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 have the right amount of
terms of quality, but they made so much of the stuff. In
good for too long!” he’d declared, radiating smug
watching their representative, Lissa, squirm, she
~~~
really put this together without
Flowing Wave Conglomerate representative, Terraz. “You
the ant was processing the raw wood,
the ant is doing most of its measuring
“Her measuring.”
theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report
the ants as ‘it’. Such terminology
of what she was
measuring, if
“Well, let’s ask.”
a mage was stationed for this very purpose, and the two approached him. They relayed their question, and the mage then turned to the crafts-ant to get
says she is using her antennae and forelegs
turned to them and extended her front leg, allowing Terraz to lean forward and inspect
these… markings?”
of the leg were evenly spaced marks running
maintain a permanent ruler on their legs,” the
turned to the wood once more and indicated something, making swift motions with her
measuring, she will mark the wood with pheromones to record where to cut. With skillful application, the scent trails can be made exceedingly thin, perfect for precise
nodded to himself,
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