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,”
they made so much of the stuff. In this instance, Satrap Umizan had been more than happy to undercut the
too good for too long!” he’d declared,
their representative, Lissa, squirm, she shared
~~~
they really put this
being a monster is an advantage,” Eran informed the Flowing Wave Conglomerate representative, Terraz. “You can
the way the Colony made most of their furniture. At present, the ant was processing
the ant is doing
“Her measuring.”
story is not rightfully on Amazon; if
it was important that their customers not refer to the ants as ‘it’. Such terminology ‘otherised’ the Colony,
aware of what
if you
“Well, let’s ask.”
approached him. They relayed their question, and the mage then turned to the crafts-ant to get
is using her antennae and forelegs for measuring
extended her front
markings?”
the inside of the leg were evenly spaced
amount of evolutionary energy for the carvers to maintain a permanent ruler on their legs,” the mage continued her translation. “Early on, the
the wood once more and indicated something, making swift motions with her legs
the wood with pheromones to record where to cut. With skillful application, the
to himself,
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