Edmund Sterling
I could hear Princy sigh from his lavish chair in the den. From my present angle, I could only see his stygian silhouette framed by the brilliant crimson of the setting sun against the Den’s side wall. He appears to be resting his head in his hands He has been doing that a lot lately. Particularly since his mistress, I believe she went by Robin – though I can’t say we’ve been formally introduced, disappeared. Princy’s wife, Parker, had taken their daughter Paisley for a weeklong visit with her parents in the Chicago area along with Janelle, Parker’s personal attendant. They had contracted with a private seaplane to make this trip, so I can expect their travels will go smoothly and according to plan.
Today we hosted a meeting with several families of relatively high status. Fifteen were invited, and 13 showed. Which meant close to twenty individuals were present, including the 3 representatives that brought bodyguards. Those three belonged to Mr. O’Connor, Ms. Arness, and Mr. Soth. Each of these three families was still working to make a name for themselves and hadn’t quite understood the etiquette of the families of the Towers yet. Simply put, if you have an invitation to a house in the Towers, your safety was being promised by that family. Our reputation for hospitality was Sterling.
Of course, the bodyguards knew this, each face was familiar to me, and each one was eager to let their master be the one to suffer the blow to their perceived reputation. After all, they knew that this would mean several hours of being taken care of by me and my staff without having to worry about getting their hands dirty.
By now all the guests had left, but Princy was speaking with an advisor, Lucius, in hushed tones.
Questions bounced around my mind as I prepared a final drink to bring to Princy and Lucius:
Is Princy trying to set up an offensive? Is he on the defensive? Is one of the other big names in the towers making a move? Why did we invite those we did? Why did Mr. Santized (fountaineer) and Ms. Luxxe not attend?
I open a small cooler and removed a couple of leaves of sage I had grown in my private garden to add to the cocktails I was stirring up. Gin, amaro montenegro, and some leftover tea I had brewed earlier this afternoon would make a perfect drink to bring Princy’s long day to an end. I slap the leaves on the corner of the counter before placing the verdant leaves delicately into the two ornate glasses. Let’s see what we can learn.
I begin speaking a couple of paces before entering the recently remodeled den.
"Some drinks for you two to enjoy while you discuss. Anything else I can get you?" The view from these new windows is breathtaking, but I immediately shift my gaze to Lucius and Princy to see what I can piece together.
