[The Weft and Warp] Another Day, Another Miza. (Open)

[Nessaisa Protea]

Nessaisa noticed the look on Avarys's face as she described Silenva. She could see the desire in his eyes. She knew that he was hoping for more than mizas from Silenva, and Nessaisa was both perfectly fine with that and willing to help him reach his goal. After all, he was helping her reach hers.

She smiled a little at his comment about her not appreciating Silenva the way he did. He was correct: while he saw her as a woman, Nessaisa saw her as an artist. She really perked up when he mentioned that he would help her learn to sew. She wanted to eventually own her own little shop, making beautiful clothes, right here in Kalinor.

When he asked about Alessa, she shook her head. She hadn't seen Alessa in years. Nessaisa thought about the question of where the silk came from. “I know that it comes from the silk worms,” she responded, “but I don't know where it goes after that. I don't know where it's bought from exactly.”

[Poison]

Yes, Avarys thought, the ruling couple would definitely approve of what seemed like a change of heart. They would like it if he suddenly dedicated so much time to a young weaver and offered her such a great opportunity. He just hoped that Silenva didn’t think that the relationship between Nessaisa and him was more than professional. That was a risk, but as far as he was concerned it was unfortunately unavoidable.

As Nessaisa answered that she hadn’t seen Alessa in years, Avarys‘ eyes widened in surprise. „Are you sure?“ he asked. „My cousin is supposed to teach here as well! I just saw her a few days ago. I have to admit, it worries me a little. If she isn’t here by the time we return from the Rose Cavern, we’ll need to investigate.“ He shook his head as if he couldn’t believe what he had just heard.

„Ah, we don’t really buy the silk“, he then explained. It amused him that Nessaisa thought so. „We harvest it in the Rose Cavern. Have you ever seen the Ranekissra, the silk moths, up close? I’ll take you there now so that we can get the silk for Silenva’s dress. It’s quite beautiful, the cavern I mean. I always imagine that the Ukalas looks a bit like it. Everything glows with a pink light.“

„I used to hide there when my parents wanted to make me do something I wasn’t interested in. I sat at the edge of the pool for hours. Sometimes I would also try to fish, but I never managed to catch anything. I’m a lousy fisherman, I’m afraid.“ He stopped abruptly, suddenly embarrassed. Why had he mentioned that? He had worked so hard to appear perfect! „Anyway“, he said, trying to change the topic. „Let’s go. I assume you can swim? Just in case you fall off the rocks and land in the pool?“

Secret :

You can find a description of the Rose Cavern here

[Nessaisa Protea]

Nessaisa realized that she had forgotten something. “I'm sorry, I actually did see Alessa a few days ago, very briefly. The last few years I have been working to help my cousin's family in the market, they have a small stall. They no longer need me there though, and I think I've learned all I can from them. I asked her if I could come back to the Weft and Warp, and she said that would be fine.”

She thought for a minute though, and realized that it was strange that she hadn't seen Alessa in the days since she had been back. “That was a few days ago though. I may have just been concentrating on my work too hard to notice her.”

Nessaisa became embarrassed when Avarys told her that they don't buy the silk. She should have known that. She shook her head when he asked if she had seen the silk worms up close. She chuckled at his story about fishing. She noticed that he looked embarrassed and was puzzled by that look. She assured him that she could swim and waited for him to lead the way.

[Poison]

Avarys nodded as he heard Nessaisa’s next words. He was relieved that she had seen Alessa a few days before after all, but still … it would be better to take a look when they come back. What Nessaisa had said just didn’t sound like the Alessa he knew. What had his cousin been up to recently? He needed to find that out!

„Your cousin’s family have a stall in the market?“ he asked. „Their last name is Protea as well, right? I might take a look at their wares when I have time. I’d like to find out if they are as talented as you are. They say that talent often runs in the family …“ He furrowed his brow as he tried to remember if he ever had any contact with Nessaisa’s people, but he didn’t think so.

„It’s good that you can swim“, he remarked. „Come with me now.“ He gestured for her to follow him. There were a couple of sacks near the door. He grabbed one of them and handed another one to Nessaisa. „We’ll need this to carry the silk back here“, he explained, and then he was already out of the door.

~~~~

A little later the two Symenestra stood at the entrance to the Rose Cavern. It was even more beautiful than Avarys had described it. It seemed as if they were not alone though. A boat was on the small lake. An elderly Symenestra male sat in it, quietly fishing. Avarys made a face as he noticed the man. He would have preferred to be alone. But seeing as he didn’t look as if he was going to bother Nessaisa and him, he decided that his presence was tolerable – for now.

„Do you still have the sack?“ he asked the young waver. „Fill it with the coccoons you can find everywhere in the cavern. Once we have enough, we’ll boil them to begin the unravelling process, and then the silk for Silenva’s dress is ready.“

[Nessaisa Protea]

Nessaisa looked around her in absolute awe of the Rose Caverns. It was beautiful beyond imagining, and she instantly longed to paint it. She snapped back to reality though when she noticed the lone fisherman in the water. An elderly Symnestran man, out for a quiet day of fishing. Nothing noteworthy. She turned and looked at Avarys and noticed him looking at the man with a peculiar expression on his face. She dismissed that, too.

To his question, she held up the sack. She smiled and set to work, gracefully climbing around the cavern, looking for the delicate cocoons. She did know what the cocoons looked like, she had seen and held one before.

[Poison]

The cocoons were everywhere in the cavern, on the ground and between the rocks. In another couple of days whole groups of Symenestra would travel to the Rose Cavern and begin the harvest, but for now Nessaisa had everything to herself and could pick the best cocoons. Avarys watched her for a while to make sure that she wouldn’t fall and hurt herself, and when he was convinced that she knew what he was doing, he picked up his own sack and started gathering cocoons as well. He was much more graceful than the girl, much better at climbing. Avarys looked almost as if he were flying through the cavern. He had done this here a dozen times before.

The old fisherman in his boat had finally caught something, a peculiar looking, silver fish. He threw it into a bucket that stood in his boat, and then he put the fishing rod away and craned his neck to watch the two Symenestra that were climbing around in the rocks above him. A sigh escaped his lips. Once he had been just as graceful and agile as the two of them, but now he could barely walk, let alone climb through the Rose Cavern and harvest cocoons. All that was left for him was to watch others and catch the occasional fish in the underground lake so that he didn’t feel completely useless.

„If all that work makes you hungry, let me know!“ he called out to them. „I have a few fine fish here!“ Avarys momentarily stopped as he heard this and made a face. He didn’t appreciate the interruption. He’d rather leave again quickly and boil the coccoons, but then it occured to him that Nessaisa might be a little hungry and looked at her questioningly. If she wanted to take a break and eat some fish, he’d let her.

[Nessaisa Protea]

Nessaisa picked her way through the cavern carefully. She picked through the cocoons carefully as well, picking only the best. She was getting tired, though. She couldn't remember the last time she had had so much exercise. She stopped to take a quick breather and watched Avarys and the fisherman.

She saw the fisherman catch a pretty silver fish. Then he called up to them, offering them the fish. She looked over at Avarys. She could tell he was a little impatient, wanting to get the work done. She turned back to the fisherman, about to decline, when her stomach rumbled loudly.

Nessaisa blushed and looked back at Avarys. She hesitantly asked: “Would you mind if have a little fish? I'll be quick, I'm just famished, I'm not used to this much exercise in one day.”

[Poison]

Avarys looked from the fisherman to Nessaisa and back, and then he shrugged the shoulders. „I don’t mind“, he decided. „You won’t be able to work properly if your stomach is growling all the time, so let’s eat the fish, in Viratas‘ name.“ He flung his sack of coccoons over his shoulder and walked to the shore.

In the meantime the boat had approached. The old fisherman struggled a bit to pull it out of the water. He wasn’t as strong as he had once been. Avarys made a face as he noticed that – he didn’t really enjoy helping other people – but then he sighed and helped the old man.

„Thank you“, the fisherman said politely, and then he narrowed his eyes and looked at Avarys. „You are one of the Anthuriums, aren’t you? I’ve heard about you …“ Avarys arched an eyebrow, but he didn’t say anything. He didn’t really care about what the man had or hadn’t heard as long as it didn’t scare Nessaisa away.

„Myself, I’m from the Ivy Web“, the old man continued while he removed a flintstone from one of his pockets. Nessaisa could see that there were a few pieces of wood lying among the rocks. Sometimes the fishermen that came here would eat the fish right beside the lake rather than going home and roasting it there.

A few moments passed, and the old man had started a fire. Soon the fish were roasting. „I thought it wasn’t time to harvest the coccoons yet“, he remarked. „Are you planning something special?“

[Nessaisa Protea]

Nessaisa quietly sighed with relief, she had thought Avarys might get mad at the request, he had seemed impatient. She quickly followed him over to the shore. By the time she got to the shore, Avarys and the old man were on the shore with the boat.

Nessaisa looked around her, noticing for the first time the pieces of wood on the shore. She watched as the old man lit a fire. She sat down and gently put her sack down beside her. She had been listening to the two men converse, not paying much attention. But she noticed the old man's question about what they were doing.

“Are you planning something special?”

Nessaisa froze at the question, she was shocked and now afraid that he would find out what they were doing. That would make Avarys angry, so she thought...and lose her wonderful opportunity to do more than sit at a loom all day, weaving endlessly. And that was if she was lucky. For all she knew, Avarys might decide to fire her completely, then what would she do? She said nothing, but stared at Avarys, trying not to show any fear and hoping he would answer the question.

[Poison]

Avarys wasn’t angr at all though. The weaver smirked as he noticed the look on Nessaisa’s face. „Why so shocked, my dear?“ he asked. „We aren’t doing anything illegal, are we?“ He turned to the old fisher who was watching the fish so that they wouldn’t burn. „We are working on a special project for the Weft and Warp“, he explained. „You should be able to see it later this month when you come into the gathering hall. I’m afraid I can’t tell you what it is exactly at the moment. It would spoil the suprise. But I can tell you that it will be amazing.“

The fisherman looked at him doubtfully, but seeing that the weaver would not tell more, he shrugged his shoulders and went back to looking at the fish. Every once in a while he would tell Nessaisa and Avarys a bit about his Web and about all the adventures he had supposedly had during his youth, and then the fish were ready, and he handed Nessaisa and Avarys one each. „The meat is very soft so that even Symenestra don’t have much of a problem eating it“, he explained. „Eat carefully though. The fish are still hot.“

Avarys eyed the fish he had been given suspiciously, and then he shrugged his shoulders and decided to try it. He had watched the old man carefully, and it didn’t seem as if he had poisoned it. As he took a bite, he discovered that it was actually quite good, although his favourite fish was and would of course always be Bruka.

„I suppose we should go though“, he said to Nessaisa once he had eaten enough. „We need to go back to work.“ He was about to rise to his feet, when the fisherman held out another fish to him, this time wrapped in a piece of cloth.

„For later“, he explained.

OOCIs it okay with you if I speed things up a bit so that you get to meet the „princess“ soon?