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.”
really believe that our customers will abandon us for this, inferior, monster-created leaf,” Lissa scoffed, but she didn’t quite have
would, of course they 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
too good for too
Lissa, squirm, she
~~~
they really put
is an advantage,” Eran informed the Flowing Wave Conglomerate representative, Terraz. “You can see how they have mutated and evolved themselves to excel at
carver was demonstrating the way the Colony made most of their furniture. At present, the ant was processing the raw wood, using her forelegs and mandibles
doing
“Her measuring.”
is not rightfully
that their customers not refer to the ants as ‘it’. Such terminology ‘otherised’ the Colony, making
his eyes, perfectly aware of
if you
“Well, let’s ask.”
and the two approached him. They
she is using
and extended her front leg, allowing Terraz to lean
markings?”
evenly spaced marks running up to a metre
a permanent ruler on their legs,” the mage continued her translation. “Early on,
indicated something, making
wood with pheromones to record where to cut. With skillful application, the scent trails can be made exceedingly thin, perfect for
nodded to himself,
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