Tehr nodded in agreement at Phoebe's request to delay a tour, actually glad that they would be getting down to the business at hand.  It had been weighing heavily on him for the last few days and the fact that the time had now arrived felt like a great weight had been lifted from him.  Whether the meeting ended good or ill, it was finally here.  He smiled at Natalia's words and responded in kind,<strong>"I am not exactly known for my own mature patience at times, though I do try my best to purport myself with decorum when possible, so I understand the eagerness very much.  In fact if I may be perfectly frank, I have found myself no less than anxious in extremis over this meeting.  Actually any meeting with the somewhat intimidating members of house Saari.  As I'm sure you're well aware of any rumors and reputation your house may have, just as I am aware of what is said in the streets and in court about my own self.  But like the rumors about myself, my house, I find that such rumors about the wonderful members of house Saari are for the most part overblown and speculative.  Your house is made up of strong willed women, yes.  This is a good thing, I would not want to ally myself to simpering yes men or women who simply told me what I wanted to hear while hiding beneath the hem of my robes."</strong><br/><br/>He smiled,<strong>"I'm sure that you've heard that house Wynt has allied itself with the noble house Hesfal as well.  I have taken their son, Alex ir'Hesfal as my own apprentice.  They have fallen much from power over the last few generations, but still they hold much potential.  Their base of operations in the city of Dover could be quite useful to future endevours, and their family legacy still holds a fair amount of noble pride.  In addition I find Alex to be a capable and potentially powerful mage in his own right." </strong>Tehr inwardly congratulated himself on making sure to use the proper pronoun 'he' when referring to Alexandria.<br/><br/><strong>"Likewise, while no formal agreements have been made with the elvish clan of Caleor, all of Londinium knows that the duke has been a regular guest in my home, and his daughter resides here now under my care and protection.  A promise I made to her father the duke before he had to leave for the mainland to lead elvish forces.  The elvish tribes to the west offer much, and even now trade between their people and Brittania have shown great potential gains.  Gains that I hope will be multiplied in the near future when the land trade route is made even more secure.  Gains that will increase further should we secure the southern coasts of Britannia under our proposed trading company, which might include a base of operations in Dover."</strong>Tehr smiled.  The implication was that his plan had been set in motion months ago, that Hesfal had always been a part of the plan.  It was of course not exactly true, and it had been Hesfal, via Alexandria, who had saught him out for an alliance, not the other way around.  But still, Tehr knew how to use an advantage when possible.  If the women of house Saari wished to interpret his words to mean that he had planned all this out for a long time, then so be it.  He certainly hadn't said anything untrue.<br/><br/>He held out a specially prepared sheaf of papers, bound with string and sealed with wax.<strong>"This is my proposed contract for inclusion into the trading company.  I have yet not come up with a name, because I wish to gain insight on all members present at it's creation.  But I will say that it will bear no house name.  This is a collaborative effort, where all who contribute, gain.  I shall give this to you to look over, but I think much of it we have already discussed.  For the part of house Wynt, we shall be, that is to say, I shall be the administrator of the company.  More to the point while the amount of flat coin I can contribute is not large, we have virgin forests and are willing to dedicate five hundred acres of densely packed, virgin lumber at this time."</strong><br/><br/>He let that sit for a moment.  The largest of the ships that were in common usage took roughly five thousand mature trees to create.  Five thousand trees took roughly thirty to forty acres of good forest, and his lands were largely untouched, meaning it was closer to the thirty acre mark.  He had just said that he was willing to dedicate enough lumber to build over a dozen massive ocean going ships.  While house Saari might not be ship builders, certainly they understood the rough value of such a bid.  He continued,<strong>"This is of course in addition to the writ from the queen for the granting of the creation of such a company.  I will say that my own connections to the queen have helped immensely in this fact, and I doubt anyone else would be able to receive such a writ.  Making the value of such an object hard to measure."</strong><br/><br/>He had undersold that on purpose, the writ itself was worthless, but the intent behind it, the queen's blessing, that was quite literally something that could not be measured in value.  If any other house attempted to do what he was doing, they would be seen as privateers at best, traitors at worst.  After the business recently with the Dale family, few in Brittania were willing to risk being called treasonous.<strong>"As to the matter of the Caravel, I admit my knowledge of oceanfairing vessels is probably far weaker then your own.  But I congratulate you on the victory and feel that it will be a grand addition to our venture."</strong><br/><br/>He cleared his throat and moved to the bar, pouring himself a small bit of gin and a large measure of water, he turned and said,<strong>"Now, let us get onto more pleasurable matters.  I have had some trepedation about the nature of our other arrangement.  I fear not for myself but any child that might be born whom I have no hand in raising.  While I trust your house, I need to hear from your lips, the answer to a question I hate to ask.  But should one of the daughters Saari bear a male child, what will be it's fate?  Will he be loved and cared for and raised in a proper manner?"</strong><br/><br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">ooc</div><div class="spoiler_body">I felt like I should make a diplomacy check to see how he's doing.<br/><br/>Roll Result: rhev rolled: 1d20, adding 11 to the total<br/>Comment: Tehrs diplomacy check<br/>Result: 14, <br/>Total: 25<br/><br/><br/>I also wanted to pause here, I'm not 100% sure exactly how you want the discussion to go, so I left it after that question, but he'd also have questions and concerns about not forcing any daughter to mate with him, and also bring up his extended time line where he'd insist the daughters got to know him better.  If needed he would even dissemble a little and say that he needed to make a connection to each in turn before a solid bond could be created between mother and child.  Basically implying that whatever spark he has might not be passed on if it were 'rushed'.</div></div>