In Knead of an errand boy

[kayleth]

25, Ash 4622

Almost ritualistically Kayleth was awake just before the sun was about to break the horizon. Routine and order were important to him and he enjoyed the morning ruminating over his own thoughts or ideas. It also felt like he was stealing more time from the day even if there was a set amount of daylight in one's day. He stared at his ceiling as a bitter cold crept under the thin blanket that he owned. His feet had not yet woken and despite his mind already running he felt like he could not will his body to move. His arms ached from the labors of the other day. The repetitive action of stone grinding grain into flour was far more labor-intensive than he knew not to mention time-consuming.

“Get up Kayleth. The future does not wait for you.”

With that said he lightly slapped his cheeks to get his blood flowing and jumped out of bed. The two-foot long and one-foot wide stone hearth still had light embers from the previous day. He grabbed a few twigs he gathered from around the wood on his walk home and set them on top along with a wad of dry grass and began to fan the embers below. Breathing life into the small fire as the world also woke up with it. Not much in the way of size but, it would provide a nice warmth to the rest of the home not to mention allow him to heat up some water from the nearby river.

He grabbed his pot and scooped some water from a barrel he kept the water in and placed it on the fire that was now full of life. His morning tea would be ready for him soon and then his day could start. He walked over to the table that kept a few pages of blank paper as well as his personal notebook. He owned ink and even a quill with which to write but that too needed to be rationed. So, he used charcoal. Any piece that was of sufficient size he could whittle down to a point that he needed. This morning he wanted to convert and write the motions required to mill grain in ruinc scripting. While he had a large theoretical knowledge of Fragmentation he did not foresee getting his hands on any arcanacrags any time soon. Artificing would be something he would need to dive into if he wanted to easily improve his own quality of life as well as that of the town of Nurin or maybe just Ciara and her family.

It was a long investment and could easily be seen as manipulation but, there was also something endearing about the baker family. They were hard-working and did not stink of the hypocritical aristocracy. They were not too bright in terms of academics but, they knew much more about living and providing than he did. In that regard, he was the uneducated one. He wanted to improve their lives and he had the knowledge to do it. Moreover, he wanted to create a need for himself as a foothold for leverage to gain access to Lanbridge and its resources.

He began by practicing the little runic scripting he did know. It was vastly different than the two languages he already knew and research told him that there was no spoken form. It was more various commands and logic being strung together. Arguments are measured against parameters to return values or enact actions. Forming worlds was more so about feeling the action, understanding that action, and then extrapolating it into lines of strings. For the act of grinding one stone against another, you had to consider in which axis you wanted it to move and how it was oriented in space. For now, he focused on the motions of push and pull and how the ground would actually take place. Spending much of the morning on scripting he retired his tools to enjoy one of the loaves of bread afford to him for his work. Additionally, he had bought some salted fish to go along with it. His meals certainly took a downward trend since he moved here but, there was something empowering about being able to provide for one's self. Kayleth could not but he would get there one day. The loaf he got from Ciara would last a few days before he would need to purchase another. Since he planned on visiting more frequently he only needed the one until he no longer wanted to visit the village as often.

In routine fashion, he cleaned the crumbs from the table. Wrapped the salted fish and the loaf back up in the cloth they came in and put his pot up from his tea. He placed a large stone on top of the hearth in hopes to prolong the fire and still smoldering when he returned. Kayleth grabbed his sack of things making sure to bring some paper and more charcoal this time and headed for Nurinn. There was much more grain to process but the children would take care of what was not finished the day before. Kayleth was there to learn how to make dough.

He plugged along the path feeling the warmth of the Ashen sun as it soothed the sting of cold that blew by. Frost was coming in a few month's time and being warm was going to be a top priority. Looking off into the distance he could see the top canopy of the forest.

There is not enough time to chop the amount of wood I need to last all Frost. Also, I have never had to do it. I will need to add daily gatherings of small wood and branches so I can easily get to the ever-growing list of survival needs. If there was a need for a fragmenter here I could easily pay my way through the harsh Frost but, I do not foresee that happening any time soon.

Kayleth pondered the many actions he could take to push himself out of this need and in doing such found himself in the town of Nurin. The journey could feel like it took all day or less than an hour it all depended on the amount of thought Kayleth chose to get lost in.

While the people of Nurin were always off Standish the Sil’Norai was slowly becoming a bit of a regular. That is to say that he was recognized and did not make any trouble for the village or its people. He rounded the usual corners until he was at Bain and Ciara’s house. The sun had just hit noon when he knocked on the door and waited to be invited in.

“Kayleth, is dat chu?”

He propped the door open slightly and poked his head in. The sounds of yelling traveled through the small makeshift bakery as Ciara yelled at her boy’s to hurry up with the miling of the day.

“Hello, Ciara. Thank you for having me today. I will do my best to stay out of your way.” Before he could finish his full sentence her sweaty hair and flour-covered apron was embracing him in a hearty hug. The hugs he enjoyed. The mess not so much. In fact, it drove him insane as the thought rang in the back of his mind all day.

“Oh stop it with all that formal talk. Don't you be silly Kayleth, we are going to have you in the way as much as possible!” She slapped him on the shoulders sending a jolt through his body. Ciara was a surprising stong woman.

“I really do not know what you mean, Ciara. This is just my natural manner of speaking. Anyway, what did you have in mind?” The stout woman let out a grin from ear to ear and a boisterous laugh that filled the house.

“You dear boy is going to put those muscles to use today. We are making the dough and kneading it. The boy’s saved you their shares as well for extra practice.” Kayleth shot them a glance that could cut air. They sheepishly giggled at each other.

“Oi! If you have time to laugh he has time to mill. Now hurry up I don’t want to be baking all day. Path knows I will anyways.” As she scolded the children she grabbed a raggedy apron and tied it around Kayleth.

“Now’s then, did you bring something to write with today? I am about to give you the basics of how our family makes a simple loaf. Don’t chuse ask me to write it down. Don’t know how but, I suspect you’re one of those types.” Being low born Ciara was perceptive. He pulled out his charcoal and paper and sat in front of her at a table she had flour, water, and a large bowl. She turned around to face him with another bowl in her hand.

“This here is the Breac family sourdough starter. This bad boy was my mother and her mothers before that. You got to feed it every day otherwise it’ll go hungry. A little flour and a little water and you just mix it until it doubles in size. Then take half of it away and add it to your dough mixture.” She was brimming with pride as she talked about the starter.

“Now, I’m not one for fancy measurements and calculations. I just know what it's supposed to feel like. All bread is, is flour, water, starter, love, hate, and time all in different proportions. Oh, and you’ll need a nice cast iron pot, two if you have money like that.”

She poured out some of the starters into the bowl and then sat the large bowl in front of him. Slowly sliding the rest of the ingredients to him. “Now, all yous need to do is add flour and water until is forms into a nice big clump. Go on then. Oh! Best tip is use your hand as a solid measuring device. We all have different cups so just go for it boy.”

Kayleth was hesitant at best. He would need to get extremely dirty but, he needed this skill to survive. The starter smelled sour which aptly gave the bread its taste he was told. He started with two handfuls of flour and half the water. The mixture was too wet to form into anything solid. He added more flour until it was too dry. He would add more water and go back and for like this several times getting it wrong and right and wrong again.

“Keep on at it and you’ll get the hang of it… Here let me feel it.” She reached into the bowl and grabbed a large glob. “That’ll do, she's ready to kneed.”

Ciara’s daughter popped her head out from the top of the loft. “Mum, dad needs his lunch.”

The baker looked around for the packaged meal she had put together for him. “Kayleth can you take that out to the fields for me. I was supposed to leave but, I was waiting on you. When you get back we will go over the rest. He’s in da east field, just ask the people around town if you get lost.”

Without much of a choice, she rushed him out the door caring a sack of food enough for a few people.

How have I gotten myself into this mess?

[Salen]

Kayleth

Lores
Runic Scripting
~ Methods of Translation from writing to script
~ Linking multiple strings together
~ Prices writing control of basic script
Cooking
~ How to make sourdough starter
~ Dough consistencies
~ Kneading times

Loot: N/A
Injuries: N/A

Points: 5 May not be used for Raw Magics

Comments: Once again, another great start. Some advice however, if Clara is going to become a bigger part in Kayleth's plot, I would suggest making her as an NPC either a personal or a local NPC for Nurin, but if she's only a small throwaway NPC, it will not matter as much.