Solo Money Matters

[Madeira Dusk]

5th of Summer, 521

The Twuele was a sight to behold. And behold. And behold again. There so called never-ending tower could be seen from both the neighboring peaks, and on a clear, Leth-drenched night, the glow of its skyglass could be seen all the way from Sartu. It was the watchful eye of Lhavit, Zintila's high seat, thrust up into the sky like it was hoping to touch the heavens themselves.

"If they expect me to climb all those stairs again I swear to gods I'll do it just so I can throw myself off the top."

Madeira adjusted her shawl with her good hand, tucking the embroidered fabric across her body like she'd seen other women in this city wear it. Lhavit fashion, she had decided long ago, was just not for her. The flowy fabrics they favoured had a habit of hanging straight down on her narrow shoulders, skipping past all of her (admittedly minor) feminine qualities. Frankly, she looked like a child. But there was something to be said about first impressions. That something was that Madeira Dusk was particularly good at them. So if this woman-child was going to ask the Lhavitian government for a boon, she was going to do it while looking like one of its citizens.

The cat-creature at her knee didn't acknowledge her whining. Spooks merely turned his great armored head to look at her impassively. Madeira's right arm from fingertips to shoulder were splinted, wrapped and slung across her chest underneath a decorative shawl. The healing cut across her throat was hidden beneath a velvet choker on loan from Jomi, and her bruised and molted face had come from purple to a slightly moldy green under the weight of concealing cosmetics. She hadn't felt the need to hide her injuries from last season before today (in fact she had made the point to display them) but this was different. When it came to governments, the less drama, the better.

"What are we doing here?" Spooks had a way of sounding completely indifferent to the answer even as he asked the question.

"I'm going to ask the Twuele for a business loan."

"For your Church."

Madeira nodded with a pleased smile, smoothing back her loose hair from her shoulders as they ascended the stairs to the cavernous front doors."For my Church."

Spooks disappeared in a curl of soulmist as the Spiritist stepped inside. The sounds of industry, of quills and rolling paper and hurrying feet, echoed in the wide reception chamber. The Constellations, in their uniform robes of different colour and complexity, buzzed around like bees in their hive. Madeira did he best to smile and stay out of their way as she spoke briefly to the front desk. Thank gods, the office she needed was on the ground floor. A receptionist pointed her towards the correct hall where she would find the office of someone who could help her.

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[Madeira Dusk]

Efficiency and order seemed to be the goal here. Madeira found the correct office with ease, and was made to wait in orderly chairs with several other aspiring business men and women. When her name was called she stood and affixed her best smile to her face as she was lead into the inner office.

The man at the desk was young and tired, with premature grey sparkling in his hair and a quill that might have been permanently fused to his hand. His desk and office was choked with drafting paper, ink vials and several different kinds of abacus.

"Name?" he inquired as soon as she sat down.

"Madeira Dusk. What's yours?"

The question seemed to throw his for a second. "Alphaeus."

"Good morning, Alphaeus."

He hummed in response, his quill already flying across a fresh sheet of parchment.

"Have you ever sought credit from the Twuele before?"

"No."

"Do you have a guarantor of good standing?"

"Aldgare Dusk is willing to sign for me."

"What is the amount and purpose of the loan?"

"To purchase land on Sartu on which to build a Church and cemetery in service of the dead."

This, finally, made Alphaeus look up from his parchment. The speed of his quill had flicked black ink onto his nose in a stripe of tiny galaxies.

"Can you elaborate, Ma'am?"

"I noticed that for a city with half a school dedicated to spiritism, it's noticeably lacking in the physical and spiritual realities of death." Madeira smiled, crossing her legs beneath her skirt. "As an Eiyon and a Spiritist, I hope to remedy that. I found a wonderful plot of land high up on Sartu on which to build a church dedicated to Dira. It will include a place of worship where I will hold services; a mortuary, crematorium and graveyard to respectfully care for the corpses of the deceased; and an office from which I will use my magic skills to care for the souls of the deceased."

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[Madeira Dusk]

Alphaeus' brow puckered, and she could see his thin lips mouthing cemetery and Eiyon like he was testing the words for structural integrity.

"Are you a priestress?"

"Does one need to be a priestess to have faith?"

"No, but the ones who preach that faith usually do."

"As far as I am aware there is no other established Eiyon in Lhavit, and no one in the world more dedicated to the service of death. I assure you I will do my best to be the spiritual leader Dira deserves."

The man nodded thoughtfully, but the pucker in his brow just trenched deeper. He fussed with his paperwork for a moment like he was looking for something.

"As you can imagine, arable land on a mountainside is finite. I'm not sure I can approve a loan that is going to buy up three acres of it just for you to sow it with corpses. I understand you must be an outsider, so you might not know, but we have our own customs in dealing with the dead."

"But that's just the thing", Madeira jumped in, pouncing on the farming analogy he himself brought up. "Spiritual nourishment is just as important for a society this advanced. And there is something... deeply moving about a cemetery. I'm trying to show Lhavit that there is more than one way to celebrate and worship life and death. This will be a place where all aspects of death, the emotional, the physical and the spiritual, will be handled. In that way it is just as much a concept of practicality", she changed track, reasoning that a man lost in the practicalities of other peoples dreams might respond better to more tangible realities. "All the minutia of death in one place."

Alphaeus, clearly out of his depth, cleared his throat and leveled his quill at Madeira across the desk. "I have to run it by my supervisor, but this concept is approved, tentatively."

Madeira beamed. "Why thank you, Alphaeus."

Pulling one of his many abacuses towards him, the man began to flick beads around on the wires, settling back into his comfort zone. "The Dusk name has a good reputation, so we can approve a decent loan. How much do you need to supplement for the expenses of the land and structure?"

The next ten chimes descended into quiet efficiency as the contract was drawn up and stamped with the seal of the Twuele. Madeira signed the dotted line under the list of purpose and function of the loan, and the timeframe with which she had to pay it back.

"You have been granted the amount of six-thousand, one hundred and seventy-five kina on this day, the fith of Summer, five hundred and twenty one", the man droned on in his most clear and official voice. "You have a year from this date to pay back the loan in full." Alphaeus handed her a copy of the signed deal and offered her a hand to shake. "May Zintia shine good fortune down upon you."

Madeira thanked him kindly and got to her feet, the papers clutched to her side. Now, finally, this was all starting to feel real. She was finally going to be a spiritist again.

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