A City Without Chocolate

The eighth episode of Tremontaine.

## Synopsis

Almost a month after the Swan Ball, the City is suffering from a lack of chocolate. Supposedly, this is because a Kinwiinik ship full of chocolate sank, but actually, the chocolate arrived safely. The Balam were advised by Diane to claim a shortage as leverage for requesting a reduction of the chocolate tax, approaching the Dragon Chancellor privately.

Jeremiah Clarkson, who owns the finest chocolate emporium in the Middle City, is pondering substitutes for chocolate. Vanilla is too expensive, however. He decides to travel to the University area to ask a chocolate shop owner there about amandyne, a fermented brew of crushed nuts that some claim is as good as chocolate.

Diane, who now has a taste for chocolate the way the Kinwiinik prepare it, is pleased with the situation, as it gives the appearance that she and the Balam are equal partners, although she is convinced that she actually has the upper hand. She writes to them anonymously (although they will know she is the one writing), informing them that the Dragon Chancellor has not told the rest of the Council of Lords that he was approached by the Balam, and that she thinks it is only a matter of time before he presents their suggestion as his own, thus acquiescing to their demands. She has also done what she can to make the expensive vanilla more popular on the Hill.

Diane gives the letter to Reynald, telling him to have it delivered discreetly.

Gregory, Lord Davenant, the Dragon Chancellor, agrees to visit Diane to see about getting more chocolate, as his wife, Isabella, is complaining about the lack and is convinced that House Tremontaine must have some way to get chocolate, even if no one else does. Also, Gregory does not want his wife to spend time alone with Diane. Gregory has a headache, possibly due to the lack of chocolate.

Rafe arrives for his exam, having been given barely a week's notice, rather than the usual month's notice. Two of his examiners are the ones he wanted, Chauncey and Featherstone. de Bertel was supposed to be the third, but apparently, he took ill. Normally, this would have resulted in postponing the exam, but the Board insisted that the exam take place as scheduled. The third examiner is Doctor Archibald Lyttle, who had retired, but has come out of retirement for this examination. Rafe suspects William's hand in all of this. Rafe has a stomach ache, possibly due to the amandyne he bought from Olivey's Chocolate House.

Jeremiah visits Duncan Olivey at Olivey's Chocolate House and learns that Duncan ran out of chocolate two days before he did. Also, while Duncan advertises amandyne as "better than chocolate", it isn't. Duncan adds that drinking too much of it makes people ill.

Duncan tells Jeremiah that he has heard that the chocolate shortage is actually a lie, and offers to say more if Jeremiah will support the Merchants' Confederation's petition to the Dragon Chancellor that the Dragon tell the truth about the chocolate situation. Jeremiah agrees and learns that someone told the Confederation that there was a Kinwiinik warehouse full of chocolate.

Diane's letter is delivered to the Balam compound as Kaab helps Chuleb with the accounts and plans to make sure that the Balam warehouses are secure, as she has heard that the City's merchants believe rumors that the Balam are hiding chocolate. Saabim notes that Diane has carefully hinted that she is behind the rumors, and that spreading such rumors had not been part of the agreement.

Saabim interprets the letter as Diane making a statement that the situation and the City are under her control and that she has the upper hand. Kaab thinks privately that it is a weakness to need to be perceived as powerful, and that the Balam, who control the chocolate, are the ones with the upper hand, despite recent events in Bikiinha. She tells Saabim and Chuleb about the locket she saw and her belief that it was the cause of Ben's death. She does not correct their assumption that Diane pawned it and Ben wanted too much money to return it.

On further questioning, Kaab reveals that she is in love with Tess, although she does not reveal Tess's profession. She agrees that the Balam should continue to work with Diane.

Reynald brings Diane a message from the Dragon Chancellor and tells her that the Merchants' Confederation has petitioned the Chancellor to look into the chocolate shortage, claiming that a chocolate dealer has told them that the Council is lying about the chocolate shortage. Diane sends Reynald to find out which dealer that was (even though she is the one who spread the rumors), and writes back to the Dragon Chancellor.

Rafe and his friends go to the Ink Pot to celebrate, for he has passed his examination. William arrives at the Ink Pot to congratulate him. Thaddeus is hallucinating about a unicorn, which he either sees in William's place or sees next to William. The hallucinations seem to be due to something Thaddeus got from Clarence of Alchemy. It was a leaf that he smoked, so it may be marijuana or something similar.

Reynald watches Kaab and learns that other swordsmen are doing the same, in their case because of the questions she has been asking their employers about Ben.

Kaab visits Tess and makes her chocolate. They have sex for the first time.

Gregory visits Diane. She makes it clear in a thoroughly deniable way that she is behind the chocolate shortage and that if he wants to end it and to continue his affair with her, he will agree to the Balam's request to lower the chocolate tax and present it to the Council of Lords as his own idea. He does so.

As evening falls, Duncan Olivey hears that the chocolate shortage will soon end. Rafe wonders how to start his own school, and William asks if he can help Rafe. Reynald tells Diane that Kaab is trying to find out who killed Ben, and that this is for Tess's sake. Diane says that Kaab must not learn this and that she trusts Reynald knows what to do.

## Timeline

Summer is imminent. It is warm and sunny. Saabim is nearing the middle of her pregnancy, so she has probably been pregnant for roughly four months, maybe a bit longer.

It has been over a month since Kaab and Tess first kissed, after Applethorpe became Tess's protector in Episode 5. At this point, that's about all Kaab and Tess have done. Kaab now wants to go further, but to do things properly, which, obviously, requires chocolate.

Almost a month has passed since the Swan Ball in Episode 7. Shortly after the ball, the news came of a ship sinking, thus delaying the
chocolate. This is false. As of the beginning of the episode, their ships are docked, awaiting work from
Diane to unload.

The Balaam have petitioned the Dragon Chancellor for a reduction
in the tariff. He has not revealed this to anyone. Diane has leaked rumors to the Merchants' Confederation about the chocolate shortage being artificial.

Barely a week ago, Rafe received notice of his exam.

Two days ago, Duncan Olivey ran out of chocolate and Kaab last saw Tess.

Jeremiah Clarkson has now run out of chocolate.

Diane writes to the Balam and sends Reynald to see that the letter is delivered discreetly.

Gregory's wife maneuvers him into agreeing to visit Diane to see if she has chocolate to spare.

Rafe's exam takes place at Badrick Hall and lasts for six hours..

Jeremiah meets with Duncan and learns of the rumors Merchants' Confederation has heard. He agrees to sign a petition to the Dragon Chancellor.

The Balam receive Diane's letter. Kaab tells Saabim and Chuleb about Ben's locket, eliding a few details.

Reynald is kept waiting by Gregory, as the Dragon Chancellor meets with the Merchants' Confederation and receives their petition. Presumably, Diane sent Reynald there? Reynald hand delivers Gregory's note to Diane. Diane sends him to find out where the rumors that the chocolate shortage is fake started, knowing that she herself started them. She writes to Gregory.

Rafe goes to the Ink Pot to celebrate passing his exam.

Reynald watches Kaab, as does another swordsman who tells Reynald that Kaab has been asking questions of various noblemen about Ben Hawke.

Kaab makes chocolate for Tess and they have sex.

Gregory visits Diane in the afternoon, and he agrees to convince the Council to relax the tariff on chocolate.

By evening of the day the petition is delivered, Duncan gets word from a "source" that chocolate ships have been sighted and decides to discard the rest of his amandyne.

Reynald reports back to Diane, who tells him that Kaab must not learn the truth about why Ben was killed.

## Arc / Plot Points

Diane and the Balam family have created a chocolate shortage. Using the fiction that this was caused by a ship full of chocolate sinking, the Balam approach the Dragon Chancellor privately, asking for a renegotiation of terms, particularly where the chocolate tax is concerned.

Diane spreads rumors that the shortage is a lie. This is not part of her agreement with the Balam. It does, however, increase the pressure on the Dragon Chancellor.

Isabella, wife of the Dragon Chancellor, maneuvers her husband into going to Diane to see if House Tremontaine has any chocolate to spare. Gregory doesn't want the two women to be alone. Presumably, he thinks Isabella ignorant of his affair, and she might be. We aren't told whether Gregory brings Isabella any chocolate in time for her party.

Gregory is now aware of Diane's machinations, and he yields, agreeing to present the reduction of the chocolate tax as if it were his own idea. He and Diane continue their affair.

Diane believes that she is not jealous, but she is furious that William is lying to her. Gregory may be treating her with more respect, but she also allows him to see more of her.

That said, apparently, everyone on the Hill knows that William is "useless when it comes to business" and that Diane is the one to ask. Exactly how this came about is an interesting question.

Diane now takes her chocolate with Kinwiinik spices.

Reynald is now Diane's "personal agent", as well as her swordsman, but not her lover. For some reason, he was with the Dragon Chancellor. Presumably Diane sent him? Gregory gave him a note for Diane which Reynald delivered himself, although proper protocol would have been to give it to Tilson, the butler. His justification is the news he has learned about the petition and the rumors.

Reynald is now too eager to murder for Diane, and she tries to restrain that tendency.

Kaab has been tracing Ben's steps and knows that he has had sex with some of the noblemen on the Hill. They, in turn, have been sending their swordsmen to follow her and find out why she is interested.

Reynald reports to Diane that Kaab has been trying to find out who killed Ben, for Tess's sake. Diane says that this must not happen. It is unclear what she expects Reynald to do, or whether she truly does not concern herself with the details. She almost certainly knows that killing Kaab would be messy.

Diane is trying to present the illusion of an equal partnership between herself and the Balam while still holding the upper hand and making sure that the Balam do not forget this. Kaab considers the need to show that one has the upper hand a weakness, and considers the Balam to have the upper hand. That said, each side really does need the other.

Kaab tells her family about the locket and that it led to Ben's death. She admits to being in love with Tess. However, she does not tell them everything.

Kaab doesn't think the fact that Rafe and William are having an affair is important enough to tell her family. It is unclear whether this is willful blindness because she likes Rafe or whether she genuinely doesn't realize that it's potentially valuable information.

Rafe was given far less notice than is customary for his exams. De Bertel, who intended to be one of the examiners, apparently took sick, which would normally result in changing the exam date. However, the Board of Governors insisted that the exam take place as scheduled. Two of the three examiners are ones Rafe would have chosen, and the third is Doctor Lyttle, who retired, but came out of retirement for the exam. This sounds like de Bertel and those of his party pushed for the early exam date, and William pulled strings to keep the exam on schedule when de Bertel fell sick and to get Doctor Lyttle out of retirement, and possibly even to get de Bertel to decide he was too ill to be an examiner, but none of this is said explicitly, so it could theoretically all be coincidence. If it is not, this means that William is responsible for the very thing he was hoping to prevent by voting to allow professors to choose the exams they will sit on.

Rafe passes his examination, apparently sticking to his true beliefs, which works because Lyttle was one of the examiners. He is now Master Fenton of Natural Philosophy.

William gets word of the results VERY soon after. He doesn't say how he did this. He wasn't present for the exam. We don't know if he could theoretically have sat in on them, given he is on the Board of Governors.

Thaddeus is hallucinating about a unicorn, having smoked something Clarence of Alchemy gave him that may or may not be marijuana. It's not clear whether he thinks William is the unicorn he sees or whether he thinks William is standing next to the unicorn.

## Cultural and World Information

Noblewomen covet the Balaam feathers. The noblemen express no opinion that we're made aware of.

Chuleb spreads out shipping manifests on a reed mat.

A Kinwiinik woman's worth is judged by the quality of her chocolate. To make proper chocolate, which is the drink of the gods, one needs special tools, including a molinillo, a wide, shallow bowl, and two other vessels. Kaab prepares it in the way that honors the goddess Ixcacao and invites blessings into a home.

Ingredients include not just chocolate, but also pepper, seeds from the vanilla bean, petals of a hand flower, and pataxte, which comes from the balam tree, also known as the jaguar tree.

The Balam are named for the balam tree, and the pataxte is the symbol of the family's strength.

The Kinwiinik also have vanilla. It is expensive.

Amandyne, a brew of crushed nuts, is an inadequate substitute for chocolate, and too much of it makes one ill.

While Riverside may be largely ignorant of chocolate, the rest of the City suffers from its lack, and perhaps from physical withdrawal symptoms as well.

There is a Merchants' Confederation in the City.

City ladies do not drink wine in the afternoon.

University students usually get a month's notice for their exams.

If a professor can't make an exam as planned, the exam is usually postponed.

Exams are usually well attended, and apparently used to go on much longer. Legend has it that at least one student died during his extremely long exam.

Badrick Hall is one of the smallest and most obscure lecture halls. It is old enough that its windows may be of historic interest.

Diane is reading a novel about the "scandalous adventures" of Lady Genevieve, a "devious lady of high fashion".

Alchemy students in the University, at Kettlesworth Hall, seem to be willing to share strange drugs.