Solo Daily Grind

[Eliro Darkcrest]

87th OF SUMMER, 515AV
5TH BELL, MORNING
EAST DOCKS, ANCIENT QUARTER

The slightly wet wood of the misty morning made her calloused feet collect the sand of the beach like a magnet. But the Svefra didn't mind, sand and saltwater was not new to her. She had found someone's dock, stretching out near the kelp farms. It was quiet and undisturbed, especially so early in the morning, when the sun had not yet risen but the sky had lightened. Perhaps the sun had risen, Eliro simply couldn't see it because of the mountains surrounding the sleeping city.

Setting her basket, fishing kit and pole down, Eliro stooped to cross her legs at the end of the dock. Taking a breath, the Svefra took a quiet moment to enjoy the silence around her. The serenity of sitting down with a pole and fishing was always calming for Eliro. Like any other Svefra, she constantly had to be busy. Either she was an emotional whirlwind, or she was practicing her weapon or sailing out into the bay for one reason or another. No matter the reason, simply sitting, cross legged on the end of a quiet Zeltivian dock, was rare.

It was only a few ticks before Eliro felt the urge to jump in, but that would defeat the point of the choosing the incredibly calm morning for fishing. Turning to her kit, she pulled out her jar of miscellaneous fishing bait, pulling a stringy worm from the depleted mess. Cringing at the smell of rotting bait, she quickly hooked it on her pole and wiped her fingers off on her trousers. Unlocking the reel, she moved her fishing pole over her shoulder, trying to adjust her aim. Then, without warning, Eliro swung the pole forward, trying to make sure the hook whipped out instead of in and hit her in the head. She was successful, however her throw was not as hard as she thought it was and the pole fell short.

Her immediate reaction was to reel it in and try again, but she remembered how her father told her, even if the aim was not perfect, there is no use in telling the fish of her intentions. Sure, diving in and convincing them to enter her bucket would be easier, but she was a horrible fisher. Which was mildly shameful for a Svefra, so she needed to brush up on her skills. Locking her reel once more so she would feel it when the fish grabbed, Eliro settled in for a long wait.

As a Svefra, she preferred to forage for sea plants for her meals, but today she needed something more substantial. The rumors of Matthew's Bay yielding little for the land-dwellers to eat was only partially true in her opinion. Yes, the fish and crustaceans were scarce, but the vegetation was plentiful. As a child, she was taught to rely on the sea for nourishment. Saltwater was her hydration and every organism in the Sea would offer her life. Of course, she always offered in return and was careful not to take too much.

She was taught to respect what she took from Caiyha. Pray for the life the plant or animal sacrifices so you can eat. Never pick all of vegetation and always leave enough for the plant and other creatures, even if it meant less for yourself. In Caiyha's mind, she was never first, merely one of many who need the cycle to survive.

After only two chimes of waiting, Eliro tugged at her line only slightly, hoping to lure the fish into the moving prey. Perhaps she moved it too much, or not at all because it didn't work.

[Eliro Darkcrest]

It was after another agonizing chime of waiting that Eliro came up with an idea. Using the spaces between the wood for a hold, she wedged her pole in so that it would stay. She scooted back on the well-worn wood so that she was still in reach of the pole, but nothing she did would knock it over. Driving to drag that out of the Laviku's morning blackness would be a pain.

Forcing herself to be still, Eliro re-crossed her legs, this time twisting so that both feet were facing up, keeping the temptation of moving out of her mind. Placing each palm on its corresponding knee, she let her arms relax, not holding them in awkward positions. Just as her mother had taught her, Eliro slowly began to rid her mind of different sensations. Mediation was not a quick process, and it seemed as if she would have a while to practice. And she wasn't very good at it, so if the pole moved, she would know.

Starting with relaxing her muscles, Eliro closed her eyes. Her head lolled back slightly, her face slightly up towards the sky, to relax. A few ticks of ensuring her position was relaxing as possible without simply laying down and going to sleep, Eliro focused on clearing her mind. As a young young child she remembered working on meditation with her mother. She was told to picture little flowers, filled with distracting thoughts, floating off into the sunset to be forgot. Then you could focus on the one thing that was needed to focus on.

And so Eliro did it. Picturing a small water-lily she placed her worries about fishing on it, pushing the thought away and out of her mind. Then she tried to mute the interest in when the sun would be rising. Although as she did so, she begun to think about the time. If she could fish and forage all before the ninth bell she could make it to the docks for a good midday's work. Today could be a productive day if she concentrated…

Concentrate Eliro reminded herself, taking the worry of the day's plans and sending them away from her thoughts as well.

[Eliro Darkcrest]

As she concentrated, keeping her mind from wandering away from her task, she occasionally opened her eyes. Her grasp on Auristics was not the best. She didn't have much magic to compare it to, but neither did she have a teacher in Auristics as she had in Projection, for a short while…

Eliro shoved the thought aside, in preference of capturing her djed. She was not one to push emotions away, but at the moment, they would be too distracting for what she was trying to get done. Eliro refocus on pulling up the djed. Unlike Projection where she could focus her magic in specific places, she more or less had to let Auristics loose. Allow her djed to flow through the scene and report back to her what it sees. So it took a bit more concentration for her to simply let her djed go. But, eventually, she did it.

After almost ten chimes, which was a lot for Eliro, of meditating, she opened her eyes once more to see the world differently. She couldn't quite pinpoint what she was seeing. It wasn't as if the world was colored differently yet at the same time she saw the bright yellow streaks of the energetic dragonflies darting across the water. And further below them she could see the lazy routes of the various fish. But seeing was not everything. She heard the rhythm of her own heartbeat in a different way. It was not the faint, nearly non-existent bum-bum, but a nearly earth shattering rhythm that she could barely feel.

[Eliro Darkcrest]

Your seventh sense. Her mother had called it. She could sense all sort of things that her regular five senses, and even that peculiar and mythical sixth sense, could not detect. The world was lit up as if it never had been before and Eliro's face split into a grin as she tried to take it all in.

Instead she moved back over towards her pole, focusing now on the faint auristic tails of the fish below. She could see her rotten worm and it's rotten aura floating below, just out of their path. Forcing herself to keep from switching between the multiple aura's too much, to preserve her djed, she focused now on the fish and her bait. Simply dragging the pole over wouldn't do. Instead Eliro reeled her bait back in, deciding that now that she could see where the fish were, and how deep, she could aim properly.

First Eliro adjusted the worm so that nothing was hanging off the hook for the fish to nibble on. Then she brought the neck of the pole behind her. This time with more force, she whipped the pole forward so that the bait slung over instead of into her. Of course since she had put more force into it the line flew further, out to around near where the school of fish were nibbling near the surface. Quickly, Eliro locked her reel and peered over the dock, watching what the fish would do.

[Eliro Darkcrest]

It was a few chimes of her watching eagerly with auristics as the fish nibbled around the bait, not quite taking it, before she felt the pull. Gently she reeled the hook in slightly to see if the fish had actually attached. When she felt a fiercer pull, she pulled back, reeling in with more vigor. Instantly, as her focus shifted to reeling in the fish instead of watching them, her auristics snapped off. Her vision blurred for a tick but she kept pulling. Although the fish was light, she didn't want to loose it, so she was quick with her reeling until lit broke the surface of the water.

Up came the light and long colored fish and she held her pole out and grabbed the struggling fish. Quickly, she laid a hand on the suffering gills, using her gnosis to persuade the fish into calmness. Slipping a hand into her tackle box, she brought out a sharp fillet knife, which she used for exactly that purpose.

"Thank you." She whispered the to fish, laying it flat on the dock. She lined the sharp edge of the knife up between the two fish's eyes where she assumed the brain would be. Pressing down on his head to make sure she didn't move, she jammed the knife into it's brain. Or what she thought was it's brain. Instantly the first started writhing in pain, her Oceanus doing nothing to sooth him now.

"Oh Laviku! I'm so sorry!" She dragged the knife back from where she had stabbed the fish. The sharp knife dragging through the cartilage skull without ease. But once she got about an inch and a half back from the fish's eyes it stopped moving, instantly dead. So that was where it's brain was.

"Thank you Laviku, Caiyha." She bowed towards the fish, shameful of her inability to kill it quickly and painlessly. Quickly now, so she got a chance to cook it in time, Eliro packed up her kit once more and hooked her finger in the gill of the fish, which she couldn't yet identify. She would have to walk back near the Denvali Quarter to where her ship was in order to skin, gut and cook the fish. In the residential docks where she was staying there were occasional stands on the docks, with a pump, for cleaning fish.

Once she returned to the residential docks, the city was alive. Syna was sharing her light with Mizahar and people were well into out and about. It wasn't yet the seventh bell, but she had woken up before the fourth bell to make it to fishing, and so far she still had a good two hours to cook her meal for the day before she could set off to find work.

[Eliro Darkcrest]

Once she reached her dock, the Svefra slapped the fish down on the table meant for fish. As usual, there was no escaping the smell, but Eliro quite enjoyed it. Picking her fillet knife out of the tackle box one more, she wiped it off on the side of the wood. She kept the knife very sharp, so that it would be easy to fillet fish. Admittedly, she had never actually gutted a fish on her own. Usually she did so with her mother or father, or the whole Pod while each prepared their own dinner how they liked it. But today she was on her own.

She picked up the medium sized fish once more, flipping it over in her hands. The long and lean body was a quick give away to the Mackerel, she could identify it by the pointed and stiff fins as well. But as the Svefra looked the fish over, she faintly remembered her father teaching her the markings of a Zeltivian Mackerel. Why they called them Zeltivian Mackerel, she didn't know. They were found all over the east coast. But her had said there were Zeltivian Mackerels and King Mackerels.

Zeltivian MackerelSpanish Mackerel

They both had gold spots, as she recalled but with the King Mackerel, the lateral line dipped below some of the spots, while the Zeltivian mackerel would go above them. Or was it the other way around? Truly there was little point in being able to tell the difference, but Eliro raked her brain for the information anyway. It was good to know, if she could remember. There was something else the Zeltivian Mackerel had that the King Mackerel didn't… Something to do with spots…

Eliro scanned the fish once more, flipping it in her hands a few times. She was going to fillet it in a few ticks anyway. But then she saw, it the large black spot on the front of the Mackerel's dorsal fin. This was a Zeltivian Mackerel. Eliro stored the information on how to identify the singular fish as well as the difference between them in her head before placing the fish back down on the table. She picked up her knife and turned her head slightly to look at the bottom side of the fish. For a moment, searching just near the tail, she couldn't find the anus. Worried that she had missed something, Eliro glanced up the white belly of the fish and the excrement hole became suddenly obvious.

For a second she hesitated, almost certain this is what her father had told her. Slice from the anus to the gills and pull the guts out, right? Simple? Eliro shrugged. The worst that could happen is she has to try again. Sticking her knife way into the hole, she pulled it towards the front of the fist. Immediately she felt the snap of the knife against the spine and pulled it back out. Too deep. Inserting the knife again, she only allowed the blade to go about halfway into the fish and pulled it forward. This time it was easier and there were no apparent sounds of protests from the fish's innards. Her cut, although smooth, was very jagged. The guts flopped out from the inside, but did not leave the body yet. Once she reached the gills, she pulled the knife out, wiping it on the leg of her trousers' once more. She needed to wash the worn clothes anyway, so getting them a little extra fishy would do little harm in the meantime.

[Eliro Darkcrest]

"Well that was Shyke." She muttered to herself and then let out a singular amused laugh, since there was literal Shyke falling out of her cut. The laugh wasn't prolonged since no one was around to share the pun with her. She looked up to see a human give her a weird look but ignored it, picking up her Mackerel once more. Sticking a thumb in the fish, she pulled out it's intestines. Surprisingly, the innards came out cleanly, like a nice little package for her to put in her bait jar, even if she had shredded them in the process of opening the fish up. She allowed herself a small smile with the slight accomplishment, although it was in no way her doing, and piled the guts onto the side of the stained filleting table.

Once that was done, she grabbed the fish gently, leaning down on the dock with bloody hands to rinse her meal in the ocean. Her Oceanus made it so she never had to worry about gathering freshwater, and since she never had to it would have been an odd feeling to hunt down a bucket of freshwater to clean the mackerel with. She even filled her water-skins with seawater, which was only a problem when she forgot and offered a drink to a land-dweller.

Once the blood had washed all away, she brought the mackerel back to the table. Gently, with her knife, Eliro sized up the head, placing the knife just below the gills enough to preserve as much meat as she could. She decided she could leave the head to brine for canning later, but for now, she focused on just the body. Pressing her weight into her elbow, Eliro sawed through the fish bone easily, separating head from body like butter.

[Eliro Darkcrest]

Then, holding the tail, she placed the knife horizontally next to it, feeling the spine with the blade. Since it was a sharp knife, her blade when through with ease, guided by the cartilage spine. With large sawing motions, Eliro angled her knife to get as much meat off the spine as possible, cutting of a hefty, albeit crooked, fillet for herself. Flipping the mackerel over, she repeated the process on the other half, making her cut a little neater now.

Once she got the two fillets from the fish, she glanced at them once more, picking out bits of spine that she might have cut off with it with the fillet. Once they were clear, she picked up what was left of the fish. There was still plenty of meat on there and Eliro figured it would be a good snack before work. Peeling the extra meat off with her teeth, Eliro snacked on the chewy goodness while she opened up her tackle-box, pulling out her jar of bait once more. Placing her fish down for a moment, she stuffed the innards in the bait jar, replacing it and then leaning down to the salt water to rinse her hands once more.

Once she had packed up her things and eaten the rest of the meat off the bones, Elrio flung the spine into the water for the smaller fish to nibble on what she couldn't get to. Nothing was wasted. Gathering the head and the two fillets in one hand and her pole and tackle box in the other, Eliro set off towards her Casinor. Once she reached The Spirit she simply dumped her things on the deck, retiring below to quickly brine her fish.

Setting her fish on the counter, Eliro rinsed her hands once more in the water bucket she kept on her counter for that reason. Maneuvering through the small cabin to the storage in the back, she unlatched the cupboard, looking in for her preservation kit. Since her storage was fairly empty, it wasn't hard to find the wooden case and pull it out. Setting up on the counter, she pulled out the necessary ingredients to begin brining the fish.

Just inside the preservation kit was a few hand-written recipes from her mother, detailing how to preserve different things for the winter months when the ocean was scarce. In it, was the recipe for cooked pickled fish. Yum.

Soak fish in weak brine for 1 Bell (1 gallon freshwater, 1 cup salt)

For a moment, Eliro just looked at the first instruction, trying to wrap her head around why her mother would use freshwater instead of saltwater for brining. But it didn't take long for her mother to tell her the importance of reducing sickness in preserving seafood. If they were out at the ocean, using the seawater wouldn't be a problem, but near the land it would cause sickness if you weren't careful. When living with land-dwellers, you cook like land-dwellers. Eliro made up the phrase on the spot, and sighed in defeat. She would have to go look for freshwater now. There was sure to be a pump near the docks somewhere…

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Once Eliro had gathered a bucket of fresh land water from the pump, and put away her fishing gear properly, she returned to the fish. It had easily been two bells since she caught it already, and it was probably overdue for preservation. "Oops." She mouthed to herself, mixing the salt and water as instructed and soaking the fish in it. Now, to wait a bell…