Re: Easing Through Eaulir - 119 4A

[Nara-pyon]

Amir toddled over and sat next to the hole, poking his hand down as Kyrie and Eron had done, and when his fingers brushed again the rock he blinked and looked up at his father in surprise. He simply stared at Daeron, blinking, and it was as if he had no idea what to think or how to react.

"What's wrong, Amir?" Daeron asked, immediately concerned. He set his shovel aside and knelt next to his son. "Something bothering you?"

Amir blinked at him a few more times, then looked down at the rock. He poked it again, then shuddered and held his hand to his belly as if trying to warm it.

[Kara Winters]

"Is something wrong with your hand?" Eron asked the boy holding out a hand to the child.

He was a bit worried, really, he should know better than to poke at rocks without knowing what they were, and now Amir had done so (following his example) and seemed to have done something to his hand. Though, he and Kyrie weren't affected, as far as he knew.

But for all Eron knew this rock could be a type of mineral with that reacted to the environment somehow.

[Nara-pyon]

Daeron picked up Amir and set him in his lap. "Hey, what's happening?" he asked him gently.

Amir pouted at him and put his arms around his neck. "Like Ira," he mumbled into Daeron's shirt collar.

"Like Ira?" Daeron repeated, surprised.

Earendil frowned and stepped towards the hole. "Anyone have a rag and some water?" he asked, peering at the rock.

[Kara Winters]

"I have a handkerchief," Eron murmured as he went for his pockets.

He kept one on him because he tended to touch and feel dirt a lot when he worked outside. Lin on the other hand handed her husband a flask.

"What are you thinking?" she asked.

[Nara-pyon]

"Just a hunch," Earendil murmured, accepting the items. He uncapped the flask and wet the handkerchief, then handed the flask back to Lin. Kneeling next to the hole, he reached down and wiped away the dirt that dusted the visible rock. It took a few minutes to get it clear enough to really see, but when it was, Earendil looked up at Daeron and grinned.

"Littinum," he said, his tone making it clear that he expected the one word to explain it all.

Daeron blinked in surprise, and Shiro and Kaito simply stared in awe. The others were perplexed, Kyrie included, and Andarien leaned forward to see what his father was talking about. All he could see was something that shone where the sun reflected on it and showed different colours where the sun's reflection didn't blind him.

[Kara Winters]

Lin touched her pendant gently, she was aware of the metal's properties as weapons. Both Triton and Yukito owned weapons made from the metal. For Triton he gained a very reliable and strong weapon to fight with, and Yukito gained an amazing weapon to channel his magic.

"I'm... not familiar with the metal," Eron admitted a bit perplexed.

"It's a metal, as far as anyone can tell, only found in this world, not in Gaia," Lin replied.

[Nara-pyon]

"If it is in Gaia," Shiro spoke up, "no one has discovered it yet." He looked at Kyrie. "And you've never heard of it?"

Kyrie shook her head. "Never. And if Corazin hasn't introduced it to Andarien, then no one in Caras Galadhon knows about it - which tells me no one in the continent has."

She cocked her head curiously. "What is it?"

Earendil looked at Daeron. "A rare and incredibly valuable metal, more valuable than any other substance that exists, at least that is known. It's extremely difficult to work with, my father is the only one I know who knows how to do so. It's strong and makes for the best weapons - absorbs magic ... that's why I first thought that might be what we're dealing with here. Eron's magic couldn't sense it. Amir said it felt like Ira - I don't even think the word 'cold' is in his vocabulary, at least not so that he understands it. As half White Elf and half Fire Elf, he can't feel cold normally, somehow the magic of both his lineages lives on in him despite his mixed blood. Yet when he touched the metal, he felt cold."

He stood up again and brushed his hands together. "How big is the deposit, Eron?" he asked. "If we can extract it, then even if we can't work with it, it will be the most valuable non-living find on this trip, no matter what happens from here on in."

[Kara Winters]

Now that Eron knew he was looking for a metal and not a cave, he could guess better what he was looking for.

"Fairly big," he murmured, "It runs a length along here."

He made a sweeping motion, starting from one end to another.

"But I'm having trouble telling how deep it goes because of it's properties. However, length alone, I think it's a relatively large deposit."

[Nara-pyon]

Daeron let out a low whistle. "If we could get that all out, it'd pay for the trip and the ship ten times over," he murmured.

By this time, Andarien was down on his knees next to the littinum that was showing and running his fingers over its visible surface. "I can't wait to try it out," he breathed, his grin wider than it had been in a long time.

"The question is," Shoneah pointed out, "how to get it out. What kind of supplies do we have? With only two shovels it would take us far longer than simply the Winter to dig out even a portion of it."

"We can make more!" Andarien beamed.

"But how would we even break it apart?" Shoneah pressed. "We can't just pick it all up at once."

[Kara Winters]

"I don't know..." Eron admitted, "If we had pickaxes could we even break it out like that? What is the normal mining procedure for this kind of metal?"

He glanced over at Dareon and Earendil since they seemed to know more about it.

[Nara-pyon]

Daeron and Earendil exchanged a blank glance and then both of them shrugged simultaneously.

"No idea," Daeron said flatly. "The only tools I know of that can do anything at all with it are tools made of littinum. Like diamonds - you need the proper tools."

"Perhaps then it would be a better idea to find a smaller deposit so that we can dig it out and try to make some tools," Shoneah suggested logically. "Eron, are there any smaller deposits anywhere? Maybe the size of a ... a dinner plate or something?"

[Kara Winters]

Eron moved away from the large deposit they found and took a deep breath. Now that he knew what he was looking for, it was much easier to find.

"A few paces away in that direction," Eron replied, "There's a much smaller deposits. They're kind of like pock marks in the earth since it feels like nothing is there."

[Nara-pyon]

Shoneah beamed happily.

"Good. Then let's get some of that and Andarien and I can experiment with it," she said decisively. She reached for one of the shovels.

Andarien was right beside her. "Just show us where!" he told Eron excitedly.

[Kara Winters]

Eron nodded and led the way to the smaller deposit. Like before he had to pace a bit because the nature of the metal tended to throw his senses off a bit. Once he pinpointed the area he thought would be good for them to check out, he stopped.

"Right... here." he finally replied.

[Nara-pyon]

Shoneah grinned and started digging immediately, and Andarien joined in. He wasn't sure what he was doing at first, but Earendil gave him a few tips and then he was digging all right.

As they dug, a crashing sound reached their ears from the trees around them, and those with weapons turned towards it, drawing their weapons as they turned.

[Kara Winters]

Eron froze as he stretched his senses out. He didn't have a weapon on him (he never got quite use to always carrying one around).

Drawing her sword, Lin scanned the area warily while trying to place the sound she heard. It was so startling that she had jumped slightly.

[Nara-pyon]

"Hey, Kyrie," came Rose's voice from the direction of the rustling. The girl herself appeared a second later, and she stopped short when she saw the others looking at her with their weapons drawn. Fear flashed through her eyes, and she froze completely, her fists tightening on the branches she had been pushing out of her way.

A collective sigh of relief went up. "Rose," Kyrie murmured, sheathing her blade immediately. "You startled us."

She smiled reassuringly and motioned for her to come closer. "What's going on?"

Rose swallowed hard and took a deep breath. "Someone's coming ..."

[Kara Winters]

"Someone's coming?" Lin inquired, "You saw someone coming or we're getting guests?"

It was hard to tell, both was possible these days. The angel put her sword away as she asked this.

[Nara-pyon]

Rose took a hesitant step forward. "I ... don't know," she admitted. "Someone was coming up the beach ... Mirania told me to come get you."

She didn't know what Lin meant by guests - who would they know here? And they hadn't invited anyone, so it just didn't make sense that they would be guests.

Of course, she didn't know the history of the rest of the group well enough yet.

[Kara Winters]

"So a potential guest..." Lin paused and added, "Hopefully."

Eron smiled wryly at that comment, it was a policy that seemed to serve the little angel well. Just treat everyone as a guest until proven otherwise. There might have also been a bit of sarcasm in there as well.

"Well..." he glanced at the hole that was being dug, "It's not like that is going anywhere. We can come back later."

[Nara-pyon]

Kyrie smiled. "Well, if you'd like to keep going," she told Shoneah and Andarien, "you know how to get back, right? Or I could just go ..."

"Perhaps it would be best if we all went," Earendil suggested. He trusted Shoneah, but he wouldn't put it past Andarien to become so engrossed with the littinum that he would stop paying attention to everything around him, which would leave both him and Shoneah vulnerable. "Like Eron said, we can come back later."

"I'm curious to meet this person, I have to admit," Shiro said meekly, raising one hand slightly as if in class.

[Kara Winters]

"So am I," Lin admitted with a slight chuckle at the way Shiro spoke up, "Anyone who purposely comes to us, is going to be interesting anyways."

Just hopefully in a good way.

[Nara-pyon]

"Well, the Water Elves are usually pretty level-headed, so I'm sure it'll be fine," Kyrie grinned. "And now Earendil has a place of interest to add to his map."

She winked at him, and Earendil chuckled in appreciation. It was rare that he had something particularly interesting to add to maps. Usually it was just forest, village, town, river ... but this was an important find, definitely something worth making note of.

Andarien and Shoneah picked up their shovels and got ready to go. The others were ready already, since they'd had nothing out of their bags.

"Go ahead, Rose," Kyrie smiled at her. "Lead the way."

Rose did as she was bidden, and turned to lead the way back to the tent and the beach.

[Kara Winters]

There were already people outside the tent by the time they got there. Miyuki waved at the group as she saw them come up. She had gone out the moment she heard someone was coming.

As long as it was safe, she didn't miss out the chance to meet someone, and as far as she knew it was probably going to be safe.

Holly was outside too, but she was waiting for Rose more than anything else.

[Nara-pyon]

By the time those who had gone into the jungle returned, the only one who wasn't outside - unsurprisingly - was Daenis. Even Mailon had come out to greet their visitor. Rose moved to stand next to Holly, with whom she still felt the most comfortable, and she pushed her hood back from her face to get a better look at the newcomer.

It was a male Water Elf who was approaching them. He was tall, thinner than most elves, and like Aennan, his skin was pale and translucent. Blue and purplish-red veins showed through his skin, giving him a blue appearance until he was close enough for them to see the veins clearly. Watery teal sclera camouflaged pale blue irises, giving him an almost alien appearance, an effect intensified by the white-blue hair that seemed to float around his shoulders as though he were underwater.

His attire was very different from what the others were used to seeing Water Elves wearing in Caras Galadhon. While in the western country the Water Elves dressed like any of the other races, here the man was wearing little more than a strip of cloth around his waist. At least it was evident that he wasn't carrying any weapons, which made even the most anxious of the group feel more comfortable.

"Greetings," he said, rather solemnly, as he approached the group. He touched his fingers lightly to his chest right where his heart would be and nodded his head slightly to them. "I am Atl. I have come from the settlement of Eaulir, three miles west of here."

"Hello, Atl," Kyrie smiled, stepping forward to speak for the group as she usually did. "I am Kyrie, and these are my companions."

She went around and introduced them all, including who was related to whom and how, and then the others had the chance to greet the newcomer and add whatever they liked.

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