Scratch My Back

Writers: Chelle, Emma, Paula
Date Posted: 12th March 2014

Characters: Fieayz, Alrog, Relik
Description: Relik goes to talk to the holder to see about coal.
Location: Elsewhere on Pern
Date: month 5, day 21 of Turn 7
Notes: Follows I Need Power

The Hallmaster had managed himself a ride for this particular journey, cutting
the time. It was going to be an important meeting if everything he thought could
happen did. As it was, he wanted to see what might be worked out. A message had been sent
already to Alrog and the Holder would know what he wanted.

Alrog adjusted the collar of his best tunic, waiting the guest to arrive.
You didn't host a Hallmaster everyday and the small mining hold was putting out its best.

After dismounting and getting his carisak, he thanked the dragonrider and
then looked over the small Holding. It was in the same territory at least, which helped
matters. He supposed he?d likely need to meet the man anyway since he might someday need to trade
for other supplies or goods. Still, if this venture worked out, perhaps it could be
more amenable sooner.

"Master Relik?" Alrog stepped forward and hold out his hand. "Welcome to the
Iron Lake hold, I'm holder Alrog."

Relik put out his free hand, sizing Alrog up. Looking up at the holder, he
had to admire his hair. Relik had had hair like that once upon a turn. Blue eyes
turned shrewdly towards the holding. "Thanks for agreeing to meet with me.
I'm hoping I have an opportunity for the both of us."

"And I'm always open to opportunities. Please, let's get inside. My wife
has refreshments waiting," Alrog replied and gestured the hallmaster
to precede him in.

Walking inside, the short seacrafter made his way slowly. He took in
everything around him. This wasn't his forte-a mountain hold in the
center of the continent. Still, he didn't look at things as if they were
odd. Relik just took it in and considered the differences between it and the
seaholds he was used to. "Pleased at the hospitality."

"Thank you. This is my wife, Fieayz," Alrog introduced him. "Seacrafter
Hallmaster Relik."

"Pleased to meet you, Sir," the young woman said. "Welcome to our home."

"Thank you as well, Lady Fieayz." Even old grizzled Relik could muster up
a nice smile for a young woman of breeding. It wasn't a secret either, that
his new wife was a bit younger than him.

***
"And what exactly brings you to our mountains?" Alrog asked when they sat
down around his desk after enjoying the refreshments. "This isn't a place where
you see many seacrafters."

"No I suppose not." He took a drink and let it settle. "Well, I have a
Hallsecond who is working with the smiths to make engines for boats. These
engines..you see..require fuel. And I think you, holder, can provide us
with it. So we'd like to trade." Relik didn't beat around the bush. The
Seacrafter was a straight arrow and saved time.

"I presume you're not talking about wood as a fuel," Alrog said drolly.
There weren't that many trees growing around Iron Lake. The ones that had,
had been cut to support mining tunnels. The denser woods grew on lower parts of the mountain
range. "Our main produce is iron, but we do dig up other materials beside it."

"No, we'll need iron for engine parts yes but...we were hoping maybe you had
some cromcoal." Relik sincerely hoped the reports he had from the minecraft were right about this
Hold.

"Oh, yes, we ran into that stuff now and then. We use it to heat our Hold
and mines," Alrog replied. "There's not much market for it, so we have never sold it."

Parts of the South still needed heat but most of them burned wood or used
geothermal systems. Relik had already researched it to see if he would have
competition for what he needed. "Well what if I said, I will give you a market?"

"Then I would be more than happy to sell it for you," Alrog replied. It
would mean more income to his hold and frankly, with no extra effort.

"Very good. The question then becomes transportation. I'll need to get it to
the Sea of Azov and the coast." Relik pondered over that. He wasn't familiar with
overland travel so much as by ship.

"There's the lake and river," Alrog said after pulling out the map. "We
deliver ore to the Garnet Valley Hold anyway and from there, it's a short
trip to the lake shore. The cromcoal could be loaded to the river barges and
taken to River Bluff Weyr, where they can be moved to a ship. I'm not sure
if River Bluff can handle that kind of traffic though, or what they think of
it."

Relik had already checked out the harbor at the Weyr. He'd have to ask Tamah
though. "They could come up the River and transfer aye. I'll have to talk to
my man there." The could sail around and then take them down the river to
the Sea of Azov past Jade Harbor.

Alrog just nodded.

"Very well. Let me talk to the Weyr. If I can get everything arranged, we'll
talk terms?" He watched Alrog, hoping this might be a profitable venture for
the man a useful one for the craft.

"All right," Alrog replied. "Now the transportation cost are going
to be rather high, considering the distance involved."

"I have a barge that I can put into operation for the river journey." That
was the benefit of being in his craft of course. "As far as the trade
agreement...we'll need to compensate you somehow for the coal. What can we
do for you?" Relik preferred to barter, especially since his craft didn't
have much in the way of goods.

Alrog raked his brains, trying to come up with something. "Mountain hold
really doesn't have much use for seacraft hall's services," he remarked.
"Most of our ore goes to the smithcraft hall, so we don't have much need for
sea transport either."

"What about maps? Let's think outside the box..." Relik was trying to think
of other services that his Hall could manage. They didn't just do boats.
There were other things after all.

Alrog shrugged his shoulders. "We have prospectors combing the mountains for
new ore sources. They also draw our maps."

Of course miners were also engineers so they didn't need help with
that side of things. He started to scratch his head. They probably
also had surveyers. "What if I offered to bring things you could use from
the coastal regions back down on the barge once we unload it?"

"We could have something there," Alrog pondered. It wouldn't hurt to get
some tropical food stuffs from the coast. Their diet seem to be mainly ovine
and tubers, only things that seem to grow on the cold mountain slopes.

"Allright, let's hammer it out after eating. I don't know about you but I'm
a little empty." Relik had been eying the things set out by the man's wife
and it was quickly becoming a distraction. "And your lady wife picks quite
well."

"Aye, I'm very proud of her," Alrog agreed.

Last updated on the March 15th 2014

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Scratch My Back