Page 7 of A Fable of Riddles and Redemption

Herrick tried not to roll his eyes at that. He quickly glanced around the room, searching for Zorina to see what her reaction was to that statement, but she did not appear to be present. She’s probably running the shop for him while he’s here.

Another merchant added, “My last shipment was irreparably damaged when several red pandas caused the horse and cart to crash!”

“Mine, too!”

“Red pandas knocked over all my crates, and everything was destroyed.”

“They spilled all the cabbages in my market stall! All that good produce, ruined!”

“And what of my yarn and woven goods? I can’t very well sell any of the ones those animals shredded or stained.”

“Not to mention the unmentionable messes those creatures leave behind.”

Keeping a snort in at that poorly worded comment proved challenging—especially since the disgruntled woman who’d said it brought up the supposedly unmentionable mess herself.

“Get them out of the city!”

Several voices joined the cry. “Yes! Get them out! Catch them all!”

Herrick flattened his lips. Such a task was far easier said than done. Even if they could get the animals out of the city, what was to stop them from coming back?

Captain Firmin stood, holding a hand up for silence. Once the shouting died down, he said, “How exactly do you propose we do that? They’re wild animals. They won’t just stay out because we relocate them. Building a city wall would take too long to fix the problem, though it has potential as a long-term solution.”

“Eliminate them!” one man called out.

Herrick’s eyes bulged at the horrific suggestion. While the animals were annoying, they certainly didn’t deserve to be exterminated.

Duke Armand pounded his fist down on the table in front of him. “Absolutely not! What savagery! Surely we can think of a better solution than that.”

“Scare them away?” a younger merchant suggested.

“And how would we keep them out after?” an old man muttered.

Herrick frowned. After a lot of bluster and complaining, no actual solutions presented themselves.

“For now,” Duke Armand said, bringing the exhausting meeting to a close, “we will consider our options and send out a missive for assistance from our neighbors. Perhaps another city in Jolan has dealt with the same, or one of the other realms has faced a similar problem.”

It still wasn’t a conclusive remedy, but at least it was something.

Once the crowd departed, Captain Firmin approached Herrick. “You looked into that case with the gold-stealing red panda, yes?”

Herrick nodded. “I did. I found nothing to corroborate the tale other than broken pottery and panda scat.”

“Hm. Perhaps you should investigate further to see if there are any clues about the animals’ behavior that can help us clear the city of the pests.”

It took all of Herrick’s training to keep the grimace he felt from his expression. “Yes, sir.” He gave a salute, then immediately headed toward the pottery shop, dreading the upcoming encounter with the eccentric potter and the infuriating Zorina.

Zorina

With a sigh, Zorina swept the pottery-covered floor…again. From what she could tell, the same young red panda had returned and smashed up five pots before running off with three more gold coins. Thankfully, it hadn’t left any green ‘gifts’ behind this time.

She cringed when she thought of how Jurian would respond. With any luck, she’d have the mess all cleaned up before he returned from a meeting up at Adael Castle, but that wouldn’t erase the fact that he was now short another five pots and three gold coins.

Unfortunately, she would have to be the one to break that news to him.

Just as Zorina put the broom away, Jurian marched through the door. “How was the meeting?” she asked, hoping for good news before she had to tell him what had occurred in his absence.

“Inconclusive,” he muttered, clearly not happy with the results. He then summarized the seemingly fruitless meeting before asking, “How were things here?”