Triple Strength

81. Dinner: Ruku

I wore my new shirt and jacket to dinner with the Catkin and Sten. I think this was a way for them to thank me for the weekend. It was a home affair at the Catkin Wagons where they live. They are parked in the yard of the warehouse the Elemental Traders have leased.

My report to Sione about the weekend had him all in a fluster. He was no longer content to wait for the normal communications to work through the bureaucracy but visited the communication enchanters and sent emergency messages to Kirghiz, Jern and Hrothgar. Jern is a quiet city with only a glorified recruiting office with a single intelligence officer. Hrothgar normally handles most of that area. After all, they are only a month’s march away.

I was let in by the gate guard and was greeted by the strangest sounds. It was like a catfight, but not a catfight. There were screeches and hisses and the occasional words and laughter from obviously young Catkin but intermingled was the rumbling and bass voice of an Orc. I upped the power to my Sonar. It was always on as a soft, gentle pulse, and it didn’t cost me anything these days at that level, and it was undetectable to anyone else. It had saved my life several times by giving me an early warning. Unfortunately, it bounces off objects, so it is much less effective on land than at sea. It was a reflex reaction to the unknown for me to increase its power. It didn’t pick up what was making the noise, but it did pick up an anomaly in the shadows over by the warehouse. I looked carefully with my Master Level Darksight Skill, but I didn’t see anything. Sonar was saying something was there, and I had been in enough difficult situations to pay attention when something wasn’t right. I was about to raise the Sonar again when Sten approached me.

“Ruku, welcome. So glad you could make it,” he said.

Straightforward honesty is my usual go-to, and I saw no reason to change that now. “Thanks, Sten. I appreciate the invitation. Do you realise there is something hiding in the shadows over there?” I figured if he knew about it, then that would be fine. If he didn't know about it, then I would have an ally in investigating it, and I said it loud enough so that if it were sentient, it would know we were on to it, and it could choose to attack or run. It really should start running.

“Really?” he asked, surprised. He looked over and obviously couldn’t see anything either. “How do you know?”

“I have a sonar sensing skill. Not much gets past it.” I put my hand on my knife.

Sten examined the area intently, then suddenly relaxed. “It is OK. It is one of our team practising a Skill.”

“Maybe we should flush them out and check. It is very unusual.” I said, not taking my eyes off the area.

“It is fine,” Sten said. “It took a bit for Hearing Aid to penetrate, but I know who it is.” He raised his voice a bit. “Maybe she will join us for dinner?” Then he turned to me. “It really is fine. Come and meet the Catkin.” He shot a grumpy look at the shadow and steered me toward the wagons.

I was going to be on edge for a while, but I managed to greet everybody and learn their names. Am'mā was Ilaiya’s mother and had cooked today. Mutalil and Anni were his brother and sister-in-law, and they had the triplets who were play fighting with the biggest Orc I had ever seen. That had been the noise as I entered the yard. Appā was there as well as Ilaiya's sister Mayakku who was also the enchanter. Ilaiya’s grandfather, Tāttā, was still working and would be along later. The Orc was the famous Modrica I had heard about all weekend.

We sat around the fire and chatted while dinner finished cooking. Eventually, the play fight ended, and the kittens were sent to wash before dinner, and I finally got to meet Modrica. She was huge and covered in scars. One scar looked like it should have taken out her eye. That must have cost a packet to heal. That is one advantage of being in the Military, free healing. Modrica didn’t say much, and everybody seemed to be used to her just sitting there.

Two people came to join us from the Warehouse just before dinner was about to be served. One was Tāttā, and the other was Skygge, Sten’s sister.

Skygge was slim, of medium height, with dark hair and moderately dark skin, although not as dark as Sten. Sten being a hunter, would be outdoors more, so that was natural. Skygge moved with a smooth grace that indicated high Physical Agility. That was unusual for a merchant. She wore dark clothes, but well-tailored and of good quality. I didn’t miss the knife hilts from each boot, even though they were partially hidden. The overall impression I got was that she was a reasonably accomplished knife fighter as well as a merchant. How true that impression was is debatable, as Merchants would regularly dress to impress and deter thieves. I was tempted to use my Interrogate Status Skill, but I held off. Merchants often had higher Mental attributes, and she was likelier to sense it than her brother.

“Hello, Ruku,” she greeted me. “I have heard a lot about you. Should we be addressing you as Major Ruku?” That was almost said as a challenge.

“Hello, nice to meet you. I am retired, so I left my rank when I left the Marines. Ruku is fine.” I replied. She had obviously done a background check. Luckily I am who I claim to be. My normal assessment of these people is that the only threat to me in an individual fight was Modrica. She was dangerous. However, if Sten and Tāoke alone could defeat Collier and Striker then my normal threat assessment wasn’t worth shit. We are talking about affinities and bonds here, and I don’t think Sten is the only one with an affinity. There is a Shadow affinity here. My Sonar spotted them earlier, and I am betting it is Skygge. I have no proof of either yet. However, if I had ignored this feeling in the past, I would not be alive today.

“Come and sit,” Am'mā said. “Dinner is ready.”

The conversation over dinner was about general topics. Skygge brought out some good quality wine to have for dinner. Good quality is not only to taste good but also not recommended for those with low Physical Constitution or low Mental Strength.

“Ruku, I am looking to work on my prospecting class. Are there any mines or areas where I could do this?” Sten asked.

“Most of the good areas already have established mines,” I replied. “There are some abandoned mines, but they are abandoned because all the good stuff is gone. There are some caves in the cliffs between here and the village. At least one goes quite deep. I took the village kids exploring one day and we went a couple of hundred metres inside without hitting the end. I don’t know if there is anything worth mining, but I could show you. You do have to enter at low tide as the first forty metres or so is flooded at high tide.”

“Might be worth a look. If it is a dud, we can always just fish.” Sten got an eye roll from his sister for that comment. “I couldn’t persuade you to help train young Ilaiya here in some skills, could I?”

“Well, I do have the Trainers Class. Do you mind if I Interrogate your Status, Ilaiya, to see where you are at?”

Ilaiya looked to his Mum and Dad for confirmation. They shrugged, and Appā said, “Your choice, son. These are the sort of decisions you will have to start making yourself. In my opinion, a Military Trainer is not an opportunity that will probably ever come your way again.”

Ilaiya looked at me and nodded, “Yes, please, sir.”

I smiled. “I will have you in the army soon. I say army because that is probably better for you than the navy, which involves a lot of swimming.” I looked at his Status and Skills. I went through them carefully, taking my time.

“I can see you are quite a bit over halfway with your Hunter Class,” he looked pleased with that. “You are also about halfway through your Guard Class.” That got a sour look from him. I guess he didn’t want to be a Guard like his Father. “The more Classes you get, the more attributes and opportunities you will have. You should be able to get both Guard and Hunter; they have different specialisations that will open to you. I can’t train you in either of those. I am a Warrior and Commando. I can train you in some skills. Spear, for one. The Spear is my favourite weapon, and I am a master at it. You seem to be doing well in Small Blades, but I can help there too.

“You don’t seem to have the Sense Spiritual Skill at all. That is a very handy skill for a warrior, not only to see when an opponent is about to use a Skill but also to sense traps and monsters. Once it gets to the Journeyman Level, you will be sensitive enough to see the Spiritual flowing through animals and objects. Spiritual energy flows differently through monsters than ordinary animals. It is not just a Skill for crafters. It has saved my life many times.” I did catch Sten’s eye and gave him a small nod to indicate I knew about Tāoke. I am guessing he still hadn't reached his Journeyman Level in the Skill yet and didn’t realise the benefits and the information that was available through it. “Once you have the Skill, your sister can probably help you level it. Enchanters always have a high level in Sense Spiritual.”

“I think you are better with Unarmed Combat by learning from Modrica. I suspect she is better at it than I am. I wouldn’t mind sparring with her if she is agreeable. I will probably learn some things.” That got a smile from Modrica and a nod. I hadn’t levelled Unarmed Combat in several years, so this was an opportunity for me.

“I am also a Master at Fishing, of course. So we can practise that.” I said with a smile.

Appā spoke up, “You honour us with this offer. What would you like in return for this training?”

This was a spur-of-the-moment thing for me, but I figured I would lay it out there and see what happens. “I am actually finding retirement quite boring. I have had more interesting interactions and met fascinating people since I met Sten than in the last two and a half years of my retirement. What I think I would like is a job.” I looked at Skygge. “Do you need another guard for your caravan?”

Skygge looked at Sten and said, “We will have to discuss it. Why don’t you come to our office tomorrow afternoon, and we will have a job interview.” She indicated the office part of the warehouse behind us, and I nodded.

The evening concluded, and it was an enjoyable evening.