With the North City Remnants expedition casting uncertainty on the
future, a lot of the young people who wouldn't ordinarily be looking to
settle down have started to cast their nets around. Some are seeing if
they can be a help to any of the teams, and others just want to secure
some type of future, start families and farms and head South and West,
away from the perceived troubles in the NorthEast.
Kail Daniels is quite upset with his father Oliver, and Zade Perkins. They have been trying to match him with one of Zade's daughters, and he is barely seventeen. However, he has been sailing around the NorthWest ocean since he was twelve. His father would like to see him settle down, maybe out to Southerland, to help take care of Ilena (Thomas) Vandreas, while Tanji is gone with the North City Remnants Expedition. Oliver Daniels took Zade aside soon after the Barracks Council and began to try to work out some arrangement, without asking Kail what he thought about it, at all.
In Southerland, Tanji has been assigned to accompany the North City Remnants Expedition. This means he will have to leave his wife Ilena and two toddlers, and another baby on the way - but he doesn't want to leave them alone in a new land that he has not explored well. Ilena's brother William is too seasick to make the journey, and her other brother Robert is nowhere to be found (as usual). Her uncle Zade Perkins gets on the case to bring at least one more family to Southerland. He has his own agenda as well, in marrying off his daughters, two of which are very strong-willed. However, none of it goes as Zade has planned....
Zade knows either of his daughters at home would be glad to move out to Southerland, having been raised on Melitus island, right next door to Tanji and Ilena's home origin of Amularia. Kate is the more adventurous one, rash and more than ready to strike out on her own. She is not averse to traveling to new lands. There has been lots of travel back and forth between Semmerly and Amularia with Robert Thomas of Amularia making his sea map, and Kail and Oliver Daniels mapping the Northwest. Zade's other daughter Lanie and Kate have been mapping the Western islands. However, Kail is quite appalled by the idea of marrying Kate. For one thing, she is eight years older than he is! Nyah is two years older than he is, but very shy and he just doesn't feel any spark there, either. In the five years he has been at sea he has never seen Lanie except at a distance - she, like him actually, is gone more often than she is at home.
Kail took off from the Western Gate in his ship after the Council, supposedly to visit the girls on Melitus. However, he never arrived there. It was three months later that his father received word he was eyeing up two girls in Cod Bay and Piper's Cove, while spending some time at Kallum Allen's forge with Aaron Pippington (Kallum's apprentice). Kail has always had a talent for smithing, while his next younger brother Sebastian was more of a stonecutter. Kallum has been trying to match his apprentice with his only daughter, Stacia, but so far she had not been giving him much other than the time of day. When Kail arrived, Aaron saw competition, and began steering him towards Aurelia Pippington, a strawberry-blonde in Cod Bay, but much too 'citified' for Kail. Aurelia is the daughter of shopkeeper Argent Pippington, and although Pirate blood runs in her veins as well, she has not yet heard the call of the Sea. Mostly, she has heard the call of the Bank, the Bank of Cod Bay, where she has been working as a clerk under Steven Pembry and Dennis Danby, both of who are getting on in age.
the 'meadhouse' at Cod Bay, also called the wayfarer's cottage
Kail is sitting in the seaside cottage once owned by Niko Otrio, and occupied after that by Bram Trent.. drinking some Robinson Honeymeade (made by Carver and his wife Iris). The location has become a small pub of sorts - even though it can barely fit four people at a time elbow-to-elbow. Kail is having a serious discussion with Aaron. His namesake, Callum Barham, is leaning on a chair by the furnace, warming his 99 year old bones, and ostentatiously listening in on every word. Arthur DeAryl, the son of the innkeeper, is sitting beside Callum pretending to mend a net for the old man, whose eyesight is failing. However, Arthur is listening even harder than Callum. He has been trying to find some way to say something, anything to any of the girls in town, and has managed to clam up or go red in the face every time.
Kail : "I mean, I -like- Aurelia, but she is so dignified, I can't see myself headed across the ocean with her.... what if she gets dirty? Could she handle it?"
Aaron : "Well, she's MY cousin, a couple of times removed, and has been learning to manage the bank for years now, since she was fourteen. If you would stay put and not drag her off to some foreign land... But you won't, will you?"
Kail : "Not if I can find some girl to sail off with, I won't. And I've had enough of redheads, like that Kate Perkins, they're just too much hassle!"
Callum: "Enough of redheads... HA. Said no man, EVER."
Callum elbows Arthur so hard in the ribs that he nearly falls off the bed he is perched on in the corner. His large frame has made it nearly impossible to not take up space, but he has managed as far as possible in the tiny cottage. He is crammed up on the wayfarer's bed, near the furnace, mending the net by the light of the window. He leans close to Callum and says "What does that even mean?" Callum giggles into his mead and says "If you have to ask, my boy, you need to try some more." Arthur lets this run through his head for a moment, then wishes there was more space in the room. It's suddenly a little hot in here.. and no easy path to get out.
Kail and Aaron look Callum's way and guffaw. Neither of them really notice Arthur's discomfort. When they go outside to Callum's storehouse to crack open another barrel, he takes his net further down the shore. As he is sitting there watching the rays of sun play among the sand he is thinking he wants to stay in Cod Bay, Aurelia wants to stay in Cod Bay... he wants to take over his father's Inn, and she wants to take charge at the Bank. It could work. If he could just untie his tongue and figure out what to say. But he is pretty sure he can't say it to her face, not at first!
The Inn at Cod Bay
But he's a DeAryl, as well. His grandfather, Bevan, has passed away nearly seven years ago, and he sincerely wishes he could have gone to him for advice. He remembers how Bram Trent had to be half-dragged to dinner one night by his Grandmother Pomra. After passing only looks across a table for nearly a year, Bram and Kyra were married. Bram is his uncle, and works closely with Steven at the Bank... all he has to do is get a word dropped into the DeAryl message-chain, either his grandmother, or his great-aunt Mandra, the weaver, or his aunt Kyra who is Bram's wife. Any of them would, as it is their Nature, pass the idea around and along until he heard back a response.
But Arthur didn't actually have to wait long. It was Callum, with his nosiness, who just brashly goes out and tells Steven that he should send his Clerk over to the Inn to find a husband, as there is a boy there that 'needs a redhead'. Aurelia was in the back room counting granite and diorite pieces for the new Bank roof and she had to highly resist popping her head out and asking him what he meant by that. Now, if she was truly offended, she thought.. she would. But... she wrinkles up her nose a moment.. he's kind of my cousin - my grandmother's brother's grandson... But still, she finds herself thinking more and more about it over the course of the day.
the Aryl village, south of Cod Bay
Aurelia makes an appointment with Mandra, the old weaver, and her own dear grandmother. "Granny... if someone said Arthur was wanting to *talk* to me.. what would you say?" She stresses the word 'talk' in such a way that Mandra eyes her oddly, and then nods. "Callum said he was thinking Arthur and I needed to *talk*." Mandra thinks it over. One of the reasons she and her brother Bevan moved here to Cod Bay was to get a little further away from their native village of Aryl, over the mountain. Mandra married Rigel, who had come down from North City. Rigel was Niko Otrio's cousin. Bevan had come with his wife Pomra, and it had been so many years ago Mandra wasn't sure who did the tracing on that one to confirm the match. But she makes a note to bring it up with Pomra, and see if she has any objections. When she brings it up with Pomra later in the afternoon the woman's eyes light up and then she laughs. 'Children. They are worried? It is nothing like in the mountain villages. And over in Benson's Pointe - two of the Garveys married their mother's half-brother's daughters before anyone thought to remind them. They were happily married two and three years and someone finally brought it up. Tell Wirna and Harran to push them a little closer and see if they like each other.. then, well, Nature will figure it out."
Harran and Wirna cooperate, making errands and sending messages to the bank and the Inn in such a way that Arthur and Aurelia have to cross paths more and more over the next few weeks. Arthur finds himself finally able to talk to Aurelia, actually at ease in her presence. Every message or parcel he gets to or from the bank lights him up inside. After a few more 'chance' meetings and dropping of info from his grandmother and great-aunt, he begins building a house near the Inn, fully anticipating having a redhead move into it with him in the near future. If only to seal the deal, Mandra begins weaving a DeAryl banner to give to her granddaughter at the beginning of the Midsummer Festival, just a month away.
Piper's Cove blacksmithing forge, between Ravenna and Cod Bay
Kallum was apprenticed by Sam Sevier in Rivertown, since Sam had no children of his own. He learned to be a blacksmith, and raise cows and sheep in the stockyards to trade between the towns, based on Sam's original stock from Rivertown. Eventually, the blue and purple dyes from Cod Bay were applied to provide intensely colored wool. Each year these blue sheep provide the wool for the decorations at Ravenna's Midsummer festival. Kallum built a tower expecting to have a large family with Nessie Jackson. They had a single daughter, Stacia. Kallum apprenticed Aaron Pippington of Ravenna, hoping to make a match for Stacia, but she wasn't interested! Now it looks like there won't be any Allens living here at all in the forseeable future... What will Kallum do?
Three weeks later Kallum returns to his forge from a mapping expedition to find Aaron Pippington staring into his fire and dejectedly stirring a bowl of fish stew. He sees Kallum and 'the heat's on'.. he hands him the note from his daughter Stacia, and he bolts out the door. Kallum isn't his father - and won't ever be his father-in-law, now, either. Kail and Stacia have eloped and ran off to the North. Exactly the worst place to be, at least, that is what they say. Kail has been up there sailing and been to Sandy Bay, and Jamie North's Island of Horses, and decided to settle somewhere in between - for the time being. Stacia was increasingly growing distasteful of the prospects of staying at the Forge at Piper's Cove all her life, which was pretty much assured if she married Aaron.
Aaron has had some time to think, as well. He knows he wants to stay in Piper's Cove, but there was something about what Kail said about Kate Perkins in Melitus, as well. He gives Kallum some time to cool down, and heads over to Vanter Forge for a few weeks. While he is there he talks to Birch Wright, and his cousins Rob and Lucea Kenzie. Lucea is a forgeworker in her own right, and Aaron finds himself simply in awe. Aaron ends up headed back to Cod Bay with Lucea on his arm, and Rob and Birch head out to Melitus to get a better look at this Perkins girl who has grown in legend.
It will be Birch who ends up winning Kate Perkins' heart by agreeing to go to Southerland sight unseen. When her father mentions that she should ask Birch if he WANTS to go, Birch just shrugs his shoulders and says "Wherever she goes, wherever she wants to go. New lands, new blood - as my father says." Birch's father moved down to Vanter from the Presentation Mountains years ago, for just this purpose, with several other members of his extended family. Zade sees his opportunity and tries to convince Rob Kenzie to marry his daughter Nyah, who is his same age. But he has another daughter, Lanie, who has been sailing to the West in the Spruce islands. She comes home and finds Rob and Nyah ignoring each other. "If she liked you, you'd know it Robbie - it's an *island*.' Rob turns around to see this blonde sailor girl sitting on the wall at the edge of the wheat field in Melitus. She watches some bees run by and does not even flinch.
Nyahs' garden, on Melitus island
Rob watches Nyah in the gardens pulling weeds and planting seeds and knows it's the truth. Since her father introduced him as a 'forgeworker from Vanter' she hasn't looked his way at all. Rob sits down next to Lanie and tells her about how his mother was a woman from the Presentation Mountains, where they live built into the hills and let the valley stay for growing trees. He talks and talks to her about the crops there and how the people use terracing and get as much as they can out of the little bit of land they have available. He mentions there are bees, there, too his mother said, and he is a little afraid of them. When has finished Lanie is yawning, but Nyah is sitting beside him, carrots in her hand, and asking him to tell her again what they grow there. Rob says he had been planning on going there with Birch, but now he is taking Kate off to Southerland. It is a few days later that Zade and Herminda bid two of their daughters farewell as they go off with their new husbands. Rob is taking Nyah with him to the Presentation Mountains, and Kate is headed off to Southerland with Birch.
The village in the Presentation Mountains, far North of Hendrick's Point. Abe Hendricks visited here a few years before Tamiyah came down to live with him at Pennock Farm. Oaken Wright travelled out of here with several family members to find Vanter Forgeworks, back in Year 45. Adam and Branden Carlyle came down to Rivertown from here with the second Perkins' crew in year 12, after they had lost both of their parents. Branden died in the Rivertown mine in year 32, after Adam had moved to Vanter Forgeworks. Adam took Branden's wife, Inga and her newborn daughter Frannie and built them a house at Vanter.
Lanie says to her parents "They were both a little dull, those boys... not much fire, especially for Vanter boys! HA. Maybe I need to go to the mainland and see if there is anyone with real spirit." To this Zade replies, without the least bit of foreshadowing, "Your brother Nick is headed off to Ravenna with Tanji, as soon as Kate and Birch get settled. You could hitch over with them and be right in the thick of things. The Expedition is starting to gather there, and once it reaches true Midsummer, they are going to head North."
the square in Ravenna, decorated for the True Midsummer Festival
The Barracks council meets 'at midsummer' by tradition, but True Midsummer is determined by the stars, and everyone will gather here at Ravenna when they can see the three points align with the compass directions!
Lanie flashes her green eyes at them. This will be another adventure! She immediately begins packing a few small things. Zade knows she can hold her own, it's Nick he's been worried about, he's been dragging his feet, not really wanting to leave Melitus. Of all the children, Nick, the eldest, has felt the most at home and in tune with the island. With Lanie pestering him and lending her fists and sword to the trials ahead, Zade is much more certain they can accomplish their goals.
(Personality notes: I use D&D type stat rolls (random) to get a feel for what the people might do or think about each other. I let the intelligence roll on 24 instead of 12 to allow for more nuance between individuals. Lanie Perkins has rolled a 12/12 strength, but only an 11/24 intelligence. She is a bit brash and can get into a fight quite easily.. but luckily, can also hold her own in it. Her charisma is right in the middle, 6/12. Kate rolled a 16/24 intelligence and a 7/12 strength, but she is redheaded and has a high charisma (10/12), so probably also a sharp tongue. Nyah rolled a 13/24 intelligence, a 6 for strength and a 4 for charisma (which means either ugly or shy..we're guessing a shy gardener and not 'striking' like her redheaded sister or super-strong sister. Their brother Nicholas? Right smack in the middle of everything 13/5/6. He is going to need a little push from his sister to get into the fray, but once he is there he might be able to see the right course and have the Ravenna team benefit from having both of the siblings)
Tropical Fish waterfall in Presentation Mountains
NEXT:
A bit more is happening South of Rivertown, at Spate's Station and Whitmoor - finally get to see the Kriganzy house Mavic Rigginson built for Callista Daniels. Oliver Daniels gets word that his eldest son has run off to the North, and while he is working on the Expedition crew with his two youngest sons they both disappear! Now that Kail has been living in the North for a few months, he will have a much better reason - when he and Stacia happen to meet the Drox (while visiting Jamie North) - to go to North City with the Expedition. Ulma DeCroix is only six years old, but her gifts are strange indeed. She can speak to Drowned, and get them to listen to her in return. It will take Tanji Vandreas and James Pippington both to realize she may be one of the Keys to unlocking the Danger in the North, or will it be locking it away, forever?
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