RavensDagger

  Chapter Two Hundred ay-One - How to Win Friends and Influence People

  The cervid guards before the embassy seemed to know that we were ing, because as soon as my friends and I were close, they opehe doors for us a us into an expansive lobby.

  The cervid--acc to what Amaryllis had told me before--liked open spaces and had something of a dislike of stairs. Which I figured erfectly uandable. If I art taur, I’d probably not like tight spaces and stairs either.

  The lobby arsely decorated, with a few tall, chairless tables to the sides, and some beautiful banners hanging from the walls. The tapestries were all finely woven, ofteing cervid in armour and pretty pins, with patterns woven all around.

  While I was gawking, a cervid in a butler’s uniform clopped over to us and bowed. His antlers looked like they’d been trimmed to keep them short, or maybe he was another sort of cervid? I really didn’t know much about them. “Greetings. Are you the escorts and local cultural experts?”

  I was about to say that we were o not the other when I felt a talon poke my foot. “Yes, yes we are,” Amaryllis said.

  “Wonderful,” the cervid butler replied. “The young sirs and dy you will be esc will be arriving shortly. Do you wish for any refreshments while you wait?”

  I shook my head and my friends did the same.

  “Ah, what’s the pn?” Awen asked as soon as we were alone again.

  “The two of us will be on the lookout for danger,” Amaryllis said. “While Broccoli here does her thing and befriends the cervid.”

  “You know, making friends is supposed to be a natural kind of process,” I said.

  “There’s nothing natural about how you make friends, Broccoli,” Amaryllis said.

  “Hey!”

  Awen giggled. “It’s okay. So, where do we bring them?”

  “Maybe they have somewhere they want to visit already?” I asked.

  Amaryllis nodded. “If that’s the case, then fiherwise, there’s the parade in the e District that we’ve heard about, and I suppose some of the airship docks might be impressive.”

  “And that park we walked o, the one in front of the Exploration Guild,” I said. “That might be a nice pce for a quick piic.”

  “Where would we get piic foods?” Awen asked. “Ah, what do cervids eve? There aren’t many of them in Mattergrove.”

  I didn’t know. I hadn’t spent all that much time with any cervid, and when I did it was never while sharing a proper meal. Maybe they ate hay or something. I noticed the butler cervid walking by, so I jogged over to him and fgged him down. “Heya,” I said. “We were thinking it might be o eat outside today. But we don’t know what, uh, cervid of a certain standing... uh, eat?”

  Awen made a noise, like a giggle that was trying to squeak past but was cut off.

  “I see. A piic basket of sorts? Yes, that’s a reasohing to ask for, especially as so many of the foods the sylph eat don’t sit well with most who have a more delicate pate. I ask the kits to prepare a travel pannier, if you wish.”

  “That would be great! Maybe an old b or two as well?”

  He nodded and even cracked a bit of a smile. “I’ll certainly see what I do.”

  “Thank you,” I said before I raced bay friends. “We have something of an itinerary now. Pii the park, a few nice pces to visit and gawk at. It’ll be a lot of fun, I’m sure.”

  “That will depeirely on the people we’re esc, I would think.”

  “Um, speaking of,” Awen said. She gestured to the end of the room where a pair of double doors were being pushed open. Three cervid stepped in. The first a tall, muscur guy, with a mean-looking face covered in little scars. He had a jacket on, and no shirt underh, though he was wearing barding over his fnks and lower body.

  o him was a smaller guy, with a smile on his lips that wasn’t matched by his eyes. He gnced around until he saw us, then he tio stare as he approached with the other two.

  The third was by far the smallest. A cervid girl, the first I’d ever seen. She was just tall enough that her nose was level with my eyes, and uhe other two, she seemed a lot more lithe and thin and bouncy. I supposed that came with being part deer. She had a nice sort of summer dress on, oh little embroidery on the edges, and a few flowers were tucked in her hair.

  “Hello!” I called out to them with a big happy wave. “Are you the ones who wanted a big tour of the city?”

  The big guy stopped not too far ahead of me and crossed his arms while nodding. “Yeah, we are.”

  “Wonderful,” I said. “What’re your names?”

  “Isn’t it ary for you to introduce yourself first?” the other boy-cervid asked.

  “ht,” I said. “I’m Captain Broccoli Bunch, and these are my best friends, Amaryllis Albatross, and Awen Bristlee.”

  “Hello,” the cervid girl said. “I’m Ellie.”

  “I’m Nathan,” the big one said with another serious nod.

  “And I’m Rowan.”

  I grinned. “I’m pleased to meet you all. We’re just waiting for the butler to e back, we thought it might be o make a piic of it. I don’t know if you like the food they have around here or not.”

  “It’s not that bad,” Ellie said.

  “You say that, but I think half the staff here have had iion sihey arrived,” Rowan said.

  I ughed. “Oh no. Well, let’s try to avoid that, then. I really hope that the three of you bee fast friends with the three of us!”

  Ellie LennartDream: To marry into one of the great families and to have a big family of her own.Desired Quality: Someone who knows all the good gossip.

  Rowan NathanDream: To bee a proud warrior.Desired Quality: Someone who will fight by his side.

  Nathan OriamDream: To bee the world’s greatest gardener.Desired Quality: Someone who will share in his love of horticulture.

  I grinned. All three of them seemed like perfectly nice people. “I don’t think we’ll have to wait a very long time, but while we are waiting, I was w if you three had any pces in particur you’d like to visit?”

  Rowan shrugged. “I don’t really care. I’m just gd we’ll be able to get outside without a whole squadron of sylphs tailing after us.”

  “It will be o see the city up close instead of through a window,” Ellie added.

  I nodded along. “I bet! We’ve only been here for a few days ourselves. We’re here for that big summit ing up soon. It’s a nice pce so far.”

  “Oh? Where did you travel from?” Ellie asked.

  “All over! Amaryllis is from the Harpy Mountains, Awen here’s from Mattergrove, and I’m from ada.”

  “I’m not familiar with that st one,” Nathan said.

  “It’s ly door,” I said. “Where are you three from?”

  Ellie poio herself. “I’m from Manamere, the capital, and so is Nathan here.” the bigger cervid nodded. “Rowan is from derlock.”

  “At the foot of the Golden Peak,” Amaryllis said.

  “That’s the one,” Rowan said. “It’s growing into its own little city now. A lot of folk who think that Manamere’s getting a little too cramped are moving to the smaller cities around the capital.”

  “Or they’re taking the trek to the new settlements oher end of the ti,” Ellie said.

  “Oh, that’s so . I barely know anything about the cervid, I’m afraid. We only ever spent time with one, and it wasn’t for much lohan an afternoon. I hope you don’t mind teag me a little,” I said.

  “Part of our mission here is to spread the glories of the Republic to the unknowing,” Nathan rumbled. “I’m sure we make an effort to teach you what you want to know.”

  “I’ll return the favour,” I said. “I don’t know much, but what I do know I’d love to share with my new friends.”

  The butler returhen, with two paucked under his arms. “Lords aledoes,” he said as he lowered the panniers on the ground. I hat there were bs rolled up and ched to the sides of them. “Packed lunches, for your venience.”

  “Thank you,” I said. I tried to lift one of the panniers, and I did manage, but it was quite a bit heavier than I expected.

  Nathan rumbled a ugh and took the pannier from my hand. “Let Rowan and I ha, Captain Bunch,” he said.

  “Thank you!”

  The cervid were a lot han I had expected, which was a terrible thing for me to think. I shouldn’t have expected them to be anything less--that sort of prejudice was just pin mean. I decided not to be too hard on myself, as long as I was kind enough to these three to make up for any notions I had, it would probably be okay.

  “Alright! My friends and I were talking just before you showed up, ahought that maybe we could start by visiting the e District first?”

  “That’s where they have those parades?” Rowan asked. He tossed the remaining pannier on. “Yeah, I’d like that.”

  “Great!” I said. “After that, there’s a nice park in the Yellow District that we could stop by for a bit of a piic, if the weather holds up. It gets snowy here sometimes.”

  “We handle a bit of snow,” Rowan said.

  “Speak for yourself,” Ellie said. “I’d really rather not have to have my coat brushed again.”

  I gestured to the doors with my arms and ears. “Shall we? It’s a bit of a walk, I think.”

  “Good, walking keeps you healthy,” Nathan said. He took the lead, pushing the double doors at the entrance open with ease and holding one open for us to follow him out into the early afternoon air.

  I flounced ahead of the group. I had a lot of energy, and I guess that being out of prison really made me feel bound free. I think some of that energy ied the others, because even Rowan, who seemed a little gloomy, cracked a smile.

  Ellie ered Amaryllis and Awen and started asking them about our trip over to Goldenalden, and Rowan walked a bit to the side, idly looking at the building we were walking past. Which left me o Nathan.

  “So, Nathan, uh, I don’t know if it’s rude or not, but I have a skill that tells me eople like, and I might maybe have used it on you.”

  Nathan snorted. “Alright,” he said. “I think a few merts have simir skills.”

  “Huh. Yeah, I imagihat would be useful. Anyway, you like gardening?”

  “So what if I do?” he asked, a bit guarded.

  “That’s great! I have the Gardening skill too! Mine’s not very high-rahough. I never put any points into it.”

  “You have Gardening?” he asked.

  “Yup. Although it doesn’t e in handy all that often. We spend most of our time on our airship, and there’s not that mu on a ship farden. I guess I could make a bit of room for one.”

  “All you would need are a few pnter boxes,” Nathan said. “And a way to cover them up, I suppose.”

  “Cover them? Oh, the wind. Yeah, when we’re really moving the wind might be strong enough to tear a pnt right out of the ground. Or at least erode the topsoil away. The temperature ges a lot too.”

  “Then it depends on what you’re looking to pnt. A few fl pnts are pretty hardy. Especially here. The sylph rong pnts to ehe cold this high up. And the ck of air too.”

  “Right,” I said. I was gd I was getting him to talk. “I’m not sure if I really need flowers though. They’re pretty, but it would be a bit sad if I had to grow them in a box to keep them safe and no o to see them. Maybe some sort of food?”

  “Carrots or potatoes,” Nathan proposed. “Both are fairly hardy, especially if you look after them.”

  “Oh, we could have a pretable garden,” I said. “That’s a great idea! Free produce, and fresh too.”

  “Handy in a pinch,” Nathan said.

  I grihis whole thing was going just swimmingly.

  ***

  RavensDagger

  Are You Eained?

  For the month of February there's a sale on my Patreon. Discord access will be avaible at the lowest tier all month, that means that if you want to join in on the chatting and world-building stuff, it'll only cost you 1! Better yet, Discord access is perma once you've joined (well, assuming you behave).

  Some of my stories are on TopWebFi!-amon Bun-Stray Cat Strut-Lever A-Dead Tired-Heart of DorknessVoting makes Broccoli smile!

  The following books are avaible as paperbacks (and as Ebooks) on Amazon. Oh, and there’s an awesome audiobook for amon Bun Volume One and Two, and also Love Crafted!

  (The images are links!)

  All proceeds go to funding my addi to buying art paying for food, rent, and other ies!

  Thank you so much for all your support everyone! And thank you extra hard for allowio do this for a living; I’ll do my best to keep you eained!