The corner of Gallus' mouth twinged upwards. Orub had gone straight for their agreed maximum percentage. They could have shaken hands there, but Gallus did not want this deal to look too good to be true. If Orub was stubborn and stayed at fifty, then they would settle for that, but they could stand to try haggling down further.

"Are you sure we cannot try...forty-five percent? That's ten percent more than what we put forward, nothing to sniff at," Gallus narrowed one eye inquisitively, "We need these ships, but we're trying to make some gold as well."

[hr]
At the time that Tzirret was taken into the Bruma clan, the lack of child initiates found in the wilderness meant that he was just given a mentor. In many ways, Gallus was like a father, but he never really felt like a parent, he was more like an older brother or an uncle. Tzirret was taught many things, but he certainly did not feel ready to be an adult by any stretch of the imagination. To think that Ma'tanza lost two sets of parents in her life was heartbreaking.

In an immediate response to Ma'tanza, Tzirret returned the smile half-heartedly. "That would be very nice to have," he said, somewhat regretfully, "What was it like? That...growing up in the Senchal clan. Tzirret never had new parents."