Chapter Seven: Man of the Hour | Part 5
It took Thirtyx far too long to acknowledge that they were all staring at him. It took him even longer to realize they weren’t joking. “Oh no.” His head was shaking before the words left his mouth. “No, seriously—I may be surprisingly good at sweet-talking rich people, but don’t let this week fool you. If you want people to come to this thing, don’t make me host.”
“It’s sort of adorable that he’s managed to dodge all the gossip,” Mercuria sighed. In perfect Selkie fashion, Thirtyx couldn’t tell if she was disparaging him or not. “Look, if you keep up your vague statements about the twins’ time of need, people will come just to hear more of that. You want this to be successful, don’t you?”
He did. He really did, and he’d be a horrible person if he let his own insecurities—
Seerla snapped her fingers at Mercuria. “Hey. Back off with the Selkie charm. Let him decide on his own.”
But even with a sound mind, it wasn’t a tough decision. Thus, Thirtyx arrived to the ballroom the following night in the only suit he owned—one Benn claimed had been intended for him before the palace got his measurements wrong in a way that just happened to fit Thirtyx perfectly. The number of people in attendance drove simultaneous waves of pride and panic through his chest.
It didn’t help that their curiosity tasted delicious.
Said curiosity multiplied several-fold when the mingling portion of the auction ended, and Thirtyx and T.K. stepped up to the stage. Thirtyx winced as his nervous, bracing breath echoed through the entire crowd. He’d momentarily forgotten Dain had amplified his voice.
“Good evening, everyone,” he began—rather lamely, he thought. “Some of you might not know that I’m the treasurer of the Service Club. I helped organize this event. It was sort of thrown together in a panic without our fearless president here to guide us, but I still think we did a decent job, and I hope you feel the same.”
The crowd’s silent reaction to his mention of Rhea brought on a wave of pleasure that threatened to derail Thirtyx’s carefully prepared speech, but he pressed on. “I— I know when our future queen returns from the palace, she’ll be incredibly proud of whatever funds we manage to raise for Terre Mackawn. But, if we’re being honest, she could really use a win right now. I’d love to have a big number to show her when she walks back through those front gates. And I know I can count on you all to make that happen.”
Of course they wanted to ingratiate themselves to the princess—who wouldn’t? But everyone’s steadfast denial of those feelings threatened to make Thirtyx nauseous in spite of how much he was enjoying it. He cleared his throat. “But Rhea Grimmary is far from the only person we want to impress with our actions here tonight. The real reason we’ve gathered is that some of our Selkie brethren in Terre Mackawn have been living in uncivilized conditions for months now, as repeated mudslides keep wiping away what rebuilding progress they’ve made. A little earlier, you heard a firsthand account from former Wydewood student Adonna Lassa, read by her sister Mercuria. And while a group our size can’t address all the problems Adonna laid out, our contributions can provide clean water for a few days, or supplies for the cleanup crews, or meals for the sorcerer volunteers working day and night to re-engineer the land to stop the mudslides.”
Thirtyx welcomed the ebb of energy. Not only did it ease his nausea, but it also meant the attendees were refocusing on the actual matter at hand. Maybe Seerla and Mercuria had been right. Maybe his teasing hints had gotten them through the door, and now that they were here, they might contribute.
“So, uh… without further ado, I guess we’ll start the bidding for our first item, a voucher for 50 coin to be used at Aakyn’s Sandwich Stall in the rec hall. T.K., you want to take it away?”
***
“How much did we make?”
“I lost count somewhere around the protection amulet.”
“Why don’t we have a count yet?”
“Because I can’t do math with you guys bugging me,” Thirtyx said. He looked up from the paper on which he was adding up their profits, but he kept his expression sardonic rather than severe. He wouldn’t have dared to say something like that before this week, but the relative success of this shindig had changed a lot of things.
Seerla chuckled. “Let the treasurer do his job. We have cleaning to do anyway.” She stretched her arms toward the ceiling and released a prolonged groan as she meandered across the ballroom. “I have so much studying to catch up on. I may not sleep again until my 20s.”
Thirtyx felt similarly, but even without the final count, he knew it was worth it. For all the remarks he’d made about making Rhea proud, he was fairly convinced he’d accomplished that goal. Heck, he’d made himself pretty proud.
Calley Jones 