The rain was persistent for the duration of the next day, keeping both man and beast in their shelters. Tercius was not sure if anyone from his house would leave even if the sun shone it's most pleasant light. Around every member hung a pale curtain of anxiety. Knowledge of the proximity by which they bypassed the axe that fell on the neck of their neighbours made them in equal parts guilty and afraid of it's possible return.
Neiran was afraid for his family and wanted to go home, yet the elders decided that it was better for him to stay. Those two men that delivered the news about the "beast" assured Neiran they would pass along a message to his family, so he reluctantly agreed. It still weighted heavily on him, making him unable to sleep or eat, luckily for him, grandmother had enough herbs for a few more of those sleep concoctions. As soon as he drank it he went to bed. His bed. Well the situation was a bit specific, so Tercius was willing to let it go.
He made a small space for himself on the floor next to the bed and drank his share of the brew, simply because he was sure to stay up late thinking about everything.
***
The news of the demise of the beast started spreading throughout surrounding area around the same time as the storm ended. The valiant soldier terminated the infamous killer while it slept in a nearby cave, probably engorged from the flesh of it's victims. Or at least that is how the story that made it's way to them went. While it made general population sleep a little easier, to those in the know it allowed a glimpse behind the curtain. A glimpse that explained how things truly worked around here.
Neiran's family came for him and took him home, thanking them profusely for taking care of their son. The work trip they planned was postponed indefinitely. On one hand it was disappointing, because Tercius was truly looking forward to it, but on the other he could see the reasoning. He was not sure if he himself could leave after all that happened, no matter how much he wanted to. There was a long discussion on the topic of where to go from here and how and when. The general direction that all settled on was to go north. No one wanted to go further south and the lands west and east were still mostly wilderness. There were three options for possible destinations in mind and his father was waiting for new information before the decision was made. As it stood, from what he could understand, all of the possible end points were in a line, so they would just continue to the next should the one in question prove unsuitable.
For the day of the departure they settled on a tentative date a week after his fifth birthday. The season then should be optimal for travel, if a little hot. But here, during the day, it was almost always hot. His grandmother told him that it got better the further north you went.
His grandfather found a man that wanted to make a new three floor house and one of those floors was to be underground. They had to make everything except the roof: foundation, walls and ceilings. The stone was to be provided on the site where he wanted to build it, they were hired to shape it and meld it together. There were specified dimensions provided for the length, width and height of the stone blocks and additional help would be provided for heavy lifting, considering that neither his grandfather nor Neiran and he could lift the blocks of that size. The construction was supposed to begin in two weeks and Ciron and his students had to make their way to Nurium.
He was introduced to another facet of stone-masonry: drawing up a plan. His grandfather preferred making a plan in advance, with only the basic idea and then slowly adding to it with both the wishes of the buyer and a heavy mix of his own expertise.
"Some of the ideas that I've been proposed.... Well let me tell you this, I don't think I could come up with those in a drink induced nightmare. If those people had their way with their ideas.... I shudder to think. You know Tercius that is my main selling point when I sell my skill. All of those people come to me with their idea and I use that idea when I create the plan for the structure. They are satisfied, I am satisfied, what more can you wish for? Of course for you to follow in my footsteps you will need to learn more. We will start with this. " grandfather was in a bizarre mood and this was probably the longest he heard the man talk. In front of him, his grandfather laid on the table a stack of papers and a toothpick-like needle.
"Drawing, boy, is an essential skill. Mathematics is another you will need. We will start with the basics. This is a straight line. " True to his word, his grandfather drew a straight line.
"Can you repeat what I just did?" grandfather said, handing Tercius the needle with which he drew the line. He guessed it was a pen of some kind, but he never saw this before. His father used something that looked like a stick of charcoal. This was something new.
".... I think I can, but grandfather what is this? " Tercius said raising the needle in question.
" That my boy is taken from the back of a particular animal. I don't remember it's name. It's back is covered with the things, a weapon of a kind. It uses these needles to defend itself yet we use these needles to leave a fine mark on paper, interesting how different the application of the same thing can be in another hands don't you think? Now stop with the questions and show me. Can you do what I did? "
So Tercius did what was asked. A line of the same length parallel to the one that the old man drew. He saw his grandfather nodding.
" Now let me add something and you look and tell me what is it. " he added a line at both ends, connecting the two that were there previously. A rectangle. But he didn't know the word for it. So he did the best that came to mind.
" A brick. One side of it. " he saw a genuine smile bloom on the face of the almost toothless man.
" Yes. A rectangle. That is what that shape is called, remember that, I will question you on it later."
He had to play along. It was honestly a long time since any kind of touch with mathematics or geometry in this particular case, but in his previous youth it was one of his stronger sides. He honestly felt kinda stupid for not trying to get a skill in it, when some of it's branches could be done completely mentally. Hell with Visualisation maybe all of them could be done. It was, counting these new ones, just over a decade of no touch with any kind of mathematics. But it was so easy to return to it, so logical. That was it's great attraction for him, it gave an order to things.
"Observe. Tercius! Focus boy, I drew something, now you look at it and tell me what it is. " his grandfather added a third dimension to the thing, now it was a cuboid. But once again he had no name for it and he didn't want to say "brick" again so he just shrugged.
"I don't know what's it called. "
"It's good to admit you don't know something. Especially to yourself. Especially that. When you don't know something acknowledge it, always to yourself and to someone you wish to learn from. Good. This is called a cuboid..." and so for the next few hours his grandfather went over shapes and their names, quizzing him along the way on all matters they went over. He enjoyed the afternoon so much that all the recent trouble went forgotten for the duration and even when they finished for the day he used the paper on which they practised to add some decorative additions. For instance that cuboid became a house with a fence, the cube became his room all with a bed, small closet a window and a door. The circle he tried to make into his mother's likeness, but the nose went wrong, the eyes.... Ugh. At the end it looked more like that Rala. He shaded it and even on paper the eyes of that man pierced through everything.
What an end to an unexpectedly great day. He thought to himself when he destroyed the drawing and went to bed.
***
11 days later
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
It was a late evening when they arrived in Nurium. His grandfather Ciron, a man in his late 50s, was a giant of a man. The age did bow him a bit but he still stood over a 1.9m in height, and now they, two boys of 8 and 5, the older barely over the elder man waist, the younger closer to the knees than the waist, were using every fibre of their being to walk beside their teacher, yet every few meters they had to run to catch up to the long legged elder, barely holding up. Ciron seemed to have forgotten that they were following him.
Their whole necessary equipment and clothing and footwear was packed in one large bag that was waiting for them in the room grandfather got for them. That was a blessing, he could not imagine what additional baggage would do to their speed. They tried to slow the man down and he did listen for a few minutes, but he then went back into thought and his larger legs just carried him away.
"Are we there yet? " asked Neiran for what must have been a hundredth time in the last two hours. It got on his nerves at first, now he kept wondering the same thing... When his grandfather suggested they walked the whole way to town they readily agreed, thinking it another adventure on the way, yet this...
My whole back is wet and I will need to change the underwear... This geezer...
If only the old man allowed a small respite to replenish their energy and maybe drink some water while sitting, hell at this point even drinking while standing would be a win. But no he just kept walking, and they terrified to be left alone in what for them was unknown land just followed. Picturesque scenery went by while they walked and they barely noticed. Then new people and eventually new buildings. The latter they outright ignored. If it was not the one they would be spending their night in then it might as well not exist.
"Hey, where are you two going? " asked a familiar voice that his addled brain needed a few moments to identify as his grandfathers. "We are over here. " Ciron said waving his hand to the side as he went through a door. The two boys looked at each other and in their eyes hope sprang, if they are already here and this is the building where they were meant to stay, then that means that nothing stopped them from sitting on the first surface they could find. They both sprawled themselves over the few stairs that led to the entrance as they took out their water pouches and drank heavily. Then they just rested, finally content even as their leg muscles threatened to combust.
"Who do we have here? Did Kitty drag you over here? " asked an unfamiliar voice of a woman. She was a small thing, thin and looking like a slight breeze could knock her over.
"Those two are mine." an answer came from behind them.
"Cirin! You came! So these must be your students, it`s nice to meet you two. I was led to believe that one is your grandson, but neither of them look like you." the woman said.
That was true. Tercius had started this life with a tuft of black hair on his head, but over the years it changed colour to a dark dark red. His father once mentioned that his mother had that exact shade. He got his green eyes from his mother, who got it from her own. For now no part of him looked anything like his grandfather.
"Maya! The little one is mine, taller one is a neighbour`s child, but they are both my little students." said grandfather ruffling their hair.
"They look like something my dog dragged in, how did they get so dirty? And why are they sitting here? Come now boys I will show you where you can wash off that grime, maybe have a nice cup of juice after?" Maya said and started to drag them behind the inn, when he saw a metal sign in the shape of a bed hanging over the front door. But something kept scratching his ears.
"You said you have a dog? I thought you said before it was a cat. Kitty?" Tercius said.
"Kitty is the name of the dog. Both this one and the one before. And the one before that one. My daughter named the first one over thirty years ago and the name stuck. She was your age then and thought it was funny. "Sleepy Inn" is also something she came up with. A bit silly if you ask me but she always liked it..." Maya explained as she lead us further to a wooden barn next to the inn where he could see barrels of water.
"Now you two wash up and come inside. I will go prepare something to eat. Don`t be long."
***
"Tomorrow we go and meet this Yagar at his current place and then he will show us where he plans to build this new house. You will be with me and observe everything I do. How I talk to the man, how I negotiate about the price, everything. Understood?" grandfather asked while they ate a delicious stew that Maya prepared and brought to their table. They could just nod, what with their mouths being stuffed with spoon after spoon of the stew.
"Then let us finish this meal and then to bed. Early rising tomorrow, and we need to be rested." his grandfather drank the last of his stew straight from the bowl and then waited for them to finish.
Their room was on the third floor of the building with the window facing east, his grandfathers idea that the sun would wake them up in time.There were three beds inside all against the same wall. It didn’t take them long to get ready for bed and lay for the night. Until he felt the call of sleep he practised his Visualization and a bit of Meditation to relax.
***
Morning came and the sun rose, waking them up just as his grandfather predicted. Tercius felt rested even though some of his leg muscles still retained a little soreness. A breakfast soon followed where he complimented the middle aged Maya on her cooking, and she finally found something he inherited from his grandfather, at least according her they shared the same taste in food.
Then they went off in search of a house of a man called Yagar. It was fairly easy to do it, with just a few directions from passer-bys and within an hour they stood in front of an old wooden edifice. It was an old building, the wood weathered and worn, maybe even one of the oldest buildings in the town. Nurium was a town that had a history of about 50 years and some of he original buildings still stood in it. At the time of it’s establishment the builders used what they knew to work with and that was mostly wood, brought with them when they moved south. Only later were the quarries that now shipped stone and marble all over the empire found and opened.
His grandfather pounded at the door with surprising fierceness, the sound travelling far. A few heads turned their way.
"I didn’t mean to..." murmured his grandfather clearly embarrassed with the attention he created by accident.
In a moment the door opened and a large man of considerable girth appeared behind the opened door, his wispy beard made into a braid, the top his head bald with very short hair around the sides and possibly the back of the head. He was of the same height as his grandfather, the men looking each other in the eye at the same level. That was probably something that didn’t happen to either often.
"Can I help you stranger?" the man said in a deep voice, deeply suited for horror stories in a dark night.
"I am looking for a man named Yagar, a mutual acquaintance of ours sent me his way." his grandfather gave over a round token of some kind. A proof of identity?
"Ah, master stonemason! It is good you are here! Come in, come in. Unfortunately I can’t offer any refreshments other than what alcohol i have in this room, you see my servant had an accident two days ago, a piece of the floor in the kitchen gave way when he was standing on it and now... for now I eat out. He takes care of these things and the last few days without him have need a nightmare, let me tell you. As you can see from the state of the house it is in dire need of a complete restoration. But I don’t want to go that route, this house has been fixed so many times, I could have made a new one with all the money spent!" explained the man while they sat in the living room.
"I have heard of your qualifications from Ftir and I must say I am impressed. He told me you would bring a plan..."
They spent the whole morning, noon and a small chunk of the afternoon talking about the details of the work, settling on a few thing immediately. The price of their work was to be 70 tretas with half paid in advance when they started and half when they finished their part of the work.
Yagar showed them the lot where they would be doing the construction, only they had to wait for someone to finish the digging of where the basement was supposed to go and the material was to be delivered within a day. They made a few alteration on he spot when his grandfather had a chance to see the land, but ultimately the settled on a final plan.