234 Union (1/2)
”I really should have seen this one coming,” Corco muttered to himself. All the while, he watched Egidius and Ella, the clock maker's new bride, step down the pier and into the decorated wooden boat together. Now that he thought about it, it had been strange that the adventurous and curious clock maker had decided to stay in Saniya rather than follow Atau on his journey around the world. He even remembered the girl's portrait, hanging in the clock maker's workshop during his frequent visits there.
Maybe it was the constant work or his general lack of a romantic strain, but somehow he had been blindsided by their relationship. Out of nowhere, Egidius had announced his intentions and now only three days later, a group of the city's elites had come together in Saniya's harbor to say their goodbyes to the first married couple between an Arcavian and a Medalan.
”Do you mind your people getting fresh with outsiders?” When Corco turned towards the voice, he was confronted by the mischievous twinkle that he had become so familiar with. At some point during the proceedings, Sumaci had stepped next to the king to speak her mind, like she did so often.
”Who're you calling an outsider?” Corco asked back in a bemused tone. ”He's a citizen of Saniya just like everyone else. As the city grows, we'll have more and more people immigrate from all over the place, so it's a good idea to be open and not put too much emphasis on heritage. Rather, I'm glad that those two have found each other. A few of my Arcavian subjects seem to have had flings with local girls, though I'd prefer if all of them worked out like this one. In fact, if I had the choice, I'd rather they all got married and started families right this second. That way, they are much more likely to stay around once their contracts are up in a few years. Now that one of them has taken the first plunge, I'm sure others will follow suit soon.”
”You think so? And all of them will convert to the Pacha faith?”
Corco followed Sumaci's pointed finger towards the ship the couple had boarded. Although the vessel's wooden exterior looked a bit worn, it had been decorated with various cloth streamers, as well as waves and animals symbols of Medalan faith. From what Corco had been told, Egidius had loaned the vessel from a local fisherman for a considerable price. After, he had added his own decorations in secret, together with his bride-to-be.
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At this point, the two of them had begun to row away from the pier and towards the open waters. In accordance with Medala tradition, the young couple would spend several days in the wilderness by themselves, before they would return to their home as husband and wife. Though of course, wilderness was a relative term. They were well-prepared to face their time alone, and a small island in the Mayura River had been prepared for the young pair to call home during this time. After generations of civilization, the tradition had evolved into more of an early honeymoon rather than the original pair-bonding fight for survival it had originated from.
Even so, it was surprising that an Arcavian would play along with Medala's traditions in the way Egidius had.
”It'd be nice if they all were to convert, but I doubt it'll happen,” Corco answered after a long pause.
”I assume they don't get married like this in the Orient.”
”That's the problem right there. Nail on head. Egidius is kind of a weirdo among the Arcavians, at least by today's standards. He says he believes in Arcavus, but I'm pretty sure it's only because he'd be ostracized otherwise. At the very least, I haven't seen him practice any religious rites ever since he left Arcavia. That's why it was easy for him to agree to this type of wedding. Not that it means that he's actually converted to the Pacha faith with this. So I don't think we can draw any conclusion from his choices. Whether or not the others will follow his example remains to be seen.”
”At least they looked happy,” Sumaci said as she looked back along the river.
Again, Corco followed her lead and checked on his head engineer and his new bride. Indeed, the two newlyweds had sat down and snuggled together as their little boat slowly drifted downstream. As the distance and low-hanging sun turned them into silhouettes, the people disappeared and only the boat remained within Corco's sight.
”Oh crap, that reminds me,” the king shouted out of nowhere, and rushed back towards his castle out of nowhere, followed by his silent guards.
”You are not staying? There will be a reception held by Ella's family later. They invited some traveling folk for music and dance. It sounded like it would be fun,” a surprised Sumaci remained glued to the pier, but still called out to the inconsiderate Corco.
”No time,” he called back. ”This is important work, so I gotta get this done before I forget again. You have fun though.”
And with that, the king left a visibly upset Sumaci to her own devices while he charged back into his work.
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Minutes later, Corco was once again seated behind the desk in his study, with Fadelio before him to answer his questions and take his orders.
”Okay, first off: Do we have any solid figures on the number of fishermen in the Chawir territory? Actually, I'd prefer numbers on all fishermen in the southern kingdom if that's possible.”
For a moment Fadelio looked up from his notes with a furrowed brow, before he replied at last.
”We don't, not for the entire kingdom, nor for our estate. I can look up the numbers from the last full census if you want, but it's been a long time so I doubt they would be very accurate. As for the entire south's numbers, I don't think anyone has those. How would we get those numbers in the first place?”
”Well... we're already running around registering all the farmers in the territory, aren't we? Didn't we just do the same for all the other villagers while we were at it?” Corco countered.
”Yes we did, but only in the farming villages. And we're barely keeping up with things as is, so we don't have the manpower to frivolously spend them on a new census. We never sent anyone to the uncounted number of fishing villages along the coastline, because there's nothing to do or to report there. Since they don't need our fertilizer, they have no reason to hand their children over to school in Saniya, and we have no stakes in any of their businesses, so we have no particular incentive to control them or count them up. The only reason to go there is to collect taxes once a year, and that's still done on a village-by-village basis, not per citizen.”
”In that case, it's high time we change that,” a self-satisfied Corco said as he leaned back in his chair.
”Is that really necessary?” Fadelio looked even more unconvinced than before. ”There isn't much money in fishery anyways. The fishermen are considerably poorer than the farmers, even without the fertilizer and new tools, so I feel like our efforts would be better spent elsewhere. What about supporting the merchants or craftsmen instead?”