deal with the House of Derri, even before you came before us!” an older man shouted, standing from his seat.
The outburst wasn't only a shock to myself, but even his fellow house heads. The grey haired man who sat next to him stood as well, but not to join him in his outburst but to grab his arm and try and calm him.
“Please do not cause a dispute!” another elder shouted, the
one closest to me sitting to my right.
Glancing to Yevin, I noticed the way his cold eyes lingered on the nearby guards, and not on the elders causing a ruckus.
I sighed a little, and while the representatives shouted amongst themselves, I sat back and collected my thoughts. They said they had summoned the House of Derri... so it wasn't as if they were going to forcefully impede me from meeting them... but yet they acted as if this was an insult they wouldn't allow.
It was odd, since I had already agreed to do trade with all of them... after all, why wouldn't I?
Although I was here because of an old promise, I also had duties. As the owner and commander of the Front-Line, my first and foremost duty was to those who lived and worked upon it.
That meant making money, and relations.
The room we were in was large, but felt small thanks to the numerous chairs and decorations. Not only were there many rugs, and lots of furniture, making the room feel cramped and without much open space... there were dozens of ceiling fixtures hanging from the tall ceiling as well.
It made me feel like I was sitting in one of the confined areas on the Front-Line, rather than in the middle of a huge pavilion surrounded by open space.
While glancing around, I noticed one of the guards nearby had been staring at me.
Like the other guards, he was fully outfitted in armor. Not just any armor either. Each piece looked artisan detailed, covered in jewels and gems.
Although the gear looked beautiful, it didn't look like it was useful or comfortable. They looked for show more than anything.
The sun had set a little while ago, yet the heat still remained. The poor man probably was as hot as he looked.
He was close enough for me to smile and nod. “Don't you feel hot in all that?” I asked him.
Instead of answering me, he hurriedly looked away and put on a stoic mask.
I shrugged, and returned my attention to the elders who were now all standing. They had formed a little group a little ways away, and were trying their best to whisper with one another... at least, maybe they were trying. Their voices could be heard by everyone, and by now I had gotten a good idea of their problems.