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

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

The cervid--according to what Amaryllis had told me before--liked open spaces and had something of a dislike of stairs. Which I figured was perfectly understandable. If I was part centaur, I’d probably not like tight spaces and stairs either.

The lobby was sparsely decorated, with a few tall, chairless tables to the sides, and some beautiful banners hanging from the walls. The tapestries were all finely woven, often depicting cervid in armour and pretty plains, 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 one but 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 lady you will be escorting 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 plan?” 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 fine. Otherwise, there’s the parade in the Orange District that we’ve heard about, and I suppose some of the airship docks might be impressive.”

“And that park we walked next to, the one in front of the Exploration Guild,” I said. “That might be a nice place for a quick picnic.”

“Where would we get picnic foods?” Awen asked. “Ah, what do cervids even eat? 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 flagged him down. “Heya,” I said. “We were thinking it might be nice to 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 picnic basket of sorts? Yes, that’s a reasonable thing to ask for, especially as so many of the foods the sylph eat don’t sit well with most who have a more delicate palate. I can ask the kitchens to prepare a travel pannier, if you wish.”

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

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

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

“That will depend entirely on the people we’re escorting, 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, muscular guy, with a mean-looking face covered in little scars. He had a jacket on, and no shirt underneath, though he was wearing barding over his flanks and lower body.

Next to him was a smaller guy, with a smile on his lips that wasn’t matched by his eyes. He glanced around until he saw us, then he continued to 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 unlike the 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, one with 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 customary for you to introduce yourself first?” the other boy-cervid asked.

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

“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 come back, we thought it might be nice to make a picnic 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 indigestion since they arrived,” Rowan said.

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

Ellie Lennart
Dream: 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 Nathan
Dream: To become a proud warrior.
Desired Quality: Someone who will fight by his side.

Nathan Oriam
Dream: To become 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 wondering if you three had any places in particular you’d like to visit?”

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

“It will be nice to 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 coming up soon. It’s a nice place 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 Canada.”

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

“It’s not exactly next door,” I said. “Where are you three from?”

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

“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 on the other end of the continent,” Ellie said.

“Oh, that’s so neat. I barely know anything about the cervid, I’m afraid. We only ever spent time with one, and it wasn’t for much longer than an afternoon. I hope you don’t mind teaching 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 can 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 returned then, with two panniers tucked under his arms. “Lords and gentledoes,” he said as he lowered the panniers on the ground. I noted that there were blankets rolled up and cinched to the sides of them. “Packed lunches, for your convenience.”

“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 laugh and took the pannier from my hand. “Let Rowan and I handle it, Captain Bunch,” he said.

“Thank you!”

The cervid were a lot nicer than 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 plain 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, and we thought that maybe we could start by visiting the Orange 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 picnic, if the weather holds up. It gets snowy here sometimes.”

“We can 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 bouncy and free. I think some of that energy infected the others, because even Rowan, who seemed a little gloomy, cracked a smile.

Ellie cornered 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 next to Nathan.

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

Nathan snorted. “Alright,” he said. “I think a few merchants have similar skills.”

“Huh. Yeah, I imagine that 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-ranked though. I never put any points into it.”

“You have Gardening?” he asked.

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

“All you would need are a few planter 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 plant right out of the ground. Or at least erode the topsoil away. The temperature changes a lot too.”

“Then it depends on what you’re looking to plant. A few flowering plants are pretty hardy. Especially here. The sylph need strong plants to endure the cold this high up. And the lack of air too.”

“Right,” I said. I was glad 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 one got 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 proper vegetable garden,” I said. “That’s a great idea! Free produce, and fresh too.”

“Handy in a pinch,” Nathan said.

I grinned. This whole thing was going just swimmingly.

***