Inch by Inch

Jay stood on the road between the bureau and the embassy, and wondered if it would be better for him to come another time.

The clutter from the dog track that morning had already been cleaned up. None of the smell or adventurers lingered. Even his team had finished up hours before. Ana was back at the dorms relaxing, while Kane was... Kane was unleashed on the unsuspecting city.

The training for this evening was planned and the plan for tomorrow’s patrol set. They had all the gear they needed. Everything was in order and there was nothing urgent for Jay to do. Yet still, he procrastinated. It would be easy to turn around and go into the building opposite. There was always something he could learn at the bureau, and he had wanted another look at the map without that rude clerk...

Sighing, Jay rolled his neck. It was still bugging him, and so would the invitation if he did nothing about it. With one last longing glance behind him, he walked towards the beautiful embassy with its gleaming cream walls, terrifying fossils and sterile soldiers.

The invitation got him past the soldiers at the door without much trouble, but an aide stopped him before he got too far into the building. They directed him to one of several ante-rooms with instructions to wait for an escort.

Like the building’s exterior, the ante-room was beautiful. It was styled to be a transition from the stone walls to a softer interior. The chairs near the outer wall were made from stone, with neutral cushions. Closer to the door, they were made from wood, though carved as if they were stone themselves. In the center of the room was a low table built from petrified wood. The decorations matched the theme, though the paintings of various dignitaries on the wall didn’t quite fit.

You could consider them fossils too, Jay mused with a grin.

A lot of the furniture was like that. Not quite right. Built from Lauchia materials in Pono style, or Pono material fashioned in local methods. Perhaps the room was designed to be a transition from Lauchia to Pono as well.

Someone had put a lot of work into this small room, and it showed. After weeks of living in cramped crew quarters on the wagon, and the adventuring dorm, Jay felt very out of place. He wasn’t meant to be here. The comfy cushions weren’t for him, and the dignitaries peering out through frames were strangers. He was quite relieved when a woman with long, flowing brown hair came to retrieve him. She had very distinctive eyebrows. They stretched back along her brow and were so neat and thick that they looked like they had been painted on.

“The envoy has a busy schedule. You have a short time slot, and must remember not to linger.”

Jay missed a step. “The invitation was from the envoy themselves? Why do they want to meet me?”

“You may ask the envoy that.” Her voice was curt. She had not introduced herself, though she made it clear that she knew who he was. In fact, her lips were pursed nearly as high as her cheekbones in disapproval, which for someone from Pono was a feat. “Through here.”

The woman gestured him through an arch before striding past him and knocking on a door. “Envoy Detar, Jiro Tsukain to see you.”

“Send him in, Jara.”

“Envoy.”

The woman, Jara, opened the door and gestured Jay in.

The envoy sat behind a beautiful stone desk. It was possibly the only furniture made from stone this far into the embassy, and they had gone all out on the detail. The desk was covered in scenes of what could only be a city in Pono — towering triangle temples and perfectly ordered streets in the shape of a fish with wings. It wasn’t the empire’s capital. Everyone knew Orista looked like an ant.

The man was buried deep in paperwork, but as Jay walked in he completed a form, then neatly stacked the sheets to one side and stood, stepping away from his desk.

“Jiro!” Envoy Detar held his hands out wide. “It has been so long. How are you?”

Oh, crap. Who is this?

Jay searched the man’s face again, hoping for some recognition or a clue. Nothing. They clearly knew him, though. His posture was relaxed and comfortable.

The envoy had broad shoulders and high cheekbones like many from Pono, which didn’t help. His skin was dark, though not as dark as his hair. Jay thought these features meant the envoy was from the west of Pono, but like the winged fish, he didn’t know enough to say where.

Envoy Detar chuckled and let his arms fall. “I see you don’t recognize me. Don’t worry, it’s been quite a few years. Back when you were-” He held a hand below his hip. “-about this high if you can believe it.”

“Oh.” Jay blinked in surprise. That might explain why he didn’t recognize him. A Pono envoy wasn’t someone you forgot easily, but if he’d been just a child at the time... “How did we...”

“Your father.” The envoy explained gently as his face settled into a welcoming smile. “Adrien used to go quite a bit further with his caravan. I traveled quite a bit at the time myself. We met on one trip, and continued to encounter each other over the years. In fact, he was responsible for transporting this mission to Lauchia a dozen years ago now.”

Jay didn’t know about that. His father hadn’t been away for more than a month or two as far back as he could remember, even if it was only popping in for a day or two before leaving again. Traveling across Pono, or even to the empire, would take a lot longer than a month. It didn’t line up, but the envoy had no reason to lie. Was it another memory lost in his childhood?

“It was at that time I met you. I’d attempted to recruit your father for nearly as long as I knew him. He always turned me down, though it wasn’t until I heard about your sister’s birth that I understood why. When I was assigned to this territory I had to meet your mother.” He chuckled again. ”You might say I needed to meet the woman who could beat my offer. Mika is a formidable woman. It must be in the blood. Strongarm Han has not been forgotten in Pono.”

There was a lot to unpack in there. A lot that Jay had been avoiding thinking about his father. About how he left Kavakar. About what happened outside the church. It had been the first time he’d been called a Denier for real and not as an insult without basis. No one had called him one since. How much of that was his dad? Was it the influence of Pono that he’d never known about? Of the envoy in front of him?

Adrien would have found out that Jay had escaped the city by now. What would he do? What would he say? Try as he might, Jay could not conjure any answers.

For the first time, Jay realized that he didn’t know his father quite as much as he’d thought.

Envoy Detar gave him an understanding smile, sensing some of his discomfort if not realizing the source. “Perhaps that is enough reminiscing. How are you finding the city Jiro?”

Jay inspected the envoy once more. The neatness of his hair, not a strand out of place, his formal poncho. There was some recognition there after all. Not from his childhood, unfortunately. He’d seen the man before, on the street outside as he prepared for the dog track. It was... a start. He might not know his father, but he could learn more. This man, possibly the source of his father’s reaction, was as good a place as any to start.

“Ehm... sorry, could you remind me? I can’t remember your first name?”

Envoy Detar’s eyes widened, then he winced. “Of course. My apologies, I wasn’t thinking. It wouldn’t have been on the invitation either.”

He straightened and held his hand out to Jay, palm face up. An invitation to a Pono handshake. Jay took the hand.

“My name is Manuwai Detar. It is a pleasure to meet heart to heart.”

“It is a pleasure to be welcomed to your home,” Jay recited in response to the traditional Pono greeting. He wasn’t entirely sure if the envoy lived in the embassy, but it was better to be safe. This was something his father had taught him. “And rest from the hinterlands.”

“Yes,” Manuwai’s eyes softened.

The greeting hung in the air for a moment.

“I’m enjoying the city. It’s very different from Kavakar.” Jay hesitated, wondering if he should continue what he was about to say. Manuwai was an envoy, but he was also Jay’s father’s friend... “And the smell...”

It was the right choice. Manuwai barked a breathless laugh. “Yes!” He eyed the door conspiratorially. “It is those walls they are so fond of. Blocks out the wind and allows the air to stagnate.”

“I thought it might be the dog track,” Jay said sheepishly. “The food stalls cover up a lot of the sweat, but not everything.”

Manuwai looked a bit pinched. “I burn a candle each day at that time, but no, it is not that. I can’t decide if the locals don’t notice or have adapted. After a decade here I certainly haven’t.”

| i i i ¦ i i i | i i i ¦ i i i |

Manuwai watched the son of an old friend leave, shutting the door behind him. It had been a refreshing talk, perfectly timed to clear his head and prepare him for a long day. That was Jara’s work.

As if summoned by his thought, or her Word, his second slid into the room. She must have assigned someone else to escort Jiro out.

“Envoy, may I be of assistance?”

Manuwai considered the meeting. “I had not expected to see him in Lauchia. If anything, I expected he would join his sister. Is anything known?”

Jara shook her head. Kavakar was a tricky place to gather information. The walls had eyes and the town a resolute core. He had also held back from poking too deeply out of respect for an old friend.

“Look into it.” Manuwai ordered.

“Envoy?” Jara asked in surprise, which wasn’t undeserved. It was outside his normal behavior. He was never one to abuse the privileges of his position. He still wasn’t.

“And start a file.” There was something about that boy. He might have inherited some of his mother’s blood. Or his father’s for that note.

Jara was unable to hide her further surprise or hesitance. Perhaps that was unfair to say. He had no doubt that there were few in the city that could see her feelings on the matter, but Jara had been his second for half a decade now. They knew each other all too well at this point.

“Yes?”

“Envoy,” Jara began reluctantly. “Jiro Tsukain registered as an independent adventuring team in the city. It seems none of the recruiters sent to Kavakar accepted him.”

Implied but not stated was that there was a reason why. The guilds of Lauchia may be misguided, but they were far from inept.

“Is that so?” He stood and walked to the window. From here he could see across the city, from Miracle to wall, but it was a squat, ugly building across the road that held his attention. “How very interesting.”

| i i i ¦ i i i | i i i ¦ i i i |

“... and then she says ‘Why is there a knob at my door?’”

Peter and Tema burst out laughing while Taylor covered her eyes with both hands. Even Mark let out a chuckle, taciturn though he could be.

Peak tavern was busy tonight. Every table was full and plenty of people were left standing or wandering around with drinks in hand. Jay had been surprised that they had found a seat, let alone one that could fit all seven of them. Peter bragged about it being a Bedrock table, which did explain some of that. Being a member of one of the leading guilds of the city, even a recruit, had its perks.

“You... you didn’t know what a knob was?” Peter asked between giggles.

Ana shook her head, grinning ear to ear. She quite enjoyed storytelling it seemed. All four of the local adventurers had been hanging on her every word.

“Laugh it up,” Jay groused, spotting Peter’s double meaning. “I mean, who names an oddity that? I thought the notice in the bureau was a prank.”

Taylor groaned, still hiding behind her hands. “It isn’t. Or it wasn’t. The bureau tried to give the oddity another name, but knob just stuck.”

Across the table, Tema grimaced, his lip curling with distaste, but he didn’t speak up. There was something dark in his look, though it wasn’t directed at anyone sitting at the table.

“It’s one of the most known oddities around the city,” Mark agreed.

“Are there any others we should know about?” Jay asked. Peter’s eyes light up. “For real, I got a bit freaked out with all the glowing. I don’t want us to run into something less friendly and not be prepared.”

Peter’s mouth, open and ready to stir trouble, closed and even Tema gave a begrudging nod. The four locals started to discuss it amongst themselves, something that Jay was paying close attention to until someone called across the tavern.

“Jay!”

He turned, curiously scanning the crowd of unfamiliar faces until one stood out.

“Bakti?”

Jay stood and made the way through the crowd to his friend. It had been weeks since he’d seen him. They’d last spoken before the guild recruitment.

Bakti pushed through the crowd to meet him too. His bulk made it easy for the surly man to shove past people, even well-built adventurers, and his short, 5’5” height just gave him the advantage when it came to centers of gravity. They met in one of the few open paths through the tavern, left open for the essential passage of beer.

“Jay! I heard you and Kane had left with a convoy, but no one knew what you were doing. Why Lauchia? What are you up to?” Bakti looked past Jay at the table behind him. ”Is that Ana?”

Jay grinned, elated to see him. He hadn’t known where anyone would end up. “It is. She came with us. We formed a team and took the first caravan out of Kavakar.”

“A team?” Bakti asked, brows crossed. Then his eyes widened in realization. “You didn’t? Jay! You went independent?”

Jay nodded.

Bakti’s eyes remained wide, but they settled into worry as his eyebrows drew together. “Jay...”

Jay forced his smile wider. “You made it to the city then. How’s everybody? Who came?”

“Everyone who was recruited, look Jay–”

“BAKTI!” The cry came from the other side of the tavern, where Jay’s friend had come from.

Bakti scowled. “That’s one of my ‘seniors’. This is meant to be a welcome night.”

The shout came again.

Bakti huffed. “I had better get back.” He eyed Jay reluctantly. “It’s good to see you, we need to talk. I’ll find you tomorrow?”

Jay nodded, but the smile was slipping from his face. Something ill had settled in his gut. “Sure, let’s find each other at the dog track.”

Bakti slipped back into the crowd and Jay back to the table. It was a busy night. Peak tavern was full of new arrivals to the city, new adventurers, newly worded.

The stone was shifting.