Vyoma
Late Hour on Brightening 4 of Junctior,
Season Autumn of Era I of the Celestine Mandate (Current Pattern)
Era X Post Fractum in the Age of the Darkening, the Mageocracy of Julos the
Mad
Paradigm: Mystique Threatens Rebellious Frigid River
(After the Stone Gaurd Meeting #1)
Vyoma was back from meeting. Lot of things had happened this day. He washed
himself a bit as he would before he went for the bed, but today he waited
in the living room. He was expecting a guest. To an outsider, a dwarf as
a guest in an elf's house would seem odd but for him, the dwarf would be
just as any other guest, to be met with hospitality.
Grunt G'daraka
After the meeting Grunt slowly made his way to Vyoma's abode. On the way
he was lost in thought about what occured at his first Stone Guard meeting.
More than that, Grunt was thinking about what he was going to do. He, a dwarf,
was on his way to stay with an elf! Vyoma was still just another member of
the Stone Guard and race did not matter. However, Grunt was going to stay
with an ELF!
Following scribbled directions Grunt eventually made it to the address he
had written down. Vyoma was right. His house was not glamorous, but it still
had a very sturdy and nice look to it. "We shall see what happens," Grunt
thought as he reached up an tapped on the door.
ooc: Sorry about the lateness of this post. These next few weeks are still
going to be rather hectic. I'll post as much as I'm able.
Vyoma
Vyoma had given G'daraka the directions for getting to his shack, which he
had scribbled down. He just hoped the dwarf could find his way. Vyoma found
it easier to give directions in the wilderness than in a city. He was getting
worried. Just as he was about to get up and go out to search for his friend
he heard the knock.
It did not take a elf-ear to recognize that the knock came from the lower
part of the door. It definitely was a dwarf, and if it was a dwarf, it had
to be G'daraka. Vyoma walked to the door quickly and opened it before the
other could knock again. He found his guild-mate at the door. A warm but
small smile crept up his face that G'daraka could see if he looked up at
the elf's face in the street-lights as they stood in the threshold.
Vyoma took a side step, "Serale! Please get in." He closed the door as the
dwarf walked in.
Vyoma realized that even if he had no trouble with the racial difference,
his guild-mate still might be at unease form the fact that he was an elf
and G'daraka a dwarf. He now made a resolution that he had to use all his
elf-trait to set this straight. Vyoma pulled a chair from one of the four
that were at the table and sat down. He motioned the dwarf to take one. He
opened the bread and jug of water that were on the table. The rations would
suffice for long, even for the two but they were not rich. He tore a piece
of bread, "I am glad you accepted the offer to come here. I assume this as
your indication that you have no trouble with the fact that we have different
racial lineage." Vyoma waited before putting the bread piece in his mouth
for his guild-mate, G'daraka to sit and take his share.
Grunt G'daraka
Grunt climbed into the proffered chair and sat down. He took a modest slice
of bread and a small glass of water. Straining to see over the table Grunt
gave Vyoma a small smile. Grunt would never ask for a higher chair and the
thought of sitting on something to make him higer made him cringe.
Looking at Vyoma as much as he could, Grunt said, "Serale Vyoma. Thank you
for allowing me to stay in your home. It is nice. There is one thing that
you need to understand. I am not emotional and weak. You just startled me
back at the Guild Headquarters, that is it.
Also, I do not have problems with elves. I have never known one who wasn't
stuck up and annoying, but I have no problem with them."
Grunt hoped he didn't sound too harsh and mean but he just couldn't bring
himself to say that he could see this elf as the only true friend he has
ever had. There was some truth in what he said. All elves he ever knew seemed
like they were always looking down there nose at the world. He saw much less
of that in Vyoma, but there was a small amount still there.
Vyoma
Vyoma was glad that the matter was put out in open and made crystal clear.
Many times in history, just by keeping some trivial things to oneself, a
lot of misunderstanding had taken place. That, would not happen now, between
the two.
G'daraka might have been right about elves being egoistic. But Vyoma was
not one of them. He was just a young one, about twenty two Patterns old,
and also the fact remained that he knew not much of his parents. He was brought
up much less like a elf and more like an orphan. His bloodline, it seemed,
had started from him and not anywhere before.
Vyoma and his friend sat quietly as they finished their bread, taking some
amount of water to wash down the hard part of it. Before settling down for
the next Brightening, before anything, it struck Vyoma that though he had
invited a guest to his home, he did not have two bedrooms.
"I do not know how to say this, friend. I do not have a spare bedroom. You
will have to sleep here in the living room. It would hurt me to let a guest
sleep on the floor while I rest my back on the mattress on my cot."
Vyoma took few moments and then said, "We will do it this way. I wil rest
on the cot and you will rest here. But the mattress, we can remove from the
cot and put it here. I think that should do. The wood of the cot would be
of no discomfort to me, as a lot many times I have slept on the branches
of trees in the wilderness. What do you say?"
Grunt G'daraka
"Friend Elf," Grunt never used those two words together in a sentence. "Thank
you, but I do not need a mattress. I am used to sleeping on the ground and
the streets. A clean floor is already a vast improvement. Do keep the mattress.
However, if you have a blanket or two, that would be sufficient. Already
Grunt was indebted to Vyoma. A dwarf in debt to an elf. However, he did not
used the situation to belittle Grunt. At least not more than the difference
in height already did.
"Part of the reason that it took a while for me to reach your door is that
I was exploring the city a wee bit. I did come across this. It is over a
pattern old but could possibly be a help on our mission." Grunt handed Vyoma
an old and torn flyer that read:
By Order of His Grace, Thane Ilfarin Ibalirid, The City of Medonia Seeks
Compassionate Citizens to Perform Duties Relating to Census Work - Payment
Will be Provided, but Volunteers Welcome
"From what I have been able to discover, the work involves something with
letters. Either finding the person the letter was sent to or responding to
them, or something of that sort. This might be great for reconnaissance of
the Cadre. What do you think?"
ooc: here's the thread where I found it...
Vyoma
OOC: That is a great idea! I think there would be a problem with the Fluid
Time. You have already posted in the 'Tavern' thread that you are in possession
of these letters while I could not see the exact posting in the link to the
thread where it mentions you came in possession of these letters. You would
better go there and post that you have got them. Any way, I think there would
be no much use of this thread as the next brightening, we and Quix would
be in the Tavern. So I am thinking of ending this thread. (Sorry for the
long OOC)
IC:
Vyoma read through the flyer. Vyoma was amazed by the stroke of intelligence
that the dwarf showed. Even with the background G'daraka had, he was much
more than anyone knew. May be, even more that he himself knew. Vyoma was
glad to have made such a intelligent friend. He read through the flyer again.
"You know or not my friend, this could be of great importance!" Vyoma thought
for a while. "Nothing much we can do now except get a good sleep. But tomorrow,
if you agree we would do it this way. Let us decide with the Thane of Riparia
on which Tavern we would go. Then you hurry of and get as many letters as
you can. I am asking you to do this, because if there is any monetary benefits,
it should be you who gets it. It was your effort. Anyway, once you get the
letters come to the Tavern. Hopefully, I and Quix would not have got into
trouble that fast. But as I had told earlier, three fellows together are
better than one or two."
Vyoma then went into the room while he let G'daraka think over it and got
a blanket that he layed on the table in front of him. He did not sit, because
he planned not to waste any more midnight oil and use all energy they could
store up, the next brightening. He waited for G'daraka to settle down for
the day before he himself would do so. It had been a long day. He had not
only worked at the Dagger Gaude Tattoo Parlour, picked up some lessons on
tattooing, joined the Stone Gaurd Mercenary Guild, attended its meeting,
but also had ended up taking a job for the guild and planning for it with
the guild-mates.
They had to get to know about the Cadre.
Grunt G'daraka
ooc: I originally was trying to actually get them. I don't think that will
work though. They can always be forged though.
Indeed Grunt would like to make some money with the letters while finding
information on the Cadre. However, he had not been able to find any person
still in charge of this. He casually glanced for any letters still left in
the area and did not find any. Grunt planned on going back and searching
again next brightening before going to the tavern.
At this time Vyoma walked back in with a blanket. "Thank you Friend! I do
need to ask you for one more thing. Do you have any parchment, or anything
to make at least one fake letter? I do not believe that any sort of money
will come out of this since it appears to have ended many brightnings ago.
However, I do need to make a very authentic letter addressed to Don Giovanni.
Grunt took the offered blanket and began preparing a place to sleep.
Vyoma
Vyoma looked at G'daraka with suspicion. He told him directly, "G'daraka!
Are you thinking of making some crowns by faking a letter and giving it to
the Guild? Sorry, my friend, I can not help you with that. And anyway, I
do not have any parchment that you can use. If you are going to use it against
the Cadre, then I wish I could help, but as I said I do not have a parchment."
That was true. He had none.
"All I can give you is one advice. You can go back tomorrow and search for
any letters. There are bound to be some."
Vyoma took a deep breath and wished his friend a good rest and went to his
room. He settled down and closed his eyes. It had been a long day.
Grunt G'daraka
Grunt finished making his bedding and settled down to sleep. While he was
waiting for sleep to come his thoughts speculated on the next day. Vyoma
thought he was going to try to make some money by faking some letters. That
was not at all true, but Grunt did not have the time or the energy to clear
this up tonight.
The important thing was that he had no parchment of any kind. He would have
to go look for some abandoned letters the next brightening, and also stop
by and ask Epic for assistance with the one 'letter' to Don Giovanni.
With these thoughts in mind Grunt, sleep finally overcame Grunt who was ready
to be gone and begin preparing for the night at sunrise.
The next brightening, Grunt was awake and gone before Vyoma awoke. He hoped
Vyoma did not mind the fruit he took as he was walking out. This reminded
Grunt to make sure he gave a little of the pay to Vyoma for the use of his
house. Grunt slipped out the door, quietly closed it and was off.
Vyoma
Vyoma woke quite early the next brightening but G'daraka was already gone.
He noticed that one of the fruits on the table was missing but he did not
mind. He had enough of them. He then washed himself a bit after stretching
himself, and with the thought of the job in mind stepped out of his house. |
