The city never lost its chatoic yet cozy vibe. Riuluk walked down the streets, reaching the town hall easily to fix his auction. A large square leading to wide stairs. Many folks are coming in and out of the quite big wooden open door of the building. Two guards stay on the two sides of the door, dressed in cloud dwarven armor and shiny lances. Riuluk was quite happy to see all those people coming and going. This is what a Cloud dwarf life is after all: long, solitary journeys to bring goods here and there, and then stays full of people, good food, and social life.
When he entered the door, the guards did not block him to check him. Afterall, he passed the most important check at the entrance of the city, and of course, he is clearly a Coud dwarf.
He walked through the main corridor, which was full of statues of important dwarves; he honestly did not even know the names of any of them. He then reached the main hall...
The main hall was quite nice to watch: pillars or columns in a very large rectangular space, arranged in a U shape, with the blue of the sky on every wall, and in bas-relief, clouds painted in white. At the edges of the hall, there were stands with tables all over, like in a big tavern. The wooden tables were shaped like clouds and had round stools resembling Spheres; in fact, they were made from old wood from Spheres and old cloth that should have been sent to the scrapyard. Every table made of wood had an entrance to its middle empty part, like the lever part of a bar counter in a tavern, where the Cloud dwarf officer was waiting to serve the customers. Like a barman serving a round table when he is in the middle of his empty bar space. The officers were dressed casually, like all the others, but they all wore a different-colored tricorn hat. The colour did not really mean anything special; instead, they used colour to indicate the number of offices. In that case, everybody knew where to go to make the payments after any auction finished. To the red officer or the green officer...to the yellow officer or the black officer.
Riuluk went to the one with the orange hat. He sat down on the wooden stool at the Cloud table and said...
“Hello, officer! Today is a good day!”
“Good morning fellaw...how can I help you today?” asked the officer, turning to face him from his back...
“I am Riuluk, son of Remin. I am here to settle my auction for today. It has to be easy because I am a bit in a rush...I know, I know, same day fast auctions usually make a 20% tax...”
“25% tax...” interrupted the officer,
“Yeah..25% percent, but what about we make a deal this time for 15% tax?” asked Riuluk
“Mmmh...and why would I do that? Most importantly: number one beer, number 14 beer, number seven beer, special six beer, or special 25 the azure beer?” asked the officer,
It was customary for Cloud dwarves to treat their customers very well, so a fine welcome beer was always offered, even if the deal was not made. Sometimes they had fake customers posing as sellers to get free beer, but mostly it was men, very rarely elves or dwarves. And through the years, since men are the race with less inclination to respect others’ traditions and their own pride, Cloud dwarves have defended themselves on these occasions by offering low-class beer to men when they smell a lie. However, because men are more inclined not to respect others than the other races, they are quite useful when fighting the corruption of the dark forces, since they can comprehend better their greedy need for conquest and war. In these occasions, they are very well heard with much more respect because the other folks know their say on the plans of evil might be a more accurate and correct vision in their own thinking.
But that is also why when dwarves and elves encounter a man with honor, they would respect him even more than any other dwarf or elf...because they know how hard it is for them to be that good as well. Also, elves and dwarves can have bad-behaved folk. But in comparison to men, if you have a total of 100 of each, you will probably have three bad-behaved elves, twelve bad-behaved dwarves, and 25 bad-behaved men. On the contrary, even if men are many for bad behaviour, the problem with a bad dwarf or a bad elf is much more dangerous. If men can easily lie to try to get a free beer or not pay a tavern master, a bad elf can actually more easily try to steal money from the town hall or kill somebody rather than a man. As for a dwarf, well...even worse, a bad dwarf can be someone stealing beer for his whole life or someone starting a war against a whole city just because that tavern master did not give him the beer with the right amount of foam! Ahah
About the Azure beer? Well, it is also known as Sky beer. That type of beer is very special and made in the capital of the Cloud dwarves up in the sky...yes, you just read it, up in the sky!
At the town hall, they offer it to any Cloud dwarf, but not so easily to elves or men. To have an Azure beer offered, you really need strong auctioneer feedback.
“Special 25, of course! The Azure beer, of course, officer!” said Riuluk,
The officer took a large glass and poured Sky beer from beneath the Cloud table, then handed it to Riuluk. Riuluk opened his eyes to that gorgeous pint of beer and immediately took a sip, then cleaned his beard and moustache from the foam with his bare arm.
“Aaaah...I had almost forgotten how I missed this!” said Riuluk. The officer looked at him with a big smile.
“So...why 15%? Because I have this, it will be sold for sure. It’s very expensive, as you know, and also rare. I need the money to buy a Sphere; unfortunately, my old one got destroyed. Easy money, fast money for both”, said Riuluk while unpacking the Idrilich mushroom on the table from the sack.
The officer could not believe his eyes...an Idrilich mushroom!
Almost half of the hall went silent and watched. The four guards at the four angles of the rectangular hall watched too, some to look at the mushroom, some to control, so nobody would try to steal it and run away.
“Well..now, this is a big deal, I might understand you lad...” said the officer, “but I cannot give you 15% from 25, I am deeply sorry, but would you be still up for a 22%?”
“Oooh, nonono, I can come back tomorrow when the mushroom is not so fresh, still have the money for the Sphere, but you might gain less money, don’t you think? Let’s make it 17%...come on...” replied Riuluk,
“Naaaa...ahahahah, 17%??? You want me fired, lad? But now everybody knows you have an Idrilich, someone will try to steal you till tomorrow. You know how words go fast in this city... isn’t it better to leave this treasure in our hands till this evening's auction? You are paying the protection after all, who would think a Cloud dwarf with a second-hand pack would have such a treasure with him... ahah!” said the officer,
“Mmmmh, you are playing hard here, officer...what if I ask the Duonor to protect me till tomorrow? They would for sure cost less than that 22%, or maybe what if they want to buy it? Let’s go to 18% and we are done, what do you think?” asked RIuluk,
“Na...I won’t do that, but let’s find ourselves in the middle, what about 21%? asked the officer,
“I can’t make more than 19%...” replied RIuluk,
“20% with another Azure beer...” the officer winked at Riuluk,
“Deal!” said Riuluk, grabbing the officer's hand like in an arm wrestling competition.
“Deal!” said the officer while letting his arm go down and faking the arm competition won by Riuluk...
That is how Air dwarves settle deals. The arm gesture is visible to others and must be voluntary. It is their tradition, but also a way to have witnesses around to see that the deal was set.
The two dwarves laughed, then Riuluk had his second Azure beer; he drank it happily. Left the Idrilich mushroom in the hands of the officer who called the stewards, with one of the guards to keep an eye on it, and brought it through the three top doors of the hall, where, on the other side, stewards and workers were organising the auctions.
Riuluk signed the documents with orange ink. The scroll was then closed with an orange stamp.
“Ok, mister Riuluk...your auction is at 17.45 at Hamlet number 33. The auctioneer is Mr. Druenet, and you may speak with him at 17.30 to decide your reserve price. Have a wonderful day, Riuluk mushroom dealer! Ahah!” laughed the officer.
“You too, officer!” replied Riuluk, still drinking his Azure beer.
