Chapter 290 - Securing Agreements
Chris
The choice of who to visit first wasn't that hard to decide upon. There were a few that I could start with that didn't worry me as much as others, but I decided to start with one I was most personally interested in.
I'd spoken to her only briefly and while her City wasn't as immediately close as Ashton's was, she could still be considered a neighbor.
It helped we had already started talks along these lines through messages. Now all we had to do was finalize it.
Mountainside was around two months away by caravan. We hadn't made the trip, and that time wasn't confirmed, but from what we knew of the area and from maps, our estimate was two months.
Marcus and the Twins were closer, but we didn't have a whole lot of options when we looked at our trade opportunities. At least not until River travel opened up, then we would be flush with choice.
Jayla's camp was in a similar state to our own. It was still intact and had minimal damage, but instead of mostly canvas or leather tents set up, it was mostly earthen constructs.
After arriving, I was met with a few people who stopped me and asked what I was there for. The guards still looked battle-worn but had no obvious wounds showing. Either already healed or they made it out better than the average soldier.
Unfortunately, or rather quite predictably, Jayla wasn't there. She was still out near the Obelisk dealing with the arrival of the Merchants. I had to wait for an audience, but I saw someone from her camp run off to get her.
While I had delegated the task of probing the Merchants for information and gaining intel on what they had for sale, most others did not. Looking back, that should have been rather obvious.
As I walked away, there were only a few others who had followed my lead or had ideas similar to my own.
Still, waiting gave me the chance to go over what I was about to negotiate for. Mountainside, while close, wasn't that high on our list of priorities to gain favorable trades for at this moment. Sure, eventually, we would want something running between our Cities, but she didn't have the same advantages as trading with someone like The Admiral.