Chapter 37: Act 1: Chapter 30

Fourth day, Fifth Moon, 247 AC

I was jolted from my thoughts as the wagon wheel bounced heavily off a hole in the road.

Damn it, bloody dirt roads.

I sighed. At least my wooden leaf springs were working, even if they weren't as good the steel ones of Earth.

Oh well, I was almost home anyways. It had been just a quick trip into Redbridge to trade for some seafood and nails, and now I just had to stop in at Koryn's house, to talk to Rodrick while he was here.

As I pulled off the road, Koryn's house came into view. Koryn's house was built in a similar style to mine but built right next to his father's house. I could see his children in the distance playing, with their grandparents watching over them.

Ethan saw me and gestured towards the house, indicating where Koryn and Rodrick were. I waved my thanks and knocked on the door.

After a moment, Koryn opened it and smiled when he saw me. "Michael! Come on in! We were just talking about you!"

"All good things I hope?" I asked.

"Of course! Of course! My goodfather here was just saying he had something for you!"

Koryn gestured for me to have a seat and grabbed me a cup of mead.

I nodded my head in thanks. "So, what have you got for me then Rodrick?"

"Well," he said, happily. "I've got one o' your longest standing orders!"

My mouth dropped in shock. "The wheat?!"

He gave a big grin. "Aye! Two different ones!" He put two large sacks on the table and opened them up a bit to let some seeds out onto the table. "This first one 'ere, is called a soft red. I checked, and it's different than the ones you got. Mind you, I got it off a guy who got it off a guy, so the story might be wrong. But, it's from Essos and it's popular for the rich folk. But that might be bunk so that they could charge more. I didn't get much off the man about how tall it grew or any such, but he said its mostly grown on the west coast near Pentos."

I popped a seed in my mouth as I examined another. They looked fairly similar in coloring to the ones I already had, but I could see the differences. It looked similar to a soft red wheat from Earth, as opposed to the hard red that I currently had. If I remembered correctly, soft red was used for pastries and things like cookies, which would fit the rich person story I suppose.

It probably wouldn't help me in trying to create a dwarf wheat, but another strain of wheat would be nice. Pentos is near Andalos, so it probably had a common ancestor with the stuff I had now. The First Men probably brought over the ancestor before it diverged, or they just found this strain to be better for their needs.

"Excellent work, Rodrick! What's the other one?" I asked.

"Ah, that one. They call it Farmer's Gold, and it's from ancient Valyria supposedly. It has a Valyrian name, but damned if I know it. It's grown mostly around south-western Essos and used in their food there. It gets the name from the outer shell."

He held one up and sprinkled some water on it. The outer layer, the bran, started to reflect the light in the room giving it an almost golden color.

"Interesting…" I muttered.

I picked one up myself and popped another into my mouth to taste. The grain itself looked like a regular amber grain when dry, and it tasted familiar, but I couldn't quite place it.

"What type of food do they use it for?" I asked.

He scratched his beard in thought. "I think they called it pasta? Little dough things that they boil or some such."

Pasta! It's probably durum then, though I didn't know why it reflected light.

Rodrick continued to speak, "Again, I didn't get much about how it grew or anything. I did get charged a lot t' get it though. Had to use up the rest o' the money you gave me. Dunno why it shines like that though. The man who sold it to me said there was an old wives tale about it, that they Valyrians used to make gold with it. But its just a bunch of shit. When that story got started after the Doom, they had a bunch o' Maesters, the Essosi ones I think, check it but they said it was lies. Even the Alchemists tried and failed. Apparently, a bunch of merchants wanted to charge extra to foreigners. Still costs a lot though."

"Huh, well all that glitters is not gold."

Rodrick blinked. "Aye. I suppose not. That's a good line!" He gave me a conspiratorial wink. "I think I'll use that one. Try and sound real wise!"

Koryn and I laughed.

"Well, I'm really happy that you managed to get two different types for me! Still, if you ever manage to find more let me know. Before you leave, swing by my house and I'll give you some more coin."

Rodrick nodded and gave a satisfied smile.

Koryn finally spoke up, "How long has it been now? 10 years?"

I shrugged, "There abouts. Maybe a bit longer."

"Time flies, eh?"

Rodrick laughed. "You're telling me? I'm the one with grandkids." He shook his head. "Tell me how you feel in another ten or twenty years, if I'm still kickin' around that is."

"Speaking of taking a long time," I said. "Jon wants you to come by his house before you leave. He's finally got that garum sauce to his liking."

"Oh? Was he wanting me to bring it up to Deepwood?" Rodrick inquired.

"Aye. He wants you to see what kind of price you can get for it. See if it's worth his while to make. It's a pain to get all that salt needed for the recipe, and to make the garum itself."

Rodrick scratched his beard in thought. "I'll see what I can do. No promises, but I'll talk to him before I leave and get an idea o' how much it cost him to make and go from there."

I stood up and downed the rest of my mead. "Excellent! Well, I best be off. I've got fresh fish in the wagon for dinner."

I clasped hands with both men as they said their goodbyes and hopped back on my wagon and headed home.

A/N: Just a quick chapter. I know some people have been complaining about lack of conflict, but I assure you, its coming.