"I'm going to need you to grind up the blue slimes into a fine powder, if you're going to use it for the coating. Adhesive magic won't work if it's not finely ground," Brittany informed one of the many apprentices that were helping her with her work. She dips a finger into the bowl that contains some light blue dust, letting it coat her finger before she brings it to her lips and licks it. The action causes her apprentice to make a face, but she ignores him, blue slime wasn't toxic and she had needed to test the quality. "You're going to have to grind it again, try using the blender," Brittany said pointing to the device that was currently in use.

"Yes, your highness."

Nodding at his response Brittnay pushes off with her little chair with wheels, checking each apprentice's work as she did and throwing out small comments. They were apprentices, they didn't deal with any of the dangerous materials, but it was best to instill the safety protocols now instead of before they were promoted from apprentices.

Once upon a time she'd been in their very shoes, except she'd been far younger and far more daring. The amount of explosions that she had caused as an apprentice was still a record that had yet to be broken, which was disappointing. From an early age she'd wanted to push the boundaries and her father had been as permissive and indulgent despite the numerous explosions, but she had figured out how to make waterproof cloth by the age of six. Something that her apprentices seemed to be struggling to do despite being grown adults, which only further proved her point that Magical Academy needed to allow commoners who showed promise. Of course the moment she had become of age and had created the communication network with her best friend, her father had put her in charge of the kingdom's Royal Artificer's Guild.

But now that Lena had abandoned her to go over to the dwarf kingdom, she was stuck in a rut most of her ideas were unfinished, and while she could call Lena and run some ideas off her, she needed to focus on what she wanted to focus on what was needed. Working with magic was a dangerous business, and she couldn't remember the last time she had caused an explosion which generally led to some progress. It wasn't the same to simply bounce ideas off one another with a communication crystal.

"Blue slime cores? Do you need more of those?"

Brittany spins in her seat to spot her youngest sibling who is holding a small container of the stuff and she rolls her eyes and grabs it from her. "Charlie I can hire someone from the Adventurer's guild to do that, I'm certain that they pay young children to gather blue slime cores Charlie, they aren't exactly that difficult to kill. You wouldn't even earn enough money for one beer with what I pay for 50 blue slime cores."

Charlie sighed, she and Hiccup could slaughter hundreds of blue slimes, and still wouldn't put a dent in the population. "You said you would help me fund my lifestyle until the end of the month Britt, and father wants me to start training my troops—" Charlie pauses mid-sentence as something in the corner of the room catches her eye and she points towards it. "Is that new armor?"

"If it looks like new armor it probably is," Brittany stated as she moved towards her messy desk that was covered in blueprints and began to open and close them quickly, as she searched for the list of alchemy ingredients that she would need for her development.

"Grandma managed to kill another dragon?" Charlie questions approaching it.

At the question Brittany looks up at her sister and squints at her, studying her carefully before rolling her eyes, her sister had been thrown from a balcony during her formative years. "Something like that. It's not finished yet, so don't touch it."

Charlie stops and eyes the armor for a moment before pointing out its greatest flaw. "It has sleeves."

"It's not for you," Brittany responds as she finds the correct piece of paper, and pulls it out, moving to a relatively empty work space and spreading it out across the table. "It's my anniversary present to Mike."

"That tree—" Charlie immediately stops talking when Brittany slowly looks up at her. Charlie clears her throat and smiles at her sister. "I need a new suit of dragon scale armor."

"Talk to Kara."

"You expect me to trust Kara to make me a new set of armor?" Charlie questions returning to Brittany's side to look over the blueprints despite not knowing what any of it meant. She could at least tell that Brittany was focusing her attention on weapons manufacturing.

"Kara is your best friend. Really she's your only friend," Brittany stated.

"I have friends."

"Quinn doesn't count, she has to like you. You're twins. Kara isn't going to ruin her reputation by making terrible armor, just so it'll fail and you'll die a horrible death. She has way too much pride and she's a dwarf. If that happened she'd be a laughing stock. I know that you and Quinn are against going to war, but if we are, I won't have time to create a new dragon scale armor for you. Especially not one with all your modifications that you want. The only reason that you're refusing to use Kara is because you don't want to admit to her that you're broke, and can't afford her services. I mean you can barely afford mine and that's only after I give you the family discount," Brittany smirks at her sister. "If you want to earn enough to make new dragon scale armor, which you don't need, I'm going to need everything on my list. Everything." Brittany said, scribbling down the ingredients she'd need. She rips the paper out of the book and hands it to Charlie. "I'll have my attendant give you a partial amount before you leave."

"Chort core and hide, resin from a Leshen, you don't need the core?" Charlie questions, slightly surprised.

"You should always bring the core back if you can, I just know how difficult it is to retrieve an intact core from a Leshen. I'll pay double if you manage to get an intact core." Brittany responds. "Don't forget the basilisk venom, as in don't come back until you have it."

Charlie glanced at the blueprint, she still couldn't make heads or tails of most of it but she did know that it was for weapons. "Why do you need basilisk venom?" The venom was a tightly regulated substance. There weren't that many people who could kill a basilisk, never mind attempting to milk one for it's venom.

Brittany sighed, "I don't need it right at this moment, but if we're going to war, you're going to be far too busy to head down to the badlands. I would ask the Adventurer's guild but the level of difficulty for this job is a bit much for your average mercenary. You're the only person I know who can fill my orders completely, which is why I pay you a premium."

It certainly made sense, and truthfully even though it would be a pain to find a basilisk at this time of year, if she could she was sure she could bring back the entire sac, but that wasn't the problem. She had seen people die from their venom before, and to state that it had been one of the most horrific things she'd ever seen would be an understatement. If Brittany was thinking of turning this into a weapon, and she'd seen what Brittany could accomplish—even if it was an effective weapon the Beastkin were about as proud as the dwarves, and such an attack would mean that they would never stop fighting. Not to mention using the venom in a massive attack would put all the other kingdoms on alert as well and they could have other problems. "Basilisk venom is an ugly way to die, Britt, one of the worst. But I'm sure it probably has some medicinal properties so why not focus on that instead," Charlie suggests hoping that Brittany would listen to her.

Brittany met Charlie's gaze, she had planned to turn the venom into a gas. She wanted to test out the new air purifying masks that she had made for the miners. If it could withstand basilisk venom then it should be able to withstand any of the gasses that killed their miners. "I'll take your advice into consideration. I still need the venom though and everything else on that list. I'll have my attendant send you a storage box, it's the newest model that should be able to hold quite a lot of material, but it's also a prototype so if you break it, you will pay for it."

Charlie nodded, if she was lucky it would take a week of traversing the badlands to get the required ingredients, most of them were fairly common, just considerably more dangerous than slimes, but the real problem was the basilisk venom. She was pretty sure they were in some form of hibernation at this time of year, which could be good for her, if her luck held. If it didn't she'd be dealing with a pissed off basilisk which would be far from ideal. "Will I get more money if I—"

"Unlike you I have a budget, that is what I've budgeted for that list of ingredients. If you want to make more money, sell it to the adventurer's guild, they won't pay you a premium since it isn't a job, but it certainly should be enough for your beer run. Also you know Kara if you source what you need, you'll just be paying for her time."

Charlie scowled, that's exactly why it was expensive. Kara always charged her a premium of her time. "I'll think about it, I need to go and prep Hiccup, it'll take a week to travel to the badlands, I should be back."

~ O ~

Getting information from the other kingdoms wasn't exactly easy, sure she could try and hire the mouse and rat clan to try and gather information for her, but after a rather unfortunate incident both clans weren't exactly trusting of the cat clan. Sacrificing her first born or whatever insane promise that Dani had made wasn't her cup of tea, to get the spider clan to help her. But if she wanted to show her parents that she was ready, then she needed information that she could use. She'd never been to the kingdom of Agron before, she didn't know its rules let alone the etiquette required. Drago might not care about keeping the peace, but if she truly wanted to avoid war then she would need to do the work and figure out she needed an understanding of the Royal Family.

"For the umpteenth time Santana, we do not sell catnip here, and I will not risk my permits to help you import it. It's a banned substance. I will not risk the wrath of your council, because you're addicted to the stuff."

Santana glanced up from where she had been studying a rather intricate designed piece of jewelry. She personally had no need for such trinkets, but they were pretty to look at and they had an almost hypnotic effect on her. Still she tears her attention towards the woman who had spoken, the dwarven merchant and her old friend, "Wheezy."

Mercedes raised her eyes to the sky, "If you're not here to try and convince me that I should smuggle in illicit substances for you, then what do you want?"

Santana huffs at the accusation, "Maybe I just wanted to see you—"

"Santana, my time is valuable, and the only reason that I'm even here is because my father is attempting to negotiate with your council."

"I thought that the dwarven kingdom was neutral."

"We are. But all because we're not sending in troops, doesn't mean that we can't make some coin out of this whole sordid affair. We have permission from the Assembly to see if a deal can be struck," Mercedes responds, nodding towards the trinket that Santana had been staring at. "Would you like to purchase it?"

"No, that's not why I'm here."

"Then why are you here?" Mercedes sighs, as she throws up her hands. Santana never bought anything she just liked to hear stories from all the places she'd been to.

"I'm part of the delegation to the Agron Kingdom—"

"They're sending you?" Mercedes questions incredulously, covering her mouth to keep from laughing.

Santana scowled, "I volunteered."

"And no one told you that diplomacy was better suited to someone who didn't get high on catnip and try to eat the prime from the mouse clan."

"I was hungry, and he was fat and truthfully I would be doing the world a favor. Jacob enjoys sneaking into the rooms of young women and well—" Santana shrugged her shoulders. "I just batted him around and threatened to eat him, I imagine that actually eating him would give me terrible indigestion."

Mercedes stopped smiling, "So you're for the war then?"

"No, I might be the only person in that delegation who isn't for war. Drago plans on making a scene, and forcing their hand. He always did like swinging his dick around, thinking that he's the strongest one here. That's why I'm here, you've probably had dealings with the nobles in the Agron kingdom haven't you?"

Mercedes was quiet for a moment, "Delegations from other kingdoms are met at the palace, they will place you in the guest wing of the palace, where you will be treated to the finest foods and spirits, and you will meet the royal family. A family I assure you that you don't want to insult, and if Drago thinks that he can simply overpower them and take over, he's mistaken. I wouldn't underestimate them, they have managed to tame drakes."

Santana blinked, the lesser cousin to dragons? She had never been to the Draconic Kingdom, but she had heard rumors, it was the harshest of all the lands in the continent, and it was ruled by dragons. Drakes were predators, they had nothing on Dragons, but they were dangerous. You could reason with a dragon, you couldn't reason with a drake, and with fire breath and tough skin, it would take several beastkin to take one down. "They have an infantry of drakes?"

"Only the royal family is permitted to breed drakes, but that should tell you something about the power they wield."

Santana wrinkled her nose, "Well tell me about the royal family?"

"Information isn't cheap Santana and since you're not a customer and have never actually once paid me, I'm a merchant. My entire family, they're all merchants, and information with war on the horizon is expensive."

Santana scowled, "If I buy that trinket will you tell me what I need to know?"

"That's an excellent choice, it was crafted by one of our finest artisans, that will be 50 gold pieces."

Santana stared at Mercedes like she'd grown another head, "I'm not giving you 50 gold pieces for that little trinket, that's highway robbery. I can trade you—"

Mercedes scowled at this, did Santana take her for one of the weaker merchant houses, she didn't haggle, she didn't negotiate and her clientele appreciated that. The only time people got a discount was if they were buying in bulk. "My prices are final Santana, and if you're not going to buy anything—"

"I don't need a trinket at that price, I only really came for information Mercedes, I'm willing to give you a piece of my treasure for all the information you can give me."

"Your junk you mean?"

Santana grimaced, she had hoped that Mercedes would remember that they were friends and simply give her the information free of charge, but instead she was being forced to barter with her. Some friend she turned out to be. She pulls out a small shiny rock that she had found while hunting and looks at Mercedes, her tail swishing, as she picks it up and inspects it.

"Where did you get this?" Mercedes asks after a moment and looks at Santana.

"Information is expensive," Santana shoots back with a smirk.

"The information I have isn't worth—" Mercedes paused and looked at Santana. "You just don't want information on the royals do you?"

"I need a lesson in etiquette, I need to know how to talk to them so that they'll listen to me. I need to know everything there is to know about the kingdom."

"I'm only here for a week Santana."

"Well, the delegation leaves at the end of the week, so we have time, and you can keep teaching me until I have to part ways."

Mercedes glanced down at the opal, that was the thing about dealing with Beastkin, they didn't value the same things as the other races. Their land was rich with treasures, and rare plants and herbs that were cultivated and sold off but as a society they simply didn't value money the way that humans did. An opal of this size and this brilliance could be sold for far more than 50 gold. "You won't be dealing with the king, you'll be dealing with his daughters. There are 4 of them, and they're the ones that you have to convince that going to war is not wise. Frannie, the oldest, controls the economy, and is perhaps the wealthiest person in the country. She has businesses, she controls the banks, there are rumors she swims in gold. I doubt you'll get very far with her. War can be good for the economy in the short term."

"So she can't be reasoned with?" Santana asks, frowning slightly.

"She can if you can convince her that peace and trade are more profitable than war. My personal suggestion is to avoid her at all costs, she's got the greed of a dragon. I would stay far away if possible just be polite. Then we have the second oldest, Brittany. She's far more personable than her older sister, and she might be willing to listen—I would suggest finding rare plants and herbs and gifting them to her as a present, that should at least create an opportunity for a conversation."

"Rare plants and herbs? Why would she need that?" Santana questioned.

"The merchant caste for the dwarves believes that Brittany is perhaps the most dangerous of the siblings, her inventions are ahead of her time, and under her leadership the craftsmen of the kingdom are nearing dwarven levels, and they've managed to start mass producing some items. It will ultimately affect our bottom line, but a few years back we managed to poach one of their top craftsmen. She's human and from the Holy Empire, but she's proven herself to our people and she is loved by the heir to the throne."

"What about the other two? I hear they're twins."

"Lucy and Charlie. The older one, Lucy, she prefers to be called Quinn does not want war. I've had many conversations with her, she will be an ally if you truly wish to avoid war. Be polite and be open with her and she will be an ally to you, and help you navigate the pitfalls of court." Mercedes explained. "The youngest of the four, I've never once had to do business with her but I doubt she'd be any help whatsoever."

Santana frowned, she had hoped that there would be more ally's war wasn't good for anyone, even if there was something to gain. "Why won't she be any help?"

"My experience with the warrior caste has taught me that they are always itching for a fight, hoping to die in a blaze of glory. And I've heard through the grapevine that she's already been banished from the dwarven kingdom. The official reason made by the royal family was that she was drinking and disturbing the peace."

"The unofficial reason?" Santana wrinkled her nose, she had never met a dwarf that didn't get rowdy and disturb the peace when they were drunk.

"She attacked the heir to the dwarven kingdom. I imagine both sides were trying to avoid a diplomatic incident, so they came up with a silly excuse and banished her from the kingdom. Not to mention her reputation in the Agron kingdom as a drunken womanizing lout who spends all her days gambling away the fortune, and spending time with prostitutes. She's an embarrassment to the family and I doubt she'd be of any help if she even shows up at all. I've never needed to do business with her, and I would prefer not to."

"So I only have one ally over there?" Santana frowned; it was far worse than she thought. "Tell me what gifts I should prepare." She would start with that, even if the rest of the delegation was itching for a fight, she needed to be seen as the reasonable one. She would rather be bored than the alternative. It wasn't as if she believed that they couldn't win, but she'd learned all about the beastkin's history from her mother's mother. They had lost the war the last time. She had yet to find her mate, and while she was certain that she would survive she couldn't say the same for her mate.