Evander's crimson eyes surveyed his guests as they started to pick away at the platters and bowls on the table. The attitudes and reactions he saw from the merchant princes ranged from Khosrawi's apparent curiousity to try something new, to looks of silent disgust like those worn on lady Laghmani and master Namjoo's faces. It seemed like the fish wraps were received as well as he had anticipated, which wasn't saying much; he figured some of the more snobbish merchants would be hard to please.
To master Khosrawi's compliment, the feathered merchant merely nodded, as he busy studying the room; as much information as he could get out of his company's faces, his ears told him much more... and not all of what he was hearing was good. Dealing with two financiers, as some of Evander's guests seemed apt to foist upon him, would put him at a severe disadvantage; not ideal, but manageable. The more worrying comments to reach his ears were the ones teased the possibility of simply buying out the guild if the caravans failed... And the idea of getting bought out in this city was one that made his wings ruffle.
As the late, late afternoon turned into a proper evening with the setting sun, and his guests were mostly finished with the first round of dishes that were prepared, the gryphon motioned for his assistant. He muttered a few words in a native gryphon dialect to the young man, who disappeared for a moment as the gryphon sat up on his haunches again.
"As we move into the later hours of the evening, I feel it is now perhaps appropriate to begin more earnest business discussions," he announced, switching into a very formal register of Essyrni. As he was speaking, the assistant returned with several sheets of parchment, which were distributed among the seated merchants. The pages were blank, and within short order the gryphon's assistant came around again with some reed styli and pots of ink; at the gryphon's spot was set what looked like a folded wooden case bound by cord that, when opened, revealed slates of wax. With that, the gryphon gave the young man a nod as he settled back down onto his cushion, and off they went again.
"Now, I'm sure as you all know, my trade company deals in a variety of goods, from jewelry to weapons, and even foodstuffs. As of our most recent inventory check, we have in our stores in Adela 15 stone weight of gold jewelry of various types, 5 stone each of rubies and sapphires, 350 jars of various fruit preserves, 35 woven rugs, 10 sets of dragon armor fitted for Kaadir, and 20 rare books on topics of various aspects of alchemy," Evander started, glancing down at his wax tablets every few seconds.
"And all of this, and more, was originally bound for Essyrn before our recent misfortunes. As of recently, all of that save the Kaadir armor will be rerouted to Connlaoth or Serendipity if we cannot secure the necessary funding. By our estimation, between security, wagons and travel supplies, and miscellaneous labor, we would need around 2,500 gold dinar to cover the costs of a caravan from Adela to Essyrn."