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Beginning Their Stay

9/18/2016

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"Shelter" was an accurate word. It was four walls of dried mud and a roof of thin wood and reeds over a plot of dirt.  But the walls and roof looked solid and the single wooden door could be secured from the inside.
Bismuth stood by the open door and watched the twins settle their packs and sleeping bags.
"You are guests of The New City, so no one will disturb you. You may leave your possessions unguarded without fear of theft. This can be your home for as long as you wish, but as I said, after tomorrow afternoon you will need to pay for this lodging.  We also have a public eating house. The food there is good and can be trusted, but of course not free."
"Thank you again for your welcome and hospitality," answered Gypsum.  "Can you tell us what this shelter and the food would cost us?"
"Very little, actually. A single drop of silver for each of you, or one gold for both. Meals are the same.
"If you wish to trade work, the city has several projects that could use the efforts of strong young men. Most involve assembling buildings or digging holes. We pay two silver drops for a half-day's honest work."
Feldspar came right to the point of their visit. "What are your customs of courtship?  Must we earn the right for that, or only for the right to select one for a mate after the courtship?"
"We have no requirement for courtship, save that it must cease if the girl insists.  We do not allow men to pursue where their attentions are not welcome.
"For marriage, though, a trial is required and it is not an easy one."
"Good. It is much the same in Groakpod."
"But you are fortunate. We have lessened the demands a little.  It was necessary. The last four candidates for one of our girls failed to complete their tasks."
"So, were they required to move on?"
"No. He was allowed to stay and try again if he wished. After he healed he did try again. A very brave young man he was. So were the other three, we assume."
Bismuth answered their unspoken questions with a sad shake of his head.
"It is too bad that none of them returned. The courage they possessed would be welcome to pass on to the next generation of citizens."
"Return from where?" asked Feldspar, though he suspected he already knew.
"From The Old City, of course. That is where all trials take the young men. There are treasures there of many kinds."
"Who sets the details of the trial? The city or the parents of the girl?"
"Both. It is discussed and decided to the satisfaction of all, including the young woman involved. But they often want the trial to be too easy, so their preferences are given the least amount of weight."
"Our thanks again. Could you direct us to the public eating house? We have not eaten today."
"Of course. Then you may wander and see out city." Bismuth continued proudly, "You will find it clean, orderly, and an excellent place to live. Also, you may see more than one attractive female, and they may all, of course, see you."
Even if the twins did find mates here, they had little intention of staying. But they chose not to reveal that sentiment until much later.
They followed Bismuth to the aromas of cooking food, their stomachs whimpering like starving children

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Familiar Customs

9/4/2016

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As noted before, custom was for new arrivals to walk slowly along the main street of a town and await greeting.  The twins followed that custom and soon enough a leading citizen met them in the middle of the street.
This greeting was not like the one they'd enjoyed in Rackarn. They were greeted with gruff neutrality and a little suspicion—in other words, exactly what they were used to.
His name was Bismuth and he welcomed them, grudgingly, to New City, not to be confused with Far New City, the neighboring town a few miles farther from The Old City, or Late New City, the smaller town on the other side of The Old City. Similar to their arrival in Rackarn, many citizens of New City gathered around, on the sides of the street and behind Bismuth, to hear the first interview with the two strangers.
In answer to the questions Feldspar and Gypsum, after naming themselves, admitted that they were from Groakpod on the other side of the Ironcut Mountains. None of the citizens of New City had ever heard of it, which was no surprise. The real curiosity was that the two were so well, so uninjured, so impossibly unscathed.  Bismuth asked that question directly but the twins shrugged and expressed puzzlement at the question. Why wouldn't they be unscathed?
"Where did you camp last night?"
Gypsum answered first, but then Feldspar answered the next and they alternated after that.
"A campsite near the river and where the road splits. The spot looked like it had been used many times before."
"Did you set traps or alarms around the perimeter?"
"No. Should we have?"
Bismuth did not answer the question, but continued his inquiry.
"So what did you do?"
"We pitched camp, set up our tents, caught some fish, cooked them and ate them, then shortly after Shul deserted the sky we lay down to sleep."
"And then?"
"And then in the morning we woke up. What else would we do?"
"You had no visitors in the night?"
"We did see footprints around the tents in the morning, so it would seem that we did, though they must have moved very silently. But they did not bother us. We supposed someone might have been looking to rob us."
"But when they discovered we had nothing of any value, they must have decided to withdraw."
There were mutters of disbelief and wonder among the crowd. A very old man who had stationed himself behind and to the right of Bismuth spoke for the first time.
"You are not telling us the truth."
"We have said nothing that was not true. We will swear an oath if you wish."
The old man looked at them with narrowed eyes, but a grimace that passed as a reluctant smile.
"But not the whole truth, eh?"
"Does anyone ever tell the whole truth and not regret it later?"
"A fair point," Bismuth conceded.  "I assume you are on a journey to find mates?"
"Among other things."
"Then you are welcome. But know at once that our women are not acquired cheaply. You will have to earn their company, even assuming you find ones that you want and they feel the same.
"For now, we will gift you this one day and night with a place to sleep. After that you will have to pay for your accommodations with gold, silver, or trade."
The twins bowed their respect. "We thank you for your welcome and your generosity." Gypsum looked around at the crowd. One very attractive female caught his eye, and her body language made it clear that he had caught hers as well.
"We do have questions, but would like to put them in a more private setting, if you understand."
For the first time Bismuth allowed his expression to soften into something resembling amusement.
"As well you should. Follow me and we can have that conversation while we get you established in your temporary shelter."
Hearing this, the crowd reluctantly dispersed. Gypsum noticed that the most reluctant were two very attractive girls that were clearly not sisters. One was the female he'd exchanged glances with earlier. The other was one that clearly had established a similar understanding with Feldspar.
Perhaps the first part of their quest was achieved. How much and how long would the second part require?

 

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    The story: This serial is about the "mascot" shown at the top of these pages. There are actually two of them, identical twins, Feldspar and Gypsum.
    The people call themselves Riotori, and their planet is Kylrock. The twins have been journeying for hundreds of miles, across many hazards, in search of mates. Please visit the archives to read their whole story.



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