liked, for Chieftain Swift Tail’s brilliant blue eyes were trained on it avidly.
“Is that the gift you wished to give me, Merchant?” he asked, sounding hopeful, Penny thought.
“Ah, alas, I cannot insult your Excellency by offering so mean a present,” V’rex remarked. “Please bear with me just a moment more while I find what I’m looking for.”
He dug around in the bag some more and brought out the carved wooden box with the Silka spice inside.
“And what may that be?” Lady Bright Coat asked, leaning forward. “It has a most intriguing scent—I can smell it even through the box.”
“Ah, this is rare and expensive Silka spice.” V’rex opened the lid carefully to display the indigo sticks of compressed spice on their cushion of brilliant orange velvet. “It is said to give the one who imbibes it a vision of their future or an answer to the most pressing question on their mind.” He closed the lid again and went back to digging in his pouch. “Now where can that gift be?”
Penny understood what the big Hybrid was doing now. He was piquing the royal Fox’ens’ interest and showing them his wares as he supposedly hunted for just the right gift. She wondered if he would be able to find something that Chieftain Swift Tail and Lady Bright Coat wanted enough to trade the Eye of Ten’gu for.
“Ah, here it is at last!” V’rex held up a blackish-greenish-purplish oblong object encased in a clear crystal box edged in gold. It sat on a plump cushion of white velvet and looked like a large egg to Penny.
“And what might this gift be?” Chieftain Swift Tail asked, looking at the box and its contents with interest.
“Why, a Millennium Egg, laid by the now extinct jounga bird from the forests of Belsen Five,” V’rex explained. “This egg was preserved in liquid kamite over a thousand years ago and allowed to ripen in a bed of silken locan lard for many lifetimes as it absorbed the flavors of a hundred thousand different herbs and spices. It has been sealed in this vacuum box for over a century to preserve its flavor and aroma. And now I present it to your Excellency for your consumption.”
He bowed as he handed the delicate gold and crystal box with its large, discolored egg to Chieftain Swift Tail.
The Fox’en Chieftain took the box and broke the seal which released the most awful odor Penny had ever smelled. The reek of rotten eggs, hot garbage spoiling in the sun, dirty socks, and strong, stinky cheese filled the throne room like a cloud of poison gas.
Oh my God, she thought, trying not to gag. It’s gone over! They’re going to be so offended that he offered them a spoiled egg!
But though the fumes made her eyes water and her stomach turn, when she looked up at the Fox’ens, the royal pair were putting their long noses right in the box and sniffing avidly.
“What a heavenly aroma!” Lady Bright Coat exclaimed.
“It is, indeed, a princely gift,” Chieftain Swift Tail agreed. “Shall we share it, my love?”
“Oh yes—please! My mouth is watering to taste it!” Lady Bright Coat clapped her clawed hands together eagerly.
“You must have the first bite then.” Gallantly, Chieftain Swift Tail plucked the large egg out of its box and, holding it gingerly with the tips of his long black claws, presented it to his mate.
Lady Bright Coat took a bite that was just a little less than half of the egg and rolled it around in her mouth in what was obviously rapturous ecstasy.
“Mmm—mmm,” she moaned, her eyes rolling up in her head in pleasure. “How exquisite!”
Wow, she looks like me eating really good dark chocolate, Penny thought. She was getting a little more used to the fumes by now, but she was still sure that if someone had asked her to eat that rotten egg she would have puked.
“I must have some as well.”
Chieftain Swift Tail popped the last of the Millennium Egg into his mouth and closed his eyes to savor it.
“Ahh, that was delicious! I have never tasted or smelled anything like it,” he said at last, opening his eyes. “Merchant, you have won the favor of myself and my lady.”
V’rex made another low bow.
“I am gratified that my humble gift has been met with so much pleasure, your Excellency,” he said.
“I hope you and your mate will stay in our lovely city a while,” Lady Bright Coat said, smiling at them. “And perhaps you’d like to