Elevation of Mana Chapter 39 The Other Village

In short order we had a pretty good system going.  Larus was gathering and crushing ore like a machine, being helped in the sorting of the best pieces by our other two.  While they did that dad and I ran a pair of forges, trying to get what we could out of all of it.

He was still learning to put more power into the fire, and while we worked, we all sang some old song he knew, which seemed to make his magic better somehow.  I wanted to know how that worked, but magic was weird, and well, magic.

I was making bars of metal, if slightly more rectangular than one would normally associate with such things from movies and the like.  Those would be easier to carry and work out better for us in the end.

We were also having to take constant breaks, as we were burning through quite a  lot of magic in the process.  It was during one of those that I looked over at my dad.

“So, are we going to go and visit the other village when we're done?” I asked.

“We should, since their elder invited us and we're at their lands,” he replied, chewing his lip a bit.  “He'll be curious about what we're doing though, and may try to do it himself if he learns.”

“You know I don't care about that right dad?  I want these things to spread.  Heck, we could even show him how to make pots and stuff if you want.”

“Let's not do that right now son, it would cause problems.  As for telling him, I think that too is unwise, as he may try to stop us from continuing.  There are other sources of the copper, but we'd need to travel further from it.  Perhaps we could make him a gift though?  Any ideas?”

I weighted over that for awhile, there were in fact a lot of different things we could make, but many of them had issues.  It was unwise to eat from copper bowls, depending on what you ate.  It was likely that the elder had several, and very good, tools, not something we could replace instantly, though a knife might be a good one if worst came to worst.  A decoration probably, maybe something he could show off would be good.

“I'll think about it, see if I can come up with something,” I finally said, tapping my lips.  “What does he like?”

“Games, any kind of game is something he'll like.  He'll like it if it's something he can play with anyone too, so nothing too hard to learn,” dad replied quickly.

I nodded, continuing to mull it over as we got back to work.  The plan was to do as much as we could today and tomorrow and then go spend the night with our hosts.  Most of the games I thought of were a little more complicated than I'd like, though.  I settled on one of two games, and looked over at my father after several more hours of on again off again smelting.

“For the elder, does he like games that are simple to learn but hard to be good at, or games that are simple to learn and easy to be good at?”  I asked.

“The first I think is better,” dad replied.  “What are you thinking?”

“Oh, nothing much, just trying to get the right idea.”

We slept well that night, with our watch continuing to rotate, and the next morning I got to work.

We had plenty of skins to carry things in, and getting a few was no problem at all.  The board was simple to draw, only needing straight lines, and while it could have been done on the ground, making one right was slightly nicer.  A quick application of heat drew the grid, and I was done.  Since copper was all the same color I cast the pieces into circular and cubical ones, the easiest shapes to make, and tossed them in a few of our smaller bags.

“All done,” I declared as we finished up breakfast.

“Really?” dad asked.

“Yup.”

Another day of work, and by evening we had more than we would need for some time.  All of us would be carrying a bit of copper back to the village, and everyone would be getting a copper knife from me in payment, with Larus getting a few other odds and ends from dad, it was a good arrangement.

My father led us to their village as the afternoon waned and we were greeted with a cheer.  Lots of people knew my dad, and lots of them liked him, it made it easy for him to come here, and easy for us to join him.  Of course, the first thing we did was go to greet their elder.

“Hello old friend, thank you for having us.  My son has made a gift for you, if you'd like it,” father asked.

The older elf seemed elated, giving a big smile.  “Certainly, show me what you've brought lad.”

We found a place to sit and I pulled out the pieces.  A good few members of his tribe came to see, and more joined when they saw him holding one of the game pieces.  He looked it over intently, rolling the small cube in his hand.

“I've never seen something quite like this, heavy, pulled from the stones and shaped somehow?” he asked, curious.

“We call it copper, and are still playing with it to lean more about it.  I think it has potential,” I said.

“Maybe, maybe, pretty too.”  His wife leaned in, rolling the same one around in her hand, I could see the gears turning for both of them.  “So what is this game?”

“I'll explain, and then would you like to play a time or two?” I asked, and he nodded along.

I briefly ran through the rules, as it would only take a few minutes, and he smiled.  “Oh, easy to learn, we get traders and the like and I think some of them will love this.”

Playing a round didn't take long, and I won, but I'd played before.

“Do you like it?” I asked hopefully.

“I do, and you could make the pieces out of anything, even rocks.  What do you call it?” he asked.

“Go, and yes, white and black rocks would be excellent and look very pretty.”

I was not a good Go player, not by any means, but the rules were easy and I ventured that people would find it almost endlessly entertaining.  It also gave an easy way to show off the copper, which was working well.  After our first few games other members of this tribe took to playing against their elder, to varying levels of success.

Father was fielding a number of questions about the copper, since he was the most well known of our group.  While he did that several of the children came to introduce themselves to me as well, asking about our village, and the differences there.  We talked about the recent cold season, and I told a few stories about some of our trapping and the hunt for the deer.

I left out the stories about the magical beasts I'd fought.  Not because there was any shame in it, but because it was good to have people underestimate you.  I just told a few short ones here and there, and talked about the road and all we'd seen.  That proved popular, since most kids here had never been that far.

The next morning I woke up early, and really had to pee.  As I made my way outside and the sensation faded I began to suspect that I'd been awoken, as the village elder was also awake, sitting in a relaxed posture in the grass.

“Good morning, did you sleep well?” he asked politely.

“I did, did you wake me?”

“Getting straight to the point huh?  Yes, I wanted to talk.”

I went to join him cautiously.  Our elders tended to be powerful, and this was his village.

“What about?”

He rubbed his chin, thinking.  “When your father came here years ago and helped us, I offered him a place here.  He'd proven himself a friend, and a man such as him would be valuable to us.  Not today, but when you come of age I want you to consider the same offer.  This thing you've brought me, I think you're right that there's something there.”

“You wanted to offer this while we were alone?”

“Your father rebuffed my attempts to learn more about the process of making this.  I suspect you might tell me if you join our tribe, and you to have a power to you, brighter than most,” he observed.

“Whether or not I join your tribe I will tell you in time.  If you ask again when I come of age, I think I will.”

He blinked at that, seeming to roll it over in his mind.  “Why?”

I shrugged.  “I want the world to grow, and this growth requires spreading knowledge.  If I do tell you, will you try to stop me from getting more materials?” I asked.

“I did not get as old as I am by not showing gratitude.  Tell me when you are ready and you'll still be welcome here so long as I am the elder of this village.”  With that he sat back, calm.

“I'm surprised you're letting this go so easily.  I thought you might push for the information now.”

He laughed.  “I also did not get as old as I am without patience.”