Thimble-Flash: Oil and Water

[lilfluff]

Title: Like Oil and Water
Fandom/'verse: Original fantasy
Summary: A solution found in the remains of a meal
Prompter: aldersprig's Thimbleful Thursday Prompt for 28 August 2014, Oil and Water
Triggers/Warnings: None spotted
Note: Mostly unedited.
Words: 217 (within the 180-220 word goal)


The emperor glanced towards the windows and realized the sun had set. Hours of discussion with his advisors and they had yet to come up with a solution to the southern frontier.

"No!" Thankfully General Lethain's fist silenced the speaker by pounding upon table rather than face. "Why can you not keep this in your head? It does not matter if they have equal claims on the valley, the Eshelti and Albelti Clans are oil and water. It will not work!"

"Then keep them separate, perhaps if we rule that each receives one side of the valley?"

"Take two of the clans with the hottest tempers in the empire and set them facing each other with a river and fields to fight over? Within a year they will be fighting each other instead of guarding the frontier."

The emperor's eyes found their way to the remains of their meal. Standing he took a crystal bottle from it's silver tray and set it upon the conference table.

"You speak of oil and water but let me remind you neither do oil and vinegar mix. And yet this dressing has not broken because of the egg yolk. The Eshelti and Albelti must agree on a third clan to join them or lose their claim. And all must settle together."

Comments

[lilfluff]

I'm thinking he must be a fan of that world's Alton Brown equivalent. I saw, "Oil and Water," and thought, "Hey, didn't Alton explain how to get them to mix on the Good Eats episode about salad?"

(Hmm, a setting where high ranking aristocrats are required to take some very low ranking jobs while young...)

[anke]

Sounds good. Might keep their heads from swelling too much.