No surprise I spent the rest of the night in a sour mood, with Eve not talking to and having to deal with Dryden. I got into my tent and stripped out of my robes and crashed on my bedroll ready to just be done with the day.
The next morning I woke up to find visitors in the camp once more, talking animatedly with our trading team around a tray full of jerky offerings. The camp team might’ve complained at first they were stuck back at the base while we got to explore the settlent, but it seed like pretty much every one of them was getting into it—enjoyed the gifts and food the visitors brought at the very least.
I dressed in another simple robe, this one solid blue with a dark grey head wrapping. Pretty much everyone else from my team dressed similarly I could see, although with different colors. Dryden was the exception this ti around, and I could see his red robe had so fancy purple trimming on to match his head wrappings, trying to make himself look like the leader of the clan I figured.
I saw the soldiers were already getting to work setting up the cart of goods we were to bring along with us to visit the Dennosh Clan, mostly regular trade goods, but a few things our computers back on The Judicator created that would look like they’d make great offerings for the new gojen god.
I made my way over to the group to see if there was anything I needed to do, but I wasn’t going to offer any help unless I was specifically instructed—hell, I wasn’t even going to talk now unless I was told to.
Dryden didn’t even look my way while he was micromanaging the soldiers on how best to pack a simple fucking cart.
“You’ll be in charge of managing the smaller cart.” He waved over dismissively, “The one that’ll carry the big red statue.” He confird.
I quirked up an eyebrow, “We’re bringing Eve’s statue along now?”
Dryden nodded once, “Obviously, that’s to be the main offering we’d want to present to the praetor or their New Light.” He said.
My face scrunched up in a thoughtful frown, and I was wondering if asking follow-up questions would count against in this whole keeping silent during the training now.
“We’re not…actually going to trade it away though, right?” I asked tentatively.
Finally, Dryden looked my way, “Of course not, fool. You think I’d risk losing the most valuable asset to the mission by trading if off on so primitive planet?”
I held a hand up quickly to halt his tirade, “Just asking…sir.”
I couldn’t see it, but I was sure that smug nasty smile would be back on Dryden’s face when I called him sir.
“Right, and now finally you’ll have sothing to do as the asset handler.” He turned to fully face then, “You’re to keep charge of the statue, watch and protect it so nothing happens—try to keep the natives from touching it to prevent them from disrupting the disguise.” He ordered.
I nodded along, “And by what ans can I…keep the natives away?”
Dryden inclined his head, “Excellent follow-up question, Agent Adam.” He stood upright, “That’s exactly the kind of attitude command has been expecting from you all along; no overstepping your role, no adapting on your own, no taking it upon yourself to interpret your orders.” He nodded once more, as though overly pleased like it was his training that reigned in, “Continue like this and we’ll have no problem passing you on your redial training.”
I literally had to bite my tongue to keep from telling Dryden what I really thought about all his orders and training—pretty sure I tasted blood.
“Right…and the orders?” I asked.
The asshole was so busy jerking himself off he actually forgot my original question.
“Oh, right. You’re to remain by the cart to keep anyone from getting too close, and if soone tries to make an offer for a trade you tell them it’s a sacred carving the founder of our clan made, and it’s ant only to be given as an offering to the New Light.” He clarified.
“Got it.”
Dryden waved his hand after as he returned his attention to the soldiers on the big cart, “Dismissed.”
I made a quick exit before I said anything I’d regret, forcing down a tension headache that was pounding in my temples.
The cart carrying Eve’s statue was one of the smaller ones with only two wheels, didn’t hold much else besides the statue either—so tarps, cloth and robes, stuff that actually helped secure the statue in place. I decided to arrange the tarps around the statue, covered them with nicer looking cloth, then removed the extra robes, making it look like it was an offering ready to be presented.
“We’re going into the city again sweet-thing, and you get to co with us this ti.” I said under my breath, talking so only Eve could hear .
No response—not like I was expecting one. The few words I got from Eve yesterday had been a rare treat. I figured she was probably sleeping or in that weird stasis state or whatever—probably wouldn’t hear much from her at all today.
I couldn’t believe how shitty I felt now with everything that was going on—I was beyond miserable. Back on Jessipie-90 I missed Eve like crazy, but at least I had important work to do, plus I made quite a few close friends who now wouldn’t even know who I was. Down here on Congoren I didn’t have any friends, didn’t have anything to do, and whatever was going on with Eve now was sohow worse than her being missing.
But I wasn’t going to roll over and die, I needed to keep positive, and while optimism has never been my strong suit, I just needed to remain focused on one little word to help get through the day.
Soon…
***
Our clan traveled back into the heart of Coralia following Calngar’s directions, and right away from their clan’s position closer to the center of the settlent, we knew they were rather important.
We crossed into the part of the settlent that had the wooden structures built, just outside where things started turning to stone to be totally permanent, definitely a sign the Dennosh clan had been in Coralia for a while.
Once we made it to their clan, the first thing I noticed was the impressive size of their circle—how large the clan was. They had maybe a hundred tents surrounding a massive stone firepit, with a few wooden rchant stalls to help manage visitor traffic—fully integrating with this new life of settling down in a more permanent spot rather than travel across the sands.
None of their tents were anywhere near as small as ours, each one looked like it would fit at least a couple people, while the largest—the leader tent was as big as a house, with a dozen large logs securing the tent to the sand. The main tent was purple, with so extra scarlet accent tarp over the whole thing, with emblems and flags and fancy silver and gold streams of cloth draped around to make it all look regal. The tent was so large and ostentatious, it could probably be seen from half a mile away.
There were other large tents beside that, each almost the size of a house that probably all housed the clan elders and their entire families. There was also a huge stable that was bigger than my Grandparents’ old barn back ho even—definitely a permanent structure from what I could tell.
The clan looked busy with several dozen visitors bartering with various mbers of the Dennosh Clan—looked like entire clans had co to trade, smaller clans sa as us.
I wondered if Calngar and his people made it a habit of befriending young, eager clans, either to help them and share their wealth, or maybe take advantage.
I also saw children running around the dwindling firepit, playing so ga with sticks and ribbons trailing in the sand. Sa as most of the adults, the kids were all wrapped up in robes so you couldn’t really see how different the young ones looked—resembled Jawas from Star Wars, but with their faces all covered rather than have those glowing eyes peeking out.
Dryden led our line over to one of the wooden rchant stalls that just freed up and started talking to the gojen who was manning it.
From my spot in the back I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but whatever was going on between the two up front was interrupted once Calngar noticed our group.
“My friends! You made it, welco, welco!” He cheered, loud and boisterous as ever even without the cactus wine—unless he started partying on his own this morning.
Calngar started greeting everyone in our line in turn as Dryden followed along behind him, he paused when he got to the large cart and started looking over our goods.
“Such rare goods for such a young clan!” He announced, then waved over to soone from inside his circle, “Co, Jioara, look what wealth our new friends have!”
Jioara, one of Calngar’s wives, made her way out of their camp circle to stand beside him as he started appraising our goods and their value.
“Such rare stones; did you acquire them in your travels on your way to Coralia?” Jioara asked.
Dryden shook his head, “No, most of our goods co from the ti of our founder’s traveling before he set out on his own. We haven’t been as successful in our journey, one of the reasons we decided to make the pilgrimage.” He explained.
Calngar nodded along as though that was expected, “Many new clans have trouble following in the footsteps of their founder; the founder was blessed with trade and connections, so he decides to make it on his own, but sotis they forget the connections that led to their initial wealth and lose themselves along the way.” He barked out a laugh, “Another reason people co to see the New Light; they hope to find themselves again and reclaim old blessings.”
Calngar and his wife continued down the line, greeting everyone in turn, and when he made it to and my cart, he abruptly stopped in his tracks.
“Blessings of the sands, what is this masterpiece?” He asked, rushing towards the cart.
I quickly stood between him and the cart, “Carved by our founder before he passed, we maintained and protected it throughout our travels, and when we heard about the New Light, we knew it would make the perfect offering.” I said.
Calngar started looking around , as though trying to find an opening that would let him slip past, “I have never seen anything of its likeness; the attention to detail, the beauty, even the material looks rare.” He cocked his head to the side, “Where did your clan founder find red wood—or did he sohow treat the wood to color it?” He pressed.
I didn’t know if it was a foolish decision to make the wooden statue disguise red since all the wood we’d seen so far was either black, white or grey. Perhaps the idea was to make the offering stand out to hopefully get us a chance to deliver it to Gamma-11, but the more ti I spent planet-side and the more I saw of what all the planet offered, the more unusual the deep red wood looked in comparison.
And considering the valuable cargo it held underneath, maybe we should’ve been a little more careful in creating the disguise.
Dryden and Ednynna hurried up behind Calngar and his wife.
“We don’t really know the secret to its rare beauty, but we believe it’s blessed us on our travels, and such an offering to the New Light would continue to bless us for the next several generations.” Endynna explained.
Calngar turned to Dryden as though he hadn’t heard her, “Friends, co, trade with for this statue.” He waved out to his camp, “I will exceed any offer you would make of us.”
I waved a hand out to try and reclaim his attention, “Uh, no, sorry Calngar, this statue is sacred to us—from the ti of our founder. We’ve made this pilgrimage all with the intent to offer it to the New Light.”
Dryden nodded along, “The boy’s right, we started this journey all with the idea we’d be able to bring it to Coralia and present it to the New Light, we can’t just abandon the blessing we’ve worked so hard to achieve.”
Calngar didn’t look dissuaded in the least, instead he put an arm around Dryden and pulled him in close, “Let’s not talk about your blessing for now, instead focus on the blessing the Dennosh Clan can offer you.” He waved to our line and started leading Dryden into their circle, “Co, experience our fellowship and hospitality—join us as old friends now, resuming yesterday’s festivities.” He insisted.
A few other gojens joined in with escorting our team into their clan, a tray of ats and a pitcher of wine appearing out of nowhere. I declined the offers as I pulled Eve’s cart into the circle, stopping before the large firepit and hopping up to sit inside it.
The rest of our team was quickly separated then, pulled every which way by gojens of the Dennosh Clan. I could see all over it was turning into another small feast with each little group being catered to differently, and despite how early it was the gojens didn’t seem to care—their sense of ti all screwed up since there wasn’t an actual night, so I didn’t think there were any rules about when you could start partying.
Calngar kept Dryden and Endynna with him, leading them all over the clan circle and showing everything off—bragging about all their wealth and not so subtly showing what his was willing to offer in a trade.
For the soldiers in our group, they were led to various festivities that were less bragging and more about having fun and letting loose, probably trying to win them over so they’d be inclined to tell Dryden what a good deal we were getting.
I stayed by my cart protecting Eve’s statue, keeping the frequent visitors from touching it. Pretty much every mber of the Dennosh Clan made the rounds to co see the statue, asked a bunch of questions about its history, then made so offer on top of all the previous offers.
Honestly, I never thought the statue offering would be so popular. I an sure, The Judicator computer created the disguise to look rare and valuable so it would make a good offering to hopefully get Eve into the temple at so point, but I had no idea it would be such an outrageous hit with all the locals.
Almost made wonder if there was sothing more going on than them just being impressed with the red wood and the fancy statue, like they could maybe feel the energy of the repulse barrier underneath—or maybe even Eve’s energy, although I was pretty sure it was all contained. Or maybe they were just trying to grift us, saw sothing valuable and rare and wanted to over-inflate its worth as so ploy—maybe they didn’t even want the statue and were working so other angle.
I didn’t think that was the case though since all our intelligence on the gojens showed they were pretty authentic people. Sure they could be scrupulous or stingy sa as any race across the universe, but there was basically no concept of theft on Congoren—it was why people could leave their camps up and their goods unsecured. Visiting gojens wouldn’t even enter another camp unless they were invited, everything was all about respect with them, and a thief would be the lowest of the low.
Hours passed, and the Dennosh Clan continued with their fellowship and hospitality show, with Calngar making frequent visits to look over the statue every so often, raving about its beauty and rarity, but didn’t offer another trade just yet.
From my spot I was brought food constantly, but I followed along with my orders and hardly said anything that was outside the story I was given about our clan founder. The food was good, and I was careful about the wine, but even with all the action around it was pretty dull sitting on that cart.
When I was totally alone I would comnt aloud what was going on, hoping to keep Eve engaged; I knew she’d be able to see and the camp from inside the disguise, but of course she never answered.
Our team tried to disengage from the Dennosh Clan more than once, but as the primary sun started to fall and the light fade started, Calngar brought a table out in front of the firepit and stood on top of it so he could address everyone in the camp.
“Friends, we are so glad to entertain you, but as the light fades, we can’t offer insult to let you out from the safety of our circle.” He waved for everyone to co closer, “Co, co! You will stay through the fade, and then tomorrow we shall resu our feast—and the next day after that if needs be until we are all one people and can share in all our blessings together!” He announced.
I could see the people from my team looked over at Dryden for our orders if we were really supposed to just hang around the Dennosh camp for another day, and he turned to Calngar on his table and bowed his head respectfully.
“We would be honored to be hosted for another day in your lovely camp.” Dryden said respectfully.
Calngar barked out a laugh and clapped his hands together, then jumped off the table, “Co, I shall have my daughters show you the fire-dance they’ve been practicing!” He insisted.
The rest of the Dennosh gojens gathered around the fire as it was slowly built up to a huge inferno, pulling us along to sit beside them. A few gojens brought out a large wooden platform and placed it in front of the fire, and a few gojen won stepped forward wearing sothing far different from the normal robes everyone wore.
The gojen won had wrappings around their toros and bottoms that looked like a swimsuit, with colorful streams and ribbons of sheer fabric covering everything else, draping over their arms and legs and trailing back a couple feet.
The four gojen won were attractive, and their moves enticing, accompanied by a pair of large drums a few n played with their hands. The gojens all cheered and laughed as the girls danced, and more food and wine were dispersed amongst our team than ever before.
It seed like everyone was letting loose then, getting into the festivities, and if I didn’t know better I’d say they were surely celebrating a special occasion.
But no, this was just how the gojens played and partied—this was how they enticed another clan into a big trade.
Through everything Calngar remained a gracious host, bringing out extra bedrolls so people could just crash in the sand whenever they were done partying, all the while his eyes frequently appraising Eve’s statue, but he never made another offer—at least not that day.
I wasn’t sure how long we’d be kept in the Dennosh Clan while they tried to work us into a bartering mood, but I couldn’t help but laugh at the idea of Dryden, the strict, micromanaging lieutenant being kept away from his precious Lord Generals for days on end—in fact, that alone might’ve made it all worth it.
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