“We have had accusations of fraud regarding the gemstones that you have contracted to supply to the market,” the Minister for Natural Resources stated.
Smolder raised an eye ridge and gave the woman a skeptical look. “How so, Madame Minister?”
The minister was slightly unnerved facing the dragoness, but the situation was too sensitive to leave to an underling. She swallowed before replying, “Rio Tinto’s Australian operations are the suppliers of almost all pink diamonds in the world. Although not the rarest, those diamonds still command an enormous price. Red and blue diamonds are even more so. The DeBeers Company has joined with Rio Tinto in questioning the size, quality, and quantity of those you’ve said you can supply, not to mention the more common colorless ones.”
“I see. What would our motive be in committing this fraud?”
“They claim that you are trying to crash the market so that you can sell your offerings.”
Smolder gave an irritated sigh and a puff of smoke wafted from her nostrils. “In your world, diamonds are useful for only two things – industrial applications due to their hardness or for decorative purposes, whether that be on a garment or jewelry. Their inflated expense hurts both the industries that require their level of hardness and the pocketbooks of people who have been convinced that they don’t really love their fiancées unless they buy them the biggest diamond they can afford. Our colorless diamonds will bring down the cost for the ordinary citizen, but the colored ones are aimed at the rich. We’ll be undercutting your world’s diamond producers by a considerable margin, so of course they’re going to squeal. But that’s just supply and demand, not fraud.”
The minister swallowed. “It is if your gems do not live up to your claims of size and quality which, you must admit, are pretty outrageous.”
“Oh? We did show some samples to our buyers, but I suppose I’d better arrange a more public viewing to demonstrate the quality of our goods. Don’t you agree?” She smiled broadly.
The minister nodded, not daring to question that broad toothy grin.
Representatives from some of the biggest diamond producers in the world gathered in a large meeting room at Parliament House. Experts from Rio Tinto, Anglo-American, DeBeers, and Arctic Canadian Diamond Company were included besides the sharpest executives from each. They were disconcerted to find that, rather than the normal closed-door way of doing business that served them so well, this meeting was going to be public. In fact, it was a media circus. The world was still fascinated by every new revelation by the Equestrians and this would merit at least a couple of minutes on the evening news.
Protests that this meeting should be considered “Commercial in Confidence” fell on deaf ears though. With the Equestrians quite willing and ready to defend their claims, the consortium was left with no alternative than to go ahead and try to prove them false. Smolder brought along a couple of experts of her own from both Equus and her customers’ companies to keep the consortium honest. She doubted they would be needed.
“Shall we look at the colored diamonds first?” the dragoness asked. “We have been accused of inflating our claims of their size and quality. So, to be sure that we are comparing ours to yours accurately, can I see your samples?”
One of the executives who had a very sturdy briefcase handcuffed to his wrist laid it on the table and unlocked it. Opening it revealed a black velvet lining in which were inlaid several diamonds each of the red, blue, pink, fancy yellow, and colorless varieties.
“Each of these is the finest in cut and clarity in their respective colors. They range in size from about six to fifteen carats. This is the standard that you claim to match at an absurdly low price.”
“Ooh! They are quite lovely!” Smolder exclaimed. “Absolutely delicious, I might expect.”
The consortium members looked at each other, wondering about that turn of phrase. The gathered crowd chuckled, partly at the suited men’s discomfort and partly at Smolder’s nonchalance when faced with what were supposed to be overwhelming riches. The dragoness lifted a briefcase of her own.
“Now, before I show you our samples, I will point out that we are not selling finished gemstones like those. Our customers will be cutting and polishing them. We will be supplying diamonds that are only roughly faceted, but they have been graded using the 4 C’s system that you use. They are all flawless and of the finest color of their type.” She took out a cloth bag from the briefcase and emptied its contents onto the table. Half a dozen pink diamonds at least quadruple the size of the consortium’s samples were revealed. As the experts gaped, Smolder brought out more bags that contained similarly sized diamonds in blue, fancy yellow, and red.
Upon being given permission to handle them, the experts began examining the diamonds. They took their time testing the stones, trying their best to find something wrong with them, but eventually, they had to concede that they were genuine.
One of the scowling executives got up from his chair, leaned over the table, and asked with a snarl, “Have you trotted out all your biggest diamonds just to impress us?”
“Oh, no. Those are just samples of the smallest ones we will be selling. We won’t be bothering with the little stuff. We have other uses for them.”
The executive sat down with a thump, aghast at the news. Smolder began gathering up the gems and putting them back in their pouches. When it came to the blue diamonds though, she frowned.
“One of these is missing. Did you drop it?” she asked the experts. When they shook their heads, Smolder asked them to stand up and look beneath them. The audience chuckled as they frantically tried to find the errant diamond.
“Perhaps it fell into the pocket of one of the executives?” she suggested to loud laughter from the onlookers. After she got irate glares in response, especially from the bigwigs, Smolder waved her hand dismissively. "Never mind – we've got plenty more.”
The representative from Anglo-American angrily said, “You have shown us plenty of the colored stones, but what of the Class D colorless diamonds you claim you can supply by the thousands?”
“Right, I left those out, didn’t I?” She picked up a large sack from her briefcase and spilled its contents in front of him. Hundreds of colorless diamonds of about three or four carats each glittered in the lights as the audience oohed and aahed. “Every one of those is Class D. Go ahead – pick any you wish and test them.”
The experts almost desperately started doing so, aware that their bosses were counting on them to discredit the dragon. However, one by one, they gave up and declared the diamonds to be exactly what she claimed.
The executive from the De Beers Group slammed his fist on the table. “You must be manufacturing them somehow!” he accused in his South African accent. “But even you could not match the wonder of a natural diamond of a size you cannot hope to replicate!” He placed a small briefcase on the table and unlocked it. Inside was just one very large gemstone. “This is the Millennium Star Diamond weighing 777 carats. It is worth two billion Rand. This is true beauty! This is a true treasure! Could your factory-made stones ever hope to match such as this?”
Smolder pursed her lips in disapproval. “I didn’t know we were having a cock-waving competition. I came woefully unequipped.” She paused as laughter came from the spectators. “Anyway, while we have rock farms for many gems, we don’t make them in factories. We dragons do like nice big diamonds or rubies though. I have one with me, in fact.” She reached into her handbag and pulled out an enormous colorless diamond with the simplest of facets. She held it up for everyone to see clearly. “Two thousand, three hundred and seven carats, I’m informed. Feel free to inspect this one as well.” She passed it to the nearest expert.
The man examined it before giving it to a colleague who did the same. All the experts wanted to have a good look at the incredible stone. After consulting with one another, the lead expert stated that the rough faceting prevented a full evaluation of clarity but it rated at least VVS1 with the possibility of only very slight inclusions. Likewise, the color rated at worst as G – Nearly Colorless.
The man finished saying, “I would like to work on the diamond’s facets to provide a more definitive evaluation. I promise that I will not need to remove more than twenty percent of the stone to do so.” He handed it back to her, with a disbelieving shake of his head. “That gem, even if slightly imperfect, is absolutely amazing.”
Smolder grinned. “You call it amazing. I call it lunch.” She lifted it to her maw and took a bite out of it. Crunch!
Cries of horror came from the experts and one fainted. The consortium executives gaped like stunned fish. The silence from the equally flabbergasted audience was only broken by the sound of Smolder chewing her meal and the chuckles of her Equestrian guards.
Smolder looked around and smiled apologetically. “Sorry, I was getting a bit hungry because these guys took so long.” She then took another multi-million-dollar bite.
NEW RECORD SET IN WORLD’S MOST EXPENSIVE MEAL
Smolder put down the newspaper next to the large pile of others from around the world with a similar theme. She smacked her lips then shrugged. “Eh, I’ve had better.”
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