Day 271 (249th) ((239))

Day 271 (249th) ((back to 239)):
Alice woke us by rummaging through our room and the next room that still held her things. Her thoughts were a storm of images as she scoured the two rooms for "something appropriate". The rest of us watched the whirlwind that was Alice. After nearly an hour that we had been watching, she flung what was in her hands and fell to sit on the floor.
"Nothing is good enough!" she announced, nearly in a sob, "All of these clothes are worthless!"
"For what? Is there some special holiday today?" Anna asked as we picked our way through the chaos she had made.
Alice sighed heavily, "Earshaw saw me in working clothes yesterday. I have to find something gorgeous to wear to show him I am a true Lady."
The six of us looked at each other, totally baffled. We could not see the point of dressing up if he had already seen her in regular clothes. She looked so distraught siting in a room full of garments strewn everywhere that we could not find the heart to tell her how silly it was. She got up and searched frantically the closets and chests she had already emptied. We finally stopped her.
"Sister, stop," I took hold of her as the others and our companions began picking up her things, "Earshaw does not care about your clothes. Clothes are temporary. In my vision, over the course of just a few years, the style of your clothes changed noticeably. Besides, remember all the places we have been and who we have seen. Some gods walk around naked! He loves you. Whether you are naked or covered head to toe, he loves you."
Alice looked at the mess she had made and laughed. She randomly grabbed a dress and we cleaned the rooms.
A staff woman knocked and asked if we were joining Lord Carmon and our guests for breakfast. We confirmed and dressed quickly as Alice, Dawn, Bo, and Set finished the cleaning.
Upon entering the room, even without touching, Earshaw's and Alice's glows began to become identical. Dawn's glow only shown her happiness at Alice's happiness. Carmon had, finally, accepted the situation and had been chatting easily, as their glows indicated. Darlene and Earshaw spoke of Marlask and what the merging of the two lands would bring to both. All of the business talk did not interest me so I turned my attention to Set. His growth was steady with no scaleless skin even though new scales were growing between the old. I ran my hands over him to feel for loose scales. I flaked a few off in my hand. I noticed the room had become silent. Everyone was staring.
"He sheds? I thought they were permanent," Lord Carmon commented.
"Dragons shed all of their lives," I told him, "An old dragon we met shed scales the size of jousting shields."
Carmon just stared. Earshaw asked if he could take them to his father and the court wizard. I transferred them to his hand. Dawn, not wanting to be left out, shook loose a few feathers and handed them to him. Bo tried, but none of his were able to shake free. Lisa told him his effort was appreciated, but it was fine that he could not. Earshaw also told Bo that it was fine if he had nothing loose to share. Bo reminded us of the old skin we had and we gave them a piece of it.
They left soon after breakfast. We helped Lord Carmon pen the announcement that Alice and he had accepted the proposal of Lord Earshaw for marriage. We got some men to proclaim the news throughout the city. By mid-day, Alice received many letters of congratulations. It had to be explained to us why she was getting these when she did not know if Lord Eyeshaw would allow the union. Alice said that it was more of a sign from the people that they viewed her as a young woman, no longer a child, than the approval of her match. I guess if they still saw her as a child, the news of her engagement would be ill received.
During lunch, we discussed deadlines. Lisa was needed back in Crialas in seventeen months for the heirs' births. Alice was to be married in roughly two years. By my journal, we has about one hundred days left of our journey year. Even taking coming back in time into account, only made it one hundred-thirty days. While we could journey all of our lives, we could count on no special treatment after the first year. We still had Anna's, Callie's, Gretta's, and Sarah's relations to visit.
After lunch, Lord Carmon took us to the "war room", a place where maps and records of the other lands were kept. One wall, floor to ceiling, was done in a map mural of the continent. Crialas was at the very western edge, represented by a sliver of coastline that disappeared into the corner of the room. Thantos, Marlask, Cassabla, Raval, and Selvis Kingdom, recently changed from Baaloc territory, were easily found. Several dots in the mountains were simply called "Dwarf village" with no specific names. Brimgrove was still depicted as a green blob between Raval and Selvis and only the mark for "non-human land" naming that broad area. Try as we may, we could find no speck to indicate gnome, leprechaun, nor merfolk settlements.
"This will not do," Lisa huffed, "This map in incomplete."
"It is the most accurate map around," Lord Carmon countered, "This is all we know. Non-humans do not share their names with us nor tell us their locations."
"Then, we shall fix it," I announced.
I drew Vanity as they were pondering how. Holding her blade down, I placed her flat against the map wall.
"Reveal!" I commanded.
As I pulled her away, dots and squiggles and words crawled across the wall like ants. Brimgrove lightened to a shadowy green area with dozens of names and dots under its branches. In previously blank "uninhabitable" spaces, surface and underground villages were starkly marked. Even in the waters, lairs and grottoes were recorded. Once it hit the edges, it repainted the adjacent walls that were not already covered with shelves. The door and its wall carried Crialas and the rest of the western lands all the way to the sea. The lands to the east were cut off by shelves, but did show many miles pass the coastline. The repainting ended at the shelves on the other wall as well. Carmon began meticulously going over every inch he could reach. Finding Thantos became a bit harder, if you hadn't memorized its location. Carmon looked at is as closely as his nose would let him.
"What is this?" he pointed at a border around Thantos and a large area besides.
We examined it.
"It marks an underground settlement," Anna told him, "By the looks of it, it is either the Stone Race or underground elves."
Carmon sputtered. We saw the name and told him definitively that it was Drow elfish, a city under his city and a portion of his lands. Carmon sat heavily in a chair, staring at the spot. It took a bit to find his voice.
"These, Drow did you call them? How long have they lived beneath us?" he anxiously asked us.
We looked at each other, not wanting to answer since we knew he would not be pleased.
"Well?" he asked impatiently, "How long? Ten years? Twenty? More or less?"
Alice knelt to look him in the eye, "Father, that city is seven thousand years old, give or take a decade or two."
Carmon stood so fast, Alice nearly fell in her attempt to back away. He clasped her hands tightly, looking for falsehood.
"How long?! Seven thousand years? But... that's elvish years, right? They count the years differently. That is how they claim to live so long. Truly, in human time, how long has it been there?" he desperately asked.
"Elves and humans, along with all the other races of this world, count the years the same way. One full cycle of the seasons: spring to spring or the first of spring to the last of winter. One year is one year, regardless of race," Alice calmly told her father.
He searched all of our faces for some hope that we were lying. Finding only truth, he sat again, nearly pulling Alice on top of him. She managed to squat before him to save both of them the embarassment. Carmon, finally, let her go as he stared at the redone wall.
"Our wells," he muttered, "Did we drill into their villages, their cities? Did we plunge into a home, a business, someone's bedroom?"
I placed my hand and felt. Anna joined me and it was she who answered.
"No, my lord, the water feeding your wells flows between this city and their's. Nothing intrudes upon them from Thantos."
He sighed and nodded. He stood and re-examined the walls. He found similar markings at many other places. We watched as he counted several dozen underground cities, towns, and villages. After about a hundred, he stopped and turned to us.
"All of these? Are they all Drow?"
We looked at the ones he had counted. Two-thirds of those he counted were Drow. The rest were a mix of Stone Race and Givagar. We had him to sit as we explained who and what the Givagar are and their ways. I am glad we did as he almost fainted. It took quite a while to get him to understand all of the parts of Givagar heritage. I am not sure if he really understood as he still radiated confusion when he told us he understood. He left to get his advisers to look at the new map.
While he was gone, the seven of us examined the map to find the other relatives' villages. On our side of the mountains we located a string of gnome villages hugging the bottoms of the mountains. The spots that previously were only marked as "Dwarf village" now bore true dwarvish names and, by the size of the dot, shown the various size of cities, villages, towns, and hamlets. Between the mountains and the sea, dots of settlements were sprinkled over the plain. While none could be called a city, many would be considered large villages. Gretta translated their names as the curious words held more meaning than simply a name. Beyond the plain, at the sea's edge, small dots with many languages naming them told us where the fishing villages could be found.
A bit into the water, Sarah pointed out merfolk grottoes and other aquatic dwellings. She saw one that made anger flare within her.
"That is an enemy of merfolk and peaceful aquatics. They raid, destroy, and kill without mercy. The mer-cleric I talked with in Selvis told me of them and shared the images of their destruction. Fortunately, they have been pushed away from the heart of the merfolk territory and only this one city is still in this area and inhabited. See this," she traced a faint jagged line across the water between that city and the others, "that reef is manned night and day. They are on the ocean side of it and the merfolk and aquatics are on the shore side. He told me these enemies have been focused upon southern enemies and largely leave these cities and towns alone. Still, raids are not unknown and many have died by their hands."
We hugged her as she dealt with her pain and anger.
Carmon and a knot of men entered as we hugged. Set stood between us and them to prevent their intrusion upon our group. They seemed not to notice him. They were marveling at the reworked map and its extension. They were emotionally divided. Some were fascinated. Some were afraid. The rest were angry. Braving Set's guardianship, one stormed over to us.
"How dare you! This map was perfect! Years of study and scholarship went into its creation. You cannot expect us to believe that cities dwell beneath our feet or in the waters. We demand you correct this...this... abomination!"
Before we could answer, another spoke up, "James, stop! This map is perfect and accurate, now. Some of the travelers' maps I have gathered confirm their names and locations. Mining maps also authenticate this grand map."
James sputtered. He marched over to the other and ripped the paper maps from him hands. Examining them and the walls, James' anger grew. With a huff, he threw down the papers and marched out of the room. The other came over to us, asking Set if he could approach. Set sniffed him and stepped aside to permit him.
"Forgive James," he requested, "he is...uncomfortable with non-human things. He is still of the mindset that humanity is the pentacle of creation and non-humans are 'mistakes' made by nature on its way to creating humans."
"Funny," Lisa chimed, "elves think that way about themselves. They often refer to the elf race as a diamond and humans as glass. 'Visually similar but far inferior.' "
"Dwarfs also have that belief. What was that phrase? Oh, right, 'Dwarfs are the mountains. Humans are piles of dust.' " Callie told us all.
The speaker, Randolf, and the other men listened to us. Heads bobbed and muttering passed between them. Randolf bowed and returned to the other men. After a few moments, Carmon asked us to join them. We spent the time until dinner explaining the marks and translating names. The other men left to go to their own supper while we joined Lord Carmon.
As we ate, Carmon prattled about getting it all copied and given to as many people as possible. A feeling of dread and anger stole over me. Set felt it, too. We both pin-pointed it and, without explanation, popped out of the dining room and back in the map room. James and other men we did not know had buckets of tar. He was shouting orders to coat the walls with the tar.
I held up both hands and commanded, "Freize! Stala si actio!"
The men became as statues. Their minds were frantic and their emotions spun in panic. We examined the map and found they had yet to damage it.
"Gentlemen," I began calmly, "what will this accomplish? Covering marks on a map does not remove the place it marks. Thantos would not disappear if it was covered or removed from the map. Even if you had succeeded, it would have been nothing to restore it."
I dipped a finger in the tar and smeared a dark line across the map. When I was sure they all saw it, I waved a hand and the dark mark vanished, leaving the map undamaged. I felt their shock even though their faces were frozen.
"See? So I ask, again, what did you hope to achieve? I will allow you to speak so you may answer. Ora reliesia."
Faces still frozen, their mouths and jaws began moving as they felt the extent of their movement. Carmon and my sisters crashed through the door. He began to ask, but I held up my hand for silence.
James began, "We were going to destroy the map so humans would not be tempted to hunt down these other places and be killed or worse, breed with these creatures."
Carmon was dumbstruck. He walked stiffly to James and looked at the frozen man.
"What kind of logic is that? Is it not better to know where they are to avoid accidentally trespassing or avoid them completely? Wouldn't information be preferable to ignorance?"
James and the others pondered Carmon's words. Carmon motioned for me to release them. Once they were free, many apologized and left heavy-hearted, taking the tar as they went. James stayed and offered himself for arrest. Carmon clapped him on the shoulder.
"Old friend, if we were all arrested for poor judgement, the whole world would be in jail."
Carmon chuckled and dismissed James. We examined the map for a bit more before retiring to bed.