Nori made King Tritsun repeat himself.

"You lead the negotiations. To start, at least."

Nori still didn't believe it. She looked at Gaden. He didn't seem like the kind of man that could make a joke like this. He made eye contact for a moment, scratched his nose, and then returned to his papers.

"You can't be serious," Nori protested. "I can't—I don't know what—"

"You'll be fine," Gaden said without looking up.

Nori didn't believe that either.

"No, I—"

"You'll be fine," King Tritsun echoed. "Gaden is very good at guiding others away from making stupid decisions. Trust me on that."

The king winked at Nori and inspected the front of his clothing for wrinkles, pulling out any odd bends in the fabric. Nori didn't understand a lot of things that were happening. How was she supposed to negotiate? What did she know? Why did they want her to do it? How would her brother react? And how was King Tritsun so calm?

Nori watched the king. Second by second, he actually gained composure. He ironed out any last wrinkles with the side of his hand, then smoothened his eyebrows. He took off his glasses and breathed on them to fog them up, cleaned them, and put them back on. He fixed his hair. He smiled. His body relaxed.

At some point, it got to be too much. Nori had to vocalize her confusion.

"How are you so calm?" she asked in a tone that was anything but.

The king plucked an errant hair from his ragged mustache. "It's nice not being in charge."

Gaden laughed.

"No, no, no, no, no." Nori looked from one man to the other with each word. "I can't do this!"

King Tritsun shrugged. "But are you willing to?"

The question gave Nori pause. It was so outlandish that it cut through the panic in her mind, neutralizing her for a moment.

"Well…yes."

"Good enough for us," Gaden said as he handed the king a paper with several charts on it.

"Well then…give me that." Nori pointed at the paper. "Teach me…show me what I need to know."

"Too late for that," King Tritsun said with a shrug. Nori wanted to scream.

"Well then how am I supposed to negotiate?"

"On feeling."

Nori put her head in her hands.

"Eat," Gaden said. "They're already on their way. And if things take a turn, you'll probably lose your appetite. Eat now so that you have the energy. And don't mention the land until he does."

Nori looked at the bread then back down at the table. She had already lost her appetite. She grabbed the back of her hair and ran her hand down it, forgetting that she had cut it at her shoulders. She started to dig under her fingernails again but shook her hands to stop herself.

She needed to calm down. She was unprepared, but she couldn't look it. Luckily, feigned composure was a skill that her parents had taught her without meaning to. She knew how to hide how much things could hurt.

She snapped upright at the sound of the doors and stared at Gaden. She focused on him to prevent any bewilderment from showing on her face. Booted footsteps entered the room.

"King Tritsun," Dashi greeted. Nori didn't need to see him to know his voice. "Gaden. And…"

The footsteps stopped. Nori clenched her lower jaw and turned to look at her brother.

"Nori?" Dashi's face twisted into a confused half-smile. He looked older than Nori remembered. He was fifteen years older than her, but no one would have ever been able to guess. He had always had perfect skin and that boyish charm.

But now he had wrinkles around his eyes. And there was something about his mouth. It had lost its shape. It plumpness. It sat beneath his split black mustache like a wound. And the last time she had seen him, he hadn't had nearly as many medals pinned to his lapel.

He had already started down Gaden's side of the table and stuck the course, walking to the center of the table. Nori was thankful for that.

"You cut your hair," he commented. "Mother would hate it."

And then he smiled and laughed and sat down, immediately letting his posture fall into a slouch. General Dashi disappeared, replaced by big brother Dashi. The favorite of Nori's siblings. The only one that could teach her without her wanting to run off and play. The only one that could reprimand her without making her feel lesser. The only non-Chef, and therefore the only one that Nori hadn't been trained to see as competition. Despite their ages, Nori had always felt closer to him than any of her brothers or sisters.

She remembered one of the Festivals of Ambrosia. She had manifested at three years old, and for several years after that, she never got to enjoy the festivities. Her father always stuck her in a kitchen from morning until night, teaching her how to cook in the hopes of giving her a head start in essence manipulation.

But then one year, her father got sick just before the festival. He still demanded Nori stay in the kitchen, but he couldn't stay away from the toilet long enough to enforce it. Dashi had busted her out and taken her out to the festival. She could still taste the skewered takoyaki. When he took her back to the kitchen, she had cooked something just for him.

And then General Dashi straightened up and the moment was gone, sucking the warmth of the memory away from Nori and leaving a cold blankness.

"Why are you here?" he asked, any familial friendliness gone from his voice.

Nori watched as three others and a Stag sat themselves at the table, leaving a space between their party and their hosts. At least they hadn't brought all three Stags.

"I could ask you the same," Nori countered. "Unusual for a general to be here, isn't it? Representing Harper interests?"

His lips curled into a tight, challenging smile. "I don't represent the Harpers. You know that very well. That opportunity passed with my eighteenth birthday."

Nori remembered why she had always felt close to Dashi. He wasn't a Chef, so he wasn't a true Harper. That's what she had been raised to believe.

"I represent Uroko," he continued. "And who are you here to represent?"

Nori looked at the king, who offered the most unregal smile she'd ever seen. She recalled the faces of the hungry. The poor. The orphans with no one to care for them, the sailors who lived by strict regulations, the people who had gone their whole lives without luxury. She put all of their hardships into her eyes and looked at Dashi.

"I'm here to represent the oppressed and underfed," she declared.

"Ironic," he commented before taking a stack of papers from his associate. "King Tritsun, I have looked over our previous offer, and—"

"You'll be directing any changes to me," Nori interrupted.

"Of course I will," he sighed. His face showed his exasperation, but he was nothing if not a good soldier. "We're willing to revert to the conditions of our previous agreement with a few new items. Specifically, we are looking to increase our national stockpile of refrigeration units. And I know the bluefin tuna has been missed in Khala."

Dashi looked at King Tritsun, but the king nodded to Nori. Dashi clenched his teeth as he looked back at Nori.

"We will allow for the capture of five adult bluefin tuna per week in exchange for an additional fifty units of refrigeration per week." He held a piece of paper up and glared at Nori. "Are you reviewing the exact terms as well?"

Without a word, Gaden took the paper and studied it. While that side of the table was distracted, Nori peeked at King Tritsun to gauge the offer. He offered a slight wince and a nod.

"This states that the refrigeration units will be sent regardless of the success of the capture of a tuna," Gaden said.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

"That's right," Dashi confirmed. "We need to have a steady, predictable flow of refrigeration. We cannot control the skills of your fishermen. We simply—"

"But you can influence their chance of success," Nori interrupted. "How many Urokan fishing boats will you send to surround the Khalyan fishers?"

King Tritsun held in a laugh, clearing his throat quietly enough that only Nori could hear. He leaned back and propped his thigh up on the arm of his chair, watching Nori with admiration.

"Are there any other surprises there, Gaden?" Nori asked, not wanting to give her brother the chance to speak.

"That's the main one," Gaden answered.

"No. Can't do it," Nori said with a shake of her head. "Revise the terms from fifty refrigeration units per week down to twenty, or write in a guarantee that the first five bluefin tuna caught north of Boseki each week shall be given to Khala."

The Stag shifted to look at her with disbelief. If she had been a Khalyan, he might have already had an outburst. But regardless of her current relationship with her family, Nori was from the main branch of the Harpers. A Harper extremist, as all Stags were, would always hold their tongue around her.

Dashi had no such qualms. "Don't be ridiculous," he said. He got halfway out of his seat and leaned toward King Tritsun. "On what basis does she dictate terms?"

"I don't know," the king said. He slouched even further in his chair and leaned his head back. "Nori, from where have you learned your dictatorial qualities?"

"I'm trying to be reasonable," Dashi growled.

"Be reasonable then," Nori said. She had forgotten how much she enjoyed a good fight. Her body was alive with energy.

Dashi adjusted himself back into his seat. "We can mark waters where the first catch will go to Khala."

"And then you'll fish around the edges," Nori countered. "North of Boseki. First five catches. And they have to be at least four hundred pounds."

Dashi rubbed his eye. His other associates looked back and forth at each other, unsure of how to proceed. "And if there's a week in which five are not caught?"

"North of Boseki?" Nori laughed. "If that ever happens—and that's a big if, you'll still need to provide a tuna. it can be from your reserves. Tell you what, you can use the refrigeration units you're getting to keep some on ice just in case."

Gaden lifted a paper to his face to hide his smile.

This time, Dashi stood up fully, pointing over the table at his sister. "Nori, if you—"

Nori stood, but didn't direct her attention back across the table. Instead, she looked at the octopus. "Sorry, I've worked up an appetite, and I've had these octopus legs before, so I know how good they are. King Tritsun, who was it that made them again?"

"That would be Dill," King Tritsun answered.

"Dill," Nori repeated. "Fantastic Chef. Really knows what to do with octopus."

She skewered a leg and passed it down to King Tritsun before grabbing one for herself. "It's a shame how few chances he has to cook them," Nori continued. "Should our next item be about some of these regulations?"

"You forget yourself," Dashi scolded, putting on his best interpretation of their father. Unfortunately for him, Nori had learned how to deal with that long ago.

"No, I remember myself quite well. Nori Harper, easy on the Harper. Just a girl looking out for those with less."

Dashi slammed his hands on the table. Judging by the surprised faces of King Tritsun and Gaden, Nori had succeeded in getting under her brother's skin in a way neither of them could.

"You're just a brat that has taken everything she has been given for granted!"

Nori sat back down and stared at the tentacle on her plate. "Not everything," she mumbled.

Dashi did not relent in his aggression, nearly yelling across the table. "What's that?"

"Not everything. Not the most important thing I've been given."

"And what's that?"

"The gift." Nori held out her hand and conjured a lemon.

Her display of Chef skills stabbed Dashi in a special kind of way. "Yes, Nori, you're a Chef, and I'm not. You're the first in our family to notice."

"No, not that," Nori said in a pacifying voice. "Not the gift of being a Chef. The gift of a world that has Chefs."

She rotated the lemon in her hand as she spoke. "Could you imagine how much worse it would be? If there weren't people that could grow fields of crops in a fraction of the time? If we couldn't duplicate food? How many people would starve? That's the biggest gift we have. But some have been given more than others."

Nori let the lemon fade away and gently cut into her octopus. "That's what's so unforgivable. That a single person should go hungry in this world that has been given to us. We have the skills and means to eliminate hunger, but we don't. Thousands are left to suffer so that a few individuals can thrive. It is Uroko that has taken Ambrosia's gift for granted. They think it belongs to them."

Dashi had calmed down, but he had not sat back down. "Nori. We're not an impassioned speech away from fixing the world's problems. We are animals. All of us. And like any animal, our first instinct is to ensure the survival of our pack before all others. Our gift is our civility. Our restraint. We could be much, much worse than you think we are. The fact that we make terms and not demands is a gift. Now, if you are done with your sanctimonious platitudes, we are here to discuss business."

"Then why don't you get to what you really want. Why are you here, Dashi?"

Dashi closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He motioned to one of his associates, who retrieved a map from their pack. Dashi opened his eyes and looked at the king. He would no longer go through Nori.

"We would like to purchase the territory outlined on this map. It is on the border of The Platter along the pass. It includes the mountain pass to Palm Coast."

"Wow," King Tritsun said as he sat up and looked at the map. "This is unexpected."

"You'd cut us off from the world," Gaden added.

Nori stayed quiet. This part was beyond her understanding.

"We'd allow unrestricted trade access," Dashi said. Both King Tritsun and Gaden looked at him with surprise. "Not only that, we would seek to widen the pass to Palm Coast, opening up a new trade route. You would have access on limited—but favorable—terms."

King Tritsun pushed up his glasses and smiled. Nori had seen the expression before on Sutton's face. The king had figured something out.

"And how many will be stationed at this outpost?" he asked.

"Outpost?" Dashi asked.

"A general has come to trade negotiations asking for land, but has no interest in tolling the trade routes opened up by that land. One must assume…"

Dashi stared at the platters of food. None of the Urokans had moved to even fill their plates. "Twenty soldiers to establish the camp. After a couple of years, we'd like to keep at least fifty soldiers there on reserve."

"Hm." King Tritsun tapped on the map outside of the marked area. "You'll need this part as well. The areas you've marked would struggle to feed fifty. Unless you plan on hauling food every week through that mountain pass, you'll want this land. There's a little valley with some farms that do well. I assume the families there will be well compensated."

"Of course. We can dig into the finer details at another time. I assume this means you are receptive to an offer?"

"Not for a purchase," King Tritsun took a bite of octopus, the first bite anyone had taken at the table. "But for a lease, we would be amenable. Nothing more than fifty years. Things could be renegotiated at that point."

Dashi sat down, happy to return to a more familiar rhythm of negotiations. "We wouldn't want it that long. We could make the time of the lease conditional."

Gaden looked up from the map. "And what would those conditions be?"

"Until the death of Prince Waldorf."

King Tritsun laughed, his tinny giggle matching the pitch of his knife as it grinded across his plate. "If he knew that was in the contract, he would not be happy."

"Don't let him know about the contract, then. Don't let him know about the outpost."

The two men grinned at each other. For perhaps the first time ever, their desires aligned. And more than ever, Nori had no idea what was going on. An outpost? Prince Waldorf's death? What was the purpose of this land?

But King Tritsun gave her no chance to ask questions. "Now, about the blacksmiths you plan on poaching from Khaldeer to take to this outpost…"

Dashi laughed a big, genuine laugh. "Before I came here, they told me not to underestimate you. Having sat here these past few weeks, I never understood why they said that. Now I do."

"The world belongs to the Chefs and the clever," the king chimed. "We've had to make the most of what wasn't given, haven't we?"

Dashi laughed and shook his head. "What about the blacksmiths?"

"Well, I would remind you that the local blacksmith's guild is given a discount on iron. A heavy discount. I could talk to the guild leader about opening a branch in this new territory. Any blacksmiths taken from their current branch would have to be bought out, of course."

"Of course. Let us save this minutiae for another time, shall we?" Dashi stood, the rest of his party standing with him.

"Are you not staying to eat?" the king asked.

"Not this time. Eat a good meal for once."

King Tritsun and Gaden rose, prompting Nori to rise with them. Dashi made his way around to shake the other two men's hands, but stopped short of Nori. He studied her with disappointment before turning and leaving without another word, his entourage leaving with him.

The two men waited until the sound of footsteps left the hallway.

Then they burst into laughter.

"The blacksmiths!" Gaden roared.

"Way to go, Nori!" King Tritsun said as he shook Nori's shoulder. "You rattled him perfectly."

Nori smiled. She hadn't understood half of what had happened, but she knew she had done well. She had never been given a chance to mitigate her family's misdeeds quite like this one, and she had risen to the occasion. She had made a difference. Even the guarantee of bluefin tuna that she had talked her way into might mean a thousand meals per week. Just that little act could keep the orphanage and five others like it fed through the year. Her smile grew and grew and grew.

And then an all too familiar set of footsteps came back up the hall. King Tritsun and Gaden quieted themselves to listen.

The door opened. Dashi entered, the rest of his associates waiting outside the open door. He had a certain smugness to him that worried Nori.

"I had a thought. Another item." He smiled at Nori. Her heart quickened. "I represent Urokan interests, not Harper interests. But sometimes, Urokan interests are Harper interests."

Nori felt King Tritsun's eyes on her, but she couldn't look away from Dashi. Why was he happy? Why did he look like he had won?

"And there are many Harpers interested in your return, Nori." He let the statement hang in the air, staring quietly at Nori for a while. Then he turned to King Tritsun. "Uroko Institute is particularly interested in enrolling her. On their behalf, I'm prepared to make an offer for that."

He turned his gaze back to Nori, his little smile reminding her of a younger, more smug version of her brother.

"Since you are so passionate about this bluefin tuna…" He cleared his throat and spoke loudly, announcing the terms of his offer. "For each week Nori Harper is enrolled in Uroko Institute, Uroko will provide an additional bluefin tuna to Khala. And it'll be at least four hundred pounds."

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