When the Sun Set

Dawn

"As often happens, setting out with the caravan this year are a few naïve young souls, unaware of how much danger awaits. And so our story begins..."

"Aren't you being a bit too dramatic?"

A grin with much mischief in it was exchanged between the Clavat girl and he young Lilty, as the girl reminded him of her job in the caravan during idle times. The veteran caravanners had decided that she would start as a storyteller, filling a void that had been open for a few years. Her vivid imagination was well suited for the task, and she couldn't imagine herself wishing for a different one. Her friend had also been given a job helping with equipment maintenance and managing the caravan's inventory. However, for the next few months they would have to be satisfied with the taste of adventure from accompanying the caravan to the final myrrh tree needed to fill the chalice. This was a tradition in Tida, and they would not officially join the caravan until the following year's journey.

Still, it was an exciting time for many. As they were joining there were several members departing to  enjoy peaceful days at home in the village. Hardly ever did a cloud enter the sky there. The fair weather was a welcome sight to one who had been gone for months, and so to spend a full year and those that followed after it in Tida would be a welcome change of pace for them. As for those who remained fond of the caravan lifestyle, they would still miss the sunny days and relative ease of life at home, but homesickness would be dulled by indulging their wanderlust.

"What do you suppose the myrrh tree really looks like?"

The boy appeared disinterested, and didn't consider that it could be different than what he had pictured. "The caravanners give you an answer that's a little different every time you ask, but they all draw the same picture. It must look like that."

"Don't you wonder if it sort of shines or glows, or maybe even makes a noise in the wind? What if there's so much more to it than what the caravanners can teach us?" she mused. "Soon we'll see it for ourselves, and we won't have to ask others about it or look at pictures. We'll know just as much about them as the foremost authorities on the subject. We'll be part of them, actually."

From somewhere across her starry-eyed imaginings, she heard the voice of the weaponsmaster. "You always have aspired do greatness, Lilias." He was a tall man wearing well-crafted mail, with trimmed hair that came to his shoulders. In his younger days he was said to have been the most agile man in the village, and so he had joined the caravan to make use of his skills. "Perhaps one day you'll take my place here. Or maybe it will be you, Ryl Manna?"

"I'll make you a sword so sharp that you'll know I've surpassed you and you'll finally have to step down," he said.

"Well, if you take Dahl's place one day, then I'll have to learn all of the Yuke's tricks for magic and reture from the caravan as a sorcerer or alchemist."

"You and your magic," Ryl said, grinning.

Soon theyhad caught up to the caravanners at the end of the Mine of Cathuriges. Only Dahl had stayed behind with the youths in order to escort them to the end using the small crystal normally kept inside the wagon, while the others cleared the path to the tree. Once all had assembled at the myrrh tree they placed the chalice at the base of the tree. Ryl and Lilias watched in awe as the tree seemed to gather a coating of dew from the ether. There was too much happening to take it all in at once, as dozens of wispy lights materialized and circled the tree. Between the two center, crystalline fronds, the dew merged into one drop and slowly descended to the chalice. The crystal atop the chalice glowed, restored again as the myrrh flowed over it and into the chalice, filling the last third of the sphere.

With a full crystal chalice they could return home as heroes. Tida would remain a beautiful village under the warmth of the sun another year, safe from encroaching miasma.