No Slime, Please

Writers: Caladria, Chelle
Date Posted: 26th January 2012

Characters: Parale, Ramzen
Description: Parale and Ramzen meet at the beach and chat.
Location: Sunstone Seahold
Date: month 5, day 6 of Turn 6
Notes: Mentioned: Ioven/Mentor Approved

On such a good weather day, she had to get outside while the girls
were in lessons and Ioven was at work. With her basket, she walked
down the shoreline, collecting pretty seashells. She had in mind to
use them for necklaces for the girls. Bending down to look at one, she
put it in the water to get the sand off, bending it this way and that.

She wasn't the only one out looking for shells, although Ramzen was
more after a tasty meal than a pretty necklace. Bucket in one hand, he
used the other to steady himself as he searched the rocks around the
edge of the beach. When he noticed the woman coming towards him along
the shoreline, though, he paused to raise a hand in greeting.

Noticing the man, Parale straightened and stood up, pushing the sand
from her skirts. "Hello," she offered, though it was clear she was a bit
uncomfortable speaking to a strange man.

"Morning, ma'am," Ramzen replied, either ignoring or not noticing her
discomfort. "If you're looking for live ones, these rocks aren't bad
for it."

"Oh no...I was trying for shells for decoration. I don't know how to cook..
the live ones." The idea of putting something so slimy into her mouth was
hard for her anyway.

"Not used to living by the sea?" Ramzen said, kindly. "I think there's
some of the shells around the rocks as well; they get trapped in the
pools."

"Hmm..I'm from Garnet Valley. So no. Mountains and mining, that's me."
Parale liked certain aspects of life at a seahold but eating slimy things
was not one of them.

"You get used to it," Ramzen said sympathetically. "What made you
leave your mountains and mining behind?"

"Well my husband lived here so I came back with him after we married."
She perked up. "Maybe you know him? His name is Ioven and he's a smith."

Ramzen shook his head. "Can't say I do, sorry. I'm away from the Hold
a lot. What kind of smithing does he do?"

"Oh. You're away..what do you do then?" She could read knots, but she
didn't know exactly what his job was.

"I'm a beasthealer," he explained. It wasn't the most common of knots,
unless one was into raising beasts. "My craft tends to make me go to
it, so to speak." He nodded to the shells she'd gathered. "So, are
they smithing things you're helping with?"

"Oh these? No. I'm going to make gifts for my daughters." She just realized
he had asked her what sort of smithing Ioven did. "My husband, he's into
ceramics. Making plates, glasses, utensils, that sort of thing though he can
do more. He helps run the kiln."

"I bet they'll love them," Ramzen commented with a smile. "The inland
kids that come off the ships here are fascinated by the sea." It
wasn't really something he quite understood, being an island lad, but
novelty was novelty, he guessed.

"Aye, I was sort of afraid of it at first. Then again, maybe I still am. I
watch the girls closely when we come out to swim. The currents..." She didn't like
that idea, not at all.

"They can be pretty bad, if you don't stay careful," Ramzen agreed.
"How long have you been here, then? Not long at all, I guess?"

"It's been almost seven months now, actually." Still, she had been working
so hard to get her family in order, make friends, and manage other things
that there were some things she hadn't experienced.

"Seven months and still no seafood?" Ramzen asked. "The seacrafters
would be horrified." He grinned. "Mind, you're keeping me in business,
so I shouldn't complain."

"Well, I've had some seafood aye, but not those sorts of things." Parale
didn't mind fried fish and other things. Things that came from the shells, though,
with their bodies of pure slime bothered her. "Are you originally from here
then?"

Ramzen shook his head. "Sea of Azov, originally, so the coast, at any
rate. But there's only so much room on an island, you know? And this
place is growing all the time."

"That's true." She thought about all the people she'd seen just since they
had arrived. Parale knew Garnet Valley wasn't that way, even though they had a
good amount of holders. "Do you like this better then?"

"A lad needs some room to stretch his legs, now and then." And lanky
lad that he was, Ramzen did have a lot of leg to stretch. "With all
these folk coming in to set up Hold, there's always some beast in need
of attention somewhere in the back of beyond."

Looking up at the sun, she judged it to be time for her to get back. Parale
nodded, considering that. "Well I wish you well then. I've got to be getting
back. Pleased to meet you sir."

"And you, too, ma'am," Ramzen replied. Alone again, he considered the
contents of his bucket, and his appetite, and started hunting for more
shellfish.

Last updated on the January 26th 2012

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