The Ways to Contribute

It turned out that the elders mostly wanted to ask Trick questions. There were four of them present that morning, consisting of the first healer, the warden, the head of the recorders and the chief armillamancer. Most of what they asked about were things he’d already covered with Sari or Bertran. There were a few questions he hadn’t heard before, like the first healer asking him about diseases he’d had in his life, but for the most part it was straight forward.

Where was he from? Was there anything he hoped to accomplish? Did he want to stay in Harbek?

He was likely from the tenth sphere, he hoped to find his friend Stan but he planned to stay in Harbek until he got his footing.

As simple as the conversation was Trick reckoned that it took almost an hour to get through those basic questions. The elders had the same hangup of town leaders he was familiar with on Earth. They spent a huge amount of their time talking about themselves and what they did around the town and only occasionally got around to requesting their guest say something. The only new thing he learned was that the warden was more than Bertran’s boss. He also oversaw the town’s lensmen, who manned the towers on the walls.

As curious as he was about the world he’d fallen into Trick found himself getting bored.

The conversation only came back around to things he was interested in when the head recorder asked, “If you stay here, what will you do? I would be willing to pay you to recount some of your sphere’s history for us. There’s a demand for such knowledge in the halls of records all across our sphere.”

“I may take you up on that at some point,” Trick said. And he meant it. It was a tempting to earn some easy favors but Bertran had warned him the recorders offer wasn’t as good as it might seem. They made it in good faith and it was easy work. However it wouldn’t pay very well and if Trick wanted to get to the second sphere, where he was certain the Escape House had sent Stan, he was going to need serious resources to fund the trip. “At the moment I’m planning to return to the Steel Perilous with Bertran. There were a number of reservoir crystals there we could retrieve that would be a real boon to the craftsmen of Harbek.”

The first healer, a woman named Tasha, leaned forward, a concerned look on her face. “You’re going back there? Did Bertran warn you how dangerous that place is?” She reached up and pulled her long, straight graying brown hair back to reveal a deep, ragged groove full of scar tissue where her ear had been once upon a time. “I have gone there once in my life. Five of us descended into the depths and only one other lived to drag me back to Harbek. ”

Trick swallowed hard. Bertran had made it perfectly clear that the Steel Perilous was deserving of its name but somehow seeing the old scars on an aging woman made it hit much harder. “Thank you, ma’am, I am aware. However I’m told that the only way you know of to leave the seventh sphere and reach another one is to pass through the perils below. I’m fairly certain Stan is on the second sphere. If I’m going to have to travel the Steel Perilous sooner or later I’d like to get an idea what it’s like as early as possible. That way I can get used to it.”

Tasha sat back and rubbed her cheeks with her fingertips, an odd gesture if Trick had ever seen one. She reminded him a little of Sari in that respect. He wondered if they were related, although Tasha didn’t wear a veil like Sari did. He still wasn’t sure what to do with that. She wasn’t dressed like Sari either, or Gemma for that matter. Like the other three elders she was dressed in a sturdy apron over a simple shirt with flowing sleeves and pleated pants. She’d arrived wearing a long, flowing garment halfway between a coat and a robe, embroidered with twining vines of some sort. She’d hung that garment on a peg by the stairs that led up from the cobalt well. Like Brossius she didn’t have any of those strange unattached sleeves on her arms.

“Well, if you insist I suppose we can’t stop you,” Tasha said. She gave Dart, the warden, a sideways glare. “Don’t rush into it too eagerly, though. It’s natural to favor those you met first but that doesn’t mean they have your best interests at heart. Others may seek to influence you through them.”

The warden was a grizzled man in his late fifties, the oldest looking of the town’s elders, and he was the largest of them by a fair margin. Trick suspected he’d been two hundred and twenty pounds of solid muscle in his prime. Now he’d added a good forty pounds of extra fat, which somehow made him seem more formidable rather than less. He was the first person Trick had seen wearing two of the channeling gloves rather than just one. He also didn’t look bothered by Tasha’s dig.

“There are many people who would benefit from a fresh batch of the high quality reservoir crystals coming to our town,” Dart said, folding his hands over his stomach. “If the man has the fortitude to brave the Steel Perilous and bring those benefits to us, let him. I would heartily support that kind of resolve.”

“Of course you would,” Tasha snapped. “You never have to put the pieces back together when that resolve ultimately gives out.”

“It is his decision to make,” the head recorder said. “I hope if you do go down to the Steel you will spare some time for the hall of records before you do. It would be a shame if all you know were lost before it could be preserved. It doesn’t sound like anyone here has an objection to Patrick Gallagher remaining in Harbek but, for the sake of completeness, are there any further issues to be raised?”

“I have a question,” Brossius said. From the surprised look the other three gave him this was not the response they’d been expecting. “I am glad that you’ve put thought into how you will make your way in our town, Trick, it shows you’re a sober minded man with a sense of how the world works. What I am wondering now is what you are expecting from us. How do you expect Harbek to repay you for these secrets you share with us? Whether it’s the secrets of life on your sphere or the location where you found the reservoirs of lumi you brought with us, these are valuable things to know. What do you want in return?”

“Well, Bertran told me you use money here, much like we do at home, and that there’s a fairly standard rate of payment for such things. But I was also hoping you’d let me train with the harvest guard for a bit. I don’t know anything about geography or dangers of the seventh sphere and I suspect I’ll have to survive them for at least a little longer before I can go looking for Stan.” He’d done a lot of thinking about his final request for the elders and even now he wasn’t sure it was a good idea. But the longer he was on the seventh sphere the more certain he was he couldn’t survive without some kind of basic training. “Also, I’d like someone to teach me about lumi and how your people use it. I’m afraid there was nothing comparable to it back home, at least not in the part of the tenth sphere I came from.”

As he’d expected, the elders looked surprised at that request. However, none of them comment on it for the time being. Instead Raster, the head recorder, made a note of it then set his pen aside. “Very well, Trick. Your last request will require a little deliberation but the rest we can agree to now. The captain of the harvest guard will continue to host you in the guard dormitory for the time being and he will begin planning your trip to the Steel Perilous as soon as possible. The two of you can arrange a training schedule in the meantime. Thank you for coming to speak with us this morning.”

“Not at all,” Trick said, getting to his feet and shifting his weight back and forth a bit. The stone bench he’d been sitting on hadn’t been comfortable. “I’m grateful to you all for your hospitality. I’m sure it’s not easy having a stranger from another sphere show up on your doorstep, unannounced.”

Raster made a noncommittal sound and gestured to Sari to show him out. She remained quiet as they made their way down the stairs, across the scaffold and out of the wellspring. Once it became clear she might very well take him back to the guard dormitory without saying anything Trick decided he’d have to make some small talk.

“How many elders are there in Harbek?”

“Seven,” she said without looking back at him. “The rootkeeper, the master craftsman and the architect weren’t there, probably because their roles wouldn’t have a lot to add to the discussion.”

“So one in charge of agriculture, one in charge of urban layout and one who deals with what artists?”

This time she did look at him, although her expression was obscured by her veil as usual. However this time her fingers fluttered in an amused fashion. “Craftsmen are those who practise lumicraft, the art of formulating lumi and craft tools that use it.”

That made sense. Given how many specialized uses lumi seemed to have the existence of a dedicated sect of engineers wasn’t surprising. “So there’s seven elders in the town and they all have their roles. I’m good to stay here because I’m going to contribute. Gemma and Bertran have jobs outside the walls, harvesting lumi. Is that what you do, too?”

Sari slowed her pace, her hands going still and clasping themselves behind her back. “That… is one way I contribute.”

“Sounds like it’s not your primary way,” Trick said, leaning in and letting curiosity slip into his voice. “So… what are you, exactly?”

“I am the dim.” One thumb absently worried at the braid of bright blonde hair hanging near her hands. “I was born the brightest. So I bear the burden of hiding Harbek’s light from the hungry dark.”

Trick let those words roll around in his mind, parsing them first one way and then another. Trying to tease out any meaning from them so he could reply to them correctly. The only response he could come up with was, “Oh. I see.”

They walked the rest of the way to the dormitory in silence.