Book One: Onnu and Pannu

Projects

The official business was concluded as much as it could be, until they agreed on a name, so they wandered into other subjects. None of the Charon were likely to Pass anytime soon, and they did not often talk to someone eye to eye (or close to it).
   Weaver longed for the ability to bring her favorite television shows to Tupino. She'd been especially fond of the Wheel of Time. Onnu smiled and nodded, but all she knew was that a historical fashion enthusiast she'd watched was enamored with a certain blue dress.
   That dress sent Weaver into ecstasies. She sketched it in the firth outside her own Hold, where they'd gathered. Her Holds, and Marla's farmhold, were in the middle of the settled Holds, so they'd elected the ground between Brown Farmhold and Blue Hold as their unofficial meeting spot.
   Weaver tried to explain it to the others, but only Onnu understood. She vowed to get her craftskin to set to work recreating it. The lines of it made her eyes glaze over and get wistful.
   "But we haven't a blue dye nearly vibrant enough for that!" Onnu objected. "Besides, the fabric isn't thick enough yet. You do know that it will take time, right?"
   Weaver just smiled. "I am a dragon. I can wait."
   "Even if it takes three generations?" Amber sneered.
   Undeterred, Weaver vowed to get there in two. She was already making great strides in textile creation, with every new plant or creature they discovered. Okay, not everything new advanced her studies, but many at least taught her about what she already had to work with.
   "I suppose we could all undertake long-term pursuits," Onnu mused. "The only one I thought to try, we achieved when Mountain Clan gave us that leavening agent. Then it was emdief, which Steel's craftskin stumbled on. Hmm... Perhaps we will find inks, to complement the paints? Or maybe Mountain Clan will figure out crochet hooks. I suppose I could show my craftskin how to make dragonscale vests out of leather... Or chainmaille? Hmm, no, no pliers yet. I dunno guys, there's just so much to try, I'm not sure I could settle on a specialty." She held her paws in the traditional pose of uncertainty.
   "I'm not sure you have to settle, as long as you'll live," Amber grumbled.
   "We all know that my Hold makes weapons for hunting, but I have also been attempting to find the Tupin version of glass, or plexiglass." Steel cut off her potential gripe at one sentence.
   "Botany," Onnu nodded. "A wise pursuit. Will you build a glass greenhouse dome, then? And will you have botanists studying the plants in your Hold, or an attached dome?"
   Steel flushed. "I had thought to model it after an igloo, yes. Most likely a two igloo, connected, stand alone structure."
   "We do need to study the plants," Marla said. "I can ask if any of my kin want to join you, if you manage to make one."
   "Hey, don't you make glass noodles out of kelp?" Onnu asked suddenly. "I wonder what happens if you extracted the goop from sea grass and added it to crystal cover? Or maybe sand--"
   "Sand doesn't make glass here," Steel interrupted.
   "I know, I know, the element isn't silica, but maybe it just needs refining with something else," Onnu suggested. "There's no guarantee that sea grass even has clear goop in it, but..." She shrugged. "I just thought I'd give you another couple of ideas."
   His head jerked in a sort of bow, sort of nod. "I thank you for the ideas. As you say, nothing is the same here, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't at least try what worked on Erdewaz."
   "Charcoal," Amber said.
   "Right. Though I must say, Tupin charcoal is much less smudgy!" Onnu said with a grin.
   "Much!" the girls agreed.
   Steel and Pannu hadn't worked with charcoal on Erdewaz, but the girls had, in their various interests. Marla and Onnu had been artists, while Weaver and Amber had passing acquaintance with it in clothing production (mostly with pattern transfers from paper to paper, as paper to cloth was mostly done in chalk).
   Amber wasn't as skilled a seamstress as Weaver had been, so she set her sights on encouraging the bonework and bampa, and finding that shade of blue that Weaver wanted so badly. This would require guards for the craftskin who went in search of new dye materials, so she would have to work with Steel often. This did not displease her.
   Weaver and Amber had a little rivalry over Steel's affections, which he neither encouraged nor discouraged. Marla stayed out of it, observing the preening and silliness from the outside with Onnu and Pannu. She decided that her project would be documentation.
   "With kin transferring everywhere, I won't get everyone's bloodlines down, but I can at least keep track of dragon geneology. I seem to have the youngest body, so I'll have the most time to dedicate to it. As for the smaller kin..." She shrugged as best a dragon could. "I can but try. There will be records for my Hold, now that we've got that emdief."
   "We could send recordskeepers to you for training," Onnu suggested.
   Marla perked up. "That would give me something to do when there's nothing to record, yes!"
   That just left Pannu. Onnu immediately suggested he focus on his strength, what he'd done on Erdewaz, as the others had.
   "But this is my chance to try something new," he objected. "Besides, singing isn't a full-time thing on the Fortnight Worlds. Not yet."
   "Not even teaching singing? I seem to recall you loving that."
   "But it's not practical!" he retorted.
   Onnu gave him a Look, then reminded him that the crystals of the Holds responded to song. "Perhaps you could teach the kin how to get them to light up?"
   "They only respond to dragonsong, though!"
   Her head cocked to the side. "Do they? I didn't think that was the case. How else were they able to harvest crystal-cover without us?"
   His muzzle flapped a bit, but nothing came out for a moment or two. "Okay, but we've harvested it all," he finally said. "Why would we need training now?"
   "Could we bring DJs to Tupino? Have someone sing and touch a crystal, and make it do the strobe thing?" Marla asked.
   "I'm sure I don't know," Onnu said, glancing at Pannu out of the corner of her eye. "I think the potential for crystalsong should definitely be tapped. For example," she said over Pannu's objections, "If we end up with a deaf kin, it would be nice to have someone who could flash the crystals red when Pass is coming."
   "Half of us are deaf to the warning nowadays," Dragonfriend said. "The crafts are louder now, with the smiths banging away, and chefs slamming doors and pans. It would be mighty handy to have the crystals flash when the watch gryph sounds Charon's Pass."
   Pannu looked around, at all of the nodding, and sighed. "I suppose I was known for... interesting harmonics, so I guess I can tinker with the crystals and soundwaves."
   Onnu grinned widely. She quite forgot that she didn't have a specialty, which was just as well. She had the most specialized specialty on the Fortnight Worlds, but so easily forgot.