Your Reputation Precedes You (2/2)

Writers: Kaysea
Date Posted: 9th October 2007

Characters: Causton, Bazel
Description: Causton encourages Bazel in a new direction
Location: Vintner Hall
Date: month 6, day 3 of Turn 4

Causton reached down into the draw beside his desk and withdrew two cups and a stoppered bottle. "I'll give you a sample of what I had in mind, if you like?" Causton said mildly. He didn't want to get his hopes up, but a glimmer of interest had been sparked, he could see by the gleam in the journeyman's eye. Bazel watched closely as Causton poured a generous measure, of the golden liquid, into the glass and held it out to him.

Lifting it to his nose Bazel inhaled deeply from the glass. Swirling the measure around as though it were a fine wine, before inhaling again.
He took a small sip, allowing it to rest on his tongue while he opened his mouth a little and inhaled again. The fumes from the brandy coursing over his taste buds and to the back of his throat. No tears to the eyes, he noted. The alcohol could be felt and tasted throughout his mouth and tongue. Finally he swallowed and opened his mouth again, to savour the last of the brandy that coated his tongue.

"Not a bad drop, you can taste the wine quality there." he nodded approvingly. "Though definitely _not_ a wine in the traditional sense, it's passable."

Causton withheld the smile he felt growing, at the pomposity of the older man. Ten turns ago he would have felt outrage at the slight on his product, but now, he realised the older man's sensitivities and pride in his own crafting couldn't be overridden - or even seem to be overridden
- with compliments to another form of their crafting.

"Think it would do any good to brew some and see how it sells?" Causton asked lightly. "Of course it matures faster than wine does anyway, but we can also age it with some of the new wines next turn and see how it sells as 'roughy'."

Roughy, Causton smiled, the uninitiated's form of home-made wine commonly known as rot-gut. A gentle blending of brandywine and sharp new wine; the sharpness of the new wine masked by the sweeter brandywine mellowness of taste - it gave a killer kick to the head the next morning. Most apprentices had started their fascination with the Vintner craft by experimenting in their home holds with their own variations of roughy.

"If all else fails, we know the traders will always be willing to buy it to sell on to those far flung, out-of-the-way holds in the hills. Some have very little access to fruits and are stuck with 'shine made from tuber peels. The roughy we blend will be like nectar to them. He gave the journeyman a wide smile of encouragement.

"I suppose it would give the apprentices some much needed hands on work to do. Apart from the work they've done this turn in moving and helping to set up the vats, press and suchlike, they've been stuck in the classrooms doing theoretical work this last few months." Bazel conceded.

"It'll be another talent they can develop, and the faster production will give the newer apprentices an idea of what to expect with the vines that will start producing next season. Just a slower process." Causton nodded sagely, though inside he was a little more excited about the prospect - the majority of staff he had spoken to had been receptive to his idea, especially after the sampling he had given them all.

Bazel placed the glass back on Causton's table, "You made that stuff, didn't you?" he asked, looking across the desk at the Hallmaster.

"Yes, I did." he admitted, not proudly and not shyly, just a statement of fact.

"I lied before, you know." Bazel said quietly, looking a little abashed now. "About not tasting something like it before."

"Oh?" Causton held his gaze steady.

"Yeah, about ten turns ago, I was being posted to some sharding hole on the other side of the continent, and I happened to stop in at Rolling Hills Hold for two nights during one of the worst storms they'd ever had." Bazels eyes glazed over as he reminisced. "The Holder there was more than friendly with me, liked Vintners, he said. Gave me a glass of something quite similar to this, but not as old."

A smile began to grow on Causton's face, suspecting what was about to come.

"Said he missed his last Vintner damnably, but was grateful he'd left him a case of this stuff in the cellars, before he was posted on.
Mentioned the Vintner's name."

The old journeyman's eyes creased in amusement, as his smile spread wide across his face. "Your name seemed familiar to me, yesterday when you introduced yourself to the Masters; wasn't until you mentioned the brandywine, that I realised why."

"So my reputation preceded me, favourably I hope?"

"I wasn't about to let you know I knew what you meant," Bazel confessed, "not until you'd given me a sample. It's been turns since I tasted anything as good - except wine."

"Yes, in this case, your reputation preceded you - to your benefit.
Welcome to the Hall, Master Causton." He reached forward and picked up the empty glass, "I'd toast you, but I seem to be empty." he grinned, and held up the glass for a refill.

Last updated on the October 9th 2007

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Your Reputation Precedes You (2/2)