kawa~ inspiration #78
Feb. 16th, 2006 02:39 am![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
annarti.livejournal.com posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
yrae
Title~ Problem Solvers
Author~ Annarti
Disclaimer~ Still mine
Notes~ kawa~ 78. I dunno if it's the same the world over or whether it's an Aussie thing, but "solving the world's problems" is basically a synonym for "going to the pub." I've always loved that term, especially since my bois actually do X3
~ ~ ~
Melraan flipped three empty beer glasses upside down and arranged them on the table, then fished out a handful of nuts from the bowl. “Right, there are your mountains, which are more like big hills really, with south being towards you. The border stream basically runs through them.” He traced his finger through the upturned beer-glasses.
Nol nodded to show he understood.
Melraan stuck one of the nuts next to the “southern-most” glass. “That’s Ni-Nuka, just around from the mountain, about an hour back from the river. In the valleys up here, and right along the river, there are four other Kazinian villages.” He nestled the respective nuts amongst the glasses, then ate the leftovers, except one which he dropped on the other side of the glass representing Ni-Nuka’s mountain.
“That’ll be Ni-Reska?” Nol guessed.
The swordie nodded and dusted off his hands. “They’re on our side of the river, but for all intents and purposes they’re Kazinian. So that’s five out of the six villages there that are Kazinian, and once every year or two, whoever the Sissillyan queen is at the time decides she wants Ni-Nuka, so she sends fifty or so army guys down there to see if they can overrun the place and claim it for Sissillya.” He glanced up above Nol’s head, indicating the prince should follow his gaze.
Nol turned, slinging one arm over the back of his chair to face a rather disgruntled middle-aged woman.
“Highness,” she began, her voice and stance clearly showing she was about to begin an argument she wasn’t going to lose, “What is being done about my husband and son? I was told everything possible was being done for them, but I’ve not heard a word from you people in a week! Honestly, I told you of this matter two weeks ago, and all I’ve seen happen is paperwork, paperwork and more paperwork! Are you actually doing anything to help them at all, or do I take this matter to—”
The prince shook his head and held up his hands defensively. “Hang on, what? What have I—What am I being accused of now?”
“My husband and son,” the woman repeated, hands on hips, “They’ve been arrested in Kazin for smuggling, and I find you sitting here drinking.” She gestured in annoyance at the upturned glasses and apparently randomly scattered nuts on the table.
“Battle tactics,” Nol corrected her, “We’ve got a mission tomorrow.”
“Stop skirting the issue! What are you doing about my husband and my son?”
Nolryn sighed heavily. He hated these kinds of people, intent on blaming someone else for their own problems, and inevitably laying it on the royals. “My guess is nothing,” he informed her calmly.
The woman was fuming now. “Why not?”
“If they were caught smuggling, don’t you think that’s their problem?”
“But they weren’t smuggling! My husband is an honest man. He would never smuggle anything, in Raykin or in Kazin.”
“Well apparently he has.”
“Do you know what the penalty is for smuggling over there?” She drew out a piece of parchment and slapped it on the table for Nolryn to read. “They take away everything he had in his possession at the time, including our camels, and they—”
“They throw him in the dungeons for ten years, yes I know.” He reluctantly ran his eyes over the parchment. Most of it was in Kazinian, except for the short paragraph at the beginning telling her they’d been caught smuggling, and this was their punishment. Nol’s eyebrows slowly rose as he read through the Kazinian script.
“That’s tax evasion,” he mumbled to himself, flipping the sheet over to see if there was more to it.
Melraan drew a sharp breath through his teeth.
“What?”
Nol frowned at her lack of respect, but ignored that for the moment. “Tax evasion,” he repeated, “The Raykinian at the top has nothing to do with it. They’re traders, right?”
The woman nodded, her anger slowly changing to confusion. “Primarily jewellery,” she clarified. “Why? What does it say?”
Nol sighed again. It was always the jewellery traders. All traders knew the penalty for tax evasion, but there were always a select, stupid few who figured they could cheat the system.
“They’re traders, and they tried to skirt around the House of Small Donations. Tax evasion is considerably more serious business than smuggling. For some reason they thought it would be cute to tell you they’d just been smuggling, keep you off their backs for ten years, by which time you’re supposed to have forgotten about it, I guess.”
“What’s going on?” She tried to hide the fear in her voice with anger, but Nol wasn’t fooled.
“They’ll be serving life sentences in the Assiraz dungeons, unless you pay a good sum to get them out.”
“How much?”
“Ten gold pieces for every copper they evaded.” He scanned the Kazinian script again for the exact number. “Three thousand two hundred in total.”
“I don’t have that kind of money! Isn’t there some other way?”
Nol shook his head and handed the parchment back to her. “Kazinians only listen to money. That or steel.”
“Can’t your people do something about it?”
“As I explained before; it’s their fault, so it’s their problem.”
“And now it’s mine!”
“And it’s most definitely not mine,” Nol told her sternly, in that not-to-be-argued-with tone that the Own had come to call his “princely” tone. “They knew the risks when they took the chance. It’s their own fault.” He fixed a severe glare on her, daring her to argue.
The woman’s eyes narrowed and her mouth set in a thin, hard line. “You’ll be hearing from me again before the week is out, Highness,” she threatened, then turned on her heel and strode off.
Nol cocked an eyebrow, then shrugged and turned back to the upturned glasses and assortment of nuts.
“Are any of them on black horses?”
“Huh?” Melraan blinked and looked back at the crude map on the table. “Oh, no, dark as Fleet at best. How do you do that?”
“Do what?”
“Go from battle tactics to politics and straight back again, and still know what you’re talking about.”
The prince shrugged. “That was easy enough to deal with, just basic procedure and translation for the most part. It’s the Kazinian queens where it gets frustrating.”
Melraan shook his head. “I’m glad you’re prince and not me.”
Nol smiled cynically. “Anyway, back to Ni-Nuka… What’s the population of the place? It’s a few hundred, isn’t it?”
“Three-fifty, I think.”
“See, if we took a couple of swordies and archers from maybe Forth Company up there, they could just teach the lot of them how to fight, and we wouldn’t have to worry about the place anymore.”
“Have you suggested it to Majesty yet?”
Nolryn shook his head. “He’s been busy with Llayans all week, and my bet is he’ll be busy with them at least until we get back. Llayans are like that. I’ll bring it up as soon as I’ve got the chance though.”
Melraan folded his arms and stared at the nuts and glasses. “What in Lin’s sweet name is the significance of this place, anyway? It’s only three hundred and fifty people at most. Why is it so important that we keep this place Raykinian?”
The prince grinned and snatched another two empty glasses from the end of the table. “You’re forgetting a couple of vital things about this place, my friend.” He turned the glasses upside down and set then down on the southern side of the river, next to the nut representing Ni-Nuka. “Those two mountains there?” he said, tapping the bases of the glasses with his index fingers, “Covered in barley.”
The swordie grinned wryly. “Suddenly it all makes sense.”
Author~ Annarti
Disclaimer~ Still mine
Notes~ kawa~ 78. I dunno if it's the same the world over or whether it's an Aussie thing, but "solving the world's problems" is basically a synonym for "going to the pub." I've always loved that term, especially since my bois actually do X3
Melraan flipped three empty beer glasses upside down and arranged them on the table, then fished out a handful of nuts from the bowl. “Right, there are your mountains, which are more like big hills really, with south being towards you. The border stream basically runs through them.” He traced his finger through the upturned beer-glasses.
Nol nodded to show he understood.
Melraan stuck one of the nuts next to the “southern-most” glass. “That’s Ni-Nuka, just around from the mountain, about an hour back from the river. In the valleys up here, and right along the river, there are four other Kazinian villages.” He nestled the respective nuts amongst the glasses, then ate the leftovers, except one which he dropped on the other side of the glass representing Ni-Nuka’s mountain.
“That’ll be Ni-Reska?” Nol guessed.
The swordie nodded and dusted off his hands. “They’re on our side of the river, but for all intents and purposes they’re Kazinian. So that’s five out of the six villages there that are Kazinian, and once every year or two, whoever the Sissillyan queen is at the time decides she wants Ni-Nuka, so she sends fifty or so army guys down there to see if they can overrun the place and claim it for Sissillya.” He glanced up above Nol’s head, indicating the prince should follow his gaze.
Nol turned, slinging one arm over the back of his chair to face a rather disgruntled middle-aged woman.
“Highness,” she began, her voice and stance clearly showing she was about to begin an argument she wasn’t going to lose, “What is being done about my husband and son? I was told everything possible was being done for them, but I’ve not heard a word from you people in a week! Honestly, I told you of this matter two weeks ago, and all I’ve seen happen is paperwork, paperwork and more paperwork! Are you actually doing anything to help them at all, or do I take this matter to—”
The prince shook his head and held up his hands defensively. “Hang on, what? What have I—What am I being accused of now?”
“My husband and son,” the woman repeated, hands on hips, “They’ve been arrested in Kazin for smuggling, and I find you sitting here drinking.” She gestured in annoyance at the upturned glasses and apparently randomly scattered nuts on the table.
“Battle tactics,” Nol corrected her, “We’ve got a mission tomorrow.”
“Stop skirting the issue! What are you doing about my husband and my son?”
Nolryn sighed heavily. He hated these kinds of people, intent on blaming someone else for their own problems, and inevitably laying it on the royals. “My guess is nothing,” he informed her calmly.
The woman was fuming now. “Why not?”
“If they were caught smuggling, don’t you think that’s their problem?”
“But they weren’t smuggling! My husband is an honest man. He would never smuggle anything, in Raykin or in Kazin.”
“Well apparently he has.”
“Do you know what the penalty is for smuggling over there?” She drew out a piece of parchment and slapped it on the table for Nolryn to read. “They take away everything he had in his possession at the time, including our camels, and they—”
“They throw him in the dungeons for ten years, yes I know.” He reluctantly ran his eyes over the parchment. Most of it was in Kazinian, except for the short paragraph at the beginning telling her they’d been caught smuggling, and this was their punishment. Nol’s eyebrows slowly rose as he read through the Kazinian script.
“That’s tax evasion,” he mumbled to himself, flipping the sheet over to see if there was more to it.
Melraan drew a sharp breath through his teeth.
“What?”
Nol frowned at her lack of respect, but ignored that for the moment. “Tax evasion,” he repeated, “The Raykinian at the top has nothing to do with it. They’re traders, right?”
The woman nodded, her anger slowly changing to confusion. “Primarily jewellery,” she clarified. “Why? What does it say?”
Nol sighed again. It was always the jewellery traders. All traders knew the penalty for tax evasion, but there were always a select, stupid few who figured they could cheat the system.
“They’re traders, and they tried to skirt around the House of Small Donations. Tax evasion is considerably more serious business than smuggling. For some reason they thought it would be cute to tell you they’d just been smuggling, keep you off their backs for ten years, by which time you’re supposed to have forgotten about it, I guess.”
“What’s going on?” She tried to hide the fear in her voice with anger, but Nol wasn’t fooled.
“They’ll be serving life sentences in the Assiraz dungeons, unless you pay a good sum to get them out.”
“How much?”
“Ten gold pieces for every copper they evaded.” He scanned the Kazinian script again for the exact number. “Three thousand two hundred in total.”
“I don’t have that kind of money! Isn’t there some other way?”
Nol shook his head and handed the parchment back to her. “Kazinians only listen to money. That or steel.”
“Can’t your people do something about it?”
“As I explained before; it’s their fault, so it’s their problem.”
“And now it’s mine!”
“And it’s most definitely not mine,” Nol told her sternly, in that not-to-be-argued-with tone that the Own had come to call his “princely” tone. “They knew the risks when they took the chance. It’s their own fault.” He fixed a severe glare on her, daring her to argue.
The woman’s eyes narrowed and her mouth set in a thin, hard line. “You’ll be hearing from me again before the week is out, Highness,” she threatened, then turned on her heel and strode off.
Nol cocked an eyebrow, then shrugged and turned back to the upturned glasses and assortment of nuts.
“Are any of them on black horses?”
“Huh?” Melraan blinked and looked back at the crude map on the table. “Oh, no, dark as Fleet at best. How do you do that?”
“Do what?”
“Go from battle tactics to politics and straight back again, and still know what you’re talking about.”
The prince shrugged. “That was easy enough to deal with, just basic procedure and translation for the most part. It’s the Kazinian queens where it gets frustrating.”
Melraan shook his head. “I’m glad you’re prince and not me.”
Nol smiled cynically. “Anyway, back to Ni-Nuka… What’s the population of the place? It’s a few hundred, isn’t it?”
“Three-fifty, I think.”
“See, if we took a couple of swordies and archers from maybe Forth Company up there, they could just teach the lot of them how to fight, and we wouldn’t have to worry about the place anymore.”
“Have you suggested it to Majesty yet?”
Nolryn shook his head. “He’s been busy with Llayans all week, and my bet is he’ll be busy with them at least until we get back. Llayans are like that. I’ll bring it up as soon as I’ve got the chance though.”
Melraan folded his arms and stared at the nuts and glasses. “What in Lin’s sweet name is the significance of this place, anyway? It’s only three hundred and fifty people at most. Why is it so important that we keep this place Raykinian?”
The prince grinned and snatched another two empty glasses from the end of the table. “You’re forgetting a couple of vital things about this place, my friend.” He turned the glasses upside down and set then down on the southern side of the river, next to the nut representing Ni-Nuka. “Those two mountains there?” he said, tapping the bases of the glasses with his index fingers, “Covered in barley.”
The swordie grinned wryly. “Suddenly it all makes sense.”
no subject
Date: 2006-02-15 03:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-02-15 08:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-02-17 12:03 am (UTC)And if I ever hear that the Queen sits in a pub to talk shop with her ministers, I am SO switching my vote to Let Australia Stay a Constitutional Monarchy in the next referendum.
*ruffles Nol*
no subject
Date: 2006-02-17 12:14 am (UTC)