eachdraidh | video | locked to Seelie

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[Sigrid turns on the feed and immediately continues working, having a number of different maps and books open and sketching at something furiously.]

I need help.

I've got a very official presentation I have to make to the Council in Treun in just six days and I need someone who can make this.

[She picks up the paper she's been drawing on to show...]

[She sets it down again and looks into the locket with frantic and pleading eyes, like a wild thing whose sole source of energy has long since been caffeine mixed with adrenaline.]

I didn't know, I thought just telling them we'd give them the road would be enough, but they want sketches now. They want schematics and contracts for builders and probably budgets. We don't even have roads where I come from!

Does anybody know anything about building roads? Especially through mountains?

[Her sentence gives slightly out at the end. She groans and buries her face in her folded arms as if giving the quest up as completely mad and hopeless.]

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If they can blast through the rock, it'll get them through the mountain quicker and make the road straighter. Magic and good old-fashioned hard labor could support any tunnels.

Or, if you want to go around the mountain- supports along the sides of cliffs to help prevent people from falling off. If there are settlements in the area, small towns, they'll most likely appreciate the road because it'll bring more money into the area. Of course, there's the problem of robbers and wild animal attacks.

Not, [ John adds after a moment, ] that I actually have any practical experience.

[All that seems like common sense. Sigrid stares at John for a moment.]

I think they're looking for ciphering. There needs to be ciphering or else they'll think I'm not serious. Ciphering and geometry. I've only balanced my father's books, and Lord Stark's. I'm not an accountant nor a geometr...er.

[ Well, you asked. Besides, he's on a boat. ]

I don't suppose you can tell them in a diplomatic way that no one wanted to waste their time doing all that before knowing if they'd be interested?

[She huffs.]

Of course they're interested. They're businessmen. Right now they have only one road leading them to Caer Glaem and it's had a lot of battles on it even since I've been here. Giving them a safer road is the only way to keep trade open between us. It's such a clear solution that I marvel that no one's done it before. It's a gift of goodwill, practically, not a negotiation at all. I just...didn't know they'd want all that right away!

They're businessmen who may not want to piss off the Unseelie, considering they're the side that's winning. Why trade with us when it's possible Caer Glaem won't even be on the map for long?

Not that you should tell them that. [ He's sure they already know. ]

This road is why. They've had trade with us and the Unseelie for ages, and they've thought about cutting it all off, especially with Caer Glaem, because of how dangerous it is to travel. Think how much fighting happens between here and Caer Scima. But what we can give them that the Unseelie cannot is a safe road south of the fighting. Loads safer than trading with Caer Scima by sea. If they cut one of us off now, it's going to be them, and that will cause all sorts of trouble in Caer Scima's economy.

[ He nods, absorbing this new information. ]

Well then, find out what they want from the road other than the road itself. Should be a joint effort, right?

There will be formal talks during which that sort of thing will be decided. In six days. But we'll have 'em eating out of our hand. You know if the Unseelie win the war, Treun will lose its guarantee that it'll get this road they've been wanting for years. It might be a little incentive, anyway, for them to try to keep the war going for a bit.

Way my thinking is, you need the formal talks before you have the formal plans. [ Though he supposes they'd want a rough draft. ]

Papers aren't plans, they're proof we know what we're doing and are being serious about this. It's our proposal.

Edited 2014-09-23 20:14 (UTC)

Looks like Bolin's volunteered my services anyway.

[Sigrid nods.] I'm sending you your contracts tonight. You should have them in a couple of days, and you must send them back to me straight away after you've signed them.

I'm on a ship.

[ So, uh. Just so she's aware. ]

[...She manages not to bitch at him for his lack of consideration. After all, he couldn't have known he would be asked to sign a contract before going out to sea.]

Then I'll sign yours with an X. Lots of people do that when they can't write anyway.

If they ask, you can tell them I also gave verbal permission and have experience working with the blood granite at Redgate.

It might help if I knew anything about how that might be helpful.

Blood granite nullifies most abilities, especially magical ones.

That doesn't make any sense. Does it make it hard to move or something?

Very difficult. It's also very rare -- a status symbol.

And you could still work properly?

We could. Bolin was there as well.

And you're going to build my road.

[She's smiling now, starting to feel a giddy rush that comes of seeing everything fall into place.]

That's wonderful. Thank you.

You're welcome. Let me know how it goes?

Of course.

There's a guy named Tarrlok, he was a city councilman before he came here, and most of the roads in and out of the city at home had to go through the mountains. He'll at least be able to bullshit something that looks legitimate until you're able to come up with actual plans.

[ RUDE AND HELPFUL ]

...Tarrlok knows about roads? He's head of my mission.

[THIS IS THE BEST NEWS. She is going to scream for joy if this is true.]

Oh, thank you! I must be completely mad, oh, thank you for telling me! I'll find him in his room.

[ he doesn't really get what the deal is, it's just tarrlok, and the guy's a total ew, but... whatever floats your boat, girl. ]

Yeah.

[ oh good, mako covered the subject of the sleazy councilman. ]

Earthbending — er... well, manipulating earth — might be a way to make room through the mountains. It would be a lot safer than blasting.

[ sorry johndad. ]

Sounds like pottery. What is it, really?

[ aaaand bolin popped up with some answers! good bolin. ]

I see Bolin's got some details covered, but I use my energy to manipulate the earth around me. [ she takes a quick look around, chewing her bottom lip. ] I can probably get outside and show you?

That would be very helpful, Korra, thank you.

Ooh! I second earthbending for building that baby. You know, less explosions, a guarantee someone can walk from one end to the other, that kinda stuff.

It sounds like magic, but who does it?

Oh, uh. Well, I do it. And I've got a couple of friends here who do? It's not exactly magic, though. Oh, wait, it is for one of us. But not me, I was born with it. Just kind of a thing back where I come from.

[Everything is falling into place yes yes good she will have a good rest tonight after all.]

Give me a list of names and I'll draw up your contracts. Can you give me a guess how long it could take to build a road through the mountains? Here, I've got...let me write it.

[She writes down miles, altitudes, every detail she can for Bolin to read.]

I need you to tell me about how long, and also give me an acceptable fee for your payment, for you and the others. You can get it back to me tomorrow. I'll be sending birds with your contracts as soon as they're written up. Sign them and return them directly to me--the birds will understand who to give them to.

I'm Bolin. Nice to meet you, by the way, happy to help. The other two are John Grimm and Korra, but I guess I can't make promises about if they'll be able to help out or not. Could have a thing going on, I dunno. Uhhh. I'll have to get back to you about fees and time and stuff, yeah. We can probably get that all worked out by tomorrow! [ He is going to take all that technical info and the fee-figuring and immediately give it to Mako to work out for him. Mako's the money guy.

Also, these birds sound really great and he wishes the ones that were flocking all over the place earlier this month had stuck around. ] So am I allowed to feed the birds?

And I'm Sigrid, sorry. I should've said.

[She listens and takes notes as he speaks.]

Oh, yes. Of course, yes, that is very appropriate. They work very hard even when they don't have much reason to care about the doings of us humans. So by all means, feed them as much as they'll eat!

[She scans the notes she's been taking to make sure she's got everything.]

Bolin, John Grimm, and Korra--I think you've just saved me.

Oh, great! I'll get some stuff together for them. [ Spoiled rotten. If he can help it, anyway. ] And don't even worry about it, Sigrid, I think we're pretty big on saving people. It'll be nice to put my earthbending to some good use!

[This is late by nearly a day because Jon always seems to crash in late to Sigrid's posts, but but he's got his own kingdom of dwarves to make diplomacy at on the other side of the map!

He still checks in anyway, because Sigrid seriously looked like she might pull out all her own hair in the post. (Jon can totally sympathize with being made to present solutions to problems with no actual available solutions on a painfully close deadline.)]

Have you found your help, at least? [She'd had a good handful of replies, but Jon doesn't know if any of them panned out.]

I have! More than I expected. [She picks up a stack of papers and sets them aside so she can talk to Jon without work getting in the way.] Have you arrived yet?

Aye, we have. [There's a part of him that's flattered by the attention she offers him even though she's busy, now that it's been weeks since he heard news of his father and he has started feeling things that aren't grief again.] They seem a good people, these dwarves here. [Though certainly nothing like what men called "dwarves" in Westeros.]

Dreadful house guests, though! [She smiles.] At least in my world they are. Very loud and complaining all the time. And they stomp everywhere, I don't know how the city watch never knew they were in my house.

[He offers a small smile in return, thin and stretched but there all the same. Talking to her is easy, which is nice, because talking isn't something that comes very naturally to Jon.] That's unfortunate, as I suspect we'll have many over, once we take up in Cothromach. I've never seen craftsmanship such as theirs, and the fairies make it seem that we'll have a deal of work to do on the hold when we get there.

You'll want Thorin, probably. I'm friends with his nephew, and they're princes of dwarves back home. If you want to know about building or fixing or just dealing with dwarves, you should talk to them.

[Jon looks thoughtful. Might be if they're here they'd like some place in a city of their brethren, too. Or might not. Jon couldn't rightly say.] Do you know him well, this Thorin?

I know a fair bit, Lady Sigrid. Has someone else offered you the help you need or -? [He is willing and ready to offer his expertise.]

Oh yes, I do still need drawings and schematics. A design, if you will. I've looked very closely at maps and I think I've got a pretty good idea of where the road should go. But it goes through mountains and that will need a bit more involvement than any other part.

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