Bauxe Week Three
Gathering food at the cooks tents is an easy task. By the time I’ve reached them, word of my impending trip has already reached them, and there’s several baskets ready for the taking. The cooks have a variety of things for me, some that will only be good for the first few days and others that will help me enjoy the food of my people even after I’m weeks away from them. I thank them many times for their work and carry everything off to my tent.
It doesn’t take me long to get my things prepared for another travel. My tent rolls up easily and I have a large bag that holds most everything I’ll need. The rest of my things I take with me as well, in a large trunk. As I walk back into the city, I start thinking about what qualifications we’ll need to look for when we meet the students from the college. In my mind the best and most important quality I can think of for those that are going to be left, after the headmaster makes his picks of the students, is going to be those that really want to go, want to travel, want an adventure. Those will be the ones that will be the most willing to set out into the wild unknown and more likely to listen to us as we travel, making things a bit smoother.
Before I make my way to the Captain’s house, I head down to the Rim of the Black Alley where she keeps an apartment. It’s a little out of my way, and too close to the Depths for comfort, but she loves living in town when she can. The Rim is the cultural mish-mash in Bauxe, all sorts live there. It’s a bit dark, but it’s also the part of Bauxe with the most creative, most talented people, and she loves it. I knock on the door to her flat for several minutes and am met with no answer. It’s only after I’m searching around the building for a way in that I meet with one her neighbors who tells me that she’s left town.
“How long?”
“Day ago, maybe two?” the neighbor says trying to remember.
I nod, thinking about it. “It’s been a few days. But it’s not like her to just head out of town like that.”
“Well it was a big thing, I think,” the young woman gestures up towards my sister’s place. “She was running around like mad for almost an hour getting her things together. Made a lot of ruckus about having to leave town again with some group.”
“Again?”
I don’t see her often, but I just saw her a few days ago in the camp, and she didn’t say she’d been gone. The woman just shrugs and goes back to doing whatever it was she was doing before she stopped to talk to me. I give the building another once-over trying to piece everything together. It’s a bit maddening to think that she’d gone out with out telling me. I know she’s older than me, and she doesn’t have to report to me, but it’s nice to stay up on these things. I’m a little hurt that she didn’t think it important to tell me. I walk back towards Mayors Row, and the nice less intrusive neighborhood the Captain lives in.
The Captain is waiting for me when I reach his house. I arrange to store the trunk of my belongings at his house while we’re out. I could’ve sent it out again, travelling, the rest of the tribe, but it’s unkind to make them carry my things when I’m not there to watch them for myself. Tesseleck kindly agrees and lets me settle anything I don’t want to take along in the spare room I slept in the night before. When I’m done, I meet him back in his office.
“Have you told anyone?” He asks once I’m settled into the chair in his office.
“No. I told the Elders of the tribe I travel with that I would be settling in town for a while. I’ve done it before, they didn’t think anything of it.” It’s a small lie, but I’m trying to protect not only my people, but myself. By revealing what I know, and my people know, I could be setting a lot of people up for a very difficult future.
He gives me an inquisitive look, searching my face for more. After a few seconds he just nods in acceptance and tells me that he managed to talk to the other leaders of groups going out with us. That means he’s talked to the Headmaster and the Prisidium, and I think my jaw drops in shock. He chuckles a little and then shrugs.
“It wasn’t hard to get in to see either of them. Although we’ll need to go back to Mendel’s and pick out those we want to take with us. Mostly, I wanted to discuss with each of them their goals in this trip.”
“And, did they each tell you anything useful?”
“No. Not really. Both of them are very difficult to talk to. Reighn is just an ass and I think felt I was encroaching on some sort of ‘authority’ of his just by being in the same room as him. He was especially unhappy to meet me in connection with our discovery last night.” Tesseleck shrugs to indicate it didn’t bother him overmuch.
“And the Prisidium?”
“She was hard to talk to for other reasons, mostly because it’s difficult to anyone when you can’t see their face. When you can’t judge what is a truth and what is not by how they look at you when they say it. Her face is completely covered in cloth, it’s most uncomforting. Not only that, but she’s hesitant to reveal any information about herself…it’s very curious.” He looks lost in thought for a moment before continuing, “I do go to the temple much, so I didn’t really know what to expect”.
I give him a questioning look, “Don’t you worship the gods?”
“Of course, but I’m not one for frequenting the temple,” he gives me a wicked grin and shrugs.
“Ah,” is all I can manage.
“Why don’t we head over to Mendel’s and begin our search. In my talk with Reighn, he said that we could choose ten students to take with us. Most of them should be able to summon he thought, although he was pretty disdainful of the entire idea.”
“He would be,” I say as we both stand and make to exit the house.
“By the time we get back it will be time for lunch. Margaurite is cooking up us something extremely tasty, I’m positive,” he says as we pass through the front entrance. The older woman gives him a small wave from the dining room as he mentions her name.
It’s obvious once we step out into Guild Alley that it’s the middle of the day. People are all over, moving from building to buildings with food, goods, and messages. It’s a crowded walk, and more than once the Captain and I duck down an alley way just so we can make it through without being run over. He keeps his badge visible, and as we pass some undesireable folks in one of the alleys, they back off at the sight of his badge and sword. The Captain shakes his head in disappointment and saying something about broad daylight that I don’t quite catch as we keep walking.
It takes us longer than normal to reach the college, but we do make it there eventually. The courtyard is full of people, mostly students studying on benches or near fountains and under trees. Many of them are reading and eating at the same time trying to sneak in a quick lunch before going back to classes. There are a few students that catch my eye as the run through the courtyard, large bags on their backs and no books in their hands. I assume that they might be part of the entourage of students that Reighn will be bringing along with him.
When we approach the front desk for the second time in as many days the Captain shows his badge to the student sitting behind the counter. It’s a different boy than it was last night, but he’s no less nervous and scurries off to find someone else. Within moments, a young woman who dresses like a teacher steps out of a side door followed by the young boy. She gestures for us to follow her back into the room, and we follow. As we draw close to her, she extends a hand and introduces herself as an assistant to the Herbalism instructor. She begs our forgiveness for the actual instructors absence explaining that most all of the teachers are in a long meeting with the headmaster. She sounds sad as she says it, as if she wishes she could be there also.
“If the two of you will wait here,” she says directing us to a small simply adorned room with two large chairs. “The students willing to go will be sent in, you can choose from among them.”
“Are there not many willing, then?” I ask looking about the small room wondering how many people can stand in here at one time.
“Not after the Headmaster has made his choices,” she says with that same sad tone to her voice.
The Captain must have heard it also, “Would you like to go?” he asks.
She nods, “I have other duties however and I am not free to leave the school or Bauxe for the time being. Thank you though.”
“We understand,” the Captain says. “We’re ready to see whom ever is willing.”
She leaves the room with a small bow to us and we’re left to ourselves for several minutes. The Captain and I discuss tactics in choosing among the students, and agree that while he talks to them, I’ll spend a few minutes in silence searching them with my Sight for the gift or anything that might show up. We are in agreement that despite the dangerous nature of the task, it might be worth our while to pick those that would be the most excited and most willing to go along.
The teacher’s assistant finally returns, about twenty students trailing behind her. There’s a mix of students, mostly humans, but several Slights, a Nomad that isn’t from either Tribe I know, and one of the Rooted ducks it’s branches through the doorway as it walks in at the back of the group. The woman hands the Captain a stack of orange cards with writing on them, and instructs him to give them to those that we choose to take with us. He waves them at me so I can get a closer look, and they’re permission slips to be dismissed from classes for at least two months. She leaves the room after the Captain says something to her I can’t hear.
As the Captain steps up to talk to the group of students I relax in my chair, reaching for my Sight and looking out over the group.
It occurs to me as I look over everyone that I never looked at the Captain with my Sight the entire time we were in the sewer. I give him a quick once over but nothing on him looks anything other than mundane. He may be talented but he’s completely void of magical abilities. The rest of the group however shines and glitters and pulses in the Aethric. The female Rooted in the back of the group shines brighter than everyone else, bits of the Aethric quite literally stuck to the branches and leaves that make up her hair. Rooted are a rarity in Mendel’s most Rooted childen are taught by their elders and have a far more extensive education that most Mendel’s students couldn’t even imagine. I try to set a reminder for myself to ask about this female, maybe talk to her when we get back. It’s pretty obvious by her stance and attitude that she is not interested in the slightest in going along. As it is the Captain barely gives her any attention as he talks to the group, and I have to wonder how often, if ever, he’s dealt with the Rooted.
Everyone in the room, aside from the Captain is touched by the Aethric in someway. However, there are a few students that possess so little of it for themselves that I wonder how they were even admitted to the school. However, after a few moments of study, it’s obvious that their monetary talents (or those of their parents) granted their entrance. The two young males that have seemingly no abilities of their own are adorned in several very expensive looking talismans that have been charmed with magic, giving them both a larger magical aura than they should possess.
The rest of the students seem about even as far as the amount of Aethric energies that is left around them. Most of the gifted are easy to identify in the Aethric because of the amount of it that they frequently channel for their talents. Others that don’t use their abilities often can still be spotted because the Aethric clings to them due to what they are, like the Rooted, formed from magic, or because of something they wear or the nature of their talents. Some magical abilities take more energy, and leave a bigger footprint in the Aethric and in a person’s aura after it’s use. Most of these students are average students, average gifts. As I thought it might, it will come down to how badly they want to be along with us in the decision making.
As I drop my Sight, the Captain is turning and gesturing towards me with a wave of his arm. He smiles and looks back at the students. I gather that he introduced me, and I stand up and nod at the group. As I walk to stand near the Captain he instructs them that I’m going to dismiss a few of them before we get further into the decision process. I walk over and tap the two young boys near the edge of the group on the shoulders and give them a shake of the head. They both frown, but don’t seem to disappointed. They leave in a quiet acceptance closing the door behind them as I walk to the back of the group. The Rooted female gives me a small smile as I approach and tell her she can go. She actually seems relieved and makes her way from the room. I shrug at the Captain and make my way to the front of the group.
“Alright,” he says as I join him again. “Let’s get started with some questions for the rest of you.”
It’s a lengthy process because it seems that most everyone wants to go along. However, by the end of about two hours we’ve narrowed our choices down to the ten required and handed them cards. It seems that we a majority of young human men going along, and three human women. Only one of the ten isn’t human, a young Slight male that seemed both hesitant and eager to go along, but he possess a great deal of respect for the guild and that makes the Captain’s final choice for him. Each of them has their cards and when the last of them is dismissed, the young teacher’s assistant comes back into the room to escort us out of the building.
“We’ll have them travel to the meeting place with the headmaster, they can join your ranks from there.”
The Captain nods his agreements and thanks her for her help. She is reluctant to leave us when we reach the front of the building, but we excuse ourselves with plans we know are necessary to get underway. On the way back to Tesseleck’s home, we talk about what is left to prepare. He instructs me that each of the four groups will be meeting outside town, past the farms on the other side of the walls. Both the Captain of the forces of the city and Reighn agreed on that meeting ground, hoping it wouldn’t gather as much attention if everyone met outside of town. I shrug, keeping my mouth shut as I wonder why it’s so hard for humans to share informaton with each other when they find something new like this. The Captain ignores my quiet mumblings and we walk in silence back to his house.
We have a lovely lunch prepared by Magaurite who still treats me with a level of frightened respect and I try to keep my interaction with her to a minimum throughout the evening. The Captain leaves after lunch to make preparations at the guild house with his own men for the trip that commences in the morning at first light. In the spare room of the house, I start going through my things making sure that I have everything ready and available that I’ll need. I take out my leather armor and work on making sure it’s clean and that all the previous dings and scratches are mended.
It helps, as I work concentrating on my armor, to push out the worried thoughts of my sister. She’s a grown woman, and I shouldn’t fret that she’s gone out on some adventure without telling me. It grates on me that she didn’t say anything to me about the trip, but it worries me more than that that she went out at all, when she’s grown to love the city life so. She gave up travelling with the Tribe several years ago after our own tribe and this one started travelling in different directions, instead of travelling together. I don’t know that people were told but I remember that there was a disagreement among the Elders of both tribes and it set about the break between them.
At the time, she decided to sit out on one trip after the split. She explained to me that she wanted to try and figure out who she’d rather travel with and that some time in city would help her figure that out. I was young, only 16 at the time, and wasn’t ready to settle in town. I choose to go with the first tribe that left the city, after she started talking about me taking classes at Mendel’s. When I came back from that trip, she’d gotten that apartment and set up her home. She wasn’t leaving and she managed to talk me into starting up classes at the college. She figured if I took the classes, that I’d learn to love the city as much as she did, and wouldn’t want to travel anymore.
I work on my preparations into the evening and only leave the upstairs room when Tesseleck returns home for dinner. Instead of having dinner prepared, the Captain offers to take me out for a nice dinner, ‘since it’ll be our last one in town for a while’ and I accept. We take a nice walk down to Mayor’s Row and he shows me into a very nice establishment that he tells me he frequents quite often. The dinner is lovely and I enjoy every minute of it. We make small talk as he tells me about the plans he’s set in place with his men in the guild. He goes over some of the names of his most trusted and reliable men giving me some of their background so I’ll know them better as we travel.
We stroll back the Captain’s house after dinner slowly. The night is chillier than the one before and I find myself chilled by the time we reach his house. He instructs Magaurite to build a fire in the main room for me so that I can get warm. We both relax in front of the fire for almost an hour as we talk more about the Prisidium and Headmaster Reighn. When it’s time for us to turn-in for the night so we can make it an early morning, the Captain gives me a warm smile and walks me to the bottom of the stairs.
“Ana,” he says, and I find myself enjoying the diminuitive of my name. “It’ll be nice to have you along for this adventure we’re about to go out on.” He reaches out and grabs my hand, brings it to his mouth and gives it a small polite kiss.
Reflexively, and before I can help myself, I draw my hand away and give him the best smile I can manage. “Thank you Captain,” I manage to say. “You’ve been most kind to share your home with me.” I give him a polite nod and turn to head up the stairs.
Behind me I hear him say quietly, “Tesseleck”.