Scott Lynch - Red Seas Under Red Skies

"So pleased you could make the time for me," began Locke. He spoke with a faint Vadran accent, just enough to suggest an origin in the far north. He" d decided to be lazy, and let this Fehrwight be as fluent in Therin as possible. Locke stretched out his right hand to shake. In his left he carried a black leather satchel with an iron lock upon its flap. "Master Baumondain, I presume?"

"None other. Come in directly, sir, out of the rain. Will you take coffee? Allow me to trade you a cup for your coat."

"With pleasure." The foyer of the Baumondain shop was a high, cosily panelled room lit with little golden lanterns in wall sconces. A counter with one swinging door ran across the rear of the room, and behind it Locke could see shelves piled high with samples of wood, cloth, wax and oils in glass jars. The placed smelled of sanded wood, a sharp and pleasant tang. There was a little sitting area before the counter, where two superbly wrought chairs with black velvet cushions stood upon a floor tapestry.

Locke set his satchel at his feet, turned to allow Baumondain to help him shrug out of his damp black coat, picked up his satchel once again and settled himself in the chair nearest to the door. The carpenter hung Locke's coat on a brass hook on the wall. "Just a moment, if you please," he said, and went behind the counter. From his new vantage point, Locke could see that a canvas-covered door led from behind the counter to what he presumed must be the workshop. Baumondain pushed the canvas flap aside and yelled, "Lauris! The coffee!"

Some muffled reply came back to him from the workshop that he evidently found satisfactory, and he hurried around the counter to take his place in the chair across from Locke, crinkling his seamy face into a welcoming smile. A few moments later, the canvas flew aside once again and out from the workshop came a freckled girl of fifteen or sixteen years, chestnut-haired, slim in the manner of her father but more firmly muscled about the arms and shoulders. She carried a wooden tray before her set with cups and silver pots, and when she stepped through the door in the counter Locke saw the tray had legs like a very small table.

She placed the coffee service between Locke and her father, just to the side, and gave Locke a respectful nod.

"My oldest daughter, Lauris," said Master Baumondain. "Lauris, this is Master Fehrwight, of the House of bel Sarethon, from Emberlain."

"Charmed," said Locke. Lauris was close enough for him to see that her hair was full of curly little wood shavings.

"Your servant, Master Fehrwight." Lauris nodded again, prepared to withdraw, and then caught sight of the grey kitten sticking out of her father's apron pocket. "Father, you" ve forgotten Lively. Surely you didn't mean to have him sit in on the coffee?"

"Have I? Oh dear, I see that I have." Baumondain reached down and eased the kitten out of his apron. Locke was astonished to see how limply it hung in his hands, with its legs and tail drooping and its little head lolling; what self-respecting cat would sleep while plucked up and carried through the air? Then Locke saw the answer as Lauris took Lively in her own hands and turned to go. The kitten's little eyes were wide open, and stark white.

"That creature was Gentled," said Locke in a low voice when Lauris had returned to the workshop. "I'm afraid so," said the carpenter. "I" ve never seen such a thing. What purpose does it serve, in a cat?"

"None, Master Fehrwight, none." Baumondain's smile was gone, replaced by a wary and uncomfortable expression. "And it certainly wasn't my doing. My youngest daughter, Parnella, found him abandoned behind the Villa Verdante." Baumondain referred to the huge luxury inn where the intermediate class of Salon Corbeau's visitors stayed, the wealthy who were not private guests of the Lady Saljesca. Locke himself was rooming there. "Damned strange."

"We call him Lively, as a sort of jest, though he does little. He must be coaxed to eat, and prodded to… to excrete, you see. Parnella thought it would be kinder to smash his skull but Lauris would not hear of it, and so I could not refuse. You must think me weak and doting."

"Not at all," said Locke, shaking his head. "The world is cruel enough without our compounding it; I approve. I meant that it was damned strange that anyone should do such a thing at all."

"Master Fehrwight." The carpenter licked his lips nervously. "You seem a humane man, and you must understand… our position here brings us a steady and lucrative business. My daughters will have quite an inheritance when I turn this shop over to them. There are… there are things about Salon Corbeau, things that go on, that we artisans… do not pry into. Must not. If you take my meaning."

"I do," said Locke, eager to keep the man in a good humour. However, he made a mental note to perhaps poke around in pursuit of whatever was disturbing the carpenter. "I do indeed. So let us speak no more of the matter, and instead look to business."

"Most kind," said Baumondain, with obvious relief. "How do you take your coffee? I have honey and cream." "Honey, please."

Baumondain poured steaming coffee from the silver pot into a thick glass cup and spooned in honey until Locke nodded. Locke sipped at his cup while Baumondain bombarded his own with enough cream to turn it leather-brown. It was quality brew, rich and very hot. "My compliments," Locke mumbled over a slightly scalded tongue.

"It's from Issara. Lady Saljesca's household has an endless thirst for the stuff," said the carpenter. "The rest of us buy pecks and pinches from her sellers when they come around. Now, your messenger said that you wished to discuss a commission that was, in her words, very particular."

"Yes, particular indeed," said Locke, "to a design and an end that may strike you as eccentric. I assure you I am in grave earnest."

Locke set down his coffee and lifted his satchel into his lap, then pulled a small key from his waistcoat pocket to open the lock. He reached inside and drew out a few pieces of folded parchment.

"You must be familiar," Locke continued, "with the style of the last few years of the Therin Throne? The very last few, just before Talathri died in battle against the Bondsmagi?" He passed over one of his sheets of parchment, which Baumondain removed his optics to examine.

"Oh, yes," the carpenter said slowly. "The Talathri Baroque, also called the Last Flowering. Yes, I" ve done pieces in this fashion before… Lauris has as well. You have an interest in this style?"

"I require a suite of chairs," said Locke. "Four of them, leather-backed, lacquered shear-crescent with real gold insets."

"Shear-crescent is a somewhat delicate wood, fit only for occasional use. For more regular sitting I'm sure you" d want witchwood."

"My master," said Locke, "has very exact tastes, however peculiar. He insisted upon shear-crescent, several times, to ensure that his wishes were clear."

"Well, if you wished them carved from marzipan, I suppose I should have to do it… with the clear understanding, of course, that I did warn you against hard use."

"Naturally. I assure you, Master Baumondain, you won't be held liable for anything that happens to these chairs after they leave your workshop."

"Oh, I would never do less than vouch for our work, but I cannot make a soft wood hard, Master Fehrwight. Well, then, I do have some books with excellent illustrations of this style. Your artist has done well to start with, but I'd like to give you more variety to choose from—"

"By all means," said Locke, and he sipped his coffee contentedly as the carpenter rose and returned to the workshop door. "Lauris," Baumondain cried, "my three volumes of Velonetta … yes, those."

He returned a moment later cradling three heavy, leather-bound tomes that smelled of age and some spicy alchemical preservative. "Velonetta," he said as he settled the books on his lap. "You are familiar with her? No? She was the foremost scholar of the Last Flowering. There are only six sets of her work in all the world, as far as I know. Most of these pages are on sculpture, painting, music, alchemy… but there are fine passages on furniture, gems worth mining. If you please…"