Aahz started to open his mouth, then closed it without speaking. It’s probably the only time I’ve seen Aahz agree, even by silence, that there existed any higher principles than greed. Still, Bunny was arguing his side of the fight, so he let it ride.
“Your heart may be in the right place, Skeeve,” she said, turning back to me, “but there are factors here you’re overlooking or don’t understand.”
“So explain them to me,” I said, a little miffed, but nonetheless willing to learn.
Bunny pursed her lips for a moment, apparently organizing her thoughts.
“All right,” she said, “let’s take it from the beginning. As I understand it, we’re supposed to be helping the kingdom get out of it’s current financial crisis. What Grimble and I have been doing, aside from recommending emergency expense cuts, is to come up with a reasonable budget and operating plan to get things back on an even keel. The emphasis here is on ‘reasonable.’ The bottom line is that it is not reasonable to expect anyone . . . you, me, or Grimble … to provide such a crucial service for nothing. Nobody works for free. The army doesn’t, the farmers don’t, and there’s no reason we should.”
“But because of that very crisis, the kingdom can’t afford to pay us!” I protested.
“Nonsense,” Bunny snapped. “First of all, remember that the Queen got the kingdom into this mess all by herself by pouring too much money into the army. We’re not the problem. We’re the imported experts who are supposed to get them out of the hole they dug for themselves.”