“This way.”
The wry smile was back on the weasel’s face but affecting both sides of his mouth now. It was as if he had divined Jiao Tu’s thoughts and was thoroughly amused by the warrior’s reaction on entering the domain of a clan of such questionable reputation. They went past the main entrance to a plain-looking door several body lengths away.
The thin weasel entered here without knocking or looking back. Phule gave a weak smile and gestured for the lagomorph warrior and his apprentice to go inside. The heavyset merchant seemed nervous, which Jiao Tu could tell by his efforts to appear in control of the situation. For his nerves to show so obviously in his body language regardless told the warrior quite a lot about the individual they soon would meet.
Vabhru led them down narrow, dimly lit corridors (“Lights cost credits,” Phule muttered under his breath.) to a solid wood door. Two bovine-kin equally solid flanked the door.
“You’re early,” the guard on the right side said.
The thin weasel-kin snorted. “I am always exactly on time. Whether I arrive when he wants to see me at that moment or not.” He indicated the trip behind him with his chin. “He’ll want to talk to these people.”
The bovine regarded Vabhru for a long moment, the tension in the glance enough for Black Fang to throb against Jiao Tu’s hip. The sword had a sense for imminent violence. But the bovine nodded in the end and opened the door.
As heavy as the door was, the hinges made no sound as it swung inward, revealing Master Vabhru Ashok, head of Vabhru Imports and Exports. Whatever Jiao Tu expected when he first set eyes upon one of the leading figures of the Middlesea underworld, this was not it.
The weasel-kin sat behind a long wooden desk full of papers. It was evident at a glance that he was related to the weasel who had shown them the way, though perhaps his time seated behind his desk had led him to growing more stout. Some might see his roundness as a sign of softness. Jiao Tu could tell that that would be a mistake. There was nothing at all soft about the calculated look in Master Vabhru’s eyes when he glanced up at the newcomers.
He said nothing to them as they stood before him, returning to his papers so quickly that one might have thought the glance up had not happened. After a long moment, Phule coughed into a paw. The weasel picked up a brush and wrote a few additions and corrections to one of his papers. His brother snorted, perhaps in wry amusement. It seemed he was used to this sort of behavior from his brother.
Somewhere in the distance, a series of soft chimes sounded. Master Vabhru carefully washed his brush, wiped it with a soft cloth, hung it on a stand, and set the paper he had written on to one side. He looked up at his visitors with a wide smile full of sharp teeth, but his eyes bore no welcome but the same calculating look.
Jiao Tu was not sure what the clan head would do if he were found not to be of sufficient value.
“Ah, if only the winds blew the sails of our ships in such a timely fashion, eh, brother? I take it this young lagomorph is the personage of whom you told me, Master Phulaki?” He turned the full force of his gaze onto Jiao Tu. The warrior could sense the strength of personality behind those dark eyes. Master Vabhru was used to evaluating events at a glance, to buying goods and even people at prices he set, and to selling both at a profit. Right now, he was appraising Jiao Tu.
The warrior did not flinch at the scrutiny but met the weasel gaze for gaze. At last the merchant prince nodded, as if he had come to a decision.
“He’ll do nicely, yes. He has the look.” He turned his mirthless smile upon Farrah. “And he keeps such charming company too. It seems that it’s true what they say about you, Master Phulaki. You’re not quite the fool that you present yourself as.”
The tawny lagomorph chuckled. “With your kind permission, I choose to take that as a compliment, Master Vabhru.”
The weasel-kin did not respond but turned his eyes to his brother.
“Tell the warrior about the recent…troubles our ships have been having. Tell him everything…”
Jiao Tu’s Endeavour 