While she'd gotten used to responding to the duchess' summons, she hadn't expected to see Rick or Shirley. Although, as she looked at the duchess, she could tell that the duchess was surprised about something. What it was, Emily couldn't be exactly certain. Not with so many possibilities available.
Not that it really mattered, since she doubted the duchess would share any of that information with her.
Yet, as she looked at Rick and Shirley, she could tell that something had happened between them as she could feel the animosity emanating from both of them directed at each other. She couldn't say how bad it was, just that they weren't on friendly terms right then.
As Emily then looked at the others, she felt surprised to see Charlie as well. She wasn't sure how Charlie was involved in this, but she suspected that the duchess had called her here specifically and had probably asked her to bring both Shirley and Rick. Although, how the duchess knew that Charlie had found both she didn't have a clue.
"Well, now that you finally showed up, I'll begin this meeting and you better have some answers to my questions or I will have to send someone to reclaim everyone who had been a slave that escaped from that caravan. Do you understand?" the duchess said to Charlie.
"Yes, I understand," Charlie answered in a way that made Emily suspect she was wondering why the duchess was acting the way she was but wasn't going to ask about that.
"Very good. First, I'm glad you brought the one I asked you to bring, but I certainly didn't expect you to bring another that I would have asked for as well. Yet, why are they at odds with each other? I recall them being much more friendly than this."
Charlie sighed, looking like she really didn't want to talk about that subject, even though she really didn't have a choice. Not with how the duchess was right then. "It's a long story."
"Then you better start telling it to me," the duchess replied impatiently, her tone indicating she didn't care whether or not Charlie wanted to tell her the 'story' just that she better start telling it to her right then.
Charlie sighed, glancing at Shirley and Rick. "I'll give you the highlights," she said, clearly not wanting to talk about the matter. "Rick married one of the Blue Rose's advisors and Shirley isn't happy about it because of how much older the woman is."
Emily blinked. She hadn't seen that one coming, nor had the duchess based on her reaction. "Oh, he got married, did he? You must bring me the woman who tamed such a young stallion."
Charlie nodded, looking much more relaxed than she had a moment before, but then tensed up when the duchess asked her next question. "So, why is there a problem between them over that? What is she to him? I feel like I should know this, but humor me anyway."
Charlie nodded slowly. "Shirley is Rick's older sister and she's a bit protective of him and feels like he's being taken advantage of my someone much older than him."
"Of course. It's only natural for a sister to protect her brother, especially a younger brother, but naturally he should be allowed to marry whoever his heart is given. Besides, a younger man should be taken care of by an older woman. It's just one of the things that is the natural course of things."
Emily couldn't help but notice the changes in Shirley's demeanor as the duchess spoke. First she relaxed when the duchess mentioned about how it being natural that a sister should protect her brother, but then she bristled when the duchess continued on from there.
Emily couldn't help but wonder if there might be a fight between the two women before the night was out, though she couldn't say that she'd expect Shirley to win. Not with how she knew the duchess could be.
"Anyway, is that all that's going on between them?" the duchess asked Charlie, her gaze boring into Charlie.
"Yes, that's what the problem between them is," Charlie replied, seemingly oblivious to the duchess' stare, even though she was looking straight at the duchess as she spoke.
The duchess nodded, as if she had already known that's what Charlie would say. "Very well. Let's move on, shall we?"
Charlie didn't respond right away but nodded when it was clear the duchess was waiting for her to respond in some way at least.
"Now, why haven't you sent me someone like you said you would? It's been how long since we last met and I haven't received an update of any kind from you or your Blue Rose?"
Charlie blinked, making Emily wonder if Charlie had forgotten about that. She certainly remembered, but she supposed that something might have happened that had made that part slip from Charlie's mind. Such as forgetting a homework assignment when she gets a call from Ruthie unexpectedly. Emily knew of how easy that was to happen firsthand.
"Update?" Charlie echoed, clearly showing she had forgotten about that. Which Emily couldn't say that she was surprised. Not with how busy Charlie seemed to be with the people she'd been working with.
"Yes, 'update'," the duchess repeated, her tone starting to take on a dangerous edge to it, making Emily wonder if it was possible that she'd get caught in whatever fallout would happen as a result of Charlie's words.
Charlie looked around, looking like she wasn't sure what to say, but knew she needed to come up with something. Then when she looked at one of the women with her, Charlie seemed to calm down, making Emily wonder if there was something between them as to why just looking at her calmed her down.
"Actually, one of the people that accompanied me is a stand-in for the Blue Rose," Charlie said, making Emily feel a little confused. She wasn't sure what a 'stand-in' meant but she suspected that it might not be something that the duchess would accept.
"And why would I be interested in a 'stand-in' for your Blue Rose?" the duchess asked, sounding like she was a moment away from deciding to call for her guards and put Charlie in chains.
"Because the Blue Rose doesn't want her identity known among our people, so she chose a few young women to be her stand-ins and represent her in whatever issues came up that didn't require her immediate attention," Charlie answered, looking unconcerned at the danger the duchess' tone indicated, almost as if she was immune to it when Emily knew full well she wasn't. Which made Emily wonder if Charlie saw a way out of the predicament she'd gotten herself into that Emily herself didn't see.
"So, you're saying that she's like a representative of hers?" the duchess asked, sounding more relaxed than she had a moment before. Which made Emily wonder if her heart could take this roller coaster. Especially when she hadn't a clue as to what else might come up.
"Yes, she is," Charlie said confidently.
"Alright, so are you saying that she's here to give me a belated update?"
Charlie nodded, though Emily couldn't help but feel like Charlie was lying through her teeth with that point. She wasn't sure why, just that she got the feeling right then.
"Yes, of course," the young woman said, though it wasn't clear who she was addressing right then. Emily couldn't help but wonder if there was an exchange that happened while she was looking but missed it. Making her wonder if she should look more closely at what Charlie had said and the young woman's reaction.
The young woman began giving them an explanation of everything that had happened at what she referred to as 'the settlement' including various minutiae that Emily felt her eyes glaze over as they were discussed. However, the duchess attention seemed to hardly waver in the slightest as the young woman spoke. Though, her interest really started to show when it was mentioned about how Charlie had brought in several craftswomen from the capital by helping get their debts paid off when there weren't any craftswomen for sale in the slave market.
The duchess looked at Charlie appraisingly, as if she was estimating just how much Charlie would be worth herself as a slave. Though, Emily hoped that the duchess wouldn't try to do that to Charlie. Not when she was confident that the consequences would outweigh whatever benefit she hoped to get from doing that.
"And when we left there were reports of a large wolf attacking parts of where we were expanding," the young woman finished, sweat glistening on her forehead, making Emily wonder just how nervous she'd been while she spoke. As it was clear she hadn't expected to say anything at this meeting.
Which made Emily wonder just how much her 'forgetting' had been an act or if she was just incredibly fortunate this visit, as either option could be true. Making it hard to determine right then what Charlie was actually thinking right then.
_
Jenn couldn't help but feel like she was ready to start sweating buckets. She'd completely forgotten about how she was supposed to send someone with a report of what was going on for them or something every month, yet here it was nearly two months after that and she hadn't sent a single person.
While she could argue that she'd gotten busy, she knew that would merely be an excuse and she was confident that Duchess Versith wouldn't take it very kindly.
However, Jenn had to admit, at least to herself, that brining Saelea was a stroke of luck. If she hadn't allowed her to accompany Jenn on this trip, Jenn couldn't say how much trouble she might have been. Although, she wondered if now Saelea would be trapped as the one coming down her every month or if she'd be able to rotate with the others. After all, they did respect each other and it wasn't like the duchess had said that she wanted anyone in particular to give her the report.
The Duchess then looked at Jenn as Saelea finished recounting what had happened. "Not bad, but I will expect you to send someone down next month to keep me apprised of anything that happens among your people."
Jenn let out a silent breath of relief that that part was over. Though, she still had a feeling there was something more that the duchess wanted of her. Something that she suspected was still coming.
"Now, what kind of progress have you made on the other two parts I asked from you?"
Jenn blinked. She wasn't sure what they were, but she couldn't really say that they had been forgotten. "Um, we're still working on them," Jenn replied, hoping that her statement would be accepted. Even though she suspected that it would be a long shot.
"I'm sure you've gathered a partial list of your people, so why not give it to me now or recite it and I'll have a scribe write it down," the duchess said, almost dismissively.
Jenn felt her heart start to hammer in her chest. She wasn't sure what the names of all her people were, especially considering how little time she spent there. As not only was she hardly at the settlement, but she was still preoccupied at times with her real reason for having come to Telekario in the first place.
"I'll give you a list of our people," Saelea offered without hesitation. "As part of my duties, I speak with almost everyone of our people, so while we'll need to verify that I wouldn't be missing anyone, I can at least give you the names of most of our people. Although, with the new craftswomen we received, I can't say how many more names I'd need to get as well from them."
Jenn felt an urge to hug Saelea. It wasn't a strong one, but strong enough that she had to at least acknowledge it. She felt like Saelea was a lifesaver in more ways than one. Which made Jenn wonder if she should bring her stand-ins on more of her assignments, if only on the chance that she might need some of the skills or knowledge they'd picked up while as her stand-in.
The duchess nodded, looking more pleased than Jenn had expected. "I see that you're more diligent than I gave you credit for when you didn't send someone to give me the report after that first month had ended when I told you the conditions I had for not coming to collect the escaped slaves of mine out from your people." Then she paused and Jenn couldn't bring herself to break that silence, feeling that the duchess had something more she wanted to say, even if she was taking her own time in saying it. "Although, I suppose I'll need to wait for your people to deal with that wolf before I can expect to hear anything about what goods your people produce. As wild animals can be very destructive when it comes to productivity, even if it's not directly related to that part of production."
Jenn felt like she was given an extension, and reminder, of the third requirement she was supposed to do. Which Jenn couldn't help but feel grateful for. As not only did it give her a chance to collect what information she needed, but it let her know what she'd forgotten. As she doubted it would go over very well if she asked the duchess directly about the points that she'd been tasked with.
"It is rather late, and my scribes are asleep, so return here in the morning and I'll have a scribe waiting for your Blue Rose's stand-in to give a list of all of your people," the duchess said, glancing out the window towards the sky full of stars. "Although, if you encounter any others from my Emily's expedition party, please purchase them if they're still slaves. I'm trying to pay back the services she's given me and I can't think of a better way to do that than to locate where they ended up since I sold them."
Jenn glanced at Emily, not surprised to see Emily was surprised by the duchess' statement, though she couldn't help but wonder how she was supposed to know who they were while still maintaining her illusion of not knowing Emily before they supposedly met on Jenn's last visit here, when she was with the centaurs.
"Um, do you want me to let her know who else was with me?" Emily asked, apparently having the same thoughts as Jenn about the subject.
"Do whatever you need to," the duchess answered, as if she couldn't be bothered to really think about it more than she apparently already had. "If you're able to find them, then I'll consider it a large portion of what your Blue Rose owes me."
"Of course, your grace," Jenn said, nodding at the duchess, hoping that there wasn't going to be anything else. Especially since she and those with her had been escorted straight to the duchess' castle when they'd arrived at the city, making it so that they hadn't even had a chance to find a place to rest yet from their journey to Pleonths. Which Jenn hoped meant that they'd merely need to have Saelea meet with the scribe in the morning and they'd be done with this trip and could return without delay, if they really wanted to.
Though, Jenn supposed that they could at least stay for a little bit, and let Saelea take in the sights, since she still needed to get a souvenir for her stand-ins while they were here and she suspected that having Saelea preoccupied with what the duchess had asked of her, as well as looking around the city, would give her ample time to find something that would work as a gift to them. Especially since Jenn had an idea of what to get them already. Which might take a little bit to complete, since she couldn't say that it would be like a video game or one of her friends' anime shows where the items were always ready to be purchased when the characters ask about what they want.
Yet, she hoped it would be that simple as she would rather not have to come up with excuses of why they were staying longer than she'd like simply because the items she commissioned were taking longer than she'd have liked.
"Is something wrong, my lady?" Saelea whispered to her as they started to leave the duchess' presence.
"Just tired, I guess," Jenn hedged, not sure if there was something else she should say. As while she wanted to be completely open with her stand-ins, she couldn't exactly do that and set up a surprise for them at the same time. The two components were just incompatible, leaving Jenn with the worries of being able to get the souvenir aspect completed without Saelea becoming aware of it before she was ready to give it to all of her stand-ins at the same time.
"Hold up!" Jenn heard a voice call after her. Then as she turned to see who it was, she couldn't say that she was surprised to see Emily running after her.
"Is there something I forgot?" Jenn asked, doing her best to pretend to not know who Emily was, just in case there was someone watching that could report to the duchess that she did know Emily from before their meeting the last time Jenn was here.
"Pretty much, the duchess asked you to help find the people I arrived on this world with, but you didn't wait for me to tell you their names," Emily said, her tone letting Jenn know that she wanted to talk with her and was using this as an excuse to do just that.
So, Jenn nodded. "Of course, it's just been a long day for us and I guess I'm just tired."
"I get that. I didn't expect the duchess to meet with you when it was this late already. Though, I'm surprised that you didn't enter an inn outside the city to wait until morning."
Jenn sighed. They'd tried just that but apparently the duchess had already shown her face to the guards outside the city and she'd been brought in, even though they had to stop the gates from closing and reopen them just to admit Jenn and her entire party.