lantairvlea | Typing it out

Lithadon stood on the dock, watching the ship for someone she didn’t recognize. The crease between her brows grew deeper with every passing minute and with every face she recognized. Every single face was named and accounted for. Where was he? The last mail ship had said he would be coming on the next ship, but where was he?

The others around her started to speculate and they were slowly pressed into service to unload the ship. She didn’t want to directly ask. She didn’t want to be too obvious because she knew everyone would be keenly interested in the young man and if she kept quiet, no one would know she was in the running and they wouldn’t try to sabotage her chances.

“Where’s Yuri?” Lithadon found herself asking. He had sponsored the young man. Or, rather, Yuri had invited the young man before bothering to check with the Mothers and had been very persuasive in his own defense. Yuri hadn’t ended up as the chief clerk and prosecutor on behalf of the Gordie’en Council by accident. Even if he could get himself neck-deep in trouble, he was exceptionally good at talking himself back out of it again. It seemed to be his special talent.

“He took Kallon to The Landing. I guess he wanted to show him the sights without being mugged by everyone and their child.”

She tried not to look disappointed. At least she had the sense to ask for Yuri instead of Kallon.
“If you see him before I do, let Yuri know Bet’s looking for him.” She had overheard Ishsobet say as much.

“O, no, we’ve just been sleeping under the stars. I’m not sure if Mr. Haubodden knows we’re here. M. Mishor wanted us to stay out of things unless we needed to do something.”

Sray gave a soft snort. “You may not have told him you arrived, but I suspect M. Mishor did. He tried to convince me to not participate this year. Mr. Haubodden isn’t a good enough rider to be working the trolas.”

Iel and Forn knelt down on the cushions closest to the door. Their attention drifted around the room, taking in the bookcase and low tables.

Ientel was the first to focus on Kallon again. “Do you do a lot of hunting and tracking?” he asked. “You’re good at it.”

Kallon shrugged his shoulders and sat. “Not really, we grow almost everything we have except the trolas, and they don’t hide.”

“You found me easy enough and I didn’t even hear you when you took the gun. Forn isn’t going to let me forget that any time soon.”

“You get too locked on one thing you forget everything else,” Forentel said.

“What do you do back at Engama?”

“I’m slowly taking over training the youngstock, I’m not sure if I’ll end up working at Engama or head out somewhere else.”

“This is my last mandatory year,” Forentel said. “I might stick around and take over when our father’s ready to retire since no one else decided they wanted to. It’s home.”

“Have you been anywhere other than here?”

“O, yeah, we’ve been all over eastern Ela’yas and have been a few other places as well. We’ve seen every relay Engama manages.” Ientel folded his arms over the table and leaned over it. “Did you do the shoes on that mare?”

“Yeah, we usually keep them bare, but she needed them to make the distance.”

“I’ve never seen the like of them. We showed Johnus when we pulled them and he thought you did top notch work. How long have you been doing it?”

Kallon frowned and thought about his response. “A bit over two years.”