The Quantum Wanderer

Addrianna herself came bringing the kids. We come out of the living room to the ante-chamber to welcome them. I am in the front of the group. The dragonnesses are behind me.

“Good afternoon, sir Marcelo! Ladies…”

“Good morning lady Addrianna.”

“Oh, please, no need to be that formal. My kids are being invited to play in your home!”

She gives out a friendly laugh. She looks behind me.

“Edward told me about the evolution! Congratulations, lady Aquamarine. I haven’t congratulated lady Ruby and lady Shandon yet, so let me congratulate all of you! I was told that this is a big achievement!”

My girls bow their head lightly towards Addrianna. Sophia is looking around. She notices Huginn on top of a cupboard. She goes past us and does a courtesy to Huginn.

“Good afternoon, your majesty. Where is your husband?”

Huginn places her wing in front of her face, as a human would do, hiding half her face.

“My, my, child… Even some people in this house still has some trouble telling us apart. I commend you for that…”

Sophia does another courtesy. Huginn continues.

“Hubby is teaching mama how to cast a spell.”

“Oh, ok.”

To Sophia, this is not a big deal. I can see that Addrianna is really interested in that, though. I can see she wants to ask, but she is unsure if she. I let it go, it is fun to keep them guessing just a little bit.

Sophia’s brother does a courtesy to Huginn, and the two of them plus Rebirth go into the kitchen. Then we hear Sophia’s shout from inside the kitchen.

“BY THE GODS!”

We all get in the kitchen. Roberta is holding a tray with cookies. Sophia has one cookie in each hand, and more of them inside her mouth. Caius was silent, cookie mid-air. We are all looking from the door at the scene.

It is really funny. I laugh. Addrianna relaxes, and laughs a little too. The dragonesses tilt their heads a little bit. I think Sophia is growing on them.

Sophia turns to us. She still has a cookie, perhaps more than one, in her mouth.

“MAMA, you have to taste this! Uncle and aunties, did you taste these cookies?”

“We did. We had the exact same reaction.” I laugh.

“Roberta’s skills are unparalelled.” Opal remarks.

“And the elven condiments launched them to a whole another level.” Shandom completes, while nodding. Ruby and Aquamarine are nodding.

Addrianna turns to me.

“May I?”

I gesture her to go ahead.

“Of course, that was the intent.”

She grabs a cookie. She looks at it inquisitively. But then she smells it. Once she does, she puts the whole cookie inside her mouth. She makes some… Unsavory sounds… While she is eating it. After she is done, she puts her right hand on her chest.

“By the gods! This is the best thing I have ever eaten! And I have been to several feasts in the imperial palace! And embassies!”

I smile.

“Roberta is really special.”

Roberta is now blushing. Addrianna turns to her.

“Would you provide us the recipe for this?”

She laughs.

“I don’t mind providing the recipe, but the trick is in the fresh ingredients we used. I don’t think it is quite possible to reproduce this without them.”

“Surely I can get them from the same merchant.”

Roberta gives me a look of small panic. She thinks she spoke too much. I shake my head in a calming manner. I smile at Addrianna. Addrianna looks at me.

“Where did you get the ingredients?”

“There is this big shop, close to the main square. In an elven city.”

Addrianna looks at me. Time passes. She finally realizes what I mean. She looks a little sad, but she accepts it. I like that she is not asking nor pressuring.

“Tell you what. Do you want to go there now? We can go by your home, pick Edward up, and a bag of holding can store a lot of ingredients. Most of those you need fresh, anyway, so there is a limit to what is worth buying.”

Addrianna lights up. She looks around. She sees Huginn watching the kids. She nods at Huginn, Huginn nods back. She turns to Sophia, that went back to the tray.

“Sophia and Caius, behave in front of the aunties, ok?”

Both of the kids raise their thumb.

We go back to Edward’s mansion. Addrianna has a hasty walk. She enters the house shouting.

“EDWARD! EDWARD! COME RIGHT NOW!”

The help in the house enter a frenzy at this, and Edward comes out of a corridor, running.

“What happened? Are the kids ok?”

“Oh, they are fine. They are with lady Huginn. Grab some gold coins and a bag of holding, we are going shopping for cooking ingredients.” She turns to her butler. “Fetch Norbert at once!”

Once the butler goes away, she freezes. She looks at me.

“I am sorry, sir Marcelo! I got caught in the moment!” She bows.

I smile.

“Can this Norbert be trusted with a secret?”

“I trust him with several. He is the one that prepares the food we eat. In the empire, he would be the second person I trust most, after Edward. You know how a lot of assassination attempts are through poison, right?”

I laugh, remembering the case.

“Yes, we had one of those. Well, in that case, let’s talk to him before.” I turn to Edward. “Can we talk in your study?”

We go to Edward’s study. Edward, Addrianna, me and the girls. I remember a detail.

“By the way, Edward, elves do not accept human gold coins, only dwarven ones. Probably demon ones too, but I didn’t ask because I have a lot of dwarven gold coins. Do you have dwarven gold coins on you?”

“Elves?” He looks at Addrianna. Then it dawns on him why the shopping is so important. “Are we going to the land of the elves?”

“Yes.”

“Don’t they… Kill humans that enter their land?”

“Good point, actually. Let me check with Ipê. She can probably talk for them.”

I open a portal. Ipê is on the other side.

“Big brother! Good afternoon! How are you?”

“I am well. How are you? You look to be in high spirits.”

“Big brother has no idea! It is the food big brother provided. I feel a thousand years older! It is wonderful!”

“Don’t you mean younger?”

“Younger? I feel stronger, not weaker. “ She laughs. “Big brother is think in terms of humanoids…” She laughs some more. “Where are the wives, big brother? Are you alone?”

“This is the reason I came. Would it be bad to bring a couple of guests with me? Three humans?”

She laughs again.

“Big brother still doesn’t understand. As long as you vouch for them, there is no problem. They will be treated as if they were elves.”

“Thank you.”

She nods.

I jump back to Edward’s study.

“I got our permission. It is a go.” I say, with my thumb up.

“Who did you talk to?”

“I talked to Ipê.”

“Who is Ipê?”

“You will see. Anyway, back to our point. The elves do not accept human coins. Do you happen to have dwarven coins?”

He looks at me as if I am asking something outrageous.

“No one has dwarven coins.”

I reach in my pouch, I get ten dwarven gold coins and hand it to him.

“Here. This should be enough. I have no idea on how much the stuff costs, but I would guess it should be enough.”

Edward takes a look at the coin. He forces his thumb against it. He takes a very close look at the design. He hands one of them to Addrianna, that is at his side. She looks both sides of the coin. They smell it, they pressure it. Edward realizes that I have already done some stuff for the dwarves, having some gold coins from them is not crazy.

“Wait, I have to trade the coins with you.”;;;

We hear a knock on the door. The buttler and another man enters. The other man, probably Norbert, is a fat man, with this charismatic smile to him. Edward gestures both of them to get closer. Then he whispers his butler to bring his platinum purse. He turns then to the other one.

“Norbert, please sit down.”

The cook sits down. Edward hands him a glass with a strong liquor. The way he is acting, his brain was not wired to sit down in front of the lord of the house, nor to ever receive a glass with liquor from him. Edward gestures him to drink, and he takes a good sip out of the liquor. Edward waits him to have the drink, before he continues.

“Norbert, you have been working in this house for the longest time. And we trust you.”

The cook is visibly scared right now.

“That being said, I am considering on taking you on a mission right now. You are about to see some wonders of this world.”

The chef smiles.

“The problem is that wonders are accompanied by secrecy. So nothing of what you see can be told to anyone. Not to you wife, not to you children, not to your priest. If you ever feel the need to talk to someone, you can talk to sir Marcelo’s household. But that is it. No exceptions. Under penalty of death.”

The chef nods. He looks at me, I am smiling. He looks back at Edward.

“Of course, your grace. I have already vowed to never betray your trust.”

“Good,” Edward continues. “Just so you understand… Sir Marcelo, last time you found that a spy had infiltrated your house hold, how many people got executed?”

I laugh. He is being brutal to drive a point. The last time it happened, it was the whole Rudolph family’s thing.

“I don’t know… Perhaps 30? It depends on how many people a two sail boat carries…” I can’t help but find this whole theatrics by Edward a little funny. My laughter apparently helps to drive the point.

Edward turns back to his chef.

“Are you in or are you out, Norbert?”

Norbert drinks the rest of the liquor. He puts on a brave face.

“I am in, your grace!”

He raises from the couch. It looks like he is about to grab a sword and go to war. At this point, the butler is back in the study. Edward grabs a coin in the leather pouch he brought, and brings out a platinum coin.

“Here, sir Marcelo.”

“Huh… I gave you just 10 gold coins. The exchange rate is 1 platinum is worth 100 gold coins, right?”

“The thing is, one dwarven gold coin is worth more. Way more.”

I look at Addrianna, she nods. I feel like I am being cheated into having an advantage. But Norbert’s reaction tilts the balance.

“A DWARVEN GOLD COIN?”

Edward ignores that. He turns to me.

“Dwarven gold coins cannot be falsified. Any dwarf is capable of telling them apart. Even if a small portion of gold is taken out of it and replaced with something else, they will know. No matter how skilled the gold smith is.

“Besides, it can be used to acquire dwarven blades, shields, and metal work. The current exchange rate is one to 9 in the market. But they are so rare that someone selling them can basically ask for any price. I am not overpaying you.”

I shrug.

“I was thinking of giving that to you, but suit yourself.”

“Did you already buy the goods? Do you know how much they cost?”

“Well… You will see. It is a little different there.”

I place the platinum coin in my pouch. I open the portal to our home. Our group get to my house. Ipê is there, on the other side.

“Big brother! Nice having you back. Are these your guests?”

“Yes. These are Edward, Addrianna and Norbert. This is Ipê. She is a dryad.”

Ipê puts on a smile and waves at them. The three of them bow their heads. I take a look outside, and realize that it is one in the afternoon already.

“Thank you for the reception, Ipê.”

We get close to the front of the house, and as always it opens itself for us. We walk in the city, I am already directing the party towards the ingredients store. I am walking briskly.

“Are you in hurry, sir Marcelo?” Addrianna asks.

“Not so much hurry, I am trying to arrive in the store before the rain.”

Everyone looks up the sky. There are some clouds, but it is not that bad. Not that bad for every other place but the middle of the rainforest, that is.

Edward is looking at everything around him. He looks like a new college student that made it into his first choice of school. He is trying to commit everything to memory. The wooden floor, the building made of live trees… All of them are impressed, but Norbert looks like closing his mouth is an impossible task.

We arrive in the shop after only half an hour. The sky has a lot more clouds right now, they are starting to turn grey. We enter the shop. After taking 3 steps in the shop, Norbert close his eyes and inspire profoundly through his nose.

He opens his eyes. He looks at us, with puppy eyes.

The sales woman waves at us.

“Lord Marcelo, lord Marcelo!”

We all approach the counter.

“Hi, how are you?”

“Oh, we are doing very well. How are you and your wives?”

“We are all doing very well, thank you.”

“Are you here for more spices? Did you consume all that already?”

I take a look at my girls. Sometimes I forget, but each of them eats the equivalent of 20 to 30 people. Basically, now Ruby, Shandon and Aquamarine are eating enough food for around 30 people. With another 22 to 23 people, if we consider Opal as well. She has been eating more than usual, trying to evolve faster. I have no idea how much this helps, but with the amount of meat I have already, we are not going to run out of it anytime soon.

When we add that to the other 40 people in the household, 20 workers and around 20 family members, the amount of food we got was not that big, actually. It takes a lot of food to feed 150 to 160 people.

I smile at her.

“Not really. I am going to be back here to get more in a couple of days, but this time I brought a friend of mine. He is doing some shopping for his home.”

“Of course, of course.” She turns to Edward, Addrianna and Norbert.

“Lady and gentlemen, the prices are close to the fares. Once you have collected everything you need, bring it here so that we can tally.”

“Of course. Thank you.” Edward answers.

Opal turns to me.

Can we walk around, my lord? There is nothing here that we are interested right now. Specially since Roberta is not here.”

“Sure. Let’s use the Comm Gems, since Huginn and Muninn are currently unavailable.”

They nod, and go out the door. I stay with Edward. I turn to Edward, he is about to bite a purple pepper.

“DON’T!”

Edward stops. He looks at me.

“That pepper is strong. Dwarf pepper strong. Biting it is bad. Really bad. They use very small pieces of it on the spiciest food, something that size lasts for weeks. In a restaurant!”

Norbert comes running. He opens his hands in front of Edward, that drops the purple pepper on them. He looks at it.

“The fabled purple pepper… Is this really the purple pepper?”

The sales woman is unimpressed. She makes an irritated face.

“Are you implying that I would sell a fake? Of course it is a purple pepper!”

I smile at her. She looks at me, and her face changes to a very friendly one.

“I am sorry, but to my friends some of the stuff you sell are not really available. He is just amazed that it is available.”

“If you say so…” She says in an almost musical way.

“How much for the pepper?” Norbert asks.

“Two oaks.”

“How much in dwarven currency?” I ask her.

“Oh, three small copper.”

Norbert starts shaking with the answer. He puts the pepper on the counter.

“We are definitely going to be taking that one.”

He turns to Edward.

“Your grace, can you please come with me for a second?”

They to a random corridor in the store. Norbert is talking low.

“Your grace, do you have any idea how much th-“

When Edward notices that Norbert is whispering, he casts a silence spell around them. I don’t really play attention, but I see that Norbert is gesticulating like crazy. Edward shakes his head every so often. Norbert gets dejected, almost pouting. Then Edward places a hand on Norbert shoulder. Then they come out of the silence spell.

I am kind of curious.

“Is everything ok?“

“Yes, friend, everything is alright. My chef was just… Phreaking out a bit.”

At this time, the afternoon rain falls down. The intense rain, with a lot of water. Edward and Addrianna stop to look at the shop’s door, on the outside, where the rain is pouring. They look at themselves, then they look at me, and sigh.

Edward is looking around, he sometimes pick a herb, smell it, puts it back. Addrianna do the same. I am thinking that this is not a place they would enjoy. I turn to Edward.

“What do you think of going to a fabric store?”

Addrianna hears me, she lights up.

“Really? Can we?”

Edward looks at her. He sighs. Then he shrugs.

“Since sir Marcelo is offering…” Edward turns to Norbert.

“Select the fares we are going to take home. Remember what I told you, it is for our consumption only. Not more than that. Her grace and I are going to check out some other venues around. We will come by in some hours. And remember, Norbert! Behave!”

The last part Edward told Norbert while holding his shoulder.

The chef nods, while smiling. Something in him has childish energy, like a very pure happiness. We leave for the fabric store. We walk through the streets, Edward looking at the ground. He looks at the drains at the side of the streets. He looks at how the houses are fixated on the wood.

We keep walking towards the fabric store.

“Lord Marcelo! Such an honor!”

“Good afternoon. How are you?”

“I am well, thank you. How can I help my lord? Is this couple friends of yours?”

“Yes. They want to acquire some fabric.”

“Of course, of course. Does madam have already some design in mind, or does madam want to get some fabric so that something can be made after?”

Addrianna is passing her hand over a piece of cotton that is on display. She is impressed with the fabric.

“Edward! Come see this!”

Edward goes there, he passes his hand over the fabric. As expected, it is unlike any cotton seen in the human realm. The fabric itself is born interwoven. An agreement between elves and forest that their seeds will be spread, and in exchange the fabric is grown, not extracted. The cloth has a more chaotic design to it, since the fibers are not making neat little square angles of fibers in one direction, and other fibers perpendicular to them. Instead, it is almost like a woven fluffy carpet, but with a very thin cloth. It is not comparable to any other cotton available.

The sales clerk comes out from behind the counter.

“I see that you like our cotton. It has very price for roll. Would you perhaps be interested in some other cloths we have?”

“What kind?”

“We have also silk and spider silk. Our spider silk is exquisite. Garbles made from spider silk last for centuries, and their shine never fades!”

“What tones of blue do you have?”

The sales clerk makes a sad face.

“Unfortunately, madam, we carry mostly shades of green, brown, purple… We don’t have anything blue. If madam has access to blue colorants, it can be done later.”

Addrianna nods. This guy is apparently good. She gets several rolls of cotton, like 20 of them, four of silk and one of spider silk.

“By the way, madam, I have to warn. The spider silk should be cut with mithril instruments at least. I will make most steel devices dull pretty quickly.”

Addrianna doesn’t pay much attention to the warning. She places, or she tells Edward to place, the rolls of fabric on the counter.

“Excuse, sir, how much for these?”

The takes a look and he tallies with the prices he would charge me right now. Half of my original prices. He really did overcharge me the first time around.

“I am going to use the friend of the forest rates, since you are friends to lord Marcelo… 1 gold for the spider silk roll, 1 gold for the four silk rolls, and 1 gold for the cotton. 3 gold coins, madam.”

The payment plant starts to grow on the counter. It leaves the seeds. I turn to the wall.

“I appreciate what you do for me, but this is a bit too much. I brought them here, and they are my friends, but it is a business transaction between them; I have nothing to do with this. Otherwise, I may feel bad with bringing friends here.”

We hear the laughter in the wind. The seeds on the counter are slowly absorbed by the wood. They disappear within it.

Addrianna and Edward were in a trance watching the whole thing.

“What was that?” Addrianna asks. The merchant sighs.