Well, that was unexpected.

Lucian regarded the glass of wine before him in concentration as he mulled over the purpose of the trip to the manor. Garden of Eden, was it? He wasn’t a very religious man and he took many of the biblical tales with a large grain of salt, so he doubted something like the Garden of Eden was even a historical place. Lucian had always taken it to be metaphorical or a cautionary tale, kind of like the Grimms’ fairy tales. Finding the Garden was about as likely as finding the gingerbread house Hansel and Gretel encountered somewhere in the Black Forest; exceedingly unlikely.

Still, it was easy to chalk up an expedition such as this as a final flight of fancy for an elderly rich man, and they were quite prone to spending their fortunes in their twilight years chasing fables because wealth followed no man to the grave and how else were you going to find out if you were right or not? Lucian didn’t begrudge Baron Cornack his tale and peculiar ambition, quite the opposite; it was good of him to decide to do something to learn the truth of his suspicions rather than stew on it until his heart gave out. Many men let dreams die with them, and even if most of those dreams would prove to be false, Lucian admired commitment to confront lingering doubt. The Baron, however, had an appealing and undeniable sense of assurance that Lucian didn’t see in a lot of men chasing such pursuits. Perhaps there was some evidence that prompted this expedition’s founding? 

Lakshmi, always a voice of reason and well-founded skepticism, spoke her doubts, particularly that the Congo, and indeed all of Africa, was far too vast of a land to waste exploring if you did not have a goal and a very well planned supply list; the Congo was several times the size of the entirety of the United Kingdom alone. Even if they didn’t find what the Baron hoped to find, Lucian had to keep his ambition in line with reality. Too many rich idiots thought they could go for days with only a canteen and some binoculars, a truth Lucian only knew too well.

“I consent to the use of my services on a few, I feel, agreeable conditions. First is that my expenses are paid upfront; I do not operate at a loss and it takes considerable time and resources to prepare for an expedition of this scale. Second, when it comes to surviving in the African brush, my word is law. If I say not to do something or that we cannot press forward, then that is that. It is my duty to bring the same number of people out of the jungle as I have brought in, [I]d’accord?[/I] And finally third, I wish to review the documents of this expedition prior to my agreement so I can determine if the proposal is agreeable. With all due respect, we do not have a history, and it humbles me that you feel that I am worthy of your patronage, but I feel it would help me understand the man who has extended such an offer if I could see what is expected prior to agreeing to it.”