Maikana
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Chapter 50 – A miner diversion
🕑 Added 2025-04-11 02:56:30 +0000 UTC<A/N> Holy crap, chapter 50! (Well, technically the 55th chapter, cause prologue, but still, chapter 50!)
The discussions petered out soon after, most of the matters agreed upon and not much else to do while they awaited a new work space. Kori and her new mentor Har leaving the Elder’s chambers side by side. She wasn’t really sure where they were headed and it didn’t seem like Har had any particular destination in mind either, as they meandered along.
“Well, that went better than I expected.” Har said, “I hope you’re satisfied with the outcome as well, youngling.”
Kori thought for a moment before answering, “I think?” she tentatively replied. “I’m honestly still a bit confused.”
“What’s there to be confused about?” Har laughed in reply.
“Well… I mean… How?” Kori stuttered out. “Everyone apprentices with an Elder to follow in their footsteps… But I’m not going to?”
“Think of it this way, Kori. Younglings are the rocks we find strewn about the caves and use to patch up the holes in the clan left by the departed.” He explained, trying to use the simplest terms possible. “If one stone looks roughly warrior shaped, we drop it in the warrior shaped hole and hit it a couple times til it fits.” Picking up a pebble to accompany his words, he demonstrated his analogy by smacking it into a gap in the wall. “Brewer shaped and it goes to the brewer shaped hole.” Using another piece of gravel for the example “You my dear,” he said, picking up an oddly shaped stone and turning it in his hand, “We tried to hammer you into a few different shaped holes and you just won’t fit. So now, we’re making a new, you shaped hole and seeing what happens.”
As the Elder’s analogy sunk in, Kori realized that he was right. Each apprentice was given a mold to fit and expected to follow it exactly. She’d been trying to contort herself into one mold or another for the entire past year. And now she didn’t have to anymore.
“Wait… Does that mean I can learn whatever I want?” She asked, the simple sentence re-igniting a spark of curiosity that she’d let languish. The excitement in her voice bringing a smile to the Elder’s face as he saw his newly appointed young charge begin to understand the gift she’d just been given.
Attempting to temper her enthusiasm before she set her sights on something ill advised, he quickly interjected with “Yes, but within reason. Might get a bit of pushback if you want to learn history from the matrons or swordsmanship.”
“Bah, swords?” She replied dismissively, “Who wants to play with swords when I can learn about poisons and potions and maps and mana and all sorts of interesting things!” Talking quickly as she considered all the skills she could work on.
One of the things she listed caught Har by surprise. “Why maps? Doesn’t really seem related to making things.”
“It isn’t!” She chirped back cheerily. “But when I did that whole ‘trial’ thing with the circle I picked up Skills for it and navigating.” Realizing that she had a chance to ask a question she’d been meaning to for months her eyes widened and she stopped walking alongside the Elder as she turned to face him. “Why’s it called cartography anyway? It’s been bugging me for months… You must know, you’re a merchant so you have to work with carts, right?”
Har’s eyes widen at the ridiculous question and assumptions presented to him by the youngling, taking a few moments to understand what she was asking and why.
“What? No. Carts and cartography don’t have anything to do with each other…” He responded with a sigh.
“That’s what I said!” Kori interjected, pleased with his agreement.
“Seriously, what are they doing with all of you that you’re this clueless on things…” Shaking his head and resisting the temptation to march right back to Ortik and tell him off for her lacking education.
“It comes from an Elven word about the art of making maps.” He tried to explain. “There are a few Skills that have names like that that don’t really translate well.” After a few moments pause he continued, “Might have to teach you the linguistics Skill while we’re at it.”
“Linguistics?” She questioned, unfamiliar with the term, though she assumed through context it was something to do with languages.
“Yes, it’s a Skill about learning other languages. Helps you organize what you know and become fluent quicker.” He said offhandedly. “Most traveling merchant jobs will help you learn it.”
“Why would I need to learn other languages?” She asked, not really seeing a point in doing so.
“Nearly no one on the surface speaks Creation, though they call our language Drakir or Draconic generally.” His tone making it clear he was offended by the denigration of the language of the ancient dragons. “Most of the people in Whatzakt speak Low Vorisian, which is also referred to as Low Elven, Vori, or even just ‘the common tongue’ quite often.” He said, speaking a few phrases as an example.
Kori thought that this ‘Low Vorisian’ sounded strange, it was tonal and the pitch was higher than she was used to, nearly annoyingly so. It also lacked the nuance of a subtly placed growl or throaty rumble. She looked on, dumbstruck but the near complete difference in Har’s voice as he spoke in the strange language, marvelling that his mouth could produce the alien pitches and tones. Her own attempts to imitate his words causing weird crackling sounds as her voice struggled to match the frequency. The effort was oddly straining on her voice.
Stifling a laugh at the youngling’s expense, Har waved off her attempt, “Don’t push yourself, we’ll have plenty of time for that later.”
“That still doesn’t explain why I’d need to know how to speak it.” She pressed, still unsatisfied with the lack of response.
Har’s answer was spoken as though it were the simplest thing in the world. “You’re my apprentice and I go to the city regularly, so why wouldn’t you? Plus, there’s lots of ingredients up there you can’t get down here, so I’m sure you’ll find something to work with that I’d probably just overlook.”
Kori stood there while Har took a few steps further onward, stunned at the idea that she’d travel to the surface. Her thoughts returned to a comment made by Korse a long time past about how he thought she’d enjoy the sunlight. Questions whirled up in her mind and poured from her mouth faster than she could breathe. She found herself pausing while she gulped in long breaths of air, just to begin again wanting to know more.
She asked about the sun, how it felt on the scales, why some kobolds didn’t like it, why some did, how it looked, how strange was it to have light around all the time. This is when she learned that night on the surface was dark, and then more questions about that followed still. Har’s answers spurring her on further and further.
Thoughts of twinkling stars dangling above like lantern spells hanging in the air danced in her mind, the idea captivating her until she nearly began the trek to the surface then and there.
By the time the flow of questions stemmed, Kori felt that for each that Har provided an answer, she had three or more new questions to ask. Eventually he waved her off and shut down further questions for the time being.
“There will be plenty of time for the rest of that, Kori.” He said, trying to extricate himself from the unending tide of queries. “Now, we’ve reached my destination and I’m certain you won’t begrudge me some time with my mate this evening. Tomorrow is going to be busy after all.” At his words Kori realized where they had been meandering towards on their slow walk, they had reached the mines.
She could hear Elder Tuli yelling, though not with the vehemence she’d seen from the woman previously, at her miners. Calling them ‘lazy sacks of scales’ and implying that their long dead forebearers worked faster than them. Not that they had when they were alive and working, but that they were now, in the present tense. Kori was concerned for a moment, the Elder’s words seeming like they were truly mean, until one of the miners yelled back and called the woman ‘stone blind and tone deaf’ and they both broke into hearty laughter.
Seeing her mate with his new pupil in tow, Tuli made her way over to the pair. She sidled up alongside Har, brushing her horns alongside his own and allowing their tails to touch.
Kori’s scales lit with the flushed pink of a blush cascading across her face as she felt them heat. She’d seen very few overt displays of affection in her life, and most of them were from these two in front of her.
“Oh, don’t be a prude.” Tuli chastised her. “We spend months apart so I’m just happy to see him when I can.”
The pair talked for a while, seemingly forgetting that Kori was even there, before getting to the point of their visit. “We’re setting this one up in the old quarry, anything we need to know?”
She thought for several minutes before she waved them into a chamber off to the side. Within Kori saw shelves lined with stacks of hides. Dozens upon dozens of some of the largest pieces of leather she’d ever seen outside the ones coating the ceiling within the Circle. Each hide was etched with a pattern and it didn’t take long for Kori’s cartography Skill to hint at her what they were. Maps.
Finally finding the stack she was looking for, Tuli pulled out the top few layers and set them on another table. Seeing that she had piqued Kori’s notorious curiosity she gave a quick explanation of what she had retrieved first. “Mines and quarries have a tendency ta flood when we get this deep, so we etch our tunnel maps on leather to preserve them in case of accidents.” She pointed to the ones she had retrieved, “These are the old quarry, abandoned it before my time after we dug out anything worth while and shut er down. I was down there a few years ago, see if the old scales missed anything, didn’t find anything worth the effort.”
“The lower tiers of the pit are flooded but the tops still got plenty of space to work with.” She began to point out places along the sides of the top layer where they could put work and storage rooms. “Honestly, I don’t think it’s a good idea. Tunnel’s been sealed fer a long time. Blonc had ta deal with some feral slimes, and not just a few of em, when I was down there last.” She shook her head disapprovingly, displeased with the idea of Kori working in a place like that. Or perhaps it was more about her mate being down there alongside her.
“Maybe Blonc’ll spare a few guards to keep an eye on her?” Har mused, knowing the old warrior would happily assign his people anywhere they might gain some experience from combat.
“Could do that, yeah.” She agreed, paying more attention to the map in front of her than her mate’s words.
They continued to discuss their options as Kori studied the maps. There were a series of exceptionally large chambers ringing the main chamber of the quarry, which itself was hundreds of meters across and scattered with thick pillars. Each ring of pillars descended onto a different level of the stepped pit that sat in the center with ramps cut into the sides. The height and uniformity of the pillars suggested that the mages had been involved in their creation, reinforcing the stone to harden the supports.
The Elders were discussing which rooms would be best suited for her use, suggesting the smaller ones that were likely used much as the room they were in was being used, to store maps or tools or by cooks to prepare food for the miners so they didn’t have to trek back to the clan’s main chambers as much. Kori on the other hand, focused in on the largest of the chambers. A room most likely having been used to store ore or cut stone before it was transported for sale. It sat directly alongside the tunnel that led into the quarry. It was perfect.
“Why can’t we use this one?” She asked, pointing to the square chamber that sat fifty meters to a side.
“That?” Tuli questioned, “Much too large, no way to tell if something snuck in and too many cracks and crevices that a slime could slither through.” Dismissing her suggestion with barely a glance.
“But it’s perfect.” Kori replied. Defending her suggestion.
“Kori, Elder Tuli knows these things better than anyone. If she says it’s not a good idea, then it’s not a good idea.” Har said, attempting to forestall an argument. He knew Tuli loved a good argument.
“No, no.” She tutted at her mate. “If it’s so perfect, let her try to convince me of it.” There was a hard edge in her voice, clearly seeing the youngling’s statement as a challenge to her expertise.
Kori gulped slightly at the look she was getting from Tuli, “Well, we wanted a few rooms, right? One for my experiments, one to store supplies and equipment, and another for finished work.” She waited until she had received nods of agreement from the pair. “Well, this chamber is large enough for all three.” She pulled the hide a little closer and reached up, slowly tracing out with her claw where they could divide the room. “Instead of having Ylst’s mages erect barriers and walkways to get to the rooms in the back, we have them divide this room up and seal it off from intrusion. And then,” She drew another line, straight through the wall of separating the entrance tunnel and the storage room, “You,” Pointing at Tuli, “Cut a new passage here.”
Tuli continued to give her that same hard look for several long moments as she tapped the end of her muzzle with a single claw and Har’s eyes bounced back and forth between his mate and new apprentice. Kori began to get nervous and wondered what mistake she had made. Should she have refrained from challenging the Elder in charge of all things mining on something within her domain?
After a nerve-wracking wait, the only thing Kori heard from the temperamental Elder was, “Huh.” It didn’t sound like a bad, ‘huh’, but Kori really couldn’t tell what she was thinking as Tuli continued to tap her claw on her chin as she pulled the map closer with her other hand.
“She’s right… It’s perfect.” Tuli finally admitted. “It’ll take a couple of my guys a day at most to cut through this section as long as there are no surprises.” She said, tracing out a line near to where Kori had. “Then we have the mages section off ten-by-ten meters here,” drawing a square in the back corner of the storage room instead of the long rectangle Kori had. “And then split it into a few rooms.” She continued staring at the hide for several minutes as she considered every angle. “I suppose you’ll want something like what Bolst has, had I guess, in case anything goes wrong?” She asked, not waiting for a response. “Har dear, get me some paper and that drafting pen you gifted me, would ya?”
What had begun as a simple suggestion from Kori, quickly turned into a set of complex drawings laid overtop of the old quarry map. While Tuli’s expertise was nominally in taking away stone, that apparently lent itself closely to creating supports, managing airflow, creating evacuation routes, and many matters of engineering and logistics that Kori had not expected from the brash mine foreman.
