Chapter 174: Chapter 174 Gnomish Communication
"The eastern quarter is going to need a new transformer soon; their power consumption is going up by the week."
"We have a new development of apartment buildings going up there, so that seems correct."
"How long before the transformers over there can't handle the load?"
"They should be good for a month, but then we will start having brown outs."
"And how long before we can get a new transformer in place?"
"Two weeks."
"Will that affect the construction on the north end? I thought they were needing several new transformers."
"We can redirect one to the east, to handle the extra power needs, and start building several more. Once people start moving into those apartments the needs will increase again."
"How is that construction on the north end going? I thought they were having material shortages."
"That's been dealt with. We've added more workers since the last report."
"Any issues with job assignments?"
"We are needing more teachers and caregivers. The number of children attending the schools are expected to increase over the next couple of years and we don't have enough teachers and caregivers in que at the moment to handle the numbers."
"What incentives can we add to encourage more?"
"Wages have been doubled over the past two years but the issues we're having now is that so many are starting families young and they can't afford to work and pay childcare."
"Have we thought about allowing free childcare for teachers? With the number of children in families, that should be a huge incentive."
"Are we all in agreement? Then let it be so. I have another request from child authorities requesting the child cap be raised to seventeen from sixteen."
"We've talked about this. It causes too much strain on the mothers to have that many. We're honestly pushing it, letting them have sixteen. What's their reasoning?"
"They're bringing up pregnancies with multiples. They've been on the rise, and parents are worried if that last pregnancy has twins or triplets they'll be fined."
"Then insert a clause allowing no fines if that's the case. We don't have a way to guarantee multiples, and until we do, that would indeed be an unfair fine. Are we all in agreement? Then let it be so."
Aella walked into the council room, followed by Frederik and Alfred as Manyur marched up to a small podium before the council. The gnomes were all sitting on a raised platform, facing each other and talking quickly and smoothly to each other, pouring over documents and pausing only to vote and make decisions. Behind each of the council members stood three scribes with special communication devices on their wrists, typing away messages as they made decisions and requested information.
Aella stood there, listening to them work, amazed that there could possibly be a council that worked. Unlike her council or advisors that had run the demon kingdom before she became king, these gnomes seemed to work efficiently. No one person seemed to have power over another, and whenever someone had any argument over another issue, they tabled it until more information could be decided on, rather than wasting time arguing. And with the communication devices they all seemed to have, they didn't waste time sending runners to get and deliver messages.
"What is it now Manyur?" asked one of the council members with a sigh as they all paused to hear his answer.
Aella realized that the way the lighting was, they couldn't see her or her companions, while she could see them perfectly well. Was that to keep them from being distracted if someone entered the room? Or to allow them to focus on just the one speaker?
"I have brought King Aella of the Demon Kingdom to speak with you today," said Manyur, trying to stand taller and to look more important.
"A king you say? Did the demon kingdom actually manage to crown one that didn't immediately die?"
"I thought the kingdom was destroyed, based on reports of some kind of magical disturbance on the horizon?"
Ignoring their questions, Manyur stepped off the podium and motioned for her to step up into the speaker's position. The moment the council saw her, several jerked in their seats, as if startled by her appearance. Despite them sitting on a raised dais, she still towered over them, and many of them were obviously unaccustomed to looking up.
"Greetings, council of the gnomish people. I am Aella, King of the Demon Kingdom. I have traveled to your lands in order to acquire a stone tablet with carvings you had in your museum that belonged to my people. I was informed that you would need to be notified of my taking of it, as there was apparently a clause that prevented it from being removed?"
She looked around at their upturned faces, waiting for them to cry out that she couldn't take something of theirs, but on the contrary, many nodded and some even smiled.
"Ah, good, good. That clause was there to keep the tablet from being damaged or lost before you, or some other demon, came to claim it. It is good that you have gotten it. We can now utilize that space in the museum for a new display."
"I believe the museum curator has been wanting to do a map of our kingdom for the children to see how we've grown over the past century."
"That would be good, are we all in agreement? Then let it be so. Thank you King Aella for informing us."
She stood there for a moment as they seemed to turn back to other discussions, before stepping down feeling as if she had been dismissed. Wasn't that good enough? She hadn't even been going to inform them, but now that she had, she was somehow disappointed with the outcome.
Standing there, listening to them propose an expansion of a work area, to provide more entertainment on the non-working days of the week, she wondered what some of the words they were using meant. How could they possibly afford to have days when people didn't work? Didn't they still need to eat? Farmers and ranchers still needed to tend the animals… Didn't they?
"TalkSpace is requesting more space on the memory cores."
"Whatever for? They don't utilize the program the way it was intended already. There's hardly anything other than videos and pictures of baby turtles!"
"But baby turtles are cute."
Aella shook her head as an argument erupted over how cute baby turtles were and all their productivity disappeared. They had almost impressed them, but now it was gone.
"So, you plan to head down to the halflings next?" asked Manyur, ignoring the shouts of the argument as it heated up behind them.
Aella ducked through the doorway into the hall and nodded. "They have the last stone tablet, and I will have them all."
"Good luck finding it. I bet they've turned it into someone's dining table by now," he laughed.
"What do you mean?" asked Alfred, as they passed several gnomes with their noses almost glued to their communication devices.
"The halflings are known for cooking and eating. I suppose that would also mean they have wonderful skills at growing food plants and animals, but its kind of a running joke that they find everything edible," chuckled Manyur.
"Are they fat?" asked Frederik cautiously, as if that were important.
"Some of the older ones are, I suppose," said Manyur thoughtfully. "But not really."
"They must be hungry all the time, like mice who eat everything because they are never full," said Alfred.
"I don't know," said Manyur, shaking his head. "But I do know that if you head down there, expect them to quiz you on what you eat and how you cook it, and to be stuffed to within an inch of your life on every different kind of food you could imagine."
"I wouldn't mind that," said Aella. "It would be nice to not worry about being hungry all the time."
"When we were in the pits, we got fed once a day," said Frederik.
"If that," added Aella.
"I often went days without eating, because I was on the road and none of the people who lived out there could spare extra food for me," said Alfred. "Perhaps we could open up some kind of trade with the halflings for food and cooking tips?"
"I would love to get my hands on some of the technology you gnomes have," said Aella, glancing back at Manyur. "What would your people be interested in for trade?"
"I'm not sure, what sorts of things are you wanting?" he asked, confused.
"Well, the communication devices, for instance. I would love to implement some of those to my leaders and superiors in certain areas," said Aella.
"I imagine, that if you had the coin, you could just buy some? I don't know if you would have service where you are, but there are trained teams who could get it set up for you, if you wanted?" he said with a shrug.
"But how much would that cost?" she asked. Pulling out one of each of their coins to show him.
"Well, I don't know this minting, but I would imagine several of those gold coins would handle most of it. Do you want me to take you over to the coin exchange? Then I could show you to the communications department?"
"Yes, please."
Maybe she wouldn't be leaving the gnomes quite so soon.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
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Sdrawkcab TalkSpace needs more server space for baby turtle pics....
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