Deus Ex Machinarium

The tanai emerged from the woods almost at dawn and saw the hoomin sitting by the fire, skinning an unlucky hare.

-*Why do I feel like a child*- Anh said slowly -*one who is about to be reprimanded by their caregiver for stepping out of line?*

-*Because all of us under the dome over here know that we were not supposed to go for a stroll through the woods” - snarked Thernohh - “by ‘we’ I mean, ‘you’ specifically.*

-*It was fun though. I want to return to that obelisk and chip a piece for my precursorial artifact collection* - said Tow

-*You don’t have one* - noted Thernohh

-*You’ve got to start somewhere…*

Anh approached the campfire and floated with legs crossed before it. Brandt didn’t seem to notice his presence at first. Instead, he continued to work on his prey, skillfully quartering it and preparing it for roasting over the fire. This took a good quarter of a candle, with the tanai floating on the opposite to the hoomin. Without a dare to interrupt the process. Finally, five pieces of meat were stuck to a wooden stick. The hoomin wrapped the rest of the innards in the skin and fur and put them to the side.

-” I hope…” - Brandt finally broke the silence

-*There it goes.* - casually claimed Birdekk

-”...that you don’t mind eating meat unseasoned.” - Brandt presented the roast to the tanai - “It is wasteful to throw the rest...” - hoomin nodded in the direction of the skin-wrapped intestines - ”...to the wolves, or bears, more likely, but we can’t take it with us.”

-*...or, maybe not?”

-*Don’t kid yourself* - interjected Greoo -*Take heed to how unusually calm he is.*

-*Does not seem to be anything different to his usual*- said Tow, a little puzzled -*am I missing something?*

-*His demeanour is different from usual* - Greoo continued -*He… he seems conflicted. Probably is contending within himself what to do…*- she hung her voice

-” Please keep it over the fire..” - continued the hoomin - “...and tell me, did you find anything interesting?”

-*...but it seems like he is acting, to cover something, I’m guessing some internal turmoil.* - finished Greoo.

-” I have salt, garlic, and basil in my bags.” - Quickly answered Anh, poorly hiding his anxiety.

-” Basil? So far away from Sorres?”- the hoomin tilted his head to a side, a little -” You like your creature comforts, Mr Trawins, don’t you?”

Anh took the roast from Brandt with a kinetic grip, then floated towards their cart with the meal in close tow.

-* What should we do now?*- inquired Birdekk

-* We take our spices and season the meat?*- came an answer from Thernohh

-* I meant with Brandt…*

Anh kept the meat in the air, at arm’s length, beside him, and began to rummage through the luggage.

-*It is a goat leather pouch, with black embroidery and strapped by equally black string. Sachettes with the spices are inside.*-

-*I know, Thernohh, we packed it together*- Anh felt a little annoyed.

The search for that particular little leather pouch took a better part of a triskol. Once he found it, he floated the meats towards him.

-*Continuing. What ought I do?*- Anh said -*With Brandt and Us? Greoo?*

-*I suggest you apologize. But only if he seems particularly offended.*-

-*Dare I mention*- Thernohh injected herself -*Remind him, if necessary, that guarding him in the night is not a part of our contract.*

Anh was almost done with seasoning their food. While packing back the spices, he took a quick peek at what Brandt was doing. The hoomin was where they left him, sitting beside the fire and gazing into the distance.

-*He seems fine* - uttered Thernohh

-*He seems so. But as I said, he is fuming, is conflicted…” - replied Greoo.

Anh began to float back toward the fire. Once beside it, Anh assumed a cross-legged pose, fairly close to the flames and opposite the hoomin. Then skillfully began to roast the meat, while still holding it in a kinetic grip. He also avoided Brand’s gaze.

-*...he also can plot a cold-blooded revenge in the future.” - added Greoo.

-*Now you are just paranoid* - said Thernohh - *as usual, shall I say*

-*You can’t rule that out!* - protested Greoo

Anh tried to ignore the banter between his female personalities and concentrated to roasting the meat. After a triskol or two, he finally dared to engage Brandt.

-” The site the Church was so cunningly trying to hide”- said tanai - ”is about three halves of a candle along the road we discovered yesterday.”

-” Interesting.” - Brand said calmly, but a little coldly

-” I found a curious obelisk of… well, you’ll need to see it yourself. There were also remains of what I think was a settlement of some sort.”

-” Do you think it is, or was, a site of what we are looking for?”

-” It certainly was a site of something.”- Anh’s attention wandered away for a moment -“Its state also confirmed what I’d been saying when we left.”

-” That is?” - inquisitively asked Brandt, so much so that he turned his gaze toward the tanai.

-” Place was picked clean.” - Anh replied with unease caused by the sudden attention - ”Nothing was left except that obelisk.”

-” I take, that you recognize it as precursorial?”

-” I think so. It was built in a manner that none of the parties I know of would. Even the Tahei.” - the roast over the fire ceased to rotate, as Anh continued directly toward Brandt - ”I’ve read about it being possible, but also prohibitively expensive.” - the roast returned to being rotated

-” Could you elaborate?”

-” For the lack of a better term. It is a huge, rectangular block of grey mortar. Cracked and weathered.”

-” Grey mortar you say” - Brandt rubbed his temples, lost in a thought -” Did it, by any chance, have iron bars or rods visible through?”

-” Yes!”- exclaimed the tanai -” How did you …?”

-* He has seen it before *- nonchalantly said Thernohh.

-” Have you seen it before?” - relayed Anh

-” I found the documents you were translating in a ruin made of this material. Except maybe not yet explored by the Ordo.”

-” Please! Tell me more!” - Anh both almost shouted and dropped the meat into the cinders.

-” Concentrate on keeping our breakfast edible.” - Brandt smiled faintly - “Because of my work, I travel. A lot. Each time I have the time to do so, I explore the countryside. My recent trip sent me to a town far south of Cammot. Barely even ‘Cammot’ really, just barely claimed territory. Near the Foer Gate Pass.” - Brandt cleared his throat - “Irrelevant details. While hunting, I happened upon an empty bear's den, which turned out to be, for the lack of a better word, reinforced on the inside. Dilapidated, damp and weathered ruin. Its inner walls were made out of this uniform rock-like substance which seemed like someone cast it out of mortar. Where it cracked, rusting iron webbing was poking out.”

-” This is… fascinating!”

-” There was an entry to an arching tunnel, built similarly. Twenty-something mers deep, then blocked with rubble. In that cave, I found the documents. Its inhabitants filled the pit with these. I took all that had some semblance of integrity.”

-* Eww! We were touching them!* - cringed Greoo

-* It was well worth it.* - calmly retorted Tow

-* Ask him if he has taken some samples.* - Thernohh injected herself.

-* He took the papers, that counts as samples* - replied Tow

-* Of the mortar, you simpleton!* - exclaimed Tow - *So we could make comparisons once we are back!*

-* Well, fine. That is a fair point, Domme! Please inquire our host about it. Please?*

-* I very well doubt he did, now hush, let Anh speak among this noise*

-” Anyway.” - Brandt was probably unaware of tanai’s inner dialogue. But he certainly he noticed the awkward silence and tanai’s dead stare - ”Three halves of a candle, you say? Once we’re done eating”- the smell of roasted meat filled the air for some time already, it seemed like Brandt was both finished talking and hungry at the same time -” and I have to say those spices seem to be doing their job, this smell is delicious, we’ll head out”.