[Seasonal Event] Spring Cleaning

Jigano knew that Sam's heart was a good one, so he wasn't surprised when the bookmaker offered to help. He was a little surprised by the tact his friend used, though, in the most pleasant and proud way possible. The shy Ascended was coming out of his shell, slowly but steadily, and it was a moment's balm on the sad conversation.

Maea didn't seem like the type to want sympathy, and most of the farmers Jigano had met were a proud people, poor but stubborn and taking charity only as a last resort. He nodded acceptance of her thanks, flicking his fingers in a gesture of dust on the wind. "It is the food you raise that feeds us," he said, his voice still gentle. "It is only right that we should help you, as you help us."

She recovered - at least for the moment - faster than Jigano had expected, but he bowed his head in gracious acceptance that she wanted to change the subject. Nodding for Sam to continue his excavations - nearly complete, now, the window almost unearthed in its entirety - the bard grabbed the second shovel and began a much less impressive start to the second window well. "Well," he began in answer to her question. "Some of our number are Outlanders, but others are from around here," he nodded to Sam with a smile. "So we've learned a great deal, or already knew it. I'd like us all to come together once the Hall is fixed up and pool our knowledge, but yes, a number of outlanders and naturals alike are planning to fight the spire's guardian so we can gain access to it. Ludo told someone that the key to the barrier lay at the top of the spire. Another said that they were told that Ascended would be key to activating - or, perhaps, deactivating - the spire and and bringing the barrier down. Either way, the first step will be bypassing the mad guardian and putting it out of its misery."

Sam smiled at both Maea and Jigano - at one for the received offer of help and at the other for the silent approval. Every time he accomplished such grace in a conversation he felt as if he had knocked down another brick of his complicated and tall wall; a wall that had begun construction the first time he'd been locked in a room as a young child. Maea asked about the Spire, which he had only the knowledge of some books on and even then not much; it had always scared and worried him so he had kept distant of it. His sadness was clear as Jigano began to speak of the planned attack (he still believed it to be a poor idea, one that would rip away his best friends and do little). To distract himself and keep from another disagreement he went back to digging, throwing up the dirt easily. The broken window began to come into view, as well as the dark and dirty insides of the office within. "...L..Lot of work, here." He mumbled, mostly to himself, and kept digging. Here the dirt was packed harder, solidified by the pressure above it, and the job was a little harder. Still he worked steadily, letting himself fade into the background as the other two discussed the spire. Samuel He took a step but then felt tired He said, I'll rest a little while But when he tried to walk again He wasn't a child

Maea focused on the bard's voice as she again began the work of shifting rock and rubble, her hands unoccupied yet mind blissfully busy with will and word, with no room left for stray thoughts. She aided Jigano by his section this time, as Sam seemed to be nearly done with his, but made sure to take break every now and then so as not to overexert herself in using her gift.

"Do you think the gods will really allow it? Fighting the demon, bringing down the barrier... Even if Ludo helps, I wonder whether the others might try to interfere."

She was somewhat taken aback by how far they had come in such short time, how much they had discovered and deduced even with the help of Naturals. Yet, even as she felt the flicker of hope, the potential for progress in all this, the girl worried about those would go off to fight. Everything that had a potential had been tried before, after all. Tried and failed... why should this time be any different?

"You're not going too, are you?" she asked, and looked up at Jigano, and at Sam. Eyes red from tears, full of worry; she didn't think she could stand to lose anyone else, no matter how brief time she had known them.

Jigano nodded appreciatively as Maea came to his aid. They moved more slowly than Sam did, with his enhanced strength even in daylight, but what mattered was that the work was being done. He glanced over at his friend as he got the first few inches of topsoil shifted from his square, grinning slightly at the mutter. "Thank you, Sam," he said with feeling. "This is going a lot faster with more hands to help. The inside isn't too bad, at least. But if we get this fixed up now it should hold solid for the foreseeable future." Weeks, months years... it would take longer than that for the window wells to fill in so completely again, and he was already formulating some ideas for protections that could be laid over them next Deepfrost.

For now, though, he talked as he worked, nodding to Maea's questions with thoughtful consideration. "Well... I believe Safrin supports it as well, since she gave the leader of the Monster Hunter's guild a weapon for fighting it." He grunted as he tossed a shovelfull of dirt to the side. "And the Voice certainly seems to want out. The only one I'm unsure of is Frey, and they don't seem to be interested in, ah, fighting." Unless, perhaps, it led to fornicating, but that wasn't a topic he felt like bringing up with either of his friends. "So while they might not support it, I don't think they'll interfere, either."

He tilted his head at her curiously, though, at her worry. Glancing to Sam with a wry smile he gave a little nod before going back to work. "I am, in fact, but I'm a scholar not a warrior." Though once he had been both. But without his magic... "Still, I want to write down what happens, and see with my own eyes how this creature looks and reacts to fire and lightening. And I'll be there in capacity as a medic, as well, if things go wrong," he added, a shadow of sadness passing over his eyes. He still had so much more to learn from Isla... but what he had was still better than most, and might be needed.

Sam nodded at Jigano's assurances, but couldn't help the thought: But what if you aren't here next year? What if it's just me digging all this out? Really, he knew if it was just him it wouldn't be done; he would just stay in the darkness of the buried Guildhall and let it grow dusty around him as he stayed still. He warmed just a little at Jigano's sidestepping around Frey's interests, but the topic of conversation could not draw much mirth from him; he did not return Jigano's smile and kept his eyes fixed on the task at hand. Just like Maea, he was greatly concerned. It was hard to smile when there was such a weight on his heart. "B..Be careful." He said finally, just to say something. If Jigano...if Jigano didn't come back, he needed to know he had done something. Samuel He took a step but then felt tired He said, I'll rest a little while But when he tried to walk again He wasn't a child

Please come back.

The words hovered on her tongue, begging to be said, but the air had grown too heavy and her lips would not move to speak them aloud. Maea didn't feel as though she had the right to request such things, to say anything about his desicions whether they were good or bad in her mind. Who was she to do that, when she had known Jigano for all of a few hours, grand total? That their first meeting had been the first to trigger a series of changes within her was not reason enough to impose, not would it be for a long time, if ever.  One day they might have become that kind of friends, but until then? Teacher and Guildmaster was the only connection she could really claim. Even 'friend' was a bit of a stretch, all things considered. She knew nothing of him or his life, and he knew nothing of hers.

Keeping her head down and her mouth closed, the petite girl worked quietly until she began to feel the strain of her limits like a building pressure in her head, one that would Blossom into a spectacular headache if she pushed herself much further. Hunching down with her back against the outer wall of the Atheneum she closed ger eyes and listened to the silence and the monotone rhythm of shovel and dirt until it became unbearable.

"I told Sam earlier that I found a book, with music and notes... It belonged to my mother, or possibly to the Atheneum" she made herself say, trying to lighten the mood with something not so closely related to death and pain and darkness. Ludo would have it's fill of shadows and misery anyway; perhaps it would not deny them a moments respite to savor the sunlight.

"If he can restore it, perhaps you would like to see it, Jigano?"

Maea attempted a smile at the bookmaker, thoughts of the lessons to come like a soothing balm on her raw emotions.

"I promise I'll be careful, Sam," he assured his friend gently. "I know how far the guardian's tether stretches, and I intend to stay outside it while the warriors do their work, unless someone wounded needs dragging to safety. And even then, there will probably be others better suited to that than I am," he acknowledged with a wry grin for his lack of muscles.

Talk of the spire had brought a sense of solemnity over their task that faded into silence as they worked. When Maea sat down Jigano paused long enough to make sure she was just resting and didn't need anything before going back to work. Sam was able to clear the first window well down to its ledge and to the limits of the stone slabs that enclosed it, and he and the bard together had the second well nearly cleared before Maea spoke again. Even if he hadn't been eager to hear her speak again - she really did have a lovely voice - the mention of 'music' had his ears perking up with interest. Though sweating freely as he redistributed the dirt that Sam dug from the wells so it wouldn't spill back in and undo their hard work, he managed a bright smile for the pale girl. "I would love to see it!" he assured her eagerly - and the bookmaker, too. "Sam does beautiful work. I'll have to show you the journal he made. And of course, the chronicle book for the guild is a masterpiece in progress," he added fondly, with a smile for his red-haired friend. "Your name will be in it, too, once he has a chance to work on it again. And I would be honored to help you decipher the music, if you don't know how to read a scale already," he offered her with a gentle smile.

Sam didn't know who 'the guardian' was but he hoped that they would look after Jigano well; he was sure his friend would try to be careful but Sam knew as much as anyone the way things could go very wrong in moments of panic and chaos (and what else could the Spire attack be? It was a plan built on dreams and a few half-made bits of research). Still, he gave Jigano a weak smile and continued to dig. Climbing back up from the hole he had dug to help Jigano, he grinned embarrassed at the mention of his 'beautiful work'. If he could have blushed, he would have. They were just books, he wanted to say, nothing special. But he suspected Jigano would see that as him putting himself down (because that's what it was) so he kept quiet and just put a hand to his chest to show he was flattered. "When...when I t-teach you about the books, I'll sh..show you how I d-do the gold ink. For the names page." He promised Maea. Samuel He took a step but then felt tired He said, I'll rest a little while But when he tried to walk again He wasn't a child

The transition from no friends to several who showered her with kindness was rather overwhelming. This was not supposed to be about her, yet her attempt to shift the focus was turned on it's head and thrown back with such casual delight that she couldn't bring herself to complain. It always seemed habitual, the way they tried to include and encourage... And whether international or not, it did make her chest ache with unusual warmth.

"It appears I will be very busy for the forseeable future" the petite girl remarked, face colored with a blush of quiet happiness over both invitations to learn. "I hope you will let me invite you both for dinner once the farm is back in order... and the others in the Guild too if they want to come. The place has grown so quiet lately... I think I would enjoy seeing it full of life and people again." What she really wanted was to repay them for the kindness, But feared it might only induce more of it... and she wasn't sure she could take much more of the stuff today.

Glancing over at Sam to see how far he had come, only to find him done and approaching, Maea moved out of the way and went to see just how damaged the glass was in the pane. Finding it cracked and beyond her skill to fix, she leaned över to test the durability of it with careful fingers. The fractured pane gave way easily, loosened by the lack of dirt and debris to hold it in place, and to her chagrin a piece came loose and fell into the room beyond, with a crash of shattering glass as it landed on something hard within.

"Oh no.. I'm sorry!" she grimaced. "I'll clean that up, promise! But... I think these need replacing."

The Spire's Guardian was a mad, mindless creature who had once been Ascended, or was some experiment related to them, from what Jigano had learned or deduced. The guardian would most assuredly not be taking care of him except in the most final sense of the word if he got too close, but with any luck the finest warriors in Caido would be taking care of it instead. But talk of the upcoming battle made both of the naturals uncomfortable and the lorekeeper was glad to change the topic to something lighter - and to give praise where it was due.

Seeing Sam accept that praise without protest brought a smile and a flicker of pride to the bard. His friend had made great strides in overcoming much of the baggage his miserable family had saddled him with, and it took a strength that Jigano could appreciate. He inclined his head graciously in return, then went back to work with a will, with Sam at his side. Maea was welcome as well, her blushing pleasure a welcome sight after the pain of Long Night's losses. He gave her a sunny smile of gratitude at her invitation, inclining his head as he returned with the wheelbarrow from spreading some of the dirt a little further away. "It would be a privilege," he accepted gravely, but with a pleased twinkle in his eye.

A few minutes later the tinkle of glass had him wincing, but not really surprised. He'd seen the damage from the inside and knew that both windows had needed replacing. He had hoped they'd last a few more days but... ah, well. As Sam finished digging out the second window well the bard gave a decisive nod, then helped his friend dust off. "Don't worry about it," he assured Maea. "Now that there isn't any more dirt falling in, we're in much better shape. Let's just get some boards to cover the wells with for now to keep the rain out, and then we can take a well-deserved break!"

{fin}