[Trade] Treat or Tithe?

“They want tribute!” Rapture announces loudly as she returns to the others.  A grey utahraptor with white stripes along her sides perks up, but her companion’s eyes narrow.  The grey raptor is Foxglove, and her companion, a brown and dark-striped utahraptor, is Tiramisu.  Rapture met the two skulking around the outskirts of the court, none of them quite brave enough to go in and talk to the very large dinosaurs inhabiting the place.  After some discussion, it was agreed that Rapture was the best choice to go in and attempt negotiations.

But the large dinosaurs- iguanodons- do not want outsiders in their court.  Not unless they can prove themselves useful.  “They want new things, shiny things, whatever can’t be found down here!” Rapture explains.

Foxglove taps her chin with a claw, visibly considering the news, but Tiramisu tilts his head.  “And this will convince them to let us stay and explore?” he asks, skeptical.  “Are we sure they won’t just take whatever we bring them and slam the door in our face?”

“They wouldn’t,” Foxglove interjects.  “If word got around they did that, no one would bring them stuff!  Besides, surely they’re just as curious about us as we are about them?”  She looks at the other two raptors.  Tiramisu remains skeptical, but Rapture nods enthusiastically.  “So,” Foxglove continues, “What should we bring them?”

All three ponder the question for a moment, the droning of insects in the jungle around them returning full force now that the dinosaurs are silent.  After a bit, Tiramisu pipes up, “I heard someone mention that the iguanodons are herbivores.  So, maybe they’d like it if we brought them plants?  Food?”

Foxglove brightens.  “That’s a great idea!  Everyone loves gifts of food!”
Rapture, however, frowns.  “It’s a good idea, but….what plants would we bring?” she asks.  All three raptors look around at the foliage surrounding them.  Thorns abound, as well as poison-bright flowers and strange, snaking vines.  Utahraptors are carnivores and to the trio, all the shades of green around them might as well be the same, and a taste test would be just as useless.  Foxglove rumbles, her enthusiasm fading a little.  Rapture points out, “What if we brought them something poisonous?  We’d be kicked out for sure!”

Tiramisu shakes his head.  “You’re right.  We just don’t know what to bring.  And I’m sure they wouldn’t like meat,” he comments.  The other two nod in agreement.

Another period of quiet while the trio thinks.  Rapture is the next to speak: “While I was at the court, they seemed to have a lot of pretty, shiny things.  Maybe they want more shiny things?”  Tiramisu and Foxglove look at her, intrigued.

“Well, I’ve seen some really pretty rocks at the Shimmering Cove,” Tiramisu mentions, gazing up at the roof of the dome as he remembers them.  “All the colors of the rainbow.  Maybe they’ll like those.”

Foxglove straightens up, her enthusiasm returned.  “Yes!  That’s even better than food!” she exclaims.  In a moment, all three raptors are on their way back to the island of Pera to make the trip to the Shimmering Cove.

They spend the day at the Cove, first simply enjoying the beauty of it and then actually getting to work on what they came for.  The rocks they end up collecting are mostly bright-colored pebbles, but there are a few larger salt rocks as well, and the trio has to fashion a bag out of leaves to hold them all.  They spend the night there and prepare to return to the underwater eco-dome the next day, prizes in tow.

Through careful navigation via the paths other, larger dinosaurs have carved through the jungle, the trio arrive at the court, this time with more confidence.  The euoplocephalus guards at the entrance watch them suspiciously, but do not bar their way as Rapture leads Foxglove and Tiramisu in.  It is the two raptors’ first time in the court, and they gaze with surprise and wonder at the landscape before them, so drastically different from the jungle they left behind.

Clean paths wind through carefully tended gardens, leading to buildings less worn and overgrown than most the trio have seen, either on the islands or below them.  Rapture hesitates for a moment, then turns down one of the paths.  Tiramisu and Foxglove follow, carefully gripping the leaf-wrapped stones in their claws.  They pass decadent flowers and ferns in strange colors, while trees with unnaturally broad leaves block out the view of the dome above them.

They arrive at one of the buildings, part of its wall broken away to make an entrance much larger than any human would have needed.  Vines curl around the “doorway,” spilling fragrant blooms that the trio of utahraptors brush past as they enter.  Once their eyes adjust to the slightly dimmer space, they can make out the rest of the room: one large space, with a great curving desk along the back wall.  Remnants of multiple chairs suggest that it once held multiple stations, but only one occupant sits behind the desk now: a grey iguanodon, with black marking her face and limbs.  The desk is comically small compared to her, but she rests in her place with all the gravity of the secretaries of old.  She even has a form of “paperwork” in front of her: stones and flat pieces of metal marked with symbols by iguanodon claws.  She pores over them, looking up with annoyance as she realizes she is not alone.  “Can I help you?” she asks, her voice a low drone.

“Agnus!  Hi!” Rapture chirps, trotting up to the desk.  “We brought you that tithe you mentioned!  I think you’ll find it lovely!”  She hops aside, gesturing to Tiramisu and Foxglove as they deposit the leaf bags on the aging faux wood in front of Agnus.

The iguanodon stares down at the two new raptors, then at their offerings.  “Food?” she inquires drily.

Tiramisu scoffs, and Foxglove lightly slaps him with her tail.  “Better than food!” she exclaims.  “Unwrap them, look!”  She nudges the leaves aside, and for the first time actual interest appears on Agnus’s face.  She leans down, taking a closer look at the stones the raptors have brought.  She taps at them carefully, spreading them out across the desk to view their full range of color.

Agnus appears quite taken with the stones, but eventually she clears her throat, her expression falling back to one of disdain.  “These will be….sufficient.  Consider your tithe paid,” she comments, and turns back to whatever the marks on her stone tablets say.

The three raptors look at each other.  What next?