Reblogged from Tallis Steelyard:

I believe I have introduced you to Pardo Fuen. When I last mentioned him, he had decided to pass a quiet retirement selling cut flowers, a little top fruit, and bulls.

The cut flowers were a business he acquired along with the small farm he purchased. There was an area given over to bulbs and similar, plus a substantial orchard. Knowing little or nothing of this sort of husbandry he threw himself into learning with the same enthusiasm he gave to learning a new dance. He retained those who’d worked for the previous owners, and learned his trade from them.

Indeed he was not slow to take advantage of his previous connections. Any condottieri who dropped in to quietly pick the brains of the master was assured that fresh fruit were essential to ensure the regularity of the bowel movements of cavalry troopers. Similarly if a lady wished to invite the renowned Pardo Fuen to grace her dance floor, who was she going to buy her flowers from?

Indeed it was the cut flowers which led him to marrying his current wife. He was organising a display in the Grand Sinecurists’ Dining room. She commented, a little disparagingly, that one couldn’t marshal blossoms as one marshalled men-at-arms, more subtlety was needed, and fewer straight lines.

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