"O'vel-win!" The loud calls of his mother roused him from his sleep. He frowned. He felt like he had been dreaming about someone or something. His heart felt nostalgia, but he couldn't recall a single detail, as if the dream was nothing but smoke in his grasp. Shaking off the last vestiges of sleep, he roused from his bed and rubbed his temples. "O'vel-win!" She called again. "Wake up! I need you to take the children to school!"
His frown deepened. What was with that? Why was he required to take the little ones into town to the small library that seconded as the school? It was normally something that a cousin dealt with as he had business in town anyway.
And so, after he took the ladder down to the hallway that lead to their kitchen, he questioned his mother. "You have the day off," she replied in her no nonsense tone. "And as L'nan-win also has school, I volunteered you. Your older cousins family are sick with a fever and cannot take the little ones as usual."
Her third son grumbled crossly, he had been hoping to laze the day away after lounging in the baths for a long while.
"Give me some face," she chided him. "I still get snide comments once in a while over your chosen career, something that I never once questioned."
"Alright," he agreed with a sigh, seeing as this was true. After he had fallen into the career, his parents and older brothers had been supportive, but the family as a whole considered that he was turning his back on their way of life. They refused to understand the reasons behind the Machine, simply fearing it would cause them loss of position.
There were twelve children of learning age in the family, fourteen if you added the pair that were currently sick. Education was something that was paid for per lesson, but children only attended for a couple of years, enough to learn to read, write and learn basic numeracy. After that, the children would take lessons from Masters of certain careers until a full apprenticeship was offered for a specific path and a career after that.
O'vel-win had little interest in his family's usual careers, he was lazy, his penmanship sloppy and he strangely lacked the love of knowledge that ran deep within his people. When his Masters, the creators of the Machine came to town hoping to recruit talent, one family member was cursing him for some matter or other and had practically thrown him in their direction stating that if they could make something of him, they were welcome to him. He did not know why his Masters took a chance on him, but both sides were glad they had. He could state that his family were hypocritical in that sense, wanting him working, but not where he found some ability, but he didn't.
He hitched up the wagon that his older cousin usually used to take the children into town. He didn't bother asking whether he could or not, he wasn't about to walk the little ones when it would take an hour at the very least to get there on foot. The children climbed in without a word, though he received some unhappy glances from their parents, as if he would influence them badly or something, especially as the children were always so fond of the man. In fact, none of the adults disliked him, just his career. L'nan-win was not shy about his affections and climbed onto O'vel-win's back with a joyous greeting. O'vel-win returned his warmth and settled him beside him in the front seat.
Just as they were about to leave, a girl with long silver and white hair ran up to them. "Cousin O'vel-win," she called out, her eyes holding stars for the person she spoke to. O'vel-win attempted not to roll his eyes heavenward. "I have chores within town. Might I ride with you?"
"Sure," he said, lazily. He would not embarrass her in front of their family, but he would tell her, at some point today, that it was not possible between them. She gazed at him with hope and climbed up in front, not even bothered by the child that firmly sat between them.
*****
"Do you have the clay tokens for the Library?"
"Yes, mother."
"And the wood for trade?"
"Mother, it's in full view..."
"What about the jars of apple sauce and plum jam?"
"....jars?"
"Oh, I'll just go and get them!" K'tal-tul sighed. A trip into town was never simple.
Ch'mai-tul had one lesson each month at the small library in town. As town was almost an hour by wagon, they did not have the time to go to frequently, but fortunately, the girl was a quick learner and would graduate soon enough. She would not apprentice out, there were too few bodies at home and every person was needed to ensure the family estate survived. Ordinarily, his uncle and aunt would be the ones to journey to town, but sadly his aunt's baby had not taken root and both were in mourning.
His mother came with several jars of preserved fruit and gave him a list of food she wanted in trade. It included rice, flour and dried vegetables as well as perishables such as bread and spring greens. The latter were treats in the household as they could only be traded for once a month. She also asked him to try obtain a few spices she was running low on, but these were expensive, harder to get for what they had available in spring.
K'tai-tul felt the burden of the clay tokens at his waist. Clay tokens could be used in trade, but people tended not to. Mostly, these were used for lessons or in rare cases that the other trader sought them above his merchandise. Oh and books. Books were special after all and tended to be sought after as a status symbol. After all, books could be read in libraries for a fraction of the cost, no other need for them in the average home.
Ch'mai-tul remained fairly quiet as they travelled, which was not unusual for her. K'tai-tul took the opportunity to glance at the health of nearby trees as they passed through family land and simply concentrated on the road there after.
They arrived about an hour before the lesson was due to start, it gave K'tai-tul a chance to trade away some of his wares, though the wood was traded for more tokens to a paper maker in the end. He had most of what his mother asked for, with the exception of a few spices, but only two jars of plum jam. He wouldn't use the tokens to get what she wanted, those were for Ch'mai-tul's education after all.
As they waited with the wagon about the library, another wagon almost bursting with children strolled in. Okay, so perhaps bursting was an incorrect term, but there certainly was many. It made K'tai-tul envious, for so many children meant a family estate that was large and healthy. Ch'mai-tul waved at one of the children, a boy who had rare single toned hair, like the girl, but his was all white. The boy waved back and jumped down from his seat to come greet her.
The pair chatted a little distance from K'tai-tul, so he could not hear what they were saying, but he wasn't really interested in what children had to say to each other. What had piqued his interest was that his sister was actually speaking happily to another person. Some of the other children came to join them, after a while, watched by the adults; a cheerful looking man with a bright smile and his cute wife who was staring at him in adoration. K'tai-tul turned his face aside slightly reddening from staring at the man and focused instead on the Teachers coming for the children and their payments.
A little later, K'tai-tul had given up trying to exchange the last of the jam. None of the traders were willing to let even an ounce of spice to so cheaply, so he just sheltered in some shade, thick green trees that grew in clumps about the town. Fortunately, the weather was not so hot today, he would not lose any purchases to the weather. If it were otherwise, he would have waited until last minute to trade for perishables, even at the risk of losing out.
There were other wagons also taking advantage of the shade, some of their owners were still trading, others were giving their animals water. The owner of the wagon next to his was actually lying in the bed of it and was busy snoring away. K'tai-tul could not help but let his curiosity rule him; he glanced inside his neighbours wagon. It was the sunny man from earlier, the one with many family children. He wondered where the man's wife was.
Suddenly, the man opened his eyes and glanced his way. "Hullo," he greeted, his warm eyes curving.
"Oh, hello," K'tai-tul reddened slightly, embarrassed about being caught. "Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you."
"It's fine," the other man replied. "The children will probably be out of their lessons soon."
"Yeah," he agreed. "Will your wife bring them to you or will you go meet them at the library?"
The man looked confused. "What wife?"
K'tai-tul felt the heat of his face rise further. "Oh, I am sorry! I just assumed the girl with you earlier was your wife!"
"She would like to be," the man sighed as he admitted this. He sat up and rubbed his neck, which twinged a bit due to his uncomfortable resting place.
"You don't like her that way?" K'tai-tul asked. The man shook his head in confirmation and K'tai-tul found that he was relieved... which was odd. He'd only just met this man... and he was a man.. why would he feel relief? He buried the feeling. But just as he had, the girl in question came over to them with a basket filled with many things.
"Are you done?" the man asked the girl.
"Yes, I have much of what was asked of me," she agreed. K'tai-tul noticed that her eyes were slightly red, as if tearstained. "I couldn't find any sweet preserves though. Mother likes those."
"Oh," K'tai-tul said beside them. "What about plum jam?" The girl, H'lua-win, traded with clay tokens, but K'tai-tul was fine with this as they would go towards his sister's next lesson. The wagons then travelled side by side as they returned to the library to collect the children.
*****
*I don't like this.* Yang sulked.
*The Master instructed that it must be that way, less It find out that we are here.* Ying reminded him.
*But would giving back their memories of each other be so bad?*
*Yang, don't be so stubborn. Once we have dealt with It, we'll let them know.*
*Okay, Ying.*