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.”
that our customers will abandon us for this, inferior, monster-created leaf,” Lissa scoffed, but she didn’t quite have the right amount of
but they made so much of the stuff. In this instance, Satrap Umizan had been more than happy to undercut
have had it too good for too long!” he’d
watching their representative, Lissa, squirm,
~~~
they really put this
advantage,” Eran informed the Flowing Wave Conglomerate representative, Terraz. “You can see how they
Colony made most of their furniture. At present, the ant was processing
is doing most of its measuring by
“Her measuring.”
case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report
refer to the ants as ‘it’. Such terminology ‘otherised’ the Colony, making them seem
rolled his eyes, perfectly aware of what she was attempting
measuring, if you
“Well, let’s ask.”
approached him. They relayed their question, and the mage then turned to the
using her antennae and forelegs for
in question turned to them and extended her front leg, allowing
these… markings?” he
of the leg were evenly spaced marks running up to
a permanent ruler on their legs,” the mage continued her translation.
and indicated something, making
is demonstrating how, after measuring, she will mark the wood with pheromones to record where to
to
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