Brave Story - Miyuki Miyabe [170]
About that time, Bubuho returned to his tent to find Granny waiting for him. “Something the matter?” he asked.
The old woman stood staring up at the night sky. Then she raised her arm, and pointed. “See that, Bubuho?”
Bubuho looked up. The starry sky was beautiful, like fragments of jewels scattered on lacquer-black silk.
“Which star do you mean, Granny?”
She looked up again and sighed. “So you can’t see it.”
Bubuho walked over and stood next to her.
“Then it’s the Fellstar of the North, for sure. I can see it. It’s not a trick of my aging eyes.” She sounded somehow sad. “That Traveler is the Half. The Fellstar has come to tell us this.”
“Ah,” Bubuho said quietly. “Then I hope no harm will come to Meena.”
Granny made no reply. She merely stood, staring up at the northern sky.
Chapter 15
The Camp
The road to Lyris wove its way through thick woods, across mountain passes, and over jumbled rocky ravines. It seemed that every hour brought them into new terrain. The Vision landscape was beautiful, severe, and a bit unfriendly to travelers, Wataru thought. Just like it is in my world.
Often they would come upon small villages that didn’t provide lodging. On those nights they were forced to pitch a tent and camp outdoors. Kee Keema taught Wataru how to do everything: pick a campsite, make a fire, fish for food in the rivers and ponds, and gather edible berries and mushrooms from the forest. Tagging along, Meena was also curious about learning these things. But when it came time to cook, the kitkin didn’t need any schooling. She was a hundred times better at preparing meals than Kee Keema.
In his travels across the southern continent, Kee Keema had walked many lands, and knew many of the towns and villages they came to. But Wataru was surprised to hear that he had not yet made the trip to Lyris.
“Lyris has a shipping guild of its own, so they have little business with us darbaba drivers. They need specially made carts and containers for importing and exporting goods and services. Plus, they have their own specific way of doing things. I’ve passed by the area many a time, but never had a chance to visit.”
It was, he learned, a village of craftsmen. They trafficked in metal, stone, wood, and leather to make all sorts of things. The design and quality of their craftsmanship was legend—and all of it made not by magic but by hardworking hands.
Their wares were known even in the north thanks to sailship merchants. In faraway lands, the necklaces and rings they made fetched ten times the local price. For the past several years, the most coveted of these items were a series of baubles called Heaven, made by a master craftsman known as Toni Fanlon.
“Seems it’s sparked a bit of a craze up north. A sailship merchant friend of mine asked me to drop in on Fanlon’s workshop should I ever go near the place. Apparently, he crafts ’em all by hand, so that means there’s only ten or so made a year. You have to be very lucky to get your hands on one of those.”
“Can’t you reserve one in advance?” Meena asked, gently swaying back and forth in the cart behind them. She seemed quite interested in them herself.
“Out of the question. Apparently, this Fanlon fellow’s not much for customer service.”
He sold his works only to people he had met, and liked, Kee Keema explained. “You can bring all the money you want, and if he doesn’t like you, he won’t sell you a thing. Of course, if he gets along with you well, he’ll charge you only the cost of materials. They say he even sometimes gives stuff away for free.”
“Odd fellow,” Meena said, sniffing.
While the two talked, Wataru was thinking. If Lyris traded in beautiful crafts, they would need lots of rare metals and jewels. Maybe someone there would know something of the second gemstone Wataru needed to find. It made even more sense, when he considered that Mitsuru was said to have gone to Lyris ahead of him.
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