A New Day for Pyron City

Prasha got up from his bed and made his way to the library. All down the halls he adjusted his suit making sure it looked fresh. Prasha composed himself and hurried down the stairs to the library floor.

Prasha opened the library door quietly and entered his boss Zan and Lady Akane both stood there looking at him. Prasha smiled and bowed deep his nose parallel to the floor. He stood back up and addressed Lady Akane being as graceful as possible.

"Good morning, Lady Akane. I am Prasha Kesiem from Saffron City in the Kanto region. It is a very great honor to finally meet you." Prasha's voice sounded warm and pleasant as he was trying to hide his nervousness. He approached Lady Akane and bowed again. "My Lady, I hope your travel was easy."

Prasha was very excited to meet Lady Akane. Her beauty stunned him. He had hoped he did not insult her in any way. He had a very good feeling about Lady Akane and hoped that he would be granted the permission to serve her one day. 

"We have plenty of other items from Kanto, Highness, as well as many other regions. I'm a collector...of sorts, you understand."

Prasha entered and bowed as was his custom. Taken aback by Akane's anger, Zandrophin replied,

"He is not my slave, Highness, he just was unaware as to how much respect he should show to you. His bow is deep, as per his family's custom. He's never seen me bow to you, so he had no real idea; he decided to lower himself as far as possible, so as not to disrespect you."

"Prasha, you need only bow this far," Zandrophin bent at his waist and bowed about 25 degrees.

"Enough about this, though, let us go eat. Follow me to the dining room."

They entered the dining room. It was a large room with four windows looking out onto the bay. There was no internal lighting, save for the chandelier that hung from the ceiling. The table was a solid piece of Viridian maple, with 10 chairs; 4 on each long side and two at the head and foot of the table. Zandrophin said,

"Sit wherever you like, Highness. The meal will be ready shortly."

"Prasha, please bring out your masterpiece."

After assisting his guest to her seat, as was protocol, Zandrophin took his seat at the head of the table. Squirt wandered into the dining room, having smelled the food cooking, and rushed into the kitchen.

Hopefully he doesn't make a mess.

Master Prasha will hit him with his spoon if he does, Sir.

Zandrophin cracked a smile at this; the image was rather amusing. Prasha came in and laid out all the food he'd prepared, he made his usual show about it, and then gave a very well-constructed summary of the dishes. After serving Lady Akane, Prasha served Zandrophin. Once Prasha was seated, Zandrophin stood and proposed a toast:

"Thank you, Prasha. As always your meal looks, and most likely tastes, exquisite. I tip my hat to you. However..."

As he trailed off, Zandrophin nodded to Prasha, who stood up. Both men looked at Lady Akane. Zandrophin continued,

"I must say the real honor is that we are currently hosting royalty within our walls. It was but a few days ago that Lady Akane showed me similar hospitality. It is easy to say that, without her, we would not be where we are right now. Cheers to you, Highness."

Prasha's face lit up at the praise of Lady Akane. "Thank...Thank you so much. I am glad you enjoyed your meal, Lady Akane." Prasha smiled and finished his own meal.

"I must also thank you for the textiles, I am forever grateful... If there is anything I can do do for you, Lady Akane please do not hesitate to ask. I am forever in your debt."

Prasha was content that all his quests were satisfied by their meal. As he spoke Nachos came in and sat at the chair next to Prasha. Prasha rubbed Nachos head. 

"Lady Akane, I would like you to meet my best friend. This is Nachos" Prasha introdued Nachos to lady Akane. Nachos got done from the table and greeted Lady Akane with a very wide smile and did a little bow to her. He then grunted and flexed his muscles trying to impress Lady Akane.

"Ok that is enough, Nachos. Come here buddy." Prasha chuckled a bit. Nachos seemed to have a little pompous nature to his stride back to his master and sat in the chair.

"Lady Akane, if you liked the food. I have plans for a Candy store as well as a restaurant in Pyron City. Maybe when I get it started you can come eat for free, no?" Prasha said. 

His guest had eaten, and his partner had introduced himself to her. With all of these pleasantries out of the way, Zandrophin was ready to move things along. He finished off his wine, stood, and said,

"Lady Akane, if you'll forgive my bluntness, there is much to discuss in regards to our...agreement. If you two will just follow me, I wish to show you my plan. I want you to see this as well, Prasha...because I believe you deserve to know what is going on. Please, follow. Prepare for a bit of a walk; we haven't had time to install a lift, as of yet."

He led the two of them up the staircase, all the way to the fifth floor. He stopped in front of a closed door, turned to them, and said,

"Welcome to my war room."

The door opened. In the middle of the room was a large table with the map of the entire region upon it. In fact, there were many different maps throughout the room, with many markings on them in shorthand and other forms of code. Zandrophin gestured to the two chairs in the room. He walked over to one of the wall-mounted maps, with many markings on it. He held a wooden rod in his hand, to help with his presentation.

"Please, sit. Now....here's my plan: I will travel here," he gestured with the rod in a circle around an area almost directly north of Ignacia, "to Enya. This place is nothing more than a small fishing village with a tea shop, but my hopes is that I will be able to find a group to travel with to my actual target, the village of Silvertree in Eirlys.....which is somewhere....around here."

This gesture was much more broad, as the village's exact location had yet to be ascertained. Zandrophin continued,

"As per Lady Akane's instructions, I am to locate this village and report back its location."

Zandrophin turned to Prasha and continued,

"Prasha, old boy...I'm sorry. I sense that you would like to come, to prove that you can be of assistance...but you cannot accompany me on this mission. I must go on this journey alone. I need you to stay here and watch over things for me. I won't be gone but for a couple of days, at most. Your job here is important. Get out amongst the people, learn what you can about this place, tweak our designs; I just need you to remain here. I won't be gone long. Questions?"

Zandrophin led the trio up some stairs, which made Akane grateful for her light, breezy dress and into a “universal room” with maps of the world for the most part. Asemon was still incomplete. Zandrophin spoke of his war room, which piqued Akane’s interest. She waffled her own fingers within themselves and waited patiently for his proposal.

Upon hearing Silvertree, Akane was most interested. Apparently Zandrophin was going to assess Eirlys, and Eira’s village first. After Zandrophin asked for any questions, Akane quickly asked him hers.

”So you will travel to Silvertree and report to me its whereabouts. But may I ask, besides the usual what do you need, how many men, etc.” She twirled a chunk of her locks. ”So is there anything about your motivations I need to know about?” What was the price she would have to pay for this? Would he somehow drop a hint about any other purposes for going?