"Ah. This looks quite expensive," the man held the jewelry up to appraise it. "Might I ask if it was acquired, ah, legally?"
"It was a gift," Reah said stiffly.
"I might be willing to offer top credit," the man said, turning his eyes on Reah, "If you'll agree to spend the afternoon in my bed." Aurelius growled at the proprietor's words. The necklace was snatched away from the man so quickly he hardly realized it had left his hand.
"I'll go elsewhere," Reah's voice expressed her anger and frustration. "And I'll make a stop at the magistrate's office afterward," she snapped.
"No! No, no," the man was pleading, holding out a hand. "It was in jest, I assure you. I will pay what the necklace is worth. Secondhand, of course."
"Of course. Give me your best price or I will leave and will still visit the magistrate," Reah warned.
"I will," the man whined and named his price. Reah almost walked away. He upped it, and then upped it again. When the right amount was spoken, Reah nodded her head. She also pulled a comp-vid from her pocket to check the credit chip before leaving the store.
"Where did that necklace come from?" Tory asked.
"I gave it to her," Aurelius grumbled.
"We will go," Belen said.
Their next visit was to a hospital, where Reah spoke to a doctor.
"The baby will live now," the physician said. "If she had waited any longer, that would not be the case."
"Good," Reah sighed. She was dressed very poorly, Gavril noted. Lissa glared accusingly at Kifirin, who merely looked grim.
"Didn't she have better clothing than this?" Glinda asked, horrified that Reah would appear in public this way.
"Shall we check her closet?" Ry gave the Queen of Kifirin a nasty smile.
"No. I know what we'll find. No," Glinda held up a hand.
"And this is surely while you were stealing from her," Lissa glared at Radolf and Ilvan. "If she'd had the funds from the restaurant at least, she wouldn't be selling off her jewelry to pay for something that Gardevik should have at least looked into." Garde was the next one to receive Lissa's angry stare.
"We go," Belen said and they were gone again. This time, they appeared in the rotunda of the High Demon palace. Reah had skipped in, dressed as well as she could be under the circumstances.
"Ah, lady Reah," a servant walked over and nodded to Reah. He was tall, thin and dressed much better than Reah was.
"Randik?" Reah turned to the humanoid servant.
"If you're looking for your daughters, they are not here," Randik sighed patiently. "Master Aurelius came and took them for ice cream. They have not returned as yet." Reah's shoulders sagged at Randik's words.
"Did he say anything about coming to visit the groves afterward?" Reah asked.
"No, lady. I believe he told Princess Raedah that he had to get back after their trip for ice cream."
"Oh. Well, thank you, Randik. Tell them I'll be here tomorrow evening." Reah skipped away. Belen followed her. Reah was wiping her eyes as she prepared a meager dinner afterward and washed clothing by hand after that.
"She didn't even have a washer?" Glinda kicked Garde.
"I didn't know she needed one," Garde muttered angrily.
"I guess she was out of jewelry and her profits from the restaurant were going elsewhere," Lok shot angry looks at Ilvan and Radolf.
"Remember, we are giving a broad cross-section only. This is by no means inclusive of everyday trials," Belen said. "We will visit one other place." He transported all of them away.
* * *
"I'll give you half the profits if you'll consider this," I said. Edward sat beside me in the western grove. The fruit was halfway harvested, to the best of my estimation. Joey, Norton and Franklin were examining the harvested trees while I sat on a narrow bench between Astralan and Edward.
"Reah, I'd give you all the profits if you'd marry me." Edward rubbed my back gently. I stared up at him, shocked by his proposal. Yes, I'd felt a connection to him the moment I'd met him, but I had too much baggage dragging behind me. He didn't need to be exposed to that.
"I'll settle for half to start," I said. I'd made gishi fruit ice cream for him inside his massive kitchen and watched while a slow smile spread across his face when he tasted it. Astralan and the three healers had gotten a dish of ice cream, too, and they were just as excited. Edward and I were now discussing a gishi fruit ice-cream plant to be placed on part of EastStar's property, using the slightly blemished fruit that couldn't be shipped with the rest of the crop. Edward either sold it to local vendors or used it for seed for future plantings. I was offering an alternative for the blemished fruit.
"How quickly do you think we might get started?" Edward asked. "I have contacts in exclusive shops everywhere. They already carry my gishi fruit. It won't be a stretch for them to carry the ice cream."
"I think we can be up and operating on a limited level in four eight-days," I said. "We can set up in one of your empty buildings near the barns while we build another facility. We can clean up, install the ice-cream machines and get the inspectors out. As soon as they pass us, then we can begin making ice cream. We'll see how well it sells.""How much do you think we can charge for this?" Edward hugged my shoulders. Astralan surprised me by taking the hand closest to him and squeezing my fingers simultaneously.
"I think we can get one hundred credits for a tink, wholesale," I said. "I believe your vendors can sell it for one-seventy-five, retail." A tink was close to a half-gallon, in Aurelius' measurements.
"And since it's frozen, it'll keep a lot longer than gishi fruit," Edward chuckled. "Let's try this. I'll get a crew on one of those buildings this afternoon. I'll send a message when everything is clean, whitewashed and ready to go. Then we'll go looking for ice-cream machines and set up an inspection. I'll make arrangements with a dairy for the milk and you can look for suppliers for the other ingredients. I want this to work, Reah. That ice cream was incredible."
"I think we can turn a good profit on it," I agreed. Edward leaned down to kiss me. Did I wonder where the magic had gone? Edward wasn't fooling around, I could tell. I blinked up at him. He was wealthy, had everything he might ever want and more, yet he'd asked me to marry him. And there I was, pregnant with Teeg's child. I didn't know what to do.
"Don't worry, I'll settle for a date first, if you're willing," Edward smiled. "Just don't forget about me, all right?"
"All right. You have my comp-vid code. Let me know what's happening on your end, and I'll go looking for spice and sugar suppliers."
"I will. And you can visit anytime. If I'm in a meeting, those people should be prepared to get thrown out."
"How about we get together in a couple of days and make a few tinks of ice cream for your vendors to sample? We'll whet their appetite a little," I smiled at Edward.
"That sounds perfect. I'll get some packaging put together and we'll look good when we take it to them," Edward agreed.
"Wonderful. I'll be back in two days," I said. Astralan and I gathered the healers and folded to Campiaa.
* * *
"Boss, you're not going to let that little girl get away, are you?" Keedan gave Edward a shrewd look moments later.
"I have no intention of doing so. I just have to convince her that adding me to that stable of men she has is a good idea." Edward was grinning wider than Keedan had ever seen.
* * *
"I've missed this," Astralan sighed, swallowing his first bite of fish. Mathilde had offered to cook lunch, but I told her to sit down and take a break while I did it.
"Oh, my, this is wonderful," Mathilde sighed. "If I ask, will you help me work out a few glitches in recipes once in a while?"
"I'd be happy to. Your pot roast is the best I've ever had," I added. "The cooks have to stick together."
"And we will," she assured me, cutting into the fish again.
"This is incredible," Franklin piled sauce onto a bit of fish with his knife. "And that gishi fruit ice cream? Best ever," he stuffed the bite of food into his mouth.
"We could get Reah to do the dessert for your mother's birthday," Norton said, staring at Franklin.
"Your mother?" I lifted an eyebrow at Frank.
"The Unicorn. Kiarra is my mother," Franklin grinned.
"Oh, gosh. And I smeared blood all over her," I sighed, my cheeks burning.
"And we didn't have to do a darn thing to neutralize poison," Joey pointed out. "Usually, if one of them gets hit, we can neutralize most of it, but it takes longer and they're weak for several days, at least. This was an instant fix," Joey tossed up his hands.
"I'm glad, even if I did traumatize her," I said. "I'll be happy to make dessert for your mother's birthday. Just let me know when."
"It's next week," Franklin grinned.
"How many will be there?" I asked.
"Probably forty or fifty," Joey laughed.
"I can do that; I'll just have to ask Edward for gishi fruit."
"I think he'll give you anything you want," Norton observed dryly.
"Teeg back yet?" Dee folded in with Stellan, Galaxsan and Celestan.
"Not yet," Astralan shook his head.
"Who do we have here?" Celestan and Galaxsan were staring at Joey, Norton and Frank.
"Joey, Norton and Frank," I pointed out the proper healer at the proper time. "Healers," I added.
"For the Saa Thalarr," Joey was grinning again. I think I expected to see sparks any moment between the healers, Celestan and Galaxsan. The two warlocks were in a female cycle, according to Astralan.