ΦNOOOOOO! Vėja's question is way too difficult. What am I supposed to even say as my answer? I mainly thought about just using the Zetties to get the food over here. I don't really know the geography well enough to think up any other solutions! Dammit, Orb, this is why I needed your help!
Location: Boys' room
Φ A sensation runs through the body of the boy lying happily across the bed that jolts him upwards. Opening his eyes as he stands up, he says, "Maple is in trouble. I've got to go!"
He quickly shifts his head around, trying to take note of his surroundings, and finds a letter to his right. Picking it up, he reads it and says, "Hello Orb, we have all been invited to a dinner by the ministers. You are only to come when your energy levels have been restored, you've got that? I don't want to see you there unless you're in peak shape. If you come before that, I will turn all my tails into a giant fist and pound you into the ground repeatedly!"
"How adorable, Suzuka, but not like anything could stop me from coming to your guys' side, I need to go get dressed and move ou-."
As Orb begins moving his eyes comes across a sight that shocks every inch of his brain into silence. Sitting on a chair in the corner of the room by the window is Elia in a gown similar to what Ivana wore to the dinner.
"The way she tilts her head, the way the moonlight falls on her body, the way the air brushes against her head, the positioning of her hands, the subtle movement when she breathes in and out, even the way she creaks the chair she sits on. It's perfect. It all blends together into a glorious, harmonious symphony. Is this allowed? Are my eyes allowed to see such things? I feel like I need to take a ruler towards her, and scale out the perfection that is this sight. Even if you were to strip away every aspect of her from her body render her nothing more than a sketch, it would still be perfect, no, that isn't right, she didn't only perfectly position the human body, but also all her unique features as well. My god!"
Orb, stunned for a moment, rolls his body up into a ball and stares directly at Elia, enraptured and captured by everything in front of him, and as he stares, everything in the world fades, and he zones into the sight in front of him.
He quickly manifests his wolf ears and says, "I need to better capture every aspect of this; I need to burn this into all of my senses."
ΦFeeling the gaze of the wolf across my skin, I feel the laughter that wishes to be released from my mouth play out in my brain. I know it right now, I know that every aspect of your body is locked onto my perfection Orb. Your words are correct. I set this entire thing up, this pose, this position, the subtle movement, all calculated to perfection. I even prayed for the moonlight's positioning to be right where I need it. Thankfully, it has come through. Stop and gaze all you want, because this sight in front of you is something many will never get to experience in their lifetimes! Thank your parents, teachers, and god that you have been given enough intelligence to understand the perfection I have brought before you. Clap your hands in happiness every day that your wittle little brain has enough power and strength to comprehend everything that I am.
You're words show appreciation, so I will continue this on for a little while longer, but don't think this will last forever. Soon it will fade, and just like a drug crash, your body will experience withdrawals, so carve it into your mind, and respect the image in your brain. Understand, if you do anything with this image, I will slaughter you as you sleep, but due to your friendship with Iancu, I might allow it to go a single time before I kill you. NOW LOOK!
ΦOrb's eyes stay transfixed on the sight in front of him. "I need to move, but I feel like the perfect sight in front of me has only gotten better. This is bad, this is bad, my brain can't handle this! But I need to look!"
ΦMy vision doesn't even stray for a moment, and to better embed the sight into my body, I focus in on my ears and try to take in every single little nose across the room. I need to go deeper, I need to hear more, I need to embed more of it into each office of my body! Throughout my ears, an echoing sound passes through, and my body jolts up.
"Wait, what?"
I quickly drop my body to the ground, and press my ears against the floor and start listening in, and after a few moments, an echoing sound flies into my ears. "No way? But why would I hear it here as well? This doesn't make sense?"
ΦHuh? What's going on? Why isn't Orb staring at me? I can feel his attention is located somewhere else. This doesn't make sense. Aren't you a true appreciator of the human form? Don't you respect and adore mathematical perfection? Was I wrong? No. But maybe I might have miscalculated? No, obviously not. BUT WHAT'S GOING ON! Did the moon betray me? Did his brain overload from the sight? SOMEBODY EXPLAIN TO ME WHAT'S GOING ON!
Location: Dinner room
Φ Holding my hands, I take a deep breath. Orb isn't here, right now; he should be resting to get his body back to normal. I've got to handle this myself. This is what all those boring meetings and studying were for. I just need to try my best.
Looking forward, I say, "Another option is the usage of the western area of Victoria, from that space we could set up a port and then start delivering the food by sea."
"To my knowledge, you're country is located around the east of Victoria, how will you reach the western area?"
"Orb will make a way through for us."
"You do realise what you are saying, correct? Victoria has more width than Enotita and Terrafide combined. Besides, this plays into another issue, Orb's lifespan. For all we know, he could expire before you ever reach the westernmost points of Victoria. All in all, I think everything you said so far has been just about pointless if you can't figure such things out. So I raise you all a deal, from this point on, focus all of Orb's efforts at reaching the westernmost point and set up a port there for future shipping endeavours."
"That would be a very long and time-consuming process."
"Why does it matter? Didn't you say that Orb will eventually remove snow from all of Victoria? So how does making him prioritise the place important for our deal affect you in any way?"
Because Orb's original plan was to remove snow from the area connecting Nifilheim to Enotita, since their far closer in position, and give ourselves a foothold into the Continent that has no issue with us. This would delay our plan by I don't even know how many years if we did it, but Orb didn't reveal this information to Dragoste earlier, so I shouldn't.
"Like I said, a large project like that would require quite a lot of time, but effort as well. This could cause issues without civilians. Right now, our major focus is on making life better for all of the people within Nifilheim. But such a project would be extremely taxing on them, as building both a road across such a large area, and a port would take lots of time and effort, with the rewards being pushed far down the line. It's unfair for us."
"The alternative is equally unfair for us as well. For this project, we will have to be sending you supplies like grain, and whatnot for it to grow on your more fertile land, while also reducing our reliance and are bonds with our current importers, this will have negative effects on us. This in itself is a huge risk we will be taking, and depending on when your rather reckless kind life ends, we might be stuck with absolutely no profit from it. You might be a little girl, but you are also the leader of your people and your answers have done everything except making me want to agree to this contract."
I click my fingers rapidly under the table as my mind goes wild. What's with the attitude and insults? I feel like I want to cut up this giant bird and cook her for lunch. But I can't get mad; I can be filled with fury. This isn't about me, it's about everyone else. Just put on the best smile you can manifest, remove all my emotions that make me be erratic, you have a duty as the village chef, and you're not ignorant like you were before. The class with Cultúir, Orb, Pine, and Elliot have given me knowledge that I can wield.
"Then we could use Cordum as our base instead. We plan on setting up a shop and selling Basileia crystals there. For that business, we will need to set up our own trading company. Basileia crystals are also incredibly rare resources, which means any form of transportation we will do will be harassed, so it wouldn't be strange if, later on, we used our own profits to set up a shipping company as well. We could use that as an excuse to have a series of boats moving all across Molstoria with high security, without anyone thinking the wiser. The using all of these boats, we could be secretly transporting resources to you."
Vėja says, "Smart plan in concept, but that then requires you to transport high amounts of food directly towards Cordum, the trade centre of the world? Do you truly believe you can do that in secrecy?"
"A large number of Lady Dush's house staff stay with us now. Almost all of them participated in the logistics required to run the international Zettie business that allowed Skydust to thrive throughout its entire lifetime. We may not have tangible results now, but I don't think we could get any better help if this is the path we choose to go down. I understand your worries about your positions. But I doubt if we can't carry out the Cordum project properly, we would be able to do much else better or faster. The fact of the matter is, there is a risk associated with us; we have already informed you of the issues we had with even claiming the Basileia crystals, and not to mention the Beastkin association in general. So I will not go over an acceptable level to assure your position, because the risk is inherent."
Vėja says, "I stand corrected. What you have said does indeed carry weight."
Stiprais laughs and then says, "Little girl, no, young woman. In the face of her taunts and provocation, you kept an orderly, calm and respectful demeanour. Truly, the strength all young women should exude. Exactly the opposite of a crying, erratic, and snivelling drunk who can barely hold their utensils in the right hand."
My eyes gleam over to Ivana, who begins to whimper, and I can feel the rage inside my body rise towards my mouth. Though Willow quickly grabs my hands, calming my body. He stares at me for a moment, and I understand his intent without words. But still, who gives them the right to talk to their kids like that?
Φ Seeing Maple calm down, Veekeeris lets out a sigh of disappointment, then turns to Dumnorix and Abbán and says, "Now Maple's words do bring up another issue that needs to be solved. That is the presence of the Beastkin and how their existence will affect our future dealings with you all."