Mishor and the Meim, what is a cooper?! re-writing Teigan and Sherod's meeting
I'm starting to suspect that Danrick Mishor has a more ... complicated relationship with the Brotherhood of the Meim as one might first suspect. He is a Hafitch, he is capable and powerful in the craft. His father is/was on the Gordie'en Council and maybe the Mishors are the Envanan equivalent of the Hillenbohns.
But I come to this thinking, re-thinking, that perhaps the Gordie'en does not know (did not) that Teigan was still alive. That information Danrick may have kept close to the vest because of its negative potential. A lone Klamon in the middle of Ela'yas would seem an easy target. A lone Klamon capable of producing hybrids with Meim ability, three for three, even, would be very tempting for anyone having the remotest thoughts of restarting the experiments. Three hybrids that, for all intents and purposes, look Human (when they choose to).
Yeah, Danrick wouldn't want that being anywhere near common knowledge. Kenbin is gratefully trustworthy and Silfiya DeTowr had already expressed her fierce loyalty to Kayrin and her family, no worries there. Sherod Kalden and Kith Serrith, however would be on less sure footing. Certainly Danrick trusted Sherod enough to inform him that Sray was hybrid and Danrick knew enough of his character to trust him for that and felt he wasn't too prejudiced against Klamon to cause a problem. Kith Serrith is a historian like Danrick Mishor, part of the reason Kith ended up at Engama was Danrick Mishor's reputation for specializing in (read: obsessing over) the events leading up to the wars. Kith would probably know better than Sherod why keeping Teigan's extant status a secret was important.
O my gosh, I was mislead somewhere along the line and have spent all this time thinking a cooper was a coppersmith. They actually make things like barrels and buckets. There is some need for metalsmithing in fitting the metal rings, though apparently wood rings could be a thing.
Now the thought of sourcing said wood in a towns set on the open plains... perhaps Sherod sits on a little bit of land and has a small stand of trees he tends to, but he's only been there a year so most likely he has to travel and bring it in. The advantage of being Meim he has use of the relays and perhaps he's able to simply have it shipped in rather than going off and getting it himself... not sure.
But this means I get to re-write Teigan and Sherod meeting. I could just make him a coppersmith, but what's the fun in that? We'll stick with cooper.
Sherod Kalden sat up. He looked out the window. The grey light of predawn was starting to creep in. He looked over his shoulder back at his wife and ran his hand along her exposed forearm. She moved and laced her fingers around his and pulled him back down into the bed.
"It's too early for you to get up." She mumbled. "Not light enough for you to work."
He kissed her fingers. "It will be by the time I'm dressed and in the shop. The sooner I start the sooner I'm done." He reasoned, squeezing her hand and then opening his fingers gently asking her to let go.
"Alright," she released her grip with a yawn and rolled away.
Sherod pushed himself out of bed and paused at the heating stove, opening the door to stoke the fire and throw in some more fuel. He opened the wardrobe as the bed creaked behind him. Tira got up and pulled a robe on. She ran her hand along his shoulder as she passed towards the kitchen. He smiled over his shoulder before pulling on his shirt. By the time he had his pants and shoes on the smell of sausage and biscuits cooking was wafting through the small house. The light from the windows was warm shades of orange and yellow as the sun crept up over the distant horizon.
Jon would not have been Sherod's first choice for a destination when he finished his apprenticeship and made the transition from Journeyman to Master Cooper, some fifty miles from the closest substantial stand of trees, but it had grown on him the past year. Danrick Mishor can be quite persuasive when he wanted to be and Mishor had set them up quite nicely, which made the move from Toralin more attractive.
After breakfast he headed out to the shop and started in on the day's work. Jon had been without a resident cooper since it's inception and the amount of cooperage needing repair upon their arrival was substantial, not to mention the demand for new barrels, buckets, and other such things as the town grew. Previously items had to be shipped out for repair or simply new ones brought in. His arrival was celebrated by more than one resident and he was kept in constant, relentless work for months on end after they initially moved in. Tira had learned more than one trick of the trade helping him manage the load. He had finally reached a point where the work was more manegable and steady the last six months.
The shop was larger than their house, detached and set back a hundred feet to keep the sounds from the house, especially in those first weeks when it seemed like he was working day and night. One wall was full of various tools, another stacked with precut bits if wood ordered by size and purpose. Barrels, tubs, casks, and buckets in various stages of repair and building, lids, metal and wooden rings all threatening to take over the floor space as they leaked out from the other two walls.
He had set up a large barrel to fire and settled in to pull apart a large tub to replace some cracked staves when someone called him above the noise of the hammer and driver.
"Cooper Kalden!" Sherod looked up to see a man in the open doorway. The voice didn't sound familiar. You live in a small town long enough and you get to know everyone who belongs, this man was not immediately familiar, but he was also covered so thoroughly in winter garb that only his eyes were just visible.
"Yes, how may I help you?" Sherod set his tools aside.
"I must speak to you." The man's accent was not Ela'yan.
"Who are you?" Sherod asked, feeling mild concern that the man was not local. "I'm sorry I don't recognize you under your winter gear."
"You would not know me."
"Well, what do you want then, stranger?"
"I want to speak to you on Sray Hillenbohn." the man folded his arms.
That was not a name Sherod was expecting from some foreigner. "Well," he picked up his tools and moved towards the work bench at the far wall, trying to be disinterested, "Sray Hillenbohn hasn't been in town for over a month, I don't know what you think I have to do with her." He replaced the tools and faced the man again, leaning into the bench.
"I know you are her guide." The man nodded towards Sherod. "Have you heard this last week anything by Engama?"
Engama, her guide, if he was Meim it wasn't anyone based at Engama. "Who are you again?" Sherod stood fully. "Pull down your hood and scarf, I want to see your face."
The man hesitated, but then stepped beside the doorway and reached up. For a moment he thought the man might be Gollanan as the pulled back hood revealed short, straight black hair and darker skin, but then the scarf came down as the man spoke the words "I am Sray's father."
Sherod jerked backwards, but he was already right against the bench and bumped it before quickly stepping sideways to increase his distance between himself and the man at the door. Reflexively he brought his left arm up and produced a haphazard construct between them. "How- wha- you're supposed to be dead. You shouldn't even-you're not-Kayrin Hillenbohn is a widow." He glanced at the large doors, locked from the inside, just a few feet away.
The man, no, the Klamon watched Sherod fumble over himself in what appeared to be annoyance. He certainly looked human enough, but it was his color. His skin was medium-toned, bronzed, which made Sherod initially think Gollanan, but his lower face was pale, starting at the tip of his nose and extending around his mouth and along the lower portion of his jaw.
"Do you know what happened to Sray?" He asked once Sherod had stopped moving.
"No-no I don't know." He ran a hand through his hair and inched a little further away. "I don't keep constant touch with Engama. She's not my responsibility when she isn't here-did she tell you I was her guide?"
The Klamon frowned at Sherod, not moving from his spot beside the doorway. "You need not shield yourself. Not hurting you."
Sherod stared back completely dumbfounded.
The Klamon sighed in annoyance. "Three times no letters from Sray. We need to know what happened."
Sherod finally blinked and shook his head. "I-I don't know why she would stop writing. I haven't gotten anything from Engama since before she left and if it concerned Sray they would tell you all before me."
"I need to go there and see what happened."
"You need to go there?" Sherod asked, still trying to process the idea that Sray's father was actually alive and standing in his shop. Did Mishor know? Did Kenbin Mounthyuns know? Maybe that's why Kenbin had been reluctant to deliver that letter to the Hillenbohn home. He knew what-who might be there. What had Sherod gotten himself into? He trusted Mishor's judgement. Agreeing to be the guide for some half-breed who had been raised by her Human mother was one thing, but now a full-blooded Klamon was standing in his shop. At his home. He shook his head. "I- you can't. You can't go there. You don't even know where it is."
"Tell me where it is."
Sherod laughed nervously. "I- uh- that- you can't just walk in there." He waved his hand vaguely to the North. "I can't just send you off there." He shook his head and knotted his hands behind his neck and looked up at the ceiling as the thoughts started to come together. He sighed and wiped his face with his hand, "ok," he sat against the bench and closed his eyes briefly as he braced against what he was about to say. "I will take you."
The Klamon tilted his head, perhaps a little surprised? Sherod wasn't sure, but kept talking. "I will take you. It-it wouldn't go well if you went by yourself. Just-why you? Why not your wife or even Kallon?"
"I do not exist. No one in Jon notices me gone." The Klamon replied. "When do we leave?"
Sharod nodded. "Makes sense, I guess. When, that is a good question." He fingered the tools he had just put up. "I-uh," he suddenly remembered what he had been doing, "krands, that barrel." He stood, removed the construct, and moved quickly to the barrel sitting over the cresset, feeling the sides of it all around. Not quite ready to start bending. He looked over the barrel at the Klamon who had not moved an inch since showing his face. "Sorry, I-uh, when, you asked when. When, well, I have to finish this," he tapped the barrel. "It's no good leaving now anyway, too late in the day. I have to tell my wife, what to tell her..." He shook his head again. "Do you ride? Can you ride? We could drive, but no offense meant, but if we can avoid the roads we should."
"I ride." The Klamom confirmed.
"Yes, good, ok, we can take pretty much a straight shot then." Sherod nodded, thinking quickly. He was committed now, as crazy as it was. "Your place is North of town, I'll just meet you at the turnoff, good?"
The other nodded.
"You'll want to pack for two days' travel." Sherod continued, checking the barrel again, a little focus on work to keep his mind off of this crazy thing he was about to do. "We should be able to make it in one, but you never know when those winter storms might blow in."
"When do we meet?"
"Just before sunrise; as the sky lightens over the Anlizers."
The Klamon nodded again. "I will be there and waiting." He replaced the scarf around his face.
"Until the morning then?" Sherod asked.
"Yes," he pulled up the hood. "Until morning." he turned and left. Sherod stared after him. Once he was out of sight Sherod brought his hands to his head and exhaled sharply, eyes wide. What did he just get himself into. What was he going to tell Tira?
They slowed as they approached the turn to the Hillenbohn's home. Teigan pulled up his horse and swung down.
"What are you doing?" Sherod asked.
"He isn't mine, I am not bringing him to home." Teigan replied as he began pulling his tack, the reins looped over his arm.
"You're going to carry that all the way? You know we could just ride down the drive and you can drop your stuff a bit closer to home. I'll pony him back from there." Sherod offered.
"We've gone a hundred, the last half mile on my own feet isn't going to hurt."
"If you're even half as tired I am you're going to wish you had let the horse do it."
Teigan grunted.
"Look, I've known about Sray since before I moved here. Do you think that makes me at least a little trustworthy?" Teigan paused and Sherod could see just enough of Teigan's eyes to note his annoyance. "It isn't like you're hidden away in the middle of the forest or nestled in some secret mountain pass. If I wanted to figure out where you lived I could have done so just walking down the path here. What is it going to hurt if we just take this last ride down the drive and then I'll take the horse over from there and you don't have to see me again after that."
"I don't trust Meim."
"I just think you don't trust anyone, Teigan Hillenbohn Sollit. You've been holed up on this farm so long you've forgotten there's people outside of your little family who might not be out to get you all." He leaned over the pommel of his saddle. "I know you didn't come to me because you trusted me. You were desperate, it was the only choice you could see that gave you any chance of finding Sray. Walk if you want, but let the horse carry it."
"If you keep the air hot enough they can't do anything." Kallon said. "The particles are moving too fast for them to capture, I guess.