Shiv's joke, ironically spoken with complete seriousness, earned awkward laughter from those sitting at the table.
"Did you have a good time exploring my mansion?" Wells asked, trying to start a conversation.
"Did you finally make up your mind on the dandelion?" Shiv ignored the question and asked with impatience.
Wells took a deep breath and started, "Actually-"
"Just give me an answer, bro. If you don't, I'm taking this puppy to someone who can make a freaking decision." Shiv's outburst caused the noble to jump in fright.
"I… yes. I accept your plant at the price we stated earlier, but I also have a counter offer for you to consider. First, however, I will need you to find a way to prove that I can trust you."
'You can absolutely trust me. Whether you should or not is the matter we are about to be discussing.' Shiv corrected him mentally, not particularly invested in the conversation.
"I am willing to vouch for his tenacity and forwardness." Big Farmer spoke up, surprising both Shiv and Wells.
"And I will vouch for how interesting he is." Lucille said, though Shiv wasn't sure if he was being complimented or insulted.
Wells looked back and forth. Between the two of them, then nodded firmly, evidently coming to a decision. "Very well."
Shiv leaned back so the servants could put a salad on the table in front of him. 'I didn't even order anything.'
He didn't complain, because he was curious about whether or not the young man had been correct about those weeds being great enhancers. "And your offer is…?" he dug into the salad, finding that it was, in fact, disgusting.
'The dirty little liar.' He scowled.
"I want you to grow more giant dandelions, as well as many other types of illegal plants, for me." Wells said, not touching his salad.
"Illegal plants. What, like drugs?" Shiv pushed the salad bowl away and glared at a servant until they took it.
"Some of what I want you to grow could be used as drugs, yes." Came the reluctant reply.
"Why do you want me to grow your illegal stuff? Why not have that butler over there do it, or Big Farmer?"
"Because my butler and Big Farmer are both being watched by my political opponents every moment they spend outside of my walls. You are a separate, unknown, entity with no ties to anyone."
'How does he know that?' Shiv didn't care enough to ask. Something about Wells annoyed him. "What would I get out of it?"
"I would give you money to hire independent contractors, and buy the supplies needed to tend the seeds I want you to grow. I will provide you with the seeds themselves. When it comes to harvest season, I will send someone to harvest them all, so you don't have to worry about that. Just make sure you grow them in a secluded area, and keep everything secret."
"Top secret. Got it. So what would I get out of it?" Shiv repeated. Internally, he scoffed. 'There's no way I'm going to spend a year growing all this stuff and let somebody else harvest it.'
"If you complete this task successfully, I will give you one thousand gold talents. In the case of your failure, your life will be in my hands."
Both Lucille and Big Farmer looked at Wells with shock when he said the amount of the reward. "You could buy this entire city with that much money!" She said.
Wells barely acknowledged her, his stare focused on Shiv, who was asking a servant to bring him the greenhouse keeper. They whispered fiercely back and forth before the servant threw his hands up and stalked away grumbling while Shiv leaned back in his seat with a smug look.
"Oh, a thousand talents?" Shiv closed his eyes, doing some quick math. 'Yeah… that'd be enough to fund me for the rest of my stay on the planet… probably.' He leaned forward with his fingers laced together. "Alright, make it fifteen hundred talents and you've got yourself a deal."
Wells blinked. "You… make bad jokes."
Shiv laughed. "Correct, so when do I get my money?"
"When you deliver me the seeds."
At that moment, the greenhouse keeper entered. Wells gave him a confused look that Shiv caught. He turned, and when he saw the young man, he stood up with mock outrage on his face. "You said those weeds were delicious on salads, you liar."
"They are. It's your taste in food that is the problem."
They argued for several minutes, going absolutely nowhere and achieving nothing aside from waking up Blaze, who sat up and rubbed her eyes with a yawn.
The other people at the table watched with confusion as the argument slowly ended and the greenhouse keeper left with a humph.
Satisfied, Shiv returned his attention to the conversation.
"Is there anyone in this building that you don't know?" Wells was mystified that Shiv seemed completely comfortable arguing with his servants, and also had apparently met both Big Farmer, his subordinate, and his guest Lucille, the mysterious traveling performer.
He was beginning to consider the possibility of Shiv being a spy.
Shiv pointed at the butler he'd mentioned earlier. "That guy. He's got a shifty look in his eyes."
Wells looked at the butler in question, aghast. "I see." He rubbed his forehead. "Do you accept my offer?"
Shiv sighed, "I have a few more questions."
A few minutes later, Shiv was satisfied. "Looks like you've got yourself a partner in crime, Wells."
Wells opened his mouth to object, but then thought better of it and just nodded.
Shiv stood up and walked over to Wells, sticking his hand out toward the man. "Here's your plant. You've got my money, right?"
Wells hesitated, and Shiv's expression became sour. "Bro. Go get my money. Now."
Wells, as a noble, had a lot of pride, and being called an unfamiliar word and given a direct order was not something he would usually let go. But Shiv was a strange man, and Big Farmer had vouched for him.
And so, Shiv's plan was unexpectedly put on the fast track.
Several hours passed, during which, Shiv was paid for his plant, as well as given the necessary seeds and resources. Blaze followed him, closely watching every move he made and absorbing every word he and those around him made.
Eventually, they left the mansion, Shiv having successfully escaped having to see Lucille's performance. As they walked down the winding paths, Blaze asked, "we're supposed to be destroying everything, right? So why are we growing new things?"
"I'm not powerful enough to destroy everything, yet. Because of that, I need to be kinda smart in how I go about doing this." He could see that she didn't quite understand, so he thought for a minute, then continued. "If I just walked through the city breaking windows and stuff, the city guards would throw me in jail and stop me, right? So I wouldn't be able to destroy anything at all."
"Only if they cheat." Blaze scowled.
"I… sure." Shiv shrugged.
Before they left the city, he stopped by the merchant district again and bought massive quantities of ordinary food-producing seeds. He filled both his and Blaze's inventories up, and only then did they hit the road again.
***
"Ya want us to work for ya?" A farmer with a very large hat that did remarkably little to keep him dry repeated.
"That's right. I heard about what happened to your town, and I'm very sorry. If you're willing to work for me, I'll pay you well and arrange for a place for you and your pals to stay in town." Shiv repeated for the fourth time.
"Well… I don't suppose we got nowhere better to go. Might as well help ya out. Especially considerin' yer the one that tried ta help us out first. Aight, I accept yer offer on behalf of ma group."
"Sweet! Grab all your stuff and let's head out in ten minutes." Shiv walked away from the small camp on the side of the road and waited patiently with Blaze.
When the farmers were ready, they began traveling again.
***
Back in the (much larger) clearing that he had first made his home, Shiv looked at the gaggle of farmers and gave them specific orders and began divvying out the seeds. To Blaze, he said, "ready to start destroying things?" Her answer, of course, was a resounding "yes". "Let's start with all the trees all around the clearing. Just burn em to the ground. Got it?"
"Got it!" She gave the trees a fierce look, then marched off with her hands on fire.
Shiv then began working on planting the illegal seeds, using his skill on them to find out what they were and where they were found, and got to work recreating those environments as best as he was able.
He was interrupted in his work by the same farmer with the large hat, who came and asked, "who is it we're growin' all these plants for, if ya don't mind me asking?"
Shiv laughed. "We're not growing these for anyone. We're growing them for something. "
"And what's that?"
"The destruction of this blasted world."