Cerebral Paladin
First Post
Shortly after Dame Brionna’s discussion with the Sixth Daughter ended, the Council gathered. They began with Kit’s summary of the report she received.
Alistair tapped his fingers thoughtfully. “I’m worried with regard to the person who was torn apart. That seems dramatically different from the other deaths and might be unrelated. Do we know which City that was in?”
Kit looked over the report. “Southworth. Let me see if I have an agent there on the fan.” She drew out a scrap of parchment listing each of the contacts on the fan. “Nope. I’ll have to go through regular, slower channels.”
“You could also send for the official police reports,” added Dame Brionna. “Even though they don’t know who the Mouth is, they will know of the office. If you send a request under the Mouth’s seal, they will respond.”
“I’ll do that. Any thoughts on the Eastern Trade Federation’s spying?”
“I suppose we could feed them false information about salt, to prevent gouging if they learn about our shortages,” said Dame Brionna.
“I suppose so,” responded Alistair. “It looks like a list of many of their major consumable trade goods. No alcohol, and the Trade Federation does deal in fine wines, although not as fine as elven wines, but their prices are not terribly volatile. The interesting thing is the heavy emphasis on basic goods.”
“Maybe military provisions?” suggested Kit.
“A definite possibility,” said Alistair. “If that’s what it is, however, the absence of pork is surprising. My understanding is that a substantial portion of the army’s meat is salt-pork, bacon and ham. Farmers can usually produce more pork than any other meat with a given supply of land.”
“All true, Your Grace, but to the best of my knowledge the Eastern Trade Federation does not deal in either pork or poultry.”
“Huh,” said Kit. “Maybe there is not enough demand in a highly urbanized area? Or maybe there is not enough profit in shipping them beyond the local area.”
The Council discussed the Trade Federation’s spying a while longer but reached no definite conclusions. They then turned to their standard topic for discussion those days: the military situation facing the Archduchy.
Alistair tapped his fingers thoughtfully. “I’m worried with regard to the person who was torn apart. That seems dramatically different from the other deaths and might be unrelated. Do we know which City that was in?”
Kit looked over the report. “Southworth. Let me see if I have an agent there on the fan.” She drew out a scrap of parchment listing each of the contacts on the fan. “Nope. I’ll have to go through regular, slower channels.”
“You could also send for the official police reports,” added Dame Brionna. “Even though they don’t know who the Mouth is, they will know of the office. If you send a request under the Mouth’s seal, they will respond.”
“I’ll do that. Any thoughts on the Eastern Trade Federation’s spying?”
“I suppose we could feed them false information about salt, to prevent gouging if they learn about our shortages,” said Dame Brionna.
“I suppose so,” responded Alistair. “It looks like a list of many of their major consumable trade goods. No alcohol, and the Trade Federation does deal in fine wines, although not as fine as elven wines, but their prices are not terribly volatile. The interesting thing is the heavy emphasis on basic goods.”
“Maybe military provisions?” suggested Kit.
“A definite possibility,” said Alistair. “If that’s what it is, however, the absence of pork is surprising. My understanding is that a substantial portion of the army’s meat is salt-pork, bacon and ham. Farmers can usually produce more pork than any other meat with a given supply of land.”
“All true, Your Grace, but to the best of my knowledge the Eastern Trade Federation does not deal in either pork or poultry.”
“Huh,” said Kit. “Maybe there is not enough demand in a highly urbanized area? Or maybe there is not enough profit in shipping them beyond the local area.”
The Council discussed the Trade Federation’s spying a while longer but reached no definite conclusions. They then turned to their standard topic for discussion those days: the military situation facing the Archduchy.