ToA: Legends of the Star

Sondi (P1)

There are twenty thousand pieces of the Traveller's star
Twenty thousand pieces to show who we are
Twenty thousand pieces we carry to show
One day we will know where to go. 

(Sondi)
Location: Seftari
Sublocation: Higher Mountain Village, Aela Territory

The necklace was dead weight. It had no value, beyond the faint luminescence it had after dark. But my father had insisted it was important, had made me carry it everywhere. It had been passed down through generations in my family, and it was supposedly part of a larger stone. 

What it actually was was a one kilogram hunk of pale green-yellow stone, tied on a faded leather cord that had seen better days and undoubtedly needed to be replaced... again. I'd had to replace it twice already, due to my habit of being outside under the balmy Seftaric sun. Leather didn't last long, but the rock degraded any sort of plant-based fibers I'd tried to use instead, and I'd once lost it because of this. My dad had sent me out for three days and nights until I found it. 

I reached up and grabbed for my next handhold on the cliff, working my way up the mountainside at a moderate pace. There were ladders, sure, but it didn't really have the fun aspect that climbing up the steep slopes did. I was on my way to the market, with a basket of the small folding knives that my father was known for strapped to my back. He was a metalsmith, and I his apprentice, at least officially. In truth, I worked for the mountaineering team, monitoring the trails and lesser-used paths. My love of climbing made this a fairly fun task, since I often had to climb over collapsed section of walls.

But today, as was every Sunday custom, I was on my way to the market, hoping to sell these blasted knives as quickly as possible so I could get back to the house and do my homework. Seftari had a single school system, which ran for ten years, and then a system of colleges that focused on honing apprenticeship skills. As a final year school student, I was working on getting into a college. I didn't know why they called them colleges, for they were really trade schools, but whatever floats their airship I guess. I pulled myself over the top of the cliff, pausing to admire the view. Going to market was all uphill, something I found ridiculous, as it made more sense to put it downhill from the village. Their logic was that it made carrying your goods home easier. I was personally of the opinion that if one made quality goods, it should be easier to sell them, and thus made more sense to put it downhill of the village as you would be carrying less home. The elders did not appreciate my opinion, but why should they? I was a child.

It was only a matter of minutes walking along the top of the cliff to reach the marketplace. Once there, I set up on our table, and within thirty minutes the knives were gone, as I'd hoped. Everyone needed them, and our market time was always punctual. People traveled from farther away villages to buy our goods, though I couldn't fathom why. The basket weaver in this town was clearly loony, and the herbalist was the shadiest person I'd met yet. I had classmates that were sent to farther away markets, but I didn't have to. Dad saw no reason to go to the markets of other villages, seeing as we sold out well here.

Seconds after the last knife was sold, I headed back down the hill, climbing down a steep incline face first for the thrills. It was probably a fifty degree slope, and it was truly terrifying, but the look on peoples' faces when they saw me doing it was worth it. Seftarians aren't the best on flat surfaces--we're climbers. We have obscenely long limbs compared to our bodies, and our limbs can stretch somewhat. We can grasp objects securely that are larger than our heads. Climbing down objects backwards isn't an issue, because we can literally hold on to anything and drop the rest of our bodies until we find something to use as a foothold. Similarly, we can "Slinky" up a cliff, by bunching our feet near our hands and leaping up a cliff face, dragging ourselves up and grabbing anything that will support weight. It's not the most efficient climbing method, but on sheer faces it works wonders.

Moments later, I cross a ravine and find myself in the village proper. I crossed to our house. Stepping into the kitchen, I grabbed my computer gloves, and I went to work on my current project. I was detailing the paths of Aela Territory's Higher Mountain Village, and how the current active fault line located beneath the village would impact usability on various trails within the next decade. It was optional to go into such detail, but if you want to be the top of your class, sometimes it's necessary.