*Author's Note* There are no intimacy scenes in this chapter.
Drained and feeling pleasantly numb, I return to camp. I'm not really sure when the auction is, just that it's this evening, so it's probably a few hours away at least. I'll try to get dinner around the 5th bell. Noon is 12 rings, 1pm is one, 2pm is two, and so on, though they refer to it in other terms.
Back at camp, it seems there's a small box with various colored gems in front of my house; the work of the Crew, no doubt. Running my hands through them it seems it's all Spinel; red, blue, purple, pink, orange, all sorts of colors, but no luck. I'll clean them up in a bit.
First though, I should make a table. After this morning, it's apparent we need a bit more in the way of hospitality. It'll be outdoors still, but better than the food cart. I have Sentral hew some of the nearby rocks up in a large rectangle, then cut the edges to leave behind 6 legs around the outside. It seems best to put it, and a newly made collection of chairs, in the middle of camp. It's 12 by 4 feet, and the table comes up to about my waist. Excellent.
I sit down at my new table... then stand up and walk over to Sentral's Cart, where all the gems I need are. I want to make another tablet for Sentral's box, leading to each of my other seven carts... Let's see, those are: My house, Hanamaya's, Ringara's, and Vai'yun's... Sentral's box, which obviously doesn't need a Topaz as it will be fused onto the wall... Food, barracks, and water carts need Topaz added as well. Eventually I want to make a 'warehouse' cart.
Sentral stands in the corner of the box I'm standing in, and no doubt watching humans go about their lives through its Zone. The move closer to the Port's gate that the girls suggested means Sentral can 'see' about eight hundred feet into the town with Zone. "You probably don't like that I treat your 'house' as a storage bin, do you? What do
you
think about a warehouse cart?" Sentral doesn't acknowledge me at all, as expected. Hmm... I don't know what Spinel can do yet, but it might be nice if Spinel let golems process auditory stimuli, to let Sentral hear the world around it.
Oh well. I put 'mess around with Spinel' on my non-existent to-do list, which is surprisingly short now that I've got the water cart made. Maybe I'll take a soak tonight after the surely-not-evil underground auction. Heh. Maybe enjoy some firewine, and open a hole in the roof to enjoy the stars.
I almost laugh at myself. No, I'll soak in the water, and take the 'sea of stars' view from Jericho.
Anyway. I turn my attention back to the tablet. This tablet for my caravan ended up with a lot more words than most, but since it's 100% custom and can't be templated at all, that's to be expected. I spin and bisect the Topaz, and confirming the seven portals work, then walk to my house, put a Topaz half into the floor near the door, and then the corresponding half to "Grey's House" I repeat this for the other 6 carts. Once all seven have been connected, I return to Sentral's box, fuse its foot to the floor, then stick the Tablet to the wall with the others. The tablets now number five... 50 birds, Jericho, Shrine, Carts, and Tac'tix (hanging from the wall, unfused). Huh, I guess I never made a tablet for the crabs. Not much point now. They're piled up in a corner, not moving. I might use them again once we get to Friegheim... or, as it's properly known, the Maritime Republic of Skyport Friegheim. Sounds rather pompous, but I'm rather looking forward to my first Sky City.
I go through the testing to confirm the tablet works... Yup, even when they're all open, all 8 carts are considered to be one, with Sentral controlling everything directly. I close them all again.
Ah, right. I unfuse Sentral from the floor. I should modify its shape to let Vai'yun go for a joyride. She'll want to get that done before... I pause, and a fluttering passes through my stomach... Well, I'll get that done soon. I wonder if I should try to cleanse Sentral? It might make the gems more powerful. Ehh, if I did, that would wreck the shape, and I'd have to re-create all of the body. That would take several hours, and she's never showed much of an interest.
So let's purify some gems, instead. Maybe start with... Jet. I pull some of the Jet off of Sentral's box. I have Sentral hold it steady with telekinesis again, then touch it with my finger, and flow it sideways. A bit of dust falls off of it, and the air smells faintly of rotten eggs. Hmm.
I complete the process, and do it again; almost no dust falls off, and I can't smell anything out of the ordinary. When I focus my gemsense on it, I find that the Jet, which was already very Jet-like, is now nearly 'perfect'. I suspect this means it'll convert sunlight to mana better?
I touch the wall of the box, reach through the gem work, and activate the portal for bird 00, before commanding it to fly over to me. It's one of the birds hanging on the ceiling of Sentral's cart. I pull out its 'eyes', and replace it with the near-perfect Jet. I replicate the structure of the other birds' eyes, and take a look.
...
whoa
. The vision is
crisp
. I close my eyes to revel in this. I can easily see the details of dust blowing across the rocks a hundred feet away. Turning its head to my face a foot away, I can see way more detail about my skin than I care to.
I dismiss the bird. I think I've got some clarifying to do!
- - -
I think I've fixed up my entire stock of Jet. It was too tricky to cleanse the Jet on Jericho, something about trying to apply telekinesis through a portal was too tricky, and I ended up accidentally tearing off some of the Jet and losing it while also sending the satellite into a spin. So instead, I flowed the Jet back through the portal, cleaned it here, and pushed it back, reforming it into the 'eyes' and bits I stretched between the stalks to collect power.
For the most part, the Jet had either too much or too little of whatever it needed, so I formed a bunch of it into a large loop, and pushed it in circles through my telekinesis-and-gemsense combo. This pushed the excess whatever-it-is along to the rest of the loop, and the processed bits that came out the other side would have either too much, or exactly the right amount. Once the entire loop was that way, I pulled the excess materials out of the loop entirely, and the entire loop would be perfect.
I thought about tasting the dust from the Jet, to see if it's iron as I suspected, but decided against it. I'm fairly sure the smell is coming from sulfur, though this would be my first time smelling it, if it is.
...A bell rings from port, 5 times, bringing my mind back to the present. Dinnertime. My ladies are still out and about, and the only one here is a crew member lounging on top of the barracks. He's not paying any attention, since I'm here. But once I start walking away, he hops down and starts walking around on patrol.
Pouch, a few coins, Topaz, telepathy gem... alright that's everything I need. Off to the gate then. The guards recognize me and simply collect the toll as usual. The road is a bit busier than usual, so when I get distracted by someone who looks like Ringara... hmm, no, that's not Rin, it's no surprise that I bump into somebody.
I turn around to them... then turn my head upward. He's pretty tall, muscled, and has what looks like a two handed sword on his back. No armor though, so he's probably not a guard.
Me, "Sorry about that. I wasn't watching where I was going."
He looks at me, puts a hand to his chin, and brings his face closer. "No harm done." The bulky fellow looks me up and down. "But, you aren't afraid of me at all, are you?"
Hmm? Well certainly, he's a bulky fellow, rivaling that fucking beef cake A'yado, but this guy isn't quite as tall. "Not particularly. My wife has a similar build to yours, so I've gotten used to people being bigger than me." I smile, "You appear to be a powerful fighter, but I could escape if it came down to it."
He lifts an eyebrow, then laughs loudly. A few people stare at him as they walk by. "You're a fool, or a powerful mage! I don't know which, but I like your guts. Come, I am on my way to supper. Dine with me." He drops a surprisingly heavy hand on my shoulder, and drags me down the road.
Huh. Well, this is fine, I suppose. "I'm Vai'grey. Family name Vai, given name Grey. Refer to me however you like."
The large man says, "Haji. My family name no longer matters."
Me, "You'll have to tell me about it sometime. Where are we eating?"
Haji, "Yellowtail fish! There is a vendor that sells it near the docks gate. It is spiced like a master from the rich bastards' district would spice it, but for a tenth the coin!"
Heh. "Not a fan of the nobility, huh?"
Haji grunts. "They take everything they can, and give nothing back. We would be better off without them. But it is the way of the world."
Me, "Yeah, they're real pompous aren't they? Unless they want something from you, then they're nice. At least, master Salomon has been."
He chuckles. "Truly fearless. And what do you do for those chickens?"
Might as well keep it vague for now. "I work on their gems. They want some specific stuff done, so I get to charge them a lot of money for the commission."
He nods. "As long as you are not nobility, that is enough. Here, this is the place."
Not far from the gate to the docks, there are fewer buildings and more stalls. One of them is grilling fish.
He asks how many I want, to which I respond, just one. He orders five from the merchant. Haha, he must be hungry. I had a nice lunch at Sasson's, so my appetite is only middling.
The merchant hands me a skewer. It's fish meat, with no bones, no skin, and no organs. Nice. Then he hands Haji four others. I'm surprised when mister barbarian here covers my meal. "I wasn't expecting that. Thank you. Maybe I should bump into people more often."
There's a pause as we both take a bite, while walking to the side. Half of one of his fish disappears. Now that I'm not being held at his side, I can see him a little better. He's about six foot tall, and tan in the way that Al'Ruheibans usually are. I'd guess he's thirty or thirty-five. He's got muscle, and unlike the islanders, his makes him bulky. His hair is wild and a bit messy, shoulder length, and black. His clothes aren't anything noteworthy.
Haji, "If you'd not apologized, I'd have decked you, and intimidated the guards into letting me off with a warning. I took you to supper because you interested me."
Me, "Is not being afraid of you so strange? Maybe I'm a grandmaster mage, master of forces mysterious and mundane."
He chuckles. "You're too young to be a master of any magic. Even if you were, they want to be at a distance... Not you though."
I shrug, and take another bite. The fish tastes like... fish. I don't really see what he sees in it. "Hmm. Yes. I'm rich, and have several powerful enchanted items to protect myself." All technically true.
He disappears another fish, before asking, "Rich parents then?"
I shake my head. "Made my money myself. I had some help along the way, who doesn't, but when I started, I had no money at all." That my 'help along the way' happens to take the form of a patron deity doesn't need to be said right now.
Haji, "Where is your shop? You should show it to me."
Me, "Oh, I won't be in town long enough to need a shop. I expect to be on my way to the next port within a week. No, I'm camped outside of town.
Haji, "Oh? You're part of that suspicious group of carts made out of rock?"
...Huh? "Suspicious? How so?"
Haji, "How aren't they? It's like they went out of their way to be as conspicuous as possible. Two of them have giant covers with strange symbols, so everyone wants to know what secrets hide underneath. They're on the gate closest to Jensin, declaring to all who look that they might be defectors or spies. The other ones are covered in rocks like they're some sort of golem. I've never heard of a golem cart before, but maybe that's what they are? Either way, the horses lying in front of the carts are certainly golems. And not one, but both noble houses paid them a visit? Yes Vai'grey, your caravan leader is trying to be as loud and noticeable as possible."
My face heats up. This is... wow, have I truly done such a piss poor job of staying under the radar? Haji eyes me, but continues eating his fish.
Me, "Huh. I am embarrassed to admit that I am the caravan leader, and I had thought I was doing a good job avoiding attention. I will have to discuss the matter with my group."
Thinking about it, I realize what my mistake was. I did accomplish my goal of not making it known my carts are
literally made from gemstone
. But I've never even once seen a golem carriage, or a cart made from stone. And here I am driving up to town with six of them, maybe as many as eight. Of course I'm incredibly fucking suspicious.
