4. Double trouble

There was absolute silence in the throne room. Everyone was silently staring at the silver tray displaying not one but two Eyes of Great Serpent. King was sitting at the head of the huge oval conference table recently brought in to replace kneeling mats. He was currently trying to decide if those sparkling gems should be both chucked into the treasury and forgotten about or.. what is he supposed to do with them?

On his right, old priest was leaning in his chair, his arms crossed while studiously examining his own fingernails. It was not his job any more to divine those things. He is now Official brewer and Potion maker. There were no more virgins left around to be sacrificed anyway, so there was really nothing he could do.

Seat on the left was empty. Yax was very likely nursing his hangover, or hiding from his father, or both. Either in his room or in dungeons. Depending how emotional priest and king got over their lost supplies of holy potions.

At opposite end, Ivory squirmed uncomfortably. He still felt that he should be kneeling with his forehead on the ground in this room, but times changed. So he shall sit here facing two oldest and holiest entities he knew, firmly keeping his lips glued until someone asks him a question. Not that he had any more answers to give after reporting this most unusual chain of events that happened today.

Next to him, Jone wondered what is he even doing here. He would never have permission to be in this room if the old rules were still in place. His eyes jumped around and after a while he felt it was silly to postpone inevitable. The Eyes were there for all of them to see, side by side, still swirling and sparkling, but luckily in silence. For some reason, when placed next to each other, beeping stopped.

"Your Majesty" he started but got clipped short by his Kings steady voice. "Call me General Director."

Jone gulped and decided that perhaps he should just keep quiet. Yeah, silence is golden.

At that moment a middle aged man in strangely looking clothes walked in, holding something that appeared to be a basket of frozen strawberries. "Your... General Director" he started as soon he got in, catching himself in the middle of addressing his former ruler, no his current ruler also.. This new titles were really pain in the butt.

Old priest chuckled from the side, but got silenced by his ruler with simple glance and "Just shut up if you have nothing useful to say Ah Kin". Ah Kin bit his lips, motion that made his old wrinkled face look a few decades younger, while noting down that new phrase for later use.

"Don't mind him Dagda." King said to his Chief of supply and Food management, formerly known as Royal Gardener "Are those some new dessert options from the kitchens?"

Dagda pulled at his uncomfortable new overalls that he got to wear as his official uniform, and placed strawberries in front of his king and priest while sitting down and shaking his head.

"Nope, those are fresh from the garden. Apparently we got a new freezer installed in middle levels that no one told me about. If I was properly notified I would made it clear that idea is total bollocks as not only fruits got frozen but whole plants as well, so no fresh strawberries untill ice is thawed and new seedlings propagated." He poped one of the strawberries into his mouth "I do admit they are refreshing though."

King and Ah Kin exchanged glances, then asked Ivory who thought they already forgot he was even there. "Could this be a consequence of geothermal energy anomaly from last night?"

Ivory dug into his meager knowledge of frozen produce and tried to sound confident "I would have to send a team to collect complete set of data, but to freeze a fruit of living plant temperature should have dropped to -20 degrees for quite a while."

"Or shorter time if it goes down to -40" Dagda added while munching on another strawberry. They will become mushy after defrosting, so it would be a shame to waste them.

"What?" He asked as he noticed all the eyes focusing on him.

"Dagda, this is serious.Think." Said his former king, current General Director. "If the frozen area expand, how much food can be grown in the greenhouses? If we lose all, how long before we run out of supplies?"

Dagda raised his eyebrows, seemingly not worried at all. "Lower level greenhouses were refitted to grow only roots fit to produce Holy Oil, same as bottom level of middle area, as you know already. Even if it freezes it's no harm done, as oil production was halted 10 cycles ago." He muttered still miffed about it.

"Top level of middle area is only for some grain and fruits." He glanced at melting strawberries with a pang in his chest. "Sure, usage of corn went up since it started to be also delivered to the top." he glanced at Ah Kin. Don't think I do not know what you are wasting it for up there was left pending in the air. "But since our current population is cut down to skeleton crew of like what, 30 or so, top level greenhouse is all we need, and I saw no ice there." He paused slightly "Well, if that area gets affected we are screwed, maybe hanging on for half a year with whats in dry stock."

Silence spread again, and they all stared at gems and strawberries, as if they held all the wisdom of the world.

Old king exhaled slowly and finally decided. "No other way then. We shall deploy Yax to find new geothermal line." He was ment to do that anyway, king tried to comfort himself.

"That clerk should be deployed with him. Mani, what's-his-name." Jone suddenly added looking at his boss. "Right." Ivory agreed. "Apparently he is a bearer of Serpent Sight. Key socket of equipment room was invisible to the rest of us."

And you forgot to mention that until now?! Ah Kin stared at this junior intelligence officer with disbelief and deep doubt. This younger generations were supposed to be upgraded. How did that tidbit of vital information got downgraded to casual mention, post-report even. Were they really improved in a degree that gods above claim they are? In what?! Looks?