Completed [Empyreal Demesne] To Moor More Than Ships

[Kelski]

Timestamp: 35th of Summer, 519 A.V.

Kelski sat quietly, a blank book opened in her lap, her mind stretched out across the water envisioning the dock she wanted to build. It would take falling big trees, hauling them down to the water, and then setting them as pilons into the deep. There were types of wood in the forest above them that would float instead of sink, and with the right coating on them they would never rot. Kelski knew these things from living in Sunberth with its numerous docks and structures out over the mudway and even the eastern sea. They’d need wide circular couplings made by the blacksmith that would allow the dock to float up and down with the tide, changing levels. With those fastenings, they could make a dock big enough to moor multiple pavliars or even one of the bigger ships that sailed out of Zeltiva.

Kelski glanced down at the blank pages and started to sketch. This was a notebook of plans, one she kept adding notes into, knowing the Demesne was growing bigger and bigger in her mind. She had a piece of charcoal which she sketched with, making notes in the margins and sketching out not only what she decided would be a three-ship slip boat house and dock out over the water.

The Demesne was clearly going to need more housing, and a boat house residence with a few suites would not be unwelcome. Plus, it would give Kelski a place to put Barn for him to have his own space, taking care of water things like he loved and not animals which he didn’t.

They could build the dock with slips first, then build the boathouse over it. Maybe when Crylon came he could take care of the details of the actual living structure. But as long as they planned for the dock to be sturdy enough to hold the weight of a dock house, then they could do anything they wanted to with it in the future so long as it became a dock soon.

The water rippled, something crested a wave, then dove back under. It looked vaguely human, but the long colorful tail took that notion from her mind.

The man wasn’t human. Kelski could see that as clearly as she could see he only looked human from the torso up. From the torso down, he looked like a snake… until he didn’t. His tail shifted to a set of legs as he moved from the water to the beach, approaching her. He grew smaller too, compact, not nearly as big as she’d first assumed he was as he had swam with his snake’s tail. He moved sinuously, in an undulating manor, even though he walked on two legs. He had power, but Kelski sensed it wasn’t the sort a mage carried with him where djed was overflowing and confidence tended to inflate egos.

Instead, she suspected it was something racial. He was a predator, like she was, but there was no interest in killing in his eyes. Kelski moved closer, padding barefoot down the beach from where she’d been digging clams to greet the newcomer. She smiled a friendly smile, ordered herself to relax, and then breathed deeply when he approached Kelski where she was sitting.

[Kelski]

Snake. He smelled delicious, even wet and naked. He had a pack with him, one overflowing with what looked to be all sorts of gear and tools. Kelski knew immediately he wasn’t human, so that left only Dhani if he wasn’t a mage. She’d met his people before and knew they always made her salivate because there was nothing Sea Eagles loved better than snaking on sea snakes. They had to be killed carefully and fast, because their bites were deadly and their venom some of the nastiest stuff known to snakes. She liked the smell of land snakes too. But this man definitely had the scent of a Krait about him. There was no mistaken it.

But she set aside her sudden hunger and smiled. “I’m Kelski. Welcome to the Empyreal Demesne.” She said, gesturing at the land behind her and all the work underway. Vasin had even started falling and hauling down big logs to form the dock footings with. “If your hungry, we have soup on up at the tower and I have a meat rolls and fruit with me.” She offered, always knowing the best way to make peace was to offer food.

The Dhani smiled. “I’m well fed, thank you. My name is Toni Salavinn. I know your building something here. I’ve heard the talk among the Svefra you’ve made welcome. I also heard you were looking for craftsman, those interested in magic, and you weren’t discriminatory since you were a lot of you Kelvics. I thought to come offer my services. I’ve been restless forever, but its hard to find a place of mages and magics that accept Dhani. I have a fascination with magic, though I know none myself. I’d love to learn and in return I can offer my carpentry and masonry services.” Toni said, walking up and settling besides Kelski. He leaned over and looked at her sketches. “Ah, a dock. A good idea. Do you need help building one?” He asked, eyes roaming over the paper.

“We are a Guild called the Meraki. The word means to do something with soul, creatively, or love; to put something of yourself into your work.” Kelski said softly, nodding to Toni’s question.

“We are currently taking all sorts of members since we are just getting on our feet. Our main goal will be the preservation and restoration of magic, though before we get there, we need to get the Demesne up and running and self-sufficient. Since we aren’t in a city that means growing our own food, building our own strongholds, all that such an organization needs.” Kelski told him, knowing most of the Svefra knew this already and most of them were spreading the word.

Her only concern was that the Svefra keep her last name out of it. No one from Dess or her families or their enemies would know a Kelski. They would know a K’etir or Dessarian Damazar though.

[Kelski]

Toni nodded. He held out his hands for her sketches and she handed to them. “I have no building experience with docks or driving pilings or even any of this. Building is utterly new to me. So no, I don’t need help with this. The truer statement would be I need someone to build this for me.” She confessed to him. “We need to get bigger Svefra ships in here. The water gets deep fast, especially just behind the shadow of Sea Eagle Point.” She gestured then traced the beach eastward. “It gets shallower the more east you travel on the beach. So, we can pull big ships up if we put the dock and boat house in that area.” She gestured, then glanced down the beach. “Foraging, recreation, fishing, swimming, beaching Casinors further down.” She added, then glanced at Toni.

“What kind of building experience do you have?” She asked, looking at him thoughtfully. It was really the first question she should have asked, not the last.

He nodded, as if expecting the question. “I’ve worked various place and have started and completed both personal and business projects that involved building in and around the water. I worked on a tavern that had a pull up dock at Zeltiva and have done numerous other docks as well. This one won’t pose a problem for me, though I am not sure about materials to source for the dock itself. I’ve built kilns and forges and helped with bigger structures as a team member. I’ve even built simple things like outhouses and greenhouses.” Toni said, offering her a gentle smile.

Kelski nodded. “I actually have a guild member traveling to Zeltica to secure a sawmill for us… the parts should get here any day if hes lucky enough to find someone to run it. That might be helpful to work on all of that together. We had two individuals arrive a few days ago… the 24th in fact, that are going to work on the sawmill. One’s Sona… she’s a gadgeteer and the other is Briggs… hes more muscle with a bit of carpentry. So I expect he’ll be great help for you. They’ve already been working on a basic structure for the sawmill and have plenty of logs from us clearing land for crops to get started. All we need to do is find a source of waterproofing… I suspect there is a tarpit somewhere close at hand. Zeltiva goes through the stuff like crazy.” Kelski mused, knowing the whole city was about shipbuilding and sealing hulls was a big part of that.

“I’ll pay a fair wage, give you guild membership, training in magic, and room and board while you are here. I think all those things are fair in exchange for you building us a dock and whatever else might need doing.” She said, knowing there would be a lot of work involved for everything for a few seasons. And then, truthfully, the work might never lighten up.

[Kelski]

“That’s fine by me. I would like to build a place to set up a workshop either in your main compound or near the docks here. I have a love of building furniture and want to eventually learn carving to make the things I build nicer. So would that be something you’d consider allowing?” Toni asked, knowing it was better by far to lay his wants and needs out initially than get to them later down the line while this potential employer was being so candid.

“Sure. I see nothing wrong with that. It would definitely help out the whole of the clan and then if we get more carpenters you can specialize in furniture which we will need a lot of.” She said with a smile, genuinely not opposed to giving the Dhani what he wanted, so long as the major priorities of the Guild were met first.

“I’ll go find Sona and Briggs. Sona is human, with pale pale blond hair and Briggs is also a human, darker skin, with braids in his dark hair. He has green eyes. Sona’s are blue.” Kelski said, not sure what else to say about them. “Do you have a lot of stuff?” She asked, glancing at the water around them on down the beach. Toni came from the waves, but she wondered if he had a boat or anything with him. “I have things, yes, but they are fine where they are. I have my tools and extra clothing, personal items. If you show me where I’ll be staying, I’ll fetch them later.” He said with ease, following Kelski when she turned and lead him up the beach.

The Kelvic gave the Dhani a brief tour of what they had started so far… a Pavilion pitched by a four story tower surrounded by gardens and a crop field plus a newly planted orchard and vineyard. There was the bare bones of a smithy being erected outside of an area that seemed to be staked off as the location of the future manor house that would indeed be sprawling. “You can stay in the Pavilion. There’s beds a plenty there. Or you can get to know the other men, who have their own third floor and lay yourself out a pallet there until we can move another bed up. There are plenty of unpacked empty trucks you can take over to store your things in.” Kelski said, leading him past the pavilion, and on up for a quick trip to the tower floor she was speaking of.

Even though she skipped breakfast, she bypassed the cooking being done on the first floor since Toni had said he was well feed. Then she showed him the second floor devoted to the women and then the third floor that he could pick a place out on. “The fourth floor is all my workshop and living quarters. Mostly though it’s a workshop. I am a Jeweler and the Jewelry must keep me in funds while we get this guild underway or we all might starve this winter.” She admitted, smiling slightly.

[Kelski]

She left Toni to it on the third floor, where he staked out a place, left what gear he had on him, and then wanted a tour of the supplies they had waiting for the dock. Kelski met back up with him outside a bit later and was able to give him a tour of the stacked lumber, whole logs, and the forge that was almost done. Jackson was hard at work building one more wall, and Toni lost no time jumping in to help Between the two of them, they were able to get the wall up twice as fast, and Toni was able to make some suggestions for the mortar that Jackson was planning on using on the forge.

The two men put their heads together and it seemed like Toni would be spending the next two days at Jackson’s building the actual forge since he had masonry experience. Kelski was glad Toni was willing to give things a try, even helping another craftsman. If the two got along well, the blacksmith would be providing fasteners for the dock and custom making the slip anchors that allowed the floating dock to rise and fall with the tides while still being attached to the pilons.

Kelski left them two it, swung by and told Vasin she had just hired a new carpenter, and then found Dessa and Anja, letting them know someone else would be joining them. Slowly, as Jackson and Toni got acquainted, she made the rounds letting everyone know another person had been hired and there was now hope for the dock being done.

Once everyone was informed, she gathered a labor crew, and they began by hitching horses to drag lines and picking out the fallen logs they’d use for pilons. Kelski drove the team of Moth and Kizzy and het the horses carefully haul the fallen timber down the hill, making a neat pile above the waterline.

The Kelvic wasn’t sure how Toni would get the pilons in, and then when he’d have the wood processed to make the planks to actually form the dock. When all the logs were hauled down Toni might possibly need for anchor pilons, Kelski returned to the tower, changed out of her clothing and traded skin for feathers to take to the sky.

Then she began scouting in earnest, flying low, looking for steam or regular water that had a sheen of color on it indicating it was toxic with tar. She knew the mountains around Zeltiva were sure to have the substance. And she kept looking, chasing rumors and even hints in the form of high clinging clouds until she finally - three days later – found what she was looking for well on the outskirts of their territory.

It wasn’t a massive tar pit, but it was far big enough for their uses and close enough for them to gather tar. Kelski was truly happy, dropped by it, shapeshifted back to her human form, and broke off a stick to dip in the tar and pull the gooey stuff out of the pit. She wrapped it around the stick like taffy or caramel and left it on the ground to shift back to her eagle form. She picked up the branch in her beak, and flew it back to the Empyreal Demesne to show the carpenters, hopeful it was the stuff they needed to build the dock.

It was… it was good enough, close enough, and about the right consistency for them to utilize. Kelski was ecstatic and so too where the carpenters at the Demesne. The Dock would be started now, finished correctly, and waterproofed to last the life of the guild.

Word Count: 2670

[Kelski]

Kelski

Drawing +1, Leadership +5, Hostessing +2, Teaching +3, Scouting +1

Toni Salavinn: Appearance and Mannerism, Toni Salavinn: Carpenter, Mason, Toni Salavinn: Experienced Builder, Toni Salavinn: Sea Krait Iyvess, Toni Salavinn: Fascination With Magic, Toni Salavinn: Wants A Workshop To Work Out Of, Location: Tar Pits In The Wildlands