Arc 1- The Case of the Forged Silver Coins
Chapter 4-2
Gesi Ajai carried a pail filled with fresh water with his right hand and a scoop with his left. He walked along the long benches of his greenhouse watering rows of tomato plants, eggplants, and spinach. His eldest daughter was partial to the tomatoes, so he always watered them well, determined to keep their house in stock.
Gesi did not pause when a knock came on the greenhouse door. He kept working and only glanced up to see his trusted confidant walking along the rows of tomatoes growing in neat pots along the benches.
“Good afternoon, Lord Ajai,” Sazama said, pausing by a tomato plant with a set of five green tomatoes. He studied the fruit with keen interest.
“Afternoon, Sazama,” Gesi said, as he kept watering the eggplants.
Gesi took the time to study Sazama.
Sazama was thirty-seven this year. He had no family, was not married, and had no children. Gesi was twenty-three years old and living in Witia State in the South-West of the Lyria Empire when he met Sazama.
Gesi was an impressionable scholar at the time. He had passed the empire’s state exams and earned his place working in the agricultural office of Witia State. Thanks to the government job, Gesi worked hard and made enough money to uplift himself from scholarly poverty. He paid off those who helped him on the way up and got justice from those who had wronged him.
Feeling content, Gesi made a friend in the government office. A righteous scholar who worked for the Ministry of Justice in Witia State. His name was Tajan. Tajan had one younger brother he doted on, but Gesi particularly liked how passionate Tajan was about his work. Their bond grew fast, and Gesi found himself spending a lot of time at Tajan’s family home. He met Tajan’s younger brother, Sazama, and was accepted into their brotherhood of two.
Then, in the course of his work, Tajan stumbled into a powerful opponent. A magistrate from the Capital City Genad. Tajan looked up to this powerful magistrate and often visited him when he was in Witia. On one of Tajan’s visits to the magistrate’s compound to visit the powerful lord, he accidentally discovered a sinister plot.
Gesi frowned, watching Sazama reach out to touch the ripest of the tomatoes. He fought the urge to snap at the young man, but it was difficult. It was difficult.
“I won’t take it off,” Sazama said. “I know you keep them for Naeri. She is a lucky girl, your daughter. It must be nice to have such a doting father.”
Gesi paused in the act of pouring water for a spinach plant. He studied Sazama openly, mulling over Sazama’s wistful tone.
Once again, the tone was understandable. After all, Sazama had once known a deep caring affection from his older brother, Tajan. Dear Tajan who discovered a plot designed to murder Basileus Rokas. Tajan’s righteous nature drove him on a wild ride to the capital city determined to report the plot. He wanted to connect with the Basileus’s office and report a crime, but he was caught before he could get out of Witia State.
Gesi Ajai had accompanied Tajan on the road to the capital city. That day, he met the powerful Dowager Basilinna.
“What is your dream?” she asked him, as he watched Tajan die in the middle of a wild forest.
The Dowager Basilinna’s voice had sounded bored as she watched him tremble with grief and anger. Her legion guards standing behind Gesi with sharp daggers ready to end his life in the same way as they dispatched Tajan.
“Do you want to keep your life?” Dowager Basilinna asked him with an indifferent tone.
“Yes,” Gesi remembered saying his voice trembling, despite the grief and anger. The determination to live overcame his grief.
“Then, you will join my cause from now on,” Dowager Basilinna said with a dismissive tone.
Gesi watched her walk away with her guards assured of his obedience. She did not look back once, not even to confirm if Tajan was truly gone. Her legion guard left him kneeling with a dead Tajan lying on a muddy patch in the middle of the forest. A demon grew inside him that night, even as he gathered Tajan’s body and placed it on a horse. A desire to have enough power to escape having to submit to Basilinna’s whims filled him until it was all he could think about at every meal, and when he lay down to rest.
This mad desire to be strong overtook his being, so much so that when he brought Tajan’s cold body to Sazama, he infected him with the same desire. The need to be strong, not to have to bow to others, and Sazama wanted revenge for his beloved brother’s death.
He was twenty-three years old when Tajan died. Now, here they were, thirty years later, on the verge of accomplishing their goals. Gesi smiled and glanced at Sazama.
“You can take two from the pile,” Gesi said, thinking it was good to spoil Tajan’s little brother once in a while.
Sazama smiled as he reached for the ripest one and wiped it on his black tunic.
“Why did you visit me?” Gesi asked, finishing with the spinach plants.
“We have movement,” Sazama said, biting into his tomato. He only took one and moved to lean on a workbench laden with empty pots. “The Basileus has installed General Maenaer in his offices at the palace. He has given him the job of being a military liaison.”
“The Marquis from Draeya is trouble,” Gesi frowned. “How is the inspector-general managing the case of the counterfeit silver?”
“The clues are pouring in,” Sazama said. “The assayer has identified Sura Clan ore as the source. This matter will be reported at court tomorrow morning.”
“Good,” Gesi nodded in approval.
“Hulan has sent a message from the port,” Sazama said. “A complication. Draeya General has shown up at the port magistrate’s office with a member from the Sura Clan. They have recorded a case of theft for the ore.”
Gesi chuckled and put away his pail, and the scoop on a small rack in the corner. He picked up a small towel hanging on the rack and used it to wipe his hands.
“Why do you laugh?” Sazama asked.
“Draeya General is amusing. He feels if the case is reported, the Sura Clan can escape. I can’t let that happen though after working so hard.”
“Why do you need their workshops?” Sazama asked. “We can always make do with the income coming from our enterprises in Witia State.”
Gesi Ajai folded the rug he used to wipe his hands and placed it on the rack. He started a stroll between the aisles, checking for illnesses and pests on the plants. Worms could decapitate an entire grow. He did not want to risk it.
“The Sura Clan has workshops at ideal points along the streets of Genad Capital. I need the amount of money they rake in a day,” Gesi said, pausing to study a tomato that was struggling to keep up with the others. “I need the wealth if I’m to enter the Minister of Finance office.”
“Now what?” Sazama asked.
“Now, we push the case for the resolution of the counterfeit silver case,” Gesi Ajai said. “Make the necessary preparations to find the Sura cargo carriages. A raid on one of their busiest workshops should produce coin molds. The Inspector-General will take it from there. At the least their license to trade in the city will be canceled, at worst and best for me, the head of the clan will be charged with treason.”
“What about Draeya General?”
“He’s not someone we can offend, we’ll work faster and make sure by the time he arrives in the capital, the case is concluded,” Gesi said, uprooting the struggling tomato plant. “Our plans must be concluded. Clean out loose ends.”
Sazama nodded and looked around the greenhouse.
“I’m sure Naeri will be excited to discover you have planted juicy tomatoes for her,” Sazama said.
Gesi sighed.
“I hope it makes her smile because I’m about to push her into a life decision that may change her life,” Gesi said.
“You’ll marry her to Basileus Dio?” Sazama asked. “Are you sure?”
“We need to gain closer footing with the ruling family,” Gesi said. “Marriage is an easy bloodless method. Naeri will make a beautiful Basilinna.”
Sazama studied him for a moment, then nodded and started to head out of the greenhouse.
“I better hurry to clean up loose ends. Otherwise, it will be difficult to vet a Basilinna from your house, Lord Ajai,” Sazama said with a smile.
“Then do it well,” Gesi said, holding Sazama’s gaze. “Meanwhile, I’ll help Naeri meet the Dowager Basilinna. The Dowager will help us plan a meeting between Naeri and Basileus Dio.”
Sazama nodded. “Good luck Lord Gesi.”
Gesi watched Sazama leave the greenhouse. He walked around to the tomato plant Sazama had touched and studied the three fruits remaining on the plant. There had been five. Sazama must have taken a second one as he left.
Gesi scowled and reached for the pot. He carried it to the work table and proceeded to destroy the plant and the remaining tomatoes to small bits with a hammer. He threw the mess into the compost pit under the worktable. He placed the now empty pot into a pile of unused pots and took in a deep calming breath. Better, nothing was worse than half-baked or ruined, it was not the same.
He looked up when he heard a soft knock and stared at his eldest daughter, Naeri Ajai. She was beautiful this morning. Her long blonde hair fell down her back in silky waves. She was dressed in a red dress with a fitted bodice and long skirts that swept to the floor in layers of fine tulle. Naeri was always radiant, but her wary expression as she watched him made him pause.
Gesi wondered if she had seen his temper on the tomatoes Sazama ruined.
“Naeri.”
“Afternoon, Dad,” Naeri said. “I—you called for me?”
Gesi bit back his scoff. Her shaky voice betrayed her. She had seen his temper. He weighed how much the revelation bothered him and found that he was not so worried. Naeri would be Basilinna soon. She would need to handle courtiers and a cruel Dowager Basilinna. His temper could be considered the least of her worries.
“Go prepare,” Gesi said to Naeri. “We have to visit someone important this evening. Make sure to hold your hair in a style that reveals your face. Don’t disappoint me.”
Naeri studied him for a minute more.
“Alright, Dad,” she said, then turned and left the greenhouse.
Gesi listened as she broke into a run, her heels rapping a frantic beat on the wooden path leading to the main house, and he let out a sigh.
Children were so difficult to manage.
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Sui Writes 