Logs:Tit for Tat
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| RL Date: 19 July, 2013 |
| Who: N'ky |
| Involves: High Reaches Weyr |
| Type: Vignette |
| What: An unexpected gift deserves one in return. |
| When: Day 2-12, Month 4, Turn 32 |
| Mentions: K'zin/Mentions, April/Mentions |
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| Day 2, Month 4, Turn 32 Five whole marks. Five whole marks. Five. N'ky weighed the pouch in his hand, not caring that it was cold, wet and muddy. It had five whole marks in it. It didn't matter what it felt like. It was more than everything he owed his father. Of the three and a half marks due, he'd already paid back one and a half, half of his stipend for the past two quarters. That left just two marks to go, and now he had five in his hand. Plus the mark he'd made on the hides and fleece he'd managed to sell off - plus the marks he'd pull in from the next lot that was with the tanner. He leaned back against Cailluneth, taking a well-earned break after cleaning up in the middle of the Southern plateau that they'd hunted on. From five marks, he had to give two to his father, which left him with three, plus one... four. The simple maths wasn't too much of a problem for him, but he had to run over it twice anyway - once to be sure he was right, and again because he couldn't believe he'd suddenly got more than half a turn's wage just sitting there minding its own business in the palm of his hand. Sure, it was a good thing. It was a relief to know he could pay off his dad, and not have to worry. But then there was the other thing. The thing he'd asked Alida about. Did he have enough marks for that now? No, probably not. But he was a whole lot closer to it than he was yesterday, and that made it a lot more real than it had been when it was something in the far-off future that he had to work towards. Could he still go through with it? N'ky mulled over that question for a long while, unable to come to a conclusion. By the time Alida arrived later in the afternoon, he'd come to a decision on at least one thing. She helped confirm it was the right one, and, for a while, at least, all was good. He'd even found a possible way to spend those marks, too. Which led him to another little problem - he had to give something back to K'zin, to thank him. And he knew just the thing. "C'mon," he said to Cailluneth, cleaning himself up and slipping his shirt back on, not half an hour after the bluerider had left. He shimmied easily up her side, past the day's fresh hides wrapped in oilskin and secured to her straps. "I know exactly where we need to go." Day 10, Month 4, Turn 32 Despite having grown up around the craft and his general lack of squeamishness, N'ky had never grown used to the smell of a Tanners' work area. That was one reason why he didn't follow through with the process on his own, despite understanding the mechanics of it; it was far easier (and far more bearable) to simply part-pay, part-barter the service from one of the Weyr's craftsmen. And Tomni did some pretty good work, so it was well worth it. A sevenday or so after dropping the raw hides off, N'ky returned to pick them up. Back up in his weyr he chose the best of them, then set about doing his own work on them, with a little help from April. Day 12, Month 4, Turn 32 After two days of working between drills and duties, working well into the night, N'ky's project was finally complete. He rolled it up in an oilskin, wrote a little note to attach to the drawstring that kept it closed, and then waited until Cailluneth told him Taiga's riders were in the living caverns, eating dinner. In the hopes that that would give him a little privacy to drop his parcel off, N'ky hoisted it up onto Cailluneth's back, giving her directions to circle down to one particular ledge. She landed just long enough for him to struggle to get the heavy package down from her back, hefting it over his shoulder to settle it just inside of the entrance leading to the couch, just below those stone-cut shelves. With his deed for the day complete, N'ky brushed his hands off his thighs, then had Cailluneth take him down to the bowl so he, too, could join his wing for dinner. That was one problem solved. As for the other - hiring a Harper, going through with his plan - well, that was another thing entirely. |
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