A Good End in Badside Part LIX

From: Oliver D. Bernuetz <bernuetz_at_...>
Date: Sat, 25 Oct 2003 13:05:29 -0000


It was a tad disconceting I must say to see Hallarax so discombobulated. Belvani and I leaned closer to him so as to hear better. "What do you know about the Willowgreen Association, Treibonus?" I briefly reviewed what I knew to see what I was prepared to share and whispered back at Hallarax, "They're one of your typical Dara Happan associations. They're from Raibanth and they own lots of property there of course. They're here in Pavis trading for, um locally produced goods which they ship back to the Empire overland." Hallarax shook his head, "Don't be a jackass Treibonus. They don't just trade drugs. Sure there's lots of money to be made in that but there's a whole hell of a lot of money to be made just in legal river traffic. It's obvious that you know nothing about the River." You could hear the capital letter in his voice and he punctuated the comment with a series of gestures with both hands. He shook his head and began speaking louder. "I'm obviously going to have to enlighten you as to the realities of life along the river. So make yourselves comfortable and keep your questions for the end." He waited until Belvani and I had settled in before continuing.

"There have been families living and working along the River.." (an abbreviated series of gestures this time, which he repeated every time he said the word river) "..for a very long time. Before Dorasor, before Pavis even, probably dating back to the time right after the waters invaded the land families have lived and worked along the River. Many of those families date back as far as the Oasis people but unlike them they've lived free for pretty much the whole time they're been along the River. It's much easier to avoid the beast riders when you live near a body of water that hates them. New families have joined the river folk over the centuries, first when Pavis built his City.." (some unrelated gestures there) "..and when Dorasor founded the New City (different gestures there). More recently there have been a few familes of river folk from Sartar who have moved to Prax after the unpleasantness there". Belvani snorted at this subtle reference to our glorious invasion.

Hallarax smiled embarrassedly and I gestured for him to continue. All water under the bridge as far as I was concerned. He continued, "Anyway all these groups have been adopted into the local cult and have married into the local river folk. We know the River, we understand the River, we consider ourselves part of the River and we've always made our living off the River. When there hasn't been a city here we were content to fish for ourselves or the Sun County folk. We've moved goods on the River for them or anyone else who is prepared to respect the River and us". He stopped and sighed, "It hasn't always been the best relations between the Sun County folk and us but more often than not we've gotten along well enough." He glared at Belvani, "Except for the business of eating newtling tails of course." Belvani sighed and had the decency to look embarrassed.

Hallarax shook his head and continued, "Even when the Lunars took over life continued much as it always had at first. They seemed prepared to treat fairly with us despite the horrible things we had heard about their past relations with water." It was my turn to be the recipient of a glare this time. I shook my head in disgust. "You don't have to remind me about that. The Empire has definitely mistreated rivers in the past. My sympathies lie with the rivers." Hallarax raised an eyebrow and then continued. "Imagine how lucrative army contracts are, or say Solanthos decides on a new building project. Who's going to ship the stone and wood along the River? What about supply shipments to Ronegarth or Corflu? Who ships the crops the new Lunar settlers are growing? If the Lunars ever get the ocean trade they want in Corflu who's going to be shipping it upriver?"

I hazarded a guess. "Local outfits?" Hallarax looked annoyed but when he continued it was at a whisper again, "Once upon a time it would have been local outfits but ever since the Willowgreen Association moved in things have changed. At first they couldn't get people to give them the time of day, especially since they didn't know the River and no one was terribly keen on helping them get on better terms with the River. We're proud around here, they couldn't offer us enough money to make us accept them. And they didn't come in as supplicants or friends, they came in as uptight Solar bastards." Hallarax sighed, "But them the accidents started. A full warehouse burned down. When the family that owned it went to the outfit who had commissioned the shipment they discovered that the Willowgreen Association had bought them out. And they weren't interested in excuses or explanations. They wanted restitution for the ruined goods right away."

Hallarax sighed again. "We helped of course, everyone pitched in and raised the money they needed. But that was just the first incident. Then a river boat was attacked by bandits. Bandits that had enough magical firepower to burn the boat to the waterline and kill everyone on board. We could have gone to the Lunars but where was out proof? We barely managed to scrape together the money to make that one good but we couldn't do anything about the next one. The family involved in that mess had to go work for the Willowgreens."

To be continued..

Oliver

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