Traveling On

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Dawn walked into Dinse with a spring in her step. Her excitement wasn't due to the little village's great amenities, nor was it because there were going to be lots of opportunities to play her cyar'dil. No, she was happy because Dinse was at the edge of the desert. The next hold they entered after it would be in well within the grasslands. That meant more water and less dust—and maybe a little reprieve from the sweltering heat.

The journey from Weosp to Dinse had stripped Dawn of any lingering affection for the desert landscape. Despite the path's proximity to the edge of the desert, the terrain was steep, rocky and unforgiving. Not only was there no water, the shrubby trees vanished as well. They climbed and scrabbled for days, making little progress. Only Prall's seemingly endless supply of water kept them going. At one point, Dawn had asked how any village could survive the expanse they were traversing. Prall had told her that most villages on the others side of the area they'd just passed were supplied from the opposite coast.

The idea of a coast being within reach also thrilled Dawn. She knew that where she'd appeared hadn't been far from water, but since then they'd moved halfway across the small continent they were on. After they got out of the desert, they would pass through the grasslands of Taphaur and into Asdrad, another orth region. After that they would go north into Gruk—the human region containing the port they would be sailing out of.

Dawn was surprised to find out that her traveling companions were heading home. When the group reached the port hold of Takck, they were purchasing passage on a vessel sailing west toward Meiunsk, another human region across the sea. Although Prall was from this area, he had decided to settle there. Dawn was saddened to learn that his parents had died a long time ago, and that he felt no real ties to Taphaur. On the other hand, he would be traveling with them for a lot longer.

For most of them, the sea voyage was just the start of the trek home. Marni had the farthest to go; she lived deep within the f'lh er-knhavli, or north forest. Actually, it would have been closer for her to turn around and sail from an eastern port and travel straight through one of the other forests, but she wanted to continue this journey to its completion. Zhaen and Duens were both from Faion, a northeastern dalhari region. Prall was considering settling down in Ranver, the region he'd studied in before starting his journey.

Dawn didn't know what she wanted to do. There was always the option of staying in Gruk; after all it was a human region, and according to Prall it was a very nice place—mostly people of her own kind, and very peaceful. Due to its location, there wasn’t much risk of her getting hurt or sold into slavery. There was a certain appeal to not traveling all the time, but Dawn wasn’t sure that was what she wanted.

For one thing, it meant giving up on finding Xander. While she knew she wasn't going to find him, she didn't like the idea of just stopping so soon. It hadn't been but a few weeks since she'd arrived. Then there was the fact that she knew no one in Gruk—and had no way to support herself. Yeah, she could play the cyar'dil, but only as a backup to real musicians. She didn't have enough training or experience to make it on her own. In the end, the idea of traveling across the sea was the best one, in her opinion. Besides, maybe Xander appeared there. Prall also assured her they wouldn't be traveling through any deserts.

"Would you like to join us at the wellhouse?" Zhaen asked Dawn, drawing her out of her reverie.

Dawn looked up, realizing that they'd crossed the entire village without her noticing. "Oh, yeah! Bathtime is my favorite time these days."

That evening, Prall was pleased to announce that the lovely residents of Dinse were happy to pay to hear their music. "Why are they so eager?" Dawn asked over dinner.

"I think they're bored," Prall answered. "At least, that's what I saw when I talked to them. There isn't much to do out here, you know. Besides mining, not much goes on here."

Dawn nodded. "What kind of music?"

Marni laughed. "In a place like this? You could beat two bowls together and make money." The others laughed with her, knowing it was nearly the truth.

"Ah, so they won't mind me playing then, huh?" Dawn added playfully. "After all, if they don't mind bowls, surely they won't complain about my racket."

"True, true. You might want to consider staying—you could become the village minstrel!" Marni cackled.

"It might not be a bad idea. After all, there isn't any yimkia out here," Dawn said, gesturing toward dinner. "And no yimkia is always a plus."

"Hey! I like yimkia," Duens said indignantly. "It's always been my favorite."

Dawn wrinkled her nose. "That explains so much, Duens. You have no idea."

"Come on, stop playing around. We have a 'gig' tonight," Zhaen said, using Dawn's favorite word to describe their music sessions. The others, suitably chastised, tucked into their yimkia-free food so that they could get back to playing music.

Dawn asked around the village about Xander before they started playing, but all she got were negative answers. She was pretty sure at this point that Xander hadn't been anywhere in this area—ever. The thought saddened Dawn, but there was little she could do about it. Banishing her sad mood, she joined the others to begin playing.

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"Oh, my gods," Dawn whispered. They had just crested what Prall had promised was the last ridge they'd have to cross, and now they had their first good view of what lay beyond the desert. Standing where she was, Dawn could look from one side of the rise to the other. There was no comparison. The grasslands were everything the desert was not—verdant and rich with life. Rippling waves of grass and greenery swept for as far as the eye could see, bound only by the high ridge they stood upon.

"It's certainly a change," Marni commented as they began the steep climb down. By the time they reached the bottom of the ridge, Dawn was just about ready to dive into the tall grass. She never thought she'd be so happy to see the stuff.

"I'd stay on the path, Dawn," Prall warned as they began to walk through the grass. "Not everything in the grass is safe." Dawn could certainly see why he said that. Now that they were right up in the stuff, she saw how intimidating it could be. The fields of leaves reached up above even Prall's head, providing ample shading from all but a true midday sun. The path itself was a curiosity for Dawn; it was paved with some sort of flat stone, and about ten feet wide. She would've thought that there'd be grass growing up between the rocks, but there wasn't much at all.

"Why doesn't anything grow between the rocks?" Dawn asked Prall.

"The path lays about six feet into the ground, and is surrounded by sand," Prall replied. "Also, travelers pluck the grass that does grow up between the stones, mostly out of habit." He demonstrated by reaching out a gloved hand and pulling on a weed as they passed. After the plant was uprooted, he tossed it to the side of the path. Dawn saw how it could be effective road maintenance.

The longer they walked through the dense grass, the more eerie it was. Dawn soon lost track of everything but the path and its dark green walls. It was difficult to tell where they were, or what lay beyond the thick greenery near them. Every so often the grass around them shifted, or a bird flew by overhead, making Dawn shiver.

Zhaen saw that Dawn was becoming unnerved by the claustrophobic atmosphere, so she pulled out her den-liow. "Play, Dawn?"

Dawn looked over at Zhaen and nodded. Maybe a little music would keep those scary thoughts at bay. It wasn't that she wanted to be back in the desert—because she didn’t—but she'd gotten used to wide open spaces. The music did seem to sooth her.

While Dawn and Zhaen played, Prall showed Duens and Marni how to weave mats out of the tall sierd grass that surrounded them. The two musicians quickly picked up how to weave bundles of the grass together to form mats large enough to sleep on. Prall told them that they'd come in very handy when sleeping out here—since there was only the path itself to sleep on. There would be no fire, since there was no fuel but the grass itself, which was green. Plus, they ran the risk of starting a wildfire if the grass was actually dry enough to burn.

By the time they stopped for the night, Dawn had calmed down considerably and Prall, Duens and Marni had woven six grass mats.

"Wow, those are neat!" Dawn said, studying one mat.

"They'll make sleeping much easier," Prall said. "And you can learn to weave them tomorrow." Zhaen nodded her agreement without comment, as did Dawn.

Dinner was comprised of dried foods and plain water, since there was no fire to heat anything up. Dawn chewed on the tough food, wishing they could set up a fire. At least the change in climate made the evening a little warmer, and the mats helped cushion the hard ground a little.

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Aidbo was different from the other holds Dawn had seen. For one, it was a border hold, acting as a gateway between Taphaur and Asdrad. She wasn't sure if it was that or the fact that the people seemed to move easier. Maybe it was that the hold wasn't in the middle of a desert. It certainly affected how she acted, why not the natives?

"Aren't we going to stop by the wellhouse?" Dawn asked as they scouted out an inn. The laugh she received from the others confused her.

"We're not in the desert anymore, so there's no need for a wellhouse," Prall replied. "The inn should have more than enough water for all of us."

"Wow," Dawn murmured. She hadn't seen that since Baign. "What will we do here?"

"There's a bardic guild here, so we'll stop by there to see if there's anything we can do in the hold," Prall answered. "Other than that, rest."

Dawn didn't comment; she wanted a bath and a bed as much as the next person. The bath turned out to be a nice one, the bed soft and the food decent, if not inspired. She, Duens and Zhaen went upstairs to nap while Marni and Prall went to the hall to scout out information. As she lay down to nap, Dawn marveled at her newfound ability to sleep on command, regardless of the time of day. It came in handy when traveling like they were.

The next morning found Dawn and Prall sharing a table downstairs, splitting breakfast between them. Prall was up early because he'd had to make a daybreak trip to the bard's hall, and Dawn had woken up way before usual because no one had gotten her up the night before, so she slept straight through.

"So, is there anything to do around here?" Dawn asked Prall as they split a sweetcake.

"Maybe," Prall said. "The hall opens itself to the public fairly regularly, so if they've got any open spots, we should have no problem. Also, they are interested in having us perform for some of their students. They get even fewer traveling musicians here than in other areas."

"Hmm…should I find something to entertain myself today?" Dawn inquired. She wasn't sure they'd want her around when they went off to perform for a bunch of their peers. Playing inns was one thing, but a hall of professionals was something else entirely.

"No! Of course you should play with us," Prall replied. "There's no reason for you not to."

"Hmm…" Dawn hummed as she finished her meal. If that's what they wanted, fine.

Most of the day was spent in their rooms, restringing Prall's traedl and Zhaen's den-liow. Dawn watched Zhaen perform the maintenance and wrote down new orth and dalhari words she'd learned in her journal. A little after lunch, Marni, Prall and Duens left to go back to the bard's hall, leaving Dawn with Zhaen.

"You're bored," Zhaen stated, not looking up from the traedl.

"Um…not exactly bored," Dawn evaded…

"Is something on your mind, then?" Zhaen asked.

"Do you remember the story you were telling me in Ingh'k?" Dawn inquired.

"Yeah, we didn't finish it, did we?" Zhaen murmured. "Would you like to?"

"It'd be nice, if you don't mind," Dawn replied. Zhaen picked up another string and began.

"I think I left off at the siv…anyway the saá did as the siv asked and changed them. The siv rejoiced and danced and climbed through the trees, trying out their new bodies. As soon as they got up into the trees, the siv realized that they were no longer the color of the sun, which was not the color it is now. Instead, they were the color of the trunks of their beloved trees, all rich browns and blacks. They liked their new colors and liked trying to find each other amongst the trees and chasing the whivas, which were not impressed with this activity.

"And the siv ran through the trees for many days, simply enjoying the freedom of being where they wanted to be. One day they spied some people on the ground below them. Curious, they dropped down to look. These people were different from them—and different from what they had been before the saá had changed them. These people were the color of rocks, all pale and sandy. 'Who are you in the trees?' The new people said, when the saw the siv looking down on them. The siv replied, 'We're siv, who are you?' And these new people replied, 'We are orth. How is it that you have fur and a tail and can climb trees like that?' The siv laughed at the orth, who were nothing like they are now. 'We asked the saá to give us these things, so that we might be able to climb the trees we love,' the siv said, still laughing at the orth.

"The siv ran off soon after that, intent on climbing every tree in the world. Meanwhile, the orth stood on the ground, looking at each other. 'Why do we not ask the saá to do the same for us?' The orth asked. 'Are we not also children of the saá, and of the world, and the sun and the moon and the sky? Should we not have what our brethren have?' And the orth agreed that they too wanted a gift from the saá. So to the saá they called out, a thousand strong voices. 'Saá! Give us the strength of the rocks we come from! Let us be like the mountains we so love to move.' And the orth called out again and again. By this time the saá was well used to the plaintive whining of people asking it for things, so the orth didn't have to call out for long. Instead of listening and suffering through the yelling, the saá simply granted the orth what they wanted, knowing that one day such a thing would lead to regret."

Zhaen paused at that point, needing to switch to the den-liow. "Who did the orth meet?" Dawn asked impatiently. Zhaen smiled.

"I'm getting there. So the orth became huge and strong and looked just like the rocks they came from. They were ecstatic now that they could move rocks so easily, and work day in and day out without getting tire. They could see farther than ever before, because they were so tall, and many dangerous animals were scared of them, they were so big. Now that they were so strong, the orth felt no fear in crossing the deep gorges and rivers that spanned their lands. After all, what river could wash away such a giant?

"One day, when they were wading through a particularly fast-moving river, they came upon a people resting by its banks. They were as different from the orth as the orth were from the siv. 'Who are you?" The orth asked, wondering who these people were. 'We are the pakra, who are you?' They said. 'We are the orth,' The orth said proudly. 'How did you get so big?' The pakra asked. See, the pakra were small and formed from the moon. They were the same color that the siv had been before they were changed by the saá, because back then the sun and the moon were still friends. The orth said, 'The saá gave us this. You should ask the saá to give you something, since you too are brethren to all of us.'

"And the pakra thought about that for a long time. They had always wanted to be able to swim in the rivers and seas, like the adya and the yuyuo, but the currents were strong and they had to breathe air, where other animals could breathe water. 'Saá' Cried the pakra. 'Give us what the adya and the yuyuo have! Let us swim and dive and breathe water and not perish when the water is cold and dark!' The saá didn't even hesitate, it just sighed into the river and let the waters change the pakra, giving them slick, shiny skin and webbing between their fingers and toes. Long slits opened on the pakra's backs, letting them breathe water as well as air. The pakra rejoiced and dived deep into the water, looking around at all that they could not see before. They swam to the sea, chasing each other and picking up small, shiny things here and there, like stones and shells."

By this time, Zhaen had finished replacing the strings on both the den-liow and the traedl. "Why don’t we go downstairs and find something to eat?" Zhaen suggested. "We may get to play tonight and if we do we won't be able to eat later."

"Sure, sounds good," Dawn said, putting her notebook away. Actually, she was pretty hungry, since they hadn't gone down for lunch.

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Dawn was sorry to leave Aidbo, but after almost a week of constant playing, she was also looking forward to a break. Unlike their previous stops, the border hold had proven to be a very fruitful place, with something for them to do every night. Their jobs had proven to be most profitable, and Dawn had a small bag of money to prove it. Between what she'd earned in Dinse and Weosp, she had quite the collection of coins. Of course, most of her monies went into the collective supplies fund that bought their food. What she had in her pocket was for personal things.

The main reason that Dawn was looking forward to traveling on was that the next hold they were going to stay at for any length of time was in a human region. Pran was a border hold between Asdrad and Gruk, just on the far side of the border. Although there were more and more humans here than in the desert, since it was so close to Gruk, Dawn was excited at the prospect of seeing a place where there were more humans than orth. Such a sight would be a novelty for her. It wasn't that she didn't like the other species; she just wanted to see a few of her own.

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