"As far as I understand it, Madam, for the past few weeks Caravans have not been arriving at Midway. My employer sent me here to investigate why and, if possible, resolve the issue for him." She nodded gently as she studied Adam, meanwhile she tapped out the ashes from her pipe into the bowl and then resumed taking a slow deep drag of her pipe before speaking up again.
"And what have you learned?" She asked smoothly.
"Unfortunately not much." Adam admitted readily. "We traced the path the caravans traveled between the two settlements but found no evidence of foul play. We even confirmed that in all likelihood there were still caravans traveling between the two settlements. Just not the ones my employer was waiting for. In addition, we asked around town, but no one here seems to know anything about it."
"Indeed so~" She said as she raised her arms above her head stretching before dragging her slender fingers through her own hair, addressing Adam again after her display. "That would be because I have not stopped sending out the Caravans." She then turned to the left, through a doorway off to the side of this circular room that Adam could not see into and called out.
"Oh Cheshire, be a dear and come here would you?" She called out gently to the room. A moment later a man wearing black trim glasses, well trimmed brown hair, a full white suit with black tie and white shoes walked over. He was holding a clipboard and seemed to be writing things down even as he walked over.
"When was the last time we sent a caravan out?" She asked, not seemingly bothered by Cheshire's workaholic attitude.
"2 days ago, on schedule, Madame." He said politely, finally looking up from his work with a deadpan stare at her.
"As you can see…" She began, lazily turning her head to look at Adam again. "We have not stopped the shipments of anything to Midway. Be it fish or… others~" She grinned.
"Then it seems there is something more complex going on than a simple miscommunication." Adam concludes.
"So it seems~" She smiled and then gently waved her hand towards Cheshire, beckoning him over. She whispered something unheard into his ear and then he nodded and walked off back to the room.
"Well, since it appears there is indeed an issue, especially one that is causing me to lose business, I will grant you the right to investigate as you please." She waved her hand magnanimously.
"Thank you Madam." Adam said, graciously, deciding to treat her like she expected, with respect and a bit of fawning, just to stay on her good side.
"My suggestion is to follow the caravan we will send in 5 days, after we move our timeline up by one day." She offered as she gently took a smaller hit of her pipe. "You will find that there is nothing that goes on here I do not know and since I was unaware of the issue, no one else will be." She then smiled dangerously once more and leaned in a bit. "If there is some issue then it would have to be happening outside~" Adam nodded slowly.
"I will take your advice to heart. Thank you for helping us, Madame Aquamarine." She waved her hand again.
"You solve this problem, I do not know what they are paying you in Midway, but your efforts will certainly not go unnoticed by me~." She then laid back down on her pillows.
"You may go now." She said, dismissing the two of them unceremoniously. Adam turned to leave with Deccanus but stopped when she spoke up again.
"And when you next see that old bastard living in his high castle, will you tell him I said… hello?" She said with an incredibly sinister smile. Clearly her disdain for Mr. Cantelli was as great as his disdain for her. Adam could only speculate at what sort of issue the two had with each other.
Adam and Deccanus then left without another word, walking past the entrance room with musicians and dancers, many of whom were enjoying some relaxing pipes and incense. Once they were fully clear of that place Deccanus spoke up.
"I do not like that place nor that woman." He said plainly.
"She's uh, certainly interesting." Adam said, not yet sure what to make of her. "But if we are to take her words at face value then there is no point continuing to ask people about the missing caravans."
"I would not trust her words so easily." Deccanus warned. "She is the type to lie when it suits her."
"Do you think she was lying to us then?" Adam asked, having not considered that. Deccanus seemed to consider for a moment and then shook his head.
"No, she did seem to be genuinely annoyed about the missing caravans. She likely did not know they had never arrived in Midway, for her that would cost her great profit." Deccanus mused.
"Or she is just a great actor." Adam said with a soft laugh. Deccanus turned to look at him and then nodded solemnly.
"Indeed."
"Well what should we do? Should we retrace our steps through the path back to Midway? Continue to ask people?" Adam asked, once more deferring to Deccanus' skills over his own. Deccanus shook his head.
"No, we have been invited to follow the path of the Caravan directly. Our best choice is simply to accept her offer and see if new evidence springs up." Deccanus then paused for a moment after saying this before adding more. "Unless, of course, that creates an opportunity for her to lead us into a trap." He seemed to be getting paranoid, even if it was a reasonable fear, so to assuage his concerns Adam spoke up.
"It's definitely possible, so let's just keep our guard up while we are here. But I agree, I think we should simply wait to follow the caravan, it's probably the best, most direct way to take care of this issue.
"Agreed." Deccanus said in response.
"Well, so now all we have to do is find a way to kill 5 days while we wait for the Caravan to leave." Adam chuckled.