"If we leave to investigate yon bell,"

an Ixie explained, "then all our outstanding bets will be off!  Someone must watch Burnside to see when she waketh, and someone must watch the watcher to make sure she cheateth not, and so on.  We also have a running score for how often Adler humiliateth himself in how short a time.  We can't afford to miss a moment.  And we're working on a snail racetrack which would have to be set aside if we were to go investigating mysterious bells."

"Then set it aside!" Vernier snapped.  "I can't believe you would put your petty entertainment and blatant vices ahead of your duty to your lord and sire!  How can you call yourselves a loyal retinue when you treat him with such disrespect?"

Ordinarily I would have just told Vernier it wasn't worth haranguing the Ixies, but now... My heightened sense of brilliant focus was allowing me to cut through the complacency and irritation clouding my mind.  I could feel an idea starting to form.

"By Fuma!" I exclaimed after a few minutes of intense cogitation.  "I have the solution!  It is blatantly obvious that the Ixies have merely substituted a gambling addiction for their former sugar addiction.  This really only replaces one problem with another, but we can work on solving that later.  For now, to prevent their betting getting in the way of work, they should make their work part of the bet.  Every time I give them a job to do or send them on a mission, they can take a few moments to wager on the aspects of the mission.  After they have reported back to me and been debriefed, they can collect their winnings.  It's not a perfect solution, but at least some work will get done.  For example:  I want you to go out into the forest - stealthily! - and find what caused the ringing sound Vernier heard.  You can place bets on what caused the ringing, who will find it, and how quickly.  If it's something innocuous like a lost farm animal, you can leave it be.  However, if it is a person, I want a full description and some Ixies to silently tail him to see what he's up to and where he goes."

"Three aphids it's a lost baby ant," one Ixie declared.

"Bet I find it first!" another called.

"How much?  How much?" several more answered in chorus.

"Well!" Vernier exclaimed.  "I am impressed!  That was very clever, sir."

I turned away so she would not see me struggling to maintain my tightly-focused composure.  I shouted some vague words of encouragement to the Ixies but I'm not sure what I said.

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