Warp: Fishing for Evidence
1911 words
1911 words
The next board meeting was more tense than usual. Almeda sat back in her chair, hands placidly resting on the table. Her fingers, tipped with claws painted a deep indigo, fluttered subtly every so often in a ghost of her old habit of drumming them on surfaces when she was agitated. Aside from this, the woman looked as she usually did at these gatherings; calmly watching her sisters, aunts, and even a few nieces take their places around the long, wooden table. Almeda was well put together, dressed in a freshly pressed white shirt with a high collar and elegant designs across the chest and shoulders in red, cartilage pulled into a low chignon, and polished with a hint of makeup.
She took care to be professional and as close to perfect as possible; her family’s scrutiny would allow for no less. Today, she was especially businesslike and prepared. Almeda was ready to hunt for a traitor amidst her loved ones and had readied an impeccable plan just for the occasion. Even in dire situations, they would get her best.
She glanced at the people seated around the long table, eyes drifting across their countenances with a false placidity. Her gaze rested on Dulceana briefly, who flashed her a brief smile. Almeda nodded and then continued surveying the room.
Jennyver and Celia sat on either side of Dulceana, chatting with their cousins across the table. Murel, River, and Kelby replied with polite interest, though only Murel looked genuinely interested in the conversation. At the end of the table sat Almeda’s aunts, Coral, Umiko, and Taura. The latter kept narrowing her eyes at Celia, who pretended not to see her or Almeda.
“Let’s begin.”
The sound of Almeda’s voice brought their attention to the woman at the head of the table. The chatter died down and everyone listened with varying degrees of attentiveness.
“As you know, I traveled to the northern continent with an entourage to establish contact with merchants in Avelyn so that we could begin talk of trade with them.”
A few murmurs of recognition followed her statement. Celia looked unusually nervous, though she tried to mask it with an expression of interest.
“Did it go well?” Umiko asked, smoothing a purple strand of cartilage behind her ear.
“Which traders did you meet with?” Coral wanted to know.
Almeda met Umiko’s even stare. “The negotiations went well enough, I suppose. They were a bit shorter than intended. We had some trouble on the way to Avelyn.”
Almost imperceptibly, Umiko’s head turned toward Coral, who was subtly shooting dark looks in Celia’s direction.
“Oh? Did you run into mercenaries?” Coral asked.
“Clearly this was more than an ordinary mercenary attack,” Celia snapped, a frown souring her face. Blue eyes, the same shade as Almeda’s, darted from face to face suspiciously.
“How do you know that?” Coral questioned with false innocence, a hint of interrogation in her tone. The purple scaled woman stared at her niece coolly, unintimidated. “Almeda has yet to give us the details of her troubles.”
“Because one of my attendants has vanished into deep waters. Laurea was supposed to meet them on their way to Avelyn and she hasn’t returned,I suspect some ill befell her while she was trying to catch up with the ship,” the blue scaled velen fired back.
“Why was she not on the boat with Almeda to begin with?” Umiko wondered, sounding too pleased with Celia’s discomfort.
“I sent her after them to deliver an urgent message,” Celia said hotly.
Almeda watched her sister and aunts bicker, a frown hidden behind her hands folded in front of her mouth. She would have expected them to at least play dumb. The obvious display was rather suspicious.
“It was Laurea who was responsible for our troubles,” Almeda added almost loftily.
“You lie!” Celia glared at her sister. “Laurea would never!”
“And who else that resembles her has domesticated a shark?”
“You sent your advisor to attack Almeda?” Coral gasped. “Why would you do such a thing? How could you betray our family?”
“I didn’t! Obviously there has been some misunderstanding. There must be more, tell me, was there anyone else?” Celia defended.
“No. Just Laurea and the shark,” Almeda supplied, sounding a little exasperated.
“Perhaps Laurea has betrayed us all,” Umiko suggested, lacing her fingers together on the table.
“Or someone was pressuring her,” River piped up. “I don’t think Laurea or Celia would turn on us.”
“You’re too trusting.” Kelby rolled her eyes.
“We’re jumping too conclusions way too quickly,” River retorted.
Celia grumbled, “I’d say.”
Almeda straightened and cleared her throat. “In any case, we need to investigate this.”
Her cousins, aunts, and sisters all agreed quickly.
“Were they after you specifically?” Jennyver finally spoke.
“Why wouldn’t they be?” Almeda returned.
“I think Almeda would have told us if they had targeted someone else on the ship,” Dulceana said.
“Then she’ll have no problems clarifying.”
Almeda surveyed her family before speaking. Jennyver was watching her intently while Celia looked a bit surprised by the question. Umiko looked unruffled, but this wasn’t unusual --the woman had a way of looking as if she expected everything someone told her.
Dulceana just frowned, clearly distressed, shooting glances between her sisters and Coral, who was now eyeing Almeda with suspicion. Taura’s arms were crossed loosely across her chest and her lips pressed into a firm line.
Kelby and River were looking at everyone, clearly confused. Murel quietly watched Almeda, curiosity apparent on the amethyst-scaled young woman’s face.
“They were targeting Eden.”
Faces changed instantly, several people rushed to voice their new opinions.
Taura looked away from them all, disinterested.
“Oh, you mean that half-breed brat?” Jennyver asked derisively. “The only real problem is that you have no suitable heir. That girl is hardly better than having no children at all.”
“Perhaps this was driven by Laurea’s personal prejudices,” River added, suddenly sounding much less interested.
“Laurea wouldn’t go that far on a personal grudge!” Celia glared at her cousin. “Even if that girl is unworthy, I wouldn’t waste resources trying to get rid of her.”
“That’s not a very strong defense,” Coral accused. “Out of all of us, you have the strongest distaste for Almeda’s... lifestyle and the unfortunate consequence of her choices.”
Celia protested immediately,“Why would I need to resort to murder? Almeda surely can be convinced to see sense and produce a legitimate heir without such extreme tactics!”
“It is still problematic someone working for one of us targeted one of Almeda’s. Regardless of her choices or their consequences we should not resort to brutality to resolve things,” Umiko reminded them, withholding a sigh.
“You’re speaking of a child! How could you all be so crude!” Dulceana nearly shouted. “Eden is our niece! We shouldn’t just shrug this off because of feelings about her blood. We should be focusing on whether Laurea was acting alone or someone else corrupted her.”
“Liberal speech aside, Dulceana is not wrong,” Umiko acquiesced.
“You can’t pretend it isn’t a problem Almeda doesn’t have a proper heir,” Kelby added with a frown.”
“I think there are more important issues here,” Dulceana replied pointedly.
“Yes,” Celia added exasperatedly, “like the fact that someone is trying to frame me!”
“You are awfully concerned with clearing your name,” Coral pointed out.
“Wouldn’t you if your family accused you of betrayal?”
“Mother would do no such thing, I think that is clear,” Murel said quietly.
“Further investigation will occur after. I thought I should bring this to your attention though,” Almeda announced, redirecting their discussion. “Now, there are several newer merchants in Avelyn and their ideas are of interest to us.”
Her aunts, cousins, and sisters allowed the change of subject. Some of them appeared to be a little too relieved at the shift in focus, while a couple were clearly dissatisfied with the lack of resolution. Nevertheless, Almeda would preside over this meeting appropriately; this was a business meeting after all. Her personal problems would have to wait for now, she had gotten a good bit of insight already and could address the issue of a potential traitor more effectively when she was out of the charged atmosphere.
“What kinds of merchants?” River prompted her cousin to elaborate.
Dulceana pressed her lips together, but straightened her posture and tried to focus on Almeda’s answer. She shot unreadable looks at Coral, Umiko, and Celia before her shoulders sagged a little as if she was sighing.
Celia’s frown softened but didn’t fade from her countenance. She contributed to the new discussion occasionally, but without enthusiasm.
Umiko, as usual, pointed out helpful details and perspectives and looked unruffled.
“I think doing business with them will be helpful for us. There are plenty of velen who live on the coasts of Aridus and in the southern parts of the Copiae who would appreciate increased access to the goods these merchants are selling,” Taura added, finally taking an active role in proceedings.
“Not all of their products will be especially profitable after the money it will take to transport them to the west,” Umiko critiqued, leaning forward.
“No, but if we can establish enough influence, we can increase our influence over other traders who might compete with us,” Taura justified her argument. “We can shape the market so that it provides what we demand if we establish ourselves as important customers, or create demand by removing ready supplies of certain products. We can certainly afford to buy a good deal of some of these things, especially those fresh-water pearls. There aren’t many of those to begin with.”
“Perhaps if we had more capital to invest in such an effort,” Umiko acquiesced. “As it is, there’s no need to use such aggressive tactics.”
“If we wait too long, time will pass and these opportunities will be better used by other more astute corporations.” Taura crossed her arms again.
“You are too hasty and that will only cause trouble,” Umiko said almost chidingly. Her expression was neutral as usual, though her eyes had darkened some, Almeda noted.
“And you are too content with inaction.”
“No, I am merely more cautious. Perhaps more willing to negotiate.”
“Well, we can each take our own approaches to this,” River added, shifting around in her seat. “After all, we each have different pursuits and we’ll direct them how we see fit. Everyone agrees this is a worthy endeavor, right?”
Umiko’s deep blue eyes slid over to her daughter. Though her expression remained dispassionate, she inclined her head a bit in agreement.
“I guess we’ll approach them how we see fit,” Taura announced with an air of finality.
“Yes, that will be the case as these merchants are each part of independent caravans,” Almeda confirmed. “Do be careful about the merchants selling basilisk hide. The value of basilisk leather is going to rise soon and we don’t want to lose out on aportunity by being too heavy handed. I trust you all will decide which caravans each of you want to add to your networks. We can discuss preliminary plans for establishing trade with them and draft budgets for travel tomorrow.”
“I agree, is everyone else content to continue discussion outside of meeting?” Dulceana asked, sounding a bit exasperated.
The various murmurs and nods of assent made her sigh in relief.
“Good.” Almeda clapped her hands together. “I’ll be a bit forward and declare recess until tomorrow at eleven.”
No one challenged her.
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