The Fire and The Storm - The Nexus of Kellaran #2

Part 13

"Take a neighborhood food store for example. If you own such a store in Serminak you can't trust anyone, so there's a list of the store's products and prices on the front, and a little barred window so customers can tell the clerk what they're ordering. They have to write down what they want if it's more than about four items, or the clerk probably gets the order wrong. The clerk takes the order, locks a cover over the little barred window, and goes around the store gathering the items. The customer passes their payment through a two-door pass-through, and the clerk gives them their items the same way, and it takes extra time putting the payment and the items in the pass-through and opening and closing and locking the little doors over and over again. You can't offer credit because you can't trust anyone to pay it back, so if a customer needs a big order suddenly and doesn't have the money on hand to pay for it, they can't get the items and you don't get the sale.

"But if you own such a store in The Just Alliance, the customer can just walk into the store and pick what they want, because you can trust them not to steal the merchandise. If you have a new item that catches their eye, they may look it over and decide to buy it, even if they hadn't planned on buying such an item before they went in. You can offer credit and know it'll be paid back, so you make more sales. Most importantly, your clerk doesn't have to do anything but take money from customers, answer their questions, and maybe put a few items into bags or baskets to make them easier to carry. So with only one clerk working in your store, you can serve up to twenty times as many customers per day.

"Like I said, I think I could prove all that already. But by doing it while playing The Game of Status, my achievements and my status will be judged and scored and directly compared with those of the unjust players of the game, which should make my point hard to ignore. Eventually I hope to convince as many players as possible to give up the game. I know there'll always be some of you Sylvan who still choose to play, but over thousands of years, I expect them to be fewer and fewer. You'll all gain far more status if you choose not to play The Game of Status.

"And one more thing; If you really think it would be so easy to do away with me, perhaps you'd care to accept my challenge to combat in the aerial arena. I may be a thirty-year-old elf and you a three-thousand year-old Sylvan, but I don't fear you."

"Hah, you're a feisty little flower, aren't you?" Dolimatbene laughed. "And you obviously don't have a Sylvan's eye for status, or you'd realize that your status as a fighter is far less than mine. Ask your elders here if you don't believe me. Since this is a somewhat diplomatic event, and I'd gain no status from crushing one such as you, I'll refrain from tasting your blood today. Much as I'm sure I'd like it. I refuse your challenge."

"She's probably right, Zayobod." Karzog stated. "She and these other elders are all among the twenty most dangerous Sylvan here, and she's the best. Among them I'd rank you seventh. She wouldn't have much trouble with you."

Zayobod's face hardened a bit. "My challenge still stands." he stated.

"And it's still refused, though I'll admit that if the dragon's right, you'd be a tougher challenge than I expected." she smiled.

"If you truly are as dangerous as the dragon says," a male Sylvan elder said, "Then you'd be a good match for me. I'll challenge you, aerial combat, anything goes."

"I accept your challenge!" Zayobod answered with a cocky grin.

"You are the one hundred and thirty-sixth pair of combatants waiting for the aerial arena." Quewanak stated. "I've done away with having people wait in line to fight. I'll let you know when the pair before you are making their way to the arena, to give you time to prepare. That will likely be about four and one-half hours from now."

"Thanks Quewanak." Zayobod grinned. "To be honest, I wasn't looking forward to waiting in line."

"And as to your evaluation of The Game of Status, you're probably right, but I don't care." Dolimatbene told him with a grin of her own. "Maybe my efforts won't be very efficient, maybe I'll lose everything and end up in poverty, maybe I'll be killed, maybe it's all a big waste. I don't care. It's worth it for the chance to win it all, and be recognized as the very best, in the only competition that truly is 'anything goes'." "But you'd still have a better chance of winning it all and being recognized as the very best if you did it as an honest person!" Zayobod insisted.

"Perhaps so, but it wouldn't be near as much fun that way!" Dolimatbene countered.

"Take it easy Zayobod." Mark laughed, cutting off the young elf's further retort. "As you said, it'll take many thousands of years to really change the Sylvan."

"Tell me Senior Dolimatbene, if I may ask," Helemia inquired, "Would you really rather be out in the world, fighting it out in the game of status, or here doing this; warring all day and partying all night?" "Hmm. That is a tough call." Dolimatbene smiled.

"Wait until you've done it for a week or so." Helemia chuckled. "I'm sure the decision will be a lot easier then, especially if you choose to partake of the Drunkenness spell."

Dolimatbene smiled, considered, and cast the spell on herself. "We'll soon see." she declared.

"Well if you're trying it, I will too." Mark laughed as he cast it. "I have no duties tonight, and I haven't been moderately drunk since before we came to Hiliani."

Soon everyone was trying it except the dragons, the unicorns, the young children and their parents, and the four young governors. Shortly after that the party really got going. Helemia had to increase the volume of the music twice so people could hear it over the multitude of exuberant voices. Occasionally some of those in the lead group got up to dance or enjoy some other activity for a while before returning to their seats.

About three hours later a male adult Sylvan approached the twins, and stood staring at them.

"What is it?!" Helemia finally asked, irritated by his manner.

"I was with Vanakit Lamitkeze, the day he tried to get revenge on you." the Sylvan stated in a strange tone. "You killed me. You made me fall and I smashed my brains out on a rock. I died, I know I died; I felt it. And then you brought me back to life. And you were only babies at the time."

He paused for a moment. "None of us ever talked about what happened that day. Not even to each other."

Three seconds later he abruptly turned and walked away without another word. They watched him go until he was lost in the crowd.

"Well that was strange." Helemia declared with a laugh.

"Is it true?" Dolimatbene asked. "Did you kill him and bring him back to life?"

"He wasn't as dead as he thought he was." Reggie chuckled. "And we didn't Heal him, Quewanak did." he added with a gesture at the green dragon.

"Huh. We always wondered what happened that day, when Vanakit never came back but the rest did." she revealed. "It's true that they refused to discuss it, and it wasn't worth trying to catch them and torture them to find out. Many of them were more than a little strange after that, and now we know why. Thinking you've been killed and resurrected could do that to a person, I expect. I'd imagine Vanakit's dead by now?"

"I'm not sure. Quewanak?" Reggie asked.

"He's in storage, as preserved and unchanging as a pickle in a jar, and completely mindless." The ancient dragon reported with a shrug. "If we ever find a use for him, I'll reactivate him and put enough of a mind into his brain to make him useful.