EACHDRAIDH

I'm back!

[Sigrid has bathed and washed her hair and polished her skin and everything is braided and tucked and in place as she sits before the locket, sitting like a lady instead of a girl.]

I'm in Caer Glaem and I have presents for a lot of people. Treun is a wonderful city and I will go back, and not only for business. Let's see...

[She looks at something off-frame, ticking each item off on one hand by tapping each fingertip against her thumb.]

Sansa, Gendry, Arya, Jon Snow, Lancelot, and Fili, I've got presents for you all from Treun and I want to see you. But!

[She smooths herself out and looks a little more formal.]

I am Sigrid of the House of Dale. We didn't get any new alliances in Treun, but we've got something just as important happening.

[She can't help the smile that breaks out.]

Before the envoy was sent, Treun was struggling to trade with Caer Glaem. You and I, shardbearers, can use the fairy rings to travel safely from here to there and back, but those without shards cannot. Treun is a hub of trade--traders come from round the world and their goods ship along the Road of Eithne to Cothromach, and from there across the mountains to Caer Glaem. As you know, most of the major battles of the war in the last few months have taken place along the Road of Eithne, making it very dangerous to travel. We have been on the brink of losing trade not only with Treun, but with all those who come by the Road of Eithne--the eastern world, more or less, and a great many by sea.

With the Council of Treun, it has been agreed [her smile splits into a grin] that a new road is to be built south of the fighting that will allow merchants from Treun to travel safely not only to Caer Glaem, but to the western world.

Trouble is, I need people to help build it. I've got three lovely earthbenders who'll work it through the mountains, but we'll need as many as possible to help make this safe path happen for the merchants. The monarchs will supply most of the laborers, but I need foremen. People who know what looks wrong, mostly. We don't even have roads in Lake-town, so I'm not much good there. Oh--there will have to be a bridge over the river.

...Thank you. For listening, even if you can't help.

[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...]

( It is a map under the cut )

[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.]

 I'm not going to be looking at my locket till I've heard all these memories've stopped showing.  If you need me, you'll have to find me the old-fashioned way.  My lady, one of my fairies will attend you and send for me when you need me.

[Sigrid is looking fairly haggard and pale. Behind her is the rugged green wilderness surrounding the Station, though the Station itself is not in sight.]

I'm in the middle of nowhere at all and I've got a bad leg. I couldn't find my locket and I had to ask a thrush to find it for me. A thrush. I'm talking to thrushes and they answer me. Anyway I need help. The thrush said he'd go and find someone, but I don't know who he meant. Does anyone know if thrushes are wise birds or silly birds? If he brings back a bear or something, I've got to hide now.

[Sigrid has the locket propped up like a mirror on her dresser. Flung over the arm of her chair is a mass of scarlet wool she is sewing into a new gown. Everything else in her room looks, to her, rather sparse and unlived-in. She's never had her own room all to herself. Nervously, she brushes stray hairs away from her face even though they were never in the way.]

I've kept my own house these last six years.

...What I'm saying is I need work, and I'm willing to work. I'm good with children, if you need any looked after. Otherwise I can do chores as you need them. I read and write well, and I sew, cook, spin, and knit. And clean, of course, and do laundry and all. Da taught me ciphering so I could manage our money. Anything else, I can learn.

Thank you.