ii. audio. after dark. both courts.

[vrykolakas]

[If anything, the Brucolac's voice sounds worse than ever, painfully scratchy and distinctly weary. The reception isn't perfect; he's sitting in the garden of the fortress at Redgate, where the lockets work, but the blood granite is still causing some interference.]

What languages do you speak? And what language would you say I'm speaking right now?

Comments

audio;

[vrykolakas]

[He laughs, half disbelievingly but also at his own reaction. How strange, that this should be what shocks him, after everything.]

Fish. Hunt. Trade. Travel. Where I hail from, huge swathes of the ocean are trawled daily for fish, merchants trade in the precious metals of construction, and the seabed vomits the oil which men burn to keep their cities ticking. From the inhabitants of the tiny islands to the South-East who survive off barnacles, to the haughty lich-lords of High Cromlech whose embalming oils travel in the cargo hold of merchant ships, everyone depends on the sea, though they might never see it in their lives.

audio;

[goldsickness]

[ Different worlds, it is clear enough to Thorin. Wherever this man comes from, the sea plays a great part, if only because it seems to cross between different lands, what with the way he describes it. ]

Then I will try to explain: in Arda there are few pieces of land, though wide they spread. Middle Earth, where all races live, in different kingdoms and villages. Then there are the Undying Lands, in which only the Elves are allowed. The only travel that involves crossing the sea is when the Elves do eventually, only once, from Middle Earth to it, where they live the rest of their unending lives. Between the two lands is a large island, Numéror, once a great realm of Men which has since then fallen.

We needn't travel through the sea for there is nowhere for us to go beyond it. We fish only in the rivers and lakes which we have, and we hunt across the lands where we live. Trade and travel too can happen along the rivers and across the lakes, but no need do we have for the seas in that regard.

audio;

[vrykolakas]

The Undying Lands. [He sounds fascinated—the idea of a land an ocean away, unexplored but by one race, isn't totally unfamiliar to him, having lived through and sailed through an age of industry, globalisation, colonialism. He's seen the world change, become smaller, with his very own eyes. But his immediate instinct is—]

Does anyone know what they're like?

[He gave up adventures long ago, but he can't imagine being able to resist that.]

audio;

[goldsickness]

Aside from the Elves which have sailed West? I do not think so.

[ At least he doesn't know of anyone going and returning, but it's not as if he knows that much about Elves to begin with. However, this place does offer a unique opportunity in that regard. ]

You ask the wrong person, if it is the Undying Lands you want to know more of. I know of at least one Elf here who was there when he was brought to this realm, though I do not know if he would tell you much.

audio;

[vrykolakas]

I don't know if it's the exact topography that interests me. Only how people think of it.

In my world, if certain people heard of a place called the Undying Lands far across the ocean, they wouldn't be able to stop themelves.

audio;

[goldsickness]

I see. Perhaps the name is confusing, but traveling to these lands themselves will not grant you life eternal. It is called so because it is inhabited by the immortal races of Arda. If a mortal travels there, they will live and, when time comes, die as they would anywhere else.

audio;

[vrykolakas]

Oh, the truth of the matter wouldn't have anything to do with it. It's not always facts which draw people over the sea.

So the rivers are the blood of your world, as the sea is ours? Or are there other, more popular routes of trade and travel?

[He sounds genuinely very interested. Infrastructure. How exciting!]

audio;

[goldsickness]

That is true indeed. [ In some cases, curiosity is what drives people to traveling, to finding new places after all. Though he has never heard of a mortal trying to reach the Undying Lands without anyone knowing. ]

Perhaps, to some. It depends on where one lives. Villages nearer to lakes or large rivers will depend on fishing far more than other places. My kind for instance, we settle in kingdoms built within mountains, where we can mine for metals and stones, and we forge them. That is our trade.

Travel can work differently as well. Paths through the lands, most commonly, though some travel in small boats to cross rivers or lakes. I know too the great Eagles are capable of carrying people, if they choose to do so. But from what I can tell, horses and ponies are the most common choice.