[Hopetoun] Savior of the Morning

[Kisaik]

4th of Ashan 721


Kisaik had been busy since leaving Saoire's Dream. After signing up for classes that he planned to take a little later in the season, he called to Phee, his harpy eagle mount, and flew over the island, trying to spot any promising-looking plants. Unfortunately, it was hard to do that at night, which was when Kisaik found himself doing a fly-over of the island. But as luck would have it, he spotted very bright spots on the sandy soil of a nearby beach. Curious, yet cautiously, he guided Phee to fly a bit lower, until the white-feathered eagle alighted to the ground just outside the sandy soil.

Once there, he gentl dismounted his noble mount, and fed him some nice moist srips of Etchwing he'd saved from his and Vega's hunt. Then he was off, to the red sands of Faldrass. The first thing he noticed, was that it was uncomfortably hot. But he ignored that heat, and just marched onwards, toward those pretty lights. And as luck would have it, he found something! An entire patch of the glowing flowers. He wanted to try their seeds! However, not to be greedy, he only wanted to disturb one of the beautiful flowers. The rest could remain. He reached into the flowering bulb, and snipped it with his shadow blade. With the other hand, he grabbed the bulb, and stuffed it into his face. Once he was done chewing, and had swallowed the seeds inside the bulb, he bowed before the rest of the flowers, "I promise to find a good home for your seeds! Thank you my friends.!"

So having said this, he began to grow the seeds from his head. It'd take a couple days for them to bloom, however.

So with a running gait, he marched across those hot sands, and mounted upon Phee gently. Stroking his head feathers, he cooed in the animal's ear, "Come my child! Let's fly!"

Having said this, he spurred Phee to fly into the skies.



5th of Ashan 721

A day later, he found himself as far north as the Serenity Gardens. There, he saw more plants he wanted to gather. He found a berry-bearing plant, that he couldn't quite identify. As his eagle hopped along the ground, he also noticed a very sweet smelling flower, growing from the grass. In a short while, he managed to harvest these in the same way he had the strange glowing lily he'd found on the beach. Then he was off again, on Phee's back, to get to the camp!



He arrived overhead, and saw Vega and the others hard at work on what looked like a fence? What had his friends been up to? It looked like they'd accomplished much in the time intervening between his departure for Saoire's Dream and Kisaik's return! Kisaik saw in the distance, the trees that he'd planted, growing in the orchard. He would check on them later, but for now, Vega looked like she could use some help. There were entire sections of her fence that were incomplete!

He fluttered to the ground, on the back of Phee, and hopped off of the creature's saddle. Once he did so, he began removing the tack and harness from his beloved eagle, and then whispered to Phee, "There you go, love. Feel free to fly around and find food! I'll call for your help later, maybe?" He patted the harpy eagele's head feathers, and then went skipping toward Vega.

"Fair day, Lady Vega! It looks like you all have been very busy!"

[Vega]

Things were really coming on now. Vega was more than pleased, she was delighted. They'd done a lot in terms of the fence-building and now, six full trials later, Vega, her father and her cousins had managed to get the fences up. They were working on the very last section, and as they were, Vega heard her name being called and she turned around. Then, with a grin, she waved. "Sir Chip!" she said, obviously delighted. "I'm righ' pleased to see you!"

With Vega were four men. All biqaj, three of them roughly the same age as her, give or take, and one older. "Let me introduce you to my family!" Vega had a look of pride on her face and she gestured to them. "This is my Papa," she said, of the older man. He looked at Kisaik with a stern gaze, but he lowered his head. "An' this is Huw, Shon, an' Reese. They're my cousins." She turned to the family and said, with just as much pride. "This is Sir Chip. He's my friend." Vega beamed and her father spoke - his voice was a deep baritone. "Good trial and fair greetings, Sir Chip. Eva has spoken of you. I am Joq'an Lei'nox and it is an honour to meet my daughter's friend."

Just in case he'd noticed, Vega explained to Chip. "My real name is Eva, but no one calls me that, 'cept Papa. When I were little, I couldn't say Eva, I used to say Veva, an' it became Vega, somehow. I dunno." She grabbed a piece of parchment then, and put it down on the ground in front of Kisaik, weighting it down with some pebbles. "So, we've made these fences. Round the oasis, an' the farmlands, an' the orchard." Vega looked up at her family. "Sir Chip made the orchard."

Then, she turned back to Chip and carried on explaining. "So, Reese is good at buildin' things, an' he's been helpin' me." She gestured to one cousin, and then, to his twin. "But now, Shon's kind of steppin' up because he's the gardner. So, look, this is what we're doin'," Gesturing to the drawing, Vega explained. "This outer fence, that's jus' a normal fence-fence, right? But the inner one, it's a livin' fence. Which means it's goin' to have two types of section. One section will be growin' cranberries an' gooseberries, an' herbs too. The next section will be vine-growin' fruits an' vegetables, too." She pointed to what she meant. "So, this one will be herbs an' beans. The next section will be berries an' herbs, an' so on." She showed him how, for some of the sections, they'd made small pots to hang on the fence, while with things like beans, they were building the fence and growing the beans around them.

"Then, in between the two fences, there's a thing called a gabion. It's a wire mesh-held thing, an' it's rocks an' stones an' moss. We put troughs underneath it, an' they, in turn, drip in to trays what we can use to water the place." She smiled at him and raised an eyebrow. "I don't know much about gardenin' Sir Chip, an' Shon is good, but if you'd help out that would be righ' good, that would." Raising an eyebrow, she looked at him and smiled. "What do you think?"
NPCs

[Kisaik]

Kisaik's face lit up as he spotted Vega among four men. They had pointed ears, like most biqaj. Three she presumed to be her brothers or cousins, and the elder must've either been her real father, which was soon confirmed as she introduced them all.

Kisaik bowed in front of them, his armor clinking against its joints as he did so. "Well met, Joq'an Lei'nox! I'm very happy and it is my honor to meet you! Well met, Huw, Shon, and Reese. My, such a tall family!"

He giggled to himself, but then listened to Vega's explanation that Eva was her real name. Kisaik was pleased she was willing to share that with him, and that she trusted him not to call her by it. He would honor that trust, surely. He wouldn't dream of taking the father's privilege of referring to Vega by her real name. "Well they're all very fine names! They remind me of spring and green things!"

Kisaik ten was silent, and walked along, stretching his legs to take longer strides when necessary to catch up, and nodding along as she explained what work they had done. When she gave credit to Kisaik for planting the orchard, Kisaik felt he had to hedge her expectations with some modesty. "Well, the gentleman Kirt helped! And also my spirit ally, a Diri of Growth called Ataja!" Having heard her name, she crept from behind Kisaik's cloak and waved a vined appendage at them all, then retreated back into his cloak.

She was talking his language, with all the speaking of vegetables, moss, and various useful plants. By now, Kisaik had begun to grow some morning savior from his hair. The berries had already budded and flowered, begun to form seeds.

"I brought some seeds of my own! Morning savior from the look of it, we can grow some of that as well! And these pretty glowing flowers that I will be able to grow in a few more trials... I'll need some time to let them germinate though, but I can grow them right from my beard and hair!"

But then they came to the serious business of discussing just what they might need in terms of gardening. Vega confessed not to know much about it, but then she'd already done so much good work, arranging what might become a very fine living fence! Kisaik had thoughts, certainly, as a gardener himself. "Well, I think those sound all great, beans and stalk vegetables can grow up the lattice, and strengthen it while using it to support their grow. Plants are very tough, you know!"

Kisaik walked along the line, and let Ataja, a very small growth spirit, crawl out from behind his cloak and onto the ground. Kisaik fed her with some of his lifeforces, letting her drink from his source. This made Ataja grow and renewed her energies slightly, enough that she might even be able to repeat the trick she'd done a tentrial ago. He reckoned she could!

"Ataja has a funny and very impressive trick if you weren't aware... She can make plants in a medium garden grow halfway to maturity within ten trials! I reckon we can get your living fence up and weave in no time..."

So saying, he merely let Ataja inspect the grounds of their worksite. While he walked along with Vega, he noticed that Ataja was drawn to her strangely, instead of sticking to the plants. That was strange, but sometimes Ataja took an interest in younger animals... Yet Vega was fully grown! He wondered what the spirit was about.

"I think it's a fine idea, a good project, and I couldn't think of more impressive work to add to this settlement! The people seem to be happy about my growing an orchard, surely they'll benefit from a headstart in growing some herbs with more medicinal properties. And those glowing flowers I have will make it a lot prettier! Would you like me to grow some?"

[Vega]

The gentleman Kirt? Vega grinned. "He's the one what talks about farmin'?" She nodded. "I have to say, I think I might learn to like growin' things." Maybe. Vega was pregnant, although she had not yet started telling people. Thus far, only she and Arlo knew - but soon she'd let her father know, Vega figured. "I thought I might ask Kirt if he'd help me make a garden here. I think it'd be nice. But I'm not sure yet." Her father glanced at her but said nothing. The cousins, meanwhile, were continuing to work although they all called greetings in a friendly enough manner. "Unless you'd like to teach me some, Sir Chip?"

Sir Chip, as always, was just downright useful and Vega beamed. "Yer growin' mornin' saviour? Sir Chip, that's fantastic. Lets get some planted, shall we?" She looked at him, then, doing a slight double take. "They'll grow out of your beard? Really? That's amazin', that is!" Vega didn't really know much about tunawa, but she had to say that Sir Chip was a fantastic person, a being of profound usefulness and, more than that, a good person. That was what Vega admired about him - that twofold thing of being all full of get up and go, and of being a good person.

Plants were tough. Vega nodded. "So I'm told," she said. "I'd be right happy to learn more about them, if you don't mind." She looked between Shon and Sir Chip. Her cousin gave a shrug in an apparently dismissive way, but he flashed a smile and - as he did - there was an obvious family resemblance between the two. But then, Vega beamed in delight. "Hey there, Ataja. It's right nice to meet you," Vega said. Vega's diri, Snuffle, appeared and flitted around. Then, Vega turned her attention back to Chip as he spoke. "That's really impressive. Really?"

There was no guile to Vega, she simply looked at him with delight on her face. "Sir Chip, that would be great! I want to make some more fence sections, for when an' if they get livestock, but if you could do this, it would be amazin'." She gestured, showing him where they'd built. "So, we've got fence around the oasis, around the orchard, an' around the farmland. Will you be able to help with all of that?"

Then, she looked at him and spoke - because that was what Vega did. "Sir Chip, I was wonderin' if it would be alrigh' if I made you a gift?" She smiled slightly. "I have this ability, I can sew emotion into somethin' I make, an' I was wonderin' if you'd like a happy cloak or a hopeful one or .. somethin'?" Jo'qan looked at his daughter and smiled but he said nothing, simply watched his daughter and her friend.

NPCs

[Kisaik]

Kisaik nodded with a grin up at Vega, as she asked for him to teach her some gardening. ”Aye, Kirt is a fine mind for the bigger picture, but sometimes you lose out on what it takes to care for individual plants and what they need. That’s where gardening comes in!”

So saying, Kisaik pulled some of the fresh seeds of morning savior from his beard, and put them in a tiny pouch that hung from his bandolier. He then plucked one of the full berries growing from his head and offered to toss it up to Vega. ”You look a little pale, Lady Vega. Maybe some Morning Savior would pick you up?” She did look a little tired, at least, but he would stuff the berry into his own mouth if she had no need for it or refused.

”Aye, Plants are tough, but they also need a good environment early on…” So saying, Kisaik began spreading the seeds of morning savior around the soil that she’d set up for the living fence. Ataja meanwhile waved her viny appendage at Vega. She didn’t talk much, except through Kisaik’s mind. So he translated her greetings to Vega, ”Ataja says hello.” Ataja of course was a bit grumpy with Kisaik for pushing her a little bit this past season, but she was overall happy with the Ashan season coming on, and things growing all around. He would make it up to her, and besides, he was feeding her from his own mortalborn lifeforce, of which he had plenty.

”Hmmm, three separate sections… It’s a tall order, but I think Ataja and I can help get them started at least! They won’t be fully grown by the end, but by the time Ymiden comes around, they’ll be fully formed. Maybe we can get some ivy in there, and stalk-like plants to give it more structure?”

Kisaik meanwhile, began planting more morning savior around the soil that had been alloted for the fence. While showing Vega every step along what he was doing, he made sure to note that the smaller seeds would need to be planted on top of the soil. ”Gotta watch for pests and such, bugs and birds. Birds we can scare away, but bugs are dumb, I will try to hunt some later to keep them from devouring the seeds.” Kisaik scratched his chin, and thought for a moment. ”Say, do we have any tobacco seed or plants? Perhaps I can acquire some. Tobacco plants are monsters, and you don’t want them anywhere near your general population of plants as they suck nutrients from the soil… But I reckon I can make a oil that repels insects from the tobacco plant and its suckers. If we had just one or two plants inside the fence?” Kisaik thought about it, but then supposed it must’ve been a common plant in these parts. He’d seen a few folk smoking in Scalvtown, so it must be that there were tobacco plants around.

He nodded his head, ”Yes, I will get some tobacco seeds from the mainland sometime, and bring them here!” Later, he supposed. For now, he had three different kinds of plants to put into the ground. The glowing lily, and the strange plant that emanated a feeling of well-being, from west of Haven.

When she mentioned a gift, he lit up. ”Oh! That would be great! Maybe a scarf that can make me brave or fearless, like you?!” Although Kisaik liked to chase danger, he sometimes did struggle with focus when it came to the actual danger he was in. Surely something to keep him calm during such situations would be a great boon!

”Thank you!”

[Vega]

When Sir Chip offered her some Morning Savior, Vega's eyes sparkled with tears. "Sir Chip, that's right kind that is. So kind." All the Immortals save her, she was becoming a wussie.

If there was any doubt for Vega that she was pregnant, then alongside the physical symptoms and the nausea which the Morning Savior would suppress was the very real emotional turmoil the young daughter of Faldrun was experiencing. She'd cried twice to-trial already and Vega never - never - cried in public. So, she simply took the offered berry and she dropped down to her haunches and spoke quietly to Sir Chip. "I'm right grateful, Sir Chip. Thanks." She said no more than that, but she had half a mind that maybe her small and twig-shaped friend who was possibly the single most useful little dude she'd ever met, might already know.

She smiled at Ataja, too, and nodded. "It seems to me that you've both been real busy," she said. "An' I'm sure Darius, an' everyone here is well grateful." When he suggested ivy, too, she looked to Shon, her cousin who knew things about growing things and he nodded. "We've got a good selection of seeds and already established plants back on the Dreamer" he said. Vega turned to Sir Chip and explained. "That's their boat. My cousins, an' their wives, they all live on the "Wakin' Dreamer" an' my husband Arlo, me, an' our Papas, we live on the "Wanderlust". It's a good set up for us. Though, we're all diggin' in here now." She smiled and then Shon spoke again.

"We grow tobacco, too. I can go and get whatever you need. Give me ten bits?" Vega smiled. "They all smoke tobacco in these pipes. It smells right nice, but I never got the taste for it."

When Sir Chip agreed that he would like a gift, though Vega beamed in delight. "I'm not great at needlework Sir Chip, but I'm learnin' an' that ability granted to me by Daia, it's well lovely an' I'd love to make you somethin'." She was going to get better at needlework. That was something she was determined to do because she was going to make clothes for the baby. Clothes and blankets and shawls and soft toys. Everything. No one else would, just her. Vega was fiercely, furiously protective over this child. She thought she'd probably calm down soon enough and allow such ideas as other people making things and so on. But, she could think of no better way to practice and hone her skills than in making something for Sir Chip. She smiled at him, though, and she shook her head.

"I'm not fearless, Sir Chip. I'm a million miles away from it," she said. "But my Papa he tells me that you can only be brave when you're frightened. So I reckon fearless would be a bad thing. But I'll make you the very best scarf I can, Sir Chip, I promise." And, for all that it would not be exquisite in terms of the stitching, Vega knew that it would be the very best that she could do and, for her friend, that would be enough.

NPCs

[Kisaik]

Kisaik was glad she took the berry. As he saw, she was looking a little pale and probably would enjoy it, as Kisaik knew the berry was a darned useful one to tall people feeling sick.

]"I'm glad to be of service!" Kisaik said in response to her thanks, "You're welcome."

With the promise of a gift for Kisaik, which would've thrilled him no matter what it was, because it came from Lady Vega, Kisaik was in high spirits as he fed his ambient lifeforce back to Ataja. She consumed the energies and felt refreshed once more, enough so that perhaps she'd be able to pull the trick once more with the growing of plants. With the promise of seeds to plant later, and tobacco even for the leaves he'd need to create a soak. It wasn't unlike tea, but not for drinking, but sprinkling over the low-lying and vulnerable plants to scare away bugs. Kisaik wasn't sure how much farther he could stretch his mortalborn lifeforce and ataja's diri abilities. But the diri didn't seem to be complaining much, and besides being around so many growing things only strengthened her.

So he stood at the center of the fence, and began growing the garden. In ten days, so long as he and Ataja stuck around, there'd be plenty of plants and shoots sprouting up from the ground, halfway to maturity. Then, once ten days were up, he'd try it again, and see if he could do one more attempt at growing the fence, to its full measure.

He was pleased to be of service, he really was. And glad to have found a place where he could be.

[Jackalope]

]

Thread Comments:
I’m always impressed when a thread manages to stay on theme while still covering a lot of ground. Especially when it’s a collab thread. Since Vega and Kisaik had been in threads together before, I didn’t realize that he hadn’t yet met Vega’s clan. And Vega gets to meet Atja. That was a fun moment! Hopetoun seems to be coming along, partly thanks to your help. It will be interesting to see what other things Vega and Sir Chip manage to accomplish.

Vega

Experience: +15 xp

Magic xp: None

Knowledge:
Construction x 4
Gardening x 4

Injuries/Overstepping: None.

Skillplay: Appropriate to level

Comments: Vega is such an engaging character. And you do a good job of incorporating her pregnancy, and her adjustment to it, into her character development. It will be interesting to watch this progress.

I learn a lot about fences from these threads. I hadn’t even known what gabion was before. The inset sketch of the fence was useful for visualization, too.

Kisaik

Experience: +15 x.p.

Skillplay: Appropriate to level.

Knowledges:
Gardening x 8
Detection x 1

Loot: None.

Comments: It’s interesting how Kisaik leverages his abilities for gardening. The idea of eating seeds and letting the plants sprout on his body is neat. I also like that Atja has a personality of her own and can get crabby if Kisaik pushes her too hard. It’s always good when players write these sorts of things as something other than just bonuses.

Let me know if either of you have any questions/feedback. Enjoy your rewards!