The three of them sat on chairs in the hallway outside of the resort's VIP lounge. Even though the management had allowed them to book rooms at almost no charge and has covered all their meals, the lounge access was still specific to Valmar, and he couldn't negotiate access for the two youths. Thus, when he wasn't going for a stroll through the gallery, they had to knock on the lounge door and wait for the gnoll doorman to fetch their chaperone for them.

Surprisingly, the two nights spent at the resort had mostly been wholesome. The meals were fantastic and both Anathil and Tan'jin had copious amounts of fun embarrassing themselves as they tried to learn to play tennis. By the time the first morning came, they were frankly too tired to risk traveling between their two separate wings of the resort and end up being caught in the act by Valmar.

That being said...they were out of their home territory, and thus away from the eyes and ears of their parents. Pretty much any city on the continent that was north of Ratchet plus Gadgetzan and Feathermoon Stronghold further south bore high risks in terms of being seen and, as Anathil feared, being grounded or even separated from spending time alone with each other once they returned. But at Laketop Park, they only had Valmar to contend with; as long as they were in an obviously public place like the gallery, they could do what they wanted, and they spent those two nights simply talking and spending time with each other at ease in the knowledge that their parents or her sisters wouldn't be constantly following them and monitoring everything they did.

Thus, when the time for the sales pitch came - which was unfortunately in the morning - Anathil was at least able to pay attention.

Scribbling more details on a sheet of paper as he'd done in New Auberdine, Valmar tried to compile all the information they'd discussed. "Okay, so here's what we're looking at. Due to the work to stabalize Outland, obtaining anything that originates there is exceedingly difficult - your parents are some of the few people on Azeroth that cultivate felweed, ragveil and dreaming glory, which happen to be exactly what they need at various places in the resort. So right off the bat, what sort of advantages do you have?"

Alert and ready, Anathil jumped at the opportunity to respond. "We know that they don't have that many options," she replied proudly.

"Good. What else?"

"They already want what we have, so they probably want to sample our product to see if it's legit - not to decide if they want it or not," Tan'jin said.

"Great, great. Now, what about their needs here?"

Anathil examined a jade vase imported from the Jade Forest that looked like it cost a fortune. "They probably view a product as more valuable if it's more expensive, regardless of its actual value."

Valmar's light blue eyes glowed even more brightly for a moment. "Yes! Exactly! And that's huge in terms of knowing your customer," he beamed in an almost amusingly lively fashion. "Image is huge for these types of people, and it needs to be huge for you as well. So make sure ask for a huge price at first and be ready to haggle in the high end." Once again, he did some math and slid the sheet of paper over to them. "You really don't want to go outside of the upper part of this range."

Tan'jin began to examine the numbers, but Anathil continued looking at their undead chaperone. "Mister Valmar, there is no prejudice against the undead in places like this. Do you think you could help us this time?"

"No, I really can't," he said while shaking his head. "This tri is about the two of you taking charge. My friend Reginald and I can help from behind the scenes; we'll make sure that the management is sated and relaxed. But you two must learn to nail these sales pitches on your own. In fact..." He pulled up the sleeve of his coat to check a designer, gnomish manufactured wristwatch. "...it's time for you two to go. And don't be late like with the Sizzler, these people might show up late but they'll expect you to be on time."

Tan'jin frowned as he helped Anathil stand up even though she didn't need it. "That's a bit hypocritical," he mumbled.

Valmar remained seated as they stood, waiting to get involved in his own way. "That's business. Remember, you want to make that sale; if putting up with double standards helps you to make the sale, then you must swallow your pride and do so."

Once they'd started on their way, shifting into business mode was relatively easy, and Anathil was even able to stand next to Tan'jin alone inside of a mechanical lift without letting her mind shift toward naughty ideas. Everything was numbers, game plans and confidence building as the two of them found a very natural groove to prepare and encourage each other. The trip from the VIP lounge down to the bar and grille next to a swimming pool that was still being filled likely took over ten minutes, but it felt like only two.

Once outside, they had to wear sunglasses due to the light of dawn - Valmar had insisted that they spend out of pocket to buy designer pairs for the sake of image - and waited for an attendant to show them to a shaded table to wait.

And wait they did, for nearly half an hour as they fought off sleep with black Westfall coffee as they waited for the purchase manager to show up. By the time the gaudily dressed native did so, the two youths had at least had more time to prepare their intricate and complicated sales pitch.

"Alright, it's time for my six o'clock," said the portly centaur man said in overly practiced Common as he approached the table. Flanked by two goblin assistants, the purchase manager appeared to be a person from the local Galek clan who had likely inherited his position through an agreement signed with the local governance - judging by his overpriced gold chains and the silk tarp he wore over his horselike half of his body, it likely wasn't due to education or shrewd business skills. "Ah, are these the ones we were expecting?" he said to his assistants as if the two long eared sales representatives couldn't hear him.

One of the nameless assistants checked a clipboard, looking very self important as she did so. "Yes, Sir Kalcheck, these are the young miss Hearthglen and mister Bowleaf."

"Let us commence!" Kalcheck announced while clapping his hands. Out from behind the bar, a gnoll attendant who had apparently been waiting around for that moment dragged out a specialized mat for the centaur manager to sit down on, and greetings were passed across the table as Kalcheck took his time settling in. Eventually there was a brief lull in the conversation after he ordered drinks for them without asking - both families were strictly dry, and never consumed alcohol except for Anathil's delinquent oldest brother - and launched into a series of pointless inquiries he almost appeared to recite. "So, how is your health?"

Tan'jin raised one of his medium length eyebrows at the overly personal question. "We're all fine, thanks," he answered for them both.

"And your families?"

"Our families are fine."

"So everybody is good?"

Anathil wiggled her ear at Tan'jin, a sign of both her amusement and confusion at the line of questioning, and fortunately he understood. "Yes, both of our families are doing fine," he answered politely.

"How do you find Thousand Needles?"

"Oh...well, we're located in the Barrens, so it feels rather familiar."

"Do you like the Barrens?"

When Tan'jin looked sincerely perplexed by the man's questions, Anathil jumped in. "Yes, it's such a majestic land, isn't it? It reminds me a lot of Thousand Needles," she said, perplexing Tan'jin even more.

Kalcheck, however, was thrilled. "I know, they're so similar, aren't they? They remind me of Desolace. Have you ever been to Desolace?"

"Both of us have, it's a very desolate place."

Rearing his head back to laugh, Kalcheck actually seemed to find the joke funny and even pounded his fist on the table, much to Tan'jin's confusion. "That's a good one because it sounds like the place's name!" he gut laughed while waving a human server over toward them. "Now...I believe you have some samples for us, yes?"

"That's correct, sir," Anathil replied while pulling their herb bag out. "All three are species originally from Outland; the Dark Portal has been on virtual lockdown for quite a few years, so all of our herbs are exceedingly hard to come buy." She pulled out the three samples and laid them on the table, preparing herself to explain what each one was. "Alright, this is enough here to form quite a few meals, or even drinks in the case of the dreaming glory."

Turning away from her to address the server, Kalcheck almost didn't appear to be listening. "Harvey, please have the kitchen whip up something nice with these. Perhaps a nice brunch - I'm starving!"

"Right away, sir," the human replied in a dull, disinterested tone. A second human passed by as he disappeared, setting down a tray of drinks that made both youths decidedly uncomfortable.

"To long life!" Kalcheck cheered while snatching up the largest of the three glasses.

Eyeing her glass suspiciously, Anathil noticed the lack of carbonation in the fruity drink. Upon closer inspection, it seemed to be a simple cocktail of freshly squeezed fruit juice. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed movement at the bar and saw that Valmar and Reginald were just around the corner of the little covered area, the undead half of the pair giving her a slight nod. She smiled, knowing he had probably made the save due to her family's behavioral restrictions - in this case, one that she didn't find smothering.

Over the next half an hour of back and forth circular discussions on just about every topic except for the herbs, Kalcheck ended up downing several more drinks (at breakfast, of all times) while Anathil and Tan'jin just nursed their juices. The centaur must have had a strong stomach, though, and by the time the food arrived he barely even seemed tipsy. Although Anathil managed to take the casualness all in a stride, Tan'jin was practically fidgeting out of boredom by the time the server arrived with their food.

"That's what I'm talking about!" Kalcheck cheered as the large, mostly empty white plates were placed in front of them. "Now let's see how this turned out."

Excitement over what would be a late snack for the two nocturnal youths was quickly extinguished when Anathil saw what was sitting on her plate. A single egg white with a strawberry on top and a small amount of ragveil pollen sprinkled over it sat in the center of the plate. Some kind of a white sauce had been lightly squirted in a zig zag pattern over the entire plate and one leaf of felweed was almost used as a decoration at one corner.

"How lovely..." she said quietly, trying her best to sound interested.

"No worries...let's just try to eat the smallest bites we can," Tan'jin whispered to her in Zandali.

"My individual bites of food are bigger than this," she answered under her breath as she cut the tiniest sliver possible off the corner of the egg white.

Despite their misgivings, Kalcheck seemed ecstatic, and savored every minuscule bite in between sips of the various alcoholic beverages he seemed to enjoy at breakfast. It was almost like a test of patience, to see how long they could drag out the meal. Not that it didn't taste good; Anathil certainly enjoyed the single bite's worth of egg white, strawberry and home grown herbs; she just wished she could have eaten about fifteen more plates of it. Judging by the target demographic, however, she ventured a guess that such a meal would probably cost her life savings.

Leaning back on his cushion in satisfaction, Kalcheck took his time wiping his mouth with a bib before he spoke again. In a casual tone as if the decision were of no consequence, he surprised both youths.

"We'll need half a bushel of each herb every two weeks," he said, indicating that he was more or less already sold on the idea.

Straightening up and mentally bracing herself for the negotiations, Anathil pulled out a small slip of paper she had in her pocket. Jotting down a few equations as she estimated the price of such a deal, she made sure to slide the sheet over to Kalcheck without saying anything. The deal felt more dramatic that way, which seemed to fit considering the fact that she still felt uncomfortable asking for that amount of money from anybody.

As Kalcheck inspected the requested prices, Anathil began the opening monologue she and Tan'jin had agreed upon and even practiced when they were waiting for the purchase manager to show up. "Shipments can be sent on the same day every two weeks from the port of Ratchet; there are actually multiple ships sailing to the docks of Splithoof Heights below every single week, so-"

"Harvey, draft a contract for these people!" Kalcheck called out to the server with a snap of his fingers.

"Right away, sir."

For a few seconds, Anathil and Tan'jin both paused, almost not believing what had just taken place in front of them. The server hurried away and walked just inside the glass doors of the resort, where he hurried into an office and began writing on a mostly finished document. The two young sales representatives shared puzzled looked before Anathil looked back to Kalcheck.

"So...these are what the prices would be for each shipment every two weeks," she said cautiously as Kalcheck drank a little bit more.

"Here's to a good deal!" the centaur replied with a tip of his head and bushy eyebrows.

And with that, the deal was finished - the entire monologue and various retorts and replies that Anathil and Tan'jin had spent so much time coming up with had ended up being all for nothing. Out of courtesy and good business practice, they forced themselves to stay awake after requesting more of the coffee imported from Westfall and stayed with Kalcheck for another half an hour before excusing themselves.

The entire exchange had been a bit bizarre and unexpected. In fact, the sale seemed a bit too easy after all the preparation they'd done, and both of them almost felt as if they hadn't really experienced a real sale on their own aside from the Sizzler back at New Auberdine.

Anathil leaned close to Tan'jin as they entered the main building of the resort again, bumping into him in purpose when she realized that, technically, the business end of their trip was finished. "I think Valmar spiked the guy's drink."

Tan'jin gave her a funny look. "Can a drink that's already alcoholic be spiked?"

"I have no idea, but that sale was way too easy. It's like he'd already decided that he wanted to buy."

"I think that's what it was," Tan'jin replied. The two of them stood next to each other for a moment in an empty hallway at the back of the lobby. He almost looked sad as their eyes met, and even though she had no idea why he looked that way, she wanted to cup his cheeks in her hands anyway. "We have to go back to Ratchet after we wake up," he sighed.

"Back to our families again..." For a split second, the sadness struck her as well until her mischevious side took over again. "Tanny...I..." She paused short of talking about feelings, which she'd never done before aside from with her family. He looked down at her expectantly, and she got the feeling that there was a lot he wanted to say as well, but was waiting for her first. "We have one more day here. Valmar is busy. And just outside the compound, there's a lift to the beach down the cliff." Breaking through the melancholy, she wiggled her long eyebrows at him suggestively.

"The beach...oh...away from anyone who knows us!" He looked sheepish and a bit of the guilt his parents had instilled in him lingered, but the enthusiasm apparent in his voice won over. "But...the receptionist told us not to go outside of the compound yesterday. The locals often harass the rich people that have been traveling here for the other resorts and the oil fields."

Undaunted, Anathil let her hand brush up against his thigh ever so slightly as she pushed past him, as if she'd flipped a switch that sent her right out of business mode. "Too bad...I'm wearing a bathing suit underneath my dress that I'm worried is too tight and needed someone to take a look at it for me...I guess I'll have to venture down to the beach and just watch my reflection in the waves all alone..."

She didn't even look back to see him, but when she heard his nervous footsteps hurrying after her, she sucked the air in between her clenched teeth involuntarily. Being a procrastinator brought with it the advantage of being able to improvise quickly...and when they found an isolated part of the beach, she was sure she'd figure out all sorts of ideas.