kawa~ inspiration #49
Apr. 29th, 2005 01:23 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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yrae
Title~ Catastrophy
Author~ Annarti
Disclaimer~ All mine
Notes~ kawa~ inspiration 49. Oh noes!!!!!!!!1111one Raykin is DOOM-ED!!!!!!!!111eleven
~ ~ ~
Mithé sipped thoughtfully at his beer as he read through the day’s documents. Most of the problems were easy enough to delegate to other people at court, but there was one that stood out. It wasn’t just a particularly large problem; this could almost be described as catastrophic, second only to drought.
Half the kingdom’s barley crops had been wiped out by fire, effectively halving the season’s beer supplies.
Mithé swilled his beer very consciously, swallowing his mouthful slowly and deliberately. “Aeia,” he whispered.
Alurié looked up from her own pile of documents, her face already showing dread. “What happened?”
Mithé silently passed the parchment over the table for her to read.
The young queen, barely two months in office, scanned her eyes over the words, her face slowly draining of colour. When she had finished, her eyes flicked to her own glass, near-empty. She took a deep breath and laid the parchment on the table, clasping her hands delicately on top.
“Well,” she said, trying to put on a brave smile, “At least it was only the costal crops. The mountain crops are undamaged.”
“We’re going to have riots,” Mithé predicted.
Alurié nodded silently. Evidently she knew that such an event would reflect badly on her rule, regardless of the fact that it wasn’t her fault. “How much is barley right now?”
“We’ve been selling it for 5 gold pieces per wagon, so they can’t be selling it for much more than that.” He leafed through his pages for the right one, then frowned. “Four gold pieces per wagon from Llayad, twelve from Kazin.”
“Twelve?” Alurié jumped to her feet like a coiled spring and rounded the table to check the numbers herself. Leaning over Mithé’s shoulders, she tapped at the offending kingdom. “They did it,” she spat, “And now they’re going to try and make us buy their.”
Mithé nodded in grim agreement. “And if we’re not careful they’ll burn the mountain crops too, and we’ll have nothing but what’s in the storehouses already.”
“We’ll be dry by Summer Solstice.”
“So it would appear.”
Alurié fell silent and crossed her arms over Mithé’s shoulders, resting her chin on her hands. After a few moments of silence she straitened abruptly, evidently having decided on the best course of action.
“Where’s the Own? They’re leaving today if we can manage it. There’s still a chance they can get to the mountain crops before the Kazinians do, right?”
Mithé sighed heavily, picking up his glass once more. “We can only hope.”
Author~ Annarti
Disclaimer~ All mine
Notes~ kawa~ inspiration 49. Oh noes!!!!!!!!1111one Raykin is DOOM-ED!!!!!!!!111eleven
Mithé sipped thoughtfully at his beer as he read through the day’s documents. Most of the problems were easy enough to delegate to other people at court, but there was one that stood out. It wasn’t just a particularly large problem; this could almost be described as catastrophic, second only to drought.
Half the kingdom’s barley crops had been wiped out by fire, effectively halving the season’s beer supplies.
Mithé swilled his beer very consciously, swallowing his mouthful slowly and deliberately. “Aeia,” he whispered.
Alurié looked up from her own pile of documents, her face already showing dread. “What happened?”
Mithé silently passed the parchment over the table for her to read.
The young queen, barely two months in office, scanned her eyes over the words, her face slowly draining of colour. When she had finished, her eyes flicked to her own glass, near-empty. She took a deep breath and laid the parchment on the table, clasping her hands delicately on top.
“Well,” she said, trying to put on a brave smile, “At least it was only the costal crops. The mountain crops are undamaged.”
“We’re going to have riots,” Mithé predicted.
Alurié nodded silently. Evidently she knew that such an event would reflect badly on her rule, regardless of the fact that it wasn’t her fault. “How much is barley right now?”
“We’ve been selling it for 5 gold pieces per wagon, so they can’t be selling it for much more than that.” He leafed through his pages for the right one, then frowned. “Four gold pieces per wagon from Llayad, twelve from Kazin.”
“Twelve?” Alurié jumped to her feet like a coiled spring and rounded the table to check the numbers herself. Leaning over Mithé’s shoulders, she tapped at the offending kingdom. “They did it,” she spat, “And now they’re going to try and make us buy their.”
Mithé nodded in grim agreement. “And if we’re not careful they’ll burn the mountain crops too, and we’ll have nothing but what’s in the storehouses already.”
“We’ll be dry by Summer Solstice.”
“So it would appear.”
Alurié fell silent and crossed her arms over Mithé’s shoulders, resting her chin on her hands. After a few moments of silence she straitened abruptly, evidently having decided on the best course of action.
“Where’s the Own? They’re leaving today if we can manage it. There’s still a chance they can get to the mountain crops before the Kazinians do, right?”
Mithé sighed heavily, picking up his glass once more. “We can only hope.”
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