[The Road] The Working Bear [Tabarnac]

[Galio Keln]

Timestamp: Season of Fall, Day 54, 511 A.V. Today was another one of those days. One of the many days that Galio was stuck with nothing to do. Everyone he knew was working, or on some errand of some sort. Not only that, but he simply was sick of fishing. He would usually gather up his things and go fishing on days like these, but Galio could only do so much fishing before it became tiring. So today he was doing something new. Rather he was following up on something he had spoke of before. It had been a while back, but he had made a deal. That deal turned into an idea, and now Galio found himself walking down the Road. Walking at a brisk pace he had set out with the idea to join the work on the Road. What he didn’t know was exactly how far it actually was. After walking for about ten minutes Galio was once again bored. His mind began to drift and he was beginning to debate on heading back. Looking down he began to count his steps, placing one foot in front of the other. “One. Two. Three. Four. Five. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. One. Three. Two. Four. Five. Seven. Six...” He continued to count aloud, reaching six more than any other number. He could normally count up to ten, but today his mind was wandering and he was forgetting his numbers. This random counting continued as he walked, with him restarting at one countless times over. -Smack!- Galio now found himself flat on his back with a searing pain in his head. He had been attempting to count his steps, this time reaching Nine, when something had apparently blocked his path. Trying to get back his bearings he looked up, to be greeted by a rocky wall. Galio had reached the end of the Road. Having been so absorbed in his attempts to count Galio had been completely oblivious to his surroundings and walked directly into a wall. Holding his head he stared at the ground, wondering when his head was going to stop spinning.

[Tabarnac]

Darkness was fast approaching, and so work on the Road had ended for the day. Galio's face was known, and so none of the workers returning home had said anything to dissuade him as he passed them, mumbling to himself. But at the end of the line, things were relatively bare, most tools taken back to the waystation where the guard reconnoitered and things were stored during the night. Discipline was high what with raids from Zith and strange mechanical demons. Denval was embattled. "Who goes there?" came an authoritative call from above, a man silhouetted by the setting sun on the lip of the overhang, the man made cliff left behind by the work of the crew. The silhouette of a bow was also quite visible. "Work is over for the day." They couldn't be too careful.

[Galio Keln]

Galio’s head seemed to stop spinning as the man spoke from above the cliff. Galio looked up to realize that he had indeed walked directly into it, it wasn’t a great rocky wall like he had thought, just a small man-made cliff. “Galio Keln!” His eyes slowly adjusting to the light as the sun set Galio realized there was a bow being pointed at him. He still remembered the sting of a bow’s arrows, his hand instinctively went to his leg where a small scar marked where he had been hit. “Over? It can‘t be over already, I only just got here. I was suppose to come help…” Galio was a bit off set, on one hand he had taken much too much time getting out to the road, on the other this man was pointing a bow at him. He wanted to stay and find out more, while the other him wanted to make a break for cover. Still he stood in place, his dark eyes staring back at the man.

[Tabarnac]

Perras was not exactly threatening Galio with his bow, but the Denvali were always quick to attack when the need arose. But the bear's name was known. "Ah, just a moment." The bow slung over his back, he quickly descended from the escarpment, dusted rock dust off his hands and nodded. "Well, I can take you back to the waystation. One of the architects or supervisors might be there to run you through the way they do things here. I'm just around to make sure nothing attacks you from above. We've had Zith scavengers and... well, I'm sure you know." He nodded back toward town, waiting for Galio to accompany him. "Have you got any particular skills or just the strength of your back?"

[Galio Keln]

As soon as the bow was out of sight Galio began to relax. Suddenly Perras didn't seem as dangerous or scary as before. His animal instincts settled and he was calm once more. He nodded to Perras' offer, glancing up into the sky to check if there were any Zith. The winged creatures reminded him of his sister Lucy, but not quite as frightening as her when she was annoyed. “I'd like to see one of those over grown birds try to take on a grizzly!” A friendly grin spread across his face as he followed Perras. He was beginning to like this man, even if he had pointed a bow at him. “To be truthful I don't know a lot about this kind of work. One of my friends mentioned it and so I decided I'd give it a try.” He also decided not to mention that his friend had promised him a free drink if he went through with it. She may have been joking at the time, but Galio took promises very seriously, almost as serious as the young Kelvic took his beer. “But I'm pretty strong! Especially when I'm the other me!” As if to demonstrate Galio flexed his arm in a wide arc. He was very proud of his grizzly strength and was now contemplating shifting right then and there to show off.

[Tabarnac]

At Galio's expression of bravado, Perras smiled with a sort of camaraderie that developed between soldiers on the front line, and he clapped the Kelvic companionably on the shoulder. "I should like to see that too, my friend. I'll try to knock the next one I see out of the sky for you to test your strength." It wasn't such a terribly long walk back to the waystation; this Road was a monumental project and they had made steady, if slow, progress. It was a testament to the far-seeing eye of their Captain and the diligence and hard work of the Denvali people that they were even entertaining the idea. Torches burned along the walls of the Road this close to the waystation, and Perras raised his hand at the darkness above a few times, assuring the watchful eyes of Denval that he was a friend. "If you are willing to work with your strength, there should always be a place for you to work here. It can be boring and repetitious, but it will eventually connect us to the rest of Kalea... We don't like being hemmed in. If you show some talent for it, you might end up doing some of the more interesting work. I'll show you the plans when we get in there."

[Galio Keln]

Galio figured there must be more guards like Perras at the waystation as he watched him signal to them with his hand. As if to reinforce it Galio waved too, his eyes piercing through the low light as he tried to make out who it was that was on duty. Not recognizing anyone or really being able to see more than a outline of a body he gave up on it. “Boring and tedious? Have you ever been fishing? I fish a lot! Except sometimes they don‘t bite so you just kind of sit there and wait for them. It‘s really boring sometimes. And don‘t even get me started about the line. Sometimes it gets all tied up in the reeds or caught under a rock and I have to swim down to find out what‘s wrong and then it scares the fish away and then…” He trailed off, realizing that he was going on about lines, exactly what he had warned Perras not to do. He grinned sheepishly at him and quickly changed the subject. “I can do boring and tedious work. Just show me what to do! Also when to do it. Since I can‘t work at night.” With that said he followed Perras into the waystation, wondering just how much he had walked today. he had lost count after about seven steps.

[Tabarnac]

"I should think it would be easier as a bear. Nature made you a natural fisherman. Fisherbear?" He smiled, amused, and shrugged it off as details. Whoever was on guard, they were allowed to enter the waystation, which held no people at the moment, but was warming away the mid-autumnal chill with a peat fire in the hearth. Perras clapped Galio on the shoulder to urge him inside, friendly enough for all that they were hardly acquainted yet. "I'm Perras, by the way," he added. As many Denvali as not had no surname, or recognized none. Others did. It was one of the strange things about them. "Pleased to meet you, Galio Keln. Here, look at this." When he got Galio over by a table, he lit a taper so the fisherbear could see the blueprints, such as they were, of the Road-that-would-be, including a map of northern Kalea with the route etched in. How all of these plans had been complied was a mystery yet, but the Denvali were open about most things.

[Galio Keln]

Galio followed Perras into the waystation, delighted to know he was actually going to be doing something. He grinned at the Fisherbear comment, it seemed to fit as he often changed forms to fish. “Good to meet you too, Perras.” Watching Perras light the taper he blinked a few items as his eyes adjusted to the new light. As soon as they did he noticed the blueprints and map that apparently was the Road-to-be. All he made of it was a bunch of squiggles and lines. Having little knowledge of written word and having never even used a map before Galio had no idea what it was that he was looking at and could only guess at what it was. “So these are the blueprints for the Road? They look really small...I don't think that's going to be big enough to get through to any other cities...” As far as Galio could tell the map was actual size. Though he had a feeling what he thought was the Road might actually be a shore or a mountain.

[Tabarnac]

Perras laughed indulgently, then explained the scale of the thing to Galio. Avian Kelvics comprehended maps very well, as they were used to a bird's-eye view of the world, but quite a few of the earthbound ones were less able to grasp abstract concepts. He flipped through sheets of parchment, broadening the bear-man's mind with each. "Here's Denval, and here's Sultros. And the route the Road will take. This is what the world looks like to a bird, if a bird were to fly very, very high and look down on everything. Even once the Road is complete, it will take many days to reach Sultros. "Here's a map, closer to the ground, so everything looks bigger. It's the progress of the Road. See, this was how far we had come as of the 1st of this season. Back here was where we were at the beginning of Summer, and so on... "Oh, here's a schematic of a pulley system they are going to use to get past this awkward rockfall about half a mile from where we are now. Oh, and this is something they're just starting to plan for. They want a beaver Kelvic to help engineer a dam or bridge across this stream that's almost a mile past the rockfall..." He tried to gauge Galio's understanding and interest. "Ever drawn before? Think you can copy the pulley system?" He offered Galio a grease pencil and a sheet of parchment.