All things considered, Domajor had recovered rather well. Few men could claim the same if they had been clobbered by a nigh-indestructible freak of nature. But here and now, serving tea to the others in Coin's solar, he looked completely recovered.

"You've been brooding all day, sir," said Domajor, not taking his eyes off the steadily puring stream of dark brown liquid.

"Have I?" Coin asked, brooding.

"Very much so," Pearl confirmed, slowly shaking her head. "Few brood quite so well as you."

"Well I'm not trying do brood. It's just..." he huffed, leaning back in the couch and closing his eyes. "Ashur got under my skin. I know that's what he was trying to do, but he's damn good at it."

Essine sat beside him, smiling in her gentle way, and patted him on the hand. "All will be well, Coin. The business fares well, there is no rush to overtake him. Haste makes mistakes."

"That's not the saying, Ess dear."

"No?"

"Haste makes waste, darling."

"Well, this one believes it can cause both," she said curtly.

Sighing, Coin slowly moved to sat upright and drank his tea. "I don't want to rush. I shouldn't rush. But he pisses me off so much that I want to see him crash and burn. The longer he has Elijah's company, the worse I feel."

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Colony turned from the crackling fireplace, watching him in her usual blank way. "You could just kill him," she suggested.

"No, Colony, we don't kill people unless they attack us," he said. No matter how tempting, he mentally added.

Colony shrugged, a slow and stiff movement when she did it. "It would be a fast solution," she said.

"But not a... morally sound one." Essine smiled faintly at the elder mimic. "Tempting as it may be at times, you should usually a non violent solution to things."

"I would have thought a kobold to be more filled with... venomous rage," said Colony, slowly lifting an eyebrow.

"This one has often tried to be more... patient. Enduring, for the most part. That is sadly the way of things for koboldkin. Although this one has heard that... factory owners now pay more to their koboldkin workers. Reluctantly, and at a slow pace, but it is starting to happen." Essine leaned into Coin's side, smiling appreciatively at him. "This one believes you have something to do with that?"

Coin gave a small chuckle and glanced away. "I just asked Velasco to nudge a few things is all," he said. But he was happy to know the old man wasn't all talk, at least.

I was at that moment that Leonid entered the room, a faint smile on his lips. "Ser LeBon is at the gate for you, Master Coin," the elf said politely.

"The... inventor?" Domajor asked, a faint hint of distaste in his voice.

"The very same," Leonid replied, smiling like a radiant ray of sunshine.

Coin blinked, sitting upright. "Goodness. Haven't seen him since all that business with the attack on the capital." Though, in all that time, LeBon had been taking a steady trickle of funding offered to him, using it on... what had LeBon been working on again? Coin stroked his chin, furrowing his brow. "Er... what did he say?"

"Well..." Leonid glanced aside, still smiling. "He did not exactly... say what he was here for. Only that he has... 'done it.' Whatever that means."

"Done it?" Coin asked, lifting a brow.

Pearl rolled her eyes and sagged into her chair. "Good grief. Artisans and their secrecy. He's probably being mum on the matter for fear of anyone trying to steal his idea from him."

Coin continued rubbing his chin. "Well... I'm struggling to remember what we were talking about before. With everything in Elbrinth, my memory of that time gets a little jumbled, and-" the realisation hit him like an open-anded slap, and he sat sharply upright.

"Coin?" Essine asked, her cup partway to her lips.

"I remember now, that big project he wanted to show me." Coin moved to his feet, and now he was grinning like a madman. "Something that will change the very face of Arcadia. Haha! The bastard did it, and I get to be there to make it happen!"

And if all went well, he'd be able to make all the money he needed to knock Ashur out on his arse.

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