Fable - Ask Luuruk-Hur, the Coming of Spring

[Zeri Rekani]

Other orcs from the Delta Camp had likewise crossed the gangplank and greeted their families, their loved ones. Kills of an assortment of game were steadily being offloaded from the ship, some by a single orc, some larger carcasses being carried in teams of two. A few carts had been brought onto the pier by some of the families and carcasses were loaded and a couple of the carts were already on the move, pulled down the length of the pier and to the docks and away. Birds circled the moored ship overhead and gave their cries and some landed on the mast or on the railing and gazed at the orcs and the carcasses with that keen avian curiosity.

I'll not be a burden on your family.

"I wouldn't think that at all of you," Thandriel said, welcoming. "We'll have plenty of food with the kills you've brought back from the Hunt, and we've a room to spare. Zeri speaks highly of you, so consider yourself a friend of the family. Perhaps this land seems strange--" Thandriel chuckled, "--and I ought to know. I was a stranger in it once myself. But you'll have your bearings soon enough, Um, and the Rekani family will be more than happy to welcome you into our home for a time."

Thandriel took a step to leave. Said to Zeri, "Stay here with Um. I'll go call for your brothers to help and we will bring back a cart of our own. I shan't be long."

"Yes, Pa," she said, waving temporary goodbye as he made his way past the other orcish families and the carcasses being offloaded from the ship and to the dock.

Then she looked over to Um. Said as an idea struck her, "Oh! Maybe on the way to the Great Bazaar we could stop and see a mapmaker--they them "cartographers" in Alliria, but we just call them mapmakers. I think that'd be useful for you, right? That'd be useful. To have a map of Epressa and Liadain. Yeah, that'd be useful. And I could point out where my Pa is from too. He's a lot like you if you think about it. He came a long way to be here. Went on a journey and found Ma and settled here with her. Isn't that sweet? I think so."

A journey. Pa's journey. Zeri and her sister and her brothers would never have been had he not gone out on it, gathered to courage to leave his home and set out on the long and open road of adventure. It truly warmed Zeri's heart to consider this.

Perhaps her elder sister, Paola, had done the same. And found herself inspired by it.

Um Min-Kyung

 

[Um Min-Kyung]

(I am so sorry for the wait, I thought I replied.)

"I wouldn't think that at all of you," Thandriel said, welcoming. "We'll have plenty of food with the kills you've brought back from the Hunt, and we've a room to spare. Zeri speaks highly of you, so consider yourself a friend of the family. Perhaps this land seems strange--" Thandriel chuckled, "--and I ought to know. I was a stranger in it once myself. But you'll have your bearings soon enough, Um, and the Rekani family will be more than happy to welcome you into our home for a time."

“I owe you my thanks, you do me great honor to say I am friend to your family. I am very grateful for your generosity.” He says with utmost sincerity.

Then she looked over to Um. Said as an idea struck her, "Oh! Maybe on the way to the Great Bazaar we could stop and see a mapmaker--they them "cartographers" in Alliria, but we just call them mapmakers. I think that'd be useful for you, right? That'd be useful. To have a map of Epressa and Liadain. Yeah, that'd be useful. And I could point out where my Pa is from too. He's a lot like you if you think about it. He came a long way to be here. Went on a journey and found Ma and settled here with her. Isn't that sweet? I think so."

He gave her a smile. “A mapper would be most helpful, thank you. And I would be most delighted to see where your father hails. And to hear how he came here, I am sure it was an adventure to be told. One I would very much like to hear about. Now, shall we prep your kills for carting?”

 

[Zeri Rekani]

Zeri gave an eager nod, and they went to work.

Thandriel came back shortly with the cart and with Zeri's brothers, Rodon and Gurrash, in tow. Short introductions, Zeri proudly naming her big brothers (big both in age and size, for they towered over her) and they each spoke in turn briefly to Um. Rodon, the brother of milder manners, was far more interested in Um and the strangeness of his appearance and his clothes and by Zeri's mention that Um had come from afar; Gurrash was a touch gruff, but not confrontationally so--mostly it was his more stoic nature, his impassiveness.

With the cart loaded (spirits was it heavy!), they began to push and pull it along. Off the pier and across the harbor and into the city proper. Zeri was next to Um, seizing upon every opportunity to take a hand off of pushing the cart to point at various locales, places, buildings, things. How she knew the people who lived there, how this store was built by humans from Liadain and thus looked different from those around it, what the significance was of the various Luuruk-Hur decorations hanging from front doors.

And they came to the Rekani house--fairly large and with some human design inspiration, a structure of brick and clay and wood and glass and shingled roof. As Zeri said, built by her Ma's family when her Ma was only a young girl. Built for her Ma because they knew she would one day raise a wonderful family of her own. "And that she did," Thandriel chimed in. They got all but one of the carcasses--a Delta Zebra carcass the leftover--brought into the shed behind the house. Zeri mentioned emphatically that she and Um were going to go to the Great Bazaar to barter for some things before the sun set and the Feast of Luuruk-Hur commenced, and to this Thandriel gave a nod. Told her not to take too long.

A beaming smile offered to Um, they started off with the cart. Going in the direction of the Bazaar but stopping first at a mapmaker.

Zeri had been in this store several times. A small store, almost cramped and certainly stuffy, the particular smell of parchment and the faint undertone of ink available to one's nose. The window built into the door was larger than the window built into the wall beside it, and somehow a sufficient amount of light from the outside squeezed through.

The storekeeper--a human man who actually was formerly of the Cartographer's Guild in Alliria--rose from his stool when he saw them enter and greeted them cordially and said, "What kind of map might you be interested in? I got all kinds. Small scale, large scale."

"The continents," Zeri said. "Could we see a map of both Epressa and Liadain."

The storekeeper nodded. "Ah. Very small scale. How about...this."

He bent over a table and moved aside some rolled up scrolls and grabbed one and unrolled it and handed it over for Zeri to hold at one end and for Um to hold at the other.

Zeri's eyes searched, then found it. "Here we are. Bhathairk!"

She pointed at it on the map, the dot with Bhathairk written in fine script just below it.

"My home," she said. "There's all this other land out there, all these great places to see, but this one little dot is special. It's my home, and it always will be, no matter how far I travel."

Um Min-Kyung

 

[Um Min-Kyung]

Um was utterly fascinated by the city, not hesitating to ask questions or for more details or reasons for why things were done this way specifically. He himself helped push the cart and put all of his strength into it, though that did nothing to stop his curious gaze from wandering around the environment and looking over the buildings and things that Zeri pointed out. He made several mental notes that he took physical notes of in his notebook, which made him realize he’d need more than one. But that wasn’t an immediate issue. So once the carcasses were unloaded, he and Zeri were off to the Bazaar.

“Bazaar, what a strange word.” He said idly to himself as they walked. “What exactly is a Bazaar? I would assume it was a market thanks to most of your statements about it, but does it serve any other purpose?”

Then they came to the mapmaker, and he looked at the map. He was not entirely surprised to see how big it was considering how big land could be, it was almost as big as the continent back East. And Zeri pointed out where they were. He was utterly astonished. He patted her shoulder. “And let us hope that everyone will be waiting here for you upon your return.”

 

[Zeri Rekani]

The word Bazaar. Huh. It was just so normal for Zeri that she didn't even think about it, where it came from and if there was any significant different between it and what people outside of Bhathairk called markets. Not that she was unfamiliar with the term market or never used it herself. Hmmm. She didn't really know, and she gave a shrug and said as much.

* * * * *​

And let us hope that everyone will be waiting here for you upon your return.

"Of course they will!" Zeri said. "Rodon and Gurrash want to become craftsorcs, and Ma and Pa certainly aren't going anywhere. Who knows. Maybe if I get really lucky I'll run into my sister Paola out on the open road."

She looked back to the map. Pointed to the rough lands indicated to the east of Bhathairk.

"That's the Spine, the biggest mountain ranges on the continent of Epressa. Maybe even in all the world. I don't think I want to head that way when I set out. N-Not at first. I was...told the Spine was dangerous."

Briefly she thought of Weylin. Her encounter with him, the tragic story he had to tell of what happened to his people, and her own interpretation of how it shaped him. She didn't linger on it.

"Is there any place on the map here that you think is interesting, Um?"

Um Min-Kyung

 

[Um Min-Kyung]

"That's the Spine, the biggest mountain ranges on the continent of Epressa. Maybe even in all the world. I don't think I want to head that way when I set out. N-Not at first. I was...told the Spine was dangerous."

“Sounds like a hunting ground then, be it animals or something else.” He says quietly, wondering what it was like. “Perhaps some more dangerous game lives up there? Oh well.”

"Is there any place on the map here that you think is interesting, Um?"

“I think that everything is interesting. I’d like to see what your people’s castles look like and how they differ from castles back east. The extreme wilds look fun, and I’d love to see more cities in this place. I’d like to visit the various races, the elves and dwarves, learn of their languages and cultures. To be more direct, everything is interesting to me.

 

[Zeri Rekani]

To be more direct, everything is interesting to me.

"Oh. Okay then! We can get this map. It'll be useful for you!"

The mapmaker initially wanted coin as payment, but Zeri secured a barter with him. Turned out that the mapmaker's wife wanted to participate in the Luuruk-Hur Feast more properly this year, and so the mapmaker was pliable to accept an exchange of Delta Zebra meat for the map. Zeri gave the map to Um--maybe he'd see a little something on there that would catch his eye later on--and off they started again toward the Great Bazaar.

An air of jubilant celebration was already in the air on their approach, and now it was becoming manifest. Orcs laughed and went to and fro and there beside a tavern some tall warriors drank outside as young orcish girls (perhaps their daughters) jumped with smiles on their faces and tried to adorn the flowery leis about their necks; a showing of warg riders crossed at an intersection ahead, all the riders in unison chanting a cadence as they passed; somewhere great drums were being played and with them the stomp of feet as ancient ritual dances were likewise played out; off to one side of the street came into view two massive orcs having a friendly grappling contest, each trying to throw the other off of his feet while a semi-circle crowd of onlookers cheered them on; among the non-orcs present, there was of particular note a tall elven maiden painting the faces of several human women in the designs of the Bhathairk tribe, all of the women smiling reverentially as they were marked by tradition in this manner.

And Zeri continued along with Um, pushing the cart along.

"It's really busy today because of the festival!" Zeri said, raising her voice to be heard over the din. And it was. There was some appreciable difficulty in simply getting through the crowd. "But we're almost there. It might take us a little while to look! Was that all that we needed, by the way? The bamboo and the mulberry wood?"

Um Min-Kyung

 

[Um Min-Kyung]

"Oh. Okay then! We can get this map. It'll be useful for you!"

The mapmaker initially wanted coin as payment, but Zeri secured a barter with him. Turned out that the mapmaker's wife wanted to participate in the Luuruk-Hur Feast more properly this year, and so the mapmaker was pliable to accept an exchange of Delta Zebra meat for the map. Zeri gave the map to Um--maybe he'd see a little something on there that would catch his eye later on--and off they started again toward the Great Bazaar.

When he asked for coin, Um had reached into his belt pouch and pulled out a string of a few gold coins which were basically discs of gold with square holes in them dead center. But since it was foreign currency and contact with the East was still in its infancy, he ultimately refused because it was technically invalid currency. He hated having Zeri give up some zebra meat for a map, but that’s how it went down and he showed his gratitude.

"It's really busy today because of the festival!" Zeri said, raising her voice to be heard over the din. And it was. There was some appreciable difficulty in simply getting through the crowd. "But we're almost there. It might take us a little while to look! Was that all that we needed, by the way? The bamboo and the mulberry wood?"

“Yes, those are the wood types that we need, we have the horns, and other than that we need treated sinew and treated fish bladder. I actually happen to have a scroll detailing how this bow is made, which I intended to use for establishing friendly attitudes toward easterners, for which this is a good opportunity. It will need to be translated though, and I should think that this method of making bows should be at least a semi sufficient payment for your family’s hospitality. But yes, mulberry wood and bamboo, the best being bamboo that has grown for a year. That and it needs a years worth of treatment, which is really mostly waiting. But if done properly, you’ll have a bow like mine.”

 

[Zeri Rekani]

A year. He'd said it before and still it was a daunting amount of time to Zeri. Where would she even be in a year's time? Could she really put off going to adventure for so long?

* * * * *​

The Great Bazaar was indeed crowded with more foreign merchants than usual. Men and dwarves and elves from all around, all here during the beginning days of the celebration and through the Feast and past the first day of Spring for a little while. All having brought goods from afar and seeking trade of orcish wares or raw materials or other things.

Zeri, in a manner that was somewhat uncharacteristic for her, was a bit overwhelmed. She'd not come to the Bazaar before in search of bamboo nor mulberry wood. In truth, she...only had a vague idea of what those two materials specifically were. But Um was here. He'd know not only this, but also if the quality of both were good or not. And that gave Zeri some reassurance.

It took some time (especially with the cart in such a busy place) to search the Bazaar, but eventually she found a human merchant who might have what she wanted.

Um Min-Kyung

 

[Wallace Grimley]

Wallace loved celebrations. Damn right he did. Everybody got in a good mood, and good moods sent people off to the market and right to Wallace, heh heh. Coin and goods traded hands like crazy and that was no lie. Come with a little, leave with a lot, if'n you played your cards right and knew how to deal.

So Wallace had already been in Bhathairk for two weeks now. One of the early birds to the Luuruk-Hur festivities. Brought with him an entourage of fellow and junior merchants from his network in Elbion (some from Alliria, elsewhere too) and they all set up shop and, tell ya what, they were all gonna sail back richer men than when they came.

Then in the middle of Wallace's hawking there came a tiny little bright-eyed orc girl and a strange lookin' black-haired fellow, both of them hauling a cart with a dead striped horse on it. Wait. Not horse. Zebra, that's what in the hell they called it.

"Hello!" Zeri said to him.

And before she could even say anymore, Wallace grinned and said: "Well hi there to you too. Name'sh Wallish. Wallish Grimley. Whatcha got right there, huh. Shome Zebra meat you lookin' to shell? Ripe commodity, that meat, 'shpecially on the day of the Feasht! Well don't jusht shtand there lookin' all bug eyed, I ain't goan bite ya, let'sh make a deal."

Zeri smiled--laughed quietly and nervously--and the smile seemed more like an attempt to hide some uncertainty. She was having some difficulty in understanding some of what Wallace was saying--she'd not heard a human accent quite like his before.

Wallace looked to Um. Said, "Well, whatcha lookin' for?"

Um Min-Kyung

 

[Um Min-Kyung]

This man seemed friendly enough. He had a speech impediment of some kind, probably a lisp or something similar. But that didn’t bother Um, he was quite happy to meet someone new. And despite the difficulty understanding all of what he said, the messages were received without major misunderstandings.

The Bazaar was booming with activity, and it was just great to see it, much like the port and merchant cities back east. And he had no doubt that this place would have the resources they’d needed.

Wallace looked to Um. Said, "Well, whatcha lookin' for?"

“Mulberry wood and bamboo, preferably around a year old before harvesting.” Um said with a friendly smile, “got any?”