Belsegallia-Ghratos trade negotiations

Aurora
21

”The I believe that we can consider the formal meeting to be concluded.”

Ariana was paying attention to the signed document, which would need to be copied for Ghratos to hold, and it took her a few seconds to notice that Duke Caes and the rest of the Ghratean delegation were close to the exit door.

”Where did you think you were going? You weren’t planning to skip out on Rosalia and the lovely food that he made for you, were you?”

Just as Duchess Ariana says this, another door to the room opens and the diminutive Duchescina walks in with a plate full of what appear to be dumplings of some sort.

”Oh Duke Caes! I brought your dumplings for you! Hmm? Why are you by the door? We, were you going to leave without eating my dumplings?”

Duchescina Rosalia looks like he’s becoming very upset at the possibility that Duke Caes was about to leave without eating his food. He almost looks like he’s about to start crying when Ariana interjects:

”Of course not, dear; He was just stretching his legs before sitting down to eat, right?” Duchess Ariana says while glaring at Duke Caes.

”Ooh… okay. I, I’ll bring your food to you then.”

Duchescina Rosalia looks to have calmed down somewhat, and approaches Duke Caes and the meeting table near him and Ariana.

”Here are the ham dumplings that you asked for. I left them very hot; please try not to burn yourself on them.”

The dumplings are a temperature that would be considered “warm” by a non-Belsedori. They’re also being served with a side of some kind of cream sauce.

”I picked the best ham that I could find for them, and I used the best cream that I can make for the sauce. I hope you like them. I also brought some more tea for you.”

Duchescina Rosalia seems very anxious about what Duke Caes will think of his food.

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22

Caes apologized before he took a dumpling. “Sorry, I just needed to stand for a moment.”

He sat down and took one- at this point, he was quite confident that Human and Belsedori tempratures were not quite the same, so he picked one up, unconcerned about its temprature. He ate it, and, pleasantly suprised by the temprature, he found the dumpling quite enjoyable.

“This was quite a good dumpling- I cant say that they’re too common in Xhaasa, so a nice change of pace from the infinite varriations of rice we mostly eat.” It sounded like the latter part of that sentence was a joke.

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23

”Ooh, that’s looooovely! I used all of the best ingredients in it; I got the best Larinata ham that I had in the pantry…”

(Larinata ham is blue, and cured with a magical reagent powder that’s made of crushed enchanted ice, crushed inert witch’s tourmaline, Belsegallian sugar, and some spices like salt and cloves.)

”…I added some honey onto it to make it sweet…

(Honey in Belsegallia is purple because the bees use nectar from unusual flowering plants that aren’t found elsewhere. It’s purple in color, tastes like sweetened grape jam, and can be dried to make Belsegallian sugar.)

”…I used magic to make the bread extra light and fluffy like clouds are; I can show you how to do that later if you want, and since you’re my extra special guest, all of the extra-delicious milk and dairy in the dumplings and tea is obviously from-“

Ariana interrupts Duchescina Rosalia at this point.

”I’m sure that Duke Caes would love to hear all about your cooking skills at another time, dear, but I think that he would like to be able to eat in peace right now.”

”Oh, of course. i’m sorry.”

Duchess Ariana addresses Duke Caes now.

”Let me know when you’re done with your meal, and I’ll walk you and your staff to your mounts. I hope you enjoyed your stay in Belsegallia; our kingdom will always be open to receive you as a guest.”

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24

Caes finishes his food speaks to Ariana and Rosalia.

“Thank you, kindly, Duchess. Thank you, as well, Rosalia, for the chat and the food. I think our visit has proven fruitful, and I sincerely expect that the Triarchs will accept the terms of our deal.”
With that, he finished his goodbyes, and he and the rest of his entourage got on their Maquida and headed back to Pontentium.

BACK IN GHRATOS

After Caes gave the appropriate documentation to the Triarchs’ assistants for them to later mull over, they pulled him over for him to describe the Belsedori. He thought for a moment.

“Generally a well-intentioned people, it seems, but there are a lot of intense cultural differences between Belsedori and humans… They’re fiercely matriarchal, similar to the cloud fae, but unlike the far, their men seem to mainly be playthings for the women- stay at home fathers, like the reverse in some patriarchal societies, yes, but more then that- the men are almost like dolls, little to no independence, sheltered, not allowed to hear about or see weaponry, dressed up, rarely allowed to leave their residences, and very few rights besides whatever freedoms their wives feel is safe for them… furthermore, the sexes are very hard to tell apart for humans- both sexes have breasts, it seems that dresses and skirts are worn by both. It seems that isolation has prevented them from knowing much about human societies, so they aren’t very capable of understanding patriarchal or relativity equal societies- my entire visit, they couldn’t really comprehend me being the ruling noble of Iyanala or serving in the indecent with the former Xarban king. despite their good intentions, being on that floating island has made them completely unknowing of the outside world, and such isolation led them incapable of the kind of acceptance we have in Ghratos. Still, besides what i’ve mentioned, they’re a rather civilized society.” He couldn’t lie- the mission was stressful, trying to keep up with Belsedori customs in an effort not to offend them. It was still, however, a profound experience in which he learned a lot, and for what it was worth, the Belsedori were not at all antagonistic towards him. He was generally pleased with the mission- although he didn’t plan on going back any time soon- he would need more recovery time for that.

Caes left Pontentium soon after, en route back to Iyanala, where his wife was ruling in his stead. Little did he know, he would be travelling back in just a few weeks.

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25

MEANWHILE IN BELSEGALLIA.

Duchescina Rosalia is serving his wife some more tea shortly after they wave Duke Caes off as he leaves with the rest of the Ghratean diplomats.

”It was nice to get to meet somebody from outside of Belsegallia.”

”Indeed. His wife really should take better care of him, though; I can’t imagine letting you go anywhere near a battlefield like that. And it seems strange to me that she would let her consort travel without her accompaniment, especially to something like a diplomatic meeting.”

”Male Ghrateans seem to get to travel at least a little more often than Belsedori; he said that he got to visit another city in Xhaasa as a child. He also mentioned that a region in Ghratos called Amisa was a very beautiful place to visit and is very cold this time of year, and I was wondering if we could go on a trip there…”

Duchess Ariana takes a sip of her tea before setting it down.

”Normally I’d say that you’d be better off staying at home like you usually do, but maybe I can take you with me if I make arrangements to meet with an Amisan duchess for a diplomatic visit. Ghratos is a relatively long distance away, and I don’t think that your milk would keep for long enough.* And Her Majesty is likely to want to keep diplomatic relations between Belsegallia and Ghratos as positive as possible, so she should assent to a trip to Ghratos now that the trade agreement is concluded.”

”Oh, that’s lovely! I can’t wait to go to Amisa; I wonder if they have horses there. And it will be so nice to get to serve them some ice cream, or milk shakes…”

”Speaking of which, I wonder why Duke Caes never offered anything to us.”

”Maybe Ghratean customs are different; he wasn’t wearing a hair ribbon or anything else either. Or he just didn’t have any at the moment; he didn’t exactly look particularly… bountiful. His voice was really deep too, and he was closer to your height than mine.”

”He did look a bit different from a Belsedori, but he’s a human so that’s to be expected. But his wife must be very tall if he’s already about my height; I’d be as short as a boy relative to them if we travel to Amisa, and you’d be so small that they might even mistake you for my child. Are you sure that you want to go with me? I wouldn’t want you to get scared by being in such an unfamiliar environment.”

Rosalia considers the question for a moment.

”Yes, I want to go with you. I’d feel so sad if you had to forego giving a proper meeting gift to the Amisan nobles on my account, and I can always hold your arm if I get anxious.”

”If you’re sure, then I suppose that it’s fine. I’ll ask Her Majesty for authorization to travel to Amisa for a follow-up visit, after which I can make arrangements for the trip with the Ghrateans. And if you’re going with me, then I should have some enchanted chilling apparel and a parasol prepared to keep you nice and comfortable and to keep the hot sun off of your delicate face.”

”Oh, I can’t wait to go! It’ll be so lovely to travel to Amisa; I’ll have so much fun meeting the duchess’ consort, and I’ll give them so much ice cream and dairy for the whole time that I’m there! And I might finally get to see the ocean; I’ve never been able to get close to that much water at once. I heard that humans use things called “boats” to travel across water because they can’t fly, so maybe we’ll get to see one. But Belsedori and humans seem to be very different, so our trip to Amisa will probably be a bit jarring for both us and the Ghrateans.”

*It is Belsedori custom for a married woman visiting or temporarily staying in another household to offer the homeowners some of her consort’s milk as a gift and as a gesture of generosity and friendship.

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