Elevation of Mana Chapter 8 Diamond in the Rough

I took a few more weeks to sit back and get back to the main task at hand, language.  As my mouth developed and things came into their proper place I found that I was having an easier and easier time talking.  I was struggling though, because while I wanted to start going for full sentences and questions that I desperately sought the answers to, I was still a baby.

People didn't expect babies to be able to have full conversations, and while I would definitely stick out a little, standing out too much might be bad.  I didn't know the traditions or superstitions of the people here yet, and so I was more than a little afraid that I might run afoul of some of them.  Ancient cultures, back where I was from at least, had been really brutal too to those they didn't like, and I could absolutely not survive on my own yet.

So I slowly started adding things to my publicly known vocabulary.  A few words were there for communication, but others got added shortly thereafter.  'Yes' and 'No' were my first additions.  Those two were needed for just basic talking to people, and communicating what I did and didn't want, which solved a number of problems.  Then we got to the really fun ones, 'Why' and 'How'.  Like most children, my favorite new word was definitely 'Why'.

"Let's go Elian, it's time to go for the crackle-nuts," mom declared as she picked me up to put me in my carrier.

"Why?"  I asked.

"Because they're coming into season now."

"Why?"

"This is the time of year they always do Elian," she answered with immense patience.

"Why?"  I wanted to know what the people thought as far as seasons.  It might give me some insight.

"Well, a long time ago, when the world was made, it was made with seasons.  These seasons come and go in a cycle, one to the other, before returning.  As for why or how they do that, I don't know son, maybe one day you'll find out."  Mom spoke as if this was something that had been told to her again and again, over many years.

There was a lot to unpack there.  She said the world was made, but not by who or how, so perhaps they didn't know, or had no story to that effect.  That was strange, but elves weren't human, so I couldn't argue there.  Then she did something really amazing.  My mother admitted that she didn't understand everything, to a baby, and then told him one day he might figure it out.

Most, the vast majority even, or humans wouldn't do that.  The good ones, the really good ones might admit that they didn't know, but for her this didn't seem to be some philosophical musing, just common wisdom.  These people seemed to know that there was a lot they didn't know, and were interested that someone might find out.

It explained why they'd let my aunt play around with her new pot for ages, working and working with almost no progress.  They knew that there was a lot more than they knew, and encouraged others to look.  Perhaps there might be a limit, or other philosophies on it, but my mother at least, I felt I could depend on to let me put forth new technologies.

Crackle-nuts, I decided, were one of my new favorite things.  They looked to be some form of paper thin shelled pecan variant.  I knew that pecans were more of a temperate fruit, but these looked, and from the few that I was given, tasted, almost exactly the same.  The name, I soon came to learn, was derived from the fact that the shells were so thin that they would crackle and break away when squeezed even lightly.

The little field we were gathering in right now had a creek-bed, currently dry, running down it's middle.  The worst of the rains had passed not too long ago, and with them, a few of these had dried up one again.  They made for an easy path through the woods, and were used as such.

"Oh, pretty!"  I heard the high voice declare from nearby, a call that got more than just my head turning.

Aria, a younger girl who'd once come close to drawing the ire of my aunt was bent over in the dry creek bed, reaching down for something she'd seen.  A few of the other curious women gathering tried to get a look at what she'd found.  One of the boys, on the cusp of adolescence was looking too, but I could see that his eyes were somewhere slightly different.

When she rose in her hand was a small stone, quartz or something if I had to guess, it was clear and shining brightly in the sun.  It also got the attention of all the women around here.  Eyes were shooting around, looking at the ground near her, and at the other parts of the creek bed.

I learned a few things in quick succession.  The first was that I'd seriously underestimated how much the women here liked pretty rocks and the like.  As soon as a few of the onlookers got a good look at what she'd found, all gathering for the day stopped.

To my eyes it was just a little crystal, maybe the size of a man's thumb.  To those around here though it seemed much, much more important.  One of these seemed to be worth the rest of the day's work, and the whole group started searching for more, well, almost the whole group.

I was strapped to mother's back so I got a good view of the bidding war, and that's how I learned another important fact.  Mom, along with several other representatives from other huts all gathered around little Aria, who looked quite intimidated.  She may have folded, but to her rescue came the elder Elaya, who with a glare made everyone back off a bit.

A bidding war ensued, and I learned the purpose of all the beads everyone had.  That was the second, and perhaps most interesting thing I learned this day, they weren't just decoration, they served as a form of currency.

The first bid came from one side, a woman who didn't have many of the little trinkets took off her nicest string.  These were mostly wooden, and while prettily carved were certainly nothing special.

"All of these for it," she offered.  While little Aria considered several other women in the group scoffed.

"Wooden are worth almost nothing, most of those aren't even colored," one opined.  "Here, these are much nicer no?"  She took off one of her own, a smaller string true, but the beads were carved stones of various colors, there was even a little one that looked like it was some kind of shiny shell.

This went back and forth for awhile, and I couldn't help but notice that while mother and Elaya both seemed very interested neither made a bid.  They were both by far the most bedecked of the women in our village, and I suspected their magic was the cornerstone of that.  I wanted to know why they weren't bidding, but the words were still too much for a baby to ask, so I just watched.

"What do you think?"  Elaya finally asked, after a number of offers and counter-offers had been made.

"Hmm..." the girl thought for a few moments.  "My brother has been talking for awhile about us and a few others perhaps getting our own hut, but none of us has been able to get enough together."

Those words were enough, and with them, and a few grumbles, most of the women fell back.  Why I wasn't sure, but for some reason that was enough for them.  Only mother and Elaya stayed forward near the girl, each sizing the other up.

"I could make you an offer to raise it, but then I'd need Eduan to carve it for me," the elder said, looking at my mother.  "We both know what the fair offer on that would be."

"We do," mom agreed.  "And it would be a lot.  Do you really want this one?  Perhaps someone will find another."

Here the true bids began.  They'd both abstained it would seem, because neither wanted conflict with the other.  Now that they were the only two in the running though, it was a game.

"An arrangement?  If I don't oppose you on this one, will you oppose me should I want the next?"  The woman with her little white streak of hair appraised mother and her answer.

Mom tapped her lip and thought.  It was a risk for both.  If mom didn't agree, they could bid each other poor, if she did, she might get a good deal here, only for her opponent to get a free bite at a possibly juicier morsel.

"If another is found before the moon goes through its cycle again I will not bid against you, on the first."

That one took me a while to puzzle out.  I had noticed that the moon did change phases here, and even that those phases were of a similar length to those back home, but nobody seemed to care about how long something took most of the time.  This was also the first time I'd heard anyone try to use it as a measure of time.

"Agreed," Elaya said without a moment's hesitation.  Then she too backed up.

Now it came down to mother and Aria making a deal.  Mom could have strong armed her, but instead pondered for a bit, before removing a few beads from one of her own strings.  They were nice, all very detailed carved stone.

"These, and a hut, for that one," she offered, and I could see the girl's eyebrows rise.

My mother had almost all the power here, but I could tell from the murmurs of those who had already bowed out that this was a pretty good offer.  Even the elder nodded along.

"Could..." the lucky girl tried.  "Could you get Atie to make me one of her pots too?"

Mom looked a bit put off, but called my auntie over.  They had a very hushed conversation, whispering in each other's ears so low that not even I could hear it.

"Of her offer, I will take the bead you like least," auntie Atie eventually made her gambit.  "And of the five pots I have you may choose that which you like best."

"Agreed," Aria said.

Their trade quickly concluded, with Atie being given her prize, and mother hers.  They then discussed briefly about where the new hut would be, and several people congratulated the girl.

I could have watched this all day.  Trying to work out what was best for trading, and how they determined it.  Color was important, clearly, as well as size, and artistic skill.  There was also a bit of opinion going on, some of these little pieces of currency clearly had more value to some of the women then others.  It wasn't a simple monetary breakdown with clear denominations like I was used to, but it definitely worked.

As we headed back to the village late that afternoon I couldn't help but look upon the parade of rather disappointed looking elves.  Nobody else had managed to find something even close to that first stone, and they'd even missed out on an afternoon of work.

I was excited at least to see a new house getting made, and why mother would be the one to do it.

A/N:  Sorry for the long wait between Elevation chapters, hoping to get another out this weekend if all goes well.