Open [The Sanctuary] The Work Never Ends

[Kavala]

Timestamp: 54th of Fall, 515 AV

Foaling and Breeding was done. So too was most of the heavy lifting of storing tall grass to feed livestock during the winter and setting aside corn and oats The Sanctuary purchased from the north through traders in Riverfall. What was left was preserving their own harvest of fruits and vegetables and creating things that would assist in the survival of the other denizens of The Sanctuary.

On this day Kavala was namely concerned with their bees. Sure, there was canning to do, meat to salt and put up, and a whole host of other chores some of which she'd get too. But for now, the tertiary business of beekeeping was on her mind. If the winters got harsh quickly, she'd need supplemental food for her hives and that was food best made now when there was time and the ingredients were handy. Kavala was namely thinking of making candy boards and pollen patties she would slide into the hives during the cold or in case the spring came early and the hives thawed and the bees became restless before there was food for them.

And to that end she'd taken over the main kitchen in The Within and had a bunch of fresh ingredients and supplies newly purchased from town scattered around her. Cadra looked amused, though like Kavala, she'd donned an apron to get started.

"What are we doing first?" The Kelvic asked, a bit confused why the counter was filled with corn. She watched her Aunt carefully, never sure what Kavala had in mind. Many times her Aunt said they were going to do one thing but in reality to do that one thing they had to do twelve other things first. This looked to be no different.

"Well.... We have some of the ingredients for Candy Boards and Pollen Patties for the bees but we don't have all of them. Some of them we need to make for ourselves. I thought we'd make a big batch of corn syrup before we got started on the bee food storage and that way we'd have it for the candy boards and also for any candy we might want to make for ourselves." Kavala said, knowing her philtering was going to come in handy in this case.

Cadra eyed the corn on the counter and thought it all made sense. "Why corn syrup?" She asked Kavala, causing the Konti to pause and think a moment. "Corn syrup is a requirement in any sweet food that needs a soft consistent texture. It has a kind of magic about it, Cadra. It will thicken a food, even liquids, and keep things with high amounts of sugar from crystallizing. I think it even makes things taste better." Kavala said, smiling at her niece and gathering the ingredients. The kelvic house cat ruffled her ginger hair and smiled.

"So that's why the counter is full of corn. Is corn the magic ingredient or something?" Kavala laughed and nodded in agreement.

"Indeed it is. There's something about the sugars in corn that works all the magic. But the real purpose here is to make bee food to keep the bees over the winter. To do that we need the corn syrup and vanilla extract. I have beans here that we grew and extract that we made last week. I want to make more syrup, extract, and then the candy boards and pollen patties. Are you game to help?" Kavala asked, chuckling as she got out her notes from last years batch.

"I wonder if we can rope anyone else into helping. It goes a lot faster if we do this in groups of batches with everyone minding their own batch and not as one batch after another." Kavala added, glancing around and wondering if anyone else would show up to help. It wasn't a glorious task, but it was something that could be fun.

[Duron]

Looking at the training dummy in the training room of The Within, Duron clenched his left fist and slammed it into the face of the artificial man. Taking a step backward, the akalak lifted his right knee and thrust the ball of his foot into the stomach of the dummy. Watching his target jump back from the impact brought a smirk to his blue lips. Bringing back his leg, he returned it back to it's original position and stepped forward with his right leg and slammed his fist into the stomach of his opponent. With each impact on the dummy, the akalak was able to vent some of his anger on something other than his infernal brother. Ever since he met Ayatah last season, Aferan had seemed to make more frequent appearances in his mind. With each of these unwanted appearances by his dark brother, Duron started to doubt how much control that he had over his darker half. Whenever he appeared, he made sure that he wasn't going away without a confrontation with him. The stress from being on constant guard was definitely starting to wear on the mind of the Cerulean, so it tended to make him short temper and the only remedy for it was isolation from everyone.

Duron knew that he was new to this little community called the Sanctuary, so he needed to interact with them, but the cautious part of him knew better. He was dangerous especially in his current state of mind, and for the sake his new home, it was better to stay away till the storm in his head ran it's course. Looking at the practice dummy, the akalak stepped forward with his right leg, slammed his left fist into the stomach of the stationary opponent, and swung his right fist into the chin of the dummy. Pulling back his fist, the akalak relaxed out of his stance, stood up, and rubbed his sore knuckles. Ignoring the dull pain his knuckles, he grabbed his yellowish green vest and dabbed the sweat off his brow with it. Grabbing his water skin, Duron downed it's contents and heard his stomach start to growl. He was hungry, and he was sure that he could take a apple from the kitchen without being seen by anyone.

Putting on his vest, Duron walked out of the training room to the kitchen. When he got to the door, the akalak heard some voices through door. He couldn't make them out, but he could tell that the voices were both female. He knew from the layout of the Within that he wouldn't be able to get to his room without going to the Common room unless he retreated above ground. Also he wouldn't have the willpower to hold off his hunger till they left, so he took a deep breath and opened the door. When he walked into the room, the akalak was face to face with his employer Kavala Denusk and another woman. Apart of him wanted to escape down one of the other hallways connected to the common room, but she might think him as rude, so he walked towards the two women and the counter of corn and said with a nod the both of them, “What are you two doing with all that corn... Wait? Let me guess. Supper isn't it? Should I head to the pantry and get some butter and salt, Boss?”

[Alea Davenport]

Alea had woken up late that day, but when she wandered out of her quarters and down a back tunnel, she heard the familiar and exciting sound of aggression. Tip-toeing toward the sound, she peeked around a corner and saw poor Duron, committing what must be some rather unsatisfactory violence against a stationary target. Really, the only time hitting things was fun was when they might hit you back...

She ran quietly on bare feet back the way she had come, and then scoured the compound until she found two pillows. She raced back, but by the time she reached the training room, Duron was nowhere to be seen! She didn't think he had gotten past her, but there was one other exit to this room. It went through the kitchen. Glancing in all directions to make sure there were no hidden watchers, she tiptoed across the training room, trying to maintain her field of vision while staying near walls or behind cover as much as possible.

Finally, she reached the corner of the little pathway leading to the kitchen. Sure enough, there was Duron, standing there, defenseless with his back to her. Silly man. She snuck up behind him and threw a pillow at his back, screaming, "Defend yourself!" She readied her own pillow, earnestly prepared for battle.

It was then that she saw the kitchen beyond. She could see Kavala, and she could see large piles of something food-ish. A cold sense of dread filled Alea. She recognized this. She knew what this was. Chores. She shuddered, but it was too late to escape. She had abandoned her advantage, announcing her presence to everyone. She reluctantly resigned herself to the very real possibility that she would be roped into helping with whatever kitchen madness this was. Her only consolation was that there was a chance, just a tiny chance, that it would not be as slimy as fish guts.

[Kavala]

The Konti glanced over to Duron when he entered and smiled at him. Cadra, her Kelvic niece, did the same. The two women had their heads together talking but glanced up when Duron entered. Kavala heard what he had to say and shook her head. "No, sorry. We're not making dinner yet. We were going to make some corn syrup first then some long term food stores for the bees over the winter." She said, knowing the man was probably hungry. The Akalaks always were.

Kavala thanked him for his offer of help even as she told him they had assembled everything they needed already.

"There are muffins that are still warm from breakfast and fruit if you are hungry." Cadra said, interjecting as if she were reading her aunt's mind or making the same assumptions about the man. Kavala helped out by pointing to several baskets on the big table in the commons. There was also a crock of butter nearby.

The Konti turned, grabbed her apron off a peg, and looked over her work. Just as she was about to get started, Alea put in an appearance and seemed to hit Duron with something they couldn't see in his back. The Konti smiled slightly, but it did not reach her eyes. She looked tired for a moment and then reached up to rub her brow keeping her voice quiet. "Alea, take it outside if you guys want to spar... or even to the training room. We have work to do in here, Cadra and I." The woman said, tying the apron string behind her back and turning to get to work.

Humans.... annoyed Kavala slightly. They were often inappropriate and with Alea, seemingly so entirely young.

She drew out her recipe book, opened it to the section on corn syrup, and read it aloud to Cadra.

1 cup sugar (white sugar for light corn syrup, brown sugar for dark corn syrup)
1/4 cup nearly boiling hot water.
3-4 ears of corn
5 1/4 cups water
36 oz. of sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons salt

The Konti filled a big kettle of water, hung it over the stove to start to boil, and then excused herself quietly to go fetch her scales from the alchemy lab. She returned with the apparatus in her arms a few moments later and set it up on the table.

"We boil all the water first to make sure any impurities are destroyed. Then we let the almost six cups of water cool. Once that's cool - we leave the rest gently boiling - we begin the syrup." Kavala said, continuing with the work.

Kavala quietly read over her own instructions, refreshing her memory on how this stuff ws made.

"So once the water is boiled, we take a quarter cup and stir it with the sugar until the sugar is dissolved. Then we let it cool. While its cooling we shuck and snap the corn into small cobs... usual thirds.. and put it in a medium sized pan to boil the remaining water and corn back up to a boil. Once its boiling, we reduce it to a simmer and let it go thirty minutes or until there's only half the amount of water. We pull out the corn cobs either with tongs or by straining the mixture, then we add the dissolved sugar, salt and vanilla to the pan and re-desolve any sugar remaining. Then we heat it up again until it strings off our spoon, and its ready to let cool and use. We can store it in the ice box for months and if its starts to crystallize, we can just heat it up a little and the crystals will disolve again." The Konti said, hoping Duron and Alea had worked out their play or had taken it outside so they could actually get some work done.

"I was thinking we could each make a batch, probably twice, Cadra, so we have enough to use for the bees and to store for fall candy making for us people." Kavala added, knowing the candy was a real treat, especially during the festivals.

[Lian Windrunner]

Lian stirred restlessly. Uneasy dreams haunted his sleep. Fragmented images that made little sense, but they filled him with a sense of longing. Wind blowing through the tall grass as he sat atop the back of his strider, bow in hand. A friendly man's face smiling with a shared triumph that was lost on Lian. Two small children babbling happily at each other as Lian looked on fondly. And through it all, the intense feeling that something was lost, and that he had to find it.

"Who...who are you...?" Lian murmured softly, eyes moving rapidly from side to side as he dreamed.

"Why can't I remember...?"

Lian woke with little transition between waking and sleeping. His vague, uneasy dreams vanished as his waking mind turned to the challenges of a new day. Only a sense of longing remained, and even that was vague, and uncertain. The feeling of longing for something without knowing what it was he was longing for was a familiar to him now. He suspected that he was longing for something in the life that was lost to him. But unless, and until he remembered who he used to be, that life would remain lost to him. Lian wondered if there was anyone looking for him. Had he had people that were important to him in his old life? People that needed him? Lian shook his head, berating himself for such thoughts. If someone was looking for him, they would either find him...or not. He would either remember his old life...or not. And there was nothing he could do until his memory returned.

He had been living at the Sanctuary for nearly two weeks now. In that time, Lian had learned that there was nearly always something to do. He needed something to distract himself from vague feelings of a life lost to him. And Kavala had helped him out a lot. She had given him work, and a place to stay for both himself, and Talise. It was thanks to her that he had the things he needed to make a new life for himself. For that, he owed the woman a great deal. Lian decided to go see if there was anything he could do to help out. If there was anything that he could do to repay Kavala for what she had done for him, Lian was more than happy to do it. And if not, he could always spend time with Talise.

Lian was hungry, so he decided to head for the kitchen first. If possible, he'd see if he could grab a quick bite to eat, then go looking for Kavala to see if there was anything he could help her with. When he reached the kitchen, Lian found several people there. Including Kavala, who was wearing an apron, and seemed to be about to make something.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" he offered politely..
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