Eran Thouris was in her element. Her mind raced, the blood pounded in her veins and she felt as if an electric current were running over her scales.
“This tea is… quite… adequate.”
Seated across from her, the representative of the Deep Coral Conglomerate, Lissa, tried to conceal her pleasure after imbibing the fine drink.
“You might change your mind when I tell you how much it costs.”
She made a gesture with her left hand, a flickering of fingers, and her adversary’s eyes widened.
“That’s… less than I would have expected.”
“If I’m not mistaken, it’s almost half of what your Conglomerate charges for its patented tea blend, is it not?”
“Less than half,” Lissa grated.
“Oh my. I imagine the introduction of this tea to the market will collapse your sales precipitously.”
“Are you suggesting this… swill… is better than our tea?!” Lissa demanded.
“Of course not. It doesn’t quite achieve the same depth of flavour, and the Deep Coral blend is famed throughout Pangera for its rich aroma. This tea gets close, but doesn’t quite match it.”
She smiled and took a deep sip.
“Which is why it's half the price.”
for this, inferior, monster-created leaf,” Lissa scoffed, but she didn’t quite
would. The Colony’s tea didn’t quite measure up in terms of quality, but they made so much of the stuff. In this instance, Satrap Umizan had been more than happy to
good for too
Lissa,
~~~
they really put this together
Flowing Wave Conglomerate representative, Terraz. “You can
of their furniture. At present, the ant was processing the raw
appears the ant is doing most
“Her measuring.”
case of theft: this story is not rightfully on
to the ants
eyes, perfectly aware of what she
measuring, if
“Well, let’s ask.”
and the two approached him. They relayed their question, and the mage then
is using her antennae and forelegs for
in question turned to them and extended her
markings?”
of the leg were evenly spaced marks running up to a
the carvers to maintain a permanent ruler on their legs,” the mage continued her translation. “Early on, the Colony realised the importance of standard
once more and indicated something, making swift motions with her legs and
with pheromones to record where to cut. With
to himself,
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