Page 28 of Stranger's Choice
Chapter 9
“I apologize,dyela. The ox can only move so fast.”
Sebin smiled at the woman he had hired to take him to the nearest earth and wood sprite village. “I understood the limitations when I sought you out. No need to apologize.”
Evanie needed to visit the wood sprites to buy supplies, Sebin needed to travel without an imperial busybody at his side. Riding in the merchant’s cart might take him longer, and it wasn’t the most comfortable or dignified way to travel, but it suited his purposes. Besides, she was friendly and talkative, and that suited him as well.
“You said you make this trip once a week?”
“Yes,dyela. It’s a little more expensive to travel out to the sprites, but worth it. Their goods sell for easily twice as much as the others on the market.”
“And there is enough demand for their goods?”
“In Kalitalo? Absolutely. I know some merchants outside of the city who get frustrated because no one will pay extra for sprite grown produce and such, but most people are growing their own outside of the city, anyway. And once you get further from Kalitalo, the difference in quality isn’t so noticeable.”
“It isn’t?”
“No, the sprites help the farmers out in the countryside.”
“But not around here?”
Evanie shook her head. “We’re more segregated here. Chael is the only village within a good distance, and the humans in the farmlands closer to the city don’t want their help.”
“I bet they are annoyed that their crops go for lower prices, though.”
“Absolutely. But they still find buyers. Some people want nothing to do with the magical races.”
“And others consider magical goods a way to flaunt their wealth.”
“Exactly,dyela. Exactly.”
Evanie began cooing at her ox, though Sebin couldn’t tell that the animal noticed. It certainly didn’t move any faster.
The merchant had only confirmed what Sebin had already noticed. The majority of the people in Pynth and the citizens of Kalitalo did not see eye to eye. Tjalik’s rebellion, which focused solely on the grievances of the common folk in the city from what Sebin could tell, would never succeed as is. Outside of the capital city, the people cared little who their emperor was. They knew the bureaucracy only concerned itself over the taxes they paid. Apart from collecting those taxes, imperial officials only went to the villages and towns to punish those who broke one of the seven capital offenses. Local officials with no support from or ties to the capital handled all other crime.
Despite what Tjalik believed, the people of Pynth would not rise up to overthrow the Emperor. Not when his replacement would be another citizen of the city, someone they saw as no different from the Emperor. They didn’t care what their peers in Kalitalo said or did. They didn’t need the Emperor and didn’t care who sat on the throne. Their day-to-day lives depended on the magical races. The help the sprites, shifters, incubi, and others gave people allowed them to survive and even flourish, so long as they did not use coin as their sole measure of success.
For a rebellion to succeed, the magical races had to support it, for they would bring along the rest of the humans.
Sebin had tried to talk with Heolin, the earth sprite living at the palace, but the man wanted nothing to do with him. That had led Sebin to his present journey.
As Auraelie had mentioned, the magical races still lived in their own enclaves apart from humans—though out in the countryside, it never took long to travel from a human village to an enclave of one of the magical races. For the most part, the individual magical races did not mix either.
The earth and wood sprites were the sole exception. They often lived in close proximity to each other, intermingling more than most of the magical races did. Both races called Chael home.
Sebin hoped to find answers among the sprites. As things stood, he doubted they would support a rebellion. Overthrowing the Emperor would end the treaty they relied on to keep their people safe. But they had to be unhappy with the status quo, too. If Sebin could learn what assurances they needed from a new government to secure their support, he could work with Tjalik to expand his vision for the rebels.
Arriving in the village just before sunset, Sebin and Evanie went directly to the inn. Sebin secured a room for himself and mentioned that he had come to discuss direct trade agreements between the sprites and Moial.
“You’ll need to talk to Rin for that,dyela.” The innkeeper said.
“Where do I find Rin?”
The innkeeper shrugged. “If he wants to talk to you, he’ll make himself known. Until then, I suggest you enjoy your supper.”
Sebin accepted a plate of flatbread and stewed vegetables and found a seat. He left Evanie to her own contacts in the village and waited to see who might approach him.
He had finished his second helping of supper when a short but powerfully built man entered the common room, talked to the innkeeper, and looked in Sebin’s direction. He didn’t approach right away, and Sebin pretended he hadn’t noticed the conversation about himself. He ate his last bite of flatbread, took another sip of ale, and waited a little more.
