Ruth and Kendra negotiate

"You offer just one massage? What if you stay on as my personal masseuse for twelve years?"


Grandma grew stern. "I am not petitioning you to look in that stone of yours multiple times for multiple purposes. I am requesting a single piece of information. A service for a service. That is my offer, lopsided in your favor. The massage takes thirty minutes, versus mere moments for you to peer into your stone."


"But you need the information," Nero reminded her. "I do not need a massage."


"Satisfying needs is the burden of the poor. The wealthy and powerful can afford to indulge their wants and whims. If you pass on this opportunity, you will always wonder what you missed."


"Don't do it," Grandma, Kendra said. "Just give him the treasure."


Nero held up a finger. "This proposition is unorthodox, and against my better judgment, but the idea of a massage intrigues me, and I am rarely intrigued. However, thirty minutes is too short. Say... two hours."


"Sixty minutes," Grandma said flatly.


"Ninety," Nero countered.


Grandma wrung her hands. She folded and unfolded her arms. She rubbed her brow.


"Ninety minutes is too long," Kendra said. "You've never given Grandpa a massage longer than an hour!"


"Hold your tongue, child," Grandma snapped.


"Ninety or no deal," Nero said.


Grandma sighed in resignation. "All right... ninety minutes."


"Very well, I accept. But if I do not approve of the entire massage, the deal is off."


Grandma shook her head. "No caveats. A single ninety-minute massage in exchange for the location of Stan Sorenson. You will treasure the memory until the end of your days."


Nero eyed Kendra and Seth before fixing Grandma with a shrewd gaze. "Agreed. How do we proceed?"

(Additional text cut)

Grandma stopped whispering and hurried them along the path. "Sorry if I have been antisocial since leaving Nero," she said after they had walked in silence for a couple of minutes. "I needed to devise a plan. You kids really did an exceptional job back there. Nobody should have to spend an afternoon rubbing a troll's feet. Seth was heroic on the logs, and Kendra did some well-timed bluffing during the negotiations. You both surpassed my expectations."


Chapter 14