Ambrosia Lost

And the Ordinary People

Pieter brushed Haru's questions off with an unconcerned wave of the hand. "I just needed an angle to get the others on board with you joining the team, that's all."

"Well your "angle" doesn't seem to be working so well." Muttered Haru, thinking darkly of how Eliza's initially cold reception still hadn't thawed.

"Oh, don't brood too much on Liza. She's just a little emotional, you know how women can be. I'll manage her."

"And another thing," Haru spoke quickly in an effort to maintain his friend's attention before Pieter flit off to flirt with another group of socialites, "You originally mentioned that you and I would be partners in this affair. Just you and I. There was no mention of another two parties, not to mention a four way split instead of two."

Pieter looked bored and rolled his eyes, " Look, Haru. You have to understand my position. I'm not an entirely free agent. I have, well, I have employees, if you will. I need to make sure I keep them sweet and in exchange we have a much larger arsenal of manpower and skill to get the job done. I don't need to tell you all this. You know how I operate. Of course you and I are different to them and I intend to hold up my side of the bargain. You'll get a full partner share."

Haru swirled his single-malt and contemplated what Pieter had just said. He knew he was being played. Pieter would tell him whatever he thought Haru needed to hear. There was no point pressing the issue now. "So the other two only get a third share between them?" He asked.

"There about. Naturally I have to give Gustave a little more of a cut. I mean, of course, it's obvious. The man's an expert, an artisan. We're blessed to have him work with us."

"Ah. I see. So that's what you meant about Eliza working for less than she should?"

Pieter shrugged, "What can I say? She's a good girl and a genius with anything mechanical but, well, it's not personal - just business." A twinge of conscience alerted him to the implications of what he was saying, "Now, I'll thank you not to go repeating this conversation to the others!"

Haru raised his hands defensively, "How you run your enterprise is none of my business. Just so long as I know how you and I stand, I'm happy. Wait. Hold on Pieter. Before you leave you should know there's something else I wanted to talk to you about, connected to what we were discussing just before." Here he lowered his voice quite low and lent in closer to Pieter's side, "Back to what we were discussing before; there are more people than just us in this room who are aware of and, what's more, ready to find that ship. This might not be such a clean job as you were led to expect."

Pieter smiled broadly and flashed his white teeth mischievously, "You're probably right. That only makes the stakes more interesting, right?" And on this note he tore away to where he could hear a British colonel and an Indian prince discussing the best way to skin a tiger.

Haru leant across the bar and motioned for a glass refresh, as he turned to leave he encountered the Count Magnus Ascania who appeared to be waiting to catch his attention.

"Haru, am I right? Haru Kimura?" Asked the Count politely.

Haru acknowledged the question with a slight bow of affirmation.

"Not, perhaps, connected in any way to Masahiko Kimura?" The Count further inquired.

Haru couldn't conceal his surprise at this. "You follow the judoka championships? Well, I must confess he is actually a cousin. We did train together at one time but that was many years ago now."

"I wouldn't say I 'follow' the sport as such," replied Count Magnus modestly, "My interest is simply as an interested amateur. I was fortunate enough to be in the right place at the right time and found myself spectator to the Kimura vs Helio challenge. Most impressive. History in the making, to be sure. Sensei Kimura is quite a fearsome wrestler and is in possession of incredible talent."