The Dekmár Roads: The Factions of Natorna

Chapter 6: Baren Farmland

The council session had commenced on Conharsa. The chamber was filled to the brim. Cearfer was near the center of the circular room. He thought it was strange that so many were there. Last time he was there, it was almost half full, now, every seat was taken. 'It must be something important.' Cearfer thought to himself. 'But it could not just because I did inspections. That does not make sense. There must be something else.'

Standing nearby Cearfer was the guard Laoenfer. He was not attended by the other guards, but Cearfer figured their leader that was with them would be certain was listening to what was going on in some way. He had a bet he desperately wanted to see himself winning. Cearfer wished he could find humor or find a small smirk on his face. He could not. He was not comfortable having all the eyes on him.

The Council Leader addressed those in attendance, "There are important matters that need to be discussed. That is why I summoned everyone here. It was not the original plan; however, various events had made it necessary. I will break the points up into sections until we get to the most important part. I do not want to simply glaze over the minor points. They are still important, that is why they are being discussed in the council session."

The Council Leader looked from visually scanning the room to directly at Cearfer when he said, "I heard various reports of your time on Natena recently. Normally it would have concerned me, though now, I do not really care. All I am wanting to know is more elaboration from your report Cearfer. What else do you have to say?"

"I have inspected five ware-shop buildings on my native planet. Four of them had no issues. They complied by the regulations properly and their production levels appeared adequate. The first location I visited was the one with significant problems. There were items there that should not have been."

"Yes, Cearfer. That was what we understood from your report. However, some of us need to know more. They are not all privy to the inner workings of the Natenta operations."

"I understand. I noticed that we had tractors being put together. The problem was I did not find any of the parts required to have on stock when the tractors were present. I do not know how they were putting anything together without any parts on the other floors to do so."

One of the other members pipped up and asked Cearfer, "Could they have simply finished everything they were required to do to the tractors?"

Cearfer stared at the council member with disbelief. He was at loss of words from the sure ignorance. He figured out how to reply to the best way without making him sound like a complete idiot, "I beg your pardon, Which is not policy. We do not send out tractors half together. Since there are still tractors unfinished, there must be parts available to finish them but there are not any."

"Could you just get them from another ware-shop?"

Cearfer was loss of words once again. How could these people who were supposed to be in charge of the factions not know policy? He was about to answer, this time without holding anything back. He did not care if he came off rude. He was getting quite frustrated with the questions. Fortunately, the council leader spoke up in his stead, "Cearfer has been a practitioner of policy for a long time now. If he says it is not policy, I think it is wise to trust him. If anyone has an issue with that, I recommend them to read the policies for themselves. Although now, we need to press on. Thank you Cearfer for your report."

The Council Leader turned his head to the person who was seated next to Cearfer and said, "Tuanaver, welcome back. We deliberated with what you reported to us last time you were here. Evidently, there is much work just so the farmland could potentially yield crops. We did not know how poor it was and we appreciate your candidness. We will get you helpers too. Just figure out how many you will need. As for supplies, I want you to work with Cearfer here. He can organize things from the planets, whatever you may require."