• Solo • Planning for planting

[Jachiel]

12 Cylus 717

Jachiel picked up the quill and tucked it under the glowing ring on his right arm in order to free up his hand for the ink. The ring of light turned out to not even be strong enough to hold a feather in place. Jachiel sighed when the feather quill fluttered to the ground. He set the ink pot on the table, retrieved the quill, fetched the journal in which he kept the records for his - his! - farm, and slid into a chair. The door and windows were closed against the cold of Cylus, and while the fire gave a little light as well as its warmth, it wasn't enough to see fine detail like writing by.

He'd expected to have to use a lantern or a candle to see by, but now - he scowled at the glowing ring hovering above his upper arm - he carried a light wherever he went, and worse, in this place that detested Immortals, one that marked him out as a divinity lover. Or at least one loved by the divine. The ring wouldn't go away, wouldn't stop glowing, wouldn't even fit neatly under a shirt. Couldn't even make itself useful by letting him hook things on it. He poked the light with a finger, then caught his right wrist with his left hand and and lifted his arm up to rest on the table. That gave him a position where the light from the ring could shine down onto the journal page. At its brightest, like now, it was about as good as having a candle there, without dripping wax on anything, or needing to renew it at any point.

He turned to the first page, and the slightly smudged map he had made from his memory of the farm when he first arrived, and marking which crops had been planted where, and which plots had been left fallow. He studied it for a moment, then turned the page. Here was the map of the second set of crops, the ones that he himself had planted. The maps helped him keep a record of what had been where, so that he didn't plant the same crop on the same patch of land too often. The land did better if the crops were rotated regularly. So, for that matter, did the crops themselves. Crops were like people. Some took, and some gave, and some did both, but in the end you couldn't take forever without running out of stuff to take, and you couldn't give forever without running out of stuff to give. He turned to a clean page, picked up the quill pen and dipped it carefully in the ink. It was time to draw a new map for the first of this year's crops. If he could get them planned out now, while there was next to no outside work that could be done, then once the arc turned on, and Ashan came round again, he could get on with ploughing and planting without having to waste precious work hours planning it out.

[Jachiel]

He nudged the journal round until it sat at an angle, then crooked his wrist so that he could mostly draw and write without getting ink all over his hand. He wrote the date at the top of the page, and then drew a shaky line for the boundary of his farm. His tongue poked at the corner of his mouth as he dipped the pen again and began the shorter lines that marked out the edges of the fields. Despite his care, the side of his hand rubbed against one of the boundary lines before it was quite dry and smudged it. He growled a curse under his breath, set the quill down, and pushed away from the table while the page dried completely. Plodding over to the fire, he lifted the lid on the pot of bean and barley soup simmering there and sniffed. It needed at least another break before the beans would be fit to eat, but there didn't seem to be much flavour there yet either. That was one more thing he needed to see to at some point today.

He replaced the lid, knelt, and eased another log onto the coals. It didn't do to neglect a fire, they needed to eat just as much as people and animals did. He really didn't want this fire to go out in the middle of cooking his dinner, not to mention keeping the worst of the chill out of the cold Cylus air. He knelt there a moment longer, reveling in the heat, then made himself get up again and return to the table. He touched the edge of one line with his thumb, then checked it for ink. There was none - not on his thumb at least. That meant that the ink was dry. He eased back into his former position, then checked the previous map. Crop rotation did indeed mean a rotation, due to different crop needs. Beans and peas gave back a lot to the soil, so they went on the fallow section to help it recover even more. He considered, then marked in beans - the army would probably prefer them. Turnips prefered a good rich soil, and made a good all round crop, so they went on the patch that had previously held beans. Grains tended to be neutral, and didn't mind about soil that had been depleted a bit by the turnips, so he could plant that where the turnips had previously grown. Judging by the last lot of crops, oats were still going to be popular again, so he marked those in. Onions were always useful too, and like a lot of roots - although unlike turnips - they actually preferred a soil that wasn't rich, so they followed the grains onto that field. And then, of course, once a patch of land had been through all four crops, it needed a break, so it sat fallow for a rotation. Fallow, but not unused, because the ox got turned out on it to simultaneously graze and manure it.

[Jachiel]

It was so much easier, Jachiel thought with a wry smile, not to have to split up the functions of intake and output where the ox was concerned, although at this time of the arc, it was all but inevitable. It was too cold to leave the ox out, which meant it had to be fed, and the resulting bull um - manure - had to be cleared away and stored for later use. It was always mildly amusing to observe people and mentally tally up how many male cows they must own in order to have the - regular supplies - that they so obviously required for daily use. He took another long look at the new page and new map summing up the next set of plantings, then pushed back from the table with a sigh and reached for his coat. He watched as the ring of light popped through the sleeve without even bothering to damage the fabric. Wretched thing. Still, it saved him carrying a lantern out into the dark. It didn't do a thing to keep him warm, of course, but it also wasn't going to be the kind of fire risk around hay and straw that a lantern - or worse, a candle - would be.

That meant, he supposed, that it did have a few minor advantages, but he didn't expect anthying else useful to come of it. He was a farmer now, not a soldier. It wasn't as if he could order corn plants to come to attention, or the ox to march in formation behind him. A bubble of laughter formed in his throat at the idea, and he grinned as he made his way along the path to the shed where the ox lived. The scent of hay greeted him as he eased his way through the temporary walls and into the section where the ox had been tethered. He cleaned up one end, then doled out some of the hay he had made last arc at the other. The ox munched contentedly as he looked it over, and then added clean straw to the floor to insulate the cold seeping up from the packed earth floor. All the way through he work, the ring of light shone cleanly, no brighter than a candle would have, but without the flickers and resulting flickering shadows that so often unsettled animals. Jachiel sighed. He had no idea what the immortal had been thinking when she grabbed his arms. He doubted that he ever would know, but he was stuck with it. "I'm no hero," he grumbled at the ring. "If you expect me to act like one, you're going to be disappointed. I'm a farmer. No-one sits idle on a farm. They're expected to make themselves useful. You aren't the exception to that either, you hear?" There was no reply. Then again, he hadn't really expected one.

[Quio]

Overview

Comments: This for me was an enjoyable thread to read. Job threads always threaten, in my experience, to be on the boring side, but in this case the writing was fresh and simple and Jachiel stayed focused throughout. There was also a lot of knowledge to be gained from his thoughts, which is always a plus.

I liked his reaction to his mark of Celarion and his "grumbling" at Qylios, as you put it. "I'm no hero," was an especially good line, succintly summarizing his thoughts. I was intrigued to see him using the mark as a light source; that is such a good idea and it makes so much sense that I'm almost mad I didn't think of it. >.> I may have to steal that sometime if you don't mind.

Structure: There were no structural errors that I saw. All-in-all the thread was well written and well edited.

JACHIEL

CS: CS is approved and up-to-date.

Knowledge:
Agriculture: Certain crops deplete the land
Agriculture: Peas and beans help depleted soil recover nutrients
Agriculture: Turnips prefer nutrient-rich soil
Agriculture: Grains are neutral crops that don't require soil too rich
Agriculture: Onions can be planted in soil that's low in nutrients
Agriculture: Fields need periods of rest after sustaining crops
Agriculture: Oxen can be used to graze and manure fields left to fallow
Agriculture: Manure can be stored to use later
Animal Husbandry: Animals are harder to feed in the winter
Animal Husbandry: Mucking out a stable
Animal Husbandry: Straw keeps the stable warm in winter
Animal Husbandry: Using fire around animals can unsettle them
Cartography: Creating maps of farmland
Cartography: Wait for the ink to dry or it will smudge
Celarion: The mark's rings are not physical
Celarion: Rings can be used as a light source
Celarion: The rings of light cannot be extinguished
Celarion: The mark does not give warmth
Cooking: Making bean and barley soup
Cooking: Knowing when the beans are done
Cooking: Tending the fire
Etzos: Dangerous to have a mark in Etzos
Field Craft: Fires require constant fuel
Logistics: Planning ahead for the new season
Logistics: Beans are good army crops

Loot: A hand-drawn map of the farmland. You may also want to deduct money for the materials used, unless you already acquired them in other threads: paper, ink, hay/feed, straw.
Injuries: None.
Fame: None.
Devotion: +1 for "praying" to Qylios and +2 for illuminating dark spaces (using the mark). I consider communing with an immortal in any way that is not direct blasphemy a prayer (of sorts). Especially since Jachiel has her mark and was speaking to her through it.

Story: 5/5
Collaboration: N/A
Structure: 5/5
Magic: You CANNOT use the XP awarded for magic.

Feel free to PM if you have any comments, questions, or concerns!