Anna became aware that none of the others of the council had spoken, for or against. The members of the council sat in their chairs on the stage at the edge of the apple orchard, and not one of them had spoken since the meeting began. Their eyes shifted from one to the other of the speakers, knowing the importance of the open meeting, yet they remained quiet in a very unusual circumstance. It was most unusual, almost as if they had been instructed. Or perhaps they were allowing Anna to ‘convince’ them of something already decided.
Grandma Emma removed a small leather sack from around her neck. It was tied closed with silk strings. She opened it and dumped the contents on the surface of the small table beside her chair. Coins spilled out, copper, silver, and gold. Several of each color and many different sizes.
Anna said, “That’s a lot of money. Enough to buy a small town, I’ll bet. Where did they come from?”
“Since we don’t use them, we collect them from the ones we find,” Grandma Emma said. “They come in handy when one of us leaves the drylands. They come from the King’s triads, and his armies, when they attack us. We also fought against the King’s assassins and bounty hunters, and they always had coins of some sort in their purses. It seemed only right to take the coins and use them when they would help us all.”
“So over the years, you accumulated all that?” Anna asked, understanding something of the value of the coins in the world outside the drylands.
“Oh, far more than this,” Grandma Emma said. “However, you do not know what you may need, or who you might wish to bribe. Before you depart, some of this will be sewn into the hems of your clothing. The waist, the edges of the hood, the wrists. You will not lack for funds.”
She has agreed to let me go. Anna breathed easier and glanced at the others on the council. She met their smiles of encouragement. “I would like to depart soon.”
Grandma Emma said, “Soon is a rather vague word to describe time, but too soon is a mistake that we cannot correct. You will spend at least three days meeting with the members of this council, individually, and as a group. You will meet with any other family member who wants to provide input for this venture. Each of us has valuable information to share. The knowledge we’ve gained over our lifetimes may save your life. You will choose whichever of the information to follow. My point is, your trip will be delayed.”
Three days of listening to the elders sounded like an eternity but to win, you sometimes have to give. Besides, the tone her Grandmother used allowed not room for argument. Anna nodded and managed to hide her smile. She’d won after all.
No, Anna wouldn't resist the timeframe. In fact, she welcomed the knowledge and insights the council members would share, especially those from Grandma Emma. Fleet had traveled with Tessa to Fleming and returned with more information about the strange people they called the others than had been discovered since their arrival in the kingdom of Princeton four years earlier. After they had returned, they spent endless days discussing every detail with Grandma Emma.
Gray had traveled with Anna to Shrewsbury and returned with additional information, as well as maps that revealed another world they had been unaware of across the Endless Sea; a body of water obviously misnamed. The charts showed a new world where a strange people lived. There were some strange ones who commanded green dragons that the Dragon Clan couldn’t sense, and others had dragon tattoos on their arms. She was sure they had not been born with them. But who they were, or why they planned an invasion remained a mystery. Still, they had to be stopped.
However, the idea of people with dragon tattoos and ties to dragons were of interest to anyone of the Dragon Clan. But that thought revealed her primary interest. The Dragon Clan knew almost nothing of the new people, and yet, that was far more than King Ember seemed to know. Without knowledge of who the enemy was, or where they came from, made it impossible to wage war. She and others believed the war was inevitable. Soldiers from across the sea would soon be arriving at the port of Shrewsbury. The port village was full of their spies and the town almost fully prepared to receive the foreign troops.
Her Grandmother’s staff pounded the floor again drawing Anna’s attention. “Are you still with us, girl?”
Anna pulled herself from her thoughts and nodded to her grandmother. “Sorry.”
“As I was saying,” Grandma Emma continued, the twinkle again in her eye, “Instead of just rushing off you will need more of a plan than last time, a set of objectives. Besides needing someone older to travel with you, I believe you should consider going to the source of the problem. You need to travel across the Endless Sea if at all possible, but you need to do it in a safe, intelligent way.”
“That’s what I was thinking. The part about crossing the sea. I don’t necessarily want someone older to go with me, someone who will tell me what to do.”
“Older, wiser, and male. Despite all of the arguments you’ll make, there are times when a man can accomplish what you cannot. It is not about you, but about how others perceive you.”
“You’ve raised me to be equal to any man.” Anna puffed out her chest and set her chin.
Grandma Emma shrugged. “Unfortunately, I fear that I did not raise all of those you will deal with. In many cultures, a woman cannot make binding business deals, own property, or speak with authority. Some, even members of this council, believe you are too young. These are not things you can change. Deal with them.”
Anna didn’t like the direction the meeting was taking. But there was truth in Grandma Emma’s words. Besides, Anna had already decided to seek out an older man, but for a very different reason. While on the trip with Gray she’d found her sex and her young age to be an effective weapon. With a bit of silliness, she could still pass for an obnoxious twelve-year-old. A girl who could twist and turn middle-aged men with her eye rolls and sharp tongues.
She fought the twitch of a smile as she remembered dealing with the constable at Shrewsbury. The outrageous statements she’d made that no adult could get away with, and the way he’d both dismissed her and avoided her, solely to escape future embarrassment. Half of her spoiled child act depended on a strong male partner such as an older brother or uncle to play against.
She hung her head as if accepting the taste of bitter medicine from a doting mother. “I agree.” Then she raised her eyes and said with finality, “But I am in charge!”
“We would expect no less,” Sawyer said.
Grandma Emma placed a hand on her shoulder. “I knew you’d see it our way.”
Anna patted the old hand. Yes, you have to compromise when dealing with people. . . Or allow them to think you have come around to see things their way. Let them feel that they made the choice. She said, “I’m free to talk all afternoon and even this evening if anyone wants to avoid being out in the heat.”
Sawyer chuckled. “Trying to get the meetings over in sooner than three days, are you?”
There was no use denying it. “I admit I’m in a hurry.”
Grandma Emma said, “In that case, why not let everyone else go about their business while you and I stroll down by the lake while we talk? Take our fishing poles and see if we can get a couple of the children to dig us some fat worms?”
“Fishing sounds like a great way to spend time,” Anna said, hoping her voice sounded as perky as she intended.
After going to Grandma Emma’s house to grab their poles and tackle, they walked down to the dock, saying hello to people they passed. They asked three little girls to dig worms for them. When the girls ran off giggling and laughing in search of bait, Grandma Emma walked onto the dock to her favorite spot where she could sit and dip her swinging feet into the water.