Kogu 30, SP~4,909, a little bit more

I’m still buzzing, and thinking about the morning’s events, so I decided to calm down by getting some work done on my “lessons”. It seemed to do the trick.

Here’s the outline.

Note to Self: I can’t believe I’m doing this kind of work again — I graduated Naldrin Univeristy two years ago, and I thought I was done with this stuff, but I guess not.

So, here’s the teaching plan for all these Shawmancers-ites (is that a word?).

First things first. I’ll give an intro about the Six Energies. Just review. Everybody on the Continent knows this, though some call them Gods, not Energies. I think I’m about to meet a lot of the former. Follin Twy’s text is a good start; very readable and doesn’t get into the Guilds. A subject I plan to avoid for the most part.

Next, I’ll cover the Ten Races and a couple others like the martles and, after the last few days, probably the nossring. Folk like this. Good stories. Lots of heroics. Some are even true. Korvan Drearey’s, “The Sentient Creatures of the Tamarran Continent, and Others of Note” is pretty dry, but good enough.

Third, I need to get in some basic Continental history. There’s a lot of books on this; way too much, so I’ll just give them the big picture and some pointers.

Last thing, the Council made it clear that I have to teach them about Naldrin City. I expected that, of course (since I’m not an idiot). The problem is talking about only the good things. I brought a copy of “The Cities and Regions of the Tamarran Continent”, by Mallorn Malldorrent. He’s from Tarnath, but still tells it pretty straight. I can embellish a bit more about Naldrin on my own.

[Note to self: It just occurred to me that some guides for travelers could really sell! Tell them what places are like, where to eat, where to sleep. All the good stuff. I wouldn’t mind making some money!]

Well, that’s an outline, and a good day’s work. Two good days’ work. Time for some sleep.

Kogu 30, SP~4,909

Different Day, Same Sea, farther north, and a whole lot colder!

Found Donnessling. I was poking around down below decks, and saw him and a few of his kin chasing someone, or something. It looked like they’d all been in a hell of a fight. I could feel the anger in the nossring. I couldn’t tell, though, about the thing being chased. It was wearing a long hooded tunic, and I couldn’t see the face.

I followed them, of course.

When they got to the back of the boat, I thought that would be an end to it, but I was wrong. Whoever, or whatever, was being chased jumped out of a small window into the freezing waters at the back of the ship. The thing was really fast and amazingly agile. I could see that Donnessling and his kin were surprised by its quickness.

The nossring looked out the window and I heard Donnessling say, “So, she had help!”

At this point, I couldn’t help myself, so I scrambled up to look out of the window myself. Donnessling was, how shall I say it … surprised, but not completely surprised.

There was a small sailing boat behind. I could see several hooded figures on it. One of them was the creature who had just escaped the nossring. A different one stood up and, facing the sail, raised his or her arms. The sail immediately billowed out as if hit by a powerful wind, and the boat skipped across the waves, speeding away from us.

The nossring were clearly disappointed. They’d gotten so close to capturing this creature, and then, in an instant, it was out of reach.

When Donnessling turned to me, at first he looked mad. Then he saw my face, and decided not to chew me out.

“This is the creature,” he said with a spit to the side, “that killed my kin!”

One of the other nossring something about the unnamed Organization, and Donnessling nodded. He wouldn’t say more, and they all needed to get back to their cabins, or cabin, and clean their wounds.

Before he walked off, Donnessling promised to meet me tomorrow to answer some of my questions, sternly stressing the ‘some’ in that sentence. We’ll see who wins that one!

Kogu 28, SP~4,909

Different Day, Same Sea (just like the other day)

Saw Donnessling today. He was trying to avoid me, but I wasn’t gonna let that happen. Had to run to catch up to him.

He was embarrassed about getting caught, pretended he didn’t see me, HA! But I could see he was upset. He tried to hide it, and nossring are good at that, but I could tell. He knew I could tell.  And, I knew he knew it.

He didn’t want to talk, so I told him about Bobby, the attacks south of Naldrin City, and my worries about my little brother. I thought it might break down barriers and get him to talk. I have to say that it felt good to talk to someone about it. I just don’t want to get in the habit.

After I talked about Bobby, I could see the wheels turning and could see in his eyes that he decided to trust me. He said that two of his kin had been yesterday and another was hurt pretty badly. I was shocked. I’d heard nothing about this violence, and I don’t think any of the other passengers had either. In fact I wonder if the captain or crew knew. I’m betting they didn’t. Either way, I felt pretty bad for Donnessling and I know he felt worse. And he was mad.

He hurried away, pretty abruptly. He had “things to do”. I’m sure top on his list was finding the killer and protecting the others who came with him on this voyage.

Also, I finally figured out a lesson plan. I’ll go over some of the history of the Second Age of the World. That’s when the Fekxtah were born. Stories about planets and stars always get folks’ attention. Should help get the idea across, too. I brought The History of the Created World. It’s more mythology than history, but nobody will know. Most folk don’t even know what happened last week.

Kogu 26, SP~4,909

Different Day, Same Sea

Got a blink bat from Bobby. He said something’s going on south of the city. A number of farmers were killed, and in a pretty bad way. Brutal is what Bobby said, and savage. Their farms were completely destroyed. Houses and barns were smashed apart and crops burned.

Not good, but glad it’s far south of Naldrin. I told Bobby to stay put. He’s the kind of guy who’ll run off to help these folk and end up getting himself hurt.

Good news is, Bobby doesn’t want to lose his job. Bad news is, Bobby never listens to me.

Cold rain today and strong winds.

No sign of Donnessling.  Maybe tomorrow.

Kogu 25, SP~4,909

Ferren’s Ice Islands Sea

I’ve now counted eight Nossring on board. That’s a lot. A lot more than I’ve ever seen before, even in Naldrin City.

I managed to strike up a conversation with one of them. Wasn’t easy. I poured on the charm. I talked about how I love trees. It happens to be true, which always helps. I named a number of them. It was when I got started about the different kinds of animals that live in each that I got his attention. He seemed quite genuinely interested (I wasn’t prepared for that) and asked a lot of questions.  Good ones.  I was actually pleased that he was so eager to hear my stories.  I admit I went on a bit, which is not like me.  The whole conversation was, well, I enjoyed it.  It makes me think I may have to reconsider some of my ideas about the Nossring.

I did get some new information.  It turns out, they’re all a part of some contingent that’s being sent to Shawmancer Island to help out some of the locals.  I got the impression this was not the first time the Nossring sent some of their folk up north, and that’s a long trip. The Nossring Kingdom is at least three hundred miles south of Naldrin City, and Shawmancer Island is well north of our city.  These folks have come a ways.

Just before we parted he told me his name. Donnessling. Odd name, but they all have strange names, and a strange language, too, though they all seem fluent in Sessym. Of course it wouldn’t be the “common tongue” of the north if most folk couldn’t understand it.

Donnessling, I’ll see you again soon.

Kogu 23, SP~4,909

Ferren’s Ice Islands Sea

One thing I forgot to mention in yesterday’s page was the nossring on the ship. I don’t know why I hadn’t noticed them before. Worried I’m too distracted with this “teaching” assignment.

I never liked nossring. They show up now and again in Naldrin City.  Never often and always a keep-to-themselves bunch. I remember, years ago, I tried striking up a conversation with one of them in Naldrin City. He (she?) was sitting in one of the parks on the Top Tier of the City. Now there’s a story! The Top Tier (officially First Tier) is a very fancy place. Lots of money, lots of power, and some very interesting personalities.

Note to Self: Start an outline for this. Could get onto page one of the News!

So, this Nossring was looking at the trees. Seemed quite interested, which was not surprising. Everybody knows the Nossring love nature. I casually pointed out one of the birds in the tree he was looking at. I told him it was an axterfal. He didn’t say a word; didn’t even look at me. I’m not big on the courtesies. I like to know where someone stands. But I don’t like being ignored. His loss!

I’m not sure yet how many Nossring are on this voyage. So far I’ve seen five of them. Not sure what they’re up to, but one thing I know about the Nossring is they don’t like to travel. They just won’t leave their kingdom unless they’ve got a really good reason. Now I’m curious. I think I just decided to do a bit of sleuthing while we’re all stuck here on this ship. It could be a bit of fun, and hopefully break up the monotony of this endless trip.

Nobody told me that traveling by sea was going to be this boring!