— Aleka —
Aleka had been surprised to see the elven woman at their door so long before they’d agreed to meet up at the small temple of Stherin located in the district. At first she’d been suspicious that Keir was trying some sort of time pressure tactics.
It was hard to really believe that, or at least believe it was the entire story, as she led Keir to the same couch she'd sat on during her first visit.
The warrior elf looked dead on her feet. Well, more dead than her nature alone could account for. She’d also looked genuinely uncomfortable with the situation.
When Keir was settled into the seat, Aleka said “I’ll go and get Emrik and then we can talk. You and your little elemental can wait here. Wait, did you have an elemental with you when you were here yesterday?”
Despite the exhaustion clearly visible in her eyes Keir looked fondly at the elemental, who had sat on the arm of the chair kicking her legs, and said “No, I only met this little one well after leaving here. Since I met it, it has proven itself to be an excellent guide and assistant.”
The elemental was an almost misty distortion in the shape of a harpy and didn’t exactly have facial features. Even so it all but glowed with pride at the elf’s words.
Aleka didn’t want to interfere in the oddly endearing moment the undead and the elemental were sharing so she simply slipped off towards Emrik’s workshop.
The storage room turned workshop bore little resemblance to how it had looked when the elf had visited the day before.
Closed wooden boxes were piled up in one corner of the room and an almost equal sized pile of open boxes filled with soft dry mycelium strands were piled on and around the bed in the middle of the room.
Aleka’s tools and well over half of the machines had already been packed away. Almost all of the remaining machines were at least partially dismantled and ready to be packed in their own boxes. Likewise, most of Emrik’s many books were absent from their shelves.
Unlike the room, Emrik was in more or less the same place as the last time Aleka retrieved them to meet with the strange elf in their living room.
She was leaning over an open box carefully packing away the pieces of her lathe in the soft packing material filling the box
As Aleka walked into the room Emrik said “I know you’re used to packing quickly to follow the Walking Sea but surely you’re not finished already.”
Aleka laughed and said “Well, I am a fair bit further along than you are but I’m not finished yet. Our prospective employer apparently needs to return to her village as soon as possible so she’s come to receive our answer.”
Emrik frowned slightly but they clearly trusted that if Aleka believed the elf was playing games Aleka would already have thrown her out. Emrik finished packing the piece in her hand and stood, brushing the fibers from her hands as they said “Well let’s go see what she has to say. We should make sure there’s a reason to pack before we continue.”
Aleka agreed and the pair returned to the living and dining area. Keir stood to greet the pair as they walked through the curtain and the little air elemental hopped to its feet in a rather adorable impression of the elf’s serious stance.
Even from across the relatively small room the elven warrior’s exhaustion and discomfort was obvious despite her rigid posture.
As Aleka and Emrik approached, Emrik said something in that strange ocean-like language that was apparently the elven dialect spoken by sea elves.
Keir responded in her own steel and tide infused dialect before switching to orcish and saying “Once again I apologize for the inconvenience and rudeness of arriving at your home so long before our arranged meeting. Due to my own experiences, having awoken some time before the villagers I over estimated the amount of time before we would need supplies that weren’t available when we left the village. As a result I and the other’s who came here with me will need to return to the village as soon as possible. Since many can not move freely in the sunlight I would prefer to leave tonight instead of waiting for tomorrow night. I am hoping I can receive your answer.”
Aleka and Emrik exchanged looks, each knowing what the other was thinking without words, and Emrik joined Keir in speaking orcish and said “Let’s go over the basics here and assuming there’s no deal breakers on either side we can move on to Stherin’s temple to make a proper contract.
In greater detail than the first time they’d spoken about the job off Keir explained the village's need for new tools and a rebuilt lumber mill to begin the reconstruction efforts before the winter grew too harsh for such activities.
She also explained that due to the destruction of the original smithy and the smith’s choice to stay dead that the pair would have near total freedom to work with the local construction guild to design the smithy to meet their exact needs.
While Keir didn’t seem pleased to get into it she didn’t even try to conceal that those things meant that they would initially need to live in the inn and both their work and living spaces would not be ideal at first.
Briefly they got into the subject of money but Keir’s limited training regarding the prices of such things were not only out of date but centered around the economy of a very part of the continent. As a result they simply agreed that a fair price would be paid for their services and they would benefit from the same temporary measure that would allow them to set their own tax rate. Combined they would be able to accrue a decent amount of improvement points quickly.
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It wouldn’t be an immediate selling point but Keir finished explained that upon arriving in the village she planned to complete a quest that would award the village with a unique mine.
Aleka and Emrik had decided on a few points that they felt strongly about, but the only one Keir didn’t address was the issue of their belongings. If they were to go to the village they would need to let go of their lease on the smithy. If they were going to be stuck with at most a pair of rooms in an inn their things would need to go somewhere.
When that was brought up Keir said they could store their things in the village hall. Apparently if the top floor weren’t mostly destroyed Keir would have offered them lodging there. She also noted that it was entirely possible that there was at least one home whose occupants had elected not to be resurrected they could use until their workshops were constructed.
While they’d negotiated, if such an amicable agreement could truly be called that, the little elemental had first darted around the living and dining area. It seemed Keir had told it not to enter the rest of the living area, as it never even approached the curtains blocking off Emrik’s workshop, the bathroom, or Aleka’s bedroom.
When it had inevitably grown bored in the sparsely furnished room it instead amused itself by fluttering Keir’s hair. Often times it was only the potential of the deal that helped Aleka keep a mostly straight face as the elf very seriously discussed arranging for delivery of ore and ingots, or the temporary tax agreement, all while her hair was blown into increasingly elaborate positions by tiny powerful, and somehow silent, gusts of wind.
The fact that despite everything she seemed to be going through the elf never seemed to begrudge her literally flighty companion’s need for entertainment only improved Aleka’s impression of the warrior turned city lord.
With a simple but workable agreement reached the elemental returned Keir’s hair to the state it was in when she’d arrived and the four of them set off towards the temple.
Aleka and Emrik had lived in the building for a number of years and both occasionally had business in the temple so they could just about have made their way there blindfolded. Nonetheless they followed the directions of the elemental. It had just been too excited to lead the way after being praised for its abilities as a guide for either to be willing to explain its services weren’t actually needed for that.
The temple was a decent sized structure about as close to the center of the district as possible. It wasn't the main branch so it lacked the intense displays of divine attention found in the temple district. It also mostly served blacksmiths and stone masons so it was still an impressive construction of polished stone and ornate metal work.
Stone pillars were carved into mighty serpents with polished metal scales and the walls were decorated with metal crests of every nation that followed, or the case of the fallen nations had followed, the tenets of community and contracts.
While Aleka could appreciate the outside of the structure, especially the metal work, the inside was always her favorite. The God of Community and Contracts, Stherin, most often took the form of a lizard man and the temple paid clear homage to the ancient tropical home of the lizardfolk.
The air was hot, but a cool pleasantly spicy and floral scented breeze kept it from becoming stifling. Long blue, purple, and red silk curtains and all manner of ferns and cycads stirred in that breeze providing privacy for supplicants.
The gentle sounds of small waterfalls flowing onto masterfully forged artistic metal pieces in the many fountains ensured that the many contracts being established at any time didn’t reach uninvolved ears.
It was all quite a bit more ornate but it reminded Aleka of the tropical region that the Walking Sea moved though.
Aleka didn’t even try to suppress her grin seeing Keir looking around, clearly impressed, and the elemental basking in the breeze.
They’d barely been in the temple a minute or so when they were approached by a lizard man dressed in the light silk robes of Stherin’s clergy. The bright rich red silk of a full priest’s robes contrasted pleasingly against the almost polished malachite green scales, especially when the light caught the swirling bands of color.
Like most lizardfolk the priest was very large, standing at least a few inches over seven feet tall and with a heavily muscled frame. Also like most lizardfolk his voice was surprisingly light and almost hollow sounding as he said “Have you come to create or seek arbitration for a contract?”
As Keir was the one offering the job she took the lead and said “We seek to form an equal and balanced contract. As such I would like to request the aid of an esteemed member of Stherin’s clergy.”
The priest nodded in the slightly too fast manner of his species and replied “That is certainly possible. Which of you will be paying the honorarium for that service?”
Aleka was about to speak up as it was usually the responsibility of the one who was offered the contract to pay for that service if they wanted it. Instead Keir answered saying “As any issues, unintentional as they may be, are likely to come from my own lack of knowledge, I will bear that cost, lest the cost be to my honor.”
It spoke well of Keir’s intentions that she’d paid for that as regardless of which party requested it the clergy member would not allow either side of the contract to be unbalanced. It also spoke of her past that she was clearly familiar with the stylized formal speech the clergy of Stherin preferred.
While Aleka was thinking about that the elf and the lizard man finished their quasi ritualistic exchange. Apparently he’d agreed to fill the role that translated roughly to the Scales of Honor, for their contract.
He led them to a marble table and chairs sheltered from view by few curtains and an impressive broad leafed fern. Once there he lent his expertise to both the wording and contents of the contract. Wording aside, he mostly needed to step in to help establish an actual quantifiable definition for fair payment.
No more than an hour later they left the temple, each in possession of a copy of the contract with the final copy left to be filed in the temple.
After they reached the street Keir clearly steeled herself and said “I apologize for the extremely limited notice but would it be possible for you to be ready to travel to the village tonight?”
Emrik's tone was neutral as she said “Could you give us just a moment to discuss it?”
Keir nodded still looking a bit apologetic and Emrik leaned in close to whisper to Aleka “It is short notice, but we already started packing. You’re far and away the expert in such matters. Do you think we can reasonably do that?”
Aleka ran through the situation in their home and whispered back “Probably, it may be a bit tight with just us however.” She felt an ever so slightly devious grin cross her face as she turned towards Keir and in a normal speaking volume said “If you don’t mind pitching in a bit we can be ready to leave within an hour or so either way of sundown.”
For a moment the weariness fell away from the elf as she smiled with relief and said “I’d be happy to help, just let me send this little one out some messages once we get back to your home and we can get started.”