“…heard that Govain boy was the…”

“…causing a ruckus these past weeks with the bandits…”

“…daughter some mana rain and she’s 2^nd class now, advancing far faster…”

“…storms in the Govain lands and I haven’t been able to travel and meet him…”

“…debut this season along with my son so they might become good friends…”

“Julius!” Ramelle calls. “Over here! Sorry about him, he’s a commoner, no manners. Julius!”

Julius takes a deep breath and stops walking past the chattering crowd, turning instead with a customer service smile and third cupcake in hand. “Ramelle. I didn’t hear you calling.”

Ramelle is the centre of a dazzling noble mass, most of them staring at Julius out of the corner of their eyes. Ramelle is nearly a head taller than all of them, fur coat swelling his size into a particularly gaunt bear. His hand is raised, impatiently waving Julius closer and doesn’t look like he’ll stop anytime soon.

Julius can’t step away without being uncouth so he weaves his way around dresses and trailing coats to get closer. He stops a noticeable distance from the edge of the mass because none of them step aside to let him in, and already knows how this will play out.

“This is Julius, the Govain boy’s favourite little merchant,” Ramelle tells the others. “He supplied mana rain until it was sold off. You’ve heard of the central kingdom biosimilar, haven’t you? I’ve become the main supplier in the east after my uncle -Duke Malmierca of course- went into negotiations with the empress.”

“I hear the Govain boy is a 4^th class,” a woman tells Ramelle, vaguely familiar to Julius. “At only sixteen! But my cousin teaches at the school and says he hasn’t made any attempts to enrol.”

“Is that true, Julius?” Ramelle asks, not even attempting to be subtle with how they talk over Julius and watch like he’s a magical beast chained up in one of their gardens.

“Diedrik has already graduated his schooling,” Julius says with a genuine proud smile but a fake pleasantness. Diedrik didn’t mention keeping the wizard tower he’s taken over quiet, but unless the boy spreads it himself, it’s best to not spread it around. “He’s disinclined to take further studies but-“

“Hardly,” the woman scoffs and that utter dismissal brings back memories. Oh, the cousin is that teacher. “If it isn’t our magical school then it’s not worth anything and my cousin hasn’t seen him. There’s no shame in a late bloomer, especially if he has raw power but doesn’t study well.” She slides a step closer with a sharp click of a heel and puts a hand on the thick fur of Ramelle’s sleeve. “Ramelle, dear, my cousin would love to help tutor the boy and I’d adore it if you could pass along the message. This kingdom needs to help our talents after all.”

Ramelle, for all that he postures, was raised by the best and he waits patiently, unhesitatingly, until she takes her hand off him. He’s a branch family but every Malmierca knows how much they’re worth and it’s far more than this woman is offering to use him as a middle-man.

“Diedrik already graduated with a post-graduate thesis on his mana rain research,” Julius says. “I’ll pass along the offer but I don’t expect Diedrik will need a teacher for introductory alchemy.”

Ramelle frowns down at the woman. “I thought you said your cousin was head of the department.”

“Of alchemy, yes,” she tries, eyes flickering around all the nobles staring her down. “I mean at that level of seniority, does it really matter what colours our magicians wear?”

“Speaking of seniority,” Julius begins, stepping in. “Ramelle, could I steal you away for just a moment? I need some help.” He holds out a hand and waits, sliding a sideways glance at the woman who clenches her jaw.

“Of course!” Ramelle is always absolutely delighted to give some advice to his poor, stupid commoner merchants and he parts the crowd around him just by striding forward, a few others having to scramble to get out of his way.

He grasps Julius’ hand and pulls it to his inner elbow before leading him off. Not away from the crowds towards the edges of the ballroom, no. Ramelle just takes them straight past other groups, weaving like the dizzying spin of dancers, at home in the glint of jewellery.

Julius is being blinded.

“That mention of the bio-similar caught your eye, didn’t it?” Ramelle insists. “It won’t be out on the market for a long time though, I want the demand and prices up before I start selling. I’m in no rush, I have time and money. A bit annoying, but that was a smart move you made dumping excess stock to ruin the competition before you finally sold. Was that you or the Govain?”

“Bit of both,” Julius admits, side-stepping a man who almost bumps into him because people are avoiding Ramelle but don’t pay much attention to Julius. “Actually I was going to ask for-“

“Ramelle, Julius,” Claudia hisses in vicious glee, their fellow merchant stepping out of the crowd and cutting in front of them. She grabs Julius’ other arm with dagger nails and swings them around. “Watch! Oh, this is the highlight of my week.”

“We were in the middle of something,” Julius says pointedly.

Claudia just pulls them all forward a bit more, towards the edge of the centre dancefloor that’s slowly emptying since the band is taking a break. Her eager gaze comes with a mean smirk. Julius isn’t sure who that’s directed at but it doesn’t bode well.

“What is it?” Ramelle asks, peering over the heads of the crowd.

“Earl Silvan has a new mistress.” Claudia titters just as the rest of the crowd starts to turn, the ambient noise level ramping up abruptly with gossip as someone walks through the grand entrance. “I love it when this happens. She’s half his age and a commoner of course. Utterly vulgar how he’s bringing her around to events like this with his wife. I mean honestly, subtlety is dead and it is glorious.”

The crowd parts around Earl Silvan and the small, slight woman on his arm, both dressed in stark, eastern forest green with a flowing cut. The earl is exactly what Julius was expecting from Claudia’s introduction; middle-aged with a suit tailored not for comfort but to crush him back into the body of his past youth, posturing with his head too high, and looking proudly -lovestruck- at his new mistress.

“Awful,” Ramelle tuts with a frown. “Gives the other lesser nobles a bad name.”

“Alright then,” Julius says slowly, not at all interested in this show. “Ramelle, I was going to ask if you could-“

“You haven’t seen the best part yet,” Claudia cuts in. “Look – oh, the indignity! I wonder how she puts up with it?” She says it sympathetically but the way her lips pull back from her teeth is a threat. “I’d eat an earl like that for breakfast. But some women are just delicate flowers to be crushed by the rain I suppose,” she laughs.

The wife is trailing behind by more than a few steps. She’d be just another person in the crowd to Julius, if the crowd wasn’t staring at her too. She’s also middle-aged, though far more dignified and graceful about it, but with a clench to her jaw. She wears not a speck of green, not even trying to match with her husband – in fact actively pushing against it.

“Interesting,” Julius lies as he tries to extract his arm from her grip. “We’ll just be going now-“

“The mistress’ name is Kalois,” Claudia says, eyes cutting towards Julius. “A north magician. A rare find these days with the central kingdom snapping them up.”

Ah, so she does have a point other than mocking people.

“What do you know?” Ramelle asks in interest.

“Earl Silvan’s family takes great pride in their metalworking,” Claudia murmurs, quieter now that’s is actual business and not just recreational bullying. “When the central kingdom put out the request for raw metals to make weapons, I lied about my stock just as much as the next merchant, but the earl jumped at the chance to not just provide supplies but to have his people forge the weapons too.”

“He’s hardly going to see much recompense until the central kingdom settles,” Julius dismisses but then pauses. “Do you think…”

“That northerner is the recompense,” Claudia finishes. “Which might mean nothing, but what if it is settling? That empress moves fast and we have to prepare for shifts in the market if the central kingdom comes back in full force. She’s taken care of the other kingdoms who fought back but now we in the east are too strong for a limping central kingdom. Do you really think the empress will just let that go?”

“And now this is proof they’ve properly absorbed the north,” Ramelle mutters. “The west is already rebuilding under the empress’ lead and the south has been ravaged, they won’t be a problem.”

“What has Duke Malmierca been saying?” Claudia asks.

Ramelle shakes his head instead. “Nothing has actually happened; this is all still guesswork.”

“We’re merchants, we predict things. We’re all practically clairvoyant.” She pauses. “Julius, can magicians see the future?”

“I took a singular class in scrying so yes, but not with any accuracy,” he admits. “But I…am seeing a lot more magical items get funnelled into the central kingdom.”

“What kinds?” Ramelle demands.

“A lot of herbs and animal parts,” Julius explains. “Organics, the way northerners like to do magic.”

“What can you do with them?” Claudia urges.

“Organics is a lot of what I sell, and so much is starting to move out. Even if I could read anything from it, I’m not versed in north magic,” Julius says.

Claudia watches the awkward mingling of the earl and his newest mistress for a moment, then pulls away. “Good catching up with you two,” she farewells.

“And you,” Ramelle says as Claudia strides off but his eyes are distant.

That is a very interesting insight but Julius barely follows politics and he’s too small of a business to be overly affected by nobles. He’ll keep an eye on it but nothing has happened yet so he’s fine to let it lie. He’ll hear in the next merchant meeting if something happens.

“Ramelle, do you mind introducing me to the new aide to the minister of finance?” Julius finally manages to say.

Ramelle blinks back to awareness. “Pardon, what did you say?”

The lights dim and the crowd all turns towards the entrance as the debut starts.

Julius sighs and slips off Ramell’s arm. “I'll ask in a bit. Excuse me, I need to get into a better position.”