Chapter 31 - Restoring Caisleán (Part Two).

"Before training, let's eat," Neeka suggested.

Neeka and Søren worked their way out of the circle of Fuerven gathered around the shifting and changing Waystone encircled by the three rings of blue crystal shards. The people of Caisleán had clumped together in small groups and were eyeing Søren and the Waystone equally, quietly talking amongst each other.

Once out of earshot, Søren asked Neeka, "Why did your people agree to be Citizens? You and all of them have placed an awful lot of trust in me."

Neeka kept walking towards the cookfires used by the community, "Am not entirely sure. Torza says she felt like she could trust you. Many others said the same thing, without even knowing you. It is... concerning. I believe it be part of the reputation gained or lost when completing missions or defeating foes."

"I don't recall any notifications for the Water Finders until after the Waystone had already been activated," Søren said, with a furrowed brow. He fell silent and brought up his chat logs. At first, he tried scrolling back through them for any mention of the Water Finders, but the amount of spam was overwhelming. They have to have a search function. No sooner than he thought that, a box appeared beneath the chat logs. Søren entered `Water Finders` into the log and in moments found several mentions of the Water Finders, but most were in the error log.

HIDDEN > Hidden mission objective, 'Return the mindshard of Neeka of the Water Finders to her tribe 0/1' discovered.

GUIDE > A mindshard you carry has an active mindscan that will expire in 74 years, 10 months, 11 hours, and 39 minutes. Place the mindshard on the platform to revivify [Neeka of the Water Finders, Fuerven Speaker (Copper VI)].

ERROR > Runtime error on corrupted non-traveler avatar object designated Fuerven_Female_Neeka_of_the_Water_Finders.nta

ERROR > Unable to resurrect in current world state...

SYSTEM > Searching for potential solutions...

SYSTEM > Optimal solution found...

SYSTEM > Removing NTA behaviour modifications and scripts...

SYSTEM > Conversion to Traveler in progress...

SYSTEM > Conversion complete...

SYSTEM > Respawning Fuerven_Female_Neeka_of_the_Water_Finders.trv

HIDDEN > Hidden mission objective updated, 'Escort Neeka of the Water Finders to her tribe 0/1'.

HIDDEN > Hidden mission objective updated, 'Escort Neeka of the Water Finders to her tribe 1/1'.

HIDDEN > You have gained 10000 reputation with the Water Finders.

HIDDEN > You are now Honored with the Water Finders.

Søren stumbled to a stop as the implications of the error and system logs hit him. All the Fuerven, all the non-traveler creatures were being manipulated by the system AI, or rather, the synthetic intelligence, using the reputation system. I suppose it makes sense. It would be easier, more efficient to manipulate living beings than to realistically program and maintain an entire world of what are essentially npc's in a role-playing game. The system maintains itself. The npc's... nta's go about their daily lives, producing goods, farming the land, reproducing, and Chorus Entertainment Incorporated only needs the one synthetic intelligence to manage Traveler interactions and the reputation system.

Neeka looked back at Søren and asked, "Everything ok?"

"Yeah, just trying to figure out my place in all this," Søren hedged, gesturing to the world around him and the morning sky. I wonder how much she has guessed. She has a sharp mind.

"I feel adrift too, lost in time," she said thoughtfully, turning her eyes into the night sky. "I also feel free, unshackled. Full of, well," she said with her mouth slightly open in amusement, "Potential."

"I know what you mean. Before arriving here, I... well I can't quite remember what I was doing," Søren said, trying to clear his thoughts before the familiar headache started. "I just know something was happening in my life. Something amazing. It's... a feeling I have. Maybe someday I'll remember."

"I hope you do. Though I am glad you are here," Neeka said, turning both eyes and her body and head to face Søren. "You brought me back."

"How did you end up there? On Gateway?" Søren asked hesitantly, not wanting to dredge up painful memories, but curious to know more.

Neeka looked up into the morning sky, tracking a pinpoint of light moving fast towards the horizon. "We were interring Grandfather in Mourning Cave. Marking my ascent to Speaker as well. I spoke the Words of Power and light embraced me. Woke up on Gateway." Neeka grew quiet.

"I am sorry that happened to you Neeka, but I am also grateful for having met you. I think I would have died repeatedly in that cave until the Monarch took over the shard and then I don't know what would have happened. Would I be gone forever? Respawn further away? Back on a Gateway station? There were thirteen of them at one time." Søren's shoulders slumped. "Some day, I'm going back up there and I'm going to make whatever sick Gods or people are doing this, going to make them stop it and then send me home."

Neeka reached up and patted Søren on the shoulder and then started walking away. "Come, morning feast waiting."

Søren followed after her, his mouth watering as he caught a familiar scent in the air.

The morning feast was a simple affair. Roasted boar belly sliced into strips and bird eggs poached in boiling water. Neeka watched Søren's face light up when the scent of the boar belly reached the two of them.

"You have !" Søren shouted, all melancholy lost from his face.

"We have roasted boar belly," Neeka said. "You call it... bay-kin?"

Søren just nodded, having already stuffed his face with several pieces. Neeka's eyes narrowed in amusement and she let out a small hiss of laughter. She took a few pieces and placed them on a piece of slate chipped into a rough square and etched with various shapes and patterns along the edge. She then dipped her claws into the boiling water and fished out a few of the eggs that were nearly done poaching. Neeka leaned back and rested on her tail and shared a quiet moment with Søren, before the others began filtering back into the center of the old settlement to finish their morning feast.

"Søren, what can you do with build points?" Neeka asked. She slurped one of the poached eggs from her claws and licked clean the yellow yolk that had spilled onto her hand in the process.

"So much," Søren said, though he appeared to be distracted. Neeka could see he was trying not to stare at her for some reason.

Maybe they don't lick to clean?

She mentally shrugged and dismissed any concern for propriety from her mind.

"Should start small though," Søren continued. "Things will change a lot around here Neeka. Are your people ready for that?"

Neeka finished a piece of the boar belly and waited a moment, deep in thought, before speaking. "May not be ready, but may not have time to be ready. Torza say all the tribes scattered. Scrappers from north attack more often. The Collective grows in size and spreads far. The corruption they bring, the creep that covers all. None can live in lands corrupted by them, but the Hordelings and their masters, the Chorus."

"The Chorus?" Søren asked. He grabbed a poached egg from the boiling water without thinking and yelped in pain. A bright red -12 (heat) damage notification floated upwards.

"Don't know much 'bout them," Neeka said around a piece of boar belly. She gnashed it between her teeth and swallowed it nearly whole. "Stories passed down from Speaker to Speaker say they sing the ruin of the world. From what I've experienced, it be true. What you saw down below, in Mourning Cave. Small compared to hordes on the Thunder Plains west."

"Sounds pretty bad," Søren said. "Maybe we can find a way back to Gateway and bring everyone. Leave for good."

Neeka hissed quietly, laughing in her way. "That be funny. Space lizards. Something to think about."

"But first, need to survive down here." Søren looked around the village before settling his eyes on Neeka. "Maybe you should take over. There's got to be a way to transfer who controls the Waystone."

Neeka considered the young human in front of her. Do I want that responsibility again? To be in charge of the tribe. The growth of our Home?

"I think not, Søren," Neeka said to him. "I had my time. Did well back then. New day, new leader, but we will help. Torza and I."

"Thank you. It means a lot that you trust me to not screw this up," Søren said with a wan smile on his features. "Tell me about your history, your People's history. What do you know about where you came from?"

Neeka chewed absentmindedly on a couple slices of the roasted boar belly while giving her companion's questions some thought. She thought back to the stories her Grandfather and parents shared around the cookfires, deep into the warm summer nights of her youth. She swallowed the boar belly and took a drink from a nearby bucket of water.

"Our People say we hatched from the earth, from great stone boulders deep in the ancestral deserts. Far west, long since lost to the horde," Neeka said, reciting the story her grandfather had shared with her. "The brilliant light of the Lifegiver warmed the stony eggs of the People. Cracked open our stone shells, released us onto Gaia. Plague drove us from the desert into the Thunder Plains where our People flourished for many thousands of cycles. The plague returned and scattered our People into the wilds, always eastward on a never ending Exodus. Our tribe, earned respect of all clans, all tribes. We found water for our People when it was needed.

"They named us the Water Finders and set us apart from the rest, for our People were not a united species. Fractious, broken most of the time. Water Finders became peacemakers, mediators between tribes in conflict. The plague returned again in my youth and this time, we learned their name. The Collective, led by the Chorus. The ceaseless horde." Neeka paused to take another drink from the wooden ladle that was resting in the bucket. "I hope my People have held strong against the Collective, but my hope fails me when I see what has become of Home."

Neeka felt Søren's hand on her shoulder and she turned and smiled at him.

"I'll do what I can to help your People," Søren said. "But not alone. I will need their help. Your help. As Travelers, we have access to something your People have not had in a long time I think."

Neeka hissed and set aside the stone plate she had been using. She clapped her hands together loudly. "Now, morning feast done. Time to train." She stood and grabbed her spear and set off at a jog towards the eastern gate. One eye flicked backwards towards her companion who was scrambling to grab his weapon and satchel, a piece of roast boar belly wedged between his teeth and bouncing up and down.

"Wait up!" he shouted after her.

Neeka kept up her pace until she was a few hundred paces down the road and rested on her tail, waiting for Søren to catch up. It had been a rather hectic two days since her return to life. The woodlands around Home, no Caisleán, looked little different than she remembered. Which by her reckoning, was less than a month ago. Her thoughts turned to the unspoken part of the tales she had shared with Søren. Her grandfather had said the Travelers would return one day and their return would be a harbinger of a reckoning for the fate of Gaia.

Where do I fit in to your stories, Grandfather? She looked up at the bright pinpoint of light racing across the sky, one of many guiding lights that had been there for her People, as long her People had stories to tell, songs to sing. I wish you were here Grandfather.