Chapter 175 What Makes The Peekaans Salty

"Yes, I heard about what you did, but from what I hear, nothing is safe there yet. There is talk of a great evil that is coming, is there not?" Chi asked, and I nodded as Sakura came back to sit down beside me. She immediately started to pet my tail.

"Yes, but after I deal with that, you will be able to move, and that should allow you and your people to live peacefully. I am going to Bramma tomorrow to talk with Melrose, so I may even get it sorted so you can move back there," I suggested, but all three shook their heads to my surprise.

"There is a great evil there, but it has not always been that way, but it is also not the reason why the Peekaan dislikes Easterners," Chi said, and Mishal nodded.

"Peekaan be a seafaring folk, you see. We spend our lives on a boat as soon as we can walk, no matter how high you are up the mast. The sea is our mother, and we all pray to Lagoona, the mighty tempest, for safe passage. She be the one that gives me the power to draw the storm to me. Now, the reason my people dislike the Easterners is that they have no sea legs and be scared of the watery depths. So bad that they don't even swim," Mishal explained, and Chi nodded.

"While we might not look like you, Easterners are all partial descendants of cat folk. We share all the traits and most of their abilities, but none of their physical characteristics," Chi explained.

"So they don't like you just because you don't like to get on boats?" I asked, and everyone nodded, making me sigh.

"It is mostly because we refuse to work on the water, so they consider us freeloaders. It is not true, and we take care of all the lower economy shops like food, smiths, inns, and other crafts jobs. Most of them refuse to work in lower positions and will only work in jewelry stores or artisan shops. These are also only very wealthy that do it because of an injury or ailment that prevents them from being on a boat," Chi explained, and I nodded.

Still not a very good reason, but I was starting to see where some of the build-ups of hate might come from. If the ruler made a point to explain this to the people, it wouldn't have gotten this bad, but it looked like that wasn't the case.

"Are there still Easterners in Bramma?" I asked, and everyone nodded.

"Some of the people are stuck there because of debt, but it is not their own. Over the last ten years, the capital has started to get darker, and taxes have been rising for only the Easterners. Some of our friends are still stuck there trying to work off an unending debt. I think that even though they don't like us, they don't want to have to do the jobs that we do," Sakura said from beside me, and I let out a long sigh.

"You catch more flies with honey than vinegar, but if you stick them in shit, you keep them there indefinitely. All you have to do is keep feeding them the shit you don't want," I said, shaking my head, but when I looked up, the girls looked disgusted.

"Is there a better way to phrase that? All I can think about is standing in a pile of feces that I can't get out of!" Sakura exclaimed, and I nodded.

"I am sure that's how your friends feel, and I am sorry. Tomorrow I will go and deal with this, or at least start getting things moving to start a change. Things can't stay like this, even if I…." I started to say but then winced as dread swept over me. "...I will just start working on getting change to happen. I can't force it, or it won't work."

I rubbed my hand to my chest, and the girls looked at me with a worried look.

"Are you alright? Is something hurting you?" Chi asked with a concerned look, but I shook my head.

"No, I am fine," I said and then asked, "What of these leaves? Are you going to read my future?"

That feeling again.

Each time I tried to bull my way through things, I was hit with that massive drop in my stomach and feeling of impending doom.

Forcing my ways on the Peekaan wasn't going to work, it seemed, so I needed to find a way to gradually change them. From the sounds of things, that wasn't going to be easy.

"Yes, the leaves. Don't mind drinking this, but try to do it gently. When you are done, I will read what I can from the cup," Chi explained, and I nodded, reaching forward to take the cup.

It was warm in my hand, and I put the cup up to my nose, but the smell was nothing more than dry and earthy. Not that I thought that they would poison me, but it was always good to be safe. Didn't want anyone taking advantage of me, mostly.

,m I put the cup to my lip and slowly sucked back the drink, screwing up my face. It was much more bitter than it was dry, but the combination was anything but pleasant.

"I don't like the taste of it either," Sakura said from beside me as I handed the cup back to Chi.

"That was much worse than I thought it was going to be. That was horrible," I said as I tried to scrape the taste of my tongue on my teeth.

"Don't be a complainer. The bitterness is a small amount of my urine as a medium to soak the leaves before they are dried. It is all part of the process," Chi told me as my eyes bulged, and I thought I was going to be sick.