“Making Auntie Yerina do your dirty work? Low, even for you.”
“A sad day when I must stoop to such means because my own daughter can’t be bothered otherwise to see me.” Bioon’s lips curled into a cold smile as she sipped her tea. “How is the elective going?”
“Don’t your superiors get the reports? Or do you have apprentices do the trivial work?”
“I’m asking you,” Bioon said. “You’re an outside observer. A unique perspective, as dear Ollas so nicely put it.”
Hearing his name from her mother’s mouth made Eunny’s skin crawl. “The elective seems fine. The plants are lasting more than a day. Rai and Ollas seem happy with the progress.”
Bioon made a noncommittal noise. A few moments of silence passed as they regarded each other over their tea. Eunny broke it first. Better to get these ridiculous games over and done with than sit here for an hour, going in circles.
“What do you really want?” Eunny asked. “I have things I could be doing back at the school if you’re just going to waste time.”
“You’ve become so crass, daughter.” Bioon’s tone was light, almost playfully reproachful, but her gaze was sharp as ever. She set the teacup aside. “You’re trained to recognize the value of the product this exploratory class is working on. Something you should be able to ascertain even without your magic.”
“Was there a question in that?”
“Are they getting close to having something worth sending to us?”
Eunny scoffed. “You’ve gotten the reports. I know because I saw Ollas write at least two of them.” She pasted a sweet smile onto her face. “You should come to the greenhouse and observe.”
“Perhaps I will,” Bioon said, matching Eunny’s fake smile. “The reports are a condition of the Coalition’s sponsorship—they present the information in a most favorable light. I’m asking you for the unvarnished truth.”
“I’m not a grovetender, remember. Whatever Ollas and Rai have told you is more than I’m going to know. They wouldn’t lie.”
“Omission,” Bioon murmured. “There haven’t been any additions to the elective’s trials? No new seed variants or base materials aside from the original outline?”
Eunny could feel her face screwing up in confusion. “No? My understanding is that asking for two hybrids in one term was already next to impossible. Why do you think they’d add even more?”
Bioon’s shoulders lifted in a dainty shrug. “We’re a month in, with nothing to show for it. Such failure brings priorities into?—”
“A priority aside from helping with the poison? Helping Rhell?” Eunny raised her eyebrows in mild exasperation. “Don’t confuse Sylveren for the Coalition, Mother. We actually have morals.”
For a moment, Bioon said nothing, eyes roving over Eunny’s face. Then she smiled again, a small twist of her mouth that was more smirk than anything else. “It’s my job to ask, Eunji.”
“You know, the Restorers are backing the work done in the elective,” Eunny said. “Maybe you should put some more faith in that.”
Bioon clasped her hands together. “The Coalition protects trade interests, Eunji. We’re not in the business of cultivating unfounded hope.”
“Unfounded?” Incredulity colored her voice. “There’s been real progress made at Sylveren, just in the last year. Since all you care about is money, ever consider the health of trade if you’d all gotten off your asses and?—”
“Progress? Is that what you think they’ve achieved in Rhell?” The disdain in her mother’s voice was so thick Eunny almost thought she could feel it. “One tiny step forward and they’ve hit a wall. Now the Restorers must allocate resources to fix what your progress has wrought.”
“Didn’t stop the Coalition from jumping in for their cut,” Eunny shot back. “If it’s so useless, why bother ‘allocating resources?’”
Bioon scoffed, but Eunny had the measure of her. The Coalition would fuss, but gods all break if the elective was successful and they were left out.
“It’s contained,” Eunny said. “That’s more than anyone’s done since the war started.”
“The first bioremediation class that was supposed to stem from the Rhell Accord was to grow something that could actually rejuvenate the ground. Instead, you are spending an entire academic term on reactionary work. Only in the kindest of readings is this, at best, a lateral move. Many of my colleagues think it a waste.”
“Then it’s a good thing we’re in the Valley, where people think responsibly and not with their purse strings,” Eunny spat. “Easy for you to scorn. People are working themselves to the bone here. What’ve you ever done for Graelynd except for bully folk into shit trade agreements?”
“You still think like a child,” Bioon said, dismissing Eunny’s words with a wave of her hand. “A nation as powerful as Graelynd has duties that extend beyond itself. Your precious Valley is alone up here and thinks in those same narrow terms.”
“Didn’t stop your precious Coalition from asking them to host that travesty of a trade delegation.” Bitterness made Eunny’s lip curl. “Didn’t stop them from inserting themselves into the elective.”
“An insertion we’re paying for.” Bioon folded her hands together, giving Eunny a considering look. “Do you think about the delegation?”
