Tenth Month of 1,266
- Chonlam was full of two and three story buildings, and there were wide walking lanes with potted plants in the middle. Switchback streets wound up a steep hill and the whole area looked clean and well-kept. People waved to us as we flew overhead.
- We landed our dragons in a field with marker stones some ways off.
- As we made our way closer to everything, I noticed buildings sitting over the water on pylons in a protected cove. It allowed fishermen to drop off their wares and store their boats easily. Quite clever!
- There were many firelizards flying around, almost as many as I’d been used to seeing at Harper Hall.
- There was a Hold of sorts carved into a cliffside, built up high with broad stairs leading up to it. I suppose it would help if there was flooding or bad weather.
- We were guided by Garaam to a teahouse, which was split into two areas by gender. He said the men needed to talk to the seadivers. He suggested the women in the wing go into Chonlam to shop.
- ‘Zana suggested we split up so we could cover more ground, since we had a large number of things we were looking for. I would look for sheet music for K’brin, usara stones, plants or seeds I thought might grow on Pern, and any healing supplies I thought would survive the long trip between. I was hesitant to go it alone in this new place, but she pointed out that nobody would dare hurt dragonriders.
- I wandered off in a random direction and was soon accosted by a woman hawking her wares, which was some sort of bead jewelry. I waved her off, more focused on the task at hand. I noticed what looked like an apothecary. After using my not-quite-fluent Fasa Kia to figure out what the shop owner had, I found one or two things that should be good for treating fever. I looked forward to studying them later to see if I could possibly replicate them back on Pern.
- From the apothecary shop owner, I got directions to where I could find usara stones, a store further in the hold that was near a furniture shop.
- I set out at random and once again, the bead woman tried to lure me into her shop. I let her drag me in, figuring I could get something nice for ‘Zana and ‘Mala. She showed me her wares, various colored beads of hardened berries that could be made into a bracelet, earrings, or the like. The colors all meant something, of course. Orange for power and determination, white for purity and patience, and so on. I had her make custom bracelets for the three of us, all trimmed with green beads as we were greenriders. To ‘Mala’s, I added orange, and for ‘Zana, I chose white beads. I kept mine all green.
- I was excited to find a music store. I knew K’brin would want to go himself, but time might not allow it. After some back and forth with the shop owner, I was disappointed to learn there was no sheet music. He did show me some rather unusual instruments, one called a Ranat Ek, and another called a Renard Ek. The Ranat Ek was a bowl-shaped wood instrument, but the sides of the bowl had been cut out and decorated. There was a loose bridge of sorts, where slim rectangles of wood were strung with cord over the top of the bowl. The shop owner demonstrated how to play it with a stick that had a soft wrapping on one end. Hitting different parts of the bridge resulted in different sounds. I contacted K’brin via dragon to share an image of the Renat Ek in action, giving him a quick summary of what I had found.
- Feeling good about having found most of what I had been looking for, more or less, I set off to see if there were any plant or herb shops selling seeds. My inquiries about that hadn’t borne fruit yet. I was approached by another shop owner, this one selling scarves of various materials, some silk. I thought it might help us to blend in better, plus would make an easily portable item to bring back.
- The rather waifish looking woman was helping me try on one scarf while looking in a mirror when I felt a sudden, sharp pain in my right kidney. It took a few seconds to process what had happened in my shock, but I realized that I had been stabbed. I quickly turned around and blocked the woman’s next attack, but not very well. I couldn’t avoid her third thrust, which stabbed me in the lung. I somehow managed to slash her.
- Things began to get fuzzy with the shock and blood loss, but I became aware of a very angry Selenath trying to make her way into the hold through a small opening not meant for dragons. She began fighting Valenth, who was trying to stop her from hurting people, and I could sense that she had gone wild. I had a split second to make a choice – force Selenath to back off or put my attention fully on the woman trying to kill me. I couldn’t risk Selenath injuring or even killing Valenth. The fallout from that would be devastating. I forced Selenath to submit just as my attacker aimed at my heart. Time slowed, and yet I had no time to think at all.
- Suddenly, the woman dropped to the ground, a spray of blood erupting from a knife in her neck. I passed out before I saw anything else. I was told later that K’brin and B’dir had found us but weren’t close enough to block her attack, so K’brin mentally commanded her to drop the knife as B’dir threw his own blade.
- The city guard arrived soon and started investigating. They found the dead body of the actual shop owner, half undressed, hidden in a closet in the back. The woman who attacked me had dyed her hair black and there was a tattoo on her neck of the Fukea dynasty symbol. B’dir noticed that it looked new, which led to the speculation that it was an attempt to cast blame on the Fukea and hide the identity of the true source of the attack.
- I was told that the reason I had a chance of survival in the immediate aftermath of the attack was the poison that was on the blade the fake shop owner was using. It caused numbness and partial paralysis, which slowed my heartbeat and stopped me from bleeding out. This poison, it was discovered, was only good for around two days after manufacture, so the attack couldn’t have been planned more than that many days ago.
- I was out for days, so I missed the arrival of Lord Busaba of the Naroon Coast, which included Chonlam, the next morning. He was the rider of bronze Gaimath, with two brownriders as escorts.
- Jianya told K’brin that in this one instance, they were as equals, because Busaba’s city had wronged us. The bronzerider was a confident man in his 50’s, who wore leather armor, kept his hair swept back into a knot, and had a mustache and goatee.
- They went to the teahouse to talk, where Busaba said the assassin did not travel by dragon. He wanted to understand why this attack happened, and K’brin disclosed that it was likely because of the Kameni Egg. It could have made both of us targets for those who bore ill will over what we started.
- Busaba asked K’brin what he could do to make it right. Garaam privately suggested that K’brin ask for the Elixir of Shia, but only if he was willing to risk a duel. K’brin did so.
- In order to get the Elixir, Busaba had to promise to relinquish his next gold egg. He went to the Temple to claim an Elixir which would be able to completely heal me. Hearing this recounted later, I wondered if it contained Zamruda stones, especially after learning that the Elixir glowed yellow.
- While everyone waited for me to regain consciousness, some went to retrieve the fire pearls. One in particular was quite large, around 8” in diameter, and the fire lizards went crazy at the sight of it. It swirled with life energy and reverberated slightly, K’brin shared later.
- I woke in fits and starts, never for very long. Garaam checked in daily with Thusdo, keeping them up to date on what was going on.
- Finally, Lord Busaba returned with an ornate metal box in hand, containing a crystal bottle with the Elixir inside. They had to give it to me before sundown.
- K’brin told me that he tried to use Talent to feel the Elixir when they were preparing to administer it to me, and that the most amazing thing happened. He said he heard a voice clearly come from behind him say “It’s going to be okay.” The voice was N’rion’s. I was surprised when he told me, but also glad that someone from his youth that meant so much to him was there, somehow, to reassure him.
- When I drank the Elixir, I instantly felt exhilarated and full of energy. I could have thrown firestone sacks all day. My wounds were all but healed. I had, yet again, come close to certain death only to be saved from it. It made me wonder.
- The wing was brought in a few at a time to visit me. K’brin and I spent time discussing what had occurred while I was unconscious, and when he got to the part about N’rion, it almost brought me to tears.
- I would still have to take it easy for a while, but we couldn’t linger for too long. The window for travel back to Pern was getting ever smaller, and the time we would have to spend between was growing.