On the knees of Mount Ojin, at the place where the mountain is level to the foothills that surround it, there is a column of green stone erected by the ancestor Ojin.  It is as taller than a tall male who stands on another tall males shoulders.  There are runes carved along it, but they are so old and so weathered, no one really knows what they mean anymore.  It is just an old collection of greenish stones, stacked atop each other since before anyone was born.

It is the place of leave taking for your high village.  When it is time to head to the lowlands, your village descends the mountain by paths that have been worn into the stone by countless generations of pilgrims going along them.  When the leaders bring you to the Ojin stone, the village makes camp and there is one last night of celebration.  Or perhaps it is mourning. No matter how loud the songs are sung or how much is drunk, there is a sense of mourning.  Of goodbye.

Because when the time to wake arrives, the high village is no more.  Each family will depart from that place, silently.  Not looking back.  They will head on their own paths to the doors of their homes in the deserts.  From the moment they wake up, each family is of their low village.  Until it is time to climb high again.

For the first time, you are not following your parents.  Instead, you trail after a couple of families you know slightly.  They look back at you now and again, to make sure you are still there.  They offer you food and water when break time comes.  But mostly they leave you alone.

It is always awkward when a new face shows up.

If you had just been married, it would be slightly different.  Your spouse would have come to your high village to retrieve you.  And they would be walking with you, to guide you to your new home.

But you don't have a spouse.  Instead, tucked into the small pack you carry, you have a small finger bone.  It arrived by a messenger two months ago.  Along it's length is written a message from a family in Cool Shade Low Village.  Hiyal bids you come and work.  That is all it reads.  But it is enough.

You had spent a year carving a crystal the color of rose into the shape of a uko, paying careful attention to the delicate legs and wings so that the crystal looked like the insect it was based on.  You packed it carefully and sent it by messenger to the Hiyal family in their high village.  You didn't send a note.  It would have been rude to do so.

Were you nervous as you waited those long weeks?  Were you scared?  Whether you were or not, you received your answer.  And much sooner than you would have thought.

Hiyal sent you an ancestor's finger bone.  It gives you the right to enter their low village, to approach the ancestral tomb and to place it back where it came from.  Once you do, a Hiyal family representative will meet you at the entrance to the tomb and guide you back to their home.

From then on, until such time as you have repaid your keep and their favor with your labor, you will apprentice.  Hopefully to Matah of Hiyal.  But even D'osk of Hiyal would be good.  To be able to learn crafting at the feet of a Hiyal...

This isn't a dream, is it?

OOC:  I'll stop here and let you ask any questions or react.  Thanks

Migrations were always a weird time. For the changes they brought, for the pretty much constant daylight with Vainia and Seipra tirelessly relaying each other in the sky... This time, as always, Ailith wondered if she liked it. There was always the fact that she pretty much wasn't able to work on anything for the whole trip, to say nothing of how tiresome if was of course. Even though it wasn't that bad going down at least. On the other hand, there were so many things to see and do that were unique to those times that she often arrived home with ideas that would last for a good part of the season.

This time... There was still all of that of course, but muted, shadowed by concerns and hopes that would be unique to this particular trip: leaving her family despite her young age, going to a village she had never seen...and finding out what was waiting for her there. In a way, it was better than the weeks between when she had sent her carving, and when she received an answer: she had been counting the days while trying to estimate how long it would take to get there and back, alternatively sure of herself and her work then a few minutes later convinced it would never be good enough...

According to her family, she had been...difficult. Though her brother had used other words of course. It had been made worse for them by the fact that she hadn't revealed what was happening of course: she had paid for the messenger with her own resources obtained  thanks to little works she had done here and there. Simply because she hadn't wanted them to hope too much... to tell her not to bother - even though she knew her parents would have encouraged her - and also because she didn't want her brother to tease her. Even though he had taken his revenge of course.

But now... Now she knew that something was waiting for her. What, or more exactly who, she didn't know but she tried not too fret about it. Mostly unsuccessfully, but... One last time, she turned to her family, waving in their direction and watching them disappear behind a big rock. Finally with a sigh, and the conviction that if nothing else she would be able to send letters, she jogged to catch up with the families she was following to what would be, at least for some time, her new village.

At the first break, she thanked those who offered her water and food, taking advantage of the occasion to ask for any kind of information they had about...well, a lot of subjects, ranging from the village itself to how many apprentices there were, how they lived and so on.

In reply to Ailith (msg # 2):

There are two families.  The family of Kadeen of Husla Vag is the one feeding you.  They apparently agreed with Hiyal to insure your safety on the road.

Kadeen is a broad woman, smiling mostly but speaking in rather stern words to her numerous children.  Her husband and their eldest son are carrying thier goods in large packs, so neither of them really says much during breaks, instead trying to nap.

"If I had to describe the Hiyal..." Kadeen considers a moment.  "I would say they are very meticulous.  Our threshold is close to theirs, and they have a grand compound.

"Matah is still head of the family.  He sent us word about you.  But I would say his children D'Osk or Hannu are probably the ones doing most of the work these days.  Do you know which one you will be studying under?"

Just as she asks, as if on cue, there is a roar in the distance.  Everyone at the camp stands, looking excitedly at the sky.  It's the roar of one of the Interlopers flying villages.  What they supposedly call spaceships.  You have never seen an interloper.  One of their villages passed by your high village once.  But it was such a distance away, it looked more like a shooting star that moved parallel to the horizon than anything else.

But this time, the roar is louder.  And there aren't any mountains in the way.

From over the top of the foothills in the distance, you can see a long silvery looking tube rising.  At one end is a glow like fire seen through a pure orange colored crystal.  The tube rises, without any visible strings to hold it up or hands lifting it, and stays hovering in the air a moment.  Then it slowly rotates until it is facing away from you.

It suddenly speeds off into the distance, disappearing from view before you can consider it gone.

Kadeen chuckles as her children begin to whoop and point.  "I suppose the negotiations have been completed."

She looks at you.  "The ancestors are favoring you.  I do not know if you were told:  Hulsa Vag has finalized a deal with the Interlopers.  They are very interested in our village, particularly because of Family Hiyal.  You will probably be seeing some of them in person."

Ailith watched the skies, her mouth half-open. She, all at the same time, was surprised, awed, and felt a touch of fear, but most of all she couldn't help but wonder how it all worked and wished she understood... the things they could do with things like that... What had they done to make an entire village fly in the sky like that? But also... why?

With a start, she blinked a couple of times and focused on Kadeen when she talked again, “I didn't know, no.” For the past few months, she had been mostly focused on the last details of her carving, to make sure it was perfect, then agonizing over what the answer would be, “I hadn't really paid attention to it.” Which wasn't exactly true, but it wasn't like there had been all that much to say about them after all.

“To answer your question, I don't know yet.” She looked to the skies, pensive, “Maybe there'll be a test or something before they decide on that?” she looked back in the direction where the interloper had disappeared. “What were the negotiations about though?” She frowned slightly, really wishing it wouldn't interfere with her apprenticeship...

In reply to Ailith (msg # 4):

"I think they were keeping talk about the negotiations softer than meyo"
Kadeen says, referring to the silken threads so much of your clothing is woven from.

"I have no idea how the Hiyal will decide such things.  But they will not keep you in the dark long.  Matah is fairly straight forward.

"As for the trading agreement...well.  You know the Assembly has decided the Interlopers may only trade with a set number of villages.  Old Burrows village lost their contract before the last summer.  So the Interlopers were very keen to negotiate with a new village.  It was between us and Unburnt Grounds village.  It seems we have won."

Kadeen sighs.  "I hear the Interlopers want to trade for our artisan's works.  They also like to trade for meyo and vezze.  Why they would want such things..."

She shrugs. "Anyway.  If your work is good, some Interloper may pay a high price for it.  Wouldn't that be an honor?"

The journey resumes the next morning.  Kadeen is busy shuttling her younger children along, but she makes small talk with you when she can.

A little after noon, you spy the walls of Hulsa Vag.

There's a reason this place is called Cool Shades.  Part of it is built under an overhang of the mountain closet to it.  In the morning, the sun shines directly into it.  But as the day progresses, the overhang spreads a shadow over the village, and by the second hour of the afternoon, most of the village is shaded by the overhang and the mountain.

A good place to live.

Kadeen stops you.  "We will rest here a moment.  Have some water.

"Here is your veil.  You will walk the rest of the way by yourself, but we will keep an eye on you.  Approach the gate and present your token.  Past the gate is a street running straight back towards the mountain.  You will know you are on the right path if you pass a fountain that is colored yellow.

"The path will turn to steps.  Climb them until you reach the tomb.  Once inside, you should be able to find the shrine easily.  The Hiyal will wait for you outside.

"Be as quick as you can.  Matah will be impatient if you tarry.

"Do you have any questions?"

“I, uh... see?” Ailith commented about the negotiations, but she didn't sound particularly confident. She smiled thinly when Kadeen suggested her work might be bought by one of the interlopers. “For now, I'll focus on doing good with... well... whoever will have me I guess?” Still... She seemed pensive for a moment: what if she asked for knowledge as a payment? Wouldn't that be nice? Though of course... she'd need to get a lot better if she wanted to have a chance at that. In her village... in her old village, it wouldn't have been difficult as there weren't many who were able to craft anything of note. But in Cool Shades... Well, she certainly hoped she wouldn't be the last of them, but she had no illusion of being better than most...even if she hoped it would change of course. That was the whole point of her coming after all.

The next day, when they paused close to the village, Ailith took the veil tentatively as she listened carefully to the instructions she was given. She grimaced slightly when told that she needed to be quick - she had considered looking around on her way to the shrine - then nodded, “Yes, but...” She looked around for a second then shrugged, “I suppose they all can wait...” Or to be more precise, while she really wanted to know more, the last thing she wanted was to give any reason to Matah to be unhappy with her.

So instead, she bowed, “Thanks for your help. I guess I'll see you around?” With a last smile, Ailith started to walk in the direction of the gate while she put the veil on, then took the token in her hand to present it to whoever she'd find there.

In reply to Ailith (msg # 6):

The gate is guarded by one of the families that serve as warriors for Cool Shades.  But they see your veil and the finger bone in your hand, bow to you, and open the gate without a word.

As you pass them, you hear one of them whisper, "Welcome home."

It is fairly easy to find the path Kadeen informed you of.  It's almost right in front of you when you step through the gate.  It starts on the other side of a large community square faced by several family homes.  As you pass through, the people in the square, most of whom seem to be newly arrived themselves, look at your veil, bow, and whisper the same thing as the gatekeeper did after you pass.

"Welcome home."

"Welcome home."

The path winds forward and soon you see the yellow fountain.

It's a curious thing.  The stones are stacked in a circle around a central, shallow well.  The tops of the stones are a bright yellow color which appears to be natural.  The stones seem to be a dull brown on the outside, but if sanded down, they have an inner core of almost gold like yellow.

You've never seen stones like that.

In the center of the well is a large stone stacked with another stone of pure yellow on top of it.  The fountain is dry.  Whatever water source used to fill it seems to have dried up.  But the yellow color is almost illuminating.

The steps start soon after the fountain.  They rise up a slope, cresting right up against the mountain.  As you start up the steps, you can see an odd reddish-purple pattern at the top of the steps.  What it is isn't very apparent from here.

As you climb, the reddish purple begins to form itself into a flower.  The flower dissolves as you come up the steps.  As you come over the last step, it becomes something else.

Some ancestor cut a door into the mountain.  A heavy stone door that has been inlaid with reds and purple tiles.  The tiles are what formed the pattern.  What's so unique is how the image those tiles made changed.  From below it was just colors.  Then it was the flower.

Now it appears to be a sunrise.  Or, since this is a tomb, a sunset.  The craftsmanship is outstanding.  There is no way the visual effect could have been accidental. Someone figured out how to lay each tile so the viewer would be presented a different picture as they progressed the steps.

The door is slightly ajar.  You push on it.  It swings easily, despite it's weight.

Inside is a mausoleum.  A short set of steps leads down to the vault, and there are several niches cut into the walls.  One of the niches has a lit candle in front of it.  In the sputtering candlelight, you can see the intricate carvings around the arch that frames the niche.  Most seem to replicate Eyo vines or flowing water.  At the top of the arch is a single, simple flower.  A three petaled ghish flower.  You've seen ghish flowers before.  They are usually deep yellow, flecked with orange or reds.

Inside the niche is the skeletal remains of one of the ancestors.  It's hand is outstetched, as if waiting to receive something.

You would assume that's your objective:  to place the finger bone into that hand.

But there's a problem.  An old woman is kneeling in front of the niche, head bowed in prayer.  Her hands work a small string of beads.  She must be intoning a register of the names of her ancestors.  The elderly will do that.  As they feel death approaching, they will call on the ancestors by name, thanking each one for watching over their life and asking them to watch over their families after they're gone.

The old woman seems to sense you.  She stops with her beads and turns her head, looking at you.

She has a weathered face.  She must have traveled through many, many seasons.  Her skin is almost leathry, her eyes the color of pale crystal.  They say if one lives past a certain age, the color of your eyes will fade away.  This woman seems to be proof of that.

A large grin splits her face.  It's almost brighter than the candle.  She waves her hand, beckoning you closer.

"Come, come.  Who are you?  Tell me your name and what you hope to achieve!"

Had she not been admonished to not make Matah wait any more than absolutely necessary, Ailith would have lingered every step of the way. At the fountain first, to try and understand what had caused the water to stop flowing or find out what that yellow stone was, to look at the door and why though so massive it was so easy to push open, and of course after that to study the tiles and how they were able to draw multiple pictures at once. She had a few ideas, but...

But she had things to do right now and hopefully, she'd have time later to study all of those. Had her apprenticeship not been already pretty much assured - even if she didn't know the details - she might have taken the risk to take the time to at least get ideas she'd have been able to play with had she been refused.

As it was, she soon reached her destination,if not quite yet her goal. She briefly hesitated, between waiting for the old female to finish what she was doing, or stepping around her and placing the finger where it was expected to go, but before she could come to a decision she was asked a few questions.

She didn't answer straight away though, and instead took a moment to think about her answers, her head tilted to the side. Those questions might be mere formality, but they could also play a huge role in shaping her future. Finally, she said, “There are no simple answers to those questions. Not now, not here.”

She paused briefly before continuing. “I was Ailith of the Purple Waters village. I will be Ailith of Cool Shades Village.” But right at that moment, she was neither. Or both? She wasn't exactly sure.

The next question was both easier and more difficult to answer: she had many hopes, many things she wanted, so that wasn't really an issue of lack of material. Which to mention, and maybe more importantly, how to do it though... After a while, she started answering the second question. “I hope that I'll be talked about like people do about you as it'll mean I'll have accomplished much I can be proud of. I want to understand the world, how things, everything, works. I want to create marvelous things that no one has seen or done before.” She looked back at the old female in front of her, and for a moment it seemed like she was done. After a brief pause, with a mischievous smile she cheekily added, “And I hope to be the best apprentice you've ever had.”

In reply to Ailith (msg # 8):

The old woman chuckles.  "The best one I've ever had hmmm?  Well.  Maybe that will be.  Maybe."

She points at the bone in your hand.  "Let me have that.  I'll put it up for you."

Ailith didn't seem at all bothered by the "maybes", on the contrary. Plus, one way or the other, it was completely out of her hands for now: she had done her part, she couldn't only wait to see where it led her.

Asked to, she handed the bone to Matah with evident relief: not that she was scared of bones or anything of course, she just didn't want to risk messing up. Plus, it gave her a moment to watch what was around them for a bit.

In reply to Ailith (msg # 10):

The old woman chuckles as she takes the bone, tossing it up and down in her palm.  "Many thanks.  But I am not who you think I am.  After all, weren't you told the Hiyal would meet you outside the tomb?"

She grins, not quite kindly, at you before breaking out into a loud laugh that ends in a sputtering cough.  She wipes her chin, turns, and places the bone in the outstretched hand.

"Here is your first lesson:  things are not always as they appear.  Look at what is. Not at what you want to see."

She looks back at you.  This time the smile seems friendly.  "Ailith, formerly of the Purple Waters and now of the Cool Shades, be welcome to your tomorrow.

"Life is a trickster.  Always make sure its hands are in plain view.

"Life is difficult.  But the easy way is seldom the correct path.

"Life is charming.  But anyone who is telling you what you want to hear probably wants something.

"There is charity, but it is rare.  There is kindness, but never mistake it for benevolence.  And remember:  yellow is not your color.

"Now hurry outside.  The Hiyal are waiting for you."

And she is suddenly no longer standing there.

Ailith was in turn scared of having made a big mistake, puzzled by the...advice? Then really, really surprised. For a moment, she stood where she was her mouth more than half-open, fixing the spot where the old female had been. Suddenly, she turned on herself to try and see if there was something behind her, then crouched and patted the ground with her hand to make sure that there wasn't a trap door or something. Surely she'd have see something, but...

A minute or so later, quite sure that there was nothing to be found, she stood up. In other circumstances, she'd have stayed to explore, but she was expected and probably already late as it was. Which could be a good thing as she might have dug quite far otherwise. Just to make sure. As it was though...

Shaking her head, she walked outside to this time - hopefully... - meet the Hiyal. On the way though, puzzlement obvious on her face, she mumbled, “Yellow is not my colour?” It certainly didn't work too well on her given her skin colour, but still... “Why would yellow not be my colour?”

In reply to Ailith (msg # 12):

There are seven people outside, four women and three men.  One of the men is a large, solid but older man.  His thick arms are crossed in front of him, each seemingly crisscrossed in scars and old burn marks.  His eyes are a sort of slate gray color, just as fixed and hard as the rock it resembles.  The others seem arrayed more or less behind him.

He watches you approach and mumbles in a deep, booming voice, "Welcome home..."

He considers you a moment and then stretches out one of his arms, hand extending palm side up.

Sitting on his palm is the statuette you made.

He points at one of the uko's legs.  "This leg is made too thin.  Here.  Over time, the weight of the body will cause it to crack and eventually break.

"This spot here?  Along the abdomen?  And here at the head?  Your chisel was too harsh there.

"And you need...desperately...to learn how to use a sanding cloth.  Look.  Here.  Here.  Here. Here.  And here.  The polish is uneven.  Too rough here.  Too soft here and here.

"And your wings?"  He turns the little crystal statuette over in his hand, glaring at the four translucent wings you crafted.  He scowls.

"Your wings are perfect.  Absolutely spot on.  I am in fact jealous of this wing.  This one here.  You achieved the correct thickness of the wing.  And the way you worked with the flaw in the crystal instead of trying to correct it...that was wise.  These wings are why you are here."

He balls up his fist, gentely, around the uko statutte you made.

"Before I assign you a master, you will spend some time on the basics. Most notably polishing work.  I think you could also benefit from some sketching practice.  You will do chores to pay for your keep.  And you will have to show progress in your studies.  Fail to keep up and you will leave.  Fail to do as you are told and you will leave.

"We will work you like a slave.  If you cannot deal with that, leave now.  Otherwise..."

He nods at one of the younger men.  He steps forward.  There is a gentle kind of aqua marine coloring to him.  Not a shade you think you've seen before.

"This is Zez.  He is the head apprentice.  He will assign you your chores.  You will learn more when you have shown progress."

And without another word, he turns around and starts down the stairs.  The other begin to file along after him, and in just moments, it is you and Zez.

Zez waits until the last one is out of earshot and glances at you.  "He likes you.  During my first time, he spent what felt like an hour going over why the pot I made would never hold water for an entire lifetime.

"As he said, I am Zez.  Welcome home."  He smiles at you and then gestures for you to follow.  "Are you hungry? Or do you have questions?"

So, I realize this game has been a little novel-like thus far.  Sorry.  Had to get some set up done.  We'll soon move into the 'game' where your choices will direct how things go in a few more posts.

Let me know if you have any feedback thus far.  Thanks

When the old man welcomed her, Ailith bowed politely with a smile. She was a bit surprised that it hadn't been Matah but she supposed it made sense: she probably had much better to do than to welcome any new apprentice.

Her smile frayed however as he made his critique of her work. Not that he was wrong of course, just… Well, the too thin leg? That had been because she had made a small chip in the crystal, and by the time she had been able to make it disappear, the leg was too thin. She didn't have much to say about either the abdomen or the head - she had indeed been too harsh - but as for the matter of sanding cloth… It might be something common here, but back home… rather, back in Purple Waters Village, she had had to do with what she had been able to acquire, but it wasn't the best.

She had managed, mostly, to compensate, but at times she had done too much, and not enough at others. Though she had to admit that she hadn't noticed it in some places, but… Well…

Her smile came back - albeit a bit hesitant, as if she was afraid it wouldn't last - when he complimented the wings of her sculpture. Those had taken her forever to do, all the while knowing that the slightest mistake would ruin everything. She had managed, but it had been exhausting.

The young female grimaced slightly when told she'd go back to basics in general, and polishing in particular: that was definitely not the part of the work that she liked the most. Which of course explained a lot, notwithstanding the quality of her sanding paper. As for sketching… Well, she couldn't really say: small rocks or crystals with which she could practice her craft were easy to find, but sketching resources were another matter entirely.

She was definitely not fond of the idea of spending time on chores, much less that failing to keep up meant being cast out. But… Well, it wasn't like she had had no chores home, even if it wasn't as…contractual…as it would be here. As for failing… That was unthinkable. Being worked like a slave was of course really worrisome, but she supposed it was merely to test her dedication and make sure she had what it took. She'd hate it, however long it took, and she'd probably resent them quite a bit, but… it would pass. Something she'd have to keep in mind…

Introduced to Zez, she nodded to him, taking a moment to observe him while the others left. She started a bit when he said that the old man liked her, grumbling while rubbing her jaw, “If that's how he likes, I never want him to dislike me.” She paused, grimaced, and looking at Zez added, “But I suppose he's the kind of person from whom indifference or disappointment would hurt much more?” Her expression lightened after a second or two, and grinning cheekily, she remarked, “Maybe then you should have answered that he was mistaken, it was not a pot but a sieve?”

Asked if she was hungry or had questions, Ailith hesitated, about to shake her head, but nodded. “I, uh, could definitely eat something…” She hadn't had the stomach for much in the morning after all. Obviously hesitating, quickly looking over her shoulder, she asked, “And, uh… When you arrived here the first time, did you, uh… See…Someone in there?”

No problem, it's perfectly normal for an introduction :)
I like it!

In reply to Ailith (msg # 14):

Zez grins at your comments on the old man.  "True.  Matah can just look at you in such a way as you know you've done wrong."

So the old man is Matah? Zez seems to indicate he was.

Zez continues, leading you to the stairs.

"I was too dumbfounded when he started on about my pot.  But maybe I should have.  And so you know:  Matah doesn't always come greet the new apprentices.  You and I are the only two he has in a decade.  There are two other apprentices right now.  And..."

He glances at you.  "Well.  Just be patient.  It always takes a while for everything to settle in once a new face arrives."

He looks back at the tomb.  "You mean in there?  There was someone in there?"  He shrugs and shakes his head.  "No.  I just walked in.  Saw the skeleton.  And put the finger in its hand.  That was all.  Matah and the others were waiting outside."

He grins.  "And Matah had quite a bit to say about my pot which should have been a sieve.  What was worse is that he was right.  About all of it."  Zez laughs.

At the bottom of the stairs, Zez turns left.  He takes you down a short alley and stops in front of a small stand with a bench outside it.

"Consider this your welcoming feast.  We'll feed you. But you don't get a celebration until you get your first piece accepted.  Trust me. The wait is worth it.  But for now..."

He motions at an old man standing behind the booth and leads you to the bench.  The old man shambles out and gives you both bowls of soup and mugs of fermented burq.  The soup is both minty and spicy.  The burq is pretty well aged but mixed with something sweet.  It is pretty good food.

Zez pushes his bowl aside and reaches for his burq mug.  "I should also tell you.  The village has concluded an agreement with the Interlopers.  In two moon phases, we will open trade with them.  It is...a touchy subject.  Not everyone in the village agreed with the decision. And there is some animosity towards our house."

Ailith blinked in surprise as Zez informed her that the old male was Matah: for some reason she had expected Matah to be a female. Not that she could remember why exactly. Thankfully she hadn't made a fool of herself, even if it was just because she hadn't had to name anyone. That would have been...unfortunate. Especially considering what the the head apprentice said next: if Matah had only welcomed the two of them and since he now was the head apprentice... Well, it was a good sign. As long as she kept up and didn't make a mess anyway...

With a slight grimace she nodded at Zez's injunction to be patient which was clearly the thing she struggled the most in her work. Oh it wasn't to say that she wasn't able to be, but it wasn't really something that came naturally.

Thinking about her sculpture, Ailtih grimaced again. “I suppose so...” And while she wasn't exactly perfectly happy about it, it meant that if she did things right, she would be able to learn a lot more than if she had stayed where she was.

She thanked the old male who gave her the bowl of soup and started to eat without waiting: now that her position was clear, she was famished. “Hmm.” For a moment, it seemed that it'd be all Ailith was going to say about the last few things Zez said. Maybe because she was cautious to not say anything she was going to regret later. Still, she had to ask a few questions. “So, how do I get a piece accepted? And when will I be able to work on it if I'm supposed to be sanding stuff?” Her tongue slightly stuck out, proof if there was a need for it, that she wasn't anxious to be started on that.

Before the first apprentice had the time to answer to any of that, she continued, “What does the agreement entail? And why is it controversial?”

In reply to Ailith (msg # 16):

Zez doesn't seem offended by your questions abotu the work.  He seems to have been expecting them. "A large order for jars came in.  So you can expect that to be your first sanding assignment.  You will also need to rise every morning, draw water from the well for all the apprentices and fill the water jars in three of the shops.  Each apprentice is responsible for filling the jars in their master's shop.  But lucky you:  as the new apprentice, you get to fill the jars in all the shops without an apprentice."

He grins.  "Everyone does this.  Just pray another apprentice is accepted next season.  I had to do it for three seasons until Helza came."

He sighs at the memory.  "Anyway.  During the midday meal, you will bring food to each of those three shops.  And at night, you must sweep them out.  But that will be all you will be responsible for.  My advice is wait until the Masters are gone before you try to sweep out their shop.  Otherwise, they will assign errands to you."

Zez nods.  "And keep in mind:  any master can assign an errand to you.  You have to do it.  Don't protest.  The first season of apprenticeship is basically slavery.  It's meant to drive out those who are halfhearted.

"As for your piece...at some point, one of the masters will assign you a task.  That task will turn into another task and another.  And soon you will have made a piece just from all the various tasks they asked you to do.  That's another reason not to complain about master's assigning tasks.

"Keep in mind that every bit of work you do can end up in front of Matah.  That includes the jars you will polish or even the clay you might end up mixing.  At some point, one of those pieces that resulted from chores will met his minimum standards.  Then...welll.  You will find out."

He seems to think a bit, and then adds, "Be careful in who you trust.  There is a lot of competition amongst the apprentices.  And between the masters."

Zez sighs when you ask about the agreement.  "Honstly, I wish I knew what the agreement entailed.  The details have not been disclosed outside the village council yet.  But...

"The Interlopers used to trade with two other villages.  One of those villages was Old Burrows.  It has...well.  The rumors are that is has gone ethk"

Ethk

Silent.  Dead.

Sometimes villages just go silent and none of the families from them are heard from again.  It has not happened in quite some time.  Long before your grandparents were born, during the last large epidemic of sickness.

Ethk.  An entire village dying.

Ailith nodded as Zez answered her questions, grimacing here or there - mostly where it was about drawing water from the well or sweeping the ground, neither activities being what she considered fun or even just interesting. She could only wish, strongly, that another apprentice would get there as soon as the next season…

When the head apprentice mentioned the competitive side of the apprentices and the masters, the young female frowned, obviously not particularly pleased to hear that. It seemed that she'd have to avoid making any moves for a while, at least until she had the hang of things as they stood at the moment. Maybe she should selectively start to sweep the grounds of some of the masters' shops and see the kind of tasks they gave her… and then be sure to do last those whose tasks she had found stupid or whose activities she wasn't really interested in.

As for those she liked… Well, maybe she'd come early here and then. And if she was smart about it, she could more or less control what each master would see of her and maybe, if she was good enough they would compete for her! Though she supposed she would have to make sure to give their chance to those of them who at first gave her stupid tasks too here or there. At least if what they did interested her or if there was something she wanted to learn from them. Which meant of course that first she would have to learn what each of them specialized in.

After a moment, Ailith shook herself and emerged from her thoughts with a gasp as one word reached her: ethk… Her eyes widened considerably as she looked at Zez, judging if he was serious or trying to mess with her. Deciding that he was indeed serious, Ailith shivered. “But then, why…” She paused, grimaced, “Oh, yes, you don't know… But… Do you think they did it?” Her eyes open wide, Ailith barely whispered her question as if scared to be heard, and she looked her age: a distressed young female who knew pretty much nothing outside of her craft and old village.

In reply to Ailith (msg # 18):

Zez opens his hands in a wide gesture. "That is the question.  No one really knows.  All that is known is some from Old Burrows did not show up at their high villages this last season."

That is odd.  It is not unheard of for families to go missing.  Sometimes they were lost on the trek from village to village.  Sometimes forces like disease or rivalry or just bad fortune will reduce a family to only a member or two.  And those that survive are forced to integrate into a neighbor's family or other season village.

But that is the worst of the worst.  When a family goes ethk it means there is no one left to pray to the ancestors in the family's name.

Ethk is worse than death.  It is as if you never existed.  Not you, nor anyone of your blood before you.  It is silence.

Zez shakes his head.  "There are some who want to send an expedition to Old Burrows.  To see what happened.  There are others who want to wait for the next Assembly.  But there are more who want to grab the chance to trade.  The goods that can be obtained from the Interlopers is supposed to be amazing."

An Assembly is basically a congress of villages.  It occurs every fifth low season.  Imagine the United Nations except more contentious and less useful.  Probably thirty to sixty percent of the villages do not participate in it.  So it usually accomplishes very little.

Zez taps the table top.  "Alright.  Do you want anything else to eat?  If not, let's go home.  You have a lot of work in front of you."

I will let Ailith have any reactions or let you ask any questions thus far.  If not, I will move us along to the first real storyline.  We're going to skip ahead a few months if that's alright.

Thanks

“Uh… I, uh, see…” Though whatever she was seeing, it was obvious that Ailith didn't find that particularly reassuring. Not that she could do anything about it of course. And it wasn't even that she couldn't understand how tempting it would be for anyone, much less the Hiyal, to deal with the Interlopers: no matter how they did it, it was clear they knew a lot more than anyone else. Anything obtained from them would probably be worth a lot. The question however wasn't if it'd be worth a lot or not… but if it'd be worth enough. Time would tell, but… Condisering her own situation, she certainly hoped it would…

“Well… It can't really hurt to go see what happened to Old Borrows. Unless it's a sickness and still around anyway…” She grimaced at that. “But knowing is always better than not.” At any rate, that didn't have any impact on her appetite, and she happily ate a bit more before being satisfied. Though it might just have been to push back a bit that 'lot of work' thing…

Sure works for me.
Ailith will - grudgingly but seriously - work on the sanding, sweeping and all that. For the most part, she will adopt a sort of exploration / exploitation regarding the masters: she will "allow" a master to "catch" her by coming in early to sweep the ground of the shop and give her a task. She will do so for everyone once, then will do it again with those she found interesting, gradually focusing on those she wants the most to learn from (as I suppose the taks given are also a learning opportunity). She'll base that decision on her interests, what is known of the master, etc. But at the moment, she's interested in most everything anyway, so that system actually works in her favour.

She won't completely discard those who gave her stupid tasks but who do interesting things (for example if she wants to learn from them), just to see if maybe they have other things in mind than stupid things: are they really not interesting, testing her, or something else entirely? She will never completely discard someone, with a "you never know" mentality.

Her hope is that at some point, through all the tasks given - and hopefully successfully completed - masters will want to give her more and more interesting things to do, possibly to grab her as their own apprentice.

Though of course there are multiple ways it could backfire, like masters staying a bit latter than she expected and giving her a task she hadn't counted on…

With luck, neither Iriz or Helza are around.  You stop the broom and lift the curtain that lines Master Korim's doorway.

The courtyard outside is clear.  Iriz and Helza must be at evening meal.

It seems like forever since you ate that meal with Zez.  But it's only been one cycle.  Only a third of the way through Low Season.  And what have you learned thus far?

First, you've learned how tired you can get.  The regular chores are enough to weary you.  But the assignments from the Masters have at times been excruciating.  And the sanding...

You never want to polish another jar in your life.  The 'shipment' Zez told you about turned out to be seven hundred jars.  Seven.  Hundred.  And you polished each and every one.  And then they came up with more jars.  How many has it been now?  You have simply lost count.

Then there was your strategy about the Masters.  Well.  You certainly have accumulated information about that is for sure.

There are seven Masters total.

Matah of course.  But you have not laid eyes on him except in passing since you've arrived.  Sometimes you think he's a ghost.

D'Osk, Matah's eldest daughter.  She makes musical instruments, mostly out of old plant fibers or the cured skins and wooden frameworks.  Besides Matah, she is the one you've seen the least of.  She doesn't like to be bothered and Zez seems responsible for her shop.  The couple of tasks she's given you have involved sorting types of wood.  What lesson you should have learned from it hasn't been evident.

Hannu has you help out quite a bit.  As he is a mason and does restoration work, his 'tasks' can be all day, back breaking affairs.  You've had to cart brick and bags of mortars to his various worksites around the village.  But he's probably been the one who has given you the most direct instruction.  Besides giving you lessons in leveling and surveying, he's taught you how to mix a number of adhesives.  It's turned out to be more complicated than you might have thought.

Korim is the other one you've helped out a lot.  She of the jars.  The many, many jars.  Korim is a potter.  Her critiques on your sanding and polishing have at times been blunt.  But you have to admit, it has been on point.  You can truly see a difference in your work just after this short a period of time.

Nazin is the other potter.  She's a nice enough woman.  Not as stern as Korim.  She's also the only Master here who is not a member of the Hiyal family.  She is a 'guest'.  That's all you really know.  Talk about her situation seems to be something that is not encouraged, although you've noticed the Hiyal treat her well.

You've certainly done a lot of polishing for Nazin.  But the problem with Nazin isn't Nazin.  It's the apprentice Helza.  Second only to Zez in senority, Helza is a young woamn with absolutely no doubts in her own abbilities.  None.  And she's been more than willing to tell you why you will never be as good as her.  Zez tells you to be patient.  He says Helza is very...as he puts it..."Overly sure of herself".  But she is flat out arrogant.

Still.  Helza is nothing compared to the third apprentice.  You made the fatal mistake of trying to get some task from Master Olk, the master carver and scrishaw worker of the family.

Iriz let you know in no uncertain terms that Master Olk was her master.  And hers alone.

It's obvious that Iriz has feelings for Olk. And that she is too inexperienced to figure out how to go about getting his attention.  But Olk is either ignoring her or too engrossed in his own work to notice.  It would be painful to watch if Iriz didn't tend to take out her frustrations on you whenever she can.

The last master is Master Yovo.  Yovo is...unique.  Her tasks tend to involve gathering the trash and discarded materials from the other masters and helping her sort them.  Yovo likes to use the left over material to create...well. Sometimes you aren't sure.  She made a breathtaking sculpture out of left over pottery clay, decorated with bits of discarded scrimshaw material.  And then she made a few piles of...you aren't sure what.  Apparently that is how it goes.  For every success she has, there are eight or nine failures.  But she does not confine herself to one craft.  And she seems to have a good grasp of several kinds of crafts.

I'll let you process that.  Let me know what Ailith thinks/has questions on.

As she thought back to the past cycle, Ailith paused her sweeping. She had been interested by D'Osk's work even though she regretted not really having learned much of anything. Not that being able to sort wood was completely useless, but... Well... On the other hand, she had to admit that her interest in that work laid more in the idea of crafting art that makes art itself rather than in making the instruments themselves. Though she wouldn't mind learning more about that at all of course. There again however... It likely had more to do with learning more about sound and acoustics than anything else...

Hannu... She was really ambivalent. She wasn't at all fond of all that carrying and carting stuff around, that was for sure, no matter what it did for her muscles. But he had taught her, a lot actually. Nothing extraordinary certainly, but things that could always be useful and for that she was really grateful. It had certainly been enough for her to regularly make sure he gave her some tasks. Even though she grumbled a lot about it, particularly when she was sore all over.

Korim and Nazin... If she never saw a jar ever again it would still be too soon. At that point, she could sand one in her sleep while blindfolded and with her hands bound. Not that she had much of anything against either masters, far from it: she wasn't particularly fond of Korim but she had to admit that she had been good for her, and she liked Nazin just fine. Helza was a problem of course, but for the most part she just ignored her. Which was likely part of the problem as Helza probably wanted everyone to recognize her genius, but Ailith was too young to see that. No, her biggest problem with pottery was that she found it...well...limited might be too strong of a word but...

Plus, while she didn't like Helza, it was nothing compared to what she thought of Iriz. Helza was a pain in the butt, but she didn't prevent her from working with Nazin. Which, granted, she might have been glad for considering... well... jars. But not only Iriz did so, she did it for a master from whom Ailith was quite interested in. Not so much that she'd force the issue - at least not yet - but she really resented not being able to learn anything from Olk. And the more time passed, the harder she found not doing anything about it. Well that and she didn't know what she could do of course...

And then there was Yovo, and Ailith was intrigued. There was definitely some genius there, to be able to create art from discarded materials, but considering that it was more miss than hit, it could also very well be pure luck. The fact that she was recognized by Matah was certainly a point in her favour but still... She wanted to see more. And the fact that she liked the generalist approach of Yovo was not innocent to her decision: she didn't know exactly what she wanted in the future but right now she didn't want to specialize in anything, she wanted to learn everything, and she really liked Yovo's approach.

The problem of course was that long term... She had to think about how she was going to sustain herself and her house no matter what it ended up being and while she could easily see herself reaching that goal studying with any other master, she wasn't so sure about Yovo. The only thing she was sure of was that it appealed to her.

Which was why she decided to focus a bit more on her: both to see if she'd really like it, to learn more about Yovo as a master, but also and maybe more importantly, to see if it could lead anywhere.

In reply to Ailith (msg # 22):


Thanks.  We will steer down those paths then.

The second evening bell sounds.

When the first bell sounds, the Masters generally close their shops.  The apprentices of course don't walk off at that time.  They have to finalize and clean anything as instructed.  So they usually show up to the dining hall about the time the Masters are finished eatting.

Except you.  With three halls to care for, you usually do not eat the evening meal until around the second bell.  You wonder what warm soup tastes like.

Well.  It may be cold again, but you are definitely hungry.  It was a long day of carting materials between workshops.  But at least it wasn't jars.

You just need to sweep up this pile of dirt into a dustpan and you are done.

"Wait a breath."  You stop as the curtain on Master Korim's shop is pushed aside and Master Yovo walks in.

Her mostly brown coloring has streaks of red mixed in, mostly around the tips of her fingers and back of her neck.  There aren't many who have spotting of such contrasting colors.  Perhaps that is why she is as she is.

She ignores you, staring at the pile of dirt.  Finally she crouches, sitting on her haunches and studies it.  After a breath or two, she reaches out and pinches up a bit of it, rubbing it between her fingers.

"Korim was firing pots today, wasn't she?"

She was.  You were busy sorting out a shipment of plasters for Master Hannu and so didn't have to sand.  But you know she was firing numerous pots today.  The majority of what you are sweeping up is probably grit from the sanding process.

Yovo looks up at you.  "What do you think we could do with this grit?"

Ailith inwardly groaned: she had nothing against Yovo obviously, but still, she could have picked a better moment to… To ask her a question about grit? Uh… While she didn't complain of course, her stomach did so for her.

For a moment, the young female looked doubtfully at the grit she had been about to throw away just moments before, with a marked desire to answer something along the lines of “giving nightmares about sanding pots to a poor apprentice”. Which had been pretty much the only upside of her day's work: no matter how boring sorting plasters was, it hadn't been sanding.

And speaking of sanding, had it been a process done before the pots went in the kiln, Ailith could have found at least an easy answer - maybe as some kind of glue or something… - but such was not the case: it was only done after the pot had been cooked and the clay became ceramic, to remove the last imperfections mostly at the bottom of the piece where there was no glaze. In fact, if it had been done after but on the glazed parts of the pots, she could also have found something to do with it, maybe to add touches of colour somewhere where other pigments wouldn't hold or simply because it gave another look. Which she was actually curious about now that she thought about it.

But for what was - at best - mostly ceramic powder… You certainly couldn't work directly with it. Sounding very doubtful, Ailith said “If you added some kind of binder, maybe water and clay, you could… I don't know, pour that into some kind of mold?” She didn't see what would be the point to use that over straight clay though… And since it was more powder than grains, it wasn't like you could use it for texture or whatever… “Or maybe as some sort of coating to protect whatever is under it?” But there again… what would be the point? She didn't see where varnish or glaze wouldn't work better.

In reply to Ailith (msg # 24):

Yovo nods absently as you speak.  She stares at the grit a moment longer, than sighs, standing up.  "You're right.  At least at the moment.  Sorry.  I'm stuck for an idea.  Shouldn't you hurry up?  You must be starving."

She watches you toss the last pile of trash away, frowning in thought as she does so.

"Now...if I had some emz stalks...Hmmm."

She wanders out of the workshop as you hang up the broom.

Emz reeds?  Those don't grow around here.  They are a tuber fungi that grow along routes of underground rivers.

There are probably a number of things that could be done with them.  But if there aren't any on hand, what can be done?

You make it to the dining hall as the cooks are starting to clean up.  One with a sympathetic nod hits you up some soup and another gives you a plate of fried chips.  You are so hungry, they could serve you gwan shit, and you might find it delicious.

Not really.

As you are consuming your plate, Zez pokes his head into the hall.  He walks over to you.

"How are you?"

You can tell he's got a chore for you.  He's got that look on his face he gets when he has to tell you to do something and doesn't want to, but that's his job as the head apprentice.

"So...have you ever harvested emz stalks before?"

He sits down across from you.

"Master Yovo wants to stock some emz stalks.  I told her there aren't any for sale.  But she's asking we go out and harvest some.  There's one place I can think of.  But it's several clicks away.  You would have to travel overnight.  And you'd have to hire someone from the village and a cart to go with you."

He shrugs.  "Sorry. You want me to arrange for someone?  Or you want to hire someone yourself?  There will be workers in the square tomorrow, and they can arrange a cart for you."

Ailith didn't groan when she heard about her new task. Not at all. Still, before she answered anything, she ate a bit more of her late dinner. She was less likely to say something she'd regret that way. Not quite done, but not really wanting to annoy Zez, she asked, “How can I do that overnight,” as if it couldn't wait for a day or two... She wanted to promise herself that if she ever became a master, she wouldn't do that kind of things... “and wait in the morning to hire someone and a cart?”

She squinted suspiciously. “Unless I'm supposed to hire someone to bring a cart tomorrow to where I'll have worked all night to harvest emz, which I'll add, I've never done before?” Tiredly, she rubbed her eyes. “You know, there are times where I'm really not sure if all of this is worth it at some point.” Especially considering that she'd bet that she would still be expected to take care of her normal tasks when she came back.

With a sigh, she finished her meal and stood up while grabbing her bowl and plate, “I suppose I'll go bother the cooks to get enough to eat to last until I'm back...” And she'd also have to find whatever tool was needed to harvest emz as she doubted a simple knife would work. A billhook should work well enough she supposed. “But yes, if you could hire someone, that'd be good, thanks.” It was a good thing she could trust Zez though: if it had been any of the other two apprentices, she would have had to do it herself. And she didn't want to think about what would happen when Zez graduated from Apprentice to Companion...

In reply to Ailith (msg # 26):

Zez blinks.  "What?  No.  I meant your trip would be overnight.  You don't have to leave until the morning.  But plan on camping at least one night.  There's no reason to walk or work at night.  It'd be dangerous."

He scratches his chin.  "Besides.  You must be exhausted.  No.  All I meant was just plan on the errand taking at least two days."

He cocks his head, looking at you quizzically.  "Are you alright?  You never struck me as some one who...Well. Never mind.  I'll arrange for a cart and drover.  They'll be outside the gate at the third morning bell.  I'll also get a map for you.

"Make sure you do gather whatever material you may need before you go to sleep tonight though.  Not just food.  You'll want to take two good machette and plenty of rope.  And make the worker help you in hauling the harvest back up to the cart.  Don't let him just sit there while you do all the work."

He smiles at you.  "Any questions?"

“Oh.” Ailith deflated, but very obviously of relief. She rubbed her eyes for a second. “Sorry, I'm more tired than I thought.” While she clearly hadn't looked forward to that whole affair, she seemed to gradually find the idea interesting. “Well, that's... a lot better...”

At least she wouldn't have to sweep any floor or get water from the well. It'd almost feel like holidays, even though she didn't know anything about emz. “A map would certainly help,” She nodded then briefly hesitated, “but if you don't mind... Could I come with you to recruit someone? I barely know anyone outside of the masters and apprentices,” some of which she'd rather not know for that matter... “and if he's working for me, it can't hurt if I do it myself. Well, sort of anyway.”

“And I'll try to get everything else as soon as I leave here.” She tilted her head to the side, then asked, “While I'm looking for emz, are there other things I could look for that could be useful?”

In reply to Ailith (msg # 28):

Zez chuckles.  "It's alright.  The way you've been working, you are entitled to a few heated words.

"Sure.  Let's go to the market in the morning.  It shouldn't take too long to find someone.  You should be able to get on your way before midday bell."

He considers and then sighs.  "If it were for one of the other masters...but it's for Yovo?  Who knows what she might find interesting.  Just keep your eyes open. If you see something you think she might be able to work with, and there's room in the cart, grab it."

Zez gives you the key to the storage shed and tells you to make a list of everything you take and let him see it.  Also to make sure to lock up the shed and bring the key directly back to him.

You know you'd need some good machettes and some rope for cutting and securing the emz.  Campling supplies as well.

You may assume the shed has any basic kind of crafting or camping supply.  Let me know if you want to take anything else besides what I listed above.

Thanks

“I will.” Ailith nodded when Zez suggested she pick anything she thought Yovo would find interesting if she could. She briefly worried about what would happen for the things she had guessed wrong about, but she supposed the worst that could happen would be for Yovo to tell her to make something with it… She'd have to make sure she had at least a few ideas then…

In the shed, after a brief hesitation, Ailith started by taking everything Zez had advised, and she made sure that the camping supplies included something to light the place where she'd find some emz since it was apparently under ground plus a towel: should she fall in the water for whatever reason she'd be glad to have it, religiously noting everything she took.

Once sure she had everything she knew she needed, she turned on herself, trying to decide what she might need, things that could help her take anything she thought Yovo could find interesting. In the end, she decided to take a bag or two as well as tools she'd need to extract rocks or crystals, plus a small box or two to protect something fragile.

She took a longer moment to think about it, but decided to stop there: she could likely take everything in there and still fall short of what she'd need the next day, so she might as well stop at things she had a reasonable chance of finding useful. After that, what happened… Well, she'd see the next day.

Satisfied - and after having made sure she had noted everything - Ailith closed the shed's door and went to sleep.

In reply to Ailith (msg # 30):

Zez is waiting for you at the main gate.  He nods, yanwing, and the two of you head towards the market square.

There's already activity even though its still dark out.  Merchants are setting up their stalls.  Some hunters are bringing in freshly caught govas and ozubeks.  One party even has a yursh strung up on a cart.

It looks like laborers are queueing up in one corner.  Zez sighs.  "I was hoping Dovel would be here.  But someone must have gotten him first.  Let me see."

He points at a woman with rather thick arms.  "Gola.  I thought she had married into another village.  Master Hannu hires her a lot. I do not know if she has any experience with overnight travel. But she can handle moving a lot of stuff."

He next indicates a tall, thin man with sinewy limbs.  "Adved.  Not the most trustworthy sort, but he will not want to anger Master Matah by abandoning or cheating an apprentice of the Hiyal.  He is a decent worker and I know he gets hired on by a lot of hunting parties.  So he does know how to travel outside.  Just be weary of what he says."

He glances over the rest and finally points out one more man.  A little heavyset, though it seems more muscle than fat.  "Ozcow.  He is what I think of as a good all-around fellow.  Pleasant to talk to, though he does like to talk.  But if he is available and I cannot find anyone who suits, I usually chose him.  He always does an adequate job, no matter the task."

Zez shrugs.  "You can talk to the others yourself if you like.  There are some I am not familiar with.  Just stay away from that one and that one.

"I will let you negotiate the fee.  I can authorize up to eight tokens total.

"The cart will usually run around three or four tokens.  Make the worker responsible for obtaining the cart.  They'll have more contacts to draw from and be able to get a better deal than you will.  They will ask for the tokens on the cart upfront.  It is a reasonable request.  No one rents a cart and animal on faith.

"Worker usually only gets one token for a day's work.  But it is an overnight trip outside the village.  So there is that to consider.  Try to keep the total to six or seven tokens total.

"Questions?"

Ailith listened attentively to everything Zez told her, particularly when he talked about the fee, even though she would have gladly spent the whole morning running around the market to see everything. Once again however, she could only hope that she would soon be free to use her days as she wanted. Or at least, have some freedom. “Six or seven tokens, uh…” And if she waited, she would have little choice and the price might go up. Which meant trouble if she didn't make the right choice straight away…

Still, it wasn't like she hesitated: she didn't want someone she'd have to be careful about all day long so not only Adved was out but she'd have to remember to try to avoid him in the future. Or at least, avoid to have to depend on him if she could afford to be picky. Which meant either Gola or Ozcow.

While she had nothing against the former, she decided to go for Ozcow: she wouldn't mind having someone to freely talk to after so many months being unable to. Plus, if he knew a bit of everything… Well, it'd go well with Master Yovo and he might be able to help her for things that didn't directly require moving the cart around. Before she left Zez's side, she smiled up to him. “Well, let's see how I do, thank you for your help.”

Then, she headed towards Ozcow in a straight line. When she drew close to the massive male, she looked impressed for a second then shook her head to focus on the present. “Good morning Ozcow. Master Yovo…” She paused, wondering if she had to add the 'Hiyal' after that… In the end, deciding that better safe than sorry, she continued, “Master Yovo Hiyal has asked me to harvest some emz. I'm told I should plan on an overnight trip, would you be available for this?”

She paused to let him answer her question - after all, while he was obviously available for the day didn't mean he didn't already have something planned the next day - then continued, “Great. I will let you procure the cart we're going to need if you don't mind, I'm sure you'd get much better results at this than I would.” Which wasn't all that difficult since she didn't even know where she'd be able to get one in the first place. “All around, I'm prepared to offer five tokens for this.”

Of course she didn't expect him to agree straight away: while not insulting, five tokens was the price for two days of work and some luck on the cart's cost and nothing else but she didn't want to let him think she had no idea of what she was doing which could push him into taking the price too high and leave her unable to change much of anything about it. Still, knowing what one was doing was one thing, being forceful another which was why she concluded with “Would that suit you?” She fully expected an increase of at least a token, in part for the night and possibly for the cart. For the seventh, she wouldn't disagree with it straight up, but would make it conditional to the results of their small trip, sort of an incentive.

After all, if Ozcow liked to talk, it wouldn't hurt at all if he talked about her as someone who knew what she was doing, who was reasonable and perfectly willing to sweeten pots in the right circumstances. It might not be all that useful, but it certainly wouldn't hurt.

In reply to Ailith (msg # 32):

Ozcow blinks rapidly and nods when you mention the Master.  "Yovo, huh?  She does like the odd jobs, does she not?

"Hmmm.  A trip out of the village?  Your timing is good young Ma'am.  My wife is very angry at me.  She should not be.  But you cannot tell her that.  So a little trip out of the village might be a good thing, right?"

He laughs.

"Five tokens including the cart?  Well. I would want a token for each day and...a half token for each night.  So if we come back tomorrow, two and a half for me.

"I do know some men with carts, yes.  But I have to ask:  how much emz are we going after?  Do I need to get a large cart and big animal?  Or will a smaller one do?"

You know emz is usually cut to the length of a leg and then bundled up, with about twenty to thirty to a bundle.  Zez shrugs when you ask how much Master Yovo wants or how much might be available.

"I have not been to that part of the underground river in several years.  So I do not know how much is available. I would say you would want at least four bundles.  But cut as much as you can."

You can give Ozcow a number of bundles you would like to obtain and let him judge the cart based on that.

Zez hands you a map showing the location of the underground river entrance.

"You will go a half day to the north, then veer to the west once you spot the Old Fammily Mountain range.  You will look for these hills here.  Travel along the eastern border of the hills until you spy a mountain with a large, blue rockface on one side.  At the bottom of the rockface is a cave.  There should be markers in the cave that will lead you to the shores of the river.  The emz will be along the bank.  I would guess you will spend today finding the place and setting up camp.  Cut what you can, but plan to cut most of it in the morning.  Head back no later than midday.  You do not want to camp again overnight.  That alright?"

“That she does.” Ailith nodded emphatically about Yovo liking odd jobs. But… maybe those were the best jobs. She blinked a couple of times when Ozcow mentioned his wife, deciding that she would have to avoid that subject… assuming he didn't spontaneously tell her all about it over the next couple of days of course…

Two and a half tokens for him was reasonable she supposed. Though there was the details of the cart to take into account obviously. But all in all, she should be able to stay well within Zez's preferred budget. She wasn't sure what to think about four bundles - besides making sure Ozcow knew about it and went about finding the necessary cart - but she'd see soon enough how troublesome that was.

After that, she listened attentively to the head apprentice's instructions. Finding the cave didn't sound all that complicated - especially with two pair of eyes - and as for the river if it was marked as it should be, she should be able to get to her destination easily enough. After that…

“No camping overnight, understood.” The young female nodded, but she looked pensive. She would have to try to get the emz as fast as possible - while making sure to not butcher the plants - to keep some time to look for other things that Yovo could help. Some things like stuff she could use with the potters' grit would be great - though she still had no idea what it could be - but anything else could be nice too: the blue rockface sounded interesting for example.

In reply to Ailith (msg # 34):

Just to make sure I didn't confuse poor Ailith, Zez is only talking about avoiding a second night of camping.  She will have to camp out at least one night.  Sorry if I confused you.  Thanks

Ozcow meets you at the gate to the village a little later than expected.  "Sorry," he says grinning.  "These beasties took some coralling," he says, nodding at the two k kels.  The dray animals just flick their tongues at you and watch you with a bored expression as you and Ozcow load the cart.

Setting out doesn't take long.  You realize the village is out of sight before you know it.  Part of the reason is Ozcow's very competent handling of the cart.  He seems very good at keeping the k kels on task.

The other part is the way Ozcow drones on.  He is a talker, no doubts there.  By the time you have spotted the hill line you are looking for, you know all about his children (two sons and four daughters), the reason for the fight with his wife (he ate the last of the pickled eggs without telling her.  It apparently is an ongoing issue they have fought about before), and why it is better to buy clothing made from green dyed materials as opposed to red dyed materials.

There were probably a couple of other topics of conversation in there.  He tends to jump topics.  It isn't always possible to keep up.

It is about an hour until dark when you find the rock cliff and soon spy some cave openings.  Ozcow starts to set up camp while you look into the closest couple.  It looks like two entrances to the same system.  Both have markings on the wall.

Both caves open onto a main passage which slopes down.  It will probably take about a half hour to head down it to the river.

You do have a torch.  So it is possible to head down to the river, either to start the cutting or just for a recon of the area.  Or you can leave it until the morning.

That's what I understood, no worries!

From time to time, at least at the beginning of the small trip, Ailith tried to orient Ozcow's pretty much incessant talk in directions she was more interested in: the villagers - she knew so few of them despite having spent so long there already, the village itself, but also the Interlopers. She had been so focused on her work that she had barely had the occasion to ask anyone about that. Now that she had someone as talkative as Ozcow on hand, she wasn't going to ignore the opportunity.

Once they had arrived at their destination, Ailith considered the mouths of the caves for a moment. On the one hand, she wasn't particularly eager to go inside and would much prefer to take advantage of the light to look around and see if there was anything that might catch her eyes. On the other, if for some reason there was a problem in the caves the sooner she knew about it, the sooner she'd be able to do something about it.

In the end, with a sigh - and fervently wishing someone would be accepted as the newest apprentice as soon as possible - Ailith took a torch and went inside to scout the emz fields: she couldn't really take the risk to mess things up after all.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:25, Wed 14 Oct 2020.

In reply to Ailith (msg # 36):

Ozcow is more than willing to talk.  He talks about some of the other families in the village.  A few of the other workers.  You make mental notes about the names and situations I'll feed you that information as it comes up

He doesn't know much about the Interlopers.  The Hiyal and elders met with them in an empty house at the edge of the village.  There was great pains taken to keep those not involved in the talks seperated from the Interlopers.  A woman named Qisa did wait on them, serving food during a meal break.  She stated they looked rather odd.  Like people with faded colors and skin way too smooth.  But they were polite.  Their voices came out of a small box they wore around their forearms.

Ozcow sets up camp while you descend.  The two caves both open onto a main tunnel that slopes downwards into the ground.  Soon, you can hear the lapping of the water as well as smell it.  The air gets pleasantly cool.

The tunnel levels out on a ledge.  The ledge juts out over the river, the dark water glinting dully from the light of your torch.

There is a small path to your right which leads down to a bank that runs along one side of the river.  Heading down it, you come to what used to be an old bridge.  The span has shattered in places.  Perhaps there was a quake at one point in time, though this area isn't known for them.  But as long as you pay attention, you can make it across.

On the other side of the bridge is a large open space, laying almost level with the river.  Water seeps over the side and floods the ground up to your ankles, making this area ferttile.

Emz stalks shoot up from the ground here.  Pale white wooden like tubes.  In the torch light, their joints softly gleam in a subtle rainbows.  The stalks secrete a thin sap which is fairly prismatic.  It is probably part of the reason Master Yovo wants to work with it.

Emz is sturdy once it has dried.  But the sap will also soak into the outer wood and stain it in interesting patterns.  It is impossible to foretell what color the wood will stain.  That is part of the charm of the material.  It is always a mystery how it will turn out.

As you take some measurements, trying to figure out how much you can cut, you hear a splashing sound.  It seems to be coming from the river, somewhere downstream from you.  It sounds like something large breaking the surface and then diving under, only to repeat the process.

There aren't any predators in the underground rivers you know of.  And even if there were, you shouldn't have much to fear.  But it is odd.

As far as Ailith was concerned, the trip was already a success: in those few hours she had learned more about the entire village than she had in the previous months spent cleaning shop or drawing water from the well. Or sanding things that shall not be named. Now, all she had to do was make sure Yovo had what she wanted, which would admittedly be the most difficult part of the trip.

At least when she saw the emz stalks she understood why the Master was interested in them. The colors were really intriguing and if it stuck that well to wood... For a moment she considered what it would give applied to ceramics as a glaze or maybe incorporated directly in the clay, somehow...

She was however drawn away from her thoughts by the sound of something splashing in the river. She froze for a moment, waiting to see of it had just been her imagination or if she had really heard something. When it happened again she had her answer, but one she wasn't sure she liked much as she had no idea what it could be. Probably not something dangerous, but... Cautiously, her torch held to the side so as to not blind herself, she advanced towards the river to try and see what was causing that noise.

In reply to Ailith (msg # 38):

The splash is coming between long intervals.  You count one breath.  Two breaths.  Three...

At the edge of the torchlight you can see the river's surface troubled.

Something rises up and then quickly submerges.  Your view isn't the best.  It's too far out in the river and not rising far enough above the surface.  But it looks like some kind of column, maybe as thick around as your leg.  It is dark colored, perhaps jet black.

As you count breaths again, it takes as long as you to start to draw a fourth one before it rises again.  You get a slightly better view.

Yes.  Some kind of column.  Black...metal maybe?  It is only rising about three hands above the water before quickly pulling itself black under.  But near the top, along one side, is a small circle that your torch light caused to glint.  Maybe it is glass of some kind.

The column goes back under the surface.

When she saw the column - or more precisely, when she realized that said column was definitely not an animal - Ailith froze: with an animal, she would have known how to react. Granted, she might not have been able to for one reason or another, but she would have known.

With that column-thing however, she had no idea. At some point though, it became obvious that whatever it was it wasn't going to bite her, so she started to cautiously approach to get a better view of it.

Once as close as she could get without stepping in the water, Ailith stopped to consider the thing: could it be something that Master Yovo had placed there before she asked her for some emz, knowing full well this would be the place she would go to?

It didn't make a lot of sense - she couldn't make head or tails of the purpose of such a test - but on the other hand… what else could it be? Going back for second or two, Ailith picked up a branch or a pebble or two and tried to poke the column with it: the noise it'd produce would likely at least tell her what it was made of.

In reply to Ailith (msg # 40):

The column is about twenty feet out into the river from the closest point on shore.  You aren't sure how deep the river is.  But you doubt you could wade over to it.  That is if you wanted to.

As you lean the torch closer, you feel pretty confident that the column, outside of the 'eye' in the top center, is some kind of metal.  But it seems to be fairly smooth.  You would need to inspect it closer, but whoever smithed it is a Master.  The lack of any kind of sign from a mold like a crease or seam seems unlike anything you have seen before.

Not that you have seen overly much finely wrought metals.  Smiths are a rare artisan.  Two villages pretty much hold the monopoly on them.

The 'eye' is even more interesting.  It is some kind of crystal obviously.  The way the torchlight catches it makes that obvious.  But it doesn't seem to be glass.

Yovo is a Master.  But this...this seems beyond her.  Or anyone at Hiyal.  Maybe Matah.

But who is raising the column up from under the water?  You can't tell.  Someone or something is making it rise at irregular intervals.

You find a few pebbles.  The first two miss.  So much for your targeting practice.  But you get a satisfying CHUK as the third one strikes the column right on the top.

The column whirls around, the 'eye' seeming to stare straight at you.

The column shakes a little.  It starts to sink.

As it does, light pours out of the eye.  Not a lot.  But a distinct blue glow emanates outwards.

As it submerges, you can see the blue dot under the surface of the water.

You should have a few breaths before it resurfaces.  Hopefully.

Ailith was really beginning to have doubts about this having anything to do with Yovo when she finally hit the column - which, granted, she had been trying to do - and elicited a reaction from it - which she had not been planning on. After a few seconds once more rooted on the ground while it…looked?… at her, she jumped back.

She didn't know what it was, much less what it was doing there, but she didn't want to be at the exact same spot the thing had…seen…her standing on. And being closer to the exit wouldn't hurt. Surely whatever it was it couldn't follow her right? Columns were not known as great predators after all. On the other hand, neither were they known as being made of metal. Or moving. Or…looking at people.

Maybe she ought to take a few more steps back just in case…

In reply to Ailith (msg # 42):

The column rises as you scamper back a little.

The 'eye' is a definite shade of blue.  Like an oil lamp with a shaded screen around the flame.

The column revolves, like it was looking around.  Then it starts to submerge again.

Except this time, the column starts to shake.  It rises before it goes all the way under, up a height it hasn't reached before.  It stays there, trembling at the top of its height.

The water around its base suddenly starts to roil.  A large splash rises up and then another, throwing droplets of water far enough to caress your cheek.

Then the column suddenly falls, shooting back under at its fastest rate yet.  Like someone had cut it's base out from under it.  The blue light is still visible below the water.  But its like a little dot.

The water stills after a while.  Its been twenty breaths and the column isn't reemerging.

Ailith jumped up when the column suddenly rose from the waters and quickly took a few more steps back. She stopped pretty soon though, as it became pretty clear that the things couldn't get on the ground.

When it disappeared, she watched from where she was for a moment. Then, she started to hesitate: should she go back and…and do whatever about it? Or… Or should she try to see what that was all about?

Alright, saying that she hesitated would be overstating it: it was more like she considered the option first and immediately rejected it. Instead, pushed by curiosity, she cautiously took a few steps forward to try and peer over the ledge into the waters and look for some kind of explanations into what exactly the thing was and what it was doing there exactly. Still, she picked a couple of pebbles on the way: it hadn't seemed to do much and probably wouldn't do anything, but Ailith felt better with something in hand.

In reply to Ailith (msg # 44):

The water of the underground river is clear and fresh for drinking.  But the rock and shadows of the cave override the transparency.  It's like staring into a rock wall.

That said, there is something down there.  A large area darker than the rest, with the blue dot right at the center.

The shape is very symmetrical.  It's more or less like a large barrel, though one about three carts long and two carts wide.  It isn't moving.  Other than the column, which at the moment is also not moving.

After a minute or so of careful observations, Ailith backed away from the river and with one last look, decided to let it rest for now. She didn't know what it was or why it was there, but she was pretty sure of two things: first, it probably had something to do with the Interlopers. She of course had no idea for what purpose, but it wasn't like spending time there would give her an answer to that.

Second and more importantly, while she didn't know the thing's purpose for being here, she knew perfectly well what her own was... And it wasn't to wait for some weird column to come out of the water. She had a job to do, one she had to take care of before anything else, and that meant starting early in the morning which she wouldn't be able to do if she stayed there too long.

If she had the time then sure. But right now, she had too much riding on her job to be able to afford any kind of slip up.

While she walked to the exit, she thought about what she wanted to tell Ozcow. In the end, she decided that she wasn't going to say anything for the time being: not only she had nothing to show for it - and who knew if the column would still be there if she tried to show it to anyone? - but maybe more importantly, it seemed clear that the thing was related to the interlopers, something that wasn't really a happy subject back at the village. Considering Ozcow's propensity to talk... She would tell Yovo and let her decide what to do about it.

So when she reached the camp, she exchanged a few platitude with her companion then went to sleep.

In reply to Ailith (msg # 46):

The next morning seems to arrive sooner than you might have liked it too.  Maybe you had odd dreams.  Maybe not.

Ozcow is an early riser.  He is also just as cheerful and talkative right out of the gate.  He's obviously one of those 'morning people'.

You get to work on the emz.  You cut the four stacks, with Ozcow hauling them back up to the cart.

Despite any possible misgivings, the column is quiet.  When you check, the blue light is still there, only maybe a little dimmer.  You have to search for it to find it.

The work otherwise goes quickly.

Ozcow ties up the fourth bundle, telling you it is a little after midmorning.  He hands you a pitcher filled with cold, clear river water and asks if you want to cut another stack.  There is room in the cart.

You can head home early.  If you left now, you'd get back well before the evening meal.

You can cut one more stack.  There's time, and you should still be able to get home before the kitchen closes for the night.

Or...there might be other things you could do...

While she worked on the emz, Ailith looked at the waters from time to time, not so much trying to spot the column but to be sure she'd get some warning if it suddenly decided to come out. Once done with that she gratefully took Ozcow's pitcher and hesitated about cutting another stack. It wouldn't be lost that was for sure and she was almost itching to work on it herself, but she reasoned that even if she managed to keep some she wouldn't have the time to do it.

The idea of getting back well before the evening meal was a tempting one…albeit briefly: she was pretty sure that if she came back that early, she'd be immediately tasked to sweep the grounds and that didn't hold much appeal.

Instead of course, her gaze turned to the waters and the column in it. After a brief hesitation, she said to Ozcow, “I've seen something down there, I want to take a closer look at it.” She wouldn't be able to get the column out of course, but maybe she'd be able to get a nice look at it: who knew then what she could learn of what it was or even better yet: how it was made.

Thankfully, having grown in a village near a big river she was a pretty decent swimmer so at least the river itself wouldn't be a danger. She could only hope that the column wouldn't be more dangerous than it had been when she had been on the shore…but she was far too curious to let that thought distract her.

In reply to Ailith (msg # 48):

The water is icy cold.  You dive, though thankfully it isn't terribly deep.

You head for the blue dot of light.  It is pretty much the only illumination around, and what little you can see is by it's light.

The column seems to have retracted into the larger shape, with the exception of the head of the column housing the 'eye'.

The larger shape seems to be metal.  A dull grayish color.  Right under the area that seems to house the base of the column is some kind of strange writing.  Glyphs of some sort.  They curiously look oddly familiar.  Some of the shapes seem to be temple dialect, except the writing is wrong.  The shapes are similar, but just off so they are rendered meaningless.

At the far end of the top of the large shape is a blister of some sort.  A roundish area that rises slightly above the top.  There is a wheel of some sort protruding from it.

Ailith groaned inwardly as the cold of the waters seeped in: that was definitely not something she was fond of. In fact, had she dipped a toe in the river beforehand, she might have dropped the idea entirely. Now though, since she was in, she dove deeper to find her target.

She had decided that for her first dive, she would try to see as much of the column as she could without stopping anywhere at all, but the presence of the glyphs stopped her for a moment: not that there were glyphs in the first place of course, but the simple fact that they were…maybe not familiar, but like a word on the tip on the tongue, something that was close but out of reach, and she found that really puzzling: after all, whatever all of this was, it hadn't been made by any master crafter on her world.

She had taken so long in fact than when she noticed the wheel thing, she didn't have the air to do much more than look at it. So instead, she swam back up to breathe for a bit. Turning to Ozcow, she called, “There is a weird structure down there, with some sort of… Well, I'm not sure what it does but I'm going to see.”

After that, and without giving him much of a time to answer, Ailith dove back in, straight to the wheel this time with the goal of seeing if she could convince it to move.

In reply to Ailith (msg # 50):

The wheel has grooves at two points along it's side.  They seem designed to facilitate holding, but the indentions are larger than you would expect.

The wheel moves surprisingly easily.  So easy in fact, you've spun it all the way around before you even realize it.

The blister seems to lift upwards.  There's a hole under it.  You can't see what's inside.  But you can lift the lid (this is obviously some kind of door, though you've never seen a wheel as a 'handle' before).  There seems to be enough room to lower yourself into.  At the end of the space, is what looks to be some kind of window. But the other side is dark.  There are odd engravings alone the walls, but it is too dark to see what they are.

Your lungs are starting to ache.  But you think you'll have enough air to look inside if you want.  Or you can surface and then dive again.

While really curious, Ailith decided to not tempt it and swam back to the surface: sure, it was cold, but swimming around kept her somewhat warm, so taking a few more seconds to find out more about the engravings wasn't really an issue. Plus, she'd have had to swim back after barely a glance at those anyway so she might as well surface sooner rather than later.

After some deep breaths, torn between diving straight away to satisfy her curiosity and staying afloat to appease her lungs, Ailith distracted herself by wondering who would think building a wheel for an handle was a good idea. Pretty soon though, she decided that there was not much point thinking about that… and she had spent enough time recuperating by that point so she quickly disappeared once more under the surface.

She had nothing to light up the inside of course - she'd be ready to give almost anything to get one of those jars filled with glowing mushrooms sometimes found in caves - but she'd have to do with what she had. Which wasn't much but maybe it would be enough… Or at least she hoped it would be enough.

In reply to Ailith (msg # 52):

You wiggle into the alcove under the blister door.

It's roomier than you would have thought.  Ozcow could fit down here with you, though you'd both be in a line.  Two people could not stand next to each other.

The far end does seem to have a window.  You can tell because there is another light beyond the glass.  It's like someone threw a torch down a dry well and the torch has almost gone out.  You can see a glow, but can't tell how far away it is.

Around the window are protrusions.  Two on the left and one on the right.  You can't be sure, but they might be levers of some kind.

You got a good lungful of air.  There is time to...throw a lever a guess.

Or what have you.  You may investigate something as you like

Once inside, Ailith considered the situation for a second or two, briefly wondering who would want to build a door under the water in the first place.to say nothing of why. Such thoughts could wait though as at that time she had to focus on that window, the light she could see through it and the lever things beside it.

She had of course no idea what they were for, net even what she could expect any of them to actually do, but she made sure to note their exact position: if it meant something, she wanted to be able to put them back in place quickly and accurately.

Then, after a brief hesitation, she tried to move the lever on the right: if it was alone, it had to be more important than the other two, right?

In reply to Ailith (msg # 54):

Jackpot

Apparently it is.

It pulls down fairly easily.  There's a thrumming sound and behind you, the blister door swings shut.

Before panic can set in, you are blinded.  The odd runes on the sides of the wall suddenly light up.  Mostly in stark, bright whites, but there are blues and turquoise and emerald colors flashing in spots as well.

The thrumming continues and the water level is suddenly dropping.  Before you realize, it's dropped below your chin and continues to fall.  There's now a hissing sound.  A jet of stale air strikes you on the side of the head.  Then another comes from above.  And more from the other side.

Without the water suspending you, you find yourself flat against the window.  It seems to hold your weight easily.  The way you came in is gone.  The blister door has closed compeltely.  You could try to scramble up the sides of this chamber to reach it.  But before you can...

Azhu nok kahadi szo zo

The voice comes from out of nowhere.  It is a dull, flat voice.  It sounds like a bored woman speaking to you from behind a wall of clay.  The words make no sense.

Gzee Ka

There is an odd clicking noise from the window.

Gzee Ka usk.  Preve ys

Five...Four...Three...

It's counting backwards.  The only thing it's said you understand are numbers.

When she heard the voice, Ailith froze in surprise, then turned on herself to try and identify from where it was coming from: there was simply no way it could come from the "room" she was in. Soon though, the "where" became secondary to the "what" as she realized she didn't understand anything. Was it the language of the Interlopers? But then… why had their runes seemed so familiar (and yet not)?

Then came the most surprising yet with perfectly intelligible numbers, though this time she didn't worry much about thy "why", as much as “Wait, wait, three before what!?”

Once again, Ailith turned on herself, this time not so much to find where the voice came from as much as something she might have missed and that the voice was waiting for before it did… Gods knew what.

In reply to Ailith (msg # 56):

"...One..."

You see the source of the voice:  one of the runes.  It is actually not an engraving but a very thin screen set over a small recess in the wall.  The sound seems to come from there.

But you only have a moment to register that.  There is a WHOOSH sound behind you and the window you'd been laying on is gone.  You fall.

A moment later the breath comes out of you as you slam into something hard and cold.  Bright lights flash across your vision and perhaps you black out.  In what feels like a few breaths after, you are blinking.  Not only from aching pain...thankfully nothing seems to be broken...but from lights that are shining in your face.

Above, you can see a shaft that seems to extend upwards.  You believe it ends in the recess you were just in.  The window must have been a door.  And the door...opened?

Runes along the walls are lighting up, casting a thin glow around the area.

You seem to be in a hall of some kind.  The hall extends to the left and right, both ways going about ten steps and ending in thick metal doors.  On the walls are two...robes?  They look odd.  Made with some kind of thick orange material that's got odd runes stitched into it.

There is a small pane of glass above you.  Light begins to seep out of it and then runes light up on it.  But the runes seem to change from moment to moment.

More runes light up.  There is a swish sound and you feel air blowing against your skin.

But other than that, nothing seems to be happening at the moment.

Ailith coughed, muttering darkly and swearing low but quite profusely. Was the door / window issue the thing the voice had tried to warn her about? Shaking her head, wincing all the way, Ailith stood up, checking as she did so that she was still in one piece. Bruised was bad enough, but broken bones would have been really bad considering where she was.

Blinking, the young female looked up at the window-door, wondering how she was going to be able to reach the door when she was done here. With a grimace, she decided that such a decision would have to wait for when she was actually done. Which… Well… At that point she could only hope that she'd be able to catch up to Ozcow on the read as she doubted he was going to wait for long. He was probably going to think she was dead…

While perfectly valid, those thoughts quickly went to the back of her head as she looked around. She spent a few seconds looking at the weird robes, but what really drew her attention was glass pane with changing runes. She jumped lightly when air started to blow against her skin, then focused back on the screen. She poked on it, tried to look under, all to try and understand how that all worked.

While she did so, she asked, “Hello? Are you there? Lady?”

In reply to Ailith (msg # 58):

The glass pane is suprisingly cool to the touch.  Now that you think about it, this whole place seems cold.  Though that may be because you are wet from the swim.

The glass seems to be built into the wall.  Getting under it isn't possible without prying it out somehow.  But you do discover that some of the runes seem to be pressable.  Your finger brushes against one and it depresses into the wall.  Nothing happens.  But there may be other runes you can press.  There are three other runes that seem pressable on the screen.

One looks like a door that is slightly ajar.

Another is a set of three perpendicular lines with dots between the inner layers.

The last appears to be a small rectangle with a line running along the left side of it.

The Lady doesn't say anything in answer to your question.

Ailith grumbled low, looking at the weird robes from time to time, wondering if maybe she could get into one to keep the cold at bay.

Pretty soon however she forgot all about that and focused on the runes she could interact with. One of them did nothing - as far as she could tell anyway - but while she had no idea how, it seemed likely that some of them would do something: they were not art so why else would they be there after all?

The first one was relatively easy to understand, or to at least get an idea of what was involved, namely a door. Maybe to open or close one? But… how? Probably some kind of interloper's powers but that didn't tell her much. She had however no idea what the other two would be doing as she didn't have a clue about what they were supposed to represent.

So in the end, she went to push the door one… before stopping and looking up to say, “Is it alright if I push those runes?” She waited a few seconds, then in the absence of an answer went ahead. She didn't look directly at the rune though, but instead tried to watch out for any door that would move: maybe she could learn how it worked?

Stooping there in case something happens, but Ailith won't step out just yet if a door opens, she'll first try the other two buttons (in order) as she wants an answer as to what they are / do.

In reply to Ailith (msg # 60):

No answer.

You bravely press the door button.

There is a soft click from your right.  It sounds like it is from the door that way.

On your left, there is a distinct harsh sound.  Like an ozubek caught in a trap. Just not as loud.

Ailith was halfway turned to the door she had heard opening when she froze as some noise came from the other direction. She slowly then turned her head in that direction, her eyes going all over the place to see if she could spot something, anything, that she could use as a weapon: an ozubek wasn't dangerous of course, but… in here, even if it were roughly the same size, who knew what it could do…

Find something or not she headed cautiously in the direction of the noise for if there was really something dangerous trapped, she wanted to address the problem as soon as possible and not let it get out of hand. If she could anyway…

There is a small cabinet of sorts built into the side of the door.  The covering on it opens upwards and is halfway open, revealing some more glowing runes inside.  The sound seems to have come from inside this small cabinet.

Suprisingly, you understand what the cabinet runes mean.  At least they look similar to runes for the directions:  North, South, East, West, and Outside.  Oddly, there is no rune for the sixth cardinal direction Inside.  But you feel pretty confident the other five directions are represented.

For a time, Ailith forgot all about the oher door, or even the noise she had heard, puzzling over the symbols she was seeing. And not just because she was wondering where the sixth rune was either, but simply why, once again, she knew those runes.

The lady who had spoken certainly hadn't spoken anything she could understand! No, well, there were the numbers. Was it possible that it was just some kind of very heavy accent? She had once met someone who came from a very far village, and understanding what was said had been a challenge…but it still had been understandable. Speaking slowly anyway.

Had she been too shocked, and the lady speaking too fast, for her to notice anything of the sort? It was possible she supposed, especially considering that messing up numbers under ten wasn't exactly easy.

But of course, that raised another question: how come!? How was it possible for someone in that…place…to speak her own language, distorted as it was?

With a grunt, Ailith shook her head: this was not why she was in front of that cabinet. Standing to the side - to make sure that whatever was inside wouldn't be able to jump out at her - she quickly opened the cabinet completely and jumped back.

In reply to Ailith (msg # 64):

Suddenly an oogie-boogie jumps out and goes

Oogie-bogie! Oogie-bogie!

Not really.

The cabinet door slides upwards, albeit with some difficulty.  But nothing jumps out.

The runes do go from glowing yellowish to bluish though.

Ailith squinted suspiciously at the cabinet, almost sure that she had just heard another very weird noise, one she hadn't ever heard before. After a few seconds though, she focused on what she was really seeing and not what she thought she was hearing.

Which, in that case, were glowing runes that changed colour as soon as she opened the cabinet. In itself, the fact that it had changed colour wasn't all that surprising as there were plenty of things that could do so out there. Alright, maybe not that many things, but it wasn't unheard of. Considering where she was on top of that… well, glowing runes that changed colour seemed perfectly natural.

What made her frown though was that she had no idea why it had done so. If it had been an animal or a plant she might have guessed, but a weird cabinet… And there was of course the matter of what it meant to go from yellow to blue: there had to be some meaning behind the change, but she was unable to understand what it was.

After a brief hesitation, Ailith tried to poke the runes, starting with the outside one.

In reply to Ailith (msg # 66):

The Outside rune feels oddly cool under the skin of your finger.  It gives slightly, sliding down into the wall under the pressure you exert.

There's a thin, high pitched, quick beep sound.  But nothing happens.

You get the same result with each of the other runes until you press the north rune.  There's still a thin high pitched sound.  But it's different in timber and lasts a little longer.  beeeeeep

But other than that, nothing happens.

Ailith frowned as she considered the runes, not quite pleased with the results she had obtained so far, particularly those sounds that had come when she had pressed the north rune. She seriously doubted that it was supposed to be doing those noises, but she didn't see how to avoid it. Maybe there was some kind of order? With 5 runes, that would leave a lot of different possibilities however, and something bad might happen before she found the right one.

Squinting, she considered the runes. Unless the right one didn't produce any kind of sound? For a moment, Ailith considered trying it, but it still left too many possibilities to mess up and have something bad happen.

So she left the cabinet alone for the time being - she could always come back to it later if need be after all - and went to the door she had heard open previously.

In reply to Ailith (msg # 68):

That door is slightly ajar.  You push it and it swings inwards.

Beyond is a short hallway.  At the far end, about ten steps away, is a ladder descending downwards.

There are open doorways on either side of the hall as well.  One to the left and one to the right.

Once again, Ailith hesitated: she wanted to see what was down the ladder, there was no way she was going to ignore the two doorways in the hall…and she had already spent too long there. On the other hand, if by now Ozcow hadn't already left…

She probably could catch up, and she half decided to stop her explorations there and go back to the surface: one thing stopped her though: she had been able to get in, but… not only she wasn't sure she'd be able to close the door if she managed to get back to it - it had been the voice that had opened it after all - but more importantly would she be able to get out after that? What happened if she managed to get back to the door, close it, flood the small room…and then nothing?

With a shiver, Ailith decided to continue exploring, starting with the doorway on her left. She did however decide that she would focus on finding a way to either communicate with the voice or how to get back to the surface: she really didn't want to spend too long there… particularly considering that she didn't have anything to eat or drink…

In reply to Ailith (msg # 70):

To the left is a long rectangular room.  It is about five paces to the wall ahead of you, and then maybe twelve down the room's length.

There is a counter running along the wall across from you.  Cabinets are set on the wall above the counter, as well as some odd looking devices.  A little crate is set at one end and it contains what looks like cups and plates.

Along the other wall are set two small tables, each with two chairs around it.

At the back of the room is what looks like a row of wardrobes.  Tall cabinets with large doors.

Ailith looked at the room on the left for a moment, pretty sure she had found some kind of kitchen. A weird one for sure, but one nonetheless. Which meant she might be able to find some food in there, which was something she'd have to check soon.

Before she did though, she went to the other room and was pleased to notice that she might be able to find some clothes in there and get out of the cold. After a brief look around, she went to the cabinets and tried to open them, curious to know what an interloper's clothes looked like…and hoping that she'd be able to find clothes that fit.

In reply to Ailith (msg # 72):

When you said 'other room' I am assuming you meant the other end of the room.  You have not looked into the room on the right side of the corridor yet.

The cabinets above the counter contain items that confirm your suspicions.  Plates.  Pots made out of some odd metal you've never seen before.  It's clear.  Cups.  There are cabinets full of some kind of small sealed boxes.  More runes similar to the ones along the wall are on the boxes, though what they mean, you can't say.

There are clothes in the far tall cabinets.  And yes.  They fit.  There are some that are too large and some that are too small.  But they have the arm and leg openings in the correct places.  They even provide room for horns in the neck opening.

Are you putting some on?

Oh yeah sorry, I re-read a bit too fast when I saw you answer and wanted to post before you were done :D

One would think that there wouldn't be anything puzzling about clothes. But those who did had never seen those clothes, because like pretty much everything else, they were. Not because they were weird - though they didn't look made from anything she had ever seen - but simply because they seemed ready made for her. Or at least, someone like her. As far as she knew, the interlopers were quite different: surely it would have been mentioned otherwise.

So it seemed to lead her to two conclusions: the current interlopers weren't the first ones, and the previous ones had had a morphology not unlike her own. As far as she knew however…there had never been something like that before. And there was also the fact that the thing she was in - whatever it was - was buried pretty deep. Unless there was some kind of underwater passage?

Well, no matter for now: one more enigma she had no idea how to solve. For the time being though, she picked the clothes she liked the most among those that fit best, however - with a thought back to a few months prior - she avoided anything yellow.

In reply to Ailith (msg # 74):

You manage to find a set of pants and shirt that seem your size.  They are colored a deep blue with odd white lines running down the sides in some kind of pattern.  The left leg on the pants have runes stitched into them.

As you tug them on, something odd happens.  The clothes tighten.  Not uncomfortably.  In fact, just the opposite.  It's like the cloth adheres to your skin in a such a way that it moves with it.  You also notice it's wicked away any water you hadn't toweled off.  Lastly, there's an odd warmth.  Not too hot.  Not too cold.

It's as if these are the perfect clothes.

Even though she would deny it to her death bed, Ailith may have produced a pretty undignified sound when the clothes took her by surprise with their tightening. Thankfully, while she briefly worried that it had been a trap where the clothes would press her like a wuquat, it stopped when they fit just right, as if they had been made for her as she was right then. Which was… Well, she wasn't going to say weird, because everything was weird in there, but quite pleasant - especially the warmth - no matter how it was done.

It seemed that whatever had runes carved on exhibited those strange abilities: opening doors, fitting clothes… Was it some kind of power inherent to the runes? Were the runes merely controlling whatever made all of that work? For all intents and purposes though…it was the same to her. Even if she somehow managed to learn how to read the runes, it wouldn't tell her how it worked, merely what it would likely do. Which, granted, would be a marked improvement to her current blind stumbling in…well, in whatever this was.

After a minute or so to admire herself in her new clothes, Ailith turned to the kitchen section of the room. She started to go through the cabinets, taking one of the sealed boxes, hoping - without really believing it would happen - that she would find some kind of biscuits or things like that: things she could imagine having weathered however long the place had been left untouched. She didn't try to open it straight away though: if there was a rune…it had to have some kind of power, right?

So instead, before she tried anything else, she touched the runes one by one, waiting to see if it did something.

In reply to Ailith (msg # 76):

Some of the boxes contain what might have been food.  From some of the smells, you can tell they are long past the point of being edible.

You do find what looks like medicine in several of them. The boxes contain pills of various colors.  Mostly greens.  A lot of reds.  A few yellows and oranges.  The pills smell a little floral.

What runes is she touching?  In any particular area?  Or just at random?  Thanks

Ailith grumbled low when she opened the boxes containing the spoilt food: she had sort of expected it, but it was still a less than desirable outcome. She set them aside - closed - and looked for a bit at the pills, wondering what they were exactly.

Odds were they weren't really medicine - why store that in a kitchen? - but on the off chance they were exactly that, she couldn't exactly try them to see what they did. So she put them aside too, sorting them by colour, then focused on the runes.

She tried to determine if any of them were familiar, to see them as a child's scribbles of runes she'd be familiar with but hadn't been written right. Or as if water had messed the ink a bit: after all, if for some reasons she recognised some of them, and had understood the digits, odds were that she'd be able to recognise those runes too.

So any rune that she can recognise and seem to be a good idea, at random failing that.

In reply to Ailith (msg # 78):

You can recognize the runes for direction of course.  They appear in random places.  There is a circle of them on the wall, and they light up when you touch them.  But they just simply flare red and then fade quickly.  Except when you first touch the north rune.  It lights up a sort of bluish green color.  But when you touch another rune right after, it winks red and then goes off.

You do come across another semi-familiar rune.  Along the counter is a deep steel depression.  A length of pipe sticks out of the wall right above it.  To each side of where the pipe fits into the wall are two sets of rune.

Each set of runes contains the symbol for puddle.

When you touch one of them, it flares that bluish-green color. An odd, choppy, choking kind of sound comes out of the pipe.  And then water starts to flow out of it into the depression.  Steam rises from the water.  It's coming out near boiling hot temperatures.

Ailith yelped when the hot water touched her hand, more surprised than hurt. After a few seconds, she touched the rune once more, expecting it to stop the flow of water, then she touched the one near the other tube. She drank a bit from the cold water, then touched the rune again.

Well, it looked like she now knew the runes for hot and cold water. Though how puddle had become water she couldn't imagine. Except that it likely was the other way around of course.

A moment later, she turned back to the runes for direction. It hadn't been the first time she had seen that set, neither was it the first time that one rune lit up, but dimmed when she touched another one. While she had decided at first to not take the risk, she decided this time to try and see if there was a sequence that would allow her to activate all the runes. There would be... She scrunged her face for a moment. North was the first one, then she had four option, then three, two and one. Which meant twenty-four possible combinations, total. That wasn't so bad... Assuming nothing bad happened midway... Or that her assumptions were valid of course.

Well, there was only one way to find out.

In reply to Ailith (msg # 80):

It takes some time.  Nothing bad seems to happen when you dial the wrong rune, other than the correctly lit ones wink out.  But you flip through the possible combinations.

North.

North.

East.

You try this combination.  Once you hit the east rune, the three runes glow a sort of dark purple color and then fade out.

Suddenly, standing before you is a ghost.

It's a man.  Or mannish.  Tall.  Broad.  But flickering.  And almost see through.  Like he's not flesh but made of a very gauzy sheet.  His features are not clear.  You can see a head and areas that look like eyes or a mouth should be there.  But the haziness of his being keeps it from being clear.

A voice, a man's deep and rumbly voice, speaks out:

Izener nok co'ala nok.  Tenze twenty-one tenze four.  Izener osi namu ebra.  Golo north.  Sedo north.  Maka east.  Bona cata bon.  Kzen.  Izener.  Kzen.

The ghost's hands come up.  They are also hazy but something is off.  The man has the wrong number of fingers.  Instead of four and a thumb, he has two on the outside and one fairly thick middle finger.

He raises his hands in some kind of gesture.  Like he's trying to pantomime the sun rising.

And then he's gone.

The words you understand are the words Ailith understands in her own tongue.

When the ghost appeared in front of her, Ailith jumped back, ready to run away and only relaxing when it was pretty clear that it wouldn't attack her. She observed its appearance curiously then listened attentively to what it said even though she pretty much didn't understand anything. Or almost nothing. Number - higher than nine it turned out - and directions. Other than that...

When it lifted its hand, she watched it cautiously, studying its anatomy... And wondering what it was. Three digits? It didn't look like anything she'd have expected or anything she was familiar with. As far as she knew, the interlopers had the normal number of digits and fingers, so...

Shaking her head, she focused once more on what it had said. Among the bits she had understood, there was the exact series of runes she had activated that had led to its appearance. It probably wasn't a coincidence. Was the rest of it some kind of instructions? Even if it was though... She had no idea what it meant so it wasn't like she could do anything about it.

Shaking her head, she played some more with the runes, then focused back on her need to find food. Her gaze stopped on the things she had thought were medicine. It had surprised her that anyone would leave something like that in a kitchen but... Maybe it wasn't medicine? And even if it was... Well, what was the worst that could happen? She picked a yellow one then after a brief hesitation, she put it back and place a red one on her tongue, only eating it if it didn't feel or tasted bad.

In reply to Ailith (msg # 82):

You play some more with the runes...pressing

South

East

West

gets an odd reaction.  There's a loud set of chirping noises that seem to carry on throughout the ship.  The lights in the hallway flicker up and down and then a voice..different, harsher...comes up

Izenek.  Izenek quon...Sethe Mok

There's another long series of chirping noises and then...everything goes back to the way it was.  No noise.  Lights stop flickering.

The yellow pills have a tart, acidic taste to them.  Not unlike the syrup of u sawlo flowers, but a little more bright in it's taste.

The red...you feel the pill dissolve on your tongue and the taste may be the most foul thing you've ever tried.  You end up spitting it into the puddle place.  The taste, which is like nothing you have ever had before, lingers.  It's working its way into your sinuses and...it's just nasty.

When she got the weird reaction for her last try at playing with the runes and heard the harsh voice, Ailith tucked her head between her shoulder, only relaxing a good minute after everything had been calm for a good minute.

After her second try of the weird pills, half blind from tears, she reached for the cold water rune and drank, spat, sputtered for a couple of minutes to get rid of the horrid taste.

After that, she decided she was not going to try the other pills and went to the other room.

The room across the hallway is obviously some kind of dorm.  There are a series of what must be bunk type beds lining the far wall.  Four of them, from one end to the other.  An odd shaped pillow is at the end of each bunk and a thin blanket of some kind of odd looking material is stretched across each one.

Under each bunk is a small chest, about as long as your leg.  They start just under the lip of each bunk and run back to the wall.

On the front of each chest is the same set of directional runes.

If you want to mess with any of the chests, I will need to know which one.  One, Two, Three, or Four.

There is also the ladder leading down at the end of the hallway.

Thanks

Ailith considered the chests for a while, and more particularly the runes on top of each of them. She was very curious to know what was in each of them of course, but considering what had happened the previous time, she wasn't all that eager to mess with them just then. Plus, while anything nasty happening in the kitchen had been unlikely - as long as one didn't consider the pills anyway - such was not the case for these: they were protecting the contents of the chests after all, so it seemed likely that something bad woul happen if she made a mistake.

With an unwilling sight, she decided to leave them be for the time being: she could always come back later on after all, it wasn't as if the chests would vanish overnight. She briefly wondered too why the runes were always the direction ones. They seemed very important for those who had...lived? Worked? Built? The...Well whatever this was.

Before she left to explore some more though, Ailith took one of the blanket things with her: if it had been good enough to be used here, she didn't doubt she'd find it mighty useful when she finally left and had to walk back to the village. Then, she went down the ladder. Surely there wasn't much left to see right? It couldn't be that big after all.

In reply to Ailith (msg # 86):

The blanket is like the uniform you put on.  It seems to want to stretch and cling to you, but not in a confining way.  It's also surprisingly warm.

The ladder is a short descent.  As your feet touch the ground below, light suddenly floods the space.

You are staring at a long, narrow hall.  Each of the sides are lined with...well.  What isn't it lined with?

There are glass windows like the ones you saw above.  Runes that are lit and winking now in various colors and hues. Mostly blues and greens.  A few in yellow.  One in an angry, insistent orange.

There are lines of some kind too.  Most are thin as string but a few are as thick as the branch of a sturdy tree.  All the lines run along the walls or hang from the ceilings.

The air down here has a different sort of smell to it.  It's like lantern oil mixed with musk.

There are a few pools of what seems to be reddish or black grease here and there on the floor.

Not far from the ladder is a large cabinet of some kind.  It is covered with glass windows.  Most are no bigger than your hand.  The windows are all alight.  Most just glow. But one near the top has symbols flashing on it.

East.

West

West

North

Ailith blinked when the light suddenly flooded the lower level. She turned on herself, surprised, then - wondering why she had though someone would be nearby - grumbled under her breath and explored the place a bit. She paused at the first obvious signs that something was wrong with the place. Granted, the upper level had been empty and not in pristine condition, but this was much worse: she was ready to bet that neither the smell nor the grease on the floor were supposed to be there.

For a moment she tried to identify the cause of the smell and the leaks, but refrained from touching anything: who knew what could happen if she did… She did however study attentively the cabinet thing. East, West, West, North. More directions… Glancing at the orange rune on the glass window, she wondered if maybe that meant that something was broken. Then were the directions a series of instructions, corridors to follow to the source of the problem? Or a place where she could fix the problem? Well, not her of course, but someone who had belonged? Or maybe she was supposed to activate the nearest corresponding runes?

Before she did anything though, she explored a bit: first to see if east-west-west-north meant anywhere, second to follow the lines running around the walls or the ceiling to see if any of those led to the orange rune: maybe following that one would lead her to something that mattered?

In the end though, she simply pressed the nearest runes she could find (starting with those on the glass windows) as indicated by the cabinet-thingy (possibly starting or ending with the orange one).

In reply to Ailith (msg # 88):

The smells and puddles and viney looking things all seem to originate from the same place:  somewhere behind the walls.  You find a small latch of sorts at one end of the hallway.  It looks like it slides a panel in the wall.  It seems to be rusted shut though.  Some elbow grease and grease grease should open it.

Tapping the E/W/W/N sequence on all available rune sets gets the same response:  a kind of angry sounding chirp.  It makes you think that whatever bird is chirping, they are telling you not to bug them.

If the E/W/W/N is to be put in somewhere, it is not down here.  At least that you can tell.

After her expérimentations, Ailith considered the latch for a moment. She was quite curious about it, but she suspected that not knowing much of anything about the place would make poking at it useless at best, detrimental at worst. Articulately considering that the kind of grease she had available wasn't really of a promising quality.

So instead of trying to open it, she went back up in the first "big" room she had found: there had been other windows with lots of runes: maybe those were where trying the E/W/W/N combination would work.

It didn't hurt to try anyway. Hopefully...

In reply to Ailith (msg # 90):

You head back up to the first door you tried and could not open.  There are directional runes on it.

East

West

West

North

There is a clicking noise.  Then the door slides to one side, opening on it's own.

Beyond is a small room.  There is a large window directly across from you.  Through it, you can see the murky river water outside this place.

Under the window is a long desk.  It runs the perimeter of the room.  There are more glass windows, runes, and raised bumps running along it.  Two stools with wheels on their legs are tucked up under the desk.

One of the glass windows to the left is lit.  It is the only one that is.

Flickering across it are more symbols.  But strangely, these you can understand.  They are writing in the temple tongue.

We are punched

We are punched

Sending to the mountain with the gray sky

We are punched

We are punched

Sending to the mountain with the gray sky

You are in danger

Leaving is South then South then North again

Ailith was pleasantly surprised when the door opened - very pointedly not trying to understand how - but a bit scared when she noticed the river through the windows. It was only a minute later that she started to move in the room, though glancing at the windows from time to time to make sure it wasn't about to break.

Soon however she focused on the lit panel and the blinking messages. She started by panicking anew when she understood what this was about, especially when it told her she was in danger. Soon however, she started to relax: all was calm after all, so she didn't think that message was for her but had probably been for the people who had been here when... Well, probably a long time ago?

Even more interesting was the fact that she knew that language, which was different from the one she had seen before. It was still weird, and she suspected that like the water / puddle one there had been some weird changes, but it was recognisable. Which, considering what it was, made her think about that apparition she had witnessed in the temple on her first day. Maybe she should try to go back there when she had the time...


After considering the all of that for a moment, she approached the long desk to study all the runes to see if she could make sense of some of them.

In reply to Ailith (msg # 92):

The first thing you notice is that the runes are better organized here.  The compass rune sets  of North/West/East/South occur in several places, but here they seem to be at regular intervals.  As if placed so a set of them was at hand no matter where you sat along the desk.

There are also groups of runes which correspond to numbers.  Zero to nine, with the prime numbers outlined in a sort of greenish glass.  These are also in runes you recognize as temple tongue and these number sets are located next to the compass sets.

The other groupings of runes you cannot make heads or tails of.  They seem to be clustered around one of the glass windows.  But what they mean...

You have no clue at the moment.

Ailith considered the two options she had: either leave, or experiment with the runes... Which wasn't without presenting some risks. Considering that at worst she had been yelled at when she did something wrong though, she decided to experiment a bit.

First,she tired the numbers - starting with the prime ones, after all if they had been highlighted there had to be a reason - then with the direction runes (and the East / West / West / North combination first?), cluster by cluster then trying to activate each direction on each cluster at one.

Only in the last case was she going to try the runes she didn't understand.

In reply to Ailith (msg # 94):

You fiddle with the numbers.  Some combinations make some of the glass windows light up.  The pictures they display vary but remind you of sections of the night sky.  Playing with just combinations of the prime numbers makes some of the runes surrounding the screens glow.  But they wink off after a moment and nothing seems to happen.

Using the trusty E/W/W/N just makes the door you came in shut again.  It opens on the same combination.

You hit all four simultaneously.  The whole room starts to shake.  At first rather violently.  Then it sort of settles to an odd thrumming hum.  You can feel the desk tremble slightly under your hand.  You hear a loud KRRRSSSHHH, coming from somewhere in back of the structure.  Then the shaking stops.

As you turn your attention to the other runes, you notice several of the glass windows on the desk are suddenly lit up with an urgent red light.  Some runes you don't know the meaning of are flashing on them.

From somewhere, you can scent the smell of smoke.

Ailith froze when she heard the noise and the felt the vibrations, then started to relax... Until she smelled smoke: turned out there could be much worse than being yelled at by some disincarnated voice.

Swearing profusively, Ailith rushed out of the room to try and find the fire: she hadn't seen much that would burn so she hoped she'd be able to stop it, but she had to do it fast.

In reply to Ailith (msg # 96):

There's smoke arising from the lower level.

Climbing down the ladder, you can see the smoke is streaming from one of the grease puddles.  Something seems to have caught it on fire.

It isn't close to any of the other puddles.  But sparks are flying upwards.  You need to find something to use to put it out.

One the one hand, things weren't looking good - a fire wasn't really a good sign after all - on the other, it could be worse since it was pretty localized and didn't seem about to propagate elsewhere. Still, it wasn't something she could ignore…which left her racking her brain on finding a solution to put it out.

Quicly, Ailith went back up: there was some water in the kitchen thing. Quickly though she dropped that idea: not that she knew - or even suspected - that water was definitely not the way to go to put out a grease fire. No, it was simply that she couldn't take the time to look for a recipient for one, and for two - and more importantly - carrying a recipient while she went down the stairs was bound to be hazardous at best.

Instead, she picked another blanket and drenched in the sink. She really didn't want to ruin it - it was an inestimable treasure after all - but she hoped that if quickly applied to the fire, it'd allow her to suffocate it quickly and easily…while preserving the blanket itself.

In reply to Ailith (msg # 98):

The water seems to bead off the blanket.  After a while, the blanket is damp but not soaked.  This fabric doesn't absorb water well.

You get it damp enough to make it worth a try.  Rushing down the ladder, you try to smother the flames.

It works.  It works really well.  The blanket doesn't singe.  It seems to wrap itself around the fire and snuff it out without much of a fuss or worry.  When you pick it back up, it's hot to the touch.  And the fabric is blackened.  But it hasn't started to burn.

With a relieved sigh, Ailith leaned against the nearest wall, taking a few seconds to breathe. Pretty soon though, she took the blanket and brought it to the sink in kitchen: she was really glad that it hadn't burned, but she wanted to give it back its pristine condition. Or as much of it as she could.

After that, Ailith considered what she wanted to do then: she was sure there was a lot left to be seen and learned from the place, but that incident had made it really clear that stumbling around trying to randomly activate things was just calling for a disaster. She didn't want to leave things as they were - she was far too curious for that - but doing anything else would be too dangerous.

No, her only option at the moment she thought was to learn as much as she could of the Temple's language: while it didn't seem to be an exact match to the one used in this place, it might still help quite a bit. Or at least she hoped so, she really wasn't an expert on the subject. As for how she was going to learn it… Well, she could start by going back to the tomb she supposed… It wasn't like she was expecting much of it, but if she didn't she was going to wonder, so she might as well do so. After that… Surely there were people in the village who could teach her.

That posed a real problem though: how was she going to justify it… and what should she say about what she had found… and to whom. In "normal" circumstances, she wouldn't have hesitated much. Oh, granted, she'd have been afraid of being kept away from the place while adults took control of everything. While it was still a true concern, it paled compared to the other problem: the presence of the Interlopers made things more complicated. While she hadn't ever seen any of them, from what she had heard they didn't look like anything she had seen here. Which meant that, whatever this place was, it wasn't directly related to them.

And considering the rumors about a village in contact with them being wiped out… She was pretty sure she couldn't risk the Interlopers learning about this place. On the other hand… Could she keep quiet about it? Could she tell Master Yovo? Though now that she thought about it… She didn't really need to decide anything right at that moment now, did she? She could just go to the tomb, and see where it went from there.

Her decision taken, Ailith gathered her clothes - she'd have to change into them before she reached the village after all - as well as the blanket, she went back to the entrance-thing. She needed to leave the place, and if at all possible, to catch up to Ozcow before he told anyone anything.

In reply to Ailith (msg # 100):

You plug in the combination and the door that sealed you in this place comes open.

There's a buzzing noise as you climb back into that first small alcove.  The door slides shut behind you and soon, that outer hatch comes open.  The river rushes in.

Even though you prepared yourself, the chill of the water is like a hammer falling against your skin.  The robe you put on from the cabinet suddenly feels warmer.  As you swim towards the surface, you feel the chill being kept at bay, at least wherever the clothing touches you.

You haul yourself onto shore.  Ozcow is nowhere around.  How long has it been?

Your own clothes got soaked.  Changing into them now will chill you.  Though you should be able to put them on over the cabinet robe and hide the fact you are wearing it.  The warmth and snugness are comforting.

As you stumble outside, you can see the sun has set.  The camping site is empty.  Ozcow must have packed up and headed for the village.  He couldn't have much of a headstart.  If you hurry, you should be able to find his camp site.

But what will you tell him?

---

You spy Ozcow's campsite two hours later.  He must have left later than you thought he did.  Perhaps he spent time looking for you.

You see him huddled by a small fire, scratching his head and sighing.

I'll let you handle the approach to good ol' Ozcow.

Let me know if the game is working out alright for you thus far.  Anything you'd like to see more/less of?  Things still on track with your expectations?

Thanks

Ailith was mightily relieved to have found Ozcow before he reached the village. She didn't go to him straight away though, once again considering her options.

The first one was to simply say nothing of what she had found and invent some story about her finding a cavern and having been dragged away by the current or something. The advantage was obvious: he wouldn't know anything. The inconvenient was of course that she couldn't ask for his opinion for one, and that he probably was going to talk to anyone and everyone about her "adventure". Which… well…

The second option was to tell him what she had found, and the advantages and drawbacks were pretty much the mirrors of the first option: she would be able to ask for his opinion, but she had no doubt that he'd be really tempted to talk. And considering how sensitive the subject was…

But maybe there would be a third option: not tell him what she had found, but admit that she had found something. It wouldn't be perfect since she wouldn't really be able to ask for his opinion about…well anything really. On the other hand, she might be able to ask him to be discreet and hope he would. Yes, Ozcow was chatty - and truth be told, she rather liked that about him - but as far as she had heard it had never been malicious.

Another consideration was that if she planned - somehow - to go back there semi-regularly, it would help immensely if she had someone to go there with her, someone she could trust. Which… pretty much excluded option one. Option two seemed a bit risky too, at least for the time being: when she knew more, maybe she'd tell him everything, but for now… No, for now, she'd go with option three.

Her decision taken, Ailith approached the fire. While she briefly considered scaring him - the face he would make! - she decided to be nice… particularly considering that she was going to ask him a bit of a favour… “Hey Ozcow!” she sat near the fire and held her hands to the flames, then grimaced as her stomach loudly reminded her that she hadn't eaten anything since the morning. “Uh, do you have something I can eat? I haven't had anything since this morning…”

“Sorry if I scared you, that wasn't my plan.” She hesitated for a bit,  “Like I said before I dove I found something, and it took way longer than I thought to look into it. There was air obviously, but it took me a while to come back up.” Wryly she smiled, “As you  obviously saw.”

For a moment, Ailith paused. “What I found is… It's important. Very important. But…” She looked Ozcow straight in the eyes, “But also very dangerous if the wrong people heard about it. As in ethk serious. And I wish I were exaggerating.” But considering the likely fate of the Old Burrows village…

She hesitated, then decided to stop there for now.

It's working out great :)
I was a bit confused at times in the ship, but that wasn't really surprising. Though I'm a bit worried I missed something important :o

In reply to Ailith (msg # 102):

Ozcow brightens visibly when you come into the firelight.  He's both thumping your shoulders and shoving some lukewarm vegetable root stew into your hands, all while looking you over for injuries.

He of course fires away with the questions.  But they all amount to the same thing:  what happened?

He listens to what you say and...doesn't say anything.  He seems to be thinking.

"Well.  At the end of the day...you're the boss.  If you don't want me to say nothin' I won't.  As long as you're not injured, then everything's fine.  But..."

He glances at you. "...well. I wanna ask what you found.  But I guess I can't.  Ethk type stuff isn't something I want to mess with.  Are you going to tell Matah?"

Ailith snorted when Ozcow mentioned that she was the boss: she was after all still at an age were any adult would consider himself her boss no matter what the situation was. Still, she appreciated the gesture. As for his question, she didn't answer straight away.

“I think I will tell you at some point.” She rubbed her chin pensively, “I'll probably need some help, and if you know it might be for the best. I just want to take some time to think about it and do it right you know. As for Master Matah…” She shifted on her butt uncomfortably, grimacing a bit here and there. Finally, she shook her head, “No, I don't think so. Not right now anyway. It's not that I don't trust him of course, I'd love to know his opinion.” Though she was afraid it'd mean he'd take everything away from her. “But he is too exposed.” Who knew what the Interlopers could do after all?

“I might talk to Master Yovo about it though.” Even then she wasn't completely sure about it, but given Master Yovo's reputation, she might be the safest choice. “Before that I'll need to go to the Temple. I saw some script in that language and I want to check a few things. By the way, do you know someone who could teach me all of it? I know a few words here or there of course like everyone I suppose but…”

“Oh and we'll need to find a good excuse for why we're late, one that doesn't draw attention. And doesn't make either of us look bad if possible… Maybe the Kels got spooked by a predator and it took us a while to get them back to the cart?”

In reply to Ailith (msg # 104):

Ozcow listens and then laughs at your question about 'excuse'.  "No need to come up with an excuse!  We'll get home on time."

He points at the cart.  "I'll wake you up a couple hours before dawn.  You can climb into the back and get some more rest.  I can handle the cart myself.  If we leave early we should be able to make it back only an hour or so late.  That's not enough to cause any worry."

He stops laughing.  "I'm always for hire.  And I don't wanna mix up in your Master's business.  So I won't talk.  But if someone like Master Matah asks me...I won't say anything other than what I know."

He smiles again.  "But that's only if they ask real specific questions.  I won't volunteer anything.  And I won't talk out of turn.  All I ask is you keep me in mind for any more work. Fair enough?"

“Oh. Alright then.” Ailith nodded about how they were going to handle being "late". “That works.” Not that she was overly happy of being woken up before dawn, especially for what was likely to be a long day, but that wasn't anything new.

“I'll make sure no one has any reason to ask you anything for the time being then.” She smiled then, a bit amused, and nodded “And if I have need to hire someone, I'll be sure to let you know first.” That wasn't a big concession though: she had been pretty satisfied with him so had pretty much already decided to do so anyway.

As soon as she finished her meal, she yawned, obviously quite tired. “Well... See you tomorrow then...”

In reply to Ailith (msg # 106):

Ozcow makes a decent tuuzu.  But no matter how good the herbal tea, it is not worth waking up in the dark for.  Still you sip on it, feeling warm and toasty, as the cart lurches forward.  It turns out to be a good thing Ozcow is driving because you drift off to sleep...

Someone is screaming at you about the fire.  You bolt upright, blinking in confusion, the blood hammering in your veins like a blacksmith's hammer.  Ozcow looks back at you from the driver's seat.

"You up?  How about giving me a break for a bit..."

You were having a dream.  Or a nightmare.  The details are gone.  Something or someone was  on fire.  That's all you can recall.  Looking around, you get a sense of place.  You are maybe a quarter day away from the village.  From the position of the sun, you could be back home just after dinner.

Ozcow made good time.

He stops the cart.  You water the mount and wipe him down.  It hisses in appreciation.  Ozcow has been working the poor thing.

You start off again.  Ozcow settles into the spot you had been laying in back.  Soon you can hear his snores.  He wakes up after about an hour and joins you on the bench.  The two of you slow the speed...the mount is about at the end of it's endurance...and manage to enter the hills around the village just as the sun sets.  Within the hour you will be home.

Suddenly the sky is filled with sound.  A loud hmmming and then the sound of many thousands of pots smashing on the ground at once.

Above, a long cylinder of greys and silvers rushes past overhead.

One of the Interlopers flying villages.  It speds past and slowly starts to descend.

It seems you've come home just in time for the Interlopers to arrive.

Ailith froze at the noise, then forgot to breathe for a while when she noticed the Interlopers. She watched in silence for a while, then grunted “Well, I guess no one's going to care if we're bit late now…”

Unless… She started to be really concerned about something: why had they chosen now to come? Could it be that they somehow knew about what she had found? She certainly hoped not, but for it to be a coincidence…

Well, she could only hope it was, because there was nothing she could do otherwise… Maybe being finally able to see them would tell her more about what she had found too… Maybe it was for the best… “Well, we'd best get going…”

In reply to Ailith (msg # 108):

The Interlopers Village is parked behind a hill on the other side of Cool Shade than the gate you and Ozcow guide your wagon through.

The village is still in the midst of hubbub.  People are dressing in their finery or lugging around baskets of goods.  It's like they are trying to hurriedly put together a festival.

"Ailith!"

You hear your name and see Helza marching across the square towards you.  She looks flustered.

"Where have you been?  Look at the state of you?  Did you not know we have to present ourselves tonight?  Hurry and bathe! You will make us all look like yokels!"

She storms off, you guess on whatever errand she had been running when she saw a chance to talk down to you.

Ozcow chuckles.  "I'll handle unloading your goods to the workshop and turning in the cart.  You need to hurry.  Sounds like you're gonna meet the Interlopers."

Ailith watched the activity in the village, obviously dumbfounded, and Helza's announcement didn't help that at all. “Uh, sure thanks.” She smiled with a grateful nod when Ozcow said he'd take care of unloading everything.

That didn't help much for another problem however: granted, the clothes she wore were practical and not exactly in the best of states considering the last few days but... She didn't own many sets of clothes, and none were particularly nice either both because she had no use for them and because she simply couldn't afford them. Or maybe more precisely, before arriving to Cool Shade, she had spent her money on other things, like her tools. And since then hadn't had the time to spend anything at all.

Well, it was what it was, she definitely couldn't do anything about it at that point, so she could only try to make do with what she did have. So she ran to her place to grab her best clothes - or at least the less worn out, briefly wondering how the Interlopers would even be able to tell - but much more importantly, before she went to the baths she stripped out of the clothes she had found under the water, hiding them as well as the blanket as best she could.

Then, she went to take a quick bath, put her clothes on and went to join everyone, well decided to stay as far back as she could. Thankfully, no one was going to care about the latest - and youngest - apprentice, right?

In reply to Ailith (msg # 110):

Right...

Zez shows up as you finish tucking in your shirt and shoos you out into the courtyard.  Everyone is swarming around, all talking at the same time.

Matah suddenly strides out of the main house.  He glances around at everyone and starts out of the gate.  You all follow behind.

Matah leads you through the village to a square on the other side you have not yet been to.  It looks like the whole village is trying to squeeze itself into that small space.  People start to move aside as Matah pushes forward.  Soon the villagers have moved aside so that Matah and all of you have space near the front of the square.

Zez corals all of you apprentices into one line stuck at the back of the group.  Helza looks you over and frowns.  Iriz glowers when she realizes you are standing closer to Master Olk than she is.  Zez makes a shushing gesture and mutters, "Let's all be very, very quiet. Okay?"

The village elders begin to gather before the gate.  It swings open and the Interlopers walk through.

It's like you are seeing warm snow or cold fire.  The Interlopers are something just outside of your experience.

They stand upright, like people, but they have no tails.  They have two arms and two legs, but their skin colors are less varied and more...muted.  The paler ones are around the color of ko kolo eggshells while the darker skinned are only as dark as summer dusk.  They have hair...or maybe fur...of varied colors.  But only a few have colorations that fall into 'normal' ranges.  All of the Interlopers look like wall paintings whose colors have faded over the years.

They all wear bulky clothing.  You have heard that some villagers have guards who wear 'armor'.  The Interlopers all seem to be wearing 'armor'.  It's a bulky kind of tannish material that seems more rigid than leather but much more supple than say tin.  There are odd runes running down the left sides of their armors.  They don't look like anything you've seen before.

Perched on the shoulders of each Interloper is an odd metal statue.  They each look like small birds sitting in a small tight nest.  The birds beak seems aimed at the Interloper's ear.

The Elders step forward and make the gesture of greeting.  The Interlopers stop and the one in their front returns the gesture, though it seems awkward and off.  The Elders give the greeting.  The lead Interloper responds.

The voice comes out loud and booming, much too loud for the size of the man's (or is it a woman?) head.  The voice is buzzy.  Like a shout coming out from a hive of uko.  The voice sounds unreal.  Like something out of a dream.

We greet Cool Shades Village.  We have come to trade.  Will you trade with us?

At this point, the villagers begin to talk all at once.  The word trade seems to have broken the dam.

I am going to break here.  If you want to do a reaction post, feel free.  If not, I will post a second round Thursday.  Need to work out something I forgot to work out before we move on.

Thanks

Ailtih followed silently behind the masters and other apprentices, not saying a word on the way but looking around her quite curiously: a lot of those she saw were new to her. Quickly though she had to forget about looking around if she wanted to avoid being stuck at the end of the crowd and drawing attention to herself.

Under Helza's frown and Iriz's glower, Ailtih rolled her eyes but didn't say anything: both because there was nothing she could say to make anything better, but also because doing so would undoubtedly go against Zez's instructions which she had no intention at all of disobeying, something she made perfectly clear by nodding emphatically.

When the Interlopers arrived, she considered them attentively, curiously studying everything about them both in themselves, but also in comparison to what she had seen in that underwater-thing she had found. Though of course she didn't go very far with that particularly since she couldn't get close.

The thing that grabbed her attention the most was certainly the things the Interlopers had on their shoulders: she had no idea what it did, but surely it did something. Though of course, even if she was curious, she wasn't going to be asking about it but maybe someone would find out and would tell her. As far as she was concerned, the only thing she could hope for was to avoid the Interlopers for a while - at least long enough to get an idea of what their reactions would be if they learned about what she had found. Thankfully, no one was going to ask the youngest apprentice to do anything in relation to the Interlopers and risk her from messing things up. Even if they for some reason needed some grounds to be swept, surely someone else would be chosen for it.

Though it could be interesting to learn what she could doing so... No, no, too risky for now. not that her opinion mattered all that much anyway: she would be the last one asked about her opinion...

In reply to Ailith (msg # 112):

The elders manage to keep the crowd from surging forward, but just barely.  Everyone wants to stick some bit of pottery or lyuqu carving under their nose and babble on about the craftsmanship.  The Interlopers say nothing, or at least nothing you can hear.  Their leader seems to be talking to the elders.

Master Hannu comes up to Zez and bends close to him, saying something you can't overhear due to the noise.  After a while, Zez nods and leans close to the three of you.

"Alright.  Seems like we're giving up on doing a formal presentation here.  Instead, Master Matah is going to invite some of the Interlopers to come to the compound.  We need to get ready for them."

He starts giving instructions.  He tells Iriz to start preparing tea and snacks.  Well.  Whatever other faults Iriz has, she is a good cook.  That makes sense.

He tells Helza to prepare the meeting chamber.  She doesn't balk or snap back how such work is beneath her.  Instead she nods, looking eager.  She does like to impress.

Zez turns to you.  "You and I are going to make sure the workshops are nice and tidy.  I'll handle Master Matah's, Master Hannu, and Master Olk.  You go to the other workshops.  Make sure they are swept and clean as possible. If there are any projects laid out, do not move them.  Just try to make it workshop as presentable as possible.

"Alright everyone?  Let's move."

The four of you fight against the crowd and scurry back to the compound as quickly as you can.  You follow Zez to the supply closet and grab the broom and brush he hands you.

You have to tidy Master Nazin, Yovo, and Korim's workshops.

Nazin tends to be fairly tidy for a potter.  She is also Helza's master and Helza does keep a tidy workspace.

Master Korim never tidies up during the work day. She just does it in one fell swoop at the end.  You would normally say her workshop is likely to be the messiest.

But you have to factor Master Yovo into the equation.  She is as unpredictable in her tidiness as she is in her creatvity.  Some days you've seen her shop neater than the kitchens.  Other days, it is like a refuse heap.  You have no idea what is in store for you.

You need to work fast here.

I will need to know the order you hit each workshop.  Thanks

“Alright.” Ailith nodded, agreeing to Zez's instructions. Or more likely, Matah's I structions that he relayed. She would have hoped not having to deal with the interlopers for the moment, worried that she was that they'd somehow notice something, but she wasn't about to draw attention to herself by refusing her tasks.

After taking a second to think about it, she headed to Master Yovo's workshop: she knew what to expect of the other two, how much time she'd need to deal with either of them - she had dealt with Master Korim's workshop enough times already to know pretty well how long it would take her - so she could plan for it. Master Yovo's however... She was hoping it'd be one of those days were it was as tidy as could be, but was expecting to find a complete mess.

She could only hope she'd have enough time to deal with Master Korim's workshop well enough before she was called away. She'd go take a look at Master Nazin's workshop in the end, just to be sure of course, thankfully she wasn't overly worried about it.
This message was last edited by the player at 12:18, Fri 18 Dec 2020.

In reply to Ailith (msg # 114):

Yovo's workshop has stacks of reeds piled up in front of it.  Of course it would.  Ozcow delivered them not an hour ago.  It seems like the door was locked and he could only pile them up outside.

You have to move them inside and stack them neatly into a corner before you can do anything else.  It wouldn't be back breaking work if you weren't already exhausted.  And it chews into your time.

Thankfully, there's not a lot else to do.  Seems Master Yovo wasn't up to much while you were away.

Master Korim...well.  You knew what to expect, didn't you?  There's clay all over the place.  All. Over.  The place.  It's almost soul crushing.

You dive into it, throwing clay back into the clay bin and then rushing to draw a bucket of water so you can wipe up the worst of the spills on the floor.

As you bring your bucket up from the well, you can see the compound gate swing open.  Master Matah is striding through, the leader of the Interlopers walking at his side.  Three other Interlopers are walking with the other masters.

You feel a hand on your shoulder.  Zez has snuck up behind you. "How goes it?"

He glances at the bucket and sighs.  "Right.  You had Master Korim's shop didn't you?

"I'll go check out Master Nazin and then come help you.  Don't try to do too much. If you can cover something up with a reed mat, do it.  I'll explain to Master Matah if it comes up."

As you think about it, there are three spots you could use his 'reed mat strategy' to hide.  You'd have to fetch the mats from storage if you go that route.  Or you could just try to scrub with the speed of a quolk. And as we all know, nothing is faster than a quolk.

While relieved that this had been one of the times that Master Yovo's shop had been tidy, Ailith had managed to forget about the stacks and underestimated Master Korim's disaster.

For a moment she considered Zez's suggestion, but quickly dismissed it with a shake of her head. “We can't, maybe they'll see through it.” She paused for a second, “Figuratively, but who's to say if it can't be litterally too... Just... Tell Master Matah to keep Master Korim's shop toward the end...”

Aftet that, without waiting for an answer, she went to scrub everything as fast as she could, hoping a quolk had nothing in her...

In reply to Ailith (msg # 116):

Zez chuckles but doesn't argue.  He nods and moves away.

A couple of the stained areas seem to want to put up a fight.  Of course they do.  Why wouldn't they.  You end up on your hands and knees, scrubbing like a lightning bolt, and manage to get the mess up.  Reaching for a towel, you sop up the muddy water and wring it into the bucket.

You have heard the sound of voices floating around from outside.  They seemed distant, from the direction of the meeting hall.  Master Matah must be providing the Interlopers with tea and breads.

At one point, you think you hear voices from outside, one of them being that shrill, tinny voice the Interloper leader made.  The other sounds like Master D'Osk.  They seem to pass by the workshop door but do not stop in front of it.  You push forward on your cleaning.

At last, you step back, leaning on the mop in your hands.  The floor is...well.  It may not sparkle. But it is clean.

As you turn to gather up the bucket and towels, you freeze.

The workshop window is open.  Leaning on the sill is one of the Interlopers.  Not the leader.  This one seems shorter.  Maybe just a few fingers under your own height.  It (he? she? it?) has skin the color of the pale side of the moon, but without any mars from craters.  It has two eyes, but they are whitish, with dots of green floating in their center and a smaller dot of black set in the middle of that.  It has...fur?  Hair?  Hair you think.  It is the same color as river silt from when the monsoons come later in the low years.

This one too has the odd bird sculpture sitting on its shoulder.

It has been watching you it seems.  It cocks its head to one side, leanign towards the strange bird.  It then opens it's mouth.  The bird seems to vibrate.  You hear two voices.  The one from the Interloper's mouth is a whisper.  You can't make out what sounds it makes.  A second voice comes from the bird.  It is the tinny, thin voice.

Greetings.  You work quickly do you not?

Completely frozen, Ailith watched the Interloper for a while. When she started moving again, it was only to open and close her mouth, obviously knowing she had to say something but not quite what. Finally shaking herself, she grumbled. “Still not fast enough apparently...” Glancing around, Ailith placed a hand on her mouth before relaxing a bit. She could at least be satisfied that while she had been seen, it had only happened when she had been done with her task but still...

Standing up, she nodded politely, “Greetings.” Her eyes went to the bird-thing, as she was obviously considering what it meant. It would have been really useful if she had had something like that the previous day. Too bad there was no way she could get one. Though even if she somehow managed to, she wouldn't be able to trust it to keep her secrets, so it was kind of a moot point anyway.

“Do you need anything?” She was about to ask something else when she heard a new noise. She briefly froze, then quickly gathered her things to leave: she had already been seen so it was a bit useless now, but she'd really prefer not standing there with a mop and a bucket when everyone entered Master Korim's workshop. Especially not the latter. Or Master Matah. “Uh, sorry I, uh, have to go.”

In reply to Ailith (msg # 118):

The Interloper makes a sound when you say you weren't fast enough.  It sounds like a Ha he ha sound.  But what it means, who knows?

They hold up a hand...well.  It looks like a hand.  Though the fingers are much stubbier than yours.  It's mouth moves and the bird says You can relax.  My SUPERIOR is meeting with your SUPERIOR.  All the others are with them.  I doubt they will be coming by soon.  If they do, I will tell them I bumped over something and you were cleaning it up.

The Interloper leans further inside, resting it's arms on the window sill and pushing it's head into the room.

You are one of the UNPROCESSED PRODUCTS correct?  For some reason, the bird's voice seems to hesitate and crackle during certain words.  The ones that make no sense on first hearing.

Superior?  Master?

Unprocessed Product?  That would be an odd way to refer to an apprentice.  Rude even.  But then the Interloper may not know better.

Or is the bird that doesn't know better?

I am Llewelyn.  What is your TERM OF REFERENCE?

Ailith blinked as she processed all of that, her eyes going from the Interloper to the bird on its shoulder, relaxing definitely not one of the things she wanted to do. Still, she didn't leave just yet. A bit uncertain, she answered. “Master Matah is not my superior...” She frowned... “He is...” She paused for a second, then shrugged, “Well, he is Master Matah. And even if I say I'm cleaning because of you, that won't help much...” Especially since the last thing she wanted was to draw attention to herself.

“And I'm not an 'Unprocessed Product'.” She frowned as she considered the bird-thing suspiciously. After a couple of seconds, she added, “I am an apprentice.” No one's at the moment, but that was not something she was going to volunteer. “And my name,” she paused once again, squinting, “Is Ailtih.”

“Look, I don't mind if you want to talk,” Though she could imagine a bunch of things she'd rather do than have an Interloper interested in her, “even if I'm not sure I have anything interesting to say, but... Can we do so somewhere else please?”

In reply to Ailith (msg # 120):

The Interloper's mouth seems to curve upwards at both ends.  Is that a good sign or a bad one?

"Sure," says the bird, which must be talking on the Interloper's behalf.  "You can show me around the compound if you do not have LABOR ASSIGNMENTS."

This Llewelyn waits outside the studio door.  "My apologies for my..."  The Interloper points at the bird.  "This is a device we use to talk to you.  We cannot speak your language easily.  So we have to use these to do so.  But we are still lacking some of your words.  You said your OFFICE was-"

The Interloper brings a hand up and rests it on the bird.  The Interloper opens their mouth and says, "Ahp-prin-tez?"

It takes it's hand off the bird.  "Did I say that correctly?"

“I don't have any other tasks no.” Not that Ailith was supposed to be talking to an Interloper, but she supposed that no one was going to complain if she did what the Interloper asked her to. As long as she didn't show things she wasn't supposed to show anyway. And if it allowed her to avoid the others it might be for the best.

When it repeated the term, she nodded, “Almost.” Slower she repeated “Apprentice. It's like... A pupil? A student? I'm learning...” She paused, then waved at the various workshops, “Well, a bit of everything for now.” And she was going to ace the "sweeping the grounds" and "drawing water from the well" parts of it, that was for sure. But that was probably not something to say either... “I'm not sure 'office' is the right term either though. Occupation or job should be better.”

As she emptied the bucket and stored it and the mop where they were supposed to go - having no intention to carry them everywhere - Ailith asked, “What about you? What's your position among... Among your people?” While having the Interloper talk about itself was definitely a safer bet than her doing the talking, Ailith had to admit that she was curious.

And Merry Christmas!

In reply to Ailith (msg # 122):

Llewelyn's head makes a nodding motion when you repeat the term.  He pulls out an odd kind of tablet, one no bigger than his palm, and puts his finger on it.  The tablet has a glass window like the ones you saw in that place.  This screen is lit with a number of small lights, some blue but most green.  Llewelyn taps on a few.

"Thank you," says the bird. "We still do not have an entire vocabulary for your people.  So sometimes the ORACLE uses the best word it can."

It follows you to the supply closet and listens to your explanation.  There is a pause at your last question.  Then the bird says for Llewelyn, "I am not one of the traders.  I am a APPRENTICE of sorts as well.  I am studying..."

Llewelyn points at you.  "Your people.  I follow the traders and try to learn more about your people.  So we can talk better."

Llewelyn waves a hand towards the compound.  "Do you like it here?  May I ask what you do? What you study?"

Ailith watched the tablet thing attentively. It didn't seem all that similar to the things she had seen under the river but maybe there were still a few things she could learn from it. “I see.” was all she commented about the Oracle. She was pretty sure Oracle wasn't the right word for it either, but she supposed it was as good a name as any so she didn't say anything about it.

“I'm studying...” She started to answer the question, paused briefly as she considered how best to answer that question, “Well, I'm the youngest apprentice so I'm helping a bit everywhere with everything that needs to be done really. It allows me to learn a bit of everything, decide what I want to do, that sort of things. And allow the Masters to decide which of them wants me as their apprentice. Not sure how long that'll last though. It's not the most fun things to do,” She shrugged, “but it'll get better at some point. Soon I hope.”

After a couple of seconds, she asked curiously. “Where do you come from? And how did you get here?”

In reply to Ailith (msg # 124):

Llewelyn seems to listen attentively.  Though, as it's body language isn't what you are used to, maybe you have that wrong.

"I came on the GREAT CITY."  It points a finger upwards towards the sky.  "We all came on a GREAT CITY that flys through the darkplacesbetweenpointsoflight."

That last bit is said so fast, it's like listening to a kojoji addict talk as fast as they can.

Llewelyn points to the distance now, towards the area their village landed beyond the hill.

"We rode down from it in a VILLAGE.  You must have seen it as we came near the village."

It glances around the courtyard.  "Do you do scrimshaw?  I know the Traders are interested in scrimshaw works.  Don't tell anyone I told you.  Consider it a gift for talking to me."

It nods.  "It was a pleasure to meet you.  I hope we can talk more tomorrow."

It gives you a short bow of it's head and then turns around, walking towards the hall.

You hear a noise behind you and Zez is walking up slowly.  He sighs. "I didn't hear much.  What did the Interloper say to you?"

Ailith turned her head this way and that way as she listened to Llewelyn's explanations, then blinked in surprise when the Interloper suddenly left.

She looked at Zez for a moment, blinking a bit stupidly, before she shook her head to clear her mind. “Uh, it wanted to know who I was and what I was doing. Studying. Working on? Apparently it's an apprentice too, learning how to talk to us and things like that.” She frowned. “I'm not sure how that works though since it's the Oracle - that bird thing on their shoulder - who does the talking...”

She frowned pensively for a second, then added “Anyway. I,” and she looked pointedly at Zez slightly pausing to be sure he had noted the emphasis, “believe that they might be interested in scrimshaw works.” If he hadn't appeared like that she'd have found another way to say it, but now, no matter how or when she did so, it'd be obvious to him where it had really come from so... At least he didn't know Llewelyn's name. “I don't know why though. Maybe it means something special in their culture?”

In reply to Ailith (msg # 126):

"Scrimshaw, huh?"  Zez glances after the Interloper and shakes his head.  "Anyway.  That's fine.  Good job.  Sorry you had to do all this right after getting back. If you want to sneak a plate of food out of the kitchen and go rest up, I'll take care of everything else."

He seems to think a moment and says, "So they call that thing on their shoulders an oracle?  Huh.  I didn't think they were religious."

Will let you decide if Ailith wants to do anything else tonight, and then I'll move us along. Thanks

Ailith nodded, then thanked Zez. “Thanks, I will.” As she began to head to the kitchen, she stopped to listen to Zez, then shook her head. “I don't think they are.”

She paused for a second, pensive, then shrugged, “Or at least, I don't think them calling it an Oracle has anything to do with religion. It's just... They don't know all of our worlds - like apprentice for example - so that bird-thing sort of...guesses - I suppose you could say - the right word. Oracle is sort of related to that concept and since they probably don't know a better word for it...”

“Or at least that how I think it went. I'll just, uh, go eat something and lie down.” She waved, “Take care.”

After that, Ailith went to the kitchen to get a plate of food, then went back to rest: she was tired and more importantly, while she was definitely curious, she didn't want to draw attention to herself. At least no more than she already had. And maybe, if she woke up early, she'd be able to run to the temple first thing in the morning. It'd probably be useless, but at least it would be done.

In reply to Ailith (msg # 128):

You sleep like a mountain sleeps:  deeply and for a very long time.  You wake slowly, mostly because some distant thought keeps telling you someone is shaking you.  Then you realize someone is.

Zez sits back on his haunches when you open your eyes.  He is frowning.  "Master Matah wants to see us.  Wash your face and dress quickly.  We need to hurry."

So much for sneaking off to the temple.

Zez is waiting outside your room when you step out.  He nods and turns, hurrying quickly across the compound to the family quarters.  He doesn't head into the main door...a door you've never gone through.  Instead, he turns to the left and walks around the side of the building.

This is a part of the compound you've not been to.  You knew there was a space beside the family's quarters, but you had no idea it was a garden.  And a large one at that.

Surrounded by a low fence, a garden of flowering cacti and qisella bushes stands like a small lake of plant life.  There is a central pond, and you can see fish swimming around in it.  They are too small for eating but colored so vibrantly, the thought of eating them is almost like a crime.  You have no idea what kind of fish these are.

At the far end of the garden is a small gazebo.  Zez motions with you to be quiet, and the two of you head for it.

Master Matah is seated on a cushion in the middle of the gazebo.  He has a small knife and is whittling the core of a qisella into a cylindrical shape.

Zez approaches the steps leading up to the gazebo.  You notice there are pillows spread along the step and Zez kneels on one, motioning for you to follow suit.

Matah glances up at the both of you, his eyes lingering on you for a while, before going back to his whittling.  "It is important to set a goal for your work each day," he says, studying the cut he just made.  "No matter what occurs, you should always strive your best to meet that goal each day.  Though some days..."  He sighs and sets down both the wood and the knife, "That is not possible.

"So.  You have had a busy couple of days Ailith.  Tell me what occured with the Interloper yesterday.  You did nothing wrong,"  he adds quickly.  "But the situation being what it is, I need to know what happened, no matter how innocent it was."

You do not need to provide dialouge unless you wish to.  Mostly, I need to know if there is anything you do not tell him.  Thanks.

While in most circumstances Ailith would have enjoyed the walk, those were definitely not most circumstances. Between what she had found in the river, the talk with Llewelyn in the evening and the fact that it simply was the first time she was called there... She worried quite a bit about what it meant.

When she was told she did nothing wrong she relaxed... Slightly. She licked her lips, then started to talk. “I was finishing tidying Master Korim's workshop when an Interloper appeared at the window. He... She... It?” She grimaced, clearly not too pleased to be unable to clearly define said Interloper, “wanted to talk.” after which she recounted the encounter as best she could.

The only hesitation she had was to talk about the advice regarding scrimshaw works. In the end, she still shared it, but it was clear she wasn't terribly happy to be put in that position. All the while, she was wondering if all of that had been some sort of test... But she couldn't figure what it would be about.

Only thing Ailith doesn't share is the name. For now at least: she figures it's the best chance she has to keep Matah satisfied without "betraying" Llewelyn's confidence.

In reply to Ailith (msg # 130):

Matah watches you as you relay the tale.  He doesn't make a noise and he doesn't twitch or move about.  You aren't really sure he blinks.

When you're done he nods once.  "Interesting.  Scrimshaw, huh?  I suppose that was his way of repaying you for not running away."

He sighs and picks up the root he was working on.  "The Interlopers seem to come in two varieties.  The traders.  Which are most of them.  But there are a few scholars among them.  They are studying our world.  And us.  Seems the Interloper you spoke with was one of these 'scholars'."

He makes a cut in the wood with a knife and studies it.  "I cut too deep on this pass.  See?  Everyone can make a mistake in cutting.  It is what you do about it that matters.

"Have you done scrimshaw work Ailith?  Go do one.  Bring it to me when you're done with it.  The two of you may go."

Zez blinks at Matah and bows.  He hurries the two of you out of the garden.

Glancing at you, he whispers, "Keep silent on him wanting to see your work.  The others will make your life hell if they find out about it."  He's quiet a moment and then adds, "Honestly.  I'm fairly jealous myself."

Ailith nodded to accept the task Matah had given her, obviously a bit surprised but not thinking too much about it. Something that changed when she heard what Zez had to say about it. “Really? Uh...”

She silently considered the question for a moment, then asked “You're sure?” She didn't seem all that convinced, “I mean, I understand what it could imply but...” She shook her head, “First, I don't really have any experience with scrimshaw, second... Sure, I've become quite good at drawing water from the well,” At least her arms didn't hurt anymore once that was done, “Cleaning the workshops and so on, but I haven't done anything worth noting by any of the masters, much less Master Matah...” In fact, while she had helped here and there, she hadn't been able to even start working on anything by herself.

Before Zez could answer, she asked à few more practical questions, “And... How am I supposed to work on this if I can't tell anyone? When will I find the time for it if I still have to do all the other stuff, to say nothing of the resources and tools? I can't really ask Master Olk for help after all...” Not only because she had never really interacted with him since he was served by Iriz... But also because Iriz would see it as an "attack" on her position and might want to sabotage her.

In reply to Ailith (msg # 132):

Zez exhales rather slowly and then stops, turning to look down at you.  "Really?  You have an opportunity that hasn't been afforded to any of the rest of us, and this is the best you can do?

"If Master Matah has asked you to carve a piece of scrimshaw, do you really think you can't use the tools and supplies in the storeroom?  And when did Master Matah say you could not approach Master Olk?  And if you're tired when you go to sleep at the fifth bell in your room, won't you be just as tired when you stay up late for one bell's worth of time in your room and work on your scrimshaw then?  When do you think I work on my own pieces?  And where do you think I work on them?  Have I been given a workshop?"

He shuts his eyes, sighs again, and slumps his shoulders.  He doesn't open them when he starts speaking again.  "Has anyone ever monitored you when you throw out the trash?  You know. All the bits of raw material that the masters have discarded?  Has anyone ever checked on your quarters to make sure your lamp is out and your in bed at fifth bell?

"Only part of the apprenticeship is teaching you techniques.  There are other skills masters have to learn.  Like resource procurement and time management.  Handling rivals.  And resourcefulness.  You're a very hard worker, yes.  But that's only part of it."

Ailith blinked, obviously a bit surprised by Zez's tone. Hadn't her questions been reasonable? Well, at least she thought so. Granted he made some good points too, but still… Sure, she could do all that. It was the "do it all" and "not say anything to anyone" that she had troubles with. Though on the other hand, he had said that she had to keep silent about Matah wanting to see her work, not on her working at all… She could always say it was her own idea. It wouldn't solve all her problems, but it would address most of them.

One of the problems she was going to have, was to find a way to handle Iriz one way or another - Matah or not, she wasn't going to be pleased at all if she learned that Ailith was working on scrimshaw - but she supposed she could talk to Olk whenever Iriz was otherwise occupied.

As for the time… Well, now that she was used to it, she probably could speed up her tasks at the end of the day: being tired all the time wasn't exactly something she enjoyed after all. But if she planned her days carefully, as much as she could anyway as it depended on the masters' needs, she might be able to manage. Especially if she kept a day or two free - or at least where she didn't work on her own project - to rest a bit. It might look like it'd slow her down, but being rested would probably lead to fewer mistakes…which meant less time spent, maybe a lot less than she'd have "lost".

Still, time would definitely be her biggest problem… and that was without even considering what she was going to do about the river-thing. It seemed obvious that she'd have to give up her desire to find someone to teach her more of the Temple's language, at least for the time being. It wasn't something she was happy with, not at all, but on the other hand… it meant that she was finally going forward with her studies, which was definitely something to celebrate. And in the end… once she officially had a master… surely she'd have a bit more free time, as little as it was. And maybe learning the Temple language wouldn't be all that hard or time consuming. It was definitely something she was going to look at, at least to get an idea.

All in all, it was almost a minute later before she finally nodded, “You're right I guess. Sorry, I didn't mean to sound ungrateful.”

After a brief moment spent to think about her plans - already having an idea on what she wanted to work on - and deciding that she would have to start by talking a bit with Olk, she asked the head apprentice, “Do you know at what time of the day Master Olk is the most available?” Some masters liked to start the day slow, others to do the hard stuff straight away, so it would be important to target the right time. “And… do you have any idea if Iriz will be…somewhere else than his workshop… at some point in the next couple of days?” She had to admit that she hadn't paid too much attention to the other apprentices agenda. She grimaced, “I know, you said handling rivals and all that but…” she shook her head, “She's going to think I want to steal Master Olk from her,” she snorted disdainfully, obviously not having any intention of the sort, “and I'd rather deal with that after I'm started, not before… Definitely not before…” Though of course she would have to at some point, especially if she had to talk semi-regularly with her master to ask for advice.

In reply to Ailith (msg # 134):

Zez chuckles dryly.  "And I'm sorry too.  Guess I'm feeling jealous and taking it out on you.  But that's my problem.  Not yours."

He opens his eyes and gives you a lopsided grin.  "Iriz will be...yes.  You are correct. She will be a bit of a thorn."  He seems to think a moment.  "You know...since scrimshaw is going to be such a commodity soon, we really should get an updated audit of our inventory of them.  Sounds like a good project for Iriz since she's Master Olk's apprentice.  I would imagine that, if I tell her about it at lunch, it would keep her in the warehouse for most of the afternoon.  Since she will be busy, if you could check with Master Olk during that time and ask if he needs anything swept up please.  Need to make sure he is not inconvienced.  Right?"

He shrugs.  "Consider it my apology.  Just make sure you take some bone and carving tools from the storeroom in the morning before lunch.  Let me know what you take and how much and I will log it as Master Matah's project.  Will that all help?"

“You don't need to apologize, it's alright.” Ailith took a moment to think about all of that. “I was thinking of picking something in the storeroom after I talked to Master Olk though. You know, ask him for advice on what to work with then pick, rather than the other way around.”

She frowned, pensive for a second, “On the other hand I could pick something that I think would work with what I have in mind, and then ask him for advice on how to proceed.” She tapped her lips for a few seconds as she considered the question, then nodded, “Yes, let's do that, it's fine. Thanks!”

After a moment, she added, “Oh and I don't think you have anything to be jealous of you know, first all of this might mean nothing - it'll be my first scrimshaw piece so it really doubt it will impress anyone - and second you're the head apprentice of the Hiyal after all, that's worth a lot!”

In reply to Ailith (msg # 136):

Zez laughs.  "Thanks."

The two of you bid each other a good evening and you retire to your room.

---

The storeroom is well organized.  So you can easily find what you need.

While you may not have used the tools for bone carving, you have at least seen Olk and Iriz using them in his studio.  You polish the bone (your favorite chore), engrave a design, rub ink over it, and then wipe the ink away leaving what has stained the grooves from your design.

You could try to cut the bone into a shape as well prior to engraving it.

The bones are mostly from quolk carcasses or kwadik spikes.

Not sure how much you know about scrimshaw.  The basics are:

You can use one of the bones/spikes 'as is'.  That is leave it in shape.  Engrave and stain it so that the piece is decorated.

Or you can try the more difficult route of carving the bone into a shape and then engraving it.  Ailith knows most knife blades are made from kwadik spikes for example.

Whether she has ever worked with this material or not is up to you.  I have been assuming she hasn't, but feel free to change that assumption if you like.

I just need to get an idea of what kind of piece she is going to try to make.

Thanks

Nah, Ailith never worked on that kind of things.
Oh and “you bid each other a good evening”: we are first thing in the morning, so it's a bit early for evening ^^

In the storeroom, Ailith considered the quolk bones and the kwadik spikes as she thought about what she wanted to do. Truth be told, she could use either of the two, but in the end she picked two spikes that could be used to make knives: she didn't really know how to make those, but since she didn't really know all that much about scrimshaw in the first place, it wouldn't add much more to her task. Plus, she liked the idea of making something functional.

In the afternoon, while Iriz was busy, she went to talk to Master Olk. Ostensibly to ask him if he needed something swept, but really to ask him for advice on her project. She knew what she wanted to do and explained what she had in mind: a set of two knives, their handles and blades decorated, the set representing the world's duality: the two stars, the two moons, the two seasons, etc, where each knife would have one of the two. For the stain of the pieces, she wanted to use emz sap: she was under no illusion that her first piece was going to be extraordinary, so if she wanted something that made an impression, she'd have to innovate. She'd have to be careful to not use as a pretext to be sloppy - she already knew where that would lead to - but she hoped it would be something nice.

What she mostly wanted to know, was which tools to use in which circumstances, which part of the spike to use for the handle and the blade, how to decorate the blade without making it fragile, etc.

In reply to Ailith (msg # 138):

Continuity is overrated.  LOL.  Sorry about that.

Master Olk gives you a frank look when you explain.  At first you might be worried you've upset him by asking.

But he starts pointing at various tools on his table and gives you an overview of the uses for each.

As he starts to go into how to shape the knives, you realize he just has a stern expression.  He's actually quite nice.  He advices that if these are meant to be anything other than decorative pieces, then you might want to make the hilt out of wood.  But if they are decorative, it would be fine to carve them as part of the knife.

He gives you a couple of general hints on the staining.

"If you want," he offers.  "You can bring the pieces to me for review once you've made your guide marks for the etching."

“Well, I'd hope for the knives to be a bit more than simply decorations, but I'm under no illusion that they're going to be more than decent.” At best. If she was lucky. Plus, in the end, she wouldn't be surprised that if the result was decent they would end up in some Interloper's hands... And what need would they have of knives?

When Olk offered for her to come back to review her sketches, she smiled gratefully. “I'll make sure to do so, thank you!” She smiled thankfully, then went back to her regular work. It wouldn't be all that soon anyway: besides the fact that she had to draw what she had in mind in the first place, she also had to carve the knives themselves as doing it the other way around would be stupid.

Though she would need some help on that side too - she didn't know much of anything on that front - so maybe she'd start with the drawings... And learning more about knives carving whenever she had the opportunity.

Sadly, with all that it meant that she couldn't afford to take time to go to the Temple, much less look for someone who'd be able to teach her the language. While she couldn't be sure of it, she guessed that she would also be evaluated on how long she took to produce the finish her work.

In reply to Ailith (msg # 140):

Hmmm.  Good point about the temple.

The next day, Zez brings around an anouncement.

"In honor of the Interlopers visit, the village elders are declaring a feast day.  You may all enjoy a day off."

The village springs into action.  Feast Days are like festivals but with better food.  Each house puts out trays of fresh baked food.  You can wander from door to door, sampling everyone's food.  There are also games and performances in the square.

All of the Masters seem to be taking off.

Ailith was pleasantly surprised by the news. While it wouldn't help her learning more about the Temple's language since that was a long term project, it would at least allow her to go to the Temple itself and see... Well, as a matter of fact, she didn't know what she was expecting to see. Nothing if she were to be honest. But maybe something would happen.

And if nothing else, she would have a free day. Which meant, among other things, that she'd be able to afford a nice nap as well as finally visiting the village.

For a start though, she went to the Temple.

In reply to Ailith (msg # 142):

The temple sits on the eastern side of town, on top of one of the hills the village is built up against.

Like most temples, it's not large, but it is ornate.  Each generation of a family must contribute something to the temple.  Many of the poorer families just put up a bouquet of flowers.  Others, like the Hiyal, contribute ornaments or vestments.  These are usually arrayed for inspection by visitors.

The temple is laid out like staff broken at a ninety degree angle.  The main hall consists of altars for each of the families that make up this low village.  Prayers in gratitude to the previous generations can be made, as well as requests that they continue their guidance.

The far part of the temple houses the caretakers.  One of the families, the Gry'k, act as temple caretakers and the scribes for the village.  Part of their home is the records annex for the village.  You can study the history of the village if you like.

And of course, you are free to approach any of the Gry'k.  The current family consists of two brothers, their wives, and the five children the two couples have produced.

Let me know if there is any particular thing Ailith is interested in.  If not, I will move things along.  Thanks

Ailtih took note of the presence - and identity - of the Gry'k family: if she wanted to learn the Temple's language, it would probably be to one of them that she'd need to talk. After a brief hesitation however, she decided to not do so on that day: one way or another, she wouldn't have time for it while she made her knives on top of her normal daily tasks.

On the other hand... Maybe she could ask them a few things that would make sense to incorporate to her project: it would be a really good explanation for later on wanting to learn the language.

After a brief hesitation, she decided to first start with the tomb she had seen when she had arrived: it might make everything else a moot point...even though Ailith didn't really believe it. On the other hand, since she still couldn't explain what had happened on that day...

In reply to Ailith (msg # 144):

You head back to the vault at the top of the hill.  People have laid out flowers and small trinkets, but no one is hanging around.  The living want to spend a festival day with the living it seems.

The woman is not here.  Of course she isn't.  Why would it be that easy?

As you look around, you hear something scuttle further along in the crypt.  It makes you turn your head just because...you know. You alone.  Big empty crypt.  Mysterious woman.

A mural on the far wall catches your eye.  It depicts people wearing hooded robes journeying to a gray mountain.

While she hadn't expected to see the woman once again, Ailith was still a bit disappointed: it would have made things much more straightforward after all. Granted, she wasn't surprised, but still…

For a couple of minutes, she studied the mural she had noticed to try and understand what this was all about, looking at everything around it to see if maybe it could add some context to the mural itself to make it easier to understand: was that gray mountain something real? Some kind of allegory?
This message was last edited by the player at 18:26, Wed 13 Jan 2021.

In reply to Ailith (msg # 146):

Up close you can see a few more details of the mural.

The mountain has an oddly distinctive shape.  Flat on the top on one side, with the other side sloping up to a rounded point.  The mural seems to depict greyish clouds floating around the top.

The robes the people look odd.  They aren't the usual type of robes worn by anyone you've seen before.


Before you go to the Gry'k, let me remind you of something that happened waaaaaaay back in message 91.  It was a message she got in the ship.


We are punched

We are punched

Sending to the mountain with the gray sky

We are punched

We are punched

Sending to the mountain with the gray sky

You are in danger

Leaving is South then South then North again

Just in case that changes anything

I've edited the last message accordingly.

“The 'mountain with the grey sky'?” Ailith mumbled as the considered the mural, her head tilted to the side. Could it be the one she had heard about under the river? If it was... Well, it seemed reasonable to think that whatever danger there had been had long gone away, one way or the other. But it might mean that there was nothing left there. On the other hand... Well, there could be things left. Granted, it was kind of a moot point since she had no idea where that specific mountain was, and even if she did... How was she going to go there? The likely answer was simply that she wasn't going to anytime soon. Which was neither surprising nor welcome.

For a moment, Ailith studied the figures, or more precisely their robes. If those people were related somehow to those who had lived in the thing under the river - she'd really have to find a name for it at some point - then those clothes were probably of the same type as the ones she had found. Maybe specifically adapted to the climate. Or possibly, the mural had been made by someone who had worked based on descriptions without having seen the real thing. Which wasn't unlikely at all.

No matter what, it seemed rather natural to think that whatever she had found in the river wasn't something completely isolated to everything else. The language had been a first hint - as weird as it felt - but that mountain...

Well, even if she couldn't do anything about it for now, she decided to ask about the mural: even if she wouldn't be able to go there in the event she learned where the mountain was, it might help her get some context on the whole thing which in turn might help her better understand what she found. Which had the good taste of being reachable.

To that end, Ailith headed to the Gry't family home and asked the first one she saw who seemed available, “Good morning, I have a few questions if you don't mind?”

In reply to Ailith (msg # 148):

You meet a young woman, the eldest daughter of the Gry'k clan.  "Happy Festival. I am Iledra and I do not mind at all.  You are Ailith, right?  The Hiyal's latest apprentice?  I have heard of you but haven't had a chance to make it over to say my hellos.

"Now how can I help you?"

Ailith smiled a bit shyly as she nodded. “Yes, that's me. I haven't had time to do much of anything so... I barely know anyone...” She shrugged.

“Anyway, there are two things I'd like to know: the first one is that I'm planning work on a set of two pieces. I want to use those to express our world's duality: two suns, two moons, two seasons, etc. I wanted to know if you'd be able to think of a couple of things that I could add that would reinforce the idea. Some kind of... I don't know...” She grimaced, “I have never really paid attention to, well...” She waved in the direction of the temple as if it could explain everything. “Maybe some kind of higher concepts or something that I could engrave?”

“The second one is more curiosity. When I arrived in the village, I noticed one of the murals in the crypt. The one with the mountain? It looked like the people in it had weird clothes, do you know anything about it?”

In reply to Ailith (msg # 150):

Iledra considers your first question.  "Well.  If I'm understanding your concept..."

She walks away, gesturing you to follow.  She heads down to one of the prayer alcoves and stops before a mural on the wall.

The mural seems to depict various clan symbols.  But in the center of it is an odd depiction of circles.  It seems familiar:  a blue-brown circle with two smaller, pure white circles around it.  And all three of them are bracketed by two larger circles, one red and one midnight blue.

Ildera points to the set.  "This was painted supposedly twenty generations ago.  There are a lot of legends about it.  But they mostly go along the lines that this was painted by a villager who studied the night sky.  She supposedly believed our world travels around two larger objects which are our suns.  And that the two moons circle our world.  Supposedly she was correct.  The Interlopers say our world is a plahn't."

She shrugs.  "That is the word in their language. Plahn't.  I don't know about such things.  But the idea is interesting.  We are caught between two large suns, traveling between them.  Does that give you something to go with?"

She has to think about your second question.  "Oh!  The Gray Mountain story.  It's a version of the Tale of Kahk'tahn."

Kahk'tahn was a mythical figure.  The wise elder who helped found the two village system and taught the people how to read and write.  Everyone claims he was the founder of their clan lineage.  But no one really knows for sure.

"It's a bit heretical actually.  So no one really talks about it.  But in that version, Kahk'tahn appeared to the people and saved them from a long drought by taking them to the mountains.  The problem with the story is that it's really the only one that has the clans already being around before Kahk'tahn.  I can try to dig up the scroll with it.  It may take me a couple of days.  But I'd be glad to research it for you."

Ailith stayed silent for a moment as she looked at the circles surrounded by the clan symbols. “Hmm...” She didn't seem quite sure it helped at all: it was only one symbol and she wasnt sure she wanted to have it on both her knives. After a couple of seconds, she tilted her head to the side. What if she etched it twice... But coloured it differently, in one case highlighting the red circle, the blue one in the other... she would need to do it after she had applied the emz sap to use the right colours so that it didn't clash with whatever was around it, but... It could certainly work. “I think so.” She nodded carefully. “I think it'll be quite nice.” She grimaced wryly. “If I don't mess up...”

As for the murals, she seemed puzzled. “Heretical?” She had trouble understanding what was heretical exactly, but decided she didn't really want to show the depth of her ignorance on the subject. “I'd be glad if you did. Though...” She grimaced a bit. “There's no hurry, I'm not sure when I'll have free time next...”

In reply to Ailith (msg # 152):

She laughs.  "You're an apprentice at Hiyal.  I am surprised you even know what the concept of 'free time' is!  But it will be worth it.  All their apprentices go on to great things.  Oh!  That reminds me.  Were you formally adopted by the family?  If so, we may need to add your information to our register."

I will leave it to you to decide if Ailith was formally adopted or if she was just accepted as an apprentice.  Thanks

Hmm, let's say she's not been adopted yet? I figure it could be something important to her, and maybe a sort of "reward" for when she becomes someone's apprentice?

“Uh… No?” Ailith blinked, obviously surprised by the question: she hadn't even known it was something that could happen. Unless she had been told at some point when she had been too exhausted for it to register? And there had been quite a few of those days, particularly at the beginning. If it were the case, it'd be mortifying… But… No, surely there'd have been some kind of ceremony, even a quick one, right? No matter how tired she'd have been, she'd still remember something like that.

More sure of herself, she shook her head. “No.” Now that she knew about it though, she could only worry: should she have been? Did it mean something that she hadn't? It couldn't be good, right? She was beginning to be anxious now…

In reply to Ailith (msg # 154):

"Oh!  That's right.  They don't adopt upfront.  Sorry.  I forgot. Okay.  I will find those scrolls.  Stop by tomorrow to pick them up.  You can keep them overnight."

You see Zez in the square as you start to head back.  He waves at you.  "Enjoying the festival?"

“Oh.” Ailith placed one and on her chest, obviously really relieved: she hadn't missed anything then. “That's good.” But then, she was left to ponder one important question: did she want to be adopted in the Hiyal family? What would her parents think? Deciding that those questions could wait, she shook her head and added, “I should be able to come back tomorrow sure.” She slightly grimaced. “Not sure of the exact hour though. Thank you!”

“Hey.” She greeted Zez, “I just had to ask a couple of questions to the Gry't so I'm afraid I haven't seen much yet. Anything you'd recommend? I'm afraid pretty much everything and everyone is new to me... Well, except for when we went to the market place anyway.”

In reply to Ailith (msg # 156):

He laughs.  "You probably have not gotten a chance to tour, have you?  Do you like games?  They are running a couple of games over there.  I think the Bizun family is going to run a puppet show.  Do not judge.  They are actually pretty good.  Oh!  And the food is free over by the fountain."

He glances over your shoulder.  Checking that way, you see a young woman standing by a doorway, giving him a once over.

"I would show you around. But I have a date.  Sorry.  Just introduce yourself to whoever as belonging to Hiyal. This village is pretty friendly."

He gives you a pat on the shoulder and heads towards the pretty girl in the doorway.

Ailith blinked at the mention of the puppet show… or more precisely Zez's admonishment to not judge: why would she judge? Wasn't it something perfectly fine? Of course, what she didn't realise was that it could be seen as childish…but she was still young enough to be perfectly fine with that. “I will check it out.” She nodded gravely: she was still old enough to not want to appear childish after all!

Her eyes sparkled when he mentioned the food - she was far from famished, but it meant she'd get to try a bit of everything! - and curiously glanced behind her at… well, at Zez's girlfriend, to whom she nodded in greetings. She was briefly surprised that Zez had a girlfriend. Not that he could find one obviously but that he had the time for it. Which of course was good news: it meant that she'd truly have some time to herself at some point…

Soon however, she forgot about all that, and headed to the puppet show after a brief stop by the fountain: a puppet show was best with something to eat after all!

In reply to Ailith (msg # 158):

There is some tasty fried doughs and, even better, roasted tart melons.  The elders running the stall are not shy with the helpings.  You can take all you can hold.  No one seems to be too self concious about taking some for later.

The stage for the puppet show is larger than you expected.  A crowd is already gathering around though the show is not set to start for a little while longer.  You juggle some still hot fried dough into your mouth and look around for a spot.

Greetings.  You are Ailith.

The dense, buzzy voice comes from behind you.  You recognize it right away.  Llewelyn's bird.  The Interloper himself is coming up behind you.

Are you AMUSEMENT this festival?

Ailith didn't mind that the show hadn't started yet as it allowed her to sample the food and get a good spot - assuming she could find one anyway - but she was however surprised to hear the Interloper greet her. For some reason she had expected them to have left the night before but obviously that had not been the case. “Enjoying, not amusing.” She corrected a bit distractedly, then nodded. “The food is good, yes. Though I haven't seen much of anything yet as I had things to do before that.”

She looked at the interloper, then holding a meat bun asked, “Want one? Are you looking for something?”

In reply to Ailith (msg # 160):

Llewelyn holds up a hand.  You aren't sure why.  Maybe he is declining.

Thank you but I cannot.  We cannot IMBIBE your food.

Llewelyn gestures to the stage.

I was told a SPECTACLE was going to be put on.  Besides this, what other forms of SPECTACLE do your peoplel enjoy?

“Oh.” Ailith considered the bun for a moment, “That's a weird rule. And a bit sad.” She shrugged, then proceeded to eat said bun. “And it's not imbibe, it's eat. You eat food, drink beverages. You don't imbibe anything. Well, alright, maybe you imbibe alcohol, but...” She creased her nose, “I've never understood how one can like that stuff.” She pulled her tongue out, obviously disgusted.

“Anyway,” she looked at the stage, “It's a puppet show yes. It's fun. Other than that...” Ailith took a moment to think about it: she wasn't all that knowledgeable about things like that, since for the most part she preferred tinkering with things than spectacles. “There's music, songs, uh, contests?” Those could be fun too. “Is it different for you?”

In reply to Ailith (msg # 162):

Llewelyn puts a hand over the bird like last time and tries repeating the word.

"Aht.  No.  Eeeee.  Tch.  E-ah-t.  Eaht."

He takes his hands off the bird.  Does that sound right?

We do EAHT.  But we cannot...

Llewelyn hestiates.  It does not work for us.

Anyway. We sing.  And we have performances too.  But ours are like pictures that move.  I can show you sometime if you like.

Llewelyn stops talking as the puppet show starts.  The puppeteers are quite good.  They are doing the old story of Tonk'n and the Gova That Could Make Pots.  They are making it funny and several lines make you chuckle.

You notice Llewelyn seems to be watching you as much as the show.  You can't tell why.  Maybe Llewelyn is confused?  Or the show offended him?  Though it is just a children's tale.  Well.  That line about what Tonk'n can put in the pot is a little risque.  But overall it's a good show.

You also notice something about the people standing near the two of you.  They are glancing over your way.  A couple of them move their heads together and seem to whisper to each other.

Ailtih repeated the words a few times until Llewelyn had the pronunciation right - or as close to right as possible - then nodded. She was a bit puzzled to know that they ate but that it somehow didn't work for them. Food was food, right? How could it not work? There had to be something she didn't understand somewhere...

Not that pictures that move sounded any more comprehensible: how could a picture move? Though with Interlopers...who knew. It wasn't like everything had made sense under the river after all, so she probably shouldn't expect it from Interlopers. “Sure.” She agreed: at the very least it could be interesting if she managed to see those pictures that move. And maybe she'd learn how to do it?

After a while though, she focused on the show, enjoying the performance and barely paying attention to Llewelyn or the other villagers looking at her. At the end, smiling happily, she stood up - it was time to get some new food samples! - and finally looked around which caused her smile to slip away. She frowned, obviously puzzled and asked Llewelyn, “Uh... Is anything wrong?”

In reply to Ailith (msg # 164):

Llewelyn looks back at you.  What Llewelyn's facial expression means...it is hard to say.  The Interloper has eyes and a nose and mouth.  But the way they use them, or at least Llewelyn uses them, seems so...flat.

No.  I enjoyed the performance.  Why do you ask?

“Well... It was funny.” Ailith edged, clearly unsure of herself though she did smile when she said it was funny. “It's just...” She lowered her voice. “Why is everyone looking at us like that?”

After a couple of seconds, she squinted, “Unless...” her head tilted to the side she considered Llewelyn, “They're just watching you, right? Maybe they want to ask questions but don't want disturb you?” Something she could certainly understand as she'd have rather not drawn attention to herself like that. Of course, since there was no way to revert that back, she just went along with it. “If you want to learn more, you should talk to them you know? Make it clear you're available to answer questions? No one will mind if you ask some of yours then.”

In reply to Ailith (msg # 166):

Llewelyn glances around.  Llewelyn's mouth opens and an odd noise comes out.  Like an escape of air that sounds rather mournful.

Oh.  I see.  I may have made things difficult for you.  My aplogies.

Llewelyn gives you a bow.  Thank you for your time.  Please enjoy the festival

Llewelyn bows it's head and moves away.

A woman standing nearby leans closer to you. "I'm sorry to pry.  But...are you close to that Interloper?"

Ailith blinked in surprised as she watched Llewelyn leave. She wanted to say that "things hadn't been made difficult for her" or at least not more than drawing the attention of the Interlopers was, but the said Interloper had already left. On the other hand, Llewlyn probably had other things to do, so it probably didn't change much.

So instead, she looked at the woman. “Close?” She seemed surprised. “Uh, no, not really? We only met yesterday when they all came see the Hiyal Masters, and...” She paused, groaned and hit her forehead, “Ah, I forgot to ask if it's he, she or it! Aaaah...” She sighed, obviously annoyed, “Anyway, Llewelyn that you've seen asked a few questions and wanted to know a bit more about us, that's all. I suppose everyone else was busy so I was the only one to ask...”

She shook her head then shrugged. Eyeing the food stalls, she asked, “Did you want to ask something to...err...Llewelyn?”

In reply to Ailith (msg # 168):

The woman quickly shakes her head.  Like the idea of asking Llewelyn something is so disturbing it must be dismissed quickly.

"No no.  Not at all.  I was just...curious.  They...they scare me.  Don't they scare you?"

“Scare me?” Ailith blinked, obviously surprised. “I don't know? Worry, a bit yes.” She had heard not too long ago what might have happened to the previous village who had dealt with them after all, and if that were true… Granted, it didn't mean the Interlopers were the cause for it, but… What were the odds?

Llewelyn on the other hand… “But I'm not worried about Llewelyn.” She tilted her head to the side, opened her mouth, hesitated once again with the pronoun to use, “That one is not taking any decisions I think. In fact, we are both apprentices apparently. Or what passes for an apprentice in their culture anyway. So no, I'm not worried about Llewelyn. As for the rest… She shrugged with a grimace, “I doubt I'll have to interact with any of them, and for everything else, we'll just have to trust in Master Matah, right?” Plus, it wasn't like she had time to spend in such things as worry.

In reply to Ailith (msg # 170):

The woman gives you a look like she's not quite sure you're speaking in the same language, and then she giggles.

"I guess I am making assumptions.  Shame on me.  You're right.  Those wiser will make the decisions.  I should trust them."

You notice that a few others were listening in to your conversation.  They weren't even being very coy about it.  They seem to consider what you said.

The rest of the festival is fairly enjoyable. You are able to load up on more fried dough.  There is a torch show later.  Dyes and powders are mixed into the pitch on torches so they flare in varying colors.  Skilled jugglers toss the torches back and forth, creating a show like myzx during the nights of the Soon-Cold months.

You fall asleep easily and, for once, wake the next morning feeling refreshed.

---

It was good that you got a good night's sleep.  The following days are grueling.

Besides your regular duties, and working on your own project, you and the other apprentices have to work on inventory management.  Matah and the Interloper Captain negotiate.  You all have to bring them certain pieces and then cart them away.

The Interlopers place orders.  You work with the Masters in packaging up what is available in the storehouse.  Then the Masters adjourn to their shops to make up for any lack in the order.

You and Zez, as 'floaters', go from shop to shop, working at whatever task is needed.  You polish (always with the polishing), sand, carve, and even manage to work on some scrimshaw under Olk.  Iriz is furious. But she is just as tired as you.  Too tired to cause you any grief.

You manage to make time to pick up the scrolls from the Temple.  But you only manage to peek at them over the week.

Finally, the orders are completed and packed.  Matah declares a day off for everyone.  You begin your celebration by sleeping in an extra hour.

But you finally have to open your eyes.

What do you want to do first?

When she noticed that a lot more than the woman who had talked to her were listening, Ailith hesitated, not sure she liked her words having so much weight. Well, relatively anyway. Still, there was nothing she could do about it now and maybe more importantly, she hadn't said anything that she felt untrue. Granted, she hadn't said everything, but that wasn't the same thing.

So, resolutely, she turned to the festival, well decided to make the most of it and enjoy herself and have as much fun as she could. Though careful to not go to bed too late, as she was pretty sure the following day would be as filled with work as ever.

Which, somehow, still managed to be an understatement considering how brutal the following days ended up being, so much so that when she woke up the morning of her day off, despite it being an hour later than usual, she seriously considered going back to sleep. Despite that, she elected not to: she wasn't that tired - or was so used to being tired she didn't really notice it anymore - and any hour she could work on her own projects was good to take. If nothing else, it would hopefully get her closer to finally being allowed to have more time for herself.

So she started by going to the kitchens to quickly grab some food, which she brought back to her room: the first thing she wanted to do was study the scrolls. Not only because it might influence other decisions she had to take, but also because she had borrowed it and the sooner she gave it back the better. Plus, if she had any questions, she would be able to go ask them directly and wouldn't have to wait who knew how long.

As she read the scroll though, she was particularly mindful of her food: she really didn't want to spill some, or touch it with greasy fingers. That would definitely not do...

In reply to Ailith (msg # 172):

The scroll lays out the story of Kahk'tahn.  And Iledra is right.  It is a much different version of the story than you've ever heard.

This is the version you grew up hearing:

The people lived in one large group before Kahk'tahn.  They didn't move to the mountains during the summer years, and that lead to large numbers of the people dying.  Particularly the children.

Kahk'tahn came down from the mountains and, after some challenges, taught the people to read and write.  The first sentence he taught them was Go to the high places when the ground sears your feet.

And so the people did so, establishing the high villages and the traditions about the seasonal pilgrimages.  Kahk'tahn also established the clans to make sure resources were spread out.

The scroll is much different...

The people lived in the low lands, huddling under the earth when the ground was too hot to tread upon.  The clans warred against each other over the rivers that flowed under the ground, each trying to control the vital passage of water from place to place.

Kahk'tahn came down from the Gray Mountain.  He lead fierce warriors who wore enamel pannels that tools could not cut nor spears pierce.  He conquered the clans and then claimed the rivers from them.

Listen all of you, Kahk'tahn told the clans. From your rising to your sleeping, you act out of your ignorance.  Those who I deem wise, I will take to the Gray Mountain.  There, the ground is always cool.  The waters move across the skies in the clouds.  And rain falls upon everyone.

And Kahk'tahn gave each woman and man, elder and child, a test.  And those that discovered the way through the labrynith he promised the Gray Mountain.

But to the others who failed, he had pity.  And he told them how to live in the high places during the seasons of heat.  And once he saw those who failed established up high, he lead those who succeeded to the Gray Mountain.  Where they learned of joy.

So the second is different.  You can see why Ildera said some would call it heretical.  Many clans claim to be descended from Kahk'tahn.  And this version of the story would seem to say none of the clans were.

And there is that word.  Rain.  What is that?

Quick note:  the word for 'rain' in Ailith's language is the same word as 'monsoon'.  There is no difference to her people between the two.  The scroll uses the term 'rain'.  She can sound it out phonetically.  But has no idea what it means.

Why the difference?  Guess we'll find out.

Once she had finished reading the scroll - and made sure she remembered the version she had heard about - Ailith considered the problem for a moment. She wasn't all that disturbed by the "heretical" status of it, simply because she…didn't care all that much about such things. After all, she didn't even know if her clan - her previous clan - was one of those that claimed to be descended from Kakh'tahn, much less about her current one. So as far as she was concerned, there was no problem one way or the other.

Two things however puzzled her: the first one was the most obvious, that word rain that she didn't know. Something she was going to have to ask Ildera about when she went to give the scroll back. The second one was the test Kahk'than had mentioned - according to the scroll anyway - and the "labyrinth". What kind of test was this? Where was that labyrinth? Why had it been forgotten? Though to be fair, it might be something relatively well known that she simply hadn't really cared to learn about in the past…

Shaking her head, Ailith decided to take the scroll and bring it back to Ildera: she could think about it for hours without going anywhere after all so it seemed much more sensible to ask someone who would know. When she found the eldest daughter of the Gry'k clan, she gave her the scroll back, thanked her, then asked her questions.

In reply to Ailith (msg # 174):

"Rain?"  Ildera looks puzzled.  The fact she has to unroll the scroll to find the word tells you she doesn't know either.

"Hmm.  That sounds like a word in the old temple tongue.  But..." She shrugs.  "I'm afraid I don't speak it.  None of my family do.  The family that cartakes the D'wala family shrine are probably the closest family that I know who does."

D'wala.  That is four weeks away by foot, at the edge of the Down Hand mountain range.

"You might could try writing them.  A merchant might bring them word."

A letter, huh?  Paying a merchant to deliver such a letter and deliver a reply would cost you a few coins.  How much you aren't sure.  But you would judge it to be at least all the money you have saved up now.

<Periwinkle>"The labyrinth I do recall in other old tales.  I don't know that any of them give it an actual physical location.  But it's another name for khayul.

Khayul.  The gates to the land of the dead.

Well, that wasn't good news: not only had Ailith hoped that if not Ildera, at least someone in her family knew more of the Temple's tongue to teach her, but to hear that the closest one able to do such a thing was four weeks away… Well, that wasn't going to help much. If nothing else, even if she had the money to send one letter… She wasn't eager to spend it to learn the signification of one word that, all things considered, didn't seem all that important compared to everything else.

Plus, she had to be really careful about how much interest she showed: the last thing she wanted was to draw attention to herself, and question being asked. Curiosity could only take her so far. Though maybe she could pretend it had started as pure curiosity but she was now interested in doing something about it, somehow. On the other hand, if what she suspected was even remotely true, she really didn't want the interlopers to be interested in Kahk'tahn…

Still… “Well… If that labyrinth exists and we managed to find it…” It would certainly ruffle a few feathers, but… “It would settle a debate, wouldn't it?” Though… Who would want to find Khayul?

In reply to Ailith (msg # 176):

Oops.  Forgot Ildera wasn't periwinkle.  Switching her dialogue to red.

She blinks.  "Why would you want to find Khayul?  Are you one of the True-Word Speakers?"

You have no idea what that means.  She has a very odd look on her face when she asks you that.  Like she's found something unsettling.

Why would she want to find Khayul? That was her own question! Well... Of course, if one considered that she believed that there was more to that Labyrinth story, had indeed thought about finding Khayul. But it was only because of what it meant for the rest of it. Though she certainly wasn't going to mention that, now less than ever.

Still, there was something weird... “True-Word Speaker?” Ailith looked confused, “What is that? I'm pretty sure I don't know any word that you don't...” Granted, she had heard a lot of unknown words recently, but she hadn't retained most of them, if any. Plus, considering Ildera's reaction, it didn't seem to be anything good, and Ailith started to worry.

Maybe asking so many questions had been a mistake...

In reply to Ailith (msg # 178):

Ildera nods slightly and looks around, as if to see who else might be listening.

She leans closer.  "Don't talk about them too loudly.  Most just think they're lunatics.  But some clans react very badly to them.  Violently so."

She lets that sink in before whispering on.  "The True-Word Speakers believe Kahk'tahn was not of the people.  They say he was a traveler from somewhere below the ground.  They say venerating him is the same as worshiping demons."

For a second, Ailith considered Ildera, trying to determine if she was messing with her. In the end, probably deciding that it wasn't the case, she shook her head. “Oh, no, I'm definitely not one of those True-Word Speaker then. I don't believe Kahk'tahn came from below the ground, not at all.” In fact, she was ready to bet that Kahk'tahn came from above - much like the Interlopers - and not below. Though... was he of the people? Of that, she was much less sure of it. Not something she ought to say at any rate.

Despite that, Ailith started to consider if maybe the one she ought to bring to the river should maybe be Ildera: any one of the masters would draw too much attention and might not know any more than she did - alright, not know enough to be useful - but Ildera was another thing entirely: she doubted the Interlopers were looking at her closely - if at all - and she might be able to make sense of some things that went completely above Ailith's head. Some of the runes maybe...

It would have to wait though, for she'd need at least a couple of free days. Or maybe she'd have to convince one of the Master - like, purely at random, Master Yovo - they'd need some more emz. Well, at any rate, it was something to think about in the future. For now, she had other things to do than think about what could or could not be.

She nodded to Ildera, “I better get going, lots of other things to do. Thanks for the scroll and the history lesson. I think I'll have something more to talk to you about but I need to think about it some more.”

In reply to Ailith (msg # 180):

As you step back into the Hiyal compound, someone calls your name loudly.

"Ailith!"

Helza is striding across the courtyard towards you.  She has an annoyed look on her face.

"Were you the one who packed the shipment of isin masks?"

You recall the shipment.  You helped bundle it, but it was Zes who packed the crate.

Helza is continuing.  "The shipment was shorted by twenty masks! Can you not count?"

Ailith squinted as she considered Helza for a second, almost deciding to mess with her and proving that she was indeed able to count. Or maybe showing the opposite, which might be more entertaining. In the end though, with an internal sigh, she decided to try and be nice about it. Who knew, Helza might be so surprised that she'd just drop the matter entirely?

“Oh, really? Uh, that would have been embarrassing… Well, I'm so glad you picked it up! That was really thoughtful of you to check, thanks!” Maybe she was laying it on too thickly? Well, one way or the other… while she hoped it'd be enough, she doubted it: Helza was far too fond of her own voice to leave it at that…
This message was last edited by the player at 19:12, Wed 10 Feb 2021.

In reply to Ailith (msg # 182):

Helza snorts.  "Of course I picked it up!  I had to redo your work after all!  No wonder you don't have a master.  Your incompetence is astounding!"

So much for her letting it go.

"I had to waste my afternoon fixing your mistake.  You should at least sweep up Master Nazin's shop to make up for it."

Alright, it had been too much to ask for, and Ailith had pretty much expected as much. Still... Did Helza need to be that insufferable about it? Squinting, the young apprentice looked angrily at the older one. She considered saying a lot of different things, most of them not particularly pleasant, and almost decided not to. In the end though, she was unable to let it go just like that. “An entire afternoon just for that?” She snorted disdainfully.

“I've already thanked you. I might take care of sweeping your Master's shop tomorrow for it, and if I do, it'll be more than enough to repay you. Now if there's nothing else, I have things to do.” Not waiting for an answer, Ailith turned away, obviously intent on going back to her room.

In reply to Ailith (msg # 184):

"Filth..."

Helza mutters that under her breath.  She probably mutters some other things too.  But that's the one you catch.

Still marching off?

Ailith froze and looked over her shoulder at Helza, obviously a bit shocked by what she just heard. After a few seconds, she turned around, “Seriously?” She balled her fists and walked to Helza, apparently not much caring that the other apprentice had a few years on her. “You caught on a mistake and you feel like a thank you is not enough?”

“So first, you can swipe your master's shop yourself, I'm not going to do it for you. I'd hope it'd teach you some humility, but I'm not sure anything could do that. Second, you have a problem with me? What is it? I don't remember a single case where said anything even remotely insulting to you, much less tried to mess you. So is it that I don't strike your ego as much as you feel that I - or anyone for that matter - should? Come on tell me, I'm right there. It'd do you good to not talk in someone's back for once.” Which she couldn't be sure Helza was actually doing that, but... It didn't seem too much of a stretch.

“Or is it that because I never confronted you, you think you can walk all over me, do anything and I'll just take it? Is that it? Do you think you can bully me however you please? Well try me, and we'll see.” She growled, obviously quite pissed. “You're an arrogant bitch who doesn't have half, no a quarter of, the talent she'd need to be this much of an ass.”
This message was last edited by the player at 14:02, Sun 14 Feb 2021.

In reply to Ailith (msg # 186):

She looks amused at first.  But her eyes narrow when you mention 'talking behind someone's back'.

"Like you're one to talk about something like that!  And talk to me about no talent when AND ONLY WHEN your sorry ass actually gets a master.  You know. When someone who has talent actually agrees that you have talent too!"

And with that, she turns on her heel and storms off.

Ailith snorted disdainfully, not bothered at all by Helza's insinuations: after all, how long had she been here? Plus, she was pretty sure that her still not having a master was not a question of talent, but of having a lot to learn...and something that would likely change in the short term anyway.

More importantly, if an apprentice were gifted in one specific domain, it was much easier to match him or her to one master, so if nothing else, it might not be a lack of talent at all... Though of course it wasn't just a question of talent: Helza had probably wanted to be recognised as soon as possible, and Iriz to attach herself to her master for...well, she had her own reasons.

Not that Helza's opinion about her talent mattered all that much. Or at all for that matter. Ailith was relatively certain Master Matah believed she had talent, so Helza's opinion - or taunts - didn't affect her at all. No, what she found interesting was Helza's reaction to when she had mentioned talking behind people's back. It had been a bit of a guess, but given the other apprentice's attitude...

There wasn't all that much she could do about it - and she didn't particularly care - but instead of walking to her own room, Ailith changed directions and went to find Zez: she was ready to bet that Helza was going to try to make a mountain of the isin masks mistake, and it could be hilarious...but only if Zez knew what was going to happen: it had been his mistake after all, and who knew what kind of story Helza was going to tell everyone...

In reply to Ailith (msg # 188):

You find Zez outside the west storeroom, studying a parts log.  He looks up as you approach, a frown on his face.  He blinks at you as if he wasn't sure who you were and then smiles.

"Good evening. How you doing today?"

Evening already? Ailith woke up, talked to Ildera then went back to her room but was intercepted by Helza. Did it take that long to find Zez?
If she could find him reasonably quickly it's fine, we can say that Ailith worked on her own project and waited for the evening when she was reasonably sure she could find him, it's no big deal, I just want to make sure :)

“'Evening. It was fine, except for Helza.” She grumbled under her breath. “Apparently she checked the box of isin masks for some reason,” which might have been a good one of course, but... She had to wonder... Had the masks been missing before or after Helza checked? “and noticed that twenty of them were missing. She was...” She snorted disdainfully, “Well, she was Helza-like. She thought I was the one who packed that shipment and decided it gave her the right to insult me,” from her tone, it seemed Ailith was still angry about it, “and to force me to do some of her chores for her.”

The young apprentice shook her head, “Let's say it didn't go well. I'm sure there'll be a fascinating story about me circulating in the whole village soon enough - or another one I suspect - but she might try to go farther and make a stink about that shipment and how I forgot twenty masks.” She paused to let Zez digest all of that, then concluded, “I thought it wouldn't hurt if you knew.”

In reply to Ailith (msg # 190):

Nah, that was me rushing to catch up and forgetting where I was.  Let's just assume they said afternoon.  Sorry about that.

Zez has a blank look on his face for a moment and then busts out laughing.

He takes a moment to settle down.  "Sorry...uh...sorry...Wow.  That's funny."

He shakes his head and grins.  "Sorry.  I already talked to Masters D'Osk and Nazin about the shipment.  Master D'Osk put down the wrong number in the order and I failed to catch the mistake when I wrote up the log.  So it was both our faults.  Not yours.  The Masters know.  I will speak to Helza."

His smile flattens.  "I would not worry about tales being spread.  Helza is...well.  Helza.  But she does not say anything about someone behind their back she does not say to their face.  That is one of her two good features.  You always know where you stand with her.  But...speaking of tales being told..."

He seems to think a moment and then shrugs.  "Did you happen to mention to anyone that I had a date at the festival?  No?  Okay.  Just asking. Someone spreading a rumor that I am betrothed.  And it...it could make some things awkward for me. If anyone should ask you, please tell them that no.  We are just courting at the moment.  No betrothal.  I would not normally ask but...you would be doing me a favor."

No problem :)

Ailtih crossed her arms on her chest, almost impatiently tapping the ground with her foot while Zez laughed: she was obviously failing to find where all of that was funny. So when Zez said so, she grunted. Though at least she did understand once he had explained. “Well, I'm feeling mighty relieved to know that all she'll say is that I'm filth and have no talent.” She answered tartly. “Though now I really hope she tries something...”

“And no,” Ailith shook her head, “I didn't say anything about your date.” She didn't quite sound offended, but was clearly surprised Zez asked her that question. After all, not only she didn't particularly care...but to whom would she talk to about that if she wanted to? “I'll relay your message,” It wasn't like it would cause her any problem to do so after all, “but... I doubt anyone will ask me about it...” Since outside of the Hiyal "circle", she knew a grand total of two other villagers... Though granted, one of those two could be quite talkative.

In reply to Ailith (msg # 192):

Zez smiles at you.  "The first two seasons are always tough.  But don't worry.  You have talent.  A master will chose you."  His smile becomes a little mischievous.  "Not that there already hasn't been some talk."

He doesn't elaborate.

"At any rate, don't mind Helza.  She doesn't handle frustration well.  And likes to take it out on everyone around her.

"As for friends, I didn't have any the first year either.  But you'll see.  Once you start getting more free time, things will slide into place.

"Now.  Go work on your piece for Master Matah.  I'll handle restocking the clay urns.  Just inspect the free shops a couple of hours before dinner.  See if anything needs sweeping."

He pats you on the shoulder and heads off to whatever he was doing before hand.

Where do you want to go now?  Seems you have a few hours off.

“Who said I was worried?” Ailith looked at Zez with a sardonic expression: she wasn't worried. Much. “Though I wouldn't mind if someone else came to take the dubious honour of being the newest apprentice...” She shrugged.

For a moment, she considered asking what Helza was feeling frustrated for, but she decided she didn't particularly care: no matter what happened in the future or what friends she was going to make, she was pretty sure Helza wouldn't be one. Nor Iriz for that matter, even if it was for an entirely different reason.

She slightly grimaced when told that even on a day off she might have to sweep the shops - wondering, not for the first time, why masters weren't able to keep their shops clean themselves - but nodded. “I will, thanks. And don't worry, I'll tell anyone who asks that there's no engagement of any sort. In fact, I'll say that you're practically forced to see her and hate her guts!” She grinned mischievously, then after a small wave turned away to head to her own room: she had work to do.

Back in her room, Ailith considered the Kwadik spines for a moment, the went to work. Not directly on them of course - she was far from ready for that - instead she started to draw a sketch of what she wanted to inscribe on the future knives. She didn't yet know what would be the final shape of the knives so it made things a bit more complicated, but by making sure that the edges of her drawing could be adjusted she hoped to take care of that. And at any rate, the drawing would probably have to be modified for when she finally went around to actually make the knives out of the spikes. Or after she showed them to Master Olk and he pointed all the flaws...

In reply to Ailith (msg # 194):

When you go to sweep up the studios, you find Master Olik alone in his shop.  Iriz seems to be off on an errand into town.

Despite not seeing Iriz, Ailith checked for a moment, just to make sure: at some point she'd have to plunge in and confront the other apprentice, but no matter when it happened it would still be too soon. Once pretty sure that Iriz was otherwise occupied, Ailith went to grab her sketches as well as the spines she wanted to work on since assessing one without the other would be pointless.

“Master Olk?” she called, “I've a rough sketch of what I'm planning, and since you offered,” she seemed a bit unsure, “Would it be convenient for you to have a look?”

In reply to Ailith (msg # 196):

Master Olk looks up and gives you a smile.  "Hello.  Sure.  I have some time."

He looks over the bones you chose and points out some areas that will probably be problematic.  That does have an impact on your design, but talking it out with him helps you get some ideas on how to resolve them.  He also talks to you about your concept, questioning your overall design.  He seems to be doing it in a constructive way though; he is trying to help you focus your concept down without telling you how he would do it.  It's actually a very helpful conversation.

As you leave his shop, you see Master Matah and Zez near the compound's entrance, talking about something.

"Ailith!"

The voice behind you surprises you.  Master Yovo has come up behind you...the woman is as quiet as a breeze...and called out to you.  She glances at the scrimshaw work in your hands.

"What's this?  Are you working on something for Master Olk?"

Ailith thanked Master Olk profusely, even though she hadn't agreed with everything he had suggested. Never on the more technical aspects of her designs - there she could only agree after all - but on small details that seemed important for what she was aiming for. Oh, she supposed Master Olk was right there too, but she wanted to try it out.

She was in fact thinking about one of those details - maybe she could keep the spirit of it, but inch toward what Master Olk had suggested? - when she was surprised to hear her name called from behind, and pretty much jumped out of her skin. She turned with big eyes, “Master Yovo!?” She blinked a couple of times, one hand over her heart, before she could think about the question she had been asked.

“Oh, yes.” The young apprentice nodded. “Master Matah 'suggested'” she air-quoted the word “that I try to work on some scrimshaw, so...” She grimaced slightly, “I haven't had the time to do much about it yet though. But it's coming along.” In a mumble she added _{“I hope...”}

In reply to Ailith (msg # 198):

Yovo frowns as if in thought as she looks at the scrimshaw.  She then shakes her head.

"Well.  Never mind.  I finally finished my design for those reeds.  Come to my shop tomorrow.  I will need help cutting them."

She gives your scrimshaw one last glance and then turns and scurries off.

Anything else you want to do this afternoon?  If not, I will move us along.  Thanks

At first a bit confused by Yovo's attitude - didn't she like scrimshaw or had she noticed something wrong with her design? - Ailith quickly focused on what she had just been told. “Oh, great!” She smiled happily, obviously eager, and not just because at least she probably wouldn't do some of the stuff she really wasn't fond of. Like sanding for example.

Not that it wasn't important, she was perfectly willing to admit that a good sanding was important. But it wasn't interesting. To her anyway. Granted, what Yovo would ask of her might not be much better, but she was really curious to see what the eccentric master had come up with and that made all the difference. Plus, it might give her ideas for her own work!

With some pep in her steps, the young apprentice went back to her room to take advantage of the last few hours of the day to modify her designs to take into account Olk's advices.

We can move along :)

In reply to Ailith (msg # 200):

Yovo's design for the reeds is a table and two chairs.  She seems to be intending to weave them together into the forms.  You have heard of such furniture before.  Light and strong, it's valued for it's ease of transport.  But it is incredibly difficult to make.

"We need to cut the stalks into strips, like this..."  She uses a hand knife to slice the stalk lenghtwise, slitting it into two than four thin strips.  "Once that is all done, we need to soak the stalks, and then we can start weaving them.  I'm going to make the frames from some lyquis root.  You slit the stalks while I do that."

She hands you the knife.  "Your knife work must be better.  What with all the scrimshaw work you're doing."

For a moment after Yovo had explained her project, Ailith seemed a bit...doubtful. Not that it wasn't interesting, not at all: it was just completely different from anything she could have been expecting. Pretty quickly though, she looked eager to get on with it, if a bit apprehensive: it was so different from anything she had done either by herself or ever since she had arrived that she wasn't sure she'd be all that helpful.

On the other hand...she'd certainly learn a great deal and it was, in fine what mattered the most to her. So attentively she both listened to the master's instructions and watch the demonstration, nodding at the end, “Alright.” Taking the knife though, she grimaced a bit, “Well... Right now all I've done is planning what the scrimshaw is going to be about, I haven't even started yet, so...” she shook her head, “My knife work is not any better than it was when I arrived...” Which wasn't to say it was bad - the piece she had sent had been a sculpture after all! - but still...

With a slight shrug, she studied the stalk for a bit, then placed the tip of the knife on it, “So... Like that, right?” She was perfectly aware she'd probably massacre the first stalk, and she hoped Yovo was sort of expecting it...but she really didn't want to get it right by the second one to not butcher two of them...

In reply to Ailith (msg # 202):

Yovo inspects the cut. "Not bad.  But look for the seam on the stalk. See?  This here.  Cut along that as much as you can.  It will make the first separation cleaner.  We can have some rough edges.  But the more we have, the less smooth the seats on the chairs or uneven the surface of the table will be.  Working with reeds is like weaving, but unlike weaving, you have to consider texture of the finished product as well.

"You do know Master Olk already has an apprentice, right?"

Ailith nodded, absorbing Yovo's guidance, then endeavored to do the best she could. Which might be why she didn't answer straight away to the question the master had asked. When she did, it was with another nod, “Of course, and she really wouldn't like it if she thought I wanted to replace her or something like that.” She grimaced, then shook her head. “Besides, I'm not interested.”

She tilted her head to the side, while she considered a stalk that was less straight that the others and started to work on it carefully. “I mean, Master Olk is very nice, and it's interesting to learn scrimshaw, but not enough that I'd want to do it and nothing else...” Though there were worse things to do she supposed. “For now, I just want to learn as many things as possible, and I haven't tried scrimshaw yet so...” Not that she had had much of a choice when Master Matah had given his instructions anyway... “After that, well...” She shrugged, “We'll see.”

In reply to Ailith (msg # 204):

Yovo gives you a measured look and then turns back to the large tub she's set up at one end of the room.

"Once all the stalks are cut, soak them here.  Make a solution of salt, 1 part salt to 10 parts water.  The salt bath will help dry out the reeds once we hang them up."

---

The work is repetitive but its different than anything you've done thus far.  So it at least has some novelty.

Master Yovo answers any questions you have, but she has some other projects going on outside of the workshop.  So you spend part of the afternoon working unsupervised.  Zez drops by with some fresh bread for you.  He looks over Yovo's design and nods.  Then he goes back to his own tasks.

You finish up and sweep out the shop.  Zez has handled the other shops today, so you are able to head back to your room after a nice dinner.

As soon as you see the door to your room, you know something is off.  The door is standing wide open.

Your room has been torn up.  Your cot has been upended.  The design pages for the scrimshaw are torn up.  And your bone pieces smashed.

Your personal effects are scattered around the room otherwise.  Nothing has been torn up.  Other than the scrimshaw.

I knew it was bound to happen… Why did I have to decide that Ailith didn't have a reason to suspect it was coming…

For a while, Ailith stood on the doorstep, looking at the mess that now was her room. When her eyes fell on her scrimshaw designs, she cringed. Thankfully they were just that - designs - and she had them well in mind. For the most part, they had just been a way for her to share her ideas with Master Olk. The smashed bones made her quite a bit angry though: while she could replace them, it wouldn't be without questions.

What worried her the most, and that she checked first, were the clothes and the towel she had found in the-place-under-the-water. The consequences for the mess here would be…well, she had no idea, but if those two things were to surface, it might be really bad…

Thankfully, whoever had done this - and at that thought, Ailith snorted: the targeted destruction pretty yelled the name of the culprit - hadn't known or cared about it and had failed to notice anything strange about them. Which made sense she supposed, as without trying them out they didn't look all that odd.

She placed both in a small bag which she took with her then went to find Zez without touching anything other than closing the door. When she found the head apprentice, she inspired deeply and said, “Thanks for today. There's something I'm going to need your help with though. If you could come with me for a moment?” Refusing to say anything else but obviously quite emotional, she led him to her room and once there, opened the door and invited him to enter.

In reply to Ailith (msg # 206):

Whoever it was did toss around the towel, but didn't seem to think anything of them.  Your secret is safe for the moment.

Zez cocks an eyebrow but he seems to read your mood easily enough.  He stops at the doorway of your room and looks around.

"Shit."

He rubs his eyes and then looks at you.

"Anything missing?  What was damaged?"

He listens and steps into your room, studying the damage.

"Alright.  This is going to be a big deal.  No one, and I mean no one will get away with something like this.  Master Matah will be livid.  And we'll look into getting a lock for your door.  And for what it's worth, sorry this happened.

"But let's get facts down first.  When could this have happened?  I mean when weren't you here?  I ask because Iriz hasn't been in the compound since this morning.  She's been running errands with Master Olk most of the day.  And she..."  He glances at the broken scrimshaw.  "You know what I mean.

"How much work did you lose?"

Obviously brooding, it took a moment for Ailith to answer, “It's not your fault, you've nothing to apologize for.” For a couple of seconds she looked at the remains of her designs. “The designs were mostly a way to put on paper what I had in mind and show it to Master Olk to get his advice. They were more sketches than anything else, it doesn't matter much since I can redo it quickly enough if needed. As for the bones,” She shook her head, “I hadn't even started working on those, but that means I'll have to get some new ones.” She smiled wryly - and briefly, “At least now I'll have something to practice on and get a feel of how it is to work with that.”

The young apprentice looked around her room for a second, “I haven't checked, but I don't think anything's missing.” It wasn't like she owned much of anything after all, not since she had sent her most prized possession to Master Matah anyway. “As for when…” She sighed, “I've been working in Master Yovo's shop all day, I just came back.”

“And if it's not Iriz…” somehow, she didn't sound all that ready to ignore that possibility, “Odd that one day I have…words…with Helza to come back to that the next day.” She snorted, then shook her head, “I'm not going to accuse any of them, don't worry. I doubt we'll ever know who did it anyway.”

And truth be told… Oh, she was angry - and a bit scared regarding what was currently in her backpack - but she hadn't lost much of anything. In fact, it might end up being more helpful than anything else. If it had happened when she had truly started working on her knives though…

In reply to Ailith (msg # 208):

Zez picks up some of the bone fragments.  "I'll speak to Master Matah.  Let's leave the investigation to him.  But I can't imagine it will be an issue to get you new bone pieces to work on.  As for making sure there's no repeat..."

He thinks for a moment.  "Well.  Let me talk to Master Matah.  And we'll see.  Sorry again.  This is..."

Zez sighs.  Not sure what to really say about it.  "You need help cleaning up?"

---

Yovo has you wringing out the reeds the next morning.  She then has you get the hoops that the reeds will be woven onto ready.

By the end of the day, you have hung the reeds up to dry.  You are hanging the last of the reeds before you go around sweeping up the workshops when you see Iriz striding across the compound, anger evident on her face.

Zez runs up behind her, and touches her shoulder.  She turns around and snaps something at him.  Her voice is too indistinct to tell what it is.

He says something back to her.  She throws up her hands, turns around, and walks off. ]

Zez seems to sigh, shake his head, and walks back into the main building.

You see Helza walk out from under the eaves of one of the buildings.  She is looking after Zez.  She looks around.  You don't think she can see you because a mass of hanging reeds are covering you up.  Helza slowly walks across the compound and, after glancing around one more time, slides open the door to Master Olk's studio.  She slips inside.

Just a day before, Ailith wouldn't have thought much of Helza's actions, much less of her behaviour. She might have found either a bit weird, surprising at most, but she certainly wouldn't have been suspicious. But this was now, and suspicious she was.

She briefly considered walking to Master Olk's shop to see what Helza was doing, but she had a suspicion that she knew exactly what Helza was doing. She didn't know if Helza had been the one who had been in her room - though, since it apparently couldn't be Iriz, and considering the timing of their altercation... - but she was pretty sure Helza was currently doing something to Iriz's stuff. At best, it would be thought that Ailith had tried to take her vengeance, at worst, Helza would confess that she had seen her do it. At which point it would be Helza's words against hers, and considering how the older apprentice was far more experienced with words, Ailith didn't think she'd have a lot of chances to be heard... Some might have doubts but she didn't want to be satisfied by that.

So instead of going to confront Helza, Ailith ran after Zez as fast as she could, and when she saw him she exclaimed “Zez! Zez! You have to go look at Master Olk's shop, quick!!” She hadn't paid attention to who - if anyone - was with him, and was breathing rapidly. Not panicked per se, but clearly worried. More that he'd be too slow to catch Helza red-handed than anything else of course as she hadn't really thought about what'd happened to Helza if she was right.

Or what would happen to her if she was wrong...

In reply to Ailith (msg # 210):

Zez is inside the main hall, talking to one of the house servants.  They both look surprised by your state, but Zez doesn't hesitate.  He hurries out of the hall towards the shops.

You catch your breath, the servant asking if you need some water.

It's been about a minute or two since you saw Helza go inside the shop.

“Thank you.” Ailith took a moment to breathe and accepted the offered water with a smile.

Once settled, she looked back towards the door, clearly hesitating: she didn't really want to go back, but on the other hand she knew she had to. With a sigh and a grimace, she gave the goblet back to the servant then walked to Master Olk's shop. Not sure if she wanted to see the scene she had been expecting or nothing at all...

In reply to Ailith (msg # 212):

You can see Zez speaking to Helza.  She glances your way but then pointedly ignores you.  She says something else to him and then turns around, striding away quickly.  Zez scratches the back of his head.

He glances back and sees you, then waves you over.

"What exactly did you see?"

He frowns.

"When I asked Helza, she said she didn't see anything odd.  She was there to leave a message for Master Olk about the order for glazes."

Glancing in the open doorway, you don't see anything obviously out of the ordinary in Master Olk's shop.

“I, uh…” Ailith fidgeted a bit, “Sorry, I guess I…overreacted…” She lowered her head, obviously really uncomfortable and certainly wishing she were far away at the moment. “It's just… I saw Helza watch Iriz and you leave, hidden over there,” she pointed at the eaves of one of the buildings, “then check that no one was around before she stepped in master Olk's shop. So considering what happened, I thought…” She grimaced but said no more.

After a moment, she said, “I need to go talk to Iriz.” After all, while she didn't really like the other apprentice, it mostly stemmed from Iriz's distaste of her regarding Master Olk. If instead of simply ignoring the issue hoping it would go away, she could try to talk about it with Iriz and make her understand that she had no designs, one way or the other, on him.

In reply to Ailith (msg # 214):

Zez sighs. He seems slightly irritated, but at least he is trying to see your side of the equation.

"Okay.  Maybe it might be for the best.  Just...watch your temper.  You know how she gets.  And don't mention what happened with your room.  I don't think it was her. At least, I've been able to account for her whereabouts all morning long. And I don't see where she had the chance to do it.  But I'm still investigating.

"Master Matah knows about what happened.  And he is not happy with whoever did it.  So hang in there.  We'll figure things out."

He gives you a lopsided grin.  "At least you'll be able to say you had an eventful apprenticeship huh?  Yeah I know.  Not funny."

Shoulders dropped, Ailith seemed fascinated by her feet as she mumbled, “Sorry.” After a moment, she looked up to judge Zez's mood, and finally raised her head. “If it's neither Iriz nor Helza though…” She seemed puzzled, “I barely talked to anyone else…” Zez himself, the masters of course, and the servants. But she was always polite with them, Zez obviously wouldn't have done it, as for the masters… It would be like thinking that Yovo had done it because she didn't want Ailith to focus on scrimshaw: ridiculous.

She smiled weakly at Zez's joke, then grimaced, “I'm pretty sure I could have said that without this happening.” After all, of all the "events" surrounding her apprenticeship, that one was probably one of the least exciting… “I'll go talk to Iriz then.” Before she left though, she added, “And for the record, I'm not going to seek vengeance one way or another before you find who did that.” Assuming he ever did. Not that she doubted Zez's dedication, but it wasn't like he had much to go on.

In reply to Ailith (msg # 216):

You have to ask around to find Iriz.  She is actually not in the compound at the moment.  One of the servants says, somewhat cryptically,

"When you leave the gate, turn left.  Stick close to the wall.  Farther than you think you'd need to go."

You follow her directions.  The compound occupies one corner of the village.  When you turn left, you come to the end of the compound wall, but the village wall continues.  It stretches past the village itself, now marking the boundaries of gardening spaces rather than the village proper.

You hear soft weeping.  As you close the distance, you can see Iriz.  The wall has a small crook in it.  She's wedged herself into it, back to you.  She's bowed over, curled around her knees.  And from the sounds of it appears to be crying.

She has not heard you yet.  Or at least she hasn't reacted to your presence.

Ailith had been quite a bit puzzled when she had heard the servant's instructions, imagining a few scenarios each more unlikely than the last. None of those however came even remotely close to the truth.

For a moment, quite a few seconds actually, Ailith considered gathering all her courage... And walk away. Which wasn't helped by the fact that in most situations, it would probably be exactly what she'd do. Since she had come looking for Iriz with the goal of talking to her though...

With a sigh, Ailith took the last few steps and went to sit against the wall. “We're a mess, aren't we?” Well... She didn't think she was, but only saying that about Iriz wouldn't be the most diplomatic thing ever and she needed something to start a conversation. And it wasn't like she could ask if Iriz was alright when it was perfectly clear she was not.

And, if she believed how the servant had known, it was far from the first time...

In reply to Ailith (msg # 218):

Iriz jumps a little, obviously surprised.  But she peers at you through tear stained eyes, finally rubbing them with the back of a palm.

"Great...does everyone know..."  she mutters to herself.

She then turns to you, trying to look all defiant.  The fact she has a little bit of snot clinging to one nostril kind of kills the image.

"Well?  Go ahead.  Have your fun."

“I have no idea.” Ailith answered Iriz's first 'question' with a shrug. Though either she had been lucky to ask the only servant who'd know, or most of them did. Which wouldn't surprise her too much in fact. “And you and I must have different definitions of fun...” She shook her head, not saying anything for a few moment.

“I wasn't looking for you to have fun, but to say a few things. Starting with the fact that I don't believe you're the one who trashed my room. Zez doesn't think you did it, and I trust him. Plus...” She shrugged, “I never really bought it anyway.” Oh, she had considered it - who wouldn't have? - but it had seemed too obvious, too stupid, to come from Iriz. She was much more on the fence regarding Helza, but if, there again, Zez didn't think she had done it...

“More importantly,” She turned her head to look directly at the other apprentice, but looked away when she noticed her state, “I... Well, I guess you could say I was a bit of a coward and hoped to not talk about it but...” She shook her head, “Let's say it wasn't the best idea ever.” She grimaced slightly, sighed, then continued, “From what I've seen, Master Olk seems great, and you're lucky to be his apprentice.” She let a few seconds go, but resumed quickly enough that Iriz wouldn't have time to think too much about it, “However, I am not interested in him, in any way. I do not want to take your position, I'm not interested in becoming his apprentice. Master Matah asked me to work on some scrimshaw - probably to expand my horizon or something - that's the only reason I asked for his help.”

“In fact, I could just as well have asked for your help and not his since I'm sure you know far enough for my needs, if... Well...” She shrugged, leaving the reasons untold.

In reply to Ailith (msg # 220):

Iriz listens to you, sniffling occasionally.  She sighs.  "I know you weren't.  Sorry.  I've been a bit of a wah zin."

She wraps her arms around her legs and rests her chin on her knees.

"I just...I love him so much.  I wasn't really all that interested in scrimshaw at first.  It was..."  She sighs.  "Sorry.  You probably don't want to hear my tragic tale of unrequited love.  Just...please don't tell me I'm young.  Or it's a crush.  I get that enough."

She goes silent, watching some insects scurry across the ground.

"You should talk to Master Olk about the scrimshaw.  It's okay.  I'm just...Anyway.  It's fine.  He can give you better direction."

She turns her head, so she's facing you, her cheek now on her knee.  "I only heard your room got trashed.  Your clothes or nothing got damaged did they?  I think we wear the same size.  And my mother is a weaver.  She's always sending me robes."

About to speak, Ailith closed her mouth When Iriz mentioned that it wasn't necessary to say anything about her age. Or the fact that it was a crush. She wasn't there to make things worse, she didn't particularly care if she were to be honest, and maybe more importantly... Weirder things had happened. Plus, Master Olk wasn't decrepit. And maybe perfectly aware of his apprentice's feelings for that matter.

“I will.” She grimaced a bit, “I'll have to learn how to make knives before that though.” Because sculpting something that looked like knives, she was pretty sure she could do. Making actual knives however... There had to be more involved.

“My room...” She shrugged, “Well, everything had been tossed over, but only the spines and the designs were damaged. But..." She paused for a second, “I don't have much to wear besides these.” She pulled the front of her tunic. “So... I'd like to have something else to wear, particularly when I'm not working. But I'll, uh, pay...” She didn't sound too sure about that though. Not that she didn't want to pay, but that she'd have enough.

In reply to Ailith (msg # 222):

Iriz wipes her eyes and nose one more time and slaps her hands on top of her knees, launching herself into a standing position.

"I've got an older robe I don't wear anymore.  You'll need to patch it a little bit.  But its still in good shape.  Consider it my apology for...you know."

She looks at you.  "Come by my room later for it. I.."  She gives you a once over and then shakes her head.

"Just to cut to it.  I don't know if we can be friends.  But what happened to your room wasn't right.  No one should destroy someone else's work.  If I hear anything, I'll let you and Zez know. You might want to think about making a lock for your room."

She nods at you and turns, walking off away from the compound.

---

The robe she gives you does need some patches on the elbow and will need some rethreading of the hem.  But the material is still in good shape.  Better, she must have modified it to use for work.  The pockets on the side are roomy enough for tools, and have flaps hanging over the top so the pockets can be closed off.  It's a decent robe.

One of the servants from the main house drops by that evening.

"Master Matah is holding lunch for all the apprentices tomorrow.  You don't need to dress up, as its just him and you guys.  But don't be late."

Anything you want to do tonight?  If not, we will move to the lunch...Of DOOM!

Ailith smiled pleasantly when Iriz said it was her way to apologize. “It's alright. I've already forgotten about it.” If nothing else because it would make her life a lot easier. Not easy mind. No apprentice would have an easy life after all. But certainly easier.

She nodded tightly when the other apprentice mentioned being friend: it would certainly be nice to have a friend, but… Well, one thing at a time. “Thanks. Zez said Master Matah would take care of the lock.” She shrugged, “It's not like there's anything more to mess up in my room at the moment anyway.” Which wasn't exactly true of course… She still had the clothes and the towel to deal with, something she hadn't been able to do ever since her room had been visited. But she certainly wasn't going to mention that!

---

All in all, Ailith was pretty satisfied of her new dress: it might be an old one of Iriz, but it was the first new thing she was able to wear in a good while. Plus, with the roomy pockets, she could even work in it, which was pretty nice. It still wasn't something she'd really want to wear for a festival, but hopefully she'd be able to get something else by the time the next one came up.

“Lunch?” Ailith blinked in surprise: that was a new one. Was it because he had something important to say? Maybe that Zez was ready to start working on his masterpiece? That would be so nice for him and… Uh… That would also mean that Helza was likely to become head apprentice… Which would be so not nice… Shaking hear head to focus back, she smiled to the servant, “Thanks!”

In the evening, Ailith hesitated, but decided against going to pick new spines to work on: as long as she didn't have a lock, she didn't want to take that risk. Instead, she reproduced her designs, more to avoid forgetting anything important - particularly about what Master Olk had told her - than anything else.

In the morning, she was particularly attentive about the time, both to avoid being late and be able to wash quickly before lunch: after all, no matter what had been said, it was still with Master Matah. It certainly wouldn't do to arrive with dirty hands!

In reply to Ailith (msg # 224):

Yovo has you work some extra hours that evening.  The two of you braid the dried reeds into various styles of cords.  The weaving of the cords turns out to be more interesting than you thought.  Yovo wants to weave certain patterns into the reed ropes.  It takes a lot more skill than it would appear.  By the end of the time, you're able to make one rope to her satisfaction. But now you think you have the hang of it.

She seems a little put off that you have lunch with Matah.  "Well.  It can't be helped.  Anyway, come back after lunch.  I want to make some progress on these reeds so we can start putting together the furniture."

---

You hurry to the main building.  The lunch is being held in one of the small side halls.  You're the next to last to arrive.  Iriz follows in right after you.

Master Matah surveys you all, and then tells you to eat.

It's not a feast by any stretch.  But it's better food than you get in the dining hall.

Matah says little until the meal is almost over.  He finishes his paste stew and puts his spoon down with a loud thunk

"So.  First of all, I want to thank you all for your hard work.  The Interlopers were quite pleased with the products we offered them.  Our goods are not just the results of the masters.  You all contributed.  And you will continute to contribute going forward."

He waves a hand and a servant steps up, setting something on the table next to you.  It is a lock and key.

Matah surveys all of you.

"I am sure you all know what happened.  I am not going to belabor the point.  I have an idea who the culprit was.  They will be dealt with.  But so everyone knows."

He slams a palm down on the table top.  Hard. SLAM

"Such." SLAM "Behavior.  Will not." SLAM "Be. Tolerated." SLAM

Master Matah did stress the words.  But he didn't raise his voice.  Instead he let his palm do the talking, hitting the table hard enough Helza's bowl of salad flops off the edge.

A servant hurries to clean it up.

"Moving on."

Matah waits for the servant to finish and then leans back, as if his display had not occured.

"I hope this is news to all of you.  But we will be joined by both a new master and a new apprentice.  Zez...I am going to ask you to delay the start of your master's project for three full lunar cycles.  I want you to get the new master acclimated.  As well as the new apprentice."

Zez doesn't show any reaction on his face.  He simply nods.

"The new apprentice is a man named Coq.  He will be here in two weeks.  I will show you his entry project in a moment.  It is...interesting.

"As to the new master..."  He looks you all over and then nods.  "This person will be one of the Interlopers.  They will be joining us for the rest of the season.  I will be assigning one of you as their apprentice for that time."

Will let you react to that before proceeding.

“Of course!” Ailith nodded enthusiastically at Yovo. After all, she'd have much preferred staying with her and work on that project, which taught her quite a few things, rather than having lunch with Master Matah. Not that she had anything against him of course, but… Well… She wasn't expecting it to be particularly fun.

---

When Iriz arrived, Ailith had a small smile for her as she took her place around the table. She was sort of enjoying the food, but could only wonder what this was all about which prevented her from really focusing on it, making sure that she finished at around the same time Matah did. When he finally spoke, she nodded briefly after his praise. She wasn't all that sure that she should really be included in it considering that of the things delivered to the Interlopers, she had at most been involved in sanding, but she wasn't going to mention something like that. Particularly not to someone who believed - and much to her chagrin, rightly so - that it was an important part of many crafts.

With the lock placed near her, Ailith mumbled a “Thank you,” both to the servant and Master Matah, not quite sure she wanted to be the focus of attention. Or more precisely, perfectly sure she didn't want to be. She was briefly curious when Matah announced that he had a good idea of who it was, but quickly forgot about it when he smashed his palm on table, almost jumping in fright.

When he was done, she remained frozen for a long moment, barely breathing and her head between her shoulders, wanting to be anywhere but at the table. She knew perfectly well that she wasn't in trouble, but that didn't make her feel better for a while and she only started to relax when the servant finished cleaning up.

She really started to cheer up when she heard about a new apprentice: finally she wouldn't be the newest one! She was under no illusions that she'd be finally free to do whatever she wanted, but at the very least she wouldn't have to clean every workshop every day, and that was such a good news she almost wanted cheer. She could only offer a commiserating grimace as Zez was told his project would have to be delayed though. But in two weeks, she'd have a lot more time to herself!

While at first she hadn't paid much attention to the news about the new master, barely interested even by the news that it would be an Interloper - which she considered more troublesome than anything else - the very last bit concerned her a lot. It didn't take a genius to know which apprentice would be assigned to that new Master: both Iriz and Helza already had a master and Zez would be too busy for it. Finally, there was no way the new apprentice - Coq - would be chosen for that when he had lots of sanding and sweeping to look for in his immediate future. Plus lots of water to draw from the well of course.

No, that only left her… And that wasn't something she was particularly pleased to hear. Oh, it'd be interesting. Probably. Certainly new at any rate. But… But there was the little matter of her little secrets… Though of course, it wasn't like anyone was going to ask for her opinion on the matter, so she'd have to find a way to deal with it.

“What's the new master's specialty?” she asked carefully, as if trying to judge who was likely to be the selected apprentice. But really wondering what would be expected of her.

In reply to Ailith (msg # 226):

No one else speaks up.  Matah cocks an eyebrow when you do.

"It's actually rather intersting."

He gestures and a servant brings what you think is a box to the table.

The box is made of...it looks like reeds.  But it's more...solid?  It's a material that looks lighter than stone but has a slick sort of glossiness.  Sort of like river rocks or scrimshaw will get when they are polished well.

"This box is made out of a material the Interlopers call Oak.".  Matah lets that sink in.  "It's apparently a plant that grows where they come from.  They are going to gift us a supply of it to work with."

He leans forward and flips the top of the box.

Once he opens it, tiny sounds begin to emerge.  Delicate tings, like soft rain falling on tin sheets.  You realize the sounds are organized.  Almost like a song, though an odd sounding one.

"This is what the Interlopers call a box of music.  The mechanism is quite ingenious.  I plan on studying this and crafting one myself.  Though hopefully with a more pleasing melody."

So it's a music box made of polished wood.  We never quite discussed trees in this world before.  I will let you decide if there are any, but obviously they are nothing like oak that we are used to.

I will let Ailith chew on that and we will move on.  Thanks

Given the climate I'd say it's unlikely that there are trees. Grasses, reeds, mushrooms (or their equivalents) sure, but I'd say trees not so much.

Ailith looked curiously at the box, then was obviously fascinated by the sounds that came out of it. She briefly grimaced with a slight nod, agreeing with Matah that whatever other marvels the Interlopers could do, music didn't seem to be one of them.

She briefly ran a finger on the side of the box, wondering what that 'oak' thing was but looked far more interested by what she could see from the box's insides. “Is that metal?” She asked. It didn't look like bones, rocks or crystals or... Well, it looked like metal. Not something unknown of course, but not many worked on it. And as far as she knew, none of the Hiyal. Or at least not primarily.

In reply to Ailith (msg # 228):

"Supposedly it's an organic material.  From the way the Interlopers described it, the material is from a plant.  Like a reed bush but much larger and more stout.  It's odd, isn't it."

Iriz reaches over and taps the side.  "It feels more like bone than a reed."

"Good observation.  I had the same thought.  Which actually makes you the logical choice to apprentice with the Interloper."

Iriz stares at Matah blankly, not sure what she just heard.

He gestures at Zez.  "Actually, given the nature of this new master, I would like you to join Iriz up until Coq is settled.  You can start your project then.  But if you want to delay your project and study under the Interloper longer, I will not object.  It is a rare opportunity.  The two of you should absorb as much as you can."

Iriz opens her mouth.  "But-"

Matah looks her way.  "I have already spoken to Olk.  He agrees this is a good opportunity for you.  It will only be for a season.  When we move to the winter village, the Interloper will return to their people.  You will return to Master Olk then.

"During the time Iriz is with the Interloper, Ailith...I want you to apprentice with Olk.  I understand you are working with Yovo on a project.  You'll work on that project with her and the project I assigned you with Master Olk.  In the meantime, Zez...redistribute the workload among the apprentices.  Also, look into hiring someone who can take over some of the more drudge work.  With two apprentices tied up, it would be too much for one newcomor to take over that much slack.

"Does anyone..." he glances at Iriz, who is staring down at her hands.  "Have any questions?"

Ailith nodded, obviously agreeing with Matah's statement of how odd that Oak thing was. With a grin, she added after Iriz “Maybe their reeds have bones?” That'd be super weird. But on the other hand, the Interlopers were super-weird, so…

Her smile quickly slipped away however when Matah announced that Iriz was going to be working with the interloper, and she would apprentice with Master Olk…while still working with Master Yovo on her project. That was definitely not what she had been expecting.

On the one hand, it would keep her away from the Interloper, which… well, it wasn't bad, but on the other hand she had to admit she had been curious to learn more about that Music Box thing. Worse, while she wouldn't have to sweep and clean and fetch water, she was pretty sure she wasn't going to have any free time for a long while. And while it would “only be for a season”… Well, a season lasted quite a bit. And of course, there was the matter of Iriz and Olk, which… Well, she was mighty glad she had talked to Iriz at least. All in all, the only really lucky guy in all that was the new apprentice… But… Oh well, no matter. Not only she was pretty sure the masters would make sure he didn't have time for much at all and would be properly exhausted at the end of each day, but even if that weren't the case… It wasn't like she'd gain anything from him being miserable, right?

Mutely, Ailith nodded her understanding, then shook her head when asked if she had any question. She considered asking Matah what the new guy's project was, but figured that Iriz wouldn't like staying anymore than absolutely necessary so kept her mouth shut, just ready to run after Iriz once Matah freed them.

She'd have something to say to Zez too, but she wanted to start with Iriz.

In reply to Ailith (msg # 230):

Helza has been quiet.  But when Matah asks if there are any questions, she looks at him.

"I would like to talk to you after this privately if I may Master Matah."

He furrows his brow but nods, then glances at the rest of you.

"You are all free to go."

Iriz manages to walk until she reaches the door and is out of Master Matah's sight.  Then she speeds up.  By the time she hits the front door, she is almost in a run.

Zez walks out beside you, watching her.  He sighs.  He gives you a nod and starts to turn down a side hall.

Will let you decide who you want to go after first.  Thanks

Ailith was both briefly disappointed that Master Matah had forgotten to show them the new apprentice's entry project and curious about what Helza was going to say to him. Was it to confess that she'd been the one to mess with her designs, thinking that she'd get a lighter punishment? Unless Zez was right and she hadn't been the one to do it. Then maybe to complain that she should be the one to get the opportunity to work with the interloper and not Iriz? That…

Ailith shook her head: it didn't matter to her, and maybe she should avoid drawing conclusions when she had little to go on. Recent events had sort of proved that it wasn't her strong suit… Instead, she grabbed her new lock and key, then stood and walked out the door.

For a second, she looked at Iriz, then grimaced: it wouldn't do to run after her like that. So instead, she turned to Zez, “Hey Zez, regarding the person you have to recruit, can you consider Ozcow? I promised him that I would think about him if there was any work to be had. I don't know if it'd interest him,” After all, it might not pay enough compared to what he usually made, “but he has children, one of them might be just fine for this.” Before he could answer, she lifted her hands, “No pressure or anything, I just promised him to think about him, that's all.”

She started to turn away, but before that added, “Oh and uh… Sorry? Good luck?” She obviously wasn't too sure of what Zez would be feeling about Matah's latest news. “If you need help, for… well… whatever, you can always ask alright?”

After that, she jogged after Iriz, hoping she hadn't found a new crying spot…

In reply to Ailith (msg # 232):

Zez gives you a weak smile.  He looks tired.  But he nods and says, "Will do.  Thanks."

Iriz hasn't found a new spot, and she isn't crying.  She's just staring at the mountains in the far distance and clenching her fists.

Her eyes roll your way as you approach.  "If you came here to tell me you're sorry, don't.  I know this wasn't you."

“Nah, this time I'm here to make fun of you.” Ailith said seriously, then grinned and leaned to the side to push Iriz with her shoulder showing that she was kidding.

After a few seconds in silence, she added, “There are two things about all of this that I think you should keep in mind. First, while I suppose it's not what you'd prefer, you should be proud to have been chosen. After all, it means Master Matah highly values your skills, right?” Granted, there hadn't been all that many possible choices, but still.

“Second...” She clearly hesitated a bit before continuing, “You probably should be careful about how you react to all that. Or at least, how you're seen reacting. I mean, I'm not good with that kind of things, and it didn't take me long to notice about... Well...” She waved her hand in the air as if it explained everything. “You can bet Master Matah knows, so all of this could be a test for you. One you probably don't want to fail.”

She let Iriz think about that for a while, then with a teasing smile concluded, “It's just for a season anyway,” even though it wasn't all that short... “And if you want I'll be a terrible apprentice for Master Olk, he'll be even happier to have you back then.”

In reply to Ailith (msg # 234):

She laughs, a little bitterly, but she laughs.  "You mean you have another choice but to be a bad apprentice?"  She shoves your shoulder back, in the same manner you shoved hers.

"I appreciate that.  And I know all that.  It's...Master Olk didn't say anything to me.  That's what gets me.  It's..."

She shakes her head.  "Oh to hell with it.  Wanna go get some kisi?  I'll buy the first round."

Ailith snorted when Iriz asked if she could be anything else than a 'bad apprentice', almost considering replying that she could be the apprentice who fell in love with the dashing young master. Since it would have been a bit too early for that though, she avoided it. After all, she was far from being the social butterfly that Helza was, but she wasn't a complete idiot either.

As for Master Olk not saying anything… She shrugged but there again didn't say anything. There could be a lot of reasons for that, some of it good for Iriz, some less so. It could for example be because he had some feelings for her but found it a bit uncomfortable considering their current relation and had wanted to have some breathing room, or because he wanted to let her down gently. But since she had no idea which it was, Ailith avoided going there.

When Iriz invited her for some kisi, Ailith sighed and shook her head, “I can't. Master Yovo was expecting me to come back as soon as lunch was done.” She grimaced slightly, “She's going to wonder where I went if I take too long…”

In reply to Ailith (msg # 236):

Iriz shakes her head.  "Oh yeah.  Master Yovo.  Good luck with that.  She's weird. Anyway.  Thanks."

With a nod she heads out towards the village market.

---

Yovo is all a flutter.  She finished up the braiding while you were at the luncheon.  Now she's started showing you how to string the braids along the frames.

"So.  What happened at lunch?  Everyone's been talking about it but no one knows what occured."

“I…suppose…” Quickly though, as if she felt she had to add something positive, she said, “But it's interesting!” After all, she was learning things she wouldn't have been able to learn with any of the other masters. With a slight wave - and a bit grumpy to miss that - Ailith let Iriz go to the market then turned away. Before she went back to Yovo's shop though, she quickly went to her room to drop the lock on her bed then rushed to Yovo.

---

“Oh, we were told about the new Interloper master,” Ailith started to answer Yovo's question, then paused for a moment while she focused on the braid she was doing, “and the new apprentice.” It was very obvious that while she was a bit doubtful about the former, the latter had her a bit more excited: she wouldn't be the latest. And maybe not even the youngest!

“Master Matah showed us the box music the new master makes. It… Well, it doesn't sound too good, does it?” She shook her head, “But maybe he can make something better. Oh and Iriz is going to work with that new master, while I work with you and Master Olk.” She squinted as she considered her work, distractedly adding, “But you already knew that obviously.”

In reply to Ailith (msg # 238):

You look up when you're done speaking to see Yovo staring at you.  Like you had just announced you were a dancing yursh

She seems to swallow in a dry throat.

"An Interloper...master?"

She blinks and then points at the knot you're tying in one of the cords.  "That's too tight.  We'll adjust the tension later.  For now, keep the knots loose."

She picks up a couple of cords.  She then lets them fall to the floor.  "You're working with Master Olk?  Are you doing a project for him like this one?"

She stares at the cords that fell and then walks out of the workshop, her hands on her hips.

After a while, Zez pokes his head into the shop.  "I think you can clean up.  Master Yovo and Master Matah as going to be speaking a while."

He looks at the frame you've been working on.  "She always comes up with the most mundane sounding projects.  And they always turn out much different then she described.  And they're always better.  I don't know if I should applaud her or shake my head."

He chuckles and helps you pick up cords.  "You know she wants to make you her apprentice, right?"

“Uh, well...yes?” Ailith answered dubitatively to Yovo's question about an interloper master, obviously surprised that it was the first time the unpredictable master heard about that: she had supposed Matah had talked about that with all the other masters first. But maybe Yovo simply hadn't paid attention, or hadn't been there when Matah had talked about it with the others? Not that it mattered much to her of course, masters' matters were most definitely not for apprentices to stick their noses in.

She nodded with a grimace at the remark about the too tight knots, “Sorry.” And when Yovo left, Ailith watched her back doubtfully. Was her working with Olk news too? In fact, the way she had understood it, she was supposed to be working on this project with Yovo, but for dedicate most her time the next season to work with Olk. But here again it seemed to be fresh news for Matah's granddaughter. Fresh and unwelcome... She really hoped they managed to settle things between them as the last thing she needed was to find herself in the middle of two masters - or three if one counted Matah!

She continued working as Yovo had shown her, but she was a bit distracted until Zez came in. “Oh.” Was all she said when he informed her that Yovo and Matah were going to be talking for some time. She hesitated for a moment, then shook her head and picked the broom.

She smiled briefly when he commented on Yovo's project and nodded, “I have much less experience than you do obviously, but it sure sounds interesting. And I'm learning things I wouldn't learn elsewhere.” Would those things be useful was another question, but at the moment it didn't matter all that much: she was learning, and that was the most important thing.

“I was beginning to get the idea, yes.” The young apprentice slightly grimaced in answer to Zez telling her about Yovo wanting her as her apprentice, wondering how that was going to turn out. After a few seconds, she shrugged, “Won't happen before next season if it does though.” After all, she seriously doubted Matah was going to change his mind, no matter what Yovo told him. After a brief hesitation, she asked, “Do you think it'd be good?” Not that her opinion was going to matter obviously, or at least not much, but still.

In reply to Ailith (msg # 240):

Zez seems to hesitate.  He looks back at the door, as if checking to see who can hear.  "I don't like to gossip.  But I guess it wouldn't hurt for you to know.

"Master Yovo is...eccentric.  And inconsistent.  Some of her work is just amazing.  And some of it...not so much.  Master Matah dotes on her.  But I'm not sure he relies on her.

"She goes through apprentices."  He shrugs.  "Both Helza and I were her apprentices at one point.  I liked working with her.  It was an interesting project.  She was a patient teacher.  Then she just told me I wasn't working out and asked Master Matah to reassign me.  No real explanation given.  It really stung.

"Helza was a whole other issue.  It did not go well.  Helza actually asked Master Matah to release her from apprenticeship.  He reassigned her instead.

"Doq'n...she was the head apprentice when I started...actually worked with Yovo when Yovo apprenticed.  Yovo's only been a master for eight or so seasons.  Anyway.  Doq'n told me Yovo has always been a little off."  He finishes stacking cords.  "Anyway.  You can learn a lot from her.  I did.  But just know it won't come easy."

“I...see...” Ailith commented slowly, obviously having trouble digesting all of that. “Well, there's not much I can do at the moment though, is there? It's just part-time for a season though, at least for now, so who knows what'll happen in that time right?”

“And if it doesn't work out...” She grimaced, thinking about what other options there were. She didn't have a passion for stonework besides sculpting, seeing pots now made her sick from all thr sanding she'd had to do, which pretty much only left D'Osk who probably was the master she had spent the least amount of time with. Which was saying something... Plus, she was more or less Zez's master, if not officially.

In the end, she shrugged, “At least I won't be surprised and will know that it's not the end and I'll have learned lots of interesting things, right?” She smiled, “Thanks for telling me.”

After a brief second, she asked, “Oh by the way, what is your project?”

In reply to Ailith (msg # 242):

He grins.  "I'm going to make a odiq.  It will be my gift for the shrine."

A chime garden.  If done correctly, an odiq can be a beautiful soundscape that gives a shrine a mystical air.  If done poorly, it's an annoying distraction.  They're notoriously difficult as the planning for them has to contemplate so many variables like wind, location, and traffic.

"You should start thinking about your project.  I know it seems far away, but it will arrive sooner than you think.  And it's good to align yourself with a master who can further your interests as soon as possible."  He leans on his broom.  "What exactly are you interested in working with?"

Ailtih clearly seemed impressed by Zez's choice. While she had never doubted he was talented - Matah wouldn't have picked him for first apprentice otherwise! - she was happy to see confirmation of it. After all, only someone truly talented, or a fool, would choose to work on something like that; and Zez was no fool.

As for her own project... “My Project? Uh...” She seemed dumbfounded, “But I've just arrived!” Though of course what he said made some sort of sense she supposed. “I... Well, I like sculpting, but... What I like most is learning to do new things. Doing the same thing over and over...” She shook her head, “I don't think I could, even if it's to try to always improve.”

“Which...” She grimaced slightly, “Would mean Master Yovo is the way to go, right?” And that hadn't been a problem at all...up until she had learned what had happened with Zez and Helza in the past...

In reply to Ailith (msg # 244):

He thinks about it.  "Yeah. You'll definitely get a lot of different things thrown at you with Master Yovo.  So for you that might be the best choice.  Well.  Other than Master Matah.  He likes to dabble all around too.  But getting him as a master..."

He shrugs wistfully.  "Master Yovo is just...what's the best word here...'capricious' maybe?  Anyway. It couldn't hurt to stay with her as long as you can.  You'll wanna talk to Master Matah though.  He may not know you're interested.

"As for your project..."  He purses his lips.  "My advice for what it's worth.  Start thinking about it.  The longer you take to decide, the longer your apprenticeship might last.  Here's something no one may have told you yet."

Another check at the door to make sure no one is listening.  He leans towards you, his voice low.

"Master Matah won't let you start on a master's project until he's judged that you're ready.  Learning everything you can is good.  But spending too much time deciding can drag things out.  Pick a date in the future and tell yourself you'll decide on a project on that date.  And stick to it.  That's what I had to do."

“Whimsical, I think.” Ailith mumbled, while she considered Zez's advice. “I'll think about it... Maybe... Maybe I can try to have something by the end of the season? I'll have spent time working with Masters Yovo and Olk, hopefully I'll have a better idea of what I want to do.”

After a brief pause, she grinned, “And who knows, maybe I'll perform so well that Master Matah will be dazzled by my genius and will just have to take me as his apprentice.” She quickly grimaced though, “I'd need a very strong - and good - idea of the project I want to work on, right? At the very least.”

For a few seconds, she tapped her lips, pensive. “You know, I wonder...” She stopped there for a while. Finally, she added, “Maybe I want to look at that Music Box thing. Not because I want to make one myself - though it could be interesting and would probably make a very decent project in fact - but because I want to understand what makes it work. It's certainly not wind! I wonder what other things we could do with stuff like that... Maybe I'll suggest something to Master Yovo about that.” She smiled, a mischievous light in her eyes.

In reply to Ailith (msg # 246):

Zez grins.  Funny you should mention that thing.  I asked Master Matah if I could take a closer look at the music box.  You wanna join along?"

Ailtih nodded eagerly, “Oh yes, sure!” Quickly though she hesitated, “Uh... But... He's talking with Master Yovo, no? It's probably not a good idea to disturb them right now...”

In reply to Ailith (msg # 248):

He laughs. "Not now idiot.  It'll be tomorrow.  I'll ask Master Matah but I'm sure it will be fine."

He hands you back the broom he was using and nods before leaving.

Moving us along

---

Maste Yovo works you fairly hard the next morning.  The two of you have finished braiding the frames.  You have what looks like a table and chairs, though they aren't too sturdy.

Now comes the work of weaving in the support layers.  The structure that will actually give the furniture some strength. After that will come the fun part of the job:  the decorative layer.

Zez comes to fetch you just before lunch.  Yovo isn't thrilled that you're going, but Zez says Master Matah is calling for you.  What can Master Yovo do?

Master Matah is seated in that side garden you met him in before.  The music box is set before him.

He glances at you and nods.  "Greeting Ailith.  How goes your work on those knives?"

Through the morning, Ailith asked a few questions to Master Yovo, wanting to understand some of the things she did, or more precisely why she did those that way. One of those questions was for example about the necessity of separating the frame and the support layers. She suspected she already knew the answer, but she was curious to see if the whimsical master had other reasons for it.

“Hello Master Matah. I have mostly finished the design of what I want on the blades and I've talked with Master Olk about it.” She paused to consider her answer, then added, “I haven't yet started working on the knives themselves though, as I first need to learn how to do it. I mean, I could sort of sculpt them in the shape of knives but...” She shook her head, “Even though I probably won't manage to make them first rate knives, I still want to...well, to be able to cut things with them, so...”

In reply to Ailith (msg # 250):

Yovo answers your questions...mostly.  She gets distracted easily and goes off on tangents.  But you get enough to figure out her reasoning.  It's all sound.  The furniture will be functional.  As far as the design aspects...you'll have to wait and see it at the end .  You think you get what she's aiming for.  But it's hard to visualize from what you have in front of you.

---

Matah chuckles.  "It's good to consider the practical aspects.  You can create an item just for decorative purposes.  But if it is knives, the owner will probably want to use them as knives at some point.

"But bear in mind that you are an apprentice.  Part of your training is to figure out how to make the most of your failures as well as be successful.  Sometimes it is better to charge ahead and sometimes it is better to proceed cautiously.  Part of being a master is figuring out which speed to run at.

"Alright.  Let's take a look at this music box," he adds as Iriz joins you.  She gives you a nod and then the three of you sit before the music box.

Matah gestures at it.  "Go ahead and examine it."

Zez picks it up first, turning it over.  He figures out how to activate it.  A knob on the side twists and at some point it cannot be twisted any more.  The music then starts.

The top of the box is glass.  Inside is a little cylinder of some kind of metal.  It is spinning.  There are little knubs on the cylinder that move little tabs of metal.

Zez points at the tabs.  "The protrusions on the cylinder hit those tiny nubs.  The sounds are from the striking."

Iriz frowns.  "But how does it move?  A spring?"

Matah shrugs.  He's smiling like he knows the answers though.  "Feel free to pick it up and examine it more closely."

“I suppose.” Despite having just said that, it was pretty obvious that Ailith didn't quite agree with Matah. Or at least, that she didn't agree on this particular instance: she certainly wasn't going to present to him a shabby knife for his test! After that, yes, sure. She was having a lot of ideas about that music box thing, and no doubt some - maybe most - of those would range from bad to terrible. But that was then.

While eager to observe the Interloper's art, Ailith stayed a step behind Zez and Iriz. In fact, when the music started, she seemed to pay very close attention to it...while counting. The music itself was...well...not so great, but it wasn't what interested her the most: instead, she wanted to know if the rhythm was the same from beginning to end, or if it sped up or slowed down as it progressed. After all, from what Zez had found about how it was produced, it seemed assured that it was a cycle. And if it stayed constant...

She waved a hand to let Zez and Iriz know that she was paying attention, but that they could go ahead and examine the thing more closely before she did: she didn't need to know right that instant how it worked, whereas the both of them were going to be working on it in the near future. She had a lot of time, likely an entire season, to learn as much as she could.

She was however starting to think about what her project could be, and an idea, albeit deem still, started to take shape in her mind.