Day 15

	It had been a rough week for Nick Swindle.  He had gotten away from 
Jadax, ran into Barry Scott, been captured by the Manotic Order, been rescued by 
the Kin Shi Tal, retrieved the golden sword with Sorrow's powers, been stabbed 
in the chest and had the sword taken from him, escaped from the Kin Shi Tal Sub 
Base during an attack from some creature, had been tricked into marrying Kilana, 
and came up with a way to escape from her and the Reflectionist misister Talvin. 
 All he had to show for it was a small bag of gold.  Even the horse that he had 
swindled away from Barry was gone, probably either taken or killed by the 
Manotic Order.  There were less than 2 days before the end of the eclipse, and 
Nick would be glad to stop living in 24 hour darkness.  
	Nick arrived in Dinang.  He was lucky enough to be able to hitch a ride 
with a merchant who was traveling there.  The journey of about 55 miles would 
have been difficult otherwise.  Of course, Nick didn't pay the merchant.  He 
convinced him to give him a ride in exchange for some "business advice".  
	When he arrived at the town, Nick looked for a place to stay for a few 
days until the eclipse ended.  The local Inn was filled up with people wanting 
out of the darkness.  Instead, he found a small cabin in the outskirts of the 
town.  He might be able to convince who ever is living there to put him up for a 
few nights.  If not, the gold he took from Talvin might be able to.  He knocked 
on the door.  The person behind it lifted a bar like system that was built into 
the entrance, revealing vertically cut out sections in the door.  He could see 
an old man through them, who opened the door, "Yes?"  
	Nick smiled, "Hi.  I'm a traveling merchant who needs a place to stay 
for the night.  The Inn's all booked up, but they told me there were many 
hospitable people in this town, and you strike me as a hospitable person.  Do 
you have an extra bed that I might use for merely a night?"  
	The man looked at him strangely for a moment, seeming to be examining 
his eyes for some reason, then the man spoke, "By the great Ushamo, I haven't 
had visitors in weeks.  Certainly, come in.  My home is neutral."  
	Nick had no idea who Ushamo was or what the man meant by neutral, but 
smiled and went along.  He stepped into the cabin.  On the wall hung a few 
strange pieces of artwork.  They looked vaguely like Sword's Edge art, but were 
for the most part completely different than anything Nick had seen.  The table 
in the middle of the room had a polygonal shape, 8 or 9 sides to it, and the 
chairs around it had similar shapes.  In the middle of the table there was a 
material burning in a ceramic dish.  It was a strange looking clay-like material, 
but the flame that it was producing was more than enough to light the entire 
room.  The man closed the door, replacing the wooden bars which must be some 
sort of locking device, and turned toward Nick, "Sit.  Are you diminishing?  Do 
you want something to eat?"  
	Nick nodded, seeing that the man was actually very hospitable as he'd 
hoped, and Nick had no reservations toward exploiting that, "Yes, I would like 
some food, and I was thinking about doing a little business around here.  Could 
you tell me a little about this town?"  
	The man walked to the side of the room, where several cabinets were set 
up, and began preparing some food, "Oh I'm the wrong person to ask, I just moved 
here recently."  
	Nick sat down, noticing that the heat from the clay-like substance didn't 
feel any hotter from right next to it than it did from across the room.  He 
looked back toward the old man, "Really?  Moved from where?  Delaran?"  
	The man replied, "Much a distance from that, Kinshou."  Nick looked 
shocked, almost nothing was known about the island continent of Kinshou, and 
he'd never heard of people from there coming to the main continent.  The man 
continued, "I moved here 8 cycles ago.  I don't get many visitors because I 
don't know all the customs of your continent, but I'm adjusting.  It's difficult 
getting used to the lack of Transparents, though.  I've adjusted some though, 
you'd probably find other people from Kinshou a lot stranger than me."  
	Nick listened carefully, never having gotten any details on Kinshou 
other than the fact that it's an island continent in North Eastern part of the 
globe, "What's it like on Kinshou?"  
	The old man spoke up immediately, glad to at least be talking with 
someone, "It's very plentiful there.  A lot of greenery.  There's one pasture I 
loved to go to in the later mornings.  And I've noticed the governmental system 
is a lot more chaotic here than it is up there."  
	"If it's that good there, why did you leave?" Nick asked.
	The old man sighed and said, "It has to do with that movement by the 
F.H.E., Friends of the Hurricane's Eye.  It's uninvigorating to talk about, 
it'll be over soon anyway," the man seemed unsure, "6 cycles at the most."
	The old man brought the food over to Nick, a strange, blue, almost 
noodle looking dish.  He was hungry enough to try it, and it tasted pretty good. 
 The old man smiled, "I think you can be called a friend.  Greetings are in 
order.  My name is Basarigon."  
	Nick waited until he finished the bite he was on, "Nick Swindle.  Tell 
me, what are the Friends of the Hurricane's Eye trying to do?"  
	Basarigon suddenly got angry, "I said not to talk about it!"  
	"Sorry," Nick said, once again surprised by Basarigon's reaction.  He 
decided that he'd stay for the night because he was still weak from the sword 
wound, but that in the morning he was definitely going to leave.