GOOSE & SWAN I said!
Do THEY look like Goose or Swan feathers? Typical of your sort though........ Hunters! They all smell of forests & swamps, and look like they are more animal than Mann. I specified. Swan & goose feathers to make new quills. (How hard can it be to sneak up on some innocent sleeping birds & pluck a few feathers? After all it's not as if I asked for Pteroguin teeth!)
See it's written here in the Contract! You supply me with feathers of goose & swan! Oh so thats your excuse, you can't read or write. I know you can't read or write, thats why there are people like me, to do these things for you. Except I can't do them if I don't have the correct equipment! Yes, yes alright. You'll go back out & get the correct birds this time. So when the Duke wants something written, I'll just ask him to wait until YOU return with what you agreed to supply. (I'm sure that will go down well with the Duke). Oh so now, you suddenly remember seeing flocks of goose & swan. Amazing what the mention of the Duke can do, for peoples memories. Yes, yes I'll see you tomorrow, bright & early.
Hmmm.... I'm running low on parchment again.
Thats all those new Contracts & Title Deeds, that the Duke had ordered. He's certainly boosting the population lately. Now, where is that old contract with that last papermaker? Ah here it is. Yes, yes very nice paper she makes, she's also reliable & punctual with her deliveries. Expensive, but worth the extra gold. (Wish I could say the same for feathers). I'll send her an order straight away. I might even put in a regular order. It can't do any harm to have a good backup supply of such fine paper. I wonder what else she makes? At least Craftsmen are easier to deal with, & more reliable than Hunters.
It's going to be busy day in town today.............
As I stroll along the road, it occurs to me that whilst I am in town, I may as well pop in & talk to the builder, see about getting a Goosery built, then I could have my own supply of goose feathers. Hmm that will mean going to see the local Animal Tamer, to source livestock & then the farmer too, about sourcing goose feed. Agh & you know that means an all afternoon session, listening to the trials & tribulations of how hard it is to be a farmer. The rains haven't come or the suns too hot or the winds too strong, by all the Gods, farmers do like to complain about the weather. But to be fair, they are out in all weathers, tending crops & livestock, so I suppose I will just have to grin & bear it. Actually I like to listen to farmers talk, they have alot of secret knowledge (so secret some don't even know it themselves). Ah, another thought (I'm full of them today). I wonder................. if I can employ an orphan to tend the Goosery? He can tend the horses & gardens of the Scriptorium too. Which would leave me with more time to do my own work. Perhaps take him on as my Appentice, now thats an idea!! So.... add Orphanage to the list of places to go today. Perhaps I should call in at the Tavern, for some lunch & a small drink....................... After all I don't come into town that often! Yeah, I know what the townsfolk say about me, recluse, hermit, prefers books to people......... Well - perhaps I do, perhaps I do........ But they will never know the true reasons. As I always say .......
" Knowledge is Treasure & Treasure is Knowledge."
