Seeing As The Waves Themselves Leap, To Behave Otherwise Would Be A Discourtesy

While Dirant had no reason to believe they were speaking of Medant, the actual person under discussion may have encountered the same obstacle in reaching Ividottlof, whatever that was. The similarity of cases roused Dirant to risk discourtesy. “Pardon me,” he said. “Our meeting is a blessing for me. My name is Dirant Rikelta. Necessity urges that I ask if any of you gentlemen have heard of a man named Medant Denmarof. He indicated an intention to come to this town some time ago, and nothing has been heard of him since said indication.”

Nalfenk looked him over before responding. “I will pass over the pretext. Mr. Hwohyesu has not arrived on schedule and is consequently unavailable for the interview I hoped to conduct before Mr. Atkosol had his opportunity to affect his opinion. I do not know how it is that you learned of the situation, and I cannot blame you for conceiving the same plan. I might wish you applied your reportorial instincts to better uses than perhaps you do. Good day, Mr. Dirant.”

Dirant hoped the surprise in his voice came across as authentic, because it was. If an actor was rated as poor who failed to express emotions he did not himself feel, what must be said about the layman who fell short regarding those he did? “It is because of my own absence of tact I am sure that there has been a failure in our conversation. Ignorance is my accustomed state and persists with regard to both Mr. Hwohyesu and reporting. While it is undeniable that I approached you gentleman with a certain purpose in mind, it was to learn if there is some known cause of disappearances in this area.”

Nalfenk's snort had a gentlemanly timbre, but a snort it nevertheless was. “I wish for your good fortune if I am wrong. Be assured I will explore the point when my responsibilities permit.”

With that, Dirant considered himself dismissed, probably insulted, and definitely puzzled. More than that, he regretted the failure to uncover any information about the possible Hwohyesu disappearance case.

“Which is what I intend to investigate now.”

“Ressi, that's far superior to what I was planning to do, which was really spinning the mountains a blanket.” After concluding there were no bandits or pit traps stuffed with wandering mercenaries in the vicinity, Takki had resolved to repair to Ividottlof until she heard Dirant's account of what transpired there.

“Is that a saying, or?” Dirant asked.

“Yes. What do you think it means?”

“Perhaps it signifies being assigned busywork of no real economic benefit.”

“I guess it does mean that if I say it to an Adaban, but back home it's something that isn't any good until you've finished, but you won't ever be finished.”

Dirant did not feel chastened at the correction. “What is the good when it is finished?”

“Propitiating the mountain spirits. Don't forget it's an old saying.”

With all those doubts resolved, Dirant and Takki embarked on a campaign of inquiries around the camp. From them many learned about the projected arrival of Hwohyesu, a name recognized more often than they expected. He was yet another enthusiast for Ertith history who had indulged his hobby enough to gain a reputation in it. On top of that, he belonged to the country of Zeuhyac on the southern continent, a fact which added a gravity to his opinions which the strictly logical might dispute but never entirely overcome. Not everything he published in the field came into Adaban, much of it letters in journals responding to some other writer, but the interested GE citizen was aware of his stance on the controversy over which way went the relationship between Ertithan and Archaic Auzisthuic. That is, Hwohyesu argued Ertith was a colony of the Dosoroz Auzisthus who were the ancestors of the Zeuhyas while others held the reverse opinion. Other possible arrangements had been proposed of course.

Aside from the man's reputation, a small slice of the camp had heard rumors which alleged he had declared an interest in visiting Iflarent's Hideout, and a set tinier still claimed to have had sure knowledge of the entire thing. Mr. Atkosol did not of course submit himself to questioning (Takki made the attempt while Dirant hid on the other side of the camp). Nobody had a word to say about Hwohyesu's failure to appear other than a remark about the vicissitudes of trans-continental travel, not even upon Nalfenk's return late in the evening when he confirmed Mr. Hwohyesu's absence for the entire day, barring an entrance just before midnight. Certainly some discussion arose as a diversion from the constant talk about the excavation itself, a sheepdog next to sheep as it were, but there was no reason to linger on the topic or become alarmed.

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Until the next day when a delivery came in. Questioned by the company Ritualist stationed there regarding Medant Denmarof or Hwohyesu, descriptions given of course, one of the Stadeskosken deliverymen, Intlapol Galatlinmarekaf, related the lively conversation he had with Mr. Hwohyesu, a most amiable traveler who rode alongside his wagon for some distance.

“I feel a very expert on Ertith after what he told me about it. He parted from us before we reached town. The reason he gave for that was he wanted to check on something outside first. The research he had done had this chance in it that something could be determined about the true extent of the site including facilities outside the city limits. You'd have to promote me to make me as gleeful as he seemed to be then. Nothing could be surer that he would get to town before night. You say he has not? I am worried for the fellow now.” Not worried enough to ignore his job, proving how much he wanted that promotion, but Intlapol did frown for his traveling friend.

That news Dirant regarded as the communal property of all mankind and therefore something he should rush to tell Mr. Atkosol first in order that Stadeskosken's diligent employees should profit before the thing was ruined as communal property so often is. He wrote a letter, the best way to communicate officially even within a tiny outpost such as that, and then a second to Siltwo which recommended that he keep watch for Hwohyesu in Ividottlof as a matter likely to be considered important by their client. “Also I must ask that you repeat your last name, Mr. Intlapol, since asserting 'an employee gave me this information' is likely to reduce its credibility on account of unmerited vagueness.”

“Thank you, Mr. Dirant.”

Dirant handed the first letter off to Mr. Onhavant, the hand scheduled to be free soonest, and the second to Mr. Intlapol himself, who would be returning soon to Ividottlof. He then set about the necessary Revocation of the Preservation Ritual with as much dispatch as the circumstances allowed, which was a great amount given that it was a Stadeskosken delivery. That done, he relied on his authority as Itinerant Ritualist to declare himself done for the day, took back the letter he had given to Mr. Onhavant, and went to deliver it himself.

Lommad Okliten accepted it at the house, perhaps the sole building in the camp which deserved the term. If Mr. Atkosol had servants, they were likely digging. “Thank you, young man,” she said. “Is this something which must be brought to my husband's attention immediately?”

“There is no such rush as that, Mrs. Atkosol,” he said, bowing.

“Good, good.” She turned toward the interior and shouted, “Atkadi, there's a letter for you, but it isn't urgent!”

“Ah, so a novelty.” Atkosol's voice had a wry note which so far Dirant had not heard from him, doubtless something reserved for private circumstances or else speeches intended to condemn rather than inspire or excuse.

Having no desire to exploit the situation in order to speak to Mr. Atkosol, Dirant retreated right into an ambushing force of reporters. They wanted to know the deeper significance behind his message, and after thinking it over, he decided he might as well tell them. The primacy of Stadeskosken in delivering information as well as goods had already been established, and what remained was to employ whatever resources were at hand to find the missing Zeuhyacan expert and Fennizener mercenary. He therefore related the testimony along with his own conjecture that the location Mr. Hwohyesu wished to inspect must be Cowsick Point unless anyone knew another place near Ividottlof which held the slightest interest to people outside the farming and ranching industries.

“That list already has double the items I'd put in it,” Kodol Hinpabafnoren said. “I thought cows were sick all the time. The headline for the animal section is always about some murrain or other.”

“Mr. Kodol, I believe Mr. Dirant is making reference to the phenomenon of Cowsick Point.” Aptezor Ristaofen said that fully aware his fellow reporters had researched the region's history sufficiently to understand the point without elaboration. Awareness has its shortcomings. In fact Baozir Nalna alone recognized the reference, and she was too busy writing down a description of Lommad's briefly glimpsed outfit to care.

“That's a locally famous story,” Aptezor elaborated when pressed.

“I confess my admiration for the care you have taken in collecting information,” Nalfenk Migolkir commended his younger colleague. “Lose that, and you may be embarrassed by an amateur who contributes articles to publications which are habitually incautious with facts.”

That comment's point, if it had one, missed its target, for nobody understood the reference or allowed it to interfere with the lecture about the mysterious incident Aptezor's colleagues forced him to deliver. Dirant meanwhile sought another audience, starting with Takki and encompassing as many people as possible who might be interested in a short expedition to Cowsick Point or anywhere else they might think to propose.