October dictated nonesense one and two of three.
Sray has returned, spent a couple days holed up in the house. Sray has a tendency to want to just push through things. She would follow her usual routine and go to the store on the first day after her return.
Tos probably saw Kallon the day after Sray returned and got some information from there, but it isn't important to the story so we're probably not going to write that interaction.
Jon hasn't changed much in the last six months, or even the last eleven years. She's thinknig about how much she has changed in the last six months. I wouldn't say she was content with her situation before her letter, but she was accepting of it. Take care of her parents, make sure her siblings didn't get into too much trouble and that was all good. Then there was Meim and destroyed all that. Of course she is also aware now that it may have been a matter of time before they were found.
On the surface Sray would like to think they could have lived in Jon forever under the radar and no one would have ever noticed, but that would not have lasted forever. Kayrin may have used her maiden name, perhaps she shouldn't have odne that, but you're five hundred plus miles away from where you were in a place without rail transport and the idea that someone from Tayzhyem ending up in Jon was exceptionally slim. Kamenlohn was terrible at disseminating who the translators were for the negotiations, plus it had been ten years.
They were embarassed about the qualities of their translators (young women). The quality of their translation work was actually pretty good, especially given that none of them were actually trained diplmats. But I'm getting distracted.
I'm sure Tos is having all sorts of feels. Sherod left him in the street, heading to the Hillenbohns to get them news of what happened. I don't know how many details he got out of the relayman. Kenbin would be telling the bare bones. Something happened, going back to Engama, hoping to be back on the road tomorrow. So for informing Sray's family they would be a couple hours behind, but the riders would be going all night so the other families would be getting the information before they would have expected them to get home.
You have Mishor who would want to talk to Sray. We have Mishor who wants to talk to Sray's family, which she isn't happy about, but what is she going to do? Mishor would want to reassure them he is doing everything in his power and abilities to get the last guy. The three are dead, one injured and on the run. "I will make sure there will be no place for him to rest. No place for him to go." Anyone who would think about harboring him would be questioned and punished. It would be among the whole brotherhood and the Ela'yan government. If you harbor him you will be punished severely.
This would be along the lines of what Mishor would say. Let them know that he is giving Sray time to figure out what she wants to do and let him know by such and such date. If there is anything the Hillenbohn Sollits need, let him know!
As it stands they just have Sherod and Tira Kalden posted in Jon. Hillenbohns would be on extra high alert. Mishor goes on his way to personally speak with the other families.
Here's the other thing. They sent everyone else in another carriage so he'd be coming behind the other five families and then heading to Kamenlohn. Kenbin isn't going anywhere for a bit.
"I thought it was important I speak to you personally."
I think Teigan remains skeptical, of course knowing that Kenbin took a bullet for Sray essentially and Kith and Kenbin went after the attacks makes Teigan feel a little better. Mishor being there in person means something. Teigan isn't completely happy they are at his house, but where else would they be meeting?
Thelus Shtopfyl driving Mishor and crew. Lie'ontel would be driving the others.
Drive home would probably a bit awkward with Sray and four other men in the carriage. Mishor, Serrith, Shtopfyl, and I'm not sure who else. Zekkarran Illendis may or may not be a full timer at Engama. Something to think about. I don't know if he would be up for a 12 hour plus drive either. Not sure how many of them would turn back at that next relay after Jon or keep going with Mishor. They wouldn't all need to go to Kamenlohn for sure.
Then we circle back to Tos and Sray.
His knee-jerk response would be "ARE YOU OK? WHAT HAPPENED?!" He does have time to cool down. Sherod wouldn't be able to be too heavy on the details initially as mentioned before.
I don't think Kenbin would have noted who all was injured, just a blanket statement of shots fired, injuries, but nothing serious, heading back to Engama. Relaymen might have noticed something, but maybe not. Sray would be hanging out in the carriage.
Kenbin would be obviously injured, I don't think he managed a spare pare of pants. He holds it together until they get to Engama. Once they get back he melts a bit mentally. Allows himself to be frustrated, terrified and angry at that point. Saw a little bit of that when they found the relaymen, but that isn't pertinent to the story so it's a deleted scene.
I don't think Sray looks obviously injured when she returns to the store. Essentially a small bandage over the stitches and that's it, covered by her clothes.
Sray and Tos' conversation, settling it out. I think Tos ends up being her sounding board about whether or not she should return to Engama.
I think what surprises Sray is that Tos comes to the conclusion that she should go back despite everything that happened. He's seen how the experience has changed her, negative and positive. First term was a mess. He's learned more about her deep past and history in the last six months than he has in the last ten years. He understands her motivations and it is all for her family and hardly any for himself. He's managed to divine that the only real reason she is going to Engama is for her family. That'd be the only reason to go back after the first term. There's obviously way more to Engama than just being a trade school. He's not sure exactly what, but there's more to it.
I don't know if he would ask Sherod Kalden about that or not.
So he's seen her change over the last six months and she's a little more open with him, which he appreciates, but she is still closed off on several levels.
Tos is a good guy, I like him.
Not going back isn't going to solve the problem of everyone who is at the school knowing about Sray's family (Tos's perspective being aware of Kayrin's prior dealings with Klamon as a translator). It's not going to solve anything to not go back to Engama. Going back, one she continues her education. Thinking about what she actually tells Tos. Her letters to him tend to be superficial and short. There has to be some enthusiasm in there once she gets to work more with Thelus Shtopfyl. There has to be a little bit of a mention that some people don't care about her family history.
Sray does hard things. New, strange, and terrifying. Getting to the point where she can ... Tos doesn't know about the Brotherhood, but has the sense that there is something going on about this school. I don't think Sray would mention promises for protection for her family to Tos. Why would she go back? Benefits might outweigh the costs, she said that after first term.
"What is it costing you, Sray? Will it be worth it?" Sray has a bit I don't know answering that right now.
What is the cost if she doesn't go back? If she doesn't go back that would essentially cut her ties to the Brotherhood. She made her oaths. They would keep an eye on her. I don't know what the Brotherhood would do with that if she tried to pull back. I'm sure in the far past of the Brotherhood if someone wanted out they wouldn't have a choice. They would "take care of" dissidents. The brotherhood isn't currently in the business of sanctioned assassinations, but it may have happened before.
The craft system is what makes the Brotherhood so strong and loyal. They offer economic security. Like Sherod Kalden was essentially set up in Mishor. Not sure if the Brotherhood bought his house or built the workshop directly, but Sherod didn't have to scrimp and save to buy and build his workshop. He was set up there rather comfortably. All he had to do was do the cooperage work and keep and eye on Sray to an extent. So basically the Brotherhood breeds loyalty and people don't really leave it at this point.
Before the wars you had a large rebellion against the brotherhood with the experiments, but outside of that chaos and then reorganized after the wars. Before the wars the Brotherhood was fairly closed with the bloodlines. Marriage outside of the Brotherhood was strongly discouragged. It may have started out as a male only thing, but they eventually realized that women are capable and if you have a man and a woman who are both capable the likelihood of their children having it is extremely high.
Sray and Tos, Sray would think Tos to be the last person to try and convince her to go back.
"What would happen if you didn't go back? What would that cost you and your family?"
"I don't know."
"I'm sorry if it feels like you are in between two terrible choices Sray."
Between exposing herself to all these things at Engama and trying to hide in her little hole in Jon. It's obvious that she can't just hide, espeically not in one spot, they would eventually seek her out. And Mishor has made all sorts of promises about keeping her and her family safe. Jon, other than moving to Engama, Jon is probably the safest place because they know everyone there. Small towns aren't easy places to sneak around. Especially small towns in the middle of open plains that don't have anywhere to hide.
Tos and Sray. Tos is the Yang to Sray's Yin. They counterbalance each other nicely.
What is it going to cost her if she doesn't go back? Does she admit that she has promises for her family's safety through Engama? Whether she admits it or not I'm pretty sure Tos divines that the reason she goes back is because it is beneficial for her family and that's the key right there. To try and keep her family as safe as possible she has to go back. It's a foregone conclusion that she has to go back. Tos wouldn't realize it, but Sray would know they would have to change their names and go into hiding. Live off the raw land completely away from civilization.
With the fire Teigan had the thought of fleeing towards Beheil. A very, very vague connection through the Kethissen Zokhiers who were in their early 20s when the Hillenbohn Sollits passed through, but finding them and figuring out exactly where they were in the Anlizers would have been difficult. Worst case scenario a crap-shoot in the dark. The Klamon territory would be the place to go, but it is whether any Klamon would accept them and give them sanctuary. Push came to shove they might give it a shot.
Sray knows there really is no place to go. I don't know if Mishor would offer them space at Engama during his discussion with them. A residence for them to live in. I don't think Teigan would trust that. Despite all Mishor has done I don't think Teigan would trust that. Out of the frying pan and into the fire. Going from perfectly defensible space in Jon where he can tell if someone is coming to Engama where you have not only multiple people, but all of them being Meim and who knows where each of their loyalties lie. By the end of term Mishor will have a pretty good idea of who is cool with the idea and who needs to be moved along.
He can't do disciplinary action unless they actually do something, but by the end of Sray's first year I imagine that anyone with a problem has been strongly encouraged to transfer somewhere else.
So Mishor may just make the offer. "You guys feel like you need more protection you can come back to Engama with us and have so-called full protection." But they aren't going to go for that. They may eventually leave Jon, have that suggested somewhere, but it is not yet. Jon is still a decent place to live all things considered.
So back to Sray and Tos. Tos was the last person Sray would have expected to convince her to go back. I'm sure Mishor presented a pretty convincing argument. Sray isn't just doing this for herself but for her family. Mishor would have his ideas that she could hopefully be doing it for the good of all of Alast from Klamon to Man. I imagine that the Klamon remember that the Klezmier dragons are capable of manipulating something. part of the reason they are attracted to treasure is they can manipulate metallic elements. Human and Klamon smelting activities would conentrate these elements into things that are easier for the Klezmier to be able to manipulate.
So you have dragons and that's Mishor's driving point with Sray being there is trying to mend the relationship between man and Klamon in order to stay ahead of the dragon threat. Mishor keeps tabs on what is going on in the southern seas. There have been occasional attacks and in the four to five years that Sray is with them there is a notable increase in suspiciously dragon-related attacks. Envawn and Storilohn governments would be attempting to conceal and hide these things as dragon involvement. When all the shiny things have been stripped off the ship and all that is left are the boards and sails there is pretty strong evidence that it was dragons. No surviving crew probably got eaten.
Mishor manages to convince the Brotherhood over five years that they have a built-in ambassador in Sray and also Silfiya DeTowr who had been involved in prior peace negotiations. They know DeTowr is loyal to the Brotherhood. Granted she's actually more loyal to Mishor than the Brotherhood as a whole.
She has letters to mail off. I don't think it is important to the arc of the first story to know that Sray got letters back from Kem and Silfiya. We just need to know that Sray is going back to Engama. And then we move on to Kallon.
We know Sray needs to decide to go back. Tos helps convince her of that. What else.
So Sray still doesn't think she can get married. Or at least not to somebody who does not know. Tos kind of accepts it in his own way. He will happily be a bachelor forever because in his mind no one holds a candle to Sray and that's just the way it is. If only to be in the warmth of her presense. O Tos, you dramatic poet.
So when you decide to do something Sray you do it. When you decide to do something you have it. You just need to decide.
So here's another little aside. Tos is somewhat married to the store. Oldest child with five other siblings. He's pretty much taken over the store at this point. I suspect his dad had been doing most of the leaving town running about type of things. Tos has about 14 years between him and his youngest sibling. He may have two younger siblings already married, brother and sister. Grekorel is about Kallon's age, the youngest is a couple years younger than Janef. Tos is 25/26 by the end of Fire Forged Key. Probably has 24/23 and 21 year-old siblings. Probaly has a sibling Sray's age. Teenage siblings are not married. Three that are between Kallon and Janef's age ish (three years younger). Two siblings in their 20s and three in their teens.
Before Engama Tos pretty much stays in Jon. Once Sray isn't there he doesn't have a reason to hang out in Jon all the time (especially on the days Sray would come into town). I suspect he gets into leaving town for store things. Roped into some of the leather deliveries, etc.
I think that when Kallon is kidnapped he goes to Dendrin, Dantel goes with him. Not sure what all he finds out. Not sure if it is actually useful. He does a thing and digs around and finds out stuff. He's naturally curious by nature and is a figure-out-er of things.
Tos sees the greater world a little bit. So hither and yon, here there and everywhere.
Sray is going back, despite her natural desire to hide in a hole and pretend the whole world doesn't exist.
So she's sitting there staring off to the distance as she is lost in her own thoughts. Tos comes out... "what happened?"
I don't think she would be inclined to tell him she got shot. It's not a conversation she wants to have, but.
Physically she's fine. She'll be fine. Mentally she's ... everything is peachy in that sarcastic sense.
What do you want? Where are you going? Whatever you decide I will fully support it. I will do whatever I can to make it happen. That is Tos right there. Whatever Sray wants he will make happen. She wants/doesn't want.
I can dictate plot ramblings, but I'm not as good at dictating actual scenes because it still feels awkward. So, so, so, so one of my favorite words, better than "um."
Tos knew she was back. I imagine Mishor and company might stop at Sherod Kaldens. Jon is midway between two relay points. The normal relay path would actually bypass Jon entirely because it isn't important enough to integrate into it.
They do buy leather from the tannery, but it's close enough that they don't feel the need to create an entirely new relay point within Jon. You hit the tannery and just to back to the prior relay point.
Mishor and company probably hang out at Sherod's for a bit before continuing on. I don't know if Serrith is normally a year-rounder at Engama. I get the sense that him being on the carriage is a Mishor idea. Because Mishor wanted somebody he felt was loyal and in on the idea to be present with Sray as she travels. I think that extends to Kenbin too. I don't think Kenbin was on the carriage to pick her up the first time. It was Mishor and Kenbin and the Gordie'en and that was it. Kenbin's presence would have been odd and drawn too much attention.
Once Sray's heritage was discovered he needed assurances. I wager Kenbin and Serrith would be the two who would be on the carrriage with them. I don't know if I want to point that out on the journey home if she recognized the guy riding shotgun first term or not. Between Kenbin and Kith Mishor would feel pretty confident that Sray was safe in her journeyings. Kenbin has the advantage of his family being in the southern part of Ela'yas and conveniently enough his nephews are there (at least I assume they are his nephews, they haven't told me otherwise so they are his nephews).
Obviously he doesn't like getting shot at. He's a mapmaker for crying out loud. Kartographers are not designed for this stuff. And not only that he had family on board so to speak. Not that they were shooting at his family, but they were in the line of fire and that has Kenbin stressed, pissed off, and irritated. It isn't in the book, but I don't think it is necessary to show him going off on the relay men. I may need to write him looking a bit more irritated and full of tension than I already have. So I will go back and fiddle with that because he gets angry enough at the relay men that Lie'ontel and Kith think that they may have to pull him off of these guys.
Anyways we have ... so things I need to fill in, the whole third term. second term we have the fire and it starts out with Sray getting into her specialty with Thelus Shtorpfyl. They visit the relays in there before the fire. After the fire things are shut down and things are slowly opened back up. Mishor does some serious reevaluation of his staff. Dafid Dentill goes away and I don't know who takes his place, but there has to be a second person who specializes in literature at Engama.
I guess I better figure that out. I don't feel it is significant. It will have to be mentioned because Dentill goes back to Kamenlohn to deal with his consequences for letting the arsonists in, aiding and abetting. Sings like a canary, throws everyone under the bus. Tries to say "I didn't think they would be doing that" and trying to abstain from all responsibility.
So post fire there are a few key reactions. Ashtim DeBauin, two of the arsonists are DeBauins and how does he fee about that? He's a 14 year-old kid. Does he double down or have a slight change of heart? I suspect a change of heart. They almost burned down half the school and put all of them in danger. The arsonists didn't think about the safety of others in the building. They just wanted everyone out and tried to get to Mishor's office. Mishor didn't advertise that his office was the target, no need to mention that when the obvious thing was that they wanted to blame Sray for the fire.
So we have that portion. I think Ashtim has a little bit of a change of heart. He's never going to be buddy-buddy with Sray, that's just the way it is, he's kind of a jerk. She may get a sincere apology out of him yet because the idea that they nearly destroyed this whole school and could have injured a bunch of people just to stick it to Sray didn't sit well with him. We may just get an apology from him.
Sray put herself in danger in order to put out the fire and she almost didn't do it. Because then of course they all saw how long her recovery took after doing it. She was out for two or three days and it took a couple days to get her strong enough to be able to remember what exactly happened before so she could tell them about somebody missing (it was Dafid Dentill). Dafid, poor guy, you got in over your head. I don't know if he plays a part in anything else further down the road whether back in Ela'yas or Envawn. I think he is Storinan and Envawnan, can't remember, that's why I write these things down.
Sray coming to the store. Poor girl, she's just mentally exhausted. She really needs to recover more from her ordeal, but anyways. She's there and kind of just pauses for a moment. I'm sure Tos knows when she usually comes so I don't think he would be lolly-gagging. He comes out, don't know if it is like after first term. I don't know if she would instigate.
I suspect it has been ... usually they travel on Remstan. It might be two days after the event. Thinking, stewing, contemplating.
So there's a vague thought that Sherod goes to the Hillenbohns, tells them what happened. I think Tos would be tempted to follow him, but I think out of respect for the fact that it is her family and they should know first he may have managed to contain himself on that one.
So Tos would be waiting for Sherod to come back. They were attacked, decided to turn back rather than risk anything else going forward. They plan on getting there, taking care of things, spin around, reinforcements, come back. Should be home tomorrow, not the day after. More information is coming. Not Kenbin, they would probably send the information to Sherod at Sray's preference.
She doesn't like anyone knowing, though it is pretty easy to figure out where they are. The Hillenbohns wouldn't be the only ones off of that road, there has to be a couple others. Sherod has been there for a year so he would know which one would be the Hillenbohn's so he would know which road belonged to everyone else. That and Teigan met him on the road to Engama. It isn't like their road branches off into five others, it is a singleton, goes to the house, might to past it and branch off to other parts of the property.
So we have him explaining to Tos what happened. Tos stewing. No specifics on who was injured.
Pretty sure Mishor and others would stop at Sherod's house. I don't think Tos would go over there while they are present, but would hit up Sherod afterwards. I think if we show Tos intercepting Sherod we should at least mention that Sherod paused on his way back home to tell Tos.
We have ... what do we have. We still have Sray and Tos trying to figure out how they get to their conversation and I don't know ... "How are you? I half expected your mother or Janef to come in instead."
"Well, can't stay on the farm forever."
She could try.
Letters to mail. Actually met some friends! I don't know if she would feel inclined to tell him "yeah there's this woman who knew my mother and this girl Kem who is Kallon's age."
Aldai, that's a Lunaisan name if I ever heard one.
"Lunaisan?"
"You know, the island Northwest of Alast?"
"People live on that?"
"Not anymore I think. One of the mountains errupted just before the wars. So far as I am aware of the survivors moved off and most of them settled in Ela'yas."
Silfiya DeTowr.
Tos knows about Lunais maybe a little bit. I imagine the Savins had trade with it while there were still people on it. Jon Savin came from the North. The Savins were Northern Ela'yan to begin with. Jon migrated with his family and others down the coastline. Yeah they would be at least surface familiar with Lunais being a place where poeple used to live. Lunaisans were probably good at sailing. They abandoned Lunais after that the last erruption, territfied them pretty well. And then the question was a single or a series of eruptions. I imagine if it caused the whole island to be abandoned it was a series over the course of weeks if not months. It wasn't going to be livable for a long time. About the time people were thinking about going back you had the wars break out and you aren't traveleing through Beheil anymore and you're having to leave port from Ela'yas or Kamenlohn, a farther trip and would it be worth trying to resettle?
For the Mothers it was worth it because where else could they go? I don't know how loyal the Mothers are to the founder of the experiments. I don't know if they did AI or not. I don't know if their technology would be such that it would be a thing. But anyways, you have that.
See if he didn't know what happened Tos would be prone to giving Sray a hard time about the letters. Knowing what happened he would be super sympathetic and not really asking any questions. Because he'd be comparing the letters he got, little tiny, to Silfiya's super thick one.
So it's early in the season. I don't think they would ... the Hillenbohns have their own way of doing things and are usually the first ones that have crops on offer. They get things going before the final frost. Early starts. She has some stuff, probably just a crate or two.
She's been doing stuff so I think she would just be shoving them with her foot. She wouldn't be using her body like usual to compensate for her left arm and Tos would note that.
"Did you do something to your arm?"
She would pause, stare at him. Run her tongue along her teeth because that's what she does when she's thinking about things. Not something somebody else would notice, but since we're following her perspective we are aware of it, rubbing her tongue back and forth as she thinks.
She'd be thinking. How to answer that question. He's probably going to figure out anyway.
Obviously I've already worked some of these things out, but here it is anyway. Part three to come when I can sit down and listen to the last 30 minutes.
Tos probably saw Kallon the day after Sray returned and got some information from there, but it isn't important to the story so we're probably not going to write that interaction.
Jon hasn't changed much in the last six months, or even the last eleven years. She's thinknig about how much she has changed in the last six months. I wouldn't say she was content with her situation before her letter, but she was accepting of it. Take care of her parents, make sure her siblings didn't get into too much trouble and that was all good. Then there was Meim and destroyed all that. Of course she is also aware now that it may have been a matter of time before they were found.
On the surface Sray would like to think they could have lived in Jon forever under the radar and no one would have ever noticed, but that would not have lasted forever. Kayrin may have used her maiden name, perhaps she shouldn't have odne that, but you're five hundred plus miles away from where you were in a place without rail transport and the idea that someone from Tayzhyem ending up in Jon was exceptionally slim. Kamenlohn was terrible at disseminating who the translators were for the negotiations, plus it had been ten years.
They were embarassed about the qualities of their translators (young women). The quality of their translation work was actually pretty good, especially given that none of them were actually trained diplmats. But I'm getting distracted.
I'm sure Tos is having all sorts of feels. Sherod left him in the street, heading to the Hillenbohns to get them news of what happened. I don't know how many details he got out of the relayman. Kenbin would be telling the bare bones. Something happened, going back to Engama, hoping to be back on the road tomorrow. So for informing Sray's family they would be a couple hours behind, but the riders would be going all night so the other families would be getting the information before they would have expected them to get home.
You have Mishor who would want to talk to Sray. We have Mishor who wants to talk to Sray's family, which she isn't happy about, but what is she going to do? Mishor would want to reassure them he is doing everything in his power and abilities to get the last guy. The three are dead, one injured and on the run. "I will make sure there will be no place for him to rest. No place for him to go." Anyone who would think about harboring him would be questioned and punished. It would be among the whole brotherhood and the Ela'yan government. If you harbor him you will be punished severely.
This would be along the lines of what Mishor would say. Let them know that he is giving Sray time to figure out what she wants to do and let him know by such and such date. If there is anything the Hillenbohn Sollits need, let him know!
As it stands they just have Sherod and Tira Kalden posted in Jon. Hillenbohns would be on extra high alert. Mishor goes on his way to personally speak with the other families.
Here's the other thing. They sent everyone else in another carriage so he'd be coming behind the other five families and then heading to Kamenlohn. Kenbin isn't going anywhere for a bit.
"I thought it was important I speak to you personally."
I think Teigan remains skeptical, of course knowing that Kenbin took a bullet for Sray essentially and Kith and Kenbin went after the attacks makes Teigan feel a little better. Mishor being there in person means something. Teigan isn't completely happy they are at his house, but where else would they be meeting?
Thelus Shtopfyl driving Mishor and crew. Lie'ontel would be driving the others.
Drive home would probably a bit awkward with Sray and four other men in the carriage. Mishor, Serrith, Shtopfyl, and I'm not sure who else. Zekkarran Illendis may or may not be a full timer at Engama. Something to think about. I don't know if he would be up for a 12 hour plus drive either. Not sure how many of them would turn back at that next relay after Jon or keep going with Mishor. They wouldn't all need to go to Kamenlohn for sure.
Then we circle back to Tos and Sray.
His knee-jerk response would be "ARE YOU OK? WHAT HAPPENED?!" He does have time to cool down. Sherod wouldn't be able to be too heavy on the details initially as mentioned before.
I don't think Kenbin would have noted who all was injured, just a blanket statement of shots fired, injuries, but nothing serious, heading back to Engama. Relaymen might have noticed something, but maybe not. Sray would be hanging out in the carriage.
Kenbin would be obviously injured, I don't think he managed a spare pare of pants. He holds it together until they get to Engama. Once they get back he melts a bit mentally. Allows himself to be frustrated, terrified and angry at that point. Saw a little bit of that when they found the relaymen, but that isn't pertinent to the story so it's a deleted scene.
I don't think Sray looks obviously injured when she returns to the store. Essentially a small bandage over the stitches and that's it, covered by her clothes.
Sray and Tos' conversation, settling it out. I think Tos ends up being her sounding board about whether or not she should return to Engama.
I think what surprises Sray is that Tos comes to the conclusion that she should go back despite everything that happened. He's seen how the experience has changed her, negative and positive. First term was a mess. He's learned more about her deep past and history in the last six months than he has in the last ten years. He understands her motivations and it is all for her family and hardly any for himself. He's managed to divine that the only real reason she is going to Engama is for her family. That'd be the only reason to go back after the first term. There's obviously way more to Engama than just being a trade school. He's not sure exactly what, but there's more to it.
I don't know if he would ask Sherod Kalden about that or not.
So he's seen her change over the last six months and she's a little more open with him, which he appreciates, but she is still closed off on several levels.
Tos is a good guy, I like him.
Not going back isn't going to solve the problem of everyone who is at the school knowing about Sray's family (Tos's perspective being aware of Kayrin's prior dealings with Klamon as a translator). It's not going to solve anything to not go back to Engama. Going back, one she continues her education. Thinking about what she actually tells Tos. Her letters to him tend to be superficial and short. There has to be some enthusiasm in there once she gets to work more with Thelus Shtopfyl. There has to be a little bit of a mention that some people don't care about her family history.
Sray does hard things. New, strange, and terrifying. Getting to the point where she can ... Tos doesn't know about the Brotherhood, but has the sense that there is something going on about this school. I don't think Sray would mention promises for protection for her family to Tos. Why would she go back? Benefits might outweigh the costs, she said that after first term.
"What is it costing you, Sray? Will it be worth it?" Sray has a bit I don't know answering that right now.
What is the cost if she doesn't go back? If she doesn't go back that would essentially cut her ties to the Brotherhood. She made her oaths. They would keep an eye on her. I don't know what the Brotherhood would do with that if she tried to pull back. I'm sure in the far past of the Brotherhood if someone wanted out they wouldn't have a choice. They would "take care of" dissidents. The brotherhood isn't currently in the business of sanctioned assassinations, but it may have happened before.
The craft system is what makes the Brotherhood so strong and loyal. They offer economic security. Like Sherod Kalden was essentially set up in Mishor. Not sure if the Brotherhood bought his house or built the workshop directly, but Sherod didn't have to scrimp and save to buy and build his workshop. He was set up there rather comfortably. All he had to do was do the cooperage work and keep and eye on Sray to an extent. So basically the Brotherhood breeds loyalty and people don't really leave it at this point.
Before the wars you had a large rebellion against the brotherhood with the experiments, but outside of that chaos and then reorganized after the wars. Before the wars the Brotherhood was fairly closed with the bloodlines. Marriage outside of the Brotherhood was strongly discouragged. It may have started out as a male only thing, but they eventually realized that women are capable and if you have a man and a woman who are both capable the likelihood of their children having it is extremely high.
Sray and Tos, Sray would think Tos to be the last person to try and convince her to go back.
"What would happen if you didn't go back? What would that cost you and your family?"
"I don't know."
"I'm sorry if it feels like you are in between two terrible choices Sray."
Between exposing herself to all these things at Engama and trying to hide in her little hole in Jon. It's obvious that she can't just hide, espeically not in one spot, they would eventually seek her out. And Mishor has made all sorts of promises about keeping her and her family safe. Jon, other than moving to Engama, Jon is probably the safest place because they know everyone there. Small towns aren't easy places to sneak around. Especially small towns in the middle of open plains that don't have anywhere to hide.
Tos and Sray. Tos is the Yang to Sray's Yin. They counterbalance each other nicely.
What is it going to cost her if she doesn't go back? Does she admit that she has promises for her family's safety through Engama? Whether she admits it or not I'm pretty sure Tos divines that the reason she goes back is because it is beneficial for her family and that's the key right there. To try and keep her family as safe as possible she has to go back. It's a foregone conclusion that she has to go back. Tos wouldn't realize it, but Sray would know they would have to change their names and go into hiding. Live off the raw land completely away from civilization.
With the fire Teigan had the thought of fleeing towards Beheil. A very, very vague connection through the Kethissen Zokhiers who were in their early 20s when the Hillenbohn Sollits passed through, but finding them and figuring out exactly where they were in the Anlizers would have been difficult. Worst case scenario a crap-shoot in the dark. The Klamon territory would be the place to go, but it is whether any Klamon would accept them and give them sanctuary. Push came to shove they might give it a shot.
Sray knows there really is no place to go. I don't know if Mishor would offer them space at Engama during his discussion with them. A residence for them to live in. I don't think Teigan would trust that. Despite all Mishor has done I don't think Teigan would trust that. Out of the frying pan and into the fire. Going from perfectly defensible space in Jon where he can tell if someone is coming to Engama where you have not only multiple people, but all of them being Meim and who knows where each of their loyalties lie. By the end of term Mishor will have a pretty good idea of who is cool with the idea and who needs to be moved along.
He can't do disciplinary action unless they actually do something, but by the end of Sray's first year I imagine that anyone with a problem has been strongly encouraged to transfer somewhere else.
So Mishor may just make the offer. "You guys feel like you need more protection you can come back to Engama with us and have so-called full protection." But they aren't going to go for that. They may eventually leave Jon, have that suggested somewhere, but it is not yet. Jon is still a decent place to live all things considered.
So back to Sray and Tos. Tos was the last person Sray would have expected to convince her to go back. I'm sure Mishor presented a pretty convincing argument. Sray isn't just doing this for herself but for her family. Mishor would have his ideas that she could hopefully be doing it for the good of all of Alast from Klamon to Man. I imagine that the Klamon remember that the Klezmier dragons are capable of manipulating something. part of the reason they are attracted to treasure is they can manipulate metallic elements. Human and Klamon smelting activities would conentrate these elements into things that are easier for the Klezmier to be able to manipulate.
So you have dragons and that's Mishor's driving point with Sray being there is trying to mend the relationship between man and Klamon in order to stay ahead of the dragon threat. Mishor keeps tabs on what is going on in the southern seas. There have been occasional attacks and in the four to five years that Sray is with them there is a notable increase in suspiciously dragon-related attacks. Envawn and Storilohn governments would be attempting to conceal and hide these things as dragon involvement. When all the shiny things have been stripped off the ship and all that is left are the boards and sails there is pretty strong evidence that it was dragons. No surviving crew probably got eaten.
Mishor manages to convince the Brotherhood over five years that they have a built-in ambassador in Sray and also Silfiya DeTowr who had been involved in prior peace negotiations. They know DeTowr is loyal to the Brotherhood. Granted she's actually more loyal to Mishor than the Brotherhood as a whole.
She has letters to mail off. I don't think it is important to the arc of the first story to know that Sray got letters back from Kem and Silfiya. We just need to know that Sray is going back to Engama. And then we move on to Kallon.
We know Sray needs to decide to go back. Tos helps convince her of that. What else.
So Sray still doesn't think she can get married. Or at least not to somebody who does not know. Tos kind of accepts it in his own way. He will happily be a bachelor forever because in his mind no one holds a candle to Sray and that's just the way it is. If only to be in the warmth of her presense. O Tos, you dramatic poet.
So when you decide to do something Sray you do it. When you decide to do something you have it. You just need to decide.
So here's another little aside. Tos is somewhat married to the store. Oldest child with five other siblings. He's pretty much taken over the store at this point. I suspect his dad had been doing most of the leaving town running about type of things. Tos has about 14 years between him and his youngest sibling. He may have two younger siblings already married, brother and sister. Grekorel is about Kallon's age, the youngest is a couple years younger than Janef. Tos is 25/26 by the end of Fire Forged Key. Probably has 24/23 and 21 year-old siblings. Probaly has a sibling Sray's age. Teenage siblings are not married. Three that are between Kallon and Janef's age ish (three years younger). Two siblings in their 20s and three in their teens.
Before Engama Tos pretty much stays in Jon. Once Sray isn't there he doesn't have a reason to hang out in Jon all the time (especially on the days Sray would come into town). I suspect he gets into leaving town for store things. Roped into some of the leather deliveries, etc.
I think that when Kallon is kidnapped he goes to Dendrin, Dantel goes with him. Not sure what all he finds out. Not sure if it is actually useful. He does a thing and digs around and finds out stuff. He's naturally curious by nature and is a figure-out-er of things.
Tos sees the greater world a little bit. So hither and yon, here there and everywhere.
Sray is going back, despite her natural desire to hide in a hole and pretend the whole world doesn't exist.
So she's sitting there staring off to the distance as she is lost in her own thoughts. Tos comes out... "what happened?"
I don't think she would be inclined to tell him she got shot. It's not a conversation she wants to have, but.
Physically she's fine. She'll be fine. Mentally she's ... everything is peachy in that sarcastic sense.
What do you want? Where are you going? Whatever you decide I will fully support it. I will do whatever I can to make it happen. That is Tos right there. Whatever Sray wants he will make happen. She wants/doesn't want.
I can dictate plot ramblings, but I'm not as good at dictating actual scenes because it still feels awkward. So, so, so, so one of my favorite words, better than "um."
Tos knew she was back. I imagine Mishor and company might stop at Sherod Kaldens. Jon is midway between two relay points. The normal relay path would actually bypass Jon entirely because it isn't important enough to integrate into it.
They do buy leather from the tannery, but it's close enough that they don't feel the need to create an entirely new relay point within Jon. You hit the tannery and just to back to the prior relay point.
Mishor and company probably hang out at Sherod's for a bit before continuing on. I don't know if Serrith is normally a year-rounder at Engama. I get the sense that him being on the carriage is a Mishor idea. Because Mishor wanted somebody he felt was loyal and in on the idea to be present with Sray as she travels. I think that extends to Kenbin too. I don't think Kenbin was on the carriage to pick her up the first time. It was Mishor and Kenbin and the Gordie'en and that was it. Kenbin's presence would have been odd and drawn too much attention.
Once Sray's heritage was discovered he needed assurances. I wager Kenbin and Serrith would be the two who would be on the carrriage with them. I don't know if I want to point that out on the journey home if she recognized the guy riding shotgun first term or not. Between Kenbin and Kith Mishor would feel pretty confident that Sray was safe in her journeyings. Kenbin has the advantage of his family being in the southern part of Ela'yas and conveniently enough his nephews are there (at least I assume they are his nephews, they haven't told me otherwise so they are his nephews).
Obviously he doesn't like getting shot at. He's a mapmaker for crying out loud. Kartographers are not designed for this stuff. And not only that he had family on board so to speak. Not that they were shooting at his family, but they were in the line of fire and that has Kenbin stressed, pissed off, and irritated. It isn't in the book, but I don't think it is necessary to show him going off on the relay men. I may need to write him looking a bit more irritated and full of tension than I already have. So I will go back and fiddle with that because he gets angry enough at the relay men that Lie'ontel and Kith think that they may have to pull him off of these guys.
Anyways we have ... so things I need to fill in, the whole third term. second term we have the fire and it starts out with Sray getting into her specialty with Thelus Shtorpfyl. They visit the relays in there before the fire. After the fire things are shut down and things are slowly opened back up. Mishor does some serious reevaluation of his staff. Dafid Dentill goes away and I don't know who takes his place, but there has to be a second person who specializes in literature at Engama.
I guess I better figure that out. I don't feel it is significant. It will have to be mentioned because Dentill goes back to Kamenlohn to deal with his consequences for letting the arsonists in, aiding and abetting. Sings like a canary, throws everyone under the bus. Tries to say "I didn't think they would be doing that" and trying to abstain from all responsibility.
So post fire there are a few key reactions. Ashtim DeBauin, two of the arsonists are DeBauins and how does he fee about that? He's a 14 year-old kid. Does he double down or have a slight change of heart? I suspect a change of heart. They almost burned down half the school and put all of them in danger. The arsonists didn't think about the safety of others in the building. They just wanted everyone out and tried to get to Mishor's office. Mishor didn't advertise that his office was the target, no need to mention that when the obvious thing was that they wanted to blame Sray for the fire.
So we have that portion. I think Ashtim has a little bit of a change of heart. He's never going to be buddy-buddy with Sray, that's just the way it is, he's kind of a jerk. She may get a sincere apology out of him yet because the idea that they nearly destroyed this whole school and could have injured a bunch of people just to stick it to Sray didn't sit well with him. We may just get an apology from him.
Sray put herself in danger in order to put out the fire and she almost didn't do it. Because then of course they all saw how long her recovery took after doing it. She was out for two or three days and it took a couple days to get her strong enough to be able to remember what exactly happened before so she could tell them about somebody missing (it was Dafid Dentill). Dafid, poor guy, you got in over your head. I don't know if he plays a part in anything else further down the road whether back in Ela'yas or Envawn. I think he is Storinan and Envawnan, can't remember, that's why I write these things down.
Sray coming to the store. Poor girl, she's just mentally exhausted. She really needs to recover more from her ordeal, but anyways. She's there and kind of just pauses for a moment. I'm sure Tos knows when she usually comes so I don't think he would be lolly-gagging. He comes out, don't know if it is like after first term. I don't know if she would instigate.
I suspect it has been ... usually they travel on Remstan. It might be two days after the event. Thinking, stewing, contemplating.
So there's a vague thought that Sherod goes to the Hillenbohns, tells them what happened. I think Tos would be tempted to follow him, but I think out of respect for the fact that it is her family and they should know first he may have managed to contain himself on that one.
So Tos would be waiting for Sherod to come back. They were attacked, decided to turn back rather than risk anything else going forward. They plan on getting there, taking care of things, spin around, reinforcements, come back. Should be home tomorrow, not the day after. More information is coming. Not Kenbin, they would probably send the information to Sherod at Sray's preference.
She doesn't like anyone knowing, though it is pretty easy to figure out where they are. The Hillenbohns wouldn't be the only ones off of that road, there has to be a couple others. Sherod has been there for a year so he would know which one would be the Hillenbohn's so he would know which road belonged to everyone else. That and Teigan met him on the road to Engama. It isn't like their road branches off into five others, it is a singleton, goes to the house, might to past it and branch off to other parts of the property.
So we have him explaining to Tos what happened. Tos stewing. No specifics on who was injured.
Pretty sure Mishor and others would stop at Sherod's house. I don't think Tos would go over there while they are present, but would hit up Sherod afterwards. I think if we show Tos intercepting Sherod we should at least mention that Sherod paused on his way back home to tell Tos.
We have ... what do we have. We still have Sray and Tos trying to figure out how they get to their conversation and I don't know ... "How are you? I half expected your mother or Janef to come in instead."
"Well, can't stay on the farm forever."
She could try.
Letters to mail. Actually met some friends! I don't know if she would feel inclined to tell him "yeah there's this woman who knew my mother and this girl Kem who is Kallon's age."
Aldai, that's a Lunaisan name if I ever heard one.
"Lunaisan?"
"You know, the island Northwest of Alast?"
"People live on that?"
"Not anymore I think. One of the mountains errupted just before the wars. So far as I am aware of the survivors moved off and most of them settled in Ela'yas."
Silfiya DeTowr.
Tos knows about Lunais maybe a little bit. I imagine the Savins had trade with it while there were still people on it. Jon Savin came from the North. The Savins were Northern Ela'yan to begin with. Jon migrated with his family and others down the coastline. Yeah they would be at least surface familiar with Lunais being a place where poeple used to live. Lunaisans were probably good at sailing. They abandoned Lunais after that the last erruption, territfied them pretty well. And then the question was a single or a series of eruptions. I imagine if it caused the whole island to be abandoned it was a series over the course of weeks if not months. It wasn't going to be livable for a long time. About the time people were thinking about going back you had the wars break out and you aren't traveleing through Beheil anymore and you're having to leave port from Ela'yas or Kamenlohn, a farther trip and would it be worth trying to resettle?
For the Mothers it was worth it because where else could they go? I don't know how loyal the Mothers are to the founder of the experiments. I don't know if they did AI or not. I don't know if their technology would be such that it would be a thing. But anyways, you have that.
See if he didn't know what happened Tos would be prone to giving Sray a hard time about the letters. Knowing what happened he would be super sympathetic and not really asking any questions. Because he'd be comparing the letters he got, little tiny, to Silfiya's super thick one.
So it's early in the season. I don't think they would ... the Hillenbohns have their own way of doing things and are usually the first ones that have crops on offer. They get things going before the final frost. Early starts. She has some stuff, probably just a crate or two.
She's been doing stuff so I think she would just be shoving them with her foot. She wouldn't be using her body like usual to compensate for her left arm and Tos would note that.
"Did you do something to your arm?"
She would pause, stare at him. Run her tongue along her teeth because that's what she does when she's thinking about things. Not something somebody else would notice, but since we're following her perspective we are aware of it, rubbing her tongue back and forth as she thinks.
She'd be thinking. How to answer that question. He's probably going to figure out anyway.
Obviously I've already worked some of these things out, but here it is anyway. Part three to come when I can sit down and listen to the last 30 minutes.