As We Always Do

Writers: Suzee, Yvonne
Date Posted: 29th November 2017

Characters: Bryvin, Taril
Description: Dealing with the difficulties of a disaster.
Location: Sunstone Seahold
Date: month 1, day 9 of Turn 9

Bryvin

Taril sent his flit Dodger to carry a message to the Lord Holder, and
the brown flit returned a little while later with an invitation to
Bryvin's office after lunch. **Good,** Taril thought. A little food
might soften the Lord Holder's mood. He made his way up the hill from
the piers about a half candlemark after the noon bell rang and headed
straight for Bryvin's office.

Bryvin had just finished a bowl of his favorite soup when he heard the
telltale step of his friend Taril. "Come on in," he called before he
even saw him.

"Good afternoon." Taril stepped inside and stumped across the floor to
claim the seat across from the Lord Holder. "I trust you had a good
lunch?"

"Very good," he smiled. "The new cook was from the Weyr and has some
new recipes for fish stew. This one had clams and tubers with a creamy
white base. He called it chowder. Quite tasty. Shall I send for
another bowl?" He reached for the pull.

"No, no! I already ate." Taril sighed. That soup sounded good. "And
this is a business meeting, not pleasure. I'm here to speak for Red
Tide Rocks Seahold."

"By all means," Bryvin gestured toward the other chair at his small
table. "Speak."

"I went to visit Red Tide Rocks yesterday to see how they fared after
the earthquake and tsunami." Taril paused, searching for the right
words. "The main residential building's got some damage to the
foundation and roof in the west wing and the plumbing's been cracked.
The stairs will need to be shored up. The fish drying building is
unstable and will need to be taken down and rebuilt, and the catch
that was in there is ruined. The pier will also need some repairs. And
my warehouse here was damaged too, and the most of the goods in there
are unusable." The merchant frowned. "Long story short is that I need
marks and time to make repairs. Red Tide Rocks can't make tithe this
month, and likely not the next few months either. If we make tithe
then I won't have the resources to hire a Mason to repair the
cothold, and our overall production will go way down."

It wasn't a new story and truthfully, Bryvin had been expecting much
of the report. He nodded. "Most of the holds are experiencing much the
same problems," he said carefully. "Can you make a partial tithe?
Something, even if it's just a token would be taken as good faith."

He could probably swing something. But that wasn't the game. "There'll
be a cost to my cothold. It's all about trade-offs."

"Yes it is, isn't it?" Bryvin smiled at their understanding of one
another. "One of my men down on the docks, you know Olvin? Well he had
some interesting ideas about putting up repairs with timber and then
facing with rock to decrease the amount of stone needed for the pier
repairs here. I'm sure we could interest him in getting yours done the
same way if you like."

Taril frowned a little. "Rock? Like, road surfacing?"

"Yes," Bryvin nodded. "If applied properly it should resist Thread but
still allow a lighter, cheaper build. It uses crushed rock to form a
layer of small stones with rock dust lock together. It will allow
water to pass but nothing larger."

"Huh." Taril hadn't heard of anything like that before. "Has this been
tested anywhere? How long does it hold up?"

"It does stand up over time but the good thing is that it's easily
refreshed when it begins to wear. I saw it being used in a port city
up north when I was a younger man. Though I didn't remember it until
Olvin mentioned it." He set his bowl aside and leaned on the desk.
"Perhaps the knowledge if how it is done is also worth something."

"Then I'll bring a few of my men from Red Tides Rocks down to learn
from your man Olvin when he rebuilds my dock properly. That might
recompense Red Tides for the time and resources lost to a partial
tithe." That was _if_ the new technology held up. Crushed rock holding
up to the sea... it seemed risky to Taril. The old way worked
just fine. But there was no harm in exploring something new,
especially if it could save him and his cothold a few marks.

Bryvin nodded. "We'll all work through this Taril, for our Hold's
mutual benefit. As we always do."

Last updated on the December 10th 2017

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As We Always Do