Two-World Traders (progression fantasy)

Elias had insisted Constance make her official proposal in The Two Worlds Trading Company office, not only because he missed the place but because he wanted certain lines to remain unambiguous: this was their company, not hers, not the so-called Serpent Moon Syndicate's, and anything decided upon here would have to be, as she had put it, "a mutually beneficial arrangement."

Elias had updated his business partners as best he could when they returned a few days later from a recent trip to Azir, where they had successfully scored a new contract with Sultan Atakan. He spared no important detail—save, perhaps, for his romantic dalliance with Harriet Thorn and the hole their parting had left inside him. Bertrand and Briley were skeptical, Gabby even more so, and Iric had many, many questions.

The pressure was on Constance to make her case, exactly as Elias had intended. Even Islet, sitting upright on the desk between them, looked like a cat in need of convincing.

"Here is what I propose," Constance began, choosing not to sit, instead pacing in front of the fire. "We require an official business of some note to procure certain contracts, both for the legal protection it offers and, frankly, for the optics. As you know, reputable clients will not do business with unregistered companies or even unfamiliar ones. You are now a sitting venture in the House of Merchants, if only barely. Obviously, The Transcontinental Company played this role for our people in the past, but now we—rather the Serpent Moon Syndicate requires a company it can anchor itself to. We could start one from scratch or strike a deal with another, but yours… yours makes the most sense. And I believe we can help one another."

"We're all ears, lady, because so far it sounds like all upside for you." Gabby crossed her arms and also refused to sit, leaning next to a bright window. Dust motes danced in afternoon sunbeams that gifted their office a golden hue.

"I was getting to that." Constance sounded annoyed, if somewhat constrained. She could not force this on them, or rather she would not. "I am not proposing we interfere with any of the clients you five have acquired, nor would we take any cut of your pre-existing business. I am also not proposing that we would ever expect income from your side of things. Rather, I am suggesting that we would conduct our own business merely under the banner of The Two Worlds Trading Company. This would create some administrative work for you, and for that inconvenience—and to make this worth your while—we would pay you a five percent fee on any deals we run through you. Now, as far as the Trader's Guild is concerned, there will be no legal distinction between your business and our business, but nor would you be doing anything illegal. How you compensate your contractors is entirely your purview."

"So, we could just take all of your money instead," Gabby inserted.

"If you think that wise, stealing relics from two dozen collectors," Constance said flatly.

Elias shook his head. "Gabby, let's focus on the relevant details."

"Fine. Ten percent," the youngest of them shot back.

"Five percent is already generous considering the volume of business we intend to conduct," Constance replied. "It will more than compensate you for your time. Furthermore, the Trader's Guild will simply see a massive increase in revenue, meaning your company will grow on paper far faster than you imagined. It is our intention to eventually acquire Elias a seat on the Trader's Guild council. I suspect we share that ambition." She glanced at Elias as she said that.

It was not an unpersuasive selling point.

"Perhaps." It was Briley's turn to speak. "But we are capable of growing on our own, as we've done every year since our inception. Hell, we signed a new contract with Sultan Atakan just last week. The problem with your proposal, if I may, isn't that it's not lucrative enough. Rather, you are inviting risk upon us. Assuming this passes muster with the Trader's Guild, and I certainly would be confirming that first, what about this Lucas Dawnlight fellow you're feuding with? He can come after you by coming after us."

It was as if she had taken the words right out of Bertrand's mouth: "I share that considerable concern as well."

"Your worries are valid," Constance admitted. "And yet I'm afraid I must inform you that the risk you describe is… already present. Lucas sees what I see in Elias: a collector with the gift of sight, a useful company, and a lot of potential. Aside from yours truly, there are only two transcendent collectors with the sight, one of whom will definitely not side with Lucas, the other, I'm less certain. Among currently ascendant collectors with the gift, Elias has the most potential to transcend, just as his father did. Lucas sees that as clearly as I do. It was why he tried to court you. He would come for you and your company absent our protection, and for this reason and many others, I genuinely believe my proposal to be mutually beneficial, all things considered."

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They took a moment to process this revelation.

"I did not follow any of that," Iric said after a few long seconds.

Bertrand, meanwhile, looked like he was about to give a speech before turning to his friend and asking a most basic question: "Do you trust her, Elias?"

Elias did not hesitate. After all, he had already made his assessment, picked his side. "I trust her," he said. "And her portrayal of Lucas—well, I certainly don't trust him." And then he sighed. "I feel like this is my fault. I'm the target here."

"It's not your fault for just being who you are," Briley said. Their other business partners, bless their hearts, appeared to agree.

"I could have kept my head low," he reflected.

"While I admit I did offer you that advice, Lucas had you figured out the first time you two met," Constance said. "I don't think you could have prevented your present predicament. But what I'm offering is not a punishment. It is—"

"Mutually beneficial," Elias finished for her.

She chuckled a single chuckle.

"Obviously, we'll need to discuss your offer in private and sleep on it," Bertrand said. "It might be a few sleeps."

Constance did not pressure them for a prompter response. She thanked them for their consideration and reminded them where they could find her when they made their decision. Elias was already looking forward to revisiting the Serpent Moon School headquarters, though he supposed it was the Serpent Moon Syndicate headquarters now.

Iric and Gabby, who had been overseeing the loading of a large delivery of bicycles that had now gone unmonitored for a "dangerously long" stretch of time, departed with urgency. Bertrand had a meeting with a prospective client on the other side of Hightown. And Briley returned to her desk across from Elias, head down in paperwork.

Despite being the busiest of them all, Constance was the only one who lingered behind, the cat excluded. She obviously wanted to speak to Elias alone.

"I said something that I imagine piqued your interest." She stepped closer to him.

"You said many things that piqued my interest," Elias replied. "You mean about my potential to become like you—transcendent." He had learned to better suppresses his enthusiasm as a twenty-two-year-old man.

"Yes, that little detail." She spoke quietly, if not exactly whispering, glancing at Briley across the room. Surely, she could hear everything they were saying, but then Elias would have told her everything anyway. He could tell Constance was arriving at this conclusion herself. "With Bartholomew and Greta gone, there are even fewer of us now," she continued. "Eighteen, if my math is correct. There is Mirabella, who came with us, and Vega, who sided with Lucas, then of course there is me, Jameel, and our mutual adversary. The rest are scattered across the continent, and only two others have the sight. Do you know why we transcendents are so few in number?"

"Jalander told me the Valshynar liked to control who holds power, and I imagine it costs a lot, though I have no idea how much." Elias shrugged. It was not a very good answer, he realized. He had consumed a few dozen relics since his ascension, tracked neatly in his notebook, though he'd stopped eating his money eventually, deeming the act wasteful in the absence of a clear pathway. Transcension was not talked or written about as ascension was—but rather shrouded in secrecy and rumor.

Constance, it seemed, wished to pull back the veil. "Jalander is not entirely wrong, but your picture is incomplete. The cost is considerable, yes, and it does require a great degree of trust for reasons we shall get to, but truthfully most collectors could not transcend even if we wished it so. It necessitates certain… strengths. Power in the conventional sense, naturally, but a powerful imagination too. And so we do not waste resources on those who likely lack the innate capability."

"Just how many relics does it take?" Elias wondered aloud. Ascending had required of him a few thousand, a number that once felt nigh insurmountable and now, in retrospect, like just another invoice. "Tens of thousands?"

"More like hundreds of thousands," she said.

His eyes widened. Even for a sitting company, it was an incredible amount of money. He understood why they would not want to waste it—and also just how valuable his father must have been to them. The man who ran away.

"There is also the matter of trust," Constance added coincidentally. "Trust with so many relics and trust with the knowledge we must share. Lucas mentioned a device in Ancestor's Hollow. I needn't say any more about that for now, but Ancestor's Hollow is where this path will ultimately lead you, Elias. This will not happen overnight for many obvious reasons. It may even take us a few years, but I must plan for tomorrow as we fight for today."

"Did you know my father?" Elias asked suddenly.

Constance appeared taken back, then a little less so. It was a topical inquiry. Sylas Emerand had been one of those rare transcendent collectors with the gift of sight, and now the son was to take after the father. "Not very well," she admitted. "I was young when everything transpired, a decade younger than Sylas. He was closer with Jalander, but I'm sure you two have already discussed this at length. I'm sorry I cannot be more helpful. I recall he was a menace in the sparring ring."

That was actually new information to Elias, who welcomed it with an unexpected smile. "Hopefully I can take after him."

"We share that desire," Constance said sincerely. "You should know that I have never bested Lucas in a duel. He is the strongest fighter among us, if it… if it comes to that. Others see only an impossibly fast blade, but you will see what I see: a man who cuts through opportunity itself, faster than a hope can be realized."