Introduction: Byron
Jul. 4th, 2016 04:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dragonmagitechVinegar didn't travel to the Cloudsong much; the clan had few dealings in Wind, particularly now, and she'd never been big on travel for travel's sake. In fact it was only for the clan's sake that she did it now. Lorenz had been in Fang's office nearly every day this week quietly freaking out about his new position and asking just what was he supposed to do with only one other engineer? The place was sure to fall apart! Only with less emphasis, of course.
Fang's attempts to calm him had only made things worse, and he had made several long and technical speeches about flooded maintenance tunnels that neither he nor Ilhadro could safely navigate, and eventually Fang had come to Vinegar and asked her to please find them a third engineer, preferably from Wind to avoid the breathing problem, and preferably as soon as possible. Which was why, while Fang dealt with a flock of uncooperative diplomats, Vinegar was accompanying Sylvester on one of his mercantile trips. She didn't have any particular insight into that process, but she didn't want to make the trip alone.
She drifted away from Sylvester's stall almost immediately. The more ground she covered, the more likely she was to find someone with the skills she was looking for. They'd arrived early in the morning and the area wasn't as busy as she'd expected; she'd want to make several sweeps as the day went on. Perhaps at some point in that process she'd figure out how to identify an engineer by sight. In her experience the only attribute they shared was extremely strange dress sense, and almost anyone could have that.
Hardly any time had passed when a voice to her left said, "Do you have a minute?"
The speaker turned out to be a brightly-colored Mirror wearing a bright green coat that made him almost unbearable to look at. There was some kind of insignia embroidered on the shoulder. The Mirror's head was lowered in a gesture of deference. He continued, "You came from Lightning, didn't you?"
"How do you know that." She didn't exactly look the part.
"I saw you fly in. I need a favor." He paused for slightly too long before explaining. "My research demands certain plants that only grow in the Shifting Expanse. I had a store of them, don't think I'm as ill-prepared as that, but there was an...incident, and I need to replace them as soon as possible. There's nothing stopping me from going out there, but surely you understand my hesitation to go wandering the desert without any guarantee of finding what I seek. I don't have a map of the Expanse."
"I don't have one either," Vinegar said.
"But you do know your way around, right?"
"More or less."
He clapped his hands together. "That's what I was hoping for. What I need is a base, somewhere to work from so I can be sure of surviving this venture. There's only so much water I can carry on my person. Obviously I don't know where your clan is located exactly, but I can travel very quickly over land, so that isn't a problem." He grinned expectantly.
It was a sensible request, on the face of it, but she couldn't help but wonder. She knew very well that dragons of all flights came here to trade; finding a Lightning clan selling the needed plants would be simple and much safer than heading out into the middle of the desert without a map. Even with a base to come back to there was no guarantee he'd survive.
There was another thing, too. "As soon as possible, you said."
"Ah. Yes. I was hoping we could leave immediately, in fact. I saw you were with someone else, so I don't think it will affect your profits, will it? My study subjects are in a somewhat delicate state at the moment and I really do need the plants immediately."
Interesting. The kind of interesting her clan seemed to draw a lot of. Though he didn't seem to have recognized her or Sylvester, so more likely he planned to disappear into the desert at the first opportunity.
Well, if that was going to happen, the clan might as well get something out of it, particularly since she was leaving without what she'd come for. "I will help you with this, but only if you share your research with us. One never knows what might come in handy."
The corner of his mouth twisted, but he nodded. "That's a fair price."
She helped the Mirror gather his possessions—relatively few, and lacking many things he'd need to survive alone in the desert, but maybe he was planning to steal more supplies once they arrived. She made a mental note to have Anodyne pull some things out of deep storage and put them in a poorly-secured chamber for easy mid-escape access. No sense in making things more difficult than they needed to be. She explained the situation to Sylvester, though not her suspicions; she couldn't know who might overhear. Then they were off. Maybe this Mirror could be convinced to help with the maintenance before he ran off.
Fang's attempts to calm him had only made things worse, and he had made several long and technical speeches about flooded maintenance tunnels that neither he nor Ilhadro could safely navigate, and eventually Fang had come to Vinegar and asked her to please find them a third engineer, preferably from Wind to avoid the breathing problem, and preferably as soon as possible. Which was why, while Fang dealt with a flock of uncooperative diplomats, Vinegar was accompanying Sylvester on one of his mercantile trips. She didn't have any particular insight into that process, but she didn't want to make the trip alone.
She drifted away from Sylvester's stall almost immediately. The more ground she covered, the more likely she was to find someone with the skills she was looking for. They'd arrived early in the morning and the area wasn't as busy as she'd expected; she'd want to make several sweeps as the day went on. Perhaps at some point in that process she'd figure out how to identify an engineer by sight. In her experience the only attribute they shared was extremely strange dress sense, and almost anyone could have that.
Hardly any time had passed when a voice to her left said, "Do you have a minute?"
The speaker turned out to be a brightly-colored Mirror wearing a bright green coat that made him almost unbearable to look at. There was some kind of insignia embroidered on the shoulder. The Mirror's head was lowered in a gesture of deference. He continued, "You came from Lightning, didn't you?"
"How do you know that." She didn't exactly look the part.
"I saw you fly in. I need a favor." He paused for slightly too long before explaining. "My research demands certain plants that only grow in the Shifting Expanse. I had a store of them, don't think I'm as ill-prepared as that, but there was an...incident, and I need to replace them as soon as possible. There's nothing stopping me from going out there, but surely you understand my hesitation to go wandering the desert without any guarantee of finding what I seek. I don't have a map of the Expanse."
"I don't have one either," Vinegar said.
"But you do know your way around, right?"
"More or less."
He clapped his hands together. "That's what I was hoping for. What I need is a base, somewhere to work from so I can be sure of surviving this venture. There's only so much water I can carry on my person. Obviously I don't know where your clan is located exactly, but I can travel very quickly over land, so that isn't a problem." He grinned expectantly.
It was a sensible request, on the face of it, but she couldn't help but wonder. She knew very well that dragons of all flights came here to trade; finding a Lightning clan selling the needed plants would be simple and much safer than heading out into the middle of the desert without a map. Even with a base to come back to there was no guarantee he'd survive.
There was another thing, too. "As soon as possible, you said."
"Ah. Yes. I was hoping we could leave immediately, in fact. I saw you were with someone else, so I don't think it will affect your profits, will it? My study subjects are in a somewhat delicate state at the moment and I really do need the plants immediately."
Interesting. The kind of interesting her clan seemed to draw a lot of. Though he didn't seem to have recognized her or Sylvester, so more likely he planned to disappear into the desert at the first opportunity.
Well, if that was going to happen, the clan might as well get something out of it, particularly since she was leaving without what she'd come for. "I will help you with this, but only if you share your research with us. One never knows what might come in handy."
The corner of his mouth twisted, but he nodded. "That's a fair price."
She helped the Mirror gather his possessions—relatively few, and lacking many things he'd need to survive alone in the desert, but maybe he was planning to steal more supplies once they arrived. She made a mental note to have Anodyne pull some things out of deep storage and put them in a poorly-secured chamber for easy mid-escape access. No sense in making things more difficult than they needed to be. She explained the situation to Sylvester, though not her suspicions; she couldn't know who might overhear. Then they were off. Maybe this Mirror could be convinced to help with the maintenance before he ran off.
