Chrysalis

[Look, buzz off, will you?]

[We will not. You must come and meet us.]

[I must, eh? What if I must have a nap? Did you think about that?]

[For the future of your people and ours, we urge you to listen.]

[Not now. Sheesh! There’s business to conduct. We’ll be here for a few days, take your time. No need to come battering on my mind the moment I settle down.]

Ruthlessly, I cut the contact and my mind constructs fend off the half-hearted attempts to reconnect it. Talk about rude! The cultists of the Red Truth decided to try and arrange a meetup as soon as the Colony finished working on the nest and I managed to slip inside to put my legs up, metaphorically speaking.

They’re being sneaky, using extensive methods to mask the hints of their mana from detection, but even so, I think they’re taking a staggering risk. If they get caught reaching out to me, a monster subject to the Call, I can’t imagine it’s going to go well for them. So I continue to rebuff their advances until I can get a better sense for the lay of the land. We only just arrived on this island, and the ka’armodo aren’t friendly with the Colony at the best of times, even when there isn’t a full Legion sitting next door.

After the Colony gets settled, the brathians make their way over to us to discuss our next steps.

Compared to before, the air around Eran and her followers isn’t quite as… positive. Faced with the opportunity to negotiate trade all over the fourth stratum, the lead deal-maker for the Brathian Island Conglomerate had been, not cheerful or energetic, but eager, hungry. That hunger remains, but it has clearly been tempered by caution. Marzban is on alert, as are his son and the rest of the soldiers, hands gripping weapon hilts at all times, eyes constantly scanning for threats.

Eran? I assume there’s a long line of

at my

she says. [What you’ve said shows a remarkable lack of understanding of ka’armodo culture. Don’t you

and they don’t seem to respect the line we’ve drawn in the sand. Well… not sand. The line we’ve drawn in

from Royal Road; report any instances of this story

huge fans of the Colony,] she says wryly, and I feel like that might have been a massive understatement. [To clear up your confusion, the ka’armodo themselves do not engage in trade.

they were stuck up, but this takes it to

assume the setsulah are responsible

a setsulah who is responsible for managing their finances. Even though the product sold at a particular store is made by a ka’armodo, and the profit of that sale goes to them, they are not part

we won’t be dealing with the lizards at all? That might turn out to be a good thing. I put that idea to Eran and she shakes her

The arkesh are all skilled and trained negotiators, but they are not… independent. They will do exactly what their bonded-one tells them to do. Some of the… wizard-lizards… will be directing the talks themselves, looking through the eyes of their setsulah and communicating mentally

show of not caring about money, yet they actually care deeply! Isn’t that

and unfortunate hangups when it comes to wealth. Ka’armodo, especially the older and more powerful mages, love to drape themselves in finery. Expensive tapestries and rugs hanging on their backs. Golden torques, rings, bands on their neck, legs, toes, through their noses, pinched through the skin. It’s enough to make