Among all of the revelry was a small moment—the tiniest of pauses—in which the performers went about readying their next acts. Eldan, Tilo An, Peijin-Octad, and a number of Octad’s staff all gathered together right about the same time. Eldan seemed to be at the center of it, explaining something to the others, and then even Lady Darrell joined in to partake of their...discussion, or planning, or whatever it was.
I couldn’t help but wonder what they were talking about, being that they’d all kinda just met and all, but boy were they all really gung ho about something. Every now and again one of them would turn to look at me, but not like they wanted me to come over, and not like they had something they wanted to talk to me about... It was more like they were scheming something.
I was about as curious as a man could get, but before I could do anything the performers started swinging and singing all over again.
“Dias! It’s starting again!” Senai cried.
“You have to watch it this time!” Ayhan demanded.
And just like that, my attention was drawn back to the show, and all I could think about was the wondrous song and dance playing out before my eyes.
I walked around the village square with the twins, checking out all the different performers, and we met up with the young baars, who were doing the very same thing with their parents. The young ones must have been a bit worn out from all the excitement, because they were all yawning.
The twins didn’t hesitate to act, and they picked up the young baars and walked off to our yurt. I watched them go, wondering what to do next, but I didn’t have to think for very long. Peijin-Octad had finished his discussion with the others and was on his way over to speak with me.
“I tell you!” he cried. “Thanks to you, Duke Baarbadal, I’ve met some truly wonderful people! I couldn’t be more grateful, I really couldn’t, but I’ll be sure to repay you for all the connections somewhere down the line, I assure you! Anyway, I brought you a whole host of good stuff, and I sure would like a chance to tell you all about it. My attendants have already unloaded it, and it’s neatly lined up in front of your storehouses. I was wondering if you could spare a few moments to head over?”
I remembered then that Peijin-Octad had come with a huge caravan. I knew the carriages weren’t all full of gifts, but knowing Octad, he would have brought a lot for us. I figured that it was best to get to sorting the stuff sooner rather than later, and even though I was pretty sure Hubert was already on it, I thought I’d check it out myself too.
“All righty then,” I said. “Let’s go take a look.”
I walked with Peijin-Octad over to the storehouses, where there was some red fabric laid out on the grass, and on top of it were big chests the likes of which I’d never seen before. They were painted black and were all mighty glossy. The four corners of each were decorated in gold, and there was a steel handle on either side. There were even some decorations on the bottom that looked like little legs for the chests to stand on.
It was a bit unusual, but I’d seen similar chests before, just...smaller. These were like bigger, more luxurious versions. Each chest was big enough that, honestly, I wasn’t sure I’d have been able to carry one on my own. I wondered how you were supposed to grip the handles. But after a little thought, it dawned on me that each chest was a two-person job. Still, with that mystery out of the way, one still remained: What was in these expensive-looking chests anyway?
That was when Hubert came out of a storehouse with a whole bunch of paper in his hand that presumably listed all the stuff Peijin-Octad had brought us. When he noticed me he ran straight over.
“Lord Dias, are you here to check on the delivery?” he asked. “I’ve been through most of the list myself, but some of it I can’t actually discern by the name of the product alone... Sir Octad, would you be so kind as to explain what you’ve brought?”
Octad nodded happily, took a look at the list and what was giving Hubert some grief, and then walked over to the chest I’d been admiring moments earlier and took the lid off it. He left that on the carpet and began taking out the contents to show us.
“This here is amber,” he started, “and this is jade. This here comes from coral, and while it’s not exactly a jewel per se, in the Beastkin Nation we love it just the same. In this chest here we have a talisman doll, but it’s more a folk handicraft than anything else. Oh, and this is some high-quality fabric we make at home; it’s been dyed with the finest purple we have.”
Peijin-Octad went on introducing piece after piece, but to be honest I didn’t really know any of the stuff he was explaining to us. However, Hubert nodded along and said things like “Oh, I’ve read about that” and “I’ve heard about that,” so he was all ears.
“And in this chest we have a collection of traditional weaponry,” said Peijin-Octad. “It’s not to cause trouble or anything of that nature, but in the Beastkin Nation people happily receive such items as gifts. That said, they are weapons, and ordinarily carrying them across the border is prohibited. However, your reputation is growing thanks to you helping us fight off earth dragons and you having met a god. For that reason, Chancellor Kiko was able to obtain official permission for us to deliver you these as gifts.”
Peijin-Octad showed us a chest containing swords, another containing spears, and another containing bows.
“The names of the craftsmen who crafted the weapons are etched on the weapons and listed in the documentation we gave you. Ah, and in this chest we have a selection of books.”
When Hubert heard that last word, man, his eyes just lit up like a child’s. He pushed his glasses back up the bridge of his nose and let out an excited breath. “Foreign books!” he whispered with glee and practically pounced on the chest.
Peijin-Octad helped to get the lid off, but the moment Hubert saw inside the chest he seemed to freeze.
“Oh, is this your first time seeing a treasure-bound book?” asked Peijin-Octad. “Much like weaponry, we’re usually prohibited from taking books into Sanserife, but we were able to get you a few concerning our history, our mythology, and some other topics. They’re all treasure-bound: embroidered with gold and silver thread, and decorated with jewels and gold foil. They’re true works of art, and valuable as much for their adornments as for their contents.”
Hubert was trembling as he wandered into the storehouse, and soon he returned wearing a pair of gloves. He carefully took one of the books in hand and, upon checking the title, opened it up...only for his shoulders to slump in disappointment. I was a bit confused so I peeked over his shoulder and...
Well, we shouldn’t have been surprised.
The book came from another country, so of course it was all going to be written in another language. But even if we couldn’t read the books, they were still mighty valuable to have as pieces of art. I wondered if actually that was the reason that we’d been given them, but then Peijin-Octad reached into one of his pockets and retrieved one more book. Unlike the ones in this chest, this one looked well loved, like it was worn out from years of use, and he passed it to Hubert.
Hubert accepted it with a curious look on his face, but as he flipped through the pages he understood what he was looking at, and he couldn’t believe it.
Hubert’s sudden change of expression got me curious too, so I took a peek and discovered that it was a dictionary. I figured Peijin-Octad must have used it to study the language of Sanserife. Octad was giving it to Hubert as a personal gift, and the latter was beyond overjoyed. He gingerly shut the dictionary and clutched it tight to his chest, then turned his head to the sky and stopped responding to anything.
He was so deeply moved that I didn’t expect him to be moving for a while. It would take some time for him to fully recover, so I told Peijin-Octad to just leave him be and explain the remaining boxes to me.