23rd Cylus 718
"Arlo?" Vega called as she ran down the stairs in the Wanderlust. She was running, but not in a bad way and her voice sounded happy and eager, far from panic stricken. "Are you here? Oh, there you are!" Catching sight of him, she dropped her bag on the floor and flung herself into his arms. She'd been gone maybe two breaks, but since the situation with the death forged rose (otherwise known as Wilma the Wonder Weed), Vega had been more prone to being demonstrative of her affection. Very sure that he would catch her as she jumped into his arms, she concentrated on kissing him, but she had a grin on her face. "I bought us stuff. An' I made you somethin', I hope you like it."
Looking at him, she raised an eyebrow, "What are you doin'? You looked awful innocent, an' that's never quite right." She beamed at him, bent to scoop up the bag which she'd taken out and moved into the small living area they had. "So, I've been to the Spirit of Adventure. The shop that Friell, him of the doe eyes, stinky cheese owns?" Arlo had expressed all sorts of negative thoughts about doe-eyed Friell, which Vega had thought was just him being difficult. "Cos, I figured, we're gonna be gone from here soon, so it was worth to see what other good stuff 'e had in his shop. An' there were a few things." In fairness, though, she'd been going out every trial for the last ten-trial at about the same time. Why that might be, she didn't say yet.
"So, he had some stuff that I think we could find useful, so I bought it." Vega rummaged in the bag and pulled out a small gem. "This, it glows whenever it's pointin' north. Plus, it's pretty." She put it in his hand and watched his reaction. She genuinely thought that this might be simply useful for them both. "And this.. look." From the impossible bag, she pulled a staff, with a fist-sized rock on top of it. It was glowing. "Whenever it's dark, it glows, like a campfire sort of light. I thought that could be useful indoors, save 'avin' candles in places, that kind of thing?" There were other things, she said, she'd bought some clothes for them both, from Friell, but then she'd gone somewhere else.
It was a strange little tea shop, Vega said, filled with books. "The Scholars' Nook, it's called. You been there?" The woman there, Caz, who owned the place and her brother Flea had been very kind, Vega said. She'd spent some time there, over the last few trials, and Caz had helped her with some books that she wanted to get. Those were what she pulled out next. Five books in total. "They're books written by people who travelled Idalos, stories of what they saw, where they went. Some of them are well old, but that's just more int'restin' innit?" There were scrolls of maps, too, of places over Idalos, six of them in total. She gave him time to pour over those, let him look and then, she frowned and shook her head. "That's only five books, 'ang on, I missed one."
That one, she put into his hands. It had been a blank journal, much like the ones he had. But it had writing on the outside, engraved on there somehow and it was that writing which might draw his attention. He'd been working with her, after all, and he recognised Vega's writing by now. Her progress in reading was slow, but steady. She found it hard, harder than it should be and she had to work in short bursts, because chasing the letters around on the page was so difficult. They moved in front of her eyes, she told him, like they danced. But slowly and with a lot of patience on both their parts, she was getting there.
Written in her careful and still almost child-like writing on the front of the book were the words:
Inside there was written, painstakingly slowly over a ten trial period, the story of Geoupagus as he'd told her it once, but it went beyond that. First, it was illustrated, though Vega was quick to tell him that she hadn't done the drawings, that was a woman called Maz in the Nook. But the story told of two naughty granitees, Plonker and Dweeb were the granitees in question; there were illustrations of them, Plonker being a stone with a lot of very red hair and Dweeb wore a very specific tri-corn hat and had an eyepatch. Those two granitees were very naughty and had lots of adventures which Geoupagus did not approve of. They fought a Spurmalurma in Desnind, they chased down bandits in Ne'haer and met a Bruxon. Through the two granitees, with a number of spelling errors and mis-placed letters, Vega had written the story of them as two naughty rocks, travelling the world together. "Caz helped me loads, an' it took forever an' there's loads of mistakes in it, but I wanted to say thank you." Vega looked, because she was, completely serious. It was a rare expression on her face. "For never givin' up on me, bein' my rock an' for all the adventures. There's loads still to come, too, look. There's room."
Looking at him, she raised an eyebrow, "What are you doin'? You looked awful innocent, an' that's never quite right." She beamed at him, bent to scoop up the bag which she'd taken out and moved into the small living area they had. "So, I've been to the Spirit of Adventure. The shop that Friell, him of the doe eyes, stinky cheese owns?" Arlo had expressed all sorts of negative thoughts about doe-eyed Friell, which Vega had thought was just him being difficult. "Cos, I figured, we're gonna be gone from here soon, so it was worth to see what other good stuff 'e had in his shop. An' there were a few things." In fairness, though, she'd been going out every trial for the last ten-trial at about the same time. Why that might be, she didn't say yet.
"So, he had some stuff that I think we could find useful, so I bought it." Vega rummaged in the bag and pulled out a small gem. "This, it glows whenever it's pointin' north. Plus, it's pretty." She put it in his hand and watched his reaction. She genuinely thought that this might be simply useful for them both. "And this.. look." From the impossible bag, she pulled a staff, with a fist-sized rock on top of it. It was glowing. "Whenever it's dark, it glows, like a campfire sort of light. I thought that could be useful indoors, save 'avin' candles in places, that kind of thing?" There were other things, she said, she'd bought some clothes for them both, from Friell, but then she'd gone somewhere else.
It was a strange little tea shop, Vega said, filled with books. "The Scholars' Nook, it's called. You been there?" The woman there, Caz, who owned the place and her brother Flea had been very kind, Vega said. She'd spent some time there, over the last few trials, and Caz had helped her with some books that she wanted to get. Those were what she pulled out next. Five books in total. "They're books written by people who travelled Idalos, stories of what they saw, where they went. Some of them are well old, but that's just more int'restin' innit?" There were scrolls of maps, too, of places over Idalos, six of them in total. She gave him time to pour over those, let him look and then, she frowned and shook her head. "That's only five books, 'ang on, I missed one."
That one, she put into his hands. It had been a blank journal, much like the ones he had. But it had writing on the outside, engraved on there somehow and it was that writing which might draw his attention. He'd been working with her, after all, and he recognised Vega's writing by now. Her progress in reading was slow, but steady. She found it hard, harder than it should be and she had to work in short bursts, because chasing the letters around on the page was so difficult. They moved in front of her eyes, she told him, like they danced. But slowly and with a lot of patience on both their parts, she was getting there.
Written in her careful and still almost child-like writing on the front of the book were the words:
"Geoupagus & The Two Naughy Granitees"
