Wisdom in Words: An Elder Scrolls Tale

Greg J Miller

~O~

Chapter 21

Middas the 8th of Last Seed 4E73 Afternoon

After taking a somewhat longer break than expected at the Feed Bag, Nikula rushed back across the way to the Black Horse Courier. Martin Doran only casually acknowledged her return, as he was busy speaking with Naveed about something. Since nothing else was suggested, after setting down her satchel, Nikula settled in behind the front counter again.

In passing, Martin briefly mentioned something about going upstairs to see Arturo about something and Naveed had remained in the main office to look to working on some printing plates that he had laid out across a desk.

A short while afterward, Nikula observed Naveed setting down his scribe tools and leaning back in his seat after mumbling an expression of satisfaction. She assumed that he'd just finished whatever he was working on, or had at least completed it to a certain stage.

In a casual manner, Nikula mentioned that she'd just spoken with Jesper Pellegrin at the Feed Bag and he'd been telling her all about Rihad. She mentioned a couple of points of interest as he'd described them to her. It was really just a prompt to see what he might tell her about that city. Since she'd only recently learned that Naveed originally came from Rihad before his family moved to Anvil, but he'd hadn't said all that much about it, aside from that he used to fish over there when he was just a boy.

After listening to what she related, the Redguard nodded in an offhand fashion. "Yes, that probably sounds like a fair description of the place."

"And that lighthouse?"

"Can't say what others are like… but yeah, the Rihad lighthouse is about twice as tall as the one down at the waterfront… or the one over at Anvil."

"And the inner harbour of the city… and all the canals?"

Naveed made a little snorting noise. "Yeah, there's that harbour that comes into the city, but the canals aren't much to talk about. Just a couple of narrow passages… between the harbour and the outer docks. And the private canal by the palace… with the guards. I can tell you there was no point trying to catch any fish around the city. When I was a boy, we used to head off through the northern gates for a few spots along the shore of the Brena. Still fairly near to the mouth of the river. Couldn't go too far… and we were too young to take out a boat, but we used to do all right. When the tides were right and the fish were biting."

Nikula wasn't really all that interested in hearing about the fishing. "What about that big temple that Jesper was talking about?"

"Yeah, he probably heard some of the old Yoku names for it. 'Ra'Ky Tava', 'Tava Bologra'… anyone not Redguard, they usually just call it the Tava Temple of the Divines. That's the Imperial name for it."

"And they still worship Tava… the old Yokudan god?"

Naveed shrugged. "Sort of. Like he told you. People over there just sort of view Tava and Kynareth as one and the same… over in Rihad. So, the Imperials don't really mind too much either way. There's shrines to all the other Divines in there as well."

Nikula frowned a little. "Over in Rihad… anyone still speak Yokudan… Yoku?"

Naveed shrugged again. "In Rihad? Just about nobody. Maybe some priests or scholars. I hear that some of those Alik'r traders… the nomadic travelling tribesmen of the western deserts… some of them apparently still speak some Yoku dialects. So I hear."

Nikula mentioned that Redguard wine merchant who'd been by the Wawnet and added what Jesper had said about the Tava-Song Winery Estate and the wines, then asked what he knew about that.

"Can't say anything about the wines. Never tried any, but I know about them. And yeah, I remember that place. The winery." Naveed uttered a little chuckle. "When I was young… maybe the year before we left for Anvil… some of us used to sneak off out to the vineyards to steal grapes sometimes. If we got caught there, we were just chased off. Since we were just children."

The conversation was interrupted by a black horse rider turning up to collect a stack for delivery to Bruma. It was that Breton woman with the curly auburn hair, who Nikula knew only as Anya. Only since Nikula asked, the Breton volunteered that she would be stopping at Aleswell and the inn at Bleaker's Way on the way to Bruma. Beyond that, Anya didn't seem of a mood to speak any further, appearing obviously anxious to be on way before wasting too much time.

By the time that the Courier rider had departed with her stack of the latest edition, Naveed had returned to his scribe work. Since he appeared busy, Nikula avoided interrupting him further.

That afternoon remained relatively tedious for Nikula. After a short while, Martin had come back downstairs to work on something he'd brought down with him. Another couple of riders had also turned up at the front counter of the Courier during the afternoon. One for the Green Road run to the south and the other for the Blue Road run to Cheydinhal.

It wasn't quite yet the hour of four when Martin suggested to Nikula that she should probably finish up early again. In the interest of continuing to trade off those extra hours that she'd put in, he also suggested coming in an hour later the next morning. Without argument, Nikula collected her satchel and headed off for the day.

As soon as Nikula was outside, she noticed that the cloud cover overhead had become even more menacing since the middle of the day. Though there was no sign of recent rainfall upon the stone pavements of the streets, she thought that it looked very much like it might easily start to rain at any moment.

Almost as if the skies were attuned to her passing thoughts, on her way through the marketplace toward the adjacent district, some water actually started falling from the sky like a very light mist, without quite seeming to form cohesive droplets of raindrops. In any case, it presented as an indication that the clouds were seemingly trying their very hardest to release rain, if not quite managing so well.

Still, that threat of rain served to hasten her step. Of course, she hadn't thought at all to bring a cloak or the like with her on that day. It hadn't even really looked like it was going to rain when she'd set off from home that morning. Added to that, unless persistent rainy conditions had set in for a few days, she rarely even considered such a thing during those hot months of summer.

Looking to get down to the village before it actually started raining properly, Nikula moved fairly quickly through the Elven Gardens and Talos Plaza districts. Other people on the streets seemed rather less hurried. Though it was probably fair to assume that most didn't have quite so far to go to get wherever they were headed.

By the time that Nikula was passing through the western city gates out of the Talos Plaza District, a few more substantial droplets began to fall in little fits and bursts. Even that only presented as just a few drops that stopped almost as soon as it started.

Heading down the steep roadway between the Imperial City and the bridge, Nikula walked briskly, but not so fast as to risk losing her footing. For all of about two breaths, the misty sprinkling suddenly turned to light rain as she hurried downhill toward the bridge, then appeared to almost stop again just as she made it to the relative shelter of the first towering pylon of the bridge. She paused there for just a moment, then continued onward, since it didn't seem like it was going to start raining again.

She'd only gone about another twenty paces past the first pylon tower when the rain started to pick up again, turning to a heavier outburst from the cloud above. She ended up breaking into a dash along the way in order to the reach the shelter of the middle pylon tower of the bridge. A light breeze was blowing the rain from a north-westerly direction. Finding a spot on the eastern side of the stone tower where the rain hardly reached, she waited there for the downpour to ease.

Looking out across the lake toward the north, Nikula observed a strange looking vessel coming about the waterfront isle toward the harbour. A large triangular sail billowing from a central mast was in the process of being pulled up by sailors. As was a secondary triangular sail of much smaller size on a secondary mast.

Though she couldn't recall actually seeing a ship quite like that before, she did recall seeing some illustrations of Redguard galley-dhow and it seemed to fit that description. It was a reasonable guess that the ship was likely related to those Redguard arena challengers coming from Sentinel.

The vessel was much smaller than typical Imperial or Breton galleons in overall size, with only two masts instead of three and that second lesser mast was set at an odd angle from the vessel's deck. Though the ship looked nearly as long as a cargo vessel with its extended prow, it appeared much narrower and lower to the water. She could just barely make out what looked like a row of portals along the hull meant to allow for long oars. She vaguely recalled reading something of how some Redguard ships used oars and sail in combination. She also recalled that they were said to be much faster out on the open seas than other vessels of similar size.

As Nikula was looking out toward that ship manoeuvring into the harbour, she was suddenly startled by a rider rushing by on horseback. With that stone wall at her back and the noise from the rain coming down, she hadn't heard the galloping horse until it was right behind her. Coming from the direction of the village, the rider in the hooded cloak hadn't noticed her at all either. She didn't get to see who it might have been. Only that it didn't look like a Legionnaire on that chestnut mare. The Courier's riders mostly favoured those swift black horses from County Cheydinhal, so she really held no idea who that passing traveller might have been.

The rider had just about made it to the stabling facilities outside the city by the time that the rain finally once again eased up to almost nothing. Nikula waited for a few moments longer before deciding that the rain had seemingly passed, then continued onward.

After a short distance, she launched into a cautious dash across the bridge. She only ran at a measured pace, taking care not to slip on the broad flat stones. As might be expected, there was nobody about outside at the village. The small fishing boats by the shoreline on her left had been pulled up away from the waterline and overturned to keep them from filling with rainwater. It was perhaps just slightly unusual to observe that there were no horses at the village's makeshift stables across the road from the inn at that particular moment. Though other travellers often passed by without stopping, it commonly seemed that no more than an hour went by before a Legion patrol stopped by for a break. However, none were there right then.

Just as Nikula made it to the door of the Wawnet Inn, it started to rain again. She headed directly on inside, only stopping for a moment in the entryway to wipe her boots on the old wicker mat by the front door.

Passing along the passage on the right toward the main tavern area, she could already tell that the place seemed unusually quiet. Once it was properly in view, she could see that there were no patrons at all in the tavern at that particular moment.

Having heard someone come in, Belwen shifted into position behind the service counter. Observing Nikula's damp hair and clothing, the Bosmer looked to her with an expression of mixed sympathy and suppressed bemusement.

"Caught by the weather?"

"Yeah, wasn't expecting the rain. Got caught half way along the bridge." Nikula brushed back her hair with her hand. It was more lightly damp than really wet. It was same with some of her clothing.

"Another early finish? You only just missed your brother."

Nikula shrugged. "Yeah, not much on. Not for me anyway."

Evidently, Monika had heard the voices and had come out from the back room. She looked to her daughter with a passing frown. "You get caught in the rain?"

Nikula sighed, then repeated a variant of her explanations, before changing the subject. "Real quiet in here today."

Belwen responded first. "There's been a steady flow through the day. Mostly passing soldiers and such."

Monika added to that. "Only just gone quiet in the last hour. There'll be some more Legion riders stopping by soon enough."

Nikula noticed the parchment that her mother was holding in her hand. She could see the partial delivery seal on the back, indicating that it came via a courier. She couldn't make out where it was from. "Is that from your mother?"

Monika raised her eyebrows, glancing at the parchment. "No, not this one. A courier dropped by from Skingrad earlier." She went on to briefly explain that Forester and Rena would be passing by in a few days, delivering some goods to the city.

Though she'd seen them often enough through her formative years, Nikula still generally looked forward to visits by her parent's old friends from the Fighters Guild. Of course, since their retirement from the Guild, their current interests still seemed to allow for somewhat regular visits to the village on their way to other places.

Noting that the noise of falling rain had eased somewhat and nearly stopped, Monika suggested to Nikula that she ought to try to get home and out of her damp clothes. She also offered to pass her a cloak, but Nikula declined, insisting that she wouldn't need one.

She waited just a few moments longer and checked outside through the windows to see what the skies looked like. Then after passing farewells, Nikula was off again on her way before the rain started coming down heavily again.

As Nikula departed the Wawnet Inn, the grey skies above were again wavering between raining and not quite raining. Without actually running, she moved briskly across the village, avoiding the shallow puddles and other obstacles along the way, and of course taking care not to slip or fall.

Soon enough, she was back home and wiping her boots outside before coming inside the house. There was no obvious sign of Erik in view, but her father was over in the kitchen area with carving knife in hand. He cast her a curious glance and called out a casual greeting. Nikula returned only an abbreviated response, mentioning that she needed to get into dry clothes.

A few moments later, Nikula had changed out of her damp clothes and had tried to dry her hair with a towel. She then came back out to see what her father was up to in the kitchen area.

Her father spoke up first. "Got caught in the rain?"

"Yeah… wasn't expecting it."

"Erik managed to get in just before it started coming down. I finished up outside before the weather turned, as well." He paused on a sigh. "Still, we could really do with the rain right now." Of course her father's comment was more directly related to farming interest than anything else.

Her father was busy slicing and stripping away at the remnants of a bird carcass, collecting the meat and dropping it into a bowl. It seemed obvious enough what it had once been. Nikula asked anyway.

"We having chicken tonight?"

Alex smiled lightly. "Pinewatch Dumplings… with chicken."

Nikula rolled her eyes a little. There was always a good chance that whatever he was making would probably end up as dumplings, unless he was making soup instead. She suddenly remembered what she was meaning to tell him. "Mother got a message today. From Forester and Rena."

Alex's expression indicated his attention.

Nikula continued. "Said they were coming through here in a few days. Some deliveries of furniture going up to the city, or some such. From Forester's son's business over in Kvatch."

Alex nodded. "Good, good. I expect they must be coming directly from Skingrad and that they will be stopping by here for a day or two."

"I s'pose. Didn't say. Or mother didn't say."

Keeping to the task at hand, Alex again nodded his acceptance, without adding further comment. Since it generally took a full day to get from Skingrad, he remained confident that his old friends would be staying at the Wawnet as usual. He expected that they must still have been doing quite well, if they were delivering more stock to the Imperial City. Though Forester's son Mattias had his woodworking business over in Kvatch, some portion of his product was sold at the stall that Forester and Rena operated in the Low Street marketplace in Skingrad. For them, that had only started as something of a part time interest after their retirement from the Fighters Guild. It seemed to Alex that it had since easily grown to become something of a full time activity for them.

During a lengthy pause, Nikula had started frowning with some passing thoughts in mind. "Isn't Kvatch… isn't it like a big fortress city… up atop a barren hilltop? Where does Forester's son get all the wood for his business?"

Her father bobbed his head side to side. "Well yes… sort of. It is only very lightly forested just below Kvatch. On the southern side. Or it was, the last time I was over that way. I expect that most of the timber probably comes from further out. From the southern and eastern woodlands of lower County Kvatch… nearer to the Strid River. I suppose that other supplies are also imported from somewhere further afield."

"What… from like Anvil or Skingrad?"

"Not so much. More likely oak and maple from County Chorrol. Certain parts of the Great Forest. I suppose that if they needed pine, I would think that more likely to come down from Bruma." Alex was just getting the last from that bird, considering that what remained wasn't useful for anything other than boiling for soup.

Nikula frowned, thinking of the family name. "There was a whole lot of pine up where you came from, wasn't there? Pinewatch?"

Alex chuckled mildly. "I have told you all that before. Pinewatch was just the name of the family farm. We were a few hours out from Falkreath. But yes, there was a lot of pine forest up there. Up past the back-field, the forest ran right up over the hills and right down to the lake. Even across the road to the south, there was forest of some sort all the way up to the mountains." He dropped the remainder of the bird and bones into a pot with some salt and then put a lid on top.

"So… so, there was a lot of pine… I mean wood… timber… to come from that area?"

Her father shrugged. "Not so much. Not for export to other parts. There are big pine forests right across Skyrim. Near to most of the cities, I hear. Except for maybe Whiterun, I suppose… down on the open plains… but I expect that Whiterun would get a lot of its timber from the mill over at Riverwood. That village is not far from the city."

Nikula was frowning again. "I thought… I thought you once told me something about the timber-mills in Falkreath?"

Alex nodded. "I probably did. There was just the one main timber-mill back in Falkreath. Naturally, it was mostly pinewood coming from that. Some for building, woodworking and such… and some just for hearth fuel. It was mostly just for local needs. Not like there was any call for anything else." Covering the bowl of chicken meat and clearing away some space on the bench, Alex directed his daughter to bring over flour and other ingredients from the kitchen cupboard. Soon, he was looking to making some pastry dough and directing her to cut up some vegetables to go into the dumplings.

Nikula soon mentioned something else on her mind. "I was talking to that bard again today. Jesper… Jesper Pellegrin. Ran into him at the Feed Bag… at lunch."

Her father returned a curious glance as he was mixing some dough.

Nikula continued. "He's doing more work for the Courier. Y'know, there's that arena tournament thing this week… and such. Anyhow, he was telling me about Rihad. He was over there not that long ago, before coming here. Told me all about the place… what it's like."

"We only went there the once. Years ago, now. Did not get to see a lot of it."

"Yeah, I remember that. What you told me of it. I mentioned that wine merchant who was at the Wawnet the other day. The one whose family ran the Tava-Song Winery Estate."

Alex nodded. "Jellian… or something?"

"Jellan. Yeah, that one. Anyhow, Jesper told me about the Redguard living over in Rihad… and about the worship of an old Yokudan god called Tava. Apparently, that Tava is now mostly associated with Kynareth. Sorta like viewed as the same thing now. Since the people of Rihad kind of merged a lot of old things with Imperial stuff."

"I cannot say that I know all that much about it, but that sounds right… from things I hear. More or less."

Nikula paused cutting up vegetables for a moment. "Kynareth… Kynareth is like the goddess of the winds, elements and such… and nature. Was that the same with Kyne… up in Skyrim?"

Her father nodded again. "Sort of. Old Nords used to view Kyne a little differently from Kynareth. Some still do, but most just accept the Imperial version… of Kynareth. Most accept that she's just a slightly different interpretation of the same Divine. Whether as Kyne or Kynareth, Nords offer prayer in the same sort of way. Still favoured by hunters, farmers and warriors. As well as sailors and other travellers. Farmers pray for rain. Sailors for favourable winds. Others for just good weather… or hunters for the wild game they pursue."

"And they worship Kynareth in Falkreath? Or Kyne?"

"Yeah, as either or both. Some more one way than the other. As a matter of general faith. There is just a simple temple in Falkreath, with a shrine to Arkay, but worship of each of the Divines is encouraged. Kynareth as well… or Kyne… for those who wish to see things that way."

Nikula shook her head. "I can't really imagine what Falkreath must've been like."

Her father responded with a chuckle. "Nothing like the Imperial City. Not even like Chorrol. It was more like a township compared to the cities of Cyrodiil. Falkreath was not much bigger than one of the walled districts of the Imperial City. I heard it was much bigger in times long past." He paused on a sigh. "Over time, people move away. Some to the northern parts of Skyrim. Some down to Bruma or other parts of Cyrodiil. Still the biggest place in Falkreath Hold… and close to the border with Hammerfell and Cyrodiil. So, anyone coming overland, from Chorrol or Elinhir… well they would pass through Falkreath."

A brief silence fell as Nikula thought about what her father said. Since she'd never even been to Chorrol or anywhere much further than Aleswell or Pell's Gate, she still held little idea from the comparisons he'd offered. Then, another passing thought came to mind. She went on to tell her father of that ship that she saw coming into the harbour as she was sheltering from the rain on the bridge, relating a description of the foreign looking design of it.

Alex nodded. "I think that I saw some ships like that… years ago… on the journey over to Iliac Bay and back. Cannot say that I recall seeing many ships like that around here during past years."

"Me neither. Not that I see every ship coming to the city. Only seen things like that one in drawings and such. Sure looks like the Redguard ships from that."

Her father looked like he was gathering old memories. "You know, before coming to Cyrodiil, I had never even seen any ships like that… or anything larger than a rowboat. Since Falkreath was nowhere near the northern seas. When we went over to Iliac Bay back then, we sailed on a ship a lot like those cargo vessels you usually see in the harbour. An Imperial galleon. Former naval vessel, so I was told. The one on the way back was similar. Maybe it was a Breton galleon. Not sure. Not much difference between the look of them, as far as I could tell."

"You said you saw some other Redguard cities?"

Alex nodded. "Mostly just Sentinel. Some others, only briefly. We stopped over at Stros M'kai on the way around to Iliac Bay. For just a day. The port city seemed a bit like Rihad to look at. Not the same… maybe more spread out, but still very much like what must be the old Yokudan style to it."

"And the people there?"

Her father shrugged slightly. "Well… the Redguard of Stros M'kai. They seemed a bit less friendly toward outsiders. Even some people there… those not Redguard… they were a bit like that as well. I did think that Rihad was a lot friendlier. Still, we were only there for just one day as well… but the people of Rihad did seem a lot more like places here in Cyrodiil. Just with more Redguard to be seen."

"And what about Sentinel?"

Alex nodded as he was checking the consistency of the pastry dough. "Sentinel… that place is bigger than Rihad. It shows that it is the ruling city of Hammerfell. We passed more time over there, than in Rihad or Stros M'kai. I think in a way… I think that Sentinel is just a little bit like the Imperial City."

"It is?"

"Well, just a little bit. In the general layout of the city. The royal palace takes up the space in the middle of Sentinel, sort of like here. Parts of the city are sort of laid out in a rough circle around the palace grounds as well, though not as neatly as the Imperial City. The stone walls of Sentinel were not exactly like here though. Not as tall or as heavy… and only fully closed off on the inland side of the city. The walls were sort of open on the bay side… leading down to the waterfront… and the districts of the city were not really closed off by proper gates or the like."

Nikula slowly nodded as she tried to visualise. "What about the people of Sentinel?"

Her father was neatly cutting the rolled-out dough into appropriately sized pieces for dumplings. "Well… well, I suppose that they were a bit varied. A lot of Redguard over there… as you would expect. Some of them were not so friendly to outsiders. Some a bit more welcoming… like in Rihad."

"Didn't you once tell me something about a 'Foreign Quarter' in Sentinel?"

Alex nodded. "Yeah… there was a district in Sentinel called the Foreign Quarter. The old Imperial Legion garrison was over there. It would be the Fighters Guild now, from what I heard. The Legion built a new place just outside the city walls. A lot of Dunmer lived in the Foreign Quarter. Cannot really say who else. We actually passed more time at a place not far from the main marketplace. The Seaview Inn… run by a Colovian. Hodge was his name… said he used to be Imperial Navy. That place had people come from everywhere. The Dunmer of the city tended to go there a lot. Some Redguard went there as well, but a lot of those from other places favoured that tavern. It was really just like any place around here. Redguard in the marketplace were friendly enough… but I suppose that some others were less so. I think the city guards only tolerated us because we were Fighters Guild."

Nikula started helping her father with placing filling into the dumplings. "What about Wayrest? What was that place like?"

"Wayrest? Very different from Redguard cities. In some ways, a lot more like some Imperial cities… in other ways, very different."

"How do you mean?"

"Well, Wayrest is not quite like the Imperial City. No place is… really. Wayrest might be about the same size… maybe a little bigger. Thinking on it, it must be bigger. It seems a little more spread out. Not round… more like a big box shape. Nothing really obviously separating the districts. Except for the palace grounds, I suppose. Even that... nothing much to separate it from everything else… except the open garden space around the palace."

"I thought you said something about big stone walls?"

"Oh yes… around the outside of the city. Stone walls like you might expect. Not quite as tall or heavy as those of the Imperial City, but sturdy enough from the look of it. Nothing really like that on the inside. Even the entry gates of the city were always open and hardly watched by guards. The Wayrest marketplace was easily bigger than in the Imperial City. It was divided into Eastmarket and Westmarket… and I suppose there were three market districts, if counting Cumberland Square. Though I think people also lived in the market districts… in homes off the main street. There were at least three large districts that were only for housing, I think. The Wayrest temple district seemed a little bit of both. An old district in one corner seemed to be only occupied by the very wealthy. Another corner, by the very poor… but most of the people really seemed to fit somewhere in the middle. I think most of the people of Wayrest seemed like they did quite well, if not actually enjoying the wealth of the high nobles."

"Is it… is it mostly Bretons?"

Her father shrugged as he was adding spices to the content of the dumplings before folding them. "A lot of Bretons… but a lot of others there as well. Like around here, a lot of Imperials and Nords… and Redguard. A lot of elven people. Maybe not so many Khajiit, Argonians or Orcs. A similar sort of mix to the Imperial City… but with maybe more Bretons."

"And… and what they were like?"

Alex suppressed a slight chuckle. "Well, your mother grew in Wayrest. People in Wayrest are a lot like people here… for the most part."

"I s'pose so." Nikula accepted the obvious logic of it.

The conversation was interrupted as they looked to making sure that the oven was well stoked before her father placed the dumplings on trays to start cooking. Then they looked to cleaning up the mess left behind after preparations.

Once everything was done and they were leaving the food to cook in the oven, Nikula's thoughts briefly returned to something else that Jesper had mentioned earlier that afternoon. "When I was asking Jesper about Tava, he went on about various old gods… and how some became merged with the Nine Divines. Like Tava and Kynareth… and like with Kyne and Kynareth up north."

Her father returned a nodding glance, indicating that he was following.

"If I remember right, it was like Talos was sort of elevated by Akatosh… or some such? Don't the Nords up in Skyrim see that sort of differently?"

Alex released a sigh. "I cannot claim to be an expert on all of it… and I have even heard conflicting things from priests… but most seem to say that Akatosh was somehow important to the ascension of Talos. Up in Skyrim, most Nords say that Talos became merged with Shor… and since Shor had always remained so important to strong Nord belief, that made him even more important up there. Plus they always said that Tiber Septim was Nord. Even though some claim he was actually from High Rock." Her father shook his head mildly.

Also shaking her head, Nikula frowned. "But… but wasn't Shor… wasn't Shor meant to be like the same as Lorkhan?"

Her father chuckled. "I recall asking my grandmother the same thing when I was young. I make no claim of being any wiser now, than then, as far as everything about the Divines is concerned."

Nikula appeared momentarily lost in thought.

Alex changed the topic of conversation. "Did your mother mention when she was coming home?"

Nikula shrugged. "Didn't say… but it was real quiet over there. Maybe cos' of all the rain on the way. But no, didn't say."

Her father checked the oven again. "With any luck, she'll be home by the time that dinner is cooked… or just after."

Just then, Erik emerged from his room, looking toward the kitchen area. "How long til dinner?"

Alex maintained a reserved expression. "It will be a while. I think it might be your turn to help out with dinner tomorrow."

Looking away, Erik only responded with a silent nod, then retreated directly back to his room.

Nikula exchanged a mildly bemused expression with her father, then they both shook their heads.

Alex uttered a dry chuckle. "Never mind. Erik will help out plenty when it comes time to eat up and make sure the plates are clean."

~O~

"Faraway Lands"

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