Young Writers Society

"Well, I do hope you'll be more impressed by me," Aleth answered with faux humility, offering a slight smile. He was already learning so much, and hadn't even been here a full five minutes yet."I've got a fair bit more to offer than a mere show."

He wasn't sure what the last comment had meant. Was Tarr likening him to Ash? Immediately after insulting Ash? He decided to carefully continue, "And, who knows? Might be nice to have a fox on your side to out-wit the weasel."

"Oh, they're one and the same." Was Aleth getting comfortable? Tarr stopped outside his office, taking put his key as he glared at the older man. "You are a necessity, sir. Nothing more. One wrong step and I'll have your cock dangling from the wall's parapet, do you understand?" A small thrill went through him, and behind the group General Utrid put his face in his hands.

The boy wasn't going to last a month. The instant Ash made an attach, the Tarr estate was going to fall. The boy wasn't cut out for these types of affairs, clearly. Thinking it was going to be fun. Threatening the man who'd come to help him, before he'd so much as gotten his coat off.

Aleth eyed him for a moment, face impassive, considering his options. Tarr clearly valued strength more than intelligence. He could come back with his own quip, 'I hope my cock will be a great consolation to you as you watch your fortress fall' -- or return with a threat. Or, he could keep lathering on the compliments, though something told him just then that this was a testing moment. One where Tarr wanted to see if there was actually any bite to Aleth's bark, and he wasn't one to disappoint.

"Well, I do hope you'll stop to consider why I'm a necessity before you make any rash decisions," Aleth answered dryly, narrowing his eyes ever so slightly. "I do imagine I'll be far less inclined to help if I'm parted from my best feature."

Tarr's eyes locked with his for a long moment. He was taller and likely stronger; he could crush this man like a grape if he wanted to. But he was right; Tarr needed Aleth right now, and destroying an ally meant he might be thrown out of Tomhas Loquitur's good graces. Not that he needed the good opinion of a bastard, of course...he just needed more land.
His face broke into a crooked smile, and he clapped Aleth on the shoulder heartily. "A jest, my friend," he said quickly. "You've obviously not had much experience with my family. Come inside and rest." He opened the door.

The study was a large, elegant room hung with the dark blue and silver banners of House Tarr. Taxidermied animals, including an impressive Northern Cat specimen, lined the walls and a stuffed spider the size of a dog crouched in one corner. In place of rugs there were several skins, and even the three armchairs were made from animal hide. The fireplace was already roaring, and the temperature was significantly higher in here. Tarr unclipped his cloak and threw his gloves onto the massive desk, then threw himself down in the bear-hide chair, kicking his feet up. "Sit," he said, gesturing to one of the other chairs. "We can get down to proper business now."

And you obviously haven’t had much experience with me if you think I can’t tell the difference between a joke and a threat. But, then, Aleth had been threatened by men much, much scarier than Tarr. It was hardly new territory. So, he smiled thinly and nodded amicably as he followed Tarr into a room filled with stuffed corpses and even more furs. That made enough sense, with the hellish climate in this godsforsaken country.

Aleth also removed his coat and settled in the seat Tarr offered him, folding his own coat over his knees. He glanced around the room for a moment before they locked back ok Tarr.

“Excellent!” he said brightly, offering another smile. “How about you tell me how it is you’re envisioning I assist you?”

Tarr fidgeted with the clasps on his tunic. "We will speak more in-depth when the Loquiturs and the Ladies Barraster arrive, but the gist of it is that we require someone on the inside. Lady Anneke has no desire to spy on the people she considers her family, though she and Lady Sara are still close. Lady Constance suggested we bring in a third party well-versed in gathering information." He glanced at where Aleth sat. "One of her Counts mentioned you, and Lord Loquitur was intrigued. We were hoping you, being like-minded to Lord Gaius in some ways, might get close to him and relay information." Personally he didn't see much reason to do that when they could just as easily hire an assassin, but Tomhas was still soft on his half-brother, it seemed.

Aleth nodded slowly, listening to Tarr explain. It surprised him a bit that Loquitur was coming TO Tarr instead of the other way around, but it’d be nice to have a bit of time to orient himself to a place before he became out numbered. The difficulty of his job increased exponentially with every additional person that was added. He’d need to make sure the keep Ky close during those meetings.

“Of course,” Aleth agreed, hiding his uneasiness. He preferred to send people in to get information, not to be the person who was sent. But, he didn’t have any informants within Ash’s estate yet, so may as well go establish his presence himself. “I’m sure we can nail down specifics on expectations in information and compensation once the Lord Loquitur arrives. One thing that’s a bit of an, ah,” Aleth hesitated a moment and flashed a disarming smile. “Important part of my process is my assistant, Ky. He will be present in any meeting that I attend in an official capacity, here or elsewhere. I trust that won’t be an issue?”

"Is he trustworthy?" Loquitur had said he wanted to involve as few outsiders as necessary. He'd been hard-pressed to even include Aleth. "These meetings are on a need to know basis. Why do you need him?" Even he wasn't going to have any servants present; just his two generals and the other Houses' generals.

"I only trust two men in this life," Aleth answered, wondering if Tarr was going to notice the coming slight. "And I brought both of them with me."

He smoothed his coat down on his lap, smiling again to reassure him.

"You may rest assured that Ky's presence is nothing more than an extension of my own," he continued, deciding to offer a brief reason, even though he didn't need to explain himself to Tarr. Nice, for now. He'd be an asshole about it if the time came, but, for now, playing nice. "I am excellent at what I do because I pay very close attention. To every sigh, every clenched jaw, every sideward glance, the inflection with which each word is said. I miss very little, and with his added eyes and ears, I miss nothing at all... besides, he can serve as our secretary. It's rather nice to have someone keeping records for us, so we don't have to bother with that ourselves, and don't have to worry about some slave running off to tell our business to people who have no need to hear it."

"Lord Loquitur's wife has taken up record keeping," Tarr replied curtly. "Take it up with her if you want someone else. She and her husband will be here within a few days." He found himself wondering if he'd given away with a twitch. If this man was as good as he said he was, it seemed almost nobody escaped his notice. A blessing and a curse, really. Tarr would have to watch his own back while Aleth stayed here and see to it that he avoided the servant as well. "And my slaves wouldn't dare do such a thing. They've been trained well enough not to cavort with the enemy."

Well, these were to be interesting dynamics, weren't they? Tarr going around threatening his wife, and even Aleth, but too scared to speak for the Lady Loquitur. It was just as well. Aleth had "asked" as a formality, but it wasn't something he was going to budge on. He'd have Ky, or Tarr wouldn't have either of them. It was as simple as that.

"Of course." Aleth inclined his head. "I meant no disrespect. I was simply trying to reiterate Ky's trustworthiness... you say that the Houses backing Loquitur will all be arriving to your estate in the near future?"

"That's correct. We can enter more serious planning at that time, but my job at the moment is to get a feel for what you want in return for your services. I'm prepared to offer money or slaves, or if something else appeals to you we can discuss it." Aleth seemed expensive; Tarr had been reassured by Loquitur that he would be repaid, but parting with anything still left him with a sour taste in his mouth.

"I have no need for slaves," Aleth answered with a small smile. "I don't enjoy having people in my home that I don't explicitly trust, and it takes far too much of my time to train more servants than I need."

Besides, he would never understand why noblemen felt the need to have whole fleets of slaves to wait on them. It not only was a monetary investment to obtain them, but took even more money to feed and clothe them. He had Yuane to cook and keep his house, Tadaaki to run errands and tend to his horses and property, and Ky to assist him with his work. What else did he need?

"I do however expect to be well compensated monetarily," Aleth continued. "I am the one who is risking my own neck to obtain and pass along valuable intelligence to you. It's taken me much time, effort, and money to ensure that both Ky and I are trained in understanding and writing in numerous languages, as well has having learned many methods of coding and decoding messages and sending them along without being discovered."

He took a deep breath, glancing around again. It was clear that Tarr didn't want for money or shy away from spending it.

"But, I'm sure you expected as much when you invited me." Aleth offered a friendly smile, forcing as much warmth into his expression as he could muster. "And I assure you, you'll find that my services are well worth the investment."

"I'm willing to go to ten thousand gold clappers, no more." A fair amount of money to start with; Tarr would let him haggle further and was prepared to do so himself, but Tomhas and the others had advised a budget. He'd been reluctant; he could go up to a hundred thousand if only to flaunt his wealth, but the others wouldn't let him go any further than fifty thousand.
On the other hand, Loquitur wasn't here, and neither were the Barrasters. Tarr was Lord of this Keep, not them! He could do as he wished.
For now he would stick to the lowest sum, but he'd go higher if he had to. Much higher.

"Absolutely not," Aleth answered without hesitation. For one, he knew noblemen tended to offer far less than they were actually willing to pay, ironically enough. Poor men that approached him would do so with their entire life's savings, begging for help, whereas rich men somehow thought he'd give away his services for less than they were worth. "That's what my services were worth twenty years ago."

Not that the boy had any idea what the world was like twenty years ago, having not been alive at the time. At this point, Aleth wasn't so convinced that Tarr was knowledgeable about what the world was like now, either.

He'd settle for 60,000 and not a coin less. But, people seemed to feel like they'd won something when they haggled him down, so. "Now, they're worth 75,000."