Day 41

Today is not shaping up to be a good day.  Greg and I won't be able to have lunch together.  I have no idea where I'll be after going to Central Station with Gavin, and Greg needs to go to Sacred Gove.  The Mayor is getting anxious for kingdom residents to be allowed to visit there.  Heck, I'm anxious to be allowed to visit there.  Neither of us fancies meeting at Gobholme or Glitterstone Mines for a picnic.

Gavin is excited about going to Central Station to look for the relic fragment.  It doesn't take too long to find it and I also find two Goblin Herringbone Gears and a Silverleaf Pendant.  The relic fragment is part of the Atrium Verdant Relic.  Just one more fragment to find and the Skycrystal Atriums will be verdant as well as lush.  Gavin walks back to Town Hall with me, and I give him a hat, spyglass, and belt to complete his Traveler Set.

Brad, the miner Goblin, wants me to exchange three Goblin Gear Sets.  I don't know what's in it for him, but I'll get ten Artifact Boxes for each set.  Thanks to my trip to Central Station, I can exchange one set.  I now have enough boxes to help Triffledore sort some more of the oddities he sells to people.  While I'm at the exchange, I also hand in two sets of Pendants and receive twenty tool boxes so that I can also help Old Man Seth.

I decide to see Triffledore first.  Boxes are soon filled with trickets.  At the Wingferry, I separate the broken widgets and doodads from the working ones, and Seth searches for Fahleed's line of credit, which he has misplaced and which Fahleed needs to open a small shop in Gobholme.  He can't find it anywhere, but thinks he must have dropped it at Rosetum Gardens when he went there with Quinn.

No problem.  Lucky and I will go there and find it.  Not only do I find the letter of credit, I fnd some Nectar Dew,  a jar of Radiant Dust, and a Goblin Worm Gear, things that are needed to help complete other work orders.  Seth thanks me for my help.  He also apologizes to Fahleed and me for causing trouble. 

The wars with Dreadmyre have taken their toll on Seth and his grandchildren.  He's so forgetful, Ria is so serious and Quinn dashes from one project to another, as if he's trying to experience as much of life as he can before it's too late. 

Lucky and I return to Town Hall.  I need to try once gain to make some sense out of all the work orders and come up with a plan of action.  To my surprise, Greg is there.  And he's not looking very happy.

He tells me he will be spending the next couple of nights at the barracks.  He's not happy with some of the men's attitudes and lack of disipline and feels that his presence will encourage them to get their act together.  No problem, I tell him.  It won't take me long to pack some things and...

Greg frowns.  He is staying at the barracks, I will remain in Landsong Village.  Now I'm the one who's frowning.  I demand to know why he doesn't want me to accompany him.

He explains that it isn't safe for me to be there.  His hours will be erratic and he won't be able to escort me to and from my job.  Before I can argue, he adds that it would also be inconvenient.

Inconvenient?  Just what was he planning on doing that it would be inconvenient to have his wife around?

Greg tries to explain that he's just thinking about my comfort.  His quarters are cramped, he won't have time to spend with me.  He pleads with me to be reasonable.

Oh, I see.  Not only am I an inconvenience, I'm an unreasonable inconvenience.

Greg digs a deeper hole and tells me to stop acting like a child.

Right.  I'm a childish, unreasonable inconvenience.  Do you have any other complaints about me?

He sighs and turns to leave.  I tell him to say hello to Miss Sunstone Pendant while he's there.  Another sigh and he's gone.

I spend the next hour seething.  Trying to find a work order that can be completed doesn't improve my mood.  I'm tempted to approve a building upgrade, but the kingdom needs all the income it can get, and closing a place for construction would affect our cash flow.

Ah, here's something I can do.  I'll go see Quinn and adopt a pegacorn.  The pegacorn is very ill and Quinn suggests setting up a resting spot for it next to the Squabbit Den.  He also contracts Cecil, who will instruct me regarding what items I need to find to prepare potions and medicines to nurse the pegacorn back to health.  It will be a long process but it will give me something to do while my husband is busy elsewhere. 

Busy doing what, a little voice inside my head keeps asking.  And with whom?  Shut up, I tell the little voice.

What shall we name her, Lucky?  How about Penny?  Lucky squeaks his approval of the name.  Let's hope Greg approves.  Maybe I should have asked him first.  On the other hand, I can't ask him if he isn't here.  And he didn't forbid me to get a pegacorn.  Anyway, it's pointless to worry about it now.  I'll deal with it when he comes home.  

If he does come home, the little voice taunts me.


 

Urk!! It didn't take too long for them to have their first big marital fight, did it?  I guess the honeymoon would be over if they had one.    But really, B didn't think, did she.  The barracks absolutely are no place for her, especially is Greg thinks the troops are slacking off and/or have a bad attitude.

Day 42

So what was the big rush to get married if we weren't going to be together?  Really, Lucky, he might have told me it would be like this.  Wouldn't be quite so bad if this place had telephones, or e-mail, or some other way to communicate other than by carrier pigeon.  Maybe he's left me a note at the office.

My desk is as I had left it.  No note.  No new work orders.  The maps are still the same, so no chance of visiting Sacred Grove.  So what shall we do today?  More poster glue?  Why not.  But first, let's approve this work order for the Mayor regarding Cloudspire Meadows.  Lucky squeaks his disapproval.  What's the problem?  Greg said not to upgrade anything, he didn't say not to build anything new.

I find some more poster glue at Forgotten Glen.  I'm bored looking for poster glue and I doubt anybody will be surprising me with a picnic.  I decide to check on the construction at Cloudspire Meadows.

It's done!  Ria is so happy.  She wants me to have the honor of being the first person to see the flowers.  While admiring the flowers, we hear a strange, buzzing sound.  Gazing upward, I can see what looks like one of Troglid's Flying Machines.  It's flying very low and headed toward Landsong Village.  Linea appears and says the Mayor is very concerned and wants to see me immediately.

On the way to Town Hall, I hear a loud crash.  What's left of the flying machine is scattered in front of the General Store and Town Hall.  Miraculously, nobody was hurt and it missed hitting any buildings.  It did take down the Yura Festival pennants and banners.  I mumble something about clouds and silver linings under my breath.

Executive decision time.  I declare that the Yura Festival is officially over.  All visitors must leave the kingdom.  Ria and Quinn are assigned the task of checking on the pegacorn and inhabitants of the Squabbit Den and keeping them calm.

Greg arrives and asks if I'm okay.  Of course I am, I tell him.  Didn't you say I'd be safe in Landsong Village?  He sighs and shakes his head.  I ask him to take charge of taking down the remaining festival banners and pennants.  And put the festival lamps and statues in storage, I add.  The festival is over.  Pick out the cheapest statues you can find to replace the Yura statues.

The pilot of the no longer flying machine is Leodici, a friend of the Mayor.  He was on his way to Gizmotek and will need help repairing his apparatus and finding his cargo.  I assure him I will do everything in my power to get him airborne and on his way.  He tells me he needs golden oak (got it) and poster glue (groan).

I head off to Forgotten Glen yet again.  When I return with the poster glue, the Mayor informs me that he's found some people who witnessed the crash and perhaps they can be of some help.   I talk to two of them and they tell me where they believe some of the missing cargo might have landed.

I search around the Landsong Pedesatl and find...typewriter keys!  A typewriter doesn't begin to compare with a computer, but if I had a typewriter, it would make my job so much easier.  These keys use the Goblin alphabet but maybe if I ask nicely, Leodici could make a typewriter with a QWERTY keyboard.  I find some more keys near the stream.

Linea informs me that debris was seen to fall in Rosetum Gardens, Mystic Copse and Apricus Plaza.  I find one typewriter key in each location.  I also collect some other useful items such as nectar dew, blueprints, fairy dust, a goblin worm gear, and more.

I return the typewriter keys to Leodici and drop large hints about I wish I had a typewriter.  Leodici tells me he like to start repairing his flying machine. Could I supply him with some golden oak, obsidian and bolgite?  I can and I do. Next he requests some Goblin Gears, specifically worms, herringbones, and sprockets.  It's getting late.  I'll try to find some tomorrow, I tell him.

Back at the office, Ria and Greg are waiting for me.  Ria reports that the pegacorn and the other animals are fine.  She also has filled in a request to expand Cloudspire Meadows.  I tell her that when she wakes up tomorrow, the meadow will be ready for her to plant more flowers.  She assures me that she will work hard taking care of them and leaves.

Greg wants to know when we acquired a pegacorn.  Yesterday, I tell him.  Her name is Penny, she's injured and I'm going to take care of her.  When she's well, we'll be able to travel around the kingdom faster.  And before you ask, I approved the work on Cloudspire Meadows becaue I believe it's important to encourage Ria.  I wish I had had somebody to encourage me when I was growing up instead of being surrounded by people who only pointed out my shortcomings.

Greg smiles ruefully and says he sorry about what he said yesterday.  It's okay, I tell him.  I wasn't being very supportive either.  Today's events have taught me that, as steward, I need to be living in Landsong Village.  He points out that, as Captain of the Guard, there will be times he will need to stay in the barracks.

I ask him when he has to leave.  Not for another two hours is his reply.  Greg suggests that we spend that time together at home.  We could have dinner, or..  Or, I tell him.  Definitely or.
 

I'm glad you're encouraging Ria.  It takes so little and she seems to be such a giving person.  I'm surprised that, despite the crash, B declared the Yura Festival over.  Doesn't the kingdom need the bolgins?  And doesn't most of the Festival take place on the castle grounds?  Glad the newlyweds have made up. :D

lilyr wrote:

So of course the less boring thing that B and Greg did was spend a few hours in the kitchen making a great dinner. right? 

Greg believes that man brings home the bacon and woman cooks it.  B has mastered the use of the medieval equivalent of the crock pot:  the cauldron hung over the fire which burns all day.  All she has to do is chop up some veggies and meat, throw them in the pot with some water, and voila!  Stew is ready for dinner.