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A Thousand Year Voyage (Elden Ring-ASOIAF) by pemmil
A Song of Ice and Fire & Elden Ring Xover Rated: T, English, Humor & Adventure, Words: 203k+, Favs: 754, Follows: 951, Published: Jul 15, 2024 Updated: Sep 5
365Chapter 6: Market price of prawns
Trade, if one were to break it down, was the art of exchanging an unneeded thing for a needed one. Therefore, in order to be successful, it was necessary to have knowledge of what you yourself needed, what the other party needed, and also what the people to whom you planned to sell the obtained goods later would need.
For this to be possible, the trader had to have knowledge of both his own and distant countries, their customs, languages and products. He or she also had to display a talent in the art of negotiation and be familiar with commercial etiquette, crucial in building relationships with local and foreign rulers and merchants.
The requirement to cultivate such skills naturally led to the rise of a number of powerful merchant families in the Seven Kingdoms, some of them more influential and wealthy than many noble houses. The most powerful of these families, while active across the entire realm and beyond, were of course based in Oldtown, the merchant capital of Westeros. It was there that young men were trained by their fathers to be merchants, and young girls were married off to promising merchants, a web of connections and interdependence between merchant families almost equal in scale and influence to the political arena of the Seven Kingdoms nobility.
And it was these merchant families, these ambitious young men chasing riches, beautiful girls seeking marriage candidates and experienced old men seeking to increase their family's prestige, that were now gathering in the marketplace sprawled outside Oldtown to, after initial reluctance, finally determine what wonders the visitors from across the sea would bring to the city and, more importantly, to them.
Though it took some time for the merchants to bring themselves to visit the establishment, the prospect of trading with crystal monsters and giants quite repulsive to a Westeros resident unaccustomed to such wonders, the traders by their very nature were nothing but adaptive. Thus, the initial fear and disgust towards the monstrous merchants and their unfamiliar wares quickly passed, replaced by a lust for profit and greed, the driving force behind trade.
So despite the initial emptiness, the first few weeks since the ship's arrival proved to be a whirlwind of activity for the arriving merchants, traders from Oldtown and beyond, as well as the first agents sent by the curious noble families of the Reach and the rest of the Seven Kingdoms, quickly populated the makeshift marketplace that had been prepared for them.
The unexpected scale of interest forced the ship's merchants to expand the marketplace, the unparalleled skills of the newcomers turning the place into almost a new quarter of Oldtown after less than two weeks. Stone buildings, serving as both shops and restaurants, covered almost the entire space granted to outsiders, while the rest of the space served to provide entertainment for visitors. Occasionally, marble fountains or statues of unknown creatures and heroes could be seen dotted around the area, whilst one could pass the time listening to music played on trumpets by strange musicians dressed in bizarre, white clothing, or watching various stories from the Lands Between being re-enacted on purpose-built stages, equally fascinating and incomprehensible to the local merchants. Meanwhile, the scent of perfume and flowers sold by men and women dressed in white cloth masks lingered in the air, giving the whole area an exotic feel and causing the market to quickly become known as the Perfume Quarter by incoming traders.
Almost everything could be found on display, from unknown animal species to exotic weapons and armour, lifted vividly from tales of faraway lands. It was clear, however, that the goods sold by the traders were only a fraction of what they possessed, the newcomers quite reluctant to share with the more dangerous and rare commodities. However, for the time being, this did not bother the local traders, who were already overwhelmed by the quality and number of goods offered.
What was particularly interesting about the Perfume Quarter was that traders from 'The Lands Between' or 'Inbetweeners' as they came to be called among the local population, seemed to prefer barter. This was understandable to an extent, given that they were coming from a previously unknown land for which the currency prevailing in the Seven Kingdoms was unfamiliar and arguably without value, but given the efforts that had been made by the newcomers to establish trade relations, the aversion to the local currency, which would clearly be useful in further trade relations with Westeros, was quite puzzling.
It was important to note, however, that this attitude was originally received positively by the local merchants. After all, they did not have to spend a fortune to obtain goods previously unknown to them, instead handing over to newcomers goods that were abundant in Westeros but not found in 'the Lands Between'.
Or at least that is what they thought at first. However, a certain problem soon came to light. It turned out that the goods offered by the inbetweeners were often, to put it mildly, too valuable and sophisticated for the Westerosi merchants to offer something of equal value in return.
Significantly, this was purely their own perspective, and the inbetweeners were far more willing to accept Westerosi commodities than the local merchants could have expected. The local merchants didn't realise this yet, however, which made it not uncommon to see Westerosi merchants handing over entire fortunes in exchange for, from the inbetweeners' perspective, hardly valuable items of everyday use.
This situation had no right to continue, of course, merchants being too intelligent and eager for profit not to catch the dissonance of value soon, but for the moment this unfavourable equilibrium continued, and Westerosi merchants suffered unnecessary losses in their trade with the newcomers from beyond the sea.
One such trader was Allard, a member of one of Oldtown's most important merchant families, sent to investigate this previously untouched market, who was now eyeing never-before-seen goods under the watchful eye of a Wisdom of the Moon trader sitting in front of him, a headache, caused by the nature of the goods, forming at the back of the man's head.
Allard was a member of the well-known and respected Medicio family, which, despite its commoner nature, exerted great influence over Oldtown politics due to its significant participation in the trade of goods imported into the city and, by extension, the entire realm. The Medicio family was responsible for bringing all sorts of luxury goods to Westeros, such as Myrish glass, Summer Isles' bloodwood and cinnamon or even silk and spices from beyond the Jade sea. Yes, the Medicio family had its fingers in most markets, making even the great families of the Reach have to reckon with its influence. It was this family, sniffing out the possibility of gaining a potential monopoly on goods imported from the Lands Between, that sent Allard Medicio, one of the family's rising stars, to verify the economic potential of the newcomers and to acquire samples of goods offered by the Inbetweeners.
This was an extremely important mission, which is why the identity of the merchant with whom Allard now planned to trade may have seemed strange. According to the man's findings, the merchant before him was one of the most important traders among the Wisdom of the Moon residents, though it would have been impossible to suspect him of this given his appearance.
Kalé, for that was the name of said merchant, was a tall man, perhaps even too tall, his figure remarkably lean and his limbs unnaturally long. He was dressed in a fascinating array of clothing, wealth seamlessly intermingled with poverty, making it difficult to determine the merchant's true status. For on one hand, it was apparent that the clothes worn by the man must have once been extremely valuable, with his soft, red and white cloak, as well as his red cap and vest decorated with precious stones, but the clothes were visibly worn, giving the impression of past, bygone glory. In addition, Kalé wore tattered brown pants, clearly ravaged by the elements and the passage of time.
The man held in his hands an unfamiliar stringed instrument, similar to a lute or a fiddle, but much longer than either of them, with a curious contraption of unknown use protruding from its end. The music coming from the unusual instrument, to the extent that Allard managed to hear it while approaching the trader's stand, was exceedingly soothing, almost sleep-inducing, though it was difficult to judge whether this was due to the instrument or the melody itself. Interestingly, a donkey, the size of which rivalled a battle steed, could be seen beside the man, carrying unlaid goods on its back. Allard doubted the rationale behind the animal's use, given the merchandise-filled building they were in and the proximity of the ship they came from, but he certainly wasn't inclined to point that out to the newly met trader.
All these inconsistencies and oddities made it difficult for Allard to attribute the goods on display to Kalé, as they were clearly beyond anything to be found in Westeros and the rest of the civilized world. Indeed, the merchandise on display was hard to believe. Looking through the goods in the store, Allard came across, among other things, the so-called 'telescope', a device that allowed one to peer at one's surroundings from a great distance with far greater precision than even the Myrish Eye, while also allowing one to change the magnification. The rest of the store was just as absurd. The shelves around the store were filled with magical jars of alchemical use, unknown plants were growing from the pots on the floor and on the ceiling one could spot portable lanterns, glowing with a soft, warm light.
As it turned out, however, what stunned Allard the most was not the items he described, nor any of the weapons of unusual quality on display, but an inconspicuous yellow stone that Allard picked up while browsing the goods.
The stone, oblong and about the size of an apple, emanated a pleasant warmth in his hand, and its nature, explained to the man by Kalé, was perhaps the most absurd thing he had ever heard.
"Can you...Can you tell me again what this...product is called?" Allard asked uncertainly, not quite able to believe what he had just heard. In his life he had purchased the strangest goods from countless faraway lands, ranging from the Summer Isles to savage Sothoryos and even as far away as Yi Ti or shadowy Asshai, but this...
"It's a Warming stone." Kalé replied as if it was something obvious, his soft, gentle voice barely audible amidst the clamour coming from the outside of the building. The trader seemed unaware of the groundbreaking nature of the product Allard was holding, describing it as if he were describing the most ordinary piece of rock. "As I said before, this is a very useful item no matter where you find yourself. As you may have already sensed, in its natural form it warms the user and their immediate surroundings, about ten metres or so. Additionally, if the user infuses some of their mana into the stone, the Warming stone can also be used to heal anyone in the area of effect. I've heard this is due to the Erdtree rays enchanted into the stone, though I must admit I don't know if there is much truth to this, as I've always been more concerned with the effect itself."
"And...how long will such a stone work?" Allard asked in bewilderment, involuntarily clutching the aforementioned object in his hand. While he wasn't sure he believed in the supposed healing properties of the stone, having encountered too many traders from the east who tried to convince him of similar things by talking about 'positive vibrations' and 'wind and water', the mere fact that something so small could emit enough heat to warm not just one grown man, but an entire room, changed everything. He could feel the effect of the stone on his own skin and could already imagine its possible uses. Even if the heat only lasted for one night, the ways in which it could be used would be endless: squads of soldiers could carry such a stone while marching through the northern snows, great stone halls could be warmed during gatherings of rulers and nobles, smallfolk could work even on the coldest days...the possibilities were endless and so was the potential for profit.
"Ah...unfortunately the stone only works for thirty seconds." Replied Kalé with some sadness, for a moment burying Allard's hopes, but instead of stopping there, he completely swept away the man's expectations with his next words. "Fortunately, this only concerns the healing effect. As for the heat itself, the stone can last indefinitely, as long as it is not destroyed or consumed, of course. A very useful item, this stone."
At this moment a complete silence fell over the building, interrupted only by the occasional vendors' yells coming from the marketplace. Allard himself only stared dully at Kalé, the Inbetweener's words difficult for the Oldtown merchant to understand. Had...had this merchant just admitted that the inconspicuous stone in Allard's hand was an inexhaustible source of heat? Didn't this mean that the owner of this stone could simply...place the stone in some hard-to-reach place and heat the designated spot for centuries without worrying about the wear and tear of this priceless object or having to maintain the temperature provided by the stone in any way? It was... How could one even react to that?
"I am... I am willing to buy back all the Warming Stones you currently own! Price plays no role here!" Allard almost yelled when he finally realised the implications of the nature of the magic stone, hastily putting the stone back in its place and reaching for the pouch hanging from his trousers. Without waiting for Kalé's response, who was surprised by the man's sudden outburst, he spilled all sorts of coins onto the counter, from gold dragons to bronze stars to even Volantis honors or Lys Ovals. It was wealth known to few, a demonstration of the power of the Medicio family, but Allard was fully prepared to spend the fortune contained on the wooden tabletop, the potential of the product presented by the Inbetweener too great to worry about the price.
The riches offered by Allard did not seem to faze Kalé, however, which in hindsight should have been obvious, given the visiting traders' aversion to monetary transactions. The trader from beyond the sea merely reached for the Silver Stag on top of the pile of coins, lifting it to eye level and looking at it with suspicious gaze.
"I still don't really understand why the Oldtown traders insist on using these whole metal 'coins' to trade with us. At first I thought they were some sort of equivalent of Runes, remnants of Grace in solid form, but they're just plain clumps of various metals, shaped into a specific circular shape. The metals themselves aren't very valuable, nor are these coins overly pretty, so it can't be about artistic value...I just don't understand their use." Kalé replied after a short while, observing the coins with some interest, before turning to a stunned Allard. "Can you explain to me why these discs are used as your initial choice when it comes to trade? My merchant friends tried to figure it out, but their findings were...unbelievable."
"Because...these coins are a functioning currency in Westeros and the surrounding countries?" Allard replied slowly, not really knowing how else he could answer this, let's not be afraid of the word, stupid question. "You're not going to tell me that you don't have currency in these 'Lands Between' you come from, are you?"
"Of course we have. We use the previously mentioned Runes as currency." Kalé replied, this time his turn to be confused. He pulled something resembling a Golden Dragon from his pocket, though it differed from the coin by the lack of printing and the irregular distribution of gold on the object. "But as I also mentioned, the Runes are remnants of Grace in a solid form, so they are unique and thoroughly imbued with divine power, and thus impossible to counterfeit." At this point, Kalé lifted the Silver Stag higher, as if to make a point. "This, on the other hand, is a piece of ordinary metal that is not enchanted in any way. How can something like that be used as currency when anyone who wanted to could simply make more such coins? I mean, all I have to do is bring a lump of gold to the ship's blacksmith, and he will instantly create hundreds of such coins for me, won't he?"
"...What? it's not... counterfeiting coins is not that easy." Allard pointed out, seeing a flaw in the inbetweener's reasoning. "First of all, to make a reliable counterfeit you must already have a certain amount of the designated metal at the start, which usually means that you are rich enough anyway and don't need to counterfeit coins, especially when it comes to gold and silver. In addition, as you pointed out, it is necessary to be able to forge such coins and make them look genuine, which a large number of people simply can't do. And if you don't have the necessary materials and use alloys or substitutes, anyone competent in the field will be able to detect a forgery. All this means that counterfeiting coins is more difficult and rarer than you probably think."
"This is all true, of course, but can't you instead just pay a friendly sorcerer to transmute some useless stones into gold? Or even ask him to use a coin as a prototype and turn the stone into identical copies of that coin?" Kalé asked, his voice innocent despite the monstrous nature of what he had just said.
"...What?" Allard asked quietly, his voice barely reaching the inbetweener merchant, a terrible premonition suddenly gnawing at his heart.
"I simply don't understand the point of using ordinary, unenhanced materials as a currency system. All it would take is for me to find any reasonably competent sorcerer specialising in transmutation, and I could use the coin I hold to destroy your entire market by flooding it with fakes or buying up all the goods you possess." Kalé said in contemplation, while raising the coin he was holding to eye level, the Silver Stag glinting in the sunlight looming as a dire foreshadowing of the impending disaster awaiting Westeros.
"...Please...please give me my coin back." Allard replied quietly, his previously energetic voice full of unexpected desperation. However much he may have wanted to acquire the goods brought by the inbetweeners, he did not want to go down in history as the person responsible for the economic collapse of the Seven Kingdoms.
"Of course." Kalé replied smoothly and handed the coin back to the man without any hesitation. When he noticed Allard's pallor, his eyes softened. "You don't need to worry. Now that I understand what these coins are for, I will certainly talk to the other merchants to ensure that they won't accept them from local traders. I have a feeling that the whole situation could easily turn into something awful, and the last thing we want is to be persecuted again..."
"Again?" Allard asked in spite of himself, morbidly curious about the history behind that statement. For how could such rich merchants, belonging to such a powerful ship, be persecuted?
Hearing this question, however, Kalé merely waved his hand, as if trying to chase away an unpleasant memory.
"It's... a story most unpleasant and unworth remembering." He said in a low voice, the past pain clearly audible in his words. "Suffice it to say, before joining Lord Hadwyn, the history of the merchants of the Great Caravan was not very pleasant. I don't think we will be in any danger from you, especially given that we are under Lord Hadwyn's protection, but there is no point in provoking anyone. We'll stick with barter, which I'm sure will be better for everyone."
"It's actually quite a relief to hear that. After all, if..." Allard was just about to say something when his speech was interrupted by children's shouts, which were coming from some distance away and getting closer to the shop every moment. Turning their heads, Allard and Kalé saw a surprising sight, at least in Allard's opinion.
Unexpectedly, a small living jarl, at least compared to its larger cousins, ran past the shop. As with other members of its 'race', stone or ceramic limbs sprouted from its body, which the creature now used to run forward with childlike glee, raising its hands in the air and making excited shouts.
Moments later, a group of children, no more than ten, passed the shop, seemingly chasing after the strange creature. Interestingly, they did not seem to have bad intentions, especially given the smiles on their faces and their elated cries, so similar to those emitted by the jar. On closer inspection, it was clear that the children running past the shop were not from the newcomers' ship, as one would expect, but from Oldtown, the clothes they wore representing a veritable kaleidoscope of the city's social strata. Some wore expensive woollen clothes, appropriate for children of noble families, others wore the typical, average clothes available to the townspeople, and still others wore tattered rags typical of the urban poor.
"Slow down, Bairn!" The children shouted almost in unison, the difference in their social status and the unnatural environment they were now in appearing to not frighten but instead excite them, childlike adaptability and innocence serving as a powerful tool.
"Warrior Jar waits for no one!" Exclaimed the little jar in a surprisingly childlike voice, not stopping despite the children's pleas. "Unless it's for a Potentate...but we don't have one! I mean, Coz is in charge, but he doesn't have the right hands...eeeh, you know what I mean!"
The children most likely didn't know, although it didn't seem to bother them as they kept running after the jar, the whole group eventually disappearing from the eyes of the merchants after running into the nearest corner.
"...What was that?" Allard asked with some bewilderment, the sight being both beautiful and completely incomprehensible to him.
"Children," Kalé countered with a small shrug, his tone suggesting it made perfect sense to him.
And it actually sort of did make sense, but at the same time it very much didn't.
There was silence for a moment, but after a minute Kalé spoke up, snapping Allard out of his confusion.
"Well, in any case..." Kalé stated, once again gaining the Oldtown trader's attention. When he saw that Allard was listening to him, the man continued. "I won't accept your currency, of course, but I will gladly exchange the Warming Stones in my possession for something of equal value."
"And what would you like in return?" Asked Allard, almost afraid of what the Inbetweener merchant would indicate as equivalent value. After all, what could be considered equal to such a priceless commodity?
"Preferably something I don't have, I suppose." Kalé stated, before looking at Allard with a strange gleam in his eye that caused a hard-to-explain unease in the man. "What are you able to offer me?"
Ultimately, Allard promised to hand over a variety of goods in his possession in exchange for all the stones Kalé possessed. The inbetweener merchant himself did not make any offers towards the man, merely listening silently to Allard's proposals and emitting various grunts and hums after each offer made, a gesture perceived by the Oldtown merchant as a lack of interest which would lead to yet another escalation of the offer.
It all eventually ended with Allard, in exchange for ten Warming Stones, pledging to give Kalé their equivalent in the form of five sets of porcelain from Yi Ti, two pairs of silk robes from there, a pair of basilisks straight out of Basilisk Isles, several Norvos tapestries and even some slightly less than legally acquired Goldenheart wood from the Summer Isles.
It was a vast fortune, available to only a few in all of Westeros, so when Allard, on his way out of the shop, noticed his servants carrying said goods into the shop one by one, never to be seen again, the man wanted to cry. Rationally, of course, he knew that the stones he had acquired were worth more than many a kingdom, and if he travelled outside the Reach to sell them he would become ridiculously rich, it was still incredibly painful for him.
The fact that the inbetweener merchant had also thrown in a telescope as a bonus only added to his pain.
For in a single day he had stripped himself of almost all his possessions, some of the given goods almost impossible to replace, which was unthinkable for any competent merchant. True, he still had a lot of money, as well as his property in the city, but for a merchant, money was really rudimentary to the goods he could obtain with that money.
Allard really... really hoped that he had done the right thing by acquiring these stones.
After this bittersweet visit to Kalé's shop, Allard walked aimlessly around the market, looking at the amazing goods offered by the vendors there and cursing himself for not possessing anything suitable for exchange anymore. And as he walked along like this, bitter and depressed, at one point he came across a stall unlike any other.
While all the other traders were doing their best to lure potential customers with various displays of their wares and decorations on their shops, the stand in front of him, if it could even be called that, was the complete opposite.
In front of Allard, at some distance, sat a strange, tall man, who was dressed in tattered grey rags and wore an iron mask that almost completely covered his face. Next to him was a sizable pot of boiling water, filled to the brim with all sorts of seafood, ranging from prawns to crabs and crayfish. In truth, the only thing that at all suggested that the man in front of him was a merchant, and not just an ordinary...man cooking crabs in the middle of a market, was a simple wooden sign stuck into the ground next to the man simply saying "Seafood for sale".
"Oi, mate! I see you're interested in my beauties! Choose freely, at Boggart's you will find only the best!" Noticing Allard staring at him, the man called out in his direction, his voice closer to that of the average thug than a vendor from distant lands.
"...What exactly are you selling?" Allard asked suspiciously, looking at the creatures in the pot as if they were about to bite him. The man, Boggart as it turned out, threw him a look that made it clear what he thought of the question, but given the merchandise he had observed earlier and the incomprehensible nature of the newcomers, Allard preferred to be cautious.
"...Seafood. Isn't that obvious?" Replied the vendor in a flat voice, clearly bemused by Allard's question.
"...magical seafood?" Allard clarified, still unwilling to fully believe that in this incredible marketplace, where one could find goods straight out of a fairy tale and where monsters and giants walked among the people, some random slob was selling seafood like an ordinary fisherman after a catch.
"Marika's tits! Why would they be magical?!" Boggart shouted, clearly annoyed by the Oldtown merchant's questions. "Ordinary prawns and crabs! The only thing different from those found elsewhere is their juiciness and delicious taste! You want some or not? If not, scram, because you're scaring other customers away."
Allard turned around to confirm Boggart's words, but as it turned out he was the only person in the area, no other merchant or passer-by particularly interested in the weirdo's goods. Truth be told, Allard himself wasn't interested either, but he had been tasked with examining the goods offered by the Inbetweener merchants and getting samples for his family to evaluate...
...and in all likelihood he could not afford anything else in the Perfumer Quarter, all of the goods sold there temporarily out of his reach, making his only available option...
"...I do." Replied Allard weakly, his voice filled with sadness due to the realisation that the only thing he could probably afford was prawns sold by a shady guy at the far end of the market. "...How much for a bag of fresh prawns? And a handful of already boiled ones?"
"And what can you give me?" Boggart replied brashly. It was a good question. Allard had no more goods to barter, his father certainly wouldn't lend him anything else given his impulsive buying...
"...Three bags of apples?" Allard choked out, something inside him snapping as he, one of the rapidly advancing members of one of Oldtown's richest families, bargained with a random fisherman for a bag of prawns.
For a moment there was silence, but then Boggart smiled, the offer for some reason extremely exciting the masked seller.
"You got a deal, mate!" Boggart exclaimed, satisfaction, even victory, clearly audible in his voice.
And once Allard had handed over the apples brought by his servants and received the promised bag of prawns into his hand, he felt like crying.
In the end, he walked out of the Perfume Quarter with ten magic stones worth more than many a kingdom, an amazing device more accurate than the best Myrish Eye...and a bag of prawns.
Something was wrong with this picture, but Allard was too tired to care.
At this point he just wanted to go back to his house, drink every wine flagon he could find and go to bed, hoping that when he woke up the world would make sense again.
While the unlucky trader was cursing his life, a group of children, led by their newly acquired leader, a jar named Bairn, ran across the hills towards the meadow where, according to the information Bairn had obtained, he could find the person he was looking for.
This information turned out to be true, for as the group passed the last hill and ran into a meadow covered with a variety of flowers, an unexpected sight appeared before their eyes, seemingly straight out of a story told to children before bedtime by a mother or a servant.
On a blanket spread out on the meadow, warming themselves in the sunshine, lay a rather unusual couple. The first one was a man unknown to most of the children. He was tall and quite handsome, his dark hair blowing in the gentle breeze. Curiously, the lying man was wearing exquisite armour, more refined and beautiful than any previously seen by the children, but it didn't seem to hinder his activity, the man's eyes closed and his face relaxed despite the metal weighing him down.
Though the man was eye-catching in his own right, he was downright unremarkable compared to the woman lying next to him. Although at first it would appear that she was an ordinary, albeit blue-skinned, woman, the closer the children got the more obvious it became that she was, in fact, not human. Four slender hands protruded from beneath her beautiful, almost snow-white robe, and all sorts of cords and strange pieces of wood seemed to stick out from her exposed neck. The woman's face, though beautiful, was completely still, making her look more like a doll than a living being. Like the man next to her, the woman had her eyes closed and lay motionless in the sunlight.
A few paces away from the sleeping couple, an ornate chair with wheels attached could be seen, on which rested a huge white hat, most likely belonging to the woman. Some distance away, on the other hand, stood a creature that could be mistaken for a grey horse, if not for the two upward-facing horns protruding from its head, calmly chewing the grass it was eating, clearly unconcerned about the approaching group.
Seeing this almost fairytale-like sight, most of the group slowed down, involuntarily afraid to disturb it. The only one who did not care was Bairn, who rushed towards the lying couple with visible excitement. As he approached, the lying man's eye opened, apparently the man more alert than one might have expected. Seeing Bairn, he rose slowly to a sitting position, a friendly grin appearing on his face.
"Coz, Coz, I have important news!" Bairn shouted in greeting, running up to the man and standing in front of him like a student wanting to boast about something to his master. Seeing that the man was looking at him, Bairn raised his hands in the air in excitement and pointed to the children following him, who, upon seeing that the man was up and not angry, decided to slowly follow the jar. "I did as you did! I met some friends at the market and they agreed to join me! They are part of my new warrior band!"
"T-that's right!" Claimed one of the girls in the group, puffing out her chest proudly and grinning with her missing teeth as she spoke. "We are warriors of the jar! We will travel the world, defend the innocent and fight monsters!"
"Really?" The man asked with a gentle smile, the tone of his voice reminiscent of a parent listening to their children talk about extraordinary adventures and plans for the future. He glanced at the woman lying next to him, and when she did not respond, continuing to lie motionless on the blanket, he looked at the group again and added with some amusement. "Well, I think this is a very ambitious and noble goal. Of course, you should wait until you are adults before doing that, but if you practice and your ambition doesn't fade, I believe you will succeed."
The children bristled upon hearing these words, none of them liking adults telling them to wait until they were older before doing something, and one of the boys, a well-dressed blond boy no older than ten, approached Bairn, who was listening to the man's words with obvious determination.
"Bairn, who is this guy?" The boy asked 'discreetly', the unsuccessful whisper of a child heard by everyone around him. Fortunately, the man did not seem bothered by the boy's dismissive comment, even smiling upon hearing the words. Bairn himself, to whom the words were directed, on the other hand, seemed not entirely sure of the answer to the question.
"Coz is...a potentate? No, he's more important, so...Greater Potentate?" The jar stated uncertainly, missing the slight grimace forming on the man's face upon hearing the name. "...Or Grand Potentate! He rules everything, so he's the greatest Potentate of all!"
"He rules everything? Like the King that Pa was talking about?" Asked one of the members of the group, a scruffy six-year-old with dark hair, who wore old, tattered clothes.
"Eeeeh...Yes! He's the king!" Bairn replied, but immediately turned to 'Coz', his voice uncertain, as he wasn't actually sure what 'King' was. "Are you a king, Coz?"
"I suppose you could say I am." Coz replied softly, not seeming overly concerned with the extremely important title he supposedly held. Looking at the man, he would have been considered a knight, given his armour and the sword lying beside him, but the image did not match the ideas the children had about the king.
"If you're a king, why aren't you doing any kingly stuff, instead just lazing around? Mum said the King is always busy doing Kingly stuff." Asked the girl, dressed in typical townsfolk clothes, looking at the man with obvious suspicion.
"Technically that's what I do. I'm doing 'Kingly stuff'...by not doing anything. It may sound unbelievable, but me doing nothing probably does more for my land than most kings do for theirs." Coz said with a laugh, but his words did not reach the simple minds of the children in front of him.
"It doesn't make sense." One boy declared, ready to share the deep, secret knowledge he, as an eight-year-old, possessed. "The king has a queen, flies on a dragon and has knights serving him."
"Well, my queen lies beside me..." At that moment, the man pointed his head in the direction of the blue woman, who, however, did not react to his words. For some reason, this made the man laugh, as if he was amused by something. After a moment, however, he decided to continue his 'defence'. "My dragon is currently busy with something else, so she's not with me, and the knights...well, you have me there. I don't have any knights."
"Hah, I knew it." The boy stated, nodding to himself, in his mind achieving a monumental victory over the man talking to him.
Perhaps the discussion would have continued, each of the children having their own opinions about Coz's royal status, but then Bairn suddenly exclaimed, an incredible realization heard in his voice.
"Wait, Coz! If you're a King, then we can be...your knights!" the Jar declared, causing the entire group, as well as the amused man, to look at him, the children's eyes lighting up at the new, all-changing information. "We will, uh, fight monsters and all in the name of King Coz!"
All of the children turned toward the man as one, their eyes burning like dragon fire, ready for anything to become knights.
"Is this true?" One of the boys asked the man, excitement obvious in his voice. "Can you make us knights, King Coz?"
"King Coz? That's not my...I guess I can? I've never actually done it, so I don't quite know what it would involve..." King Coz replied slowly, apparently only now realizing the competence he possessed as a result of his royal status.
"Can...can I become a knight, too?" One of the girls, no older than seven, asked, looking at the man with a hopeful gaze, her hands clutching her tattered skirt.
"...Well, of course you can, why shouldn't you be able to...wait a minute, that doesn't mean..." King Coz stated awkwardly, not really sure of what to say to the hopeful girl, but by the time he had gathered his thoughts, none of the children were listening to him anymore.
"Yes, we are knights of King Coz!" Declared one child.
"No, I don't think it works that way. We have to have a real name, like the Kingsguard." Corrected one of the boys, his noble background providing an invaluable source of information to the group.
"Yeah? Then maybe...hmmm, it's hard to come up with a name!" Replied one of the girls, unsuccessfully trying to find something suitable.
"No, we'll use the same name as before, only as knights!" Declared one of the boys, "We are Kinghts of the Jar!"
"...Like Knights of the Great Jar?" Whispered Coz confused, not quite sure how it all happened, but before he realized his mistake, his words were heard and picked up by the excited children.
"Yes, we are the Knights of the Great Jar! Serving King Coz and protecting the downridden, led by Lord Commander Ser Bairn!" Declared the children, ignoring the man trying to say something.
"Knights of the Great Jar! Follow me!" At one point, the small jar entered the conversation, raising his hand and focusing the attention of his 'order' on himself. "To defend others, we must be strong, and to be strong we must train, just like my uncle! There are many strong warriors on the ship who will certainly help us! So says I, Ser Bairn Hoslow, Lord Commander of the Knights of the Great Jar! The tale of house Hoslow is told in blood!"
At that moment, the group of children, led by the 'newly-knighted' Bairn, darted away from the confounded man, not giving him a chance to explain that none of them were knights.
Well, they would probably soon discover that on their own.
Probably.
When all of the children had finally disappeared behind the nearest hill, immersed in their chivalrous dreams, Hadwyn sighed, ran his hand over his face and lay back down next to his wife, who was still lying motionless on the blanket, as if immersed in a deep slumber.
"You know, you could have said something when it all started to get out of hand." He said lightly, looking with pretended accusation at the artificial face of his wife beside him. For a moment it seemed that his words would go unanswered, the witch still motionless, but then Ranni finally opened an eye, and her mouth formed an amused smile. Seeing this, the man sighed, a long-suffering sigh known only to husbands. "Yes, I know it's very funny. But you do realize that I'm the one who will have to solve any problems that may arise from this, right?"
"I just knew thee couldst handle it yourself and didn't needeth divine intervention." Ranni replied with a laugh, her melodious, gentle voice spreading across the surrounding meadow. She placed one of her hands on Hadwyn's cheek and rubbed it in a gesture of affection, her eyes warm. "Besides, thee now have a loyal order of knights loyal to thee, don't thee? This was mine own gift to thee. I know how envious thee were of mine darling Carian Knights."
"Oh? And here I thought you only did it out of sheer laziness." Hadwyn replied with a sigh, but a gentle, teasing smile was painted on his lips despite his words. "I heard from Moongrum what happened on the first day after we arrived. You really don't have to make any excuses."
"Well, I won't hideth the fact that laziness was one of mine main motivations." Ranni replied haughtily, following it up with a peculiar smile on her lips. It wasn't as wide as the previous one, nor as warm, yet for some reason it was more precious than any other she had shown that day. "Besides, isn't it beautiful that these art the problems we hast to deal with now? Over-excited children and awkward misunderstandings?"
Her voice, though light, hid the weight of centuries, memories of past hardships and sufferings. Hearing this, a grimace appeared on Hadwyn's face for a moment, his own memories involuntarily reaching his mind, but the grimace quickly turned into a smile similar to the one on his wife's lips, the divine couple sharing an intimate moment of harmony that was difficult to describe.
"Yes...I suppose it is very beautiful." Hadwyn replied quietly, then placed his hand on Ranni's palm, the lovers' fingers entwining each other. It was in this position that the couple spent the rest of the day, lying in the sun and enjoying the moment, each tranquil moment a blessing.
Although forgotten by all, Torrent was also a participant in the lofty and less lofty events taking place in the meadow, but the lack of attention did not seem to grieve him. His mind was fully occupied by the grass and the field flowers growing beneath him, spectral steed content with his state.
And although no one else was to know about it, Torrent was the biggest winner of the day. After all, he managed to find a wild carrot among the flowers growing in the meadow.
It was delicious.
Author's thoughts:
· Allard is a member of the Medicio family from Oldtown. Any resemblance to the Medici family from Florence is of course completely coincidental.
· I realize that Bairn is an old word for 'child', but that's what everyone has always called the jar in question and I'm not going to change it.
· Finally, the next chapter will focus on players outside Oldtown and their reactions to the appearance of Wisdom of the Moon.
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