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Tranquil Waters: The Lead Crown Ch 6.1a, A World Apart

With Roaring-Flood and Metal-Eyes deep in conversation, Gift-of-the-Earth was the default choice for fox-sitting. More specifically, it seemed that Sanmer had taken a distinct interest in him, likely due to the fact that the small, white-furred Stone Tribe traveler had such an interest in his brother. For the fourth time, the jeweler patiently repeated his brother's name, "Waka'Mine".

Once more, the Fox attempted to pronounce it, and failed, "Wah-kah Meen-ey."

Gift-of-the-Earth shook his head, "No. En-ah-rork. Gift-of-the-Earth."

Sanmer rolled his eyes, "I got that one already. Enarork."

The Brown bear motioned to where the Shaman stood, "She-Pan-ee. Metal Eyes."

"That's an easy one. Shi-Pani."

Gift-of-the-Earth nodded, "Good. Wah-kah-Mee-nay. Roaring-Flood."

Sanmer's muzzle scrunched up slightly, "Ugh... gotta be the difficult one... Wah-kah-mee-nee."

The jeweler calmly corrected him, "Me-nay. 'Mine' is 'to be roaring'."

The rogue nodded attentively, "Me-nay... okay... so it's like what a street-raised Horse says he does... 'Me nay!'... got it."

It took a moment for the brown Bear to understand the Fox's word play but, in the end, he simply shrugged, "If it helps you remember. Now try all of it."

Sanmer smiled, "Waka'Mine."

Gift-of-the-Earth nodded, "Very good."

The Fox's tail lashed back and forth happily, "I like the way he feels in my mouth."

The brown furred Bear nodded, "There is something to be said for the feel of a word when it is spoken."

The rogue nodded playfully and jumped quickly from one topic to another, "Yea... the name's great too. How do you spell it, exactly?"

Spelling had never been _Gift-of-the-Earth'_s strong point; the Free People didn't have a way to record words in the way the Stone Tribe did. He readily admitted the truth to the Fox. "I do not know."

It was the white-furred Ermine Theo who came to Sanmer's aid, "W-A-K-A, apostrophe, M-I-N- and an 'E' with an accent mark over it."

One of the Fox's ears went up and the other sideways, "Accent mark?"

Nicholas interrupted the discussion by interjecting, "Hey, Sanmer-- did you say that temple place of yours was under the THIRD warehouse?"

The group had been traveling along a series of long, quiet streets and, in Enarork's opinion, the entire section of the enormous Stone Tribe village had been all but abandoned, and yet the Fox had reassured them numerous times that it was still very much active. Sanmer looked over at the Human, "Yea... third warehouse on-- oh."

The Fox had fallen silent when he glanced in the direction toward where the sailor had been indicating. The entire party had come to a stop and everyone sat looking at the remnants of what had probably once been a very large building-- the entire thing had collapsed. Although holes in the ground were not so much a specialty of the Valley Tribe, it didn't take a skilled digger to see that the big building had imploded and was mostly resting inside an opening in the ground that, at one time had probably been beneath it.

Theo sighed, "So... that's the temple we were trying to get to?"

Nicholas folded his arms across his chest, "It WAS, apparently."

Sanmer simply stared, his tail unmoving, eyes focused squarely on the rubble, lips tight and thoughtful. "Well... that sucks."

Metal-Eyes rested a paw on the Fox's shoulder, "The Church must have found them... it's no secret that they do not allow competition."

The Human sailor smirked, moving his hands to his hips and his next comment earned him an evil eye from both the Shaman and the Ermine. "Yea... something the Church and University have in common that way."

Roaring-Flood, though getting better at following along in the Stone-Tribe's language, still had some trouble following a conversation with multiple speakers talking at the pace the group chose to use, "So... this is not it?"

Sanmer, as usual, was quite humorously-casual when dealing with the black Bear's lack of understanding when it came to their language. He used his paws expressively as he explained things to Roaring-Flood. "Oh... this is the place, alright... but it isn't in the right shape... it should be tall like this... but now it's flat like this."

Gift-of-the-Earth's brother, light-hearted as usual when responding to his Vulpine play-thing, repeated the paw gestures inquisitively, then halted, and, rotating his paws so they were side-to-side instead of top-and-bottom. He moved them progressively further apart to suggestively identify length, "Not like this... like this."

The humor gained a giggle from the Fox, but not everyone was in such high spirits. Nicholas brought the discussion back to the important task. "Well... that was our best lead to Kesst... now what?"

Theo offered input, "Well... even if the temple collapsed there should still be someone who can help us locate Sanmer's friend."

The white Fox snapped his fingers and pointed at the Ermine, "Exactly. The whole reason we came here is to find someone who could direct us to Sada... and there are plenty of people who could help us find her-- this was just the easiest place to start."

Nicholas brushed his palms across his trousers, "Fine... but if the next place we go to is destroyed like this place then I'm taking it as a sign that we're either sailing in the wrong heading, or our heading is so right that we'll wish it wasn't."

Sanmer grinned, "See? THAT is the right mindset-- let's go, folks!"

With a lively step the Fox began leading the party off down the street, once again conversing with Roaring-Flood, whose discussion with Metal-Eyes had apparently come to an end. Thankfully, this left the jeweler with the Shaman's attention. Gift-of-the-Earth was quick to make good use of it; he addressed the older bear in the People's tongue, "You know the Stone Tribe better than I do-- what do you think of all of this, Metal-Eyes?"

The Shaman smiled calmly and reached up to pat him on the shoulder, "When you are in a Stone Tribe city there are no easy answers to questions, my friend. I think we are doing well with what we have and, so long as we remain vigilant, answers will find us."

Something about the way that Metal-Eyes always chose to phrase his words contained a certain amount of surreal insight and that, as much as anything else, was exactly why the Valley Tribe had chosen him as their Shaman. As usual, his almost prophetic comment heralded an invitation for a voice to call to them in a hushed tone. "Sanmer!"

Everything fell silent at the call of the Fox's name and he turned toward the speaker: a shadowy outline amidst a darkened alley. Gift-of-the-Earth's first reaction to someone calling his name would be to have them show themselves but the Fox apparently had a different style and went into the shadows to join the hidden greeter. A few whispered words later and Sanmer emerged, "Alright... got us our lead. Come on!"

The jeweler didn't feel particularly pleased with the idea of following an unknown party into unknown circumstances but the fact that the Fox knew the speaker was at least of a little comfort... until he remembered exactly what Sanmer was in the Stone Tribe society. At least he was able to take some small amount of comfort knowing that he didn't really have anything to steal. On the positive side, there was a good chance they would get some information if the Fox's sources turned out to be in-the-know.

Sanmer walked ahead of the group with the dark figure which, as they emerged into the light of a side street, Gift-of-the-Earth was able to identify a ewe. The sheep woman was thick without being particularly fat-- a good shape for any woman of child bearing age. She wore clothing similar in many ways to Theo's: a formal robe-- called a 'dress' when worn by a woman. Metal-Eyes spoke aside to him as they lingered toward the back of the group, "She is a 'nun'."

The brown Bear recalled that term being used before, and it caught him off guard, "A Woman of Symbol?"

The Shaman nodded, "She doesn't have the holy rings, so she must be from the hedge temple Sanmer was trying to find."

The ewe came to a stop immediately upon Sanmer saying something the Bear hadn't been able to overhear. Her voice grew louder in surprise, "You do? Oh, a thousand blessings from Heaven, Sanmer Lemarre-- you're an answer to my prayers!"

The Fox smirked, "Hmm... usually it's MEN that tell me that... but I guess I can't really object, now can I?"

The ewe turned to regard the rest of the party, "You all know Kesst?"

Nicholas spoke up before everyone else, "How do YOU know Kesst?"

A smile split her face from one side to the next, "We... we have him... in our care."

Sanmer's smile grew just as wide and he winked at the party, "See? Told you we'd manage to take care of business."

The Ewe grabbed hold of the Fox's wrist, "Come! Please! We have MUCH to talk about!"

The Rogue glanced to the group, "Everyone-- Sister Yvette. Sister Yvette... uh... everyone."

It was a simple introduction for a Stone Tribe meeting, but Gift-of-the-Earth didn't object. After all, it sufficed; everyone seemed far more interested in Kesst anyway.