“I believe you have rooms reserved for the delegation from Canalo,” I told her. “Can I have the keys now, to inspect them?”
A frown creased the woman’s smooth forehead. “The delegates from Canalo?” She pulled a large, leather-bound book from a drawer and placed it atop the desk, which like many other things in this hotel seemed to be entirely carved from crystal. “We already checked in the delegates from Canalo – one delegate to be precise. A Mr. Cirin Garidano.”
“Yes, he was the only one who could make it out initially,” I said, impatience tinging my voice. “The rest of the delegation was delayed, but we are here now. Unless you’d rather I tell the Chief Mage of Canalo that the Crystal Hotel took his money and then gave the rooms to someone else?” I arched an eyebrow at the concierge.
The woman’s skin turned ice-white, and she quickly excused herself before hurrying into a back room, presumably to consult with someone. A few moments later, a manager came out, and there was some hurried discussion as they tried to figure out what to do.
“Ma’am, I apologize for the inconvenience, but it does appear that your rooms were mistakenly assigned to other guests.” The manager bowed his head, sounding very apologetic. “I can recommend another hotel for your delegates to stay in, if you’d like, and we shall of course refund your deposit and provide compensation for the inconvenience.”
“Compensation?” I hissed, curling my fingers around the edge of the reception desk and leaning in close. “Are you suggesting that I tell Lord Iannis, the Chief Mage of Canalo, that the Crystal Hotel was so desperate for coin that they couldn’t hold his reservation for a few days? And that your idea of ‘compensation’ is to give him money when he has more than enough gold?”
The manager’s cheek’s reddened. “We are not desperate,” he said stiffly. “This is a prestigious hotel, and our hotel rooms are very much in demand. You can’t expect us to hold a room for an entire week.”
“Very well,” I said lightly, easing back from the counter. “I’ll simply mention to the other delegates that the Crystal Hotel would rather turn out a Chief Mage in favor of putting up some vacationers instead. I’m sure you will be very popular at the next Convention.” I turned away.
“Wait!” the manager cried as I took a step toward the exit.
I paused, looking over my shoulder at him. “Yes?”
“Please, come back ma’am.” The manager gave me a pained smile. “I’m sure that we can work something out.”
It took them nearly twenty minutes, but with some fancy maneuvering they managed to vacate the original suite for Iannis. However, as I had no reservation, they couldn’t get a separate room for me, so I was given the choice between sharing a suite with the Finance Secretary and the other delegates, or taking the extra room in Iannis’s suite.
I wasn’t exactly comfortable with either, but I had a lot of questions for Iannis so I figured sharing a suite with him would be my best bet. So I smiled and thanked the concierge, then took the keys to our suite and made my way up to the third floor by way of one of the elevators.
The suite was pretty much what I expected – white couches, carpeting, and curtains; crystal vases and glass tables; and huge windows that overlooked the city as well as the Eastern Sea beyond. Too tired to enjoy the view, I wandered into the smaller bedroom and flopped onto the bed, then groaned as my body sank into the soft mattress.
Turning my head, I noticed a phone on my nightstand, so I picked it up and asked the operator to connect me to the Golden Tree Inn. The phone rang for a few moments before someone from the front desk answered, and I asked them to connect me to Annia’s room.
“H’llo?” a sleepy voice slurred.
“Hey there. Just wanted to check in and see if you got that feather mattress you’ve been dreaming about.”
“Oh hell yeah.” Annia groaned, and I had the idea she was stretching her back. “This bed is ridiculously comfortable, and the room is incredible. Amazing what you can buy with a huge pouch of gold. It’s almost enough to make me forget about cashing in on the bounty. Almost.”
“Hey, well if you want to share some of that bounty money with yours truly, my pockets are wide open.” I chuckled a little. Iannis had given Annia said huge pouch of gold, along with the Golden Tree Inn as a recommendation for lodgings since she couldn’t very well stay with us. The airship we had commandeered would be confiscated by the Federation since it belonged to the Resistance, but Iannis planned to hook her up with another pilot with a larger ship, and the two of them would lead reinforcements back to the Resistance camp to round up the rebel soldiers.