A calm before the storm.
--
Alaqu Aljai's eyes glowed as she stared at the tablet in her hands. It was a small, rough piece of limestone, easily scratched with any hard stone. Carved upon its smooth surface were a series of glowing runes, whose bountiful luminescence reflected themselves in the Xaela's crimson eyes as she absorbed the information the runes projected. Finally and with a sigh, she blinked to clear away the thoughts and unease away from her mind; neither went away carefully.
One hundred. That was the time limit that Tsanai set. Within one hundred suns, those they had gathered would have to be trained and sent to the western continent in vessels across the northern sea, going around Othard to reach the west. The journey itself was, at minimum, another one hundred suns. It wasn't the distance that bothered her as much as it was the logistics. Schedules had to be set for rigorous training and orientation, supplies had to be gathered, to say nothing of the prodigious amount of lumber--relative to how much lumber was usually available on a glacier--that would be required to construct vessels to hold personnel and supplies.
And that wasn't it. All of this had to be done covertly, underneath the gaze of the Tsenkhai and the other Aljai. Tsanai was especially strict on that notion, and though Alaqu didn't know the greater context, she was inclined to agree: resources were strictly controlled to provide the greatest efficiency and benefit to the majority, and so something like this would be at best forced to cease and at worse...
She waved a hand through her flame-coloured bob in exasperation. The true irony was that this kind of undertaking could only really be accomplished so long as the cooperating korums were in physical contact with one another, but all of the korums having been gathered together for the Communion presented their biggest obstacle. They somehow had to send fourteen individuals across the sea. Numbers upon numbers piled themselves inside her head. The number of foodstuffs required to create the number of meals over sea, the number of days those meals had to last, the amount of space in the vessels required to hold those meals, possibly for multiple people. The kinds of materials that would need to be secured in order to construct ocean-faring vessels and the supplies, the people who could be trusted to train these fourteen individuals in varying techniques and arts outside of their assigned role...
"Are you present, Alaqu?" A familiar voice called from outside the Aljai's yurt, startling her from her reverie. "Y-yes, one moment," Alaqu said shakily, dashing to a stand from her cot to hastily clear the myriad of randomly piled tablets into semi-organised corners. It would be hardly becoming for her to be seen as a disorganised slob when she was trusted with managing the korum's resources down to the very last nail.
She didn't need to see Erdeni to perceive her impatient motions; the craftswoman's mood followed a very specific cycle. First she folded her arms, then she began waving her tail, then tapping her foot, shifting her weight, growling under her breath, and then--
Erdeni slapped the tent's opening flap away, stepping inside with her characteristically blunt demeanour. "How fared the meeting?"
Alaqu was halfway through shoving another handful of small tablets into a sack, frozen like a tiger cub before a hunter, before the Aljai sighed and sat on her cot, chin resting in her hands. "About as well as could be expected. Arlihl and Albei agreed to lend their aid, although Albei only wants to do it to stick it to the Tsenkhai, the old bat. Aysun, Amal, and Asha are only willing to lend token assistance in the form of some resources. Just some old foodstuffs and maybe a weapon or two; certainly not any lumber."
The craftswoman had her arms folded, severely glancing around the yurt. Alaqu could only sigh. "I would appreciate it if but for a minute you would not judge the organisation of my lodgings."
"I do not know how you even manage to make your way outside," Erdeni confessed, though the barest hint of a light smile tinged her lips. "That is better than nothing, at least. As for myself, Ersugen was easy to cow into helping. Erbei and Etugan owe me favours, so they will do what they can for us."
"You let Ersugen think he could produce a greater volume than you? That is unlike you," Alaqu leaned her head against one hand, the other shuffling with the folds of her robes near her knee as she sat on her cot.
"I will have to do more than let him think he can produce greater volume," Erdeni snapped with a scowl, though Alaqu seemed more amused by the artisan's expression than anything. "Ersugen is a great dolt, but his metalwork is...acceptable. At the least, I don't think nails and pegs will be a problem should he maintain sufficient supply." Erdeni paused. "Tell no one I said that."
"Then that is at least one less problem to worry about," Alaqu let out another great sigh, rubbing her eyes and horns in succession as Erdeni unceremoniously shoved a pile of tablets to one corner with her foot as to make room on the ground to sit.
"And to think, you could have been Aljai," Alaqu teased. "I don't think you'd have had a problem at all with shouting Albei down."
"And you could have been Erdegai if you had but a minute of patience. Your hair will change colour ere long at the rate you stay at." Both women gave a small laugh before falling silent. The wind outside had begun to pick up. The open tent flap began to ripple lightly, occasionally letting in the errant flake of snow.
"I still contemplate that, if you wish to know," Erdeni said after a long silence. "It is...difficult to assist you from my current role. I can make you a delightful hauberk or pouch, and little else. You have...what is that phrase Kaizhan used? 'A lot on your plate'. You would think our korum has no other Aljai if that mighty list you rattled off to me is any indication." The artisan glanced at her delicate hands, lightly callused from the skilled manipulation of hand tools.
Alaqu let loose a wistful smile before laying down flat on her cot, staring at the stretched hide ceiling of the yurt, thoughtfully tapping the obsidian ornaments around her neck. "To tell the truth, I do not give them enough credit. For every problem I feel overwhelmed by, there are ten or twenty that they juggle. It is not a forgiving role. You should not feel so troubled, though. It is not as if the life of an artisan is any easier." Mirroring Erdeni's gesture, Alaqu glanced at her own hands that were soft and smooth--strangers to hard labour. "I think things worked out well with what we became, in the end. I could never be an artisan, especially not with you overshadowing me. Your kites were always bigger, brighter, and flew higher than mine. I don't think attempting to upset that natural order would have been good to me."
Erdeni allowed herself a small smile. "Your appeal to my ego is duly noted, but I will allow that your kites were far better at crashing than mine were."
"This is what I am referring to," Alaqu said with a deep frown. "You are far too competitive to allow me some dignity, so at least as an Aljai, I take silent satisfaction in knowing that you would be buried under my responsibilities."
"I do not doubt that for a second," Erdeni said lightly. "But I would be buried under your responsibilities with the satisfaction that I make the best kites."
A small silence fell between them. "Not much time for flying kites any more, is there?" the Aljai said wistfully. "I miss that. Sneaking off to look at the northern lights, daring one another to approach the ice. Collecting stones, too! Although," Alaqu paused as she turned her head to glare at Erdeni in an expression of mock annoyance. "I still don't know why you had to use my stone collection to practise making your arrowheads, especially when you had your own!"
Erdeni shrugged again, an amused twinkle in her eye. "You always managed to find shinier stones. An artisan uses the best materials available."
"My favourite turquoise, even," Alaqu pouted. "I was going to show it to Albei!"
"Surely she would have simply yelled at you for wasting your time searching for stones?"
"Or, she would have been impressed beyond belief and no longer yell for the rest of her life. Flowers sprout from her head and she sings a song of peace to all living things."
Silence.
"...unlikely," both women said in unison before giggling quietly at the image of the old, wizened Au Ra prancing about a sunny field, just because a child had managed to find a shiny rock.
"How fare you?", the artisan asked in a tone of uncharacteristic concern, sobering the atmosphere considerably.
Alaqu could not help but snort derisively at the question. "I still have to finish the timetable for construction, make arrangements with the Nayantai and Khadai for training...and this is only just for Tsanai's pet project. You cannot even imagine what I have to do outside of adhering to her mad requests. The Yerenai need more herbs, more food, more blankets. Especially more blankets; I think the freeze has made them paranoid. The Jungsai are itching to hunt again. Slaughter season for livestock is approaching so we will need to find a place to dry and store the meat. Kasrjin's latest warband venture has cut down on the number of Khadai. Albei doesn't even think we will be able to venture south this year. It's too unsafe with the beasts and black ones both." Alaqu paused in her complaints to shoot a disapproving glare at Erdeni. "Speaking of duties, don't you have something to do? You typically start frothing at the mouth if you spend half a sun away from your tools."
Erdeni had wrapped her hands around her knees, shrugging in response. "I've drawn up my half of the plans for the vessels. I am still waiting on the leathers for the sails; it'll be the only material strong enough to with stand oceanic winds without tearing." The artisan frowned. "And I do not froth. Perhaps in comparison to those far less serious in their duties it may seem that way. Proper Erdegai take their crafts very seriously."
"Yes, perhaps all proper Erdegai should be in danger of becoming rabid unless they are making something," the Aljai let out a laugh.
Alaqu exhaled and closed her eyes. Moments like this should last forever. It seemed time had stopped. A gentle wind provided a soothing ambience that seemed like it could rock her to sleep. The back of her mind was still pounding away at her myriad of responsibilities, but was quickly silenced. It seemed that this was the first time in ages that Alaqu had been allowed to simply stop and think. Not about the hundreds of problems barraging her every day, but about happy memories, reminiscence, and simpler times.
Though, it was not as if she was unhappy. Alaqu knew she took a certain measure of pride in being the leader, the face, even as the youngest Aljai. The castes came to her because she was the only one with the answers, the only one who knew the plan, the one who gave the directions. And the pace meant she was certainly never bored. Still, she could not help but wonder. Would they have had fun working with one another? Would they become competitive? Could she have eventually become Erdeni's rival, rather than a tagalong who liked her leather straps and wooden animals?
She felt a jolt and a shiver through her skin as she felt something cold on her forehead. Her eyes flashed open to see Erdeni leaning over her.
"I should return. Do not worry about moving the products to the drydocks: I will arrange for that myself. I am no shipwright nor carpenter, but I know who would be the best choice to oversee construction." Erdeni let loose a rare smile before shifting out of the yurt.
Alaqu clasped the object that had been placed on her forehead, holding it above her, and she could only smile softly. Shimmering in the light with a seafoam green hue, polished to an incredible shine and tied to a thin string was a piece of turquoise, shaped like a teardrop.
Masterfully inscribed on the tail of the teardrop was an image of a kite.
--
Alaqu Aljai's eyes glowed as she stared at the tablet in her hands. It was a small, rough piece of limestone, easily scratched with any hard stone. Carved upon its smooth surface were a series of glowing runes, whose bountiful luminescence reflected themselves in the Xaela's crimson eyes as she absorbed the information the runes projected. Finally and with a sigh, she blinked to clear away the thoughts and unease away from her mind; neither went away carefully.
One hundred. That was the time limit that Tsanai set. Within one hundred suns, those they had gathered would have to be trained and sent to the western continent in vessels across the northern sea, going around Othard to reach the west. The journey itself was, at minimum, another one hundred suns. It wasn't the distance that bothered her as much as it was the logistics. Schedules had to be set for rigorous training and orientation, supplies had to be gathered, to say nothing of the prodigious amount of lumber--relative to how much lumber was usually available on a glacier--that would be required to construct vessels to hold personnel and supplies.
And that wasn't it. All of this had to be done covertly, underneath the gaze of the Tsenkhai and the other Aljai. Tsanai was especially strict on that notion, and though Alaqu didn't know the greater context, she was inclined to agree: resources were strictly controlled to provide the greatest efficiency and benefit to the majority, and so something like this would be at best forced to cease and at worse...
She waved a hand through her flame-coloured bob in exasperation. The true irony was that this kind of undertaking could only really be accomplished so long as the cooperating korums were in physical contact with one another, but all of the korums having been gathered together for the Communion presented their biggest obstacle. They somehow had to send fourteen individuals across the sea. Numbers upon numbers piled themselves inside her head. The number of foodstuffs required to create the number of meals over sea, the number of days those meals had to last, the amount of space in the vessels required to hold those meals, possibly for multiple people. The kinds of materials that would need to be secured in order to construct ocean-faring vessels and the supplies, the people who could be trusted to train these fourteen individuals in varying techniques and arts outside of their assigned role...
"Are you present, Alaqu?" A familiar voice called from outside the Aljai's yurt, startling her from her reverie. "Y-yes, one moment," Alaqu said shakily, dashing to a stand from her cot to hastily clear the myriad of randomly piled tablets into semi-organised corners. It would be hardly becoming for her to be seen as a disorganised slob when she was trusted with managing the korum's resources down to the very last nail.
She didn't need to see Erdeni to perceive her impatient motions; the craftswoman's mood followed a very specific cycle. First she folded her arms, then she began waving her tail, then tapping her foot, shifting her weight, growling under her breath, and then--
Erdeni slapped the tent's opening flap away, stepping inside with her characteristically blunt demeanour. "How fared the meeting?"
Alaqu was halfway through shoving another handful of small tablets into a sack, frozen like a tiger cub before a hunter, before the Aljai sighed and sat on her cot, chin resting in her hands. "About as well as could be expected. Arlihl and Albei agreed to lend their aid, although Albei only wants to do it to stick it to the Tsenkhai, the old bat. Aysun, Amal, and Asha are only willing to lend token assistance in the form of some resources. Just some old foodstuffs and maybe a weapon or two; certainly not any lumber."
The craftswoman had her arms folded, severely glancing around the yurt. Alaqu could only sigh. "I would appreciate it if but for a minute you would not judge the organisation of my lodgings."
"I do not know how you even manage to make your way outside," Erdeni confessed, though the barest hint of a light smile tinged her lips. "That is better than nothing, at least. As for myself, Ersugen was easy to cow into helping. Erbei and Etugan owe me favours, so they will do what they can for us."
"You let Ersugen think he could produce a greater volume than you? That is unlike you," Alaqu leaned her head against one hand, the other shuffling with the folds of her robes near her knee as she sat on her cot.
"I will have to do more than let him think he can produce greater volume," Erdeni snapped with a scowl, though Alaqu seemed more amused by the artisan's expression than anything. "Ersugen is a great dolt, but his metalwork is...acceptable. At the least, I don't think nails and pegs will be a problem should he maintain sufficient supply." Erdeni paused. "Tell no one I said that."
"Then that is at least one less problem to worry about," Alaqu let out another great sigh, rubbing her eyes and horns in succession as Erdeni unceremoniously shoved a pile of tablets to one corner with her foot as to make room on the ground to sit.
"And to think, you could have been Aljai," Alaqu teased. "I don't think you'd have had a problem at all with shouting Albei down."
"And you could have been Erdegai if you had but a minute of patience. Your hair will change colour ere long at the rate you stay at." Both women gave a small laugh before falling silent. The wind outside had begun to pick up. The open tent flap began to ripple lightly, occasionally letting in the errant flake of snow.
"I still contemplate that, if you wish to know," Erdeni said after a long silence. "It is...difficult to assist you from my current role. I can make you a delightful hauberk or pouch, and little else. You have...what is that phrase Kaizhan used? 'A lot on your plate'. You would think our korum has no other Aljai if that mighty list you rattled off to me is any indication." The artisan glanced at her delicate hands, lightly callused from the skilled manipulation of hand tools.
Alaqu let loose a wistful smile before laying down flat on her cot, staring at the stretched hide ceiling of the yurt, thoughtfully tapping the obsidian ornaments around her neck. "To tell the truth, I do not give them enough credit. For every problem I feel overwhelmed by, there are ten or twenty that they juggle. It is not a forgiving role. You should not feel so troubled, though. It is not as if the life of an artisan is any easier." Mirroring Erdeni's gesture, Alaqu glanced at her own hands that were soft and smooth--strangers to hard labour. "I think things worked out well with what we became, in the end. I could never be an artisan, especially not with you overshadowing me. Your kites were always bigger, brighter, and flew higher than mine. I don't think attempting to upset that natural order would have been good to me."
Erdeni allowed herself a small smile. "Your appeal to my ego is duly noted, but I will allow that your kites were far better at crashing than mine were."
"This is what I am referring to," Alaqu said with a deep frown. "You are far too competitive to allow me some dignity, so at least as an Aljai, I take silent satisfaction in knowing that you would be buried under my responsibilities."
"I do not doubt that for a second," Erdeni said lightly. "But I would be buried under your responsibilities with the satisfaction that I make the best kites."
A small silence fell between them. "Not much time for flying kites any more, is there?" the Aljai said wistfully. "I miss that. Sneaking off to look at the northern lights, daring one another to approach the ice. Collecting stones, too! Although," Alaqu paused as she turned her head to glare at Erdeni in an expression of mock annoyance. "I still don't know why you had to use my stone collection to practise making your arrowheads, especially when you had your own!"
Erdeni shrugged again, an amused twinkle in her eye. "You always managed to find shinier stones. An artisan uses the best materials available."
"My favourite turquoise, even," Alaqu pouted. "I was going to show it to Albei!"
"Surely she would have simply yelled at you for wasting your time searching for stones?"
"Or, she would have been impressed beyond belief and no longer yell for the rest of her life. Flowers sprout from her head and she sings a song of peace to all living things."
Silence.
"...unlikely," both women said in unison before giggling quietly at the image of the old, wizened Au Ra prancing about a sunny field, just because a child had managed to find a shiny rock.
"How fare you?", the artisan asked in a tone of uncharacteristic concern, sobering the atmosphere considerably.
Alaqu could not help but snort derisively at the question. "I still have to finish the timetable for construction, make arrangements with the Nayantai and Khadai for training...and this is only just for Tsanai's pet project. You cannot even imagine what I have to do outside of adhering to her mad requests. The Yerenai need more herbs, more food, more blankets. Especially more blankets; I think the freeze has made them paranoid. The Jungsai are itching to hunt again. Slaughter season for livestock is approaching so we will need to find a place to dry and store the meat. Kasrjin's latest warband venture has cut down on the number of Khadai. Albei doesn't even think we will be able to venture south this year. It's too unsafe with the beasts and black ones both." Alaqu paused in her complaints to shoot a disapproving glare at Erdeni. "Speaking of duties, don't you have something to do? You typically start frothing at the mouth if you spend half a sun away from your tools."
Erdeni had wrapped her hands around her knees, shrugging in response. "I've drawn up my half of the plans for the vessels. I am still waiting on the leathers for the sails; it'll be the only material strong enough to with stand oceanic winds without tearing." The artisan frowned. "And I do not froth. Perhaps in comparison to those far less serious in their duties it may seem that way. Proper Erdegai take their crafts very seriously."
"Yes, perhaps all proper Erdegai should be in danger of becoming rabid unless they are making something," the Aljai let out a laugh.
Alaqu exhaled and closed her eyes. Moments like this should last forever. It seemed time had stopped. A gentle wind provided a soothing ambience that seemed like it could rock her to sleep. The back of her mind was still pounding away at her myriad of responsibilities, but was quickly silenced. It seemed that this was the first time in ages that Alaqu had been allowed to simply stop and think. Not about the hundreds of problems barraging her every day, but about happy memories, reminiscence, and simpler times.
Though, it was not as if she was unhappy. Alaqu knew she took a certain measure of pride in being the leader, the face, even as the youngest Aljai. The castes came to her because she was the only one with the answers, the only one who knew the plan, the one who gave the directions. And the pace meant she was certainly never bored. Still, she could not help but wonder. Would they have had fun working with one another? Would they become competitive? Could she have eventually become Erdeni's rival, rather than a tagalong who liked her leather straps and wooden animals?
She felt a jolt and a shiver through her skin as she felt something cold on her forehead. Her eyes flashed open to see Erdeni leaning over her.
"I should return. Do not worry about moving the products to the drydocks: I will arrange for that myself. I am no shipwright nor carpenter, but I know who would be the best choice to oversee construction." Erdeni let loose a rare smile before shifting out of the yurt.
Alaqu clasped the object that had been placed on her forehead, holding it above her, and she could only smile softly. Shimmering in the light with a seafoam green hue, polished to an incredible shine and tied to a thin string was a piece of turquoise, shaped like a teardrop.
Masterfully inscribed on the tail of the teardrop was an image of a kite.
