Most Serious Business

Writers: Dana, Eimi
Date Posted: 15th November 2008

Characters: Daigoro, Cinale
Description: Daigoro asks a young apprentice to run some important messages for him
Location: Vintner Hall
Date: month 12, day 13 of Turn 4
Notes: Comes the day after "Finally"

Cinale

Daigoro tapped his pencil against the hide in front of him, not thinking
at all about the requisition forms in front of him. He had something
much more important on his mind. The Hallsecond reached for a blank
scrap of paper of the pile and quickly scribbled a note. Wort was on
the windowsill wrapped around Fey, both snoring lightly. They looked so
comfortable and sweet, he couldn't ask them to move. They lifted their
heads in minor annoyance when Daigoro bellowed for the apprentice
sitting
outside his door but quickly fell back asleep.

"Yes, sir?" the boy asked as he peeked his head in the door.

The Master Brewer carefully folded the piece of paper and held it out
for him to take. "Take this down to the kitchens and put it in my
wife's hands. Don't dally on the way, it's important."

"Yes, sir. Right away!" He didn't have to worry. Running messages to
the kitchens was the best part of being assigned to be the Hallsecond's
runner since there was always some yummy treat at the end of it.

~~~

"Cinale, there's a boy wanting to see you."

The cook glanced at Brina briefly out of the corner of her eye before
returning her full attention to the pot she was supervising. "A boy?"

"Yes, a messenger."

"Ah." Shards, she really shouldn't leave her sauce at this critical
moment... "Take his message from him, hon, and then set it in my box
please."

"But, Cinale.... It's the Hallsecond's messenger." Brina couldn't help
but smile slyly at her superior, knowing she would never get reprimanded
for her teasing. Not by Cinale. "He says he's supposed to put it
straight in your hands."

"And I suppose I should place a nutcake in _his_ hands for his trouble,"
Cinale chuckled. "All right. I'll see to it. But you--" she jabbed a
gentle finger at the girl, "will watch this pot. Make sure it doesn't
start to bubble, you hear?"

After Brina gave her breathless assurances that she'd be careful, Cinale
wiped her hands on a towel, grabbed one of the hot, spiced nutcakes from
the basket and made her way over to the hovering boy. "You have a
message for me, young man?"

"Yes ma'am," the boy nodded, still catching his breath. "He looked most
serious when he gave it to me."

Most serious, huh? "All right then." Not _too_ concerned, she took the
rolled parchment from him, then gave him the goodie in return. "For
your trouble, hon," she winked.

"Thanks!" he grinned, happily accepting the offered treat. "Should I
wait for a reply?"

Not a bad idea. "You just sit right there," she pointed to the chair in
the corner that was pretty much out of the way of the bustling kitchen
drudges. "I'll be back in a few minutes."

Once she had escaped to the quiet confines of her office, she carefully
unrolled the parchment. And all that it said was:

"Boy: Nagoro
Girl: Dinale"

That brought a gasp of laughter from her--shards, she couldn't help it.
Most serious business indeed!

Taking her pen, Cinale dipped the tip in the inkpot, thought for a
moment, then wrote:

"Boy: Dailen
Girl: Lena"

Trying to straighten her expression into one less amused and more
dignified--and failing to do so--she handed the parchment back to the
boy who was finishing licking the crumbs from his fingertips. "There
you are. Now you run that straight back to the Hallsecond and no
dawdling,
you hear?"

"Yes, ma'am," the boy said, brushing crumbs from his tunic. He ran
along the corridors yelling "Urgent business!" to any who might be in
his way. The apprentice was pretty sure he didn't have to literally run
the message back, but it made him feel important in an otherwise dull
day.

"Sir," he panted when he was invited into the Hallsecond's office, "your
wife asked me to run this straight to you."

"Hand it here," Daigoro said and quickly unfolded the piece of
parchment. "Sit down before you collapse," he said to the boy as he
reached for his pencil once more.

"Lena?" his note began. "Is that pronounced 'Layna', 'Leena' or
'Lehna'? How about Gorolen? It's a good compromise, I think. And send
back some scraps for Wort and Fey, if you would."

"Take this back," the Hallsecond said as he rolled the hide. "You'll
need to wait for a reply."

"Yes, sir," the boy said as he took the paper and made his way down the
hall once more. If he went to the kitchens twice, did this mean he'd
get
another nutcake, he wondered as he sidestepped another group.

"Slow down, apprentice!" a Master called in annoyance behind him.

"Sorry sir, urgent Hall business!" he called back as he continued his
pace. The boy was most definitely out of breath when he reached the
kitchens this time. "Important... message... for Master Daigoro's...
wife..."

"Well, give it here then," Cinale said from behind him. Once she was
safely tucked away from prying eyes--and had distracted the boy with
another treat--she responded:

"Leena was my original thought. But Layna sounds nice too. Gorolen? I
don't know, dear... What about Roloen?"

~~~

The apprentice flopped back in the chair while the Hallsecond read the
reply he had quickly run back to Daigoro's waiting hand. Shards he was
getting tired with all this running!

"Here, feed the flits," Daigoro muttered, pushing the bowl of scraps in
the boys direction and ignoring the way he rolled his eyes wearily as he
complied.

"Both of those names are very nice," he replied, holding the paper still
with his elbow while he scribbled with one hand and ate a cookie his
wife had thoughtfully sent back with the other. "But, we had agreed
both our names should be represented. 'Roloen' is missing
yours, and 'Lena' seems to be missing mine. What about 'Ronal' and
'Rolena'?"

He brushed crumbs of cookie that had fallen onto the parchment off
before rolling it up and handing it to the boy. "Take this back with
the bowl, please."

"Yes, sir," the boy sighed, deciding all this running around was
starting to get really tiresome.

"Rolena has a nice ring to it. I'm not so sure about Ronal though....
But I've always thought that boys' names were tougher to think of, for
some reason. Maybe that's just me. Oh, Daigoro, you should see the
poor apprentice sitting out here... I think we may be overtaxing him?"

"Overtaxed?" Daigoro looked up at the boy standing next to his desk.
"You're fine, aren't you?"

Truth be told, the boy looked as green as Fey. "Actually sir, I don't
think I should have had that third piece of nutcake. In fact, I think
I'm gonna... Excuse me, sir..." The apprentice made one final dash,
this time on a mission of his own.

"Huh..." The Hallsecond grunted thoughtfully as he watched the door
swing shut behind him. "Nutcake..." Perhaps Daigoro would have to
deliver the next reply in person...

Last updated on the November 16th 2008

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