As I started to wake up and feel the warmth of the sun on my face. An odd feeling since I normally keep my windows in my bedroom closed. I started to feel, not my bed beneath me, but grass? I slowly opened my eyes and, rather than seeing the white ceiling of my apartment. I was greeted by an open blue sky. I was confused and got up halfway and looked around. Quickly finding out that instead of my bedroom. I was in a green open field. I tried to make sense of what was happening, and I discovered as I looked at my watch that I had nothing. No watch, no clothes, no nothing and I got up thinking I was in a dream. But this seemed too real, and I could move normally then in a dream. So, as one test, I covered my ears, and I could hear the ringing in my ears. The familiar tinnitus meant that this was somehow real, but nothing made sense.

"I do not understand, and where am I?" I said in a confused tone. Not fully believing what is happening, but if this is real, based on the tinnitus in my ears, since I never hear that in my dreams. Then how or why am I here, and who did this to me? I do not recall having enemies or knowing anyone who would do this to me. Who would kidnap me only to dump me in a field with nothing, not even my clothes? I tried to understand.

I scanned the area once more and came to a conclusion. If this is real and I am on my own then I need to find someone to help me get back home and find out who did this to me. I thought, still confused. I have three days to find help, since that is how long a human can last without water. Maybe I can find a river or something, but there has to be people around here. Unless my kidnappers choose a remote place for me to die in.

But, I choose to be hopeful and find someone somehow. I was scared, but I had no other plan, and staying here is not a solution. So after some time of where to go. I started walking, and the only thing I could think of as a saving grace was that the weather was nice. Not cold or hot. Maybe the only thing going for me in this unknown land, I thought.

After some time walking, to my joy, I found a river, a small one but a river nonetheless. I calmly walked to it and as the gazed at it from its edge. Just keepin near the water, I started to think. Maybe I will not die of dehydration after all, I thought hopefully. I did not smile, but the sentiment was there. The river water was clear, and it looked okay to drink. Which I was a bit thirsty, but I weighted the idea of whether I should drink the water or not. I looked at the water again and I made up my mind and hoped this was not a mistake and took some handfuls of water to drink. "Please do not come back to haunt me," I said as I finished drinking the water, and it tasted different from the water I was used to. I sighed, either it meant it was safe to drink or I just screwed myself.

But since I found a river, I decided to follow it since towns tend to be built on or near it. I took a moment to think with way to go along the river since this meant life or death. If there were people in this place, that is. But I chose to follow the river one way and walked for who knows how long before, after some time. I could see people, a small group, but people still. I, in my desire to get help. I ran to the group and tried to get their attention.

"Hey, hello, hey, I need some help," I shouted at them, and as I got closer to them. I slowed down until I was close to them. It was a small group of people, three, and they were all on horses but did not have saddles. But one had what looked like some kind of deer on one of the horses' backs. I could only see it from the back. It looked like their horses were drinking from the river. All have bows and arrows and they all stared at me, confused, and one of them seemed to be studying me carefully. They looked foreign and were not wearing clothing I would recognise. They may not even speak English, which means getting help from them would be hard. So I tried my hardest.

"I need help. I was kidnapped and dumped some distance from here with nothing, and I do not know where I am." I pleaded desperately to them. For a moment, there was a silence in the air before one of them spoke.

"Your tale, outsider, is an odd one." Wait, I thought, semi-relieved, I can understand that. He speaks English, but still, where am I?

"Ozen, what do you think of this one?"

"Ege wait, look at his eyes, they are two different colors. What does that mean?"

"Please," I spoke again. "I just need help to figure out where I am and try to get back home and find the ones who did this to me."

Again, there was silence before the one who spoke first talked. "What is your name, outsider?"

"William," I said quickly.

"That is an odd name, and my name is Ozen, and while I am... hesitant about you. I will bring you to our camp, where my people reside for now. They will decide if you stay with us or not."

"Thank you," I felt relieved.

"Do not thank me yet, William, for if my people choose not feel pity for you and allow you to stay with us." There was a seriousness in his voice. "Then you will have to live out here alone, and I do not know how long you will last in your state."

I shallowed hard at the words with an audible sound, and simply said this. "It is better than nothing, so thank you for now. I can ride on one of your horses?"

Ozen nodded, "you will ride with Umit, and our camp is not far from here." He pointed towards the man and his horse.

"Okay," I said, and after awkwardly trying to get on without a saddle for some time. Umit rolled his eyes and offered a hand, which I grabbed, and he pulled me on his horse. "Sorry, I only rode a horse once when I was growing up."

"It shows outsider," Umit noted. So the group started making their way to the camp, and while I was nervous about whether I would get help from these people. I just hope things will work out and I can find a way back home. But one step at a time, I told myself mentally, and if they do not want to help me then... I may be screwed.

Astrid awoke beside a small creek in the hills, naked and with no memories of how she got there. For a moment she simply sat there, looking around and trying to situate herself, but as much as she tried to remember how she could possibly have gotten here, all she remembered was going to bed after returning from her psychiatrist, her husband Bjorn once again having left a message that he'd be with his girlfriend tonight. It didn't make any sense...

But no matter, she had a meeting and was probably already late, maybe she had been kidnapped and when the criminals noticed who she was they left her in a field after stealing everything she had? She'd see soon enough. Seeing flowing water, she decided to follow it, figuring eventually this ought to lead her to civilization or at least the sea. But something was wrong... this wasn't Sweden. Actually, it was still familiar somehow... after walking for a while she replaced where she thought she had seen this kind of landscape, on a cruise in the Mediterranean!

After a while, Astrid stopped. Voices... yes, she was hearing people talk! In... Swedish? She understood them perfectly somehow! No matter, she walked up the hill and looked down under a tiny waterfall and saw a bunch of women in bizarre, rustic clothes. Her first thoughts were Sami natives, but this didn't fit with where they were.

"Excuse me, I need some help." She declared with a calm that mostly came from how tired she was after walking for hours bare footed. The women stopped what they were doing to look up with curiosity and then a mix of awe and fear. The difference between the two was massive! Astrid at 6ft tall with her long straight blonde hair and these girls who were much smaller, all with hair different shades of brown, they were looking at her like an alien.

-------------

The women generously gave something for Astrid to wear, though it barely fitted. When asked where she was, they simply answered Astrid that they were near the village. When asked to be more precise, they said it was Vilcas village, for Vilcas was their chief, as was his father Vilcas before. Astrid initially thought these people were LARPers who really stuck to character, but... when she said certain words like country, police, president, these people all looked at her with genuine misunderstanding.

Finally she was brought to the village where she quickly became the center of attention. To say the least she definitely stuck out, everyone around her had such a feeling of... inbreeding. Finally she was brought before Vilcas, a tall man -for his village- that arrived one head shorter than her.

"And who might you be lass?"

"I am Astrid. Astrid Palmkvist. Look, good sir, I'm sorry to bother you but I really need to contact the police. My father is a wealthy man, I'm sure he'll pay generously for any help you can provide."

This caused Vilcas to raise an eyebrow and the villagers around them to whisper. She clearly heard someone say she must've fallen on her head as she kept talking nonsense. The chief slowly approached her, reaching for one of her hands, which she pulled away reflectively as she stared down at the man. To be honest she was confused, she was afraid, but she had a gut feeling that now was not the time to show fear. The man held her gaze for a moment before smiling, seemingly amused.

"May I see your hand, my lady?"

He was polite, this seemed to prompt silence and renewed interest from the crowd. Astrid nodded and presented her dainty little hand with her long slender fingers.

"Well. Those certainly are not the hands of a commoner!" He said loudly as he rose her hand for the people around to see. Indeed she was free of callouses and blemish, those were the hands of someone who had never worked a day of hard labor in her life! Or for someone of this time and place, the hands of a noble.

"You seem to be lost and tired my lady, please, dine with us tonight, once you are rested we will see about returning you to your father."

----------

...Could it be she had been plucked from her existence and dropped on an alien world? Back in time perhaps? As around her people feasted around a fire (wherever she was, these people seemed to be quite rich in livestock) she looked at the night sky. No light pollution in the slightest, more than that, not once did she see the lights of a plane or of a satellite streaking across the sky.

"So, Lady Strid-" She could understand them and they understood her, but some words they seemed not to have the concept of, and likewise her name seemed foreign and unusual. "-why don't you tell us of your home?"

Astrid looked down on Vilcas and his assembled family and servants who looked at her with interest. Didn't they have phone to bury their nose in like normal people?

"I don't think you'd believe me if I told you." She said with a tired voice, not really being in the mood for any of this.

"Come on now! You certainly don't look like you come from these parts! Entertain us a little."

Astrid rolled her tongue in her mouth, calculating the situation. She was not in the mood but she understood this man was her host and, if this was not a nightmare that she'd wake up from tomorrow, someone who might have a lot of power over her destiny.

"If you insist, Chief Vilcas." Astrid deliberately took her time to sit comfortably and lean forward, so she might have time to think about what the hell she would even say! Talk about modern day Sweden? These people had no idea about half of the words she used to talk about modern life and what she described would seem like insane ramblings!

"...I come from a land called Gondor." She practically blurted out, shamelessly stealing Tolkien's intellectual property as she carefully looked at everyone around her for a reaction, a smirk or a face of some kind that would tell her they understood her cultural reference, but nothing.

If these people wanted to be entertained, then she'd entertain them! She had read everything Tolkien had written so she managed to recite the story of Gondor, Numenor, Sauron and the one ring pretty convincingly, answering questions as a matter of fact and keeping up the story better than she ever could a lie.

Ultimately, she and Vilcas's clan stayed up almost all night talking about Middle Earth and they would spent many nights hung to her lips as she used what knowledge of modern media she had to tell stories and keep the chief entertained. Eventually this became somewhat of a routine as Vilcas brought Astrid out to recount her stories to guests and travelers. Every day that passed forced Astrid to accept her faith and to be thankful of the role she had managed to get herself as she watched everyone else in the village toil with back breaking labor.

But was this it? No, if she had to stay here, she couldn't simply remain a curiosity to entertain others.

Ollie Peirce woke up on the coast, shoreline as far as the eye could see in either direction. For a moment he wondered how he got there, wondering if a tsunami could've washed him here. However he quickly dismissed that idea, as a tsunami most likely wouldn't've taken off his clothes. Additionally, the fact that only driftwood was on this coast, Disproved that, for if something like that brought him here, then there would be other detritus on the beach, and there wasn't. However, he didn't see any boats, or hear any sign of civilization.

Finally he concluded that one of 2 things must have happened. Either someone kidnapped him and dumped him here, or magic most likely is real, and that is what caused this. 'But the question remains' he muttered to himself 'where am I?' He saw a stream/river flowing out into the sea, and after a quick taste it turned out to be freshwater, and he decided to follow it. He had not gone very far however, when someone called out to him, in a language he had never heard before? And yet he understood them clearly, saying

"Hello, Over there!"

"Hello, Sir, Where am I? And who are you?" said, Olliver deciding that he didn't have anything to loose.

The man walked closer, though still a bit off "How do you know not where you are? And I am Falindos.".

Olliver notices the man getting closer, and hops into the water above his waist. And He quickly decides that telling a lie, is probably best for now. "I was a passenger on a boat, the last thing I remember is the captain ordering all passengers below. I believe that the storm, which shipwrecked the boat carried me here"

"Now that is a sad tale." The man said as he got closer looking down upon Olliver and, noticing that he is in the river "Why are you in the river, man? Can you not greet me on land, are you some creature of the deep?"

"No,no,no!" Olliver said anxiously, not wanting the stranger ('Falindos' he corrected himself mentally) to get the wrong idea. "I woke up on the coast, not very long ago, in nothing except the skin with which I was born."

"Ah, Take my cloak then, and robe yourself" He turns around after handing Olliver the cloak

Before, Falindos was either a distance away, or Olliver was in the water, so an accurate estimation of Falindos' hight was impossible, now, however, Olliver could see that Falindos stood head and shoulders above him, literally. 'He is probably about 5 foot 8 or 9' Olliver thought. His cloak, which reached around the knees for him, draped down to Olliver's feet, and brushed the floor

"You can turn around now Falindos." Olliver said after stepping out of the water and wrapping the cloak around him. "My name is Olliver Ainsley. "

Falindos turns around and looks straight ahead for a second, before looking down at Olliver, as he thought that the reason Olliver looked short was the distance, or that he was in the water. No full grown man could be this short, and yet here was one. "You speak like a man, have the face of a man, but the height of a child, how can this be?"

"It is simply who, and how I am Falindos." Olliver replied calmly, getting many such reactions before. "But please inform me of where I am."

"Ah, yes," Falindos replied, taken a bit aback, but collecting himself "You are on the Isle of Crete,a few hours journey from the capital, Knossos. I was out here to hunt, I already have caught some fish, so we will head back"

He slings the net that was held by his right hand over his shoulder, and starts to walk along the coast. Olliver follows, wondering what Knostos looks like, and he is surprised that it isn't along the freshwater river he saw, until they reach a path, do a U turn, and start cutting diagonally inland. Falindos decides to break the silence

"Olliver, what is your profession?" Falindos inquired, then continued feeling the need to explain. "For it is clear by your hands, that you are not of the nobility. I wish to know so that you may find temporary employment here, pending your return home"

"I am a blacksmith, I work and mold metal, into daggers and such." Seeing no sign of an advanced civilization, and if he really is on Crete, he is pretty sure that Knossos was the ancient capital, as it was controlled by Greece in the modern day. He decides to not mention anything about firearms.

Jamie looked around, noticing that he had nothing. NOTHING! Not even clothes! Well that isn't a pleasant awakening, to be sure! At least he had a good rest the night before. The man hid, naked from a few individuals he saw coming his way. All three men had long black hair, and were Natives. Not just Native, but OLD Natives. They weren't in modern clothing, and Jamie didn't think he was on any reservation or anything. At least, he didn't think he was. He was still reeling with confusion as the men were suddenly alerted by Jamie's inadvertent rustling in the bushes.

Each of the three hunters pointed their bow at him behind the bush, he could mysteriously tell what they were demanding him to do. Angrily, the three men's bows were nearly going to fire, before the man, embarrassed, covered himself as best as he could with branches and emerged. All three of them looked at each other, and laughed.

Jamie sighed. This was going to be a long day.

It all began....in darkness. As if her body was suspended within a vast void of nothingness, deprived of sense and any way of telling up or down or what direction was where. Like being a leap upon the wind, in some vague sense of the word, but she couldn't quite put any proper words to it nor find a description for it all. Yet as long as she seemed to dwell inside such a feeling, her stream of conciousness not fully awake but more so closer to sleep, other sensations came along with it all. The taste of salty water spray, the creeping feelings of cold across the surface of her skin, the feeling of something like wet sand upon her back, and the feeling of damp hair as if she'd gone to bed after a shower without bothering to dry it much less brush it.

Yet for some reason, she didn't awake at first. Her body, her mind, were coming to slowly...but at least they were doing so surely from the feeling of it. It was almost dreamlike initially, and yet even then it began to become more and more palpable the more she began to question what was going on. It had been only a couple bottles of beer, and wasn't the lightest of weights either. Nor was she a heavy drinker. Had Mei tossed something in there as a prank, to drug her or something? Hmm. No, that wouldn't likely be the case. Slip szechuan peppers into her food to get a kick out of it, sure, but she'd always make sure to help her clean up afterwards. Not drug her and rob her and toss her into the ocean or something like that.

Ugh. Her head hurt just trying to think about things with what little yet growing awareness she had about her. All the same, the sounds of voices and the feeling of warm but weathered hands pulling her by her shoulders was certainly new. Kidnappers, perhaps? It would have made a chill run down her spine if she'd been awake enough, just at the thought of that much alone. Yet another set of hands would grab her feet, even if awkwardly, pulling them up after feeling herself being drug along the sand somewhat. Like she was being pulled away from the-...sound of crashing waves and the taste of salty water? Now that was at least something.

Yet her mind would begin to fade oonce more to some extent as they moved along, time itself remaining somewhat of a blur alongside sensations of moving up and down and ever forward, until things like the sound of whistling wind through the trees and ultimately more voices and the feeling of something warm nearby and then another something warm being wrapped around her body became much more recognizeable. Her body clutched at the covering, trying to avoid shivering as best as she could, curling up tighter akin to a freezing child left out in the cold.

...By the time she truly began to awake, then, her green eyes cracking slowly open as a sluggishness began to run out of her body bit by bit. What had come before remained as vestiges of fuzzy memory, though continued to be palpable in her mind as she tried to memorize the things she'd been feeling like before. As if trying to embed a vivid dream in one's memory before they let themselves fully awake from their dreaming slumber.

And what remained before her eyes was something that seemed straight out of some kind of ancient history book.

In the direction of her feet sat an open doorway, sunlight streaming in as if it was morning, yet it seemed covered from above despite the natural lack of a door in any case. Said light was the thing her eyes were first drawn to as they squinted at it all, before her head natuarlly turned to her right to look at the next most visible light- a proper, kindled fire that sent a trail of smoke up and out of an upper opening near the top of the roof on the inside. Like it had been opened up for air flow or something, but not directly allowing rain inside or something of the sort. Yet the walls, the roof, it was all made of...straw? Thatch? And beams made of bound logs of wood stretched out, embedded in the ground and supporting the whole thing in a rather complex but primitive-looking fashion.

Heck, as she looked down she found her head resting on part of the apparently large fur pelt blanket lying over her that had been keeping her warm, and the floor itself was simply dirt to boot. Just what or where in the world was-

"Mom! Mom! The weird lady's waking up!"

A young voice cut through the air, vaguely female from the sounds of it, and as the waking eyes of Eliza looked sharply to the side she saw the blurry form of something small run up to the front door while shouting the same message over another one or two times. As her eyes began to better adjust, however, it became clear that this smaller figure was a child. A younger child at that, with dark hair styled into two small tails held by red-colored ties behind her head near the bottom of it that lay down on her upper back. Her legs were covered in a tan-colored form of knee-length skirt, perhaps wrought of animal skins, while her torso was covered in a similarly-colored and designed shirt. It was as much as she could make out, at any rate, before a few more figures ran over into the entrance of the somewhat pit-dug (upon further inspection of the floor at least) home's entranceway.

"Oi, Kimyo, we heard you the first time!"

A younger, but not as young, male voice cut through the air like an accusatory knife toward the former, who seemed to not take it lying down in any case.

"Shut up! Mom said to say when the weird-looking lady woke up!"

Ah. Siblings?

"Narasu. Kimyo."

The two younger voices went silent with a suddeness as an older, feminine voice cut through the air with a more than stern tone to it. Even she could tell the tension in the air had suddenly stopped between the two prior voices, and a familiarity crept in that she knew instinctively. Yes. When some moms got pissed, or raised their voice, you stopped unless you wanted more than enough trouble to follow therafter. Or, well, at least that was her impression of it all on an instinctual level.

The source of the older feminine voice stepped inside, a taller shadow than either of the children at first until she got closer to Eliza and knelt next to her. Her face was...well...rather foreign looking, with her hair long and a dyed cloth headband tied about on the top of her head. Her clothing was similar enough to that of the younger child, with a knee-length skirt and short-sleeved top of similar tan coloration, eyebrows a little harier than she'd normally expect of another modern woman to keep, and yet her light brown eyes seemed to look Eliza over with a level of focus only to be had by a doting caregiver.

"Hmm. She's a bit slow to wake, but after where your father and his brother found her it isn't much a surprise. Tch.

Kimyo, get your sister from next door and tell her to bring some water from the river. Narasu, go tell your father she's awoken. I'll stay here in the meantime to tend to our guest."

Two children would nod before running off, though small hints of noise would insinuate that there was one last brief exchange of words between them while they were mostly out of their mother's earshot. Er...mostly. Just mostly. Enough to elicit an eyeroll from the woman before Eliza, at any rate, as the American attempted to sit up with some difficulty and the woman would let a 'tch' escape from her lips as she moved to assist her. From here, the woman ensursed she could at least sit up on her own, well enough if nothing else, before wrapping the hide fur blanket tighter around her.

"Don't mind the children, though my husband will soon be here I hope. He wished to learn when you finally awoke, at least after carrying you here from the shore this morning as he left to go fishing."

Fishing? The shore? A hand on her own back revealed some sand still stuck to it, of all things, alongside the new dirt. Mild surprise flicked over Eliza's face, ultimately, before the woman before her let out a sigh. But...wait, this had to be something strange happening. Like some strange primitive-living types just took her or something? But a beach? It made sense with what she remembered, with how knotty her hair seemed to be as she used the same right hand to feel it somewhat, and it fit with some of the sensations she'd felt and could still recall just enough from before.

Even this woman, she seemed to be some kind of asian person while also seeming a bit...different too? It was odd. But at least they were all living people that were speaking English.

"Do you not know how you ended up here?"

"I...I do not know."

As the words left the woman's lips, and then her own in turn, Eliza focused on how their lips moved and how the words felt Yet none of it seemed to match regular English, even though she understood it all just the same and as plainly as if it were regular American English. Albeit English without an accent? Kind of. Somewhat? It was an alien sensation, such that she tried to somewhat put it out of her mind. None of this made any sense, none of it! Had she been kidnapped, had she-....she could barely sit up with how groggy her body felt. Had she been set afloat in the ocean or something?

"Tch. You must have come from far away to look as you do, set adrift in the sea and arriving near our village."

"V-Village?"

"Mmhmm. It is said our forebears moved from place to place, and yet our people live more and more together in places such as this. No longer need we follow the trails of game, but reap our bounty from the sea, tend to the groves of trees near to us, and some still seek the game that lives in our woods."

The foreign-looking woman lightly shook her head side to side, before pulling the blanket righter around her and taking her right hand in both of her own to examine for a minute.

"Hmm. Hands that have seen much work, much labor, much like my husband's own. Yet not so much work as to bear the scars of too much, from what I gathered of your after they brought you into our home. No stranger to effort. Good."

The woman looked up at Eliza again, her face maintaining a sort of practical stoicism as she looked back into her eyes.

"Tch. And you bear eyes that remind me of the stone my husband's brother brought from the nearby mountains once. Brighter though. Beautiful, in a way."

The woman was trying to get a read on her, like the intruder in someone else's home she apparently seemed to be despite the care being given to her. Eyes carefully scanning over her for potential threats, and looking over her before (apparently) to try to get an idea of her life without knowing anything about her. On one hand, Eliza almost felt offended that someone would suspect her of anything like such! She wasn't some thief, she wasn't...she wasn't anywhere or with anyone she knew, and if she panicked too much it would be more than a small amount of trouble. That was for certain. So she had to follow the steps of things.

First...try to get an idea of things. Of these people. Of what in the world was going on, as she had no clothes, no cellphone, no anything. Yes. That would be a good start.

"Do you happen to have a name, stranger? Something you go by?"

"...Eliza. My name is Eliza."

"Eriza? Not a name known around here. Very foreign sounding. Strange," the foreign woman commented without skipping a beat, before letting Eliza's right hand go and putting a hand to her own chest now before she continued speaking, "I am Kunne."

Kunne. Kimyo. Narasu. All weer names that sounded somewhat...Japanese to her? Ugh. It made her head spin. But even so, she seemed to be waiting for Kunne's husband to return before anything else. Not like she could get up and run if she wanted to right now anyways. Had to get a lay of the land, of the situation, before doing anything else. Though, well, at least they knew each others' names now to kick things off.

It was a start, as small a start as it was, to finding out what in the world had happened to her.

During the journey to Knossos, Flalondos remained relatively silent, althogh he did ask a few more questions to Olliver. Such as
'Where do you come from?', 'What is it like there?' and 'Do you have any hobbies'.

For the first 2 questions Olliver answered evasively with answers 'Far away' and 'not very interesting, what is Knossos like?'.
Through this line of questioning he found out that Knossos was a bustling place of commerce, and religous activity, aswell as the seat of the government.

However for the last question Falandos asked he actually had an answer, and due to his feeling like he could honestly answer a question, Olliver slipped up

"I build miniature ships, they are kind of fun to build, especially in bottles"

Falindos pounced on the new word, and too late did Olliver realize that he had let something slip, he tried to change the topic but Falindos wouldn't let him.

"What is a bottle? Is it a vessel of some sort?"

"It is a vessel for carrying fluid, it is transparent, and hard, but brittle, and can shatter"

"What is it made of? Clay? Stone?"
Olliver knew enough about Falindos by now that he knew that attempting to avoid giving an answer wouldn't work

"Glass, which is made from melting sand. And no, i don't know how exactly it works, or how to do it myself, so please don't ask."

Falindos deflated slightly and was silent for the rest of the long walk to Knossos.

The walk was beautiful however as it was through a forest, with many different foliage, and some animals and birds moving around

Astrid hated this place. It had begun as merely uncomfortable but somewhat exciting and novel, but now that this was wearing off, all that remained was the daily inconvenience of living in such a primitive place. Everything to drink that wasn't water was lumpy and disgusting, that 'time of the month' was horrible to deal with and the lack of hair care product? Oh that might be the worst of it all! She loved her long blonde hair, not only that but it was also a status symbol! Everyone had commented about how beautiful and otherworldly it made her seem, 'hair like the sun' and so forth. At the moment Astrid realized that mysticism was what kept her alive as Chief Vilkas hosted her as entertainment.

On the problem of disgusting drinks she had a good idea of something she might be able to do to solve that problem, but she'd need more money than the few coins she had been given as 'tip' for her entertainment. Those coins however should be enough to maybe do something about her hair problem. Astrid had asked the local girls what they did for their hair as a desire for self care seemed universal for women no matter where or when and some different answers came up: Animal fat, oil, vinegar, some swore by certain recipe while others said these only made their hair worst...

But behind Astrid's eyes, the cogs were turning as she finally found a project that actually interested her! It was all chemistry after all. Lye soap. Sodium hydroxide for bars, potassium hydroxide for liquids, with fats or oils through a process called saponification. The problem? Lye soap was very caustic, so if you didn't wash it off completely it would indeed ruin your hair, thus the conflicting tales of its effect. Yes, this home-made soap for washing (with some rosemary to make it smell nice), cleaning with water and vinegar and finally some oil as conditioner, that seemed like a sensible hair treatment! Not the simple out of the bottle soap and conditioner but at least a solution.

"Oil? We don't make any here, but you're in luck! A greek merchant is passing through on his ship on his way west! I heard he doesn't speak the language though..." Lote, one of Chief Vilkas's young daughter, told her. As if she'd let this stop her, one could barter with body language alone! And so, she went to the merchant.

"Oil, do you have some to sell?"

"Ah! Someone who speaks a civilized language, of course my dear lady!"

Astrid raised an eyebrow, surprised to understand and be understood by the man completely. Meanwhile Lote and some villagers who were desperately trying to communicate with the merchant looked at her with eyes wide in surprise and amazement. She... didn't even notice anything! She just spoke to this man in plain Swedish, as she did all other people she had encountered so far, and apparently she was speaking Greek?

The immortal didn't understand, but she would make sure to use this odd opportunity! After all, everyone had so much trouble communicating with this man, why not offer her services while he was in town? For a price of course.

By arbitrating between merchant and clients, Astrid made a bit of money, by going to Vilkas and convincing him to loan her some money, she bought some goods herself to store and sell later, making more money, more than enough to experiment a little.

________________



Finally, Astrid's golden blonde hair were as beautiful as ever! And so were those of most of the other women in town as they nagged their husbands for some coin or other things to barter for her new line of hair care products, the first one in history! She sold the basic formula relatively cheaply and even sometimes gifted it to girls who had special events, much to the appreciation of the villagers of course, but behind that was a marketing ploy.

First, her money mainly came (for now) from a girl she had trained to use the right amount of soap and oil with the right technique and who personally did the hair of the richer wives and daughters of the village for a tidy sum. Second, the women of this village with their beautiful hair were walking advertisements for her products and soon merchants who came around left with bars of her soap to sell around the island and other places in the Mediterranean! And these sales, ohhhh, she made a lot of profit alright! She couldn't mass produce this stuff anyways, so she sold it as a luxury product, hiring craftsmen to put them in nice looking little boxes and putting a a ribbon and a bow on top, they couldn't get enough of it!

And with this money and radiant hair, Astrid could move on to solve the next problem, getting something palatable to drink.

"It wasn't easy, but I finally think I built it to your specifications ma'am. What... what is 'it' exactly?



"It is called an Alembic, and with this I will make the drinks of the gods." Among so many other things. She had pondered the Alembic because everyone around here drank fermented drinks all the time, saying that water was dangerous (which made sense, fermentation killed bacteria), but thinking about it, this synergized very well with her first beauty business, with this she'd be able to make spirits, but also perfumes!

"Marlon, I have paid you generously to do this for me, have I not?"

"That you did ma'am."

"And I will continue to pay you generously to make more for me and above all, to never, ever make more for anyone else. Understood?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Good. Marlon, you are a strong man, I have personally witness you drink a lot of ale. What is your record in one sitting?"

"Hehehe, a whole keg ma'am!"

"Impressive, I suppose. But we shall see how long you last against the drink that is called 'Vodka'."

Or maybe something closer to pure ethanol really, getting the right adjustments was not easy and ultimately she had to water down most of her batches (some she kept as medical rubbing alcohol), but she succeeded in making a product that was easy on the tongue and could make a man black out drunk. Easy on the tongue for the villagers maybe, but disgusting for a woman that didn't have a bottle of whiskey worth under 500$ in her liquor cabinet, but from now it was just a matter of adjusting the temperature, the time, aging the alcohol is casks and experiment. Experiment, experiment, experiment, with alcohol and with all the smells and odors she could also distill into perfume with the wondrous object that was the alembic!

TL;DR
- Astrid discovers she has a universal ability to understand and speak languages.
- She takes folk recipes of soap and uses her chemical knowledge to work out what works, what doesn't and optimize it all.
- She begins selling it as a luxury product.
- With the money she pays a smith to build a basic copper alembic to make alcohol and perfume. For the moment its ethanol/vodka, but she's experimenting.

These people had no name for themselves, and yet they had begun to live closer to each other and more and more so over the generations all the same as family had run into family and eventually a suitable location for a home had been decided upon. A place with fair game, the fishing of the sea, and the proper source of water from a clear and beautiful river nearby. A place that sat at the foot of mountains, from which came cold winds in the winter and to where one could go to hunt more game and find good stone for tools. Because...well, these people used stone tools alone. They also foraged for berries in the right seasons, had cleared away other trees from where those that grew ripe chestnuts were located to somewhat cultivate the chestnut trees themselves, and sought each thing in its due course as they simply lived their lives.

To the modern mind, the lack of convenience and so forth was astonishing and their level of technology far more so. Yet they were just like modern people in so many ways, from the laughing of playing children to the work of parents to repair and build up homes for their families and so much more. Some would look to places like this, days like these, and call them the 'pinnacle of humanity' that all should return to. Yet in either case, such people forgot the harshness that such a life brought as well. Disease. Lack of medicines. A lack of tools to improve the workload on those who labored with their backs and minds to mete out a life and survival.

So, really, they were all products of their place and time. Modern. Ancient. Didn't matter where, or who, or how, life was life and people were people one way or another. And....in a sense this fact was rather comforting. In another sense, it was distressing to be so far from her own friends and family. From the laugh and relaxed humor of her best friend, to the warm smile of her mother, to even the stupid grin on her father's face when he'd tried to set a better example for her as a kid when he'd failed at something....heh. To think she'd miss something as simple, and long enough ago, as that.

But the skies bore nothing that looked like airplanes flying or such like. No debris washed up on shores. It had taken over a week, but to her mind she was in a rather primitive place, one far from the likes off anything she knew. Terms, words, ideas from her day seemed to be totally alien despite attempting to ask some of the locals. Just to try to get a hint of...anything, anything familiar or that might indicate she wasn't living in some equivalent to an isekai anime (ha). She seemed to be, for all intents and purposes, in a world far flung from her own in more than just technology and culture....but time as well, as ridiculous as it sounded to her.

Still, her hosts had been gracious enough to 'keep her around' at least thus far.

"Hmm? Eriza, what are you doing here?"

The vividly red-haired woman, her hair styled into a rough bun on the back of her head and held in place with a bone-wrought comb now, stood near where Kunne's husband sat with a stone tool in hand, sat hewing a piece of longer wood in his hands. Eliza, in turn, stood in her new set of similar animal-hide-wrought clothing as the rest of Kunne's family seemed to be dressed in. The same type of skirted clothing and two pieces of garments that had seemingly become common in this place. It was, well, it was more a lending of clothes she had recived rather than a new set. Closest 'size' they had to fit her, and it had come from another local family who had been kind enough to exchange them for some supplies until Kunne could prepare replacement clothes to send back to the other family. Such was closeness of the locals, apparently, in this case and particular place.

And yet so far she'd been helping Kunne with household chores as part of things. She'd been trying to pick up from them simple things like....rough sewing with bone needles to help make clothes, and helping prepare food in the local fashion, and so forth. She'd also been telling stories, ones she'd begun to curate to tell of her 'homeland' to entertain her hosts by the fire each night before sleeping. She'd even begun to adopt the habit of rising up at sunrise, finally, without having to be prodded or awoken by a non-existent alarm clock...at least begun to sucessfully do such of course.

"I wish to learn how to carve wood, as you and some of the other men seem to be capable of. And how to prepare tools of stone."

Iramande, that being the name of Kunne's husband as she'd learned during her first night, raised an eyebrow in return. A peculiar thing for a woman to ask in this place indeed, though she had worked in how 'women worked alongside the men in many things' back in her homeland at least. Though in truth, the division of labor here seemed to be enough of a handful for women and men alike as it was. She was an extra, and a foreigner, so...perhaps something could be arranged. Maybe.

"Such things are not beffitting tasks, and yet....hmm."

"I wish to better help you and your family, to repay the kindness given me however I can. But I seem to be a burden to Kunne and the others as it is with their usual tasks. In that sense..."

Narasu had been somewhat resistant to learn the craft of woodwork, from the appearances of things, in comparison to learning how to hunt at first. In that sense, he and his father had been somewhat at odds, and in that sense he'd gone off with Kunne's older brother (from the same village) today to begin learning that. This despite his father's status as a woodworker and fisher, well, at least as far as trying to slot him into a given role went on Eliza's part inside her own mind.

"It would be useful to have more hands, yes, though Kunne...haha! Perhaps Narasu will see, if a woman can do this work, then he can learn it from his own father as well! And as you are a foreigner, well, this perhaps could work out well after all."

The man's hair sat back in a smaller bun than hers, but as a smile appeared on his hairy and bearded face he let out a large guwaff of a laugh. His eyes would likewise dart to her hands for a moment as well. The man then gentured for her to sit next to him, his usual stoic focus on the task at hand replaced with something of a good sense of joviality for the most part. Giving a grateful nod and brief smile, then, Eliza would walk over and carefully sit upon the log next to Iramande as he placed the wood in his hands on her lap and helped her get a grasp of of the sharp stone carving tool in his hand. His expression, in kind, would turn back into more of his seemingly usual 'working look' in kind, eyes focusing on her hands, the tool, and the wood itself.

"You must be careful which direction to move the tool, but at the right angle. Like so. Shave it back, bit by bit, that's how it should go.

You likewise do not want to break the tool, especially by applying too much pressure. So try to take a few shavings off of the wood."

Attempting to feel how he'd moved his hands and placed pressure on the tool, Eliza in turn would try to mimic those motions with her own two hands on the stone tool. Find the right angle...dangit, a slip! No matter, though at least she'd missed hitting herself, she'd just try again. Get a better angle this time, angle the stone blade like so, apply better pressure now...and...aha! It worked! She could see a glimmer of amusement on her teacher's face for a moment, though he would wait as she continued to try to get a few more shavings off. So, it seemed, she just needed to try that same approach again! She had to get a feel for the tool in her hands, yes, that was the key to things like this. Like with any other, well, use of tools that is. In her mind.

"Yes, like so, but no too much in one place unless you want to whittle it too far down for use. This is being used to help move a canoe for fishing, so the end will be wider than the shaft will be. With this sort of skill, you must be able to envision what the end product will be each each bit."

"Hmm...that makes sense."

An oar? That made sense with how the shape looked so far, but ok! She had to let him show her, however, no use in just trying to jump ahead.

And so things would go this way for what felt like a few hours, at least to her, the sun hanging in the sky as she was introduced to the idea of woodcarving and how to handle it. Albeit even after their woodcarving session, as he noted the progress of the sun across the lit and clear blue sky of the day, the bearded man would calmlly end things and would again try to encourage her to 'put in the effort for helping Kunne and the other women' as well. At the same time...he seemed happy to at least show somehow how to work with wood, even if a little bit, before he had sent her back to explain to Kunne where she was and to keep trying to assist her.

Or in Iramande's own words-

'She'll let you know she's irritated, but don't let that fool you. She's glad to have more hands to help than just our older daughter whike Kimyo is still rather young.'

Well, he knew her best. Even so, it was clear that he at least would let her come back the next day to learn more based on his attitude about things. Hopefully. Because as much as she had made it clear she wanted to help Iramande and his family...

...she also had goals of her own, both in that vein and personally. And it had taken her over two weeks to become more grounded in this rather new world, enough so at least to realize that her first personal goal in it all was far from feasible without much practice and some new skills to add to her existing ones. And not just skills she wanted to learn, but practical ones to help with local women to boot. More than skills, she'd need to locate some things as well that no one here seemed to know how to look for or after to boot! Likely up in the mountains as well for that matter. Hmm.

But what was her first goal, the first one she had in all of this? It was simple enough, she supposed, but she felt herself growing more thankful for the greater simplicity of access she had to it back in the modern US-of-A at the very least.

She wanted to make an area for blacksmithing, mainly for herself, and beyond that to try to give the locals new tools to help them out.

Sure, the concept of metal tools wasn't here, and indeed if she wanted to have enough hubris as it was she'd think herself higher than the people here for that. But...they weren't stupid. They weren't fools, or idiots, or unthinkintg savages. Not from anything she'd seen and experienced with them so far. Traditions changed slowly, things that worked stuck around for myriad reasons practical and otherwise, and what she wanted to do in the first place was radical enough a concept as it was in this place in the world (wherever it was). So rather than simply balk with a 'wow why didn't they just think to do that instead or something', or giving the hollywood glazing of the idea of the 'noble savage' and abandoning the idea of metalworking even for herself, she'd work with where she was and who she was around.

Whether it was learning a new skill, or learning to work with others, or learning about a new home, or the like, it all went 'one step and one thing at a time', right? So it was here in her mind. One thing, one day, one skill at a time.

---

One hundred days since she'd arrived in wherever and whenver this place was located. One hundred long, laborious days of learning a new slew of things and about this new place, all between her work alongside Kunne and the other women as well as learning from Iramande as he struggled to get his son on-board with his craft one way or the other. One hundred days away from everything she'd ever known before, as well as having to cool her heels and her initial new ambitions with their own tempering, and yet applying herself with increasing vigor and gusto to the things at hand. Pottery. Cooking. Woodcarving. The creation of stone tools. Practicing in her own spare time, with whatever she could get of it.

And, as of the prior day, maybe pushing the young Narasu to pay more attention to his father by gutting a deer the family was provvided by a neighbor during a trade alone in eyesight of the boy, much to his father's surprised amusement and his mother's mild shock. Heh. No one had seen that coming, not from the foreign woman at least, so it had been something she did take a bit of pride in saying her own father had taught her to do on top of that! Though all the same, while it had helped in part to convince the boy to begin learning woodwork from his father...

"Ah...hah....whew..."

She'd been trying to find some good trees, ones to use for her work on making a smithy plus home for herself. She'd managed to get word of older chestnut trees the locals had been about to cut, near the edges of a natural grove of them nearby to the village, and had been granted one or two if she could manage to haul them off by herself. All that had taken, however, was patient work, a piece of carved wood, and some cord on one end of each of the two logs to get them ready to move. Then had come a few days to get them moved, though Iramande and Narasu had also admittedly helped her on the final leg of the journey to a spot just a little ebyond the edge of the village where she'd wanted to move them (at Kunne's insistence to boot, though the latter had told her to not mention anything). Just to, well, give herself some space it seemed.

Part of the day she learned from Iramande, sometimes at his family home with Kunne keeping close tabs on them on the side even, and sometime around Iramande's brother and another man of the village who also carved some wood or felled trees for the village alongside him. Part of the day she assisted Kunne and the other local women who got together to cook, make pottery out of gathered clay, and look after the children. Part of the day, then, she would go to where her logs were, sat atop a bed of branches to keep them off of the ground at her own design, to repair or make her own tools, perform physical exersizes to try to stay fit, dig out a proper foundational area of some kind and roughly level-ish sort with the guidance of Iramande and another man of the village (who knew how to make their own houses), and keep working on the two rather large logs to prepare them for her use. A lot that didn't always all happen each day with exactness in the same exact order, but it was a predictable enough schedule at the very least as far as she was concerned.

This day, well, was one of the days she'd been setting out to carve away at one of the felled trees she had. But...what to do with it? She had decided that they would make for solid pillars, tall ones, and that she didn't want to dig out the floor of her future smithy plus home as deep as the locals did. She'd need two more trees, maybe three now that she was measuring it out more in her own rough capacity, but it would take a lot more work to finish for sure.

Though all of her work had garnered some curiosity from others in the village at least~

"...I know you're there, Narasu."

The younger boy had been spying upon her for a short while from behind a tree, perhaps after coming back from learning how to hunt with his maternal uncle, but she'd been noticing him doing this for a few weeks now. Not that he hadn't tried to stay silent and hidden for what it was worth, even as she labored with tools and the like at her little personal worksite. The boy had been spending more time with his father than she'd seen at first glance after her arrival, though, somewhat more of the time when she was around learning from his father as well. A touch suspicious, perhaps, but nothing she'd assumed was but the curiosity of a growing boy about an oddity like herself in a place like this perhaps. Haha.

The boy froze still at her voice, however, though she would simply look in his direction, seeing a head pop rapidly behind a tree and letting a low chuckle come from her lips. Kid was noisy with his sisters, the only living son his father and mother still had admittedly, but he wasn't a bad kid either in ways. He seemed to put effort into what got his interest, at least, but this all did give her some room for teasing if she ever felt so inclined. Er, though she didn't want to mislead him by accident either, nor earn Kunne's wrath by even putting on the appearance of such a thing. She got terrifying when she was mad, such that even Iramande and others paid full attention to her like soldiers almost at attention!

"Fine, hide if you wish. But I guess I'll tell your mother you were slacking off-"

Speaking of his mother, the boy would leap out from his hiding place almost instantaneously at the mention of Kunne learning what he'd been doing.

"No! No, ah, my mother doesn't need to know. I'm right here."

What was he, just short of his teen years perhaps? He was growing taller, that much was for sure, and he stood taller than his sisters already. Hmm. Just short of a growth spurt maybe? Eh, she'd have to ask Kunne if the chance came up when they were in private for a moment. She didn't want to embarass the boy, but...well, Kunne was a touch of a gossip sometimes around the other women and herself at times. That was just a liiiiittle something to keep in mind for the future.

"Indeed you are."

"What are you trying to make anyways? You don't have a husband, and if that's gonna' be a house you really don't look like you know what you're doing. Dad and some of the other men don't seem to fully know, but they wonder if its just some foreign house or something."

The boy crossed his arms, trying to reflect back something of an attitude and fire back against being forced from his hiding place. Yet his words were enough to get Eliza to raise an eyebrow at the very least. Was...he curious too? Sure he spoke of the other men, but they weren't here and he had begun to spy on her more often than any of them came over to try to give her guidance and direction in handling tool making and wood carving. She wasn't a master at any of it, far from it yet, but practice was important to cultivating what she knew if nothing else.

"Hmm. I'll make you a exchange. I'll tell you what it is and explain it....if you help me build it, and if you go learn more about woodworking with your father."

She winked back, a light blush appearing in the boy's face for a moment as he stood silent. After a few minutes of said silence, then, he would cough before darting off back toward home. In turn, Eliza felt a small pang of worry inside. Er...had she pushed him too far? Perhaps the teasing should have waited. Ooooooh dear, if Kunne got word of this she was DEAD, wasn't she?

...Wasn't she?



Today, no special day in particular it had seemed, her usual guest watcher would approach her more openly this time around of all things. Narasu. The growing boy who was being trained as a hunter, apparently had a more natural knack for it from what Iramande had talked about with his brother in law, and yet even his father had commented to her that he'd been trying to be around him more some days when he wasn't hunting. Just in the past two weeks alone! But she hadn't joked with him about things either, and he'd seemingly been avoiding her before now, so she'd been worried he'd been unnerved a bit too much in the end. Even still-

"You said you'd tell me if I learned more and help, right?"

...Eh?

"I-I did. Yes."

Looking on the youth's left hip, a wooden axe sat by his side now that was attached to him with a belt-like cord. Eliza's eyes then went back up to Narasu's face, one that was staring right back at her determinidely rather than as nervously as it once had. Not that he hadn't crossed his arms and wasn't trying to look big for the occasion as well, which itself was almost funny even with his efforts to sound and act serious at the time. In that sense, she was trying to at least give him the respect of listening to him without a laugh or such...though her own surprise did help his case this fine later afternoon.

"So?"

He was serious about this? Did his parents know, and sure the village had seemingly become more accustomed to her somehwat in the short term, but-...but...hmm. Actually, yeah. Yeah, the kid had his own curiosity. Worst case, she'd sound like an idiot and mad foreign woman to the village.

"Ok. I'll keep my word. You can help me, and I'll tell you what I am trying to make."

The boy nodded, before walking over and looking to her and the log she was nearly bent over to work on before looking back to her once more.

"So, what're we carving, and what're you building?"

...What direction was this going? She had no clue. But it would be a while to explain what she could to the boy. Long enough for them to get some work for at least a few days if nothing else! That much help at least would shorten down the time for doing things, if nothing else.

"A long story, but first I am carving these logs into the first of a few tall vertilar pillars for this building I'm making. I'll explain along the way as we work."

---

[Summary - Eliza is getting adjusted to the village, began learning woodworking and tool making skills from Kunne's husband Iramande, and while being a foreigner is trying to contribute to the village where she can to better integrate with them. She does this while also beginning to pursue her own goal: Building a blacksmith + home, which isn't going to be some small feat amidst this sedentary hunter-gatherer society. Or, well, she's going to at least build a blacksmith if it turns out her initial idea doesn't work or isn't safe (just part of her learning process here).

Along the way, she's gotten some curiosity from afar and a bit closer to her host family. Yet Narasu, the only living son of her host family, has curiously taken up her on an innitially-joking deal to learn what she's doing if he helps help her work on things and spends more time with his father. He called her bluff and is doing his part a bit over two weeks later after making the joking offer, so after the initial shock Eliza is going to take up her end of the deal.]

Things do not make any sense. That is what I have come to realize after spending some time with Ozen's tribe. Luckily for me, they have given me clothes to wear and have allowed me to stay with them. At least until I can find my people and return home, who knows how long that will take. But, as I have stayed with the tribe and noticed some things. Nothing makes sense, and I have no clue where I am.

For starters, Ozen's tribe, a small one, are nomads. That is clear now since I asked about farming or other foods. They looked at me with confusion. So I dropped it and focused on what they had. They have carts, horses, and some animals. Mainly cattle, sheeps and goats. Which I have asked that they move with the seasons to ensure their animals get food and do not starve.

Now, there are not many nomads left in the world, from what I remember, but these people are too primitive. No iron or steel or anything that indicates that they know or have anything of the modern world. Not even saddles of all things. Which I have tried asking questions about the world, and what they know, but after getting answers that give me nothing but looks and confusion. I now have even less idea of where I am or how I got here. Because, based on what I have observed. I am not even sure how I am understanding them since they know nothing about America, and yet I can understand them. Either they speak English, or something else is happening, and I am just confused.

What has happened to me, and why am I here? Wherever I am? But at least despite my situation. I know I can stay with Ozen's tribe and be safe and fed during my time here. Which by Ozen's advice, I should make myself useful to the tribe while I stay with them. Advice I agree with, and I have been helping around where I could. I know little about the lives of nomads, but I am starting to learn.

But, one fact that I am surprised with about them is that, despite being nomads. They have knowledge of metals, since I have seen some of the tribe with gold and silver ornaments. Plus, copper and bronze tools and weapons. So at least they have that and not solely sticking with stone and bone.

Still, maybe by staying with the tribe, I can find someone who knows where I am, and while I am not sure if I can find someone who knows how to get me back home. It will be a learning experience either way. Either way, I plan on helping the tribe and learning more about the area. I am just glad that I have someone to help me survive wherever I am at. So, here goes living with nomads and who knows. Maybe I can find a way home, but for now, here goes nothing.

During his first week after arriving Olliver Peirce wandered the beach and learned more about his location. By the second week he had given up attempting to get back to his home place, (or time as it might be). He decided to share some knoledge with Falindos, and as such sat down with him during breakfast as usual and asked to talk with him. Now Falindos was fairly important in the society, the son of one of the rulers, as it seemed they they were ruled by an elite class or council of sorts. And he also had a wife and 2 children, twins, a boy and girl. Upon hearing Ollivers request he immediatly sent them away and walked with Olliver to the backyard.

"What is it that you wanted to tell me that required such secrecy?" Falindos inquired

"Falindos my friend, by this time I have given up on attempting to find and return to my home. So i will settle here and share my knoledge with you."

"It is wonderful to hear that you will stay, but what knoledge do you have to impart from your distant land, far beyond the horizon, far enough that even the stars change? " (for this was the answer Olliver had given Falindos when he asked where he was from)

"I bring knowledge, of new tools, and of metalworking, and ship building. As I revealed on my first day, i had a hobby of miniature ship building, to do so requires much knowledge about the ships in question, and i will give you some of the designs. Pass me parchment and quill."

This was done, and Olliver right there in the garden sketched out the basic construction/blueprints for a galley.

"This is a ship designed for speed and power, a ship for war." Olliver said by way of explanation

"I must bring this to my mother and father. Follow me" and Falindos started off at a running pace
which to his credit Olliver kept up with fairly well

In Sardinia, winter is usually mild and balmy, this one was no exception, but it was longer than average as Astrid had been told by Amatro the Priest, which she had gotten very friendly with. It turns out in this day and age, those with a penchant to question the universe were attracted to the divine as proto-philosophers of sort. It also turns out their astronomy was more advanced than Astrid would have expected and could calculate time of the year by measuring shadows with painted sticks.

Painted sticks... Astrid was not satisfied by such a unit of measurement. Even in her commercial business this had caused problems, people who argued about buying a foot or a hand's length of something, with weight it was even worst and it was often measured at the eye and the feel! Initially she figured screw it, she'd make up a decimal system based on what 'felt' like a gram, a centimeter, etc. But then as she had a lot of time to contemplate life without the distraction of screens around her, her mind wandered... Decimals had the unfortunate problem of not liking to be divided and introduced fractions. 10 has the factors 1, 2, 5 and 10... But 12 on the other hand? 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 and 12! A third being 4 instead of 0.3333 ad infinitum. Sure the human had 5 fingers, but she saw the locals count not with their fingers, but instead the phalanx of their fingers (excluding their thumbs), 3-3-3-3, so 12!

Astrid was grinning to herself like an idiot as she thought up those things, feeling the closest she had to doing her morning crosswords and sudoku. Yes. A Dozenal system would work nicely.

This would somehow prove to be the most annoying thing Astrid had done yet to the villagers. She had her containers, her rulers, her weights and her balance, if you wanted to buy from her that precious soap or delicious spirit, you would trade using her instruments. But little did she know, it was something else that would cause the most controversy of her stay, something she had decided to do as a favor for someone in need even.



"So we are clear: As everyone here is my witness, I, Astrid Palmkvist, am buying all of your future barley harvest for this year in exchange for this copper now. Press your thumb on the slate as your signature and the deal will be done."

Indeed the winter had been long and spring was the time of struggle. People planting their seeds and having to tilt the field and wait for the next crops to grow. Some had saved up less than others and now paid the price in starvation. It was not a general famine, thank god, but there it was. If he had gone around and asked for charity, Astrid was quite certain no one would have let this poor farmer and his family starve of course, but there was an element of pride. Here, Astrid gave him the coin to provide for his own family in exchange for future labor, not only that but she took the risk: Would this crop be good? Bad? Who knew! The man was all smile as he eagerly pressed his thumb on the clay tablet and took her copper. All around her however, those she had brought to be witness to the contract looked at each other with incredulity. A 'future's contract' was a novel idea after all!



"You signed a contract Uris, I have your mark, I have 3 witnesses who will agree: Your crop, good or bad, is mine by right."

"Y-you fleeced me! How was I supposed to know this year's harvest was going to be exceptional? A-and she wants all of it! Not even leaving me anything to feed my children during the winter, nothing to put into the ground for the next harvest!"

"And the witnesses will testify this was explained to you, you were told to manage your coin to have some left to buy food for your family once the harvest began, but you squandered it all. Yet the contract remains, you agreed to this, you were warned."

Chief Vilkas was holding a court of law in front of his longhouse, Uris the farmer begging him and insulting Astrid, calling her a witch who cast a spell on him, something that thankfully was ignored since Astrid was friend with the priests and contributed generously to religious festivals. She ultimately rolled her eyes and waited patiently. She had already won, he had admitted to signing the contract! Now this was all a waste of time.

"Hm... The amount of coins paid is rather low for such a bountiful harvest." The chief declared.

Immediately Astrid began to blink and look around in confusion as everyone around her nodded in agreement. Even one of her witness! What was going on here?!

"What does this have to do with anything?" Astrid spat out. "The contract did not state any amount of barley, it stated all of the barley. What if the harvest had been poor? What if his field had been... flooded or something?" The blonde immortal frowned, for the first time wondering if these people were all too stupid to understand the nature of a contract.

Then, Amatro the priest, one of her witness to the contract and one she judged to be a personal friend placed a hand on her shoulder. "Please, Strid. If it had happened, we would have worked something out between the two of you. Uris was a fool and mismanaged the coins you gave him, that we all agree on-" The people around them nodded in agreement. "-and for this he should be punished. Take the excess of his harvest this year and the next one in compensation, but his family should not suffer for his foolishness."

This seemed to make consensus in the crowd, but Astrid was mad like she had never been since she came here. This was a contract freely made! And it's not like Uris was left destitute, he had land he could sell! Oh sure it would force him to become a thrall, a landless worker which was a huge step down in this day and place, but that was HIS business! Suddenly however she noticed the looks people around her gave her. Contempt, for everyone else around her, her logic was cold and cruel, evil. She understood that in the court of public opinion she had lost.

"...I suppose we did things differently back in my home." She simply declared, trying to handwave this away as cultural miscommunication.

"Strid. Join me in my house." Chief Vilkas suddenly commanded her.

Still mad as hell, Astrid walked through the circle at the center of the crowd and into the house of the chief, closing the door behind her. Vilkas looked into her eyes, he was taller than most so he didn't have to crank his head up as much as the others to do that. "You've been with us for a year now, Strid."

There was a couple months missing of course, but she knew better than be nitpicky with this man. Where was he going with this though?

"You made quite the name for yourself. No words from your father yet however... I was waiting for him to come rescue you to ask him for you to be mine." He casually declared. Astrid frowned as her mind raced, what the hell did that mean? Vilkas was married already! Twice in fact, so then again why not trice.

"A very... flattering proposition, Chief Vilkas, but-" He nodded, as if her calling his proposition flattering somehow meant she agreed with it.

"That would make things much simpler for you. You like to play merchant, but you do not have a husband to back you up, as we're seeing right now with this Uris business. I suppose this is a little bit direct but I think you're a woman who appreciates directness so here it is: Marry me, Strid, and your interests shall be mine. You can focus on your numbers and your crafting and I will handle the people aspect of things."

Astrid simply looked at Vilkas silently. From the outside she was as cryptic as ever, but from the inside, ohhhh, she was boiling with rage. How dared he, wanting to pull everything she had accomplished under her? Treat her like she was his inferior?!

"Of course you can chose to refuse, I understand that without your father's blessing this is a bit awkward. But in this case I'd say its time for you to look for him. I'll have passage on a ship prepared for you for wherever you want to go and I'll even give you some coins, if that's how it has to be."

She stared at him some more, calculating if he was bluffing or not. But by god, to endure living at the mercy of someone who thought he controlled her like that...

"How... generous. But I can charter my own ships, I have accumulated quite some things during my stay here."

"What? Hahaha, you won't be leaving with all of the tools! Strid, you're a woman and I welcomed you here, that makes me your guardian! You can't just leave with my stuff!"

Astrid suddenly went from boiling to terrified.

"You can't-"

"I can't what, Strid? What can't the chief do?"

...If she left, she left with nothing. Hell, this was actually a generous offer, Vilkas gave her a choice, something he didn't even have to do. Astrid had tried so hard in these last months to rebuild modern amenities and comfort that she had forgotten that the greatest gift of modern society was nothing so material, it was the law. Neutrality of the state, a socially upheld idea of justice and a world where arbitrary lords with powers of life and death over others didn't exist anymore.

She considered making a point and leaving, but she knew it wouldn't be as easy anywhere else. She had taken the low hanging fruits and now she would have to compete against her own old operation in Sardinia. And anyways, would wherever she end up be any different? Would it be worst than here?

Astrid vowed this was not the end of it, she would not stand for an arbitrary lawless world and one day, she would change things. But for now... She raised her head and pouted, cocking her hip girlishly as she crossed her arms.

"You can't possibly ask me to be a concubine."

Dodge and deflect, if Vilkas understood how much she hated his offer he'd put a leash on her, she had to negotiate in a way that she could fake being satisfied with the result.

"Of course not, our children will be equal to my others."

Children? Astrid did her best not to shudder.

"I am also a chief's daughter and I built all I did to provide for them, the son I'll give you deserves to be your heir."

She studied Vilkas' features. He was annoyed, but he seemed to take it seriously. This was his language, these demands he understood.

"Your children will inherit what you've built, you have my word, but my eldest will rule."

As if she cared about inheritance, Astrid had no plan to have any kids! But she rolled her eyes and sighed, as if displeased of the answer, squirming for the satisfaction of the chief to know he held her in the palm of her hands, that she danced to his tune and that 'inheritance' was a string he could pull to manage her in the future. This was the best bluff she could manage.

"Alright, then so be it... dear husband. Now, on the subject of Uris~" It took all the mental fortitude of Astrid to manage a smirk and Vilkas laughed it off, signaling her to follow him as he walked out.

The chief stood in front of the tribal assembly with a big smile. "I have come to a decision! Uris, as you have failed to heed your own word, your lands are now forfeit." Whispers of surprise and outrage came from the crowd, this was harsh! "They will instead be managed by my wife, Strid. Obviously she'll make them more prosperous than you ever could."

There was a moment of silence and suddenly someone cheered, then others followed as they realized this whole judgement thing had just moved on to the chief marrying Astrid and so, the sycophants congratulated him.

Astrid turned her eyes to Uris with pity. Even if she had won, this was not justice.

TL;DR
- Astrid creates a measuring system for her own use but imposes it on others who want to do business with her.
- She makes friends with the village priest over a common passion for Astronomy.
- She creates a 'Future's Contract' with a farmer but has to go to the Chief for judgement when the farmer refuses to honor it during the harvest.
- Chief Vilkas asks Astrid to marry her or leave the village, leaving everything she's built behind. Astrid agrees to the marriage but vows to make a world without petty tyrants like him.

After Olliver gave the council the plans to the galley things were in a state of frenzy. Shipbuilders and carpenters were looking over the plans and working to make a galley. But the council wanted to know where Olliver came from more than ever. And they wanted something more solid that 'far beyond the horizon' so he decided to take an explanation out of a book. So he claimed that he was from the future, a wizard that was his enemy tried to kill him, but another wizard who was his enemies enemy but not his friend, made it so that he was transported back in time, instead of killed.
Currently the elders in the society regard Olliver with distrust, and they want him watched to make sure he isnt trying anything suspicious. Especially considering his proclaimed origin story

This man was very successful at his job, but he was very much out of his element. Jamie was used to the comforts of coffee, good home cooked meals, or fancy dinners at a five star Michellin restaurant. The internet, television shows, or even video games, on a rare occasion. All of these things were gone, not to mention his relationships with other people he held dearly. He had no idea if he would ever see them again. Still though, as long as it would take to live in these comforts again, anywhere from a few centuries to a thousand years or more, there were more pressing concerns. Jamie had to make himself a productive, trusted member of society.

The local tribes thought Jamie was bizarre, and they were probably right. To them he would be. That didn't matter though, because he began his work right away. Over the months he befriended various men in the nearby tribes. He wasn't totally trusted at first, and people thought he was crazy, but over time, more trust was built between him and the locals. He WAS an archaeologist, so he would know a few things he needed to to get by. He knew which plants to avoid, which ones were fit to eat, and which ones could be used for medicine.

All things considered, he wasn't doing half bad. People thought he looked weird and gave him odd looks, but no one was trying to pick a fight with him, yet. They helped him to hunt, which he already knew how to do as a survivalist, but they were better. Still though, the people thought he was some kind of liar, or intelligent trickster with wild stories. Stories about powerful weapons that sounded like thunder, the power to channel the power of lightning to see, to play and just to live. Surgical procedures such as heart transplants, running indoor water systems, even weapons that eradicate entire tribes in just one use, and so on.

They thought he was useful, however. He knew how to build very well, and in a little under a year, he had constructed a few log cabins. He cooperated as a member of society, and worked hard. People may have thought he was a weirdo, but they at least respected him.

Things had been... tolerable, since Astrid's engagement with Chief Vilkas. She had been worried that this would be a distracting and painful affair, especially since the man already had two wives, but things had gone surprisingly well. The first wife, Bela, was about as old as Astrid and the least cooperative. She was extremely proud of her status as the first wife, always reminding the others that she was on top, that her son would be the chief one day, she was the daughter of another chief on the island and thus high born. The second wife was named Cidri and was actually a very nice girl. Cidri was half their age and one of the most beautiful girl Astrid had ever seen, even in modern days she could have been on a magasine, so it was easy to see why Vilkas married her. She was however only a commoner and just happy to live her life and help Astrid adapt, showing nothing but kindness since 'girls had to look out for each other'.

And then there were the men of the house, which were easily handled as for better or worst, women were almost invisible to them. Another thing that worked especially in Astrid's favor was that with the wealth she had bought their town, Vilkas had decided to work on his own ambition: Conquest. He had bought the best bronze gear and armor money could buy, even hired some mercenaries as he went out to expand his domain. He was also surprisingly cunning about it, using piracy as a pretext to punish those who 'gave them shelter', forge alliances and compel others to swear fealty to him, all with a generous amount of bribes to cement his power.

This meant Vilkas was constantly away with his brothers and sons (he did not trust them to rule in his absence) and he left Bela to rule in his stead. Only thing, she was a disinterested and also incompetent ruler, meaning people mostly went over to Astrid for judgement, for they knew it was sound and that she would usually convince Vilkas to go along with it.

And so, Astrid maintained her power in a discreet and feminine way. One of her most useful knowledge was actually unique to the female gender as despite not being the most sexually active person back home, well, lets just say that modern people are on average much more exposed to these kind of activities through the media so she had quite a few tricks to show. As much as possible she did not perform said tricks, finding them mostly disgusting, but Bela and Cidri were always eager to find way to get their husband's affection and were thus very eager students. They were happy, Vilkas was very happy, everyone was happy.

At some point however, Astrid had no choice but to step up and was made to understand that she would perform wifely duties. And so, perhaps it was inevitable that one morning, a problem arose.

"Oh god, I think I'm dying." Astrid said with dejection before she began puking her guts out in a bucket. Behind her, Cidri massaged her back as she held Astrid's blonde hair out of the way with a sympathetic smile. "Oh Strid, you aren't dying. Quite the contrary in fact." A tired Astrid looked back to her with confusion. Cidri had come to understand the body language of her fellow wife and laughed it all off. "Life is growing within you Strid, you're pregnant, silly! Haven't you kept track of your cycle?"

Astrid looked at Cidri like she was the grim reaper. Pregnant? No, she couldn't be! Her doctors had always told her that she should be very careful with any pregnancy since she'd almost certainly have to deliver by C-section.



Astrid wasn't sure about this as she looked down on the bowl with a greenish elixir inside it. She was a chemist sure and if she had the exact measurements -or hell, if she was sure of what she was actually mixing together here!- she'd be confident she could make something to... kill it, without killing herself. But here she was, playing the amateur poisoner with nothing but folk remedies and knowledge. She figured the earlier the better it was to get rid of an unwanted pregnancy, waiting to import an expert from egypt where she heard some people with this knowledge could be found might take too long.

Steeling her resolve, she quickly rose the bowl and drank its content down. It should be mild enough not to kill her, but strong enough to induce a failed pregnancy. Hopefully. She sat down comfortably, closing her eyes, taking deep breath as she waited for the effect to take hold. All of a sudden, a sharp pain in her stomach came! Astrid's eyes opened wide as she clenched her fingers on the armrest of the chair and she tried to hold in a scream. After a moment however she couldn't hold it back, did she overdo it?!

"AAAAAAHHHHHGHGH-"

Moments later Cidri ran inside the room. Ever since Astrid had found she was pregnant, Cidri had insisted to be with her every moment to comfort her, it was annoying but it was done. "Strid, what's wrong?!" She asked, coming in to hold her hand with concern. For just this moment, Astrid lost her composure and her eyes turned toward the small table with the empty bowl and various containers. Maybe she had grown to look at people around her with contempt, but it had not even cross Astrid's mind that her scheme would be discovered, she did experiments all the time, her having these kind of things was normal. Yet, her concerns, what she did today was oh so very human, something all women of any point in time could relate with.

Cidri looked at the bowl and back to Astrid with sadness. "Oh Strid, what have you done..."

___________

If anything one could call the reaction to Astrid's attempt as very sympathetic. Cidri explained Astrid's fear to the others and Vilkas scoured the land to find every wise women and doctors he could, making sure someone was with Astrid at all time so she could not try to hurt herself or the baby again. It was annoying actually, how they prevented her from working on her experiments by fear she'd try something else, forcing her take it easy and prepare. She was not very enthusiastic at first, Amatro, her priest friend, said he prayed and made offerings for her regularly. Was this the caliber of help she could expect?

It took one old wise woman to convince her maybe there was hope.

'You are a very smart woman lady Strid, yet I see that when you wish for some strange device to be crafted for you, you ask for a smith to do it. Obviously, you understand the smith who has spent all his life knows how to do at least some things better than you do. Well Lady Strid, I have given birth to 15 children myself and helped hundreds more be delivered. I won't lie, it won't be easy, but your death is not certain either. I only wish I was a smith because bronze doesn't talk back when it is being shaped, so please stop worrying, eat up and do these exercises. You have two more seasons until you give birth, it is time enough to become stronger and more resilient. It's all you can do now.'

There was little more indeed. Well, there was a few more things. Astrid had papyrus imported, lots and lots of it, and in her free time, she thought Amatro to read and write her latin letters, that is she did whenever she was not writing down everything that she could. Everything about modern science and law that she could recall, anything that she thought might be useful if... the worst should happen.

TL;DR
- Astrid gets comfortable in her marriage and grows in influence behind the scene.
- Her husband uses the wealth she is creating to try and conquer the island.
- She learns she is pregnant and tries to terminate the pregnancy by self poisoning, she fails.
- As the delivery approaches, she teaches an intelligent friend of hers about latin letters and writing and writes down all she can on imported papyrus.

One hundred and twenty days. It had been one hundred and twenty days of working hard to carve the wood, gather more trees for building, and working hard to get the building she was envisoining built to fruition at the very least. She wasn't an architect, however, and neither was she a construction worker. Her expertise lied in other areas, areas that for who knew how long would never be formulated as as knew them and understood them to be like. She'd been learning how to carve wood, to make and repair stone tools, how to cook, hoow to clean and prepare food, how to make pottery, and in the process of it all had been forced to learn just how much time and investment it all took. How much it took to learn, to grow, to adapt to a day and age in which the hard work needed to live was much higher than many would think to give credit for. Not all doing so out of maliciousness or willful 'first world ignorance', rather, but simply not sharing enough of that lifestyle to be able to grasp it perhaps. Well, at least that was the case in her mind.

Yet even then, to share meals upon a hide blanket on the soft grass. To enjoy a hot meal over a cooking fire within the home alongside family. To talk with others who lived in the village. It was a sense of community, it wasn't 'all work and no play' all of the time, it was a living, breathing place where the more she learned of it the more the people here felt just like those back 'home' to enough of an extent. In a sense....it was like an intangible connection to a place, and myriad people, who were infinitely far away from her now...perhaps forever so, really, at that. Yet the same threads of life, of laughter, of kindness, of distrust, of curiosity, and so many oother things good and bad and ugly that seemed to remain ever so consitent with the 'human condition' that it seemed to speak to something in her soul in ways left unspoken by any language or dancing of the tongue.

What had begun with Narasu listening to her stories as they labored on carving the logs had started as the curiosity of a youth had led to skepticism at times, though the more she'd talked of things regarding the craft she sought to attain the more he had seemingly become absorbed in those explanations and stories of just what it could achieve. Like he had a glint of something in his eyes that sought to look beyond what his parents and the others knew. Like a pair of stars in the open night sky, really, if she had to think of how he had come too look these days.

Yet this was not all.

Days spent eating with Iramande and Kunne and their family had become days feeling more like a member of a family despite the distance she could still feel between her and the other locals of the village. Kunne had given her somewhat more of a side-eye on matters, even lectured her off to the side for 'putting stories in the boy's head', though Iramande had spoken to her about how Narasu was also coming to work more alongside him. Woodcarving seemed to be the skill he was interested in, and his working with Eliza had been seemingly a driving factor to bring him closer to his father in this sense. It was in that vein that, well, she hadn't been as surprised when Iramande and his brother eventually began to pitch in with helping her and Narasu in their building efforts.

A woman, a youth, and two men working on this spot soon turned into one or two more helpful hands pitching in, whether it was in the tutoring, the teaching of how to find good wood, or even trying to ponder how to achieve the ideas Eliza had put forth to make her building as part off the group. What had resulted was the blending of ideas, ones familiar and yet foreign, into something of a side work project for some. Not everyone helped of course, two of them only really came because other men of the village they did know were involved, and others still kept an arm's length from her as did some of the women. Even so...it was progress, and it seemed to prove an utterly ancient adage from her time more than a bit true: It did indeed 'take a village', even if that adage referred to another matter entirely. Haha.

Yet now, now something great stood there. Four mighty corner pillars, and one taller central one, had come to form the main part of Eliza's self-planned home. It stood wider than the local buildings by a fair enough margin. It even stood taller than the local buildings of the average sort to enough of an extent as well. A similar thatch-y roof sat atop it, and a similar style of allowing air flow into it and out, yet an open doorway stood in two places as she had envisioned it to be. Walls of thatch did not form the sides, however, as she'd begun the work of finding stones to fit together that were both heavy and tightly-put together to form her new home's walls. It was an idea that had ooccured when watching some children use stones to make little towers and such in the grass one day, while helping one of the younger women watch the children as the older women took up with other tasks one fine day, and Narasu had been the fiirst and only one to help her at first before another younger man had taken up interest in their activity in kind and then one or two of the man (Iramande among them) had pitched in as well.

Now she was working on a raised platform for a bed, one to cover in thatch and a proper pelt fur if she could just learn to hunt, to make with stone. And perhaps finding a way to make proper 'doors' would be good as well. Yet all the same, the idea of doors would have to wait. She'd managed to get help due to some local kindness, and curiosity about her 'foreign ways of building a home', though she'd also begun looking for larger stones to prepare a space out of the back door of her home. Indeed....her goal remained the same in the end, and having a place to cook and eat and sleep was only the first part. It was one that she and the others had celebrated with a small party as soon as her new home was tentatively 'complete', one that had been not the whole village but more of it than she'd thought would come, but the matter of her goal to regain her ability to smith metal hadn't been forgotten along the way.

"Huff...huff..."

Today was yet another day of hauling stones in place to set up a potential forge area, something immune to fire and far enough from the house to be safe yet close enough to be acessible to her. But before she could even so much as smelt, or begin testing setups or more beyond that, she had to find the material she needed. Ore. Metal. It could be iron, it could be copper, it had to be something at the very least, and tales of 'strange rocks in the mountains' from the village hunters had gotten to her by virtue of hunter-aspirant Narasu and things Iramande and Kunne had heard by proxy.

*CLUNK CLACK*

Another stone in place in the fitted area where she wished to put a forge. A nice spot ringed in stones, to contain any potential fires and clear the space between the grass and future work area, just as her internal fire pit had been dug slightly into the ground and surrounded by enough fitted stones to help contain the fire it might hold inside. Though she'd been working on a spit for cooking as well for that matter, even if she still ate with Iramande and his family for the time being. Yet alone? Alone she could only do so much so far to get by even now. It was also another reason she....she wanted to at least try to help Iramande and his family yet still, and one reason why her goal of metalsmithing remained in her mind's eye even now.

One could not simply walk in and claim superior ways, they had to prove it as well. Places that didn't need a new type of government didn't adopt it if they didn't want to. Places that didn't want different tools didn't adopt them if they didn't want to. Same with various ways off doing things and the like. But people did take in what gave them advantages, and what they percieved as such. Things changed slowly, and yet to get such a change rolling it would take more than just one person and more than one lifetime to work hard at it as well. Perhaps more than the lifetime alotted to herself and the others in general, really, but maybe she could make life better in some capacityy for these people at least. Maybe.

"Where is he....andis he ok?" the redhaired woman muttered softly to herself, hands on her hips as she stood back up and stretched her somewhat sore back and her brows sliughtly furrowed in thought.

Narasu, speaking of the boy, had been absent for the last good few days. As if his attention to what she was doing here had been somewhat lost on him as of the last month. He had been semeingtly taking a fancy to one of the village girls, much like herself from the looks of things, but with the shifting seasons the need to hunt farther out as compared to fishing just off the shore had been made more visibly apparent for the local hunters. Hmm. Trips out there had also been taking a little longer as well, but she'd not persisted after the growing young man in any case over the matter.

He had seemed less focused and more focused at the same time, however, and evven his father had noted 'ah he's getting that age' when it came to his attitude as well during their last time spent training in woodworking. More conflicting. More rebellious. Yet at the same time, he'd been focused enough on helping her so far as well. Some days he'd disappear despite being visible around the village as well. Even his mother seemed to be more fed up with him, albleit also patient at the same time, when it came to his shifting behavior somewhat. Said he'd taken some more trips to the mountain with her brother, even, at that. It was...peculiar, but none of this was totally unexpexted either she supposed. Her older brothers were something she could reflect back on, really, when it came to such matters in hindsight as well. Er, at least to some extent, yes.

The sun sat just beyond the noontime point, to her eyes, but the days had become increasingly shorter and breifer. Not very good for hunting supplies and getting work in, but it had meant more time to rest. Time to do smaller tasks. But it did slow down her progress somewhat, as she'd been going at her goal and other daily tasks all as best as she could if nothing else. Meant maybe waiting for spring, then, before she could get in longer working days.

The redhead, however, would simpyl sit upon a larger stone she'd brought over. A spot to put an anvil, perhaps, once she-....if she....even got to making one for that matter. If. When? Her goal remained in sight, in her mind's eye, and yet even then it wasn't all simply as feasible as going out to purcahse supplies or find some junk metal to tinker with or something. Far, far, far from it. And, for that matter, thirst had begun the crawl up into her throat, the dry itch pairing well with the natural mental signal from her body to bring the matter to her attention.

Letting out a sigh, Eliza would force her legs to stand up once more before taking the steps into her house and through the back doorway, looking to a jar sitting near her firepit as she sat on a somewhat thatched floor beside it. Styled by corded rope, this jar was a clay pot in the local style that she'd actually made under Kunne's watchful eye. It had been hardened by fire, which she'd been learning how to do as well, and by now sat filled with water she had gone to the river to get at sunrise and then boiled in the morning for a few hours. It looked ever so clear, so refreshing, and indeed as she used her hands to cup up some of it and drink the woman felt the cooling slaking her thirst as it ran down like a smooth bit of Mei's stash had after a nice hot and spicy dinner at her place the night before she'd woken up here....ah.

Familiarity with the locals that was somwwhat growing between them thus far, though, she still had times that she wished she could-

"Oooooiiiieeeeeehhhh!"

A piercing cry, slightly voice-cracking with the bustling hormones of early onsetting pubescence, cried alound with a somewhat deepening but also familiar tone of voice. Wiping sweat from her face with her right sleeve, then, the readhead's eyes darted to her front doorway as a likewise familiar face brazenly wallked somewhat unexpectedly. A growing face. A younger face. Narasu, of all people, whose dark hair was cut shorter than some by a stone blade and who had a jar carried by cords on his back from the looks of it. A large enough jar for someone his age, actually, that he seemed to be carrying with a fair bit of effort as well as....a smile on his face?

"Narasu?"

"Yeah! And I've got something good for ya'!"

Eliza's left eyebrow raised up almost of its own accord, though she, motioned for the boy to come over. At that gesture, Narasu would walk in, the caked dust on his face from travel and the simple woven sandals on his feet seemingly more torn than they normally would be to her eyes. Even so, his smile didn't seem to diminish as he brought over the jar, sitting down with his back facing her and letting the jar loose on the floor with care before he turned about to sit facing her. The sweat running down his brows was enough, however, that she would move to hand the jar of water to him.

"Get some water to drink, please, you seem as if you've walked long enough to get here as it is!"

The latter would roll his eyes for a moment.

"Just like my mom, sheesh, but only after you see this! This comes first!"

The boy reached into the jar, not letting her protest even another word on the matter, before pulling out several...rocks? As he excitedly pulled out more, however, she noticed how different some looked from each other. One even bore a look of greenish-sorts, which looked a lot like...emerald? No, it wasn't a gemstone, more like...jade?

"So before, when we've been talking, you told me what idea you had about this 'ore' stuff, right? Stuff you need to make that 'metal' stuff, yeah?"

"I...yes, I did."

Wait. Wait wait wait. A thought clicked into her head Had the boy been-

"I've been hunting out that way with my mother's brother, and I've been looking for things that might match what you were saying. Maybe. Been looking for a while, even checked out some other places since we've had to hunt in other places farther out now before the winter. Asked some of the other hunters about strange rocks, but usually they don't look for that sort of thing, so eh.

You didn't have the best idea either, but I had something to work with still, but-"

He had been going out looking for metal too?! One part of her wanted to grumble that it was stupid dangerous, another wanted to complain he didn't take her along, and yet in the end she would take each rock in hand and place it down before her as he spoke of where each came from and what had drawn him to it. But raw iron ore? Even she had to think back on what that looked like, and only then she'd seen some pictures of what it could look like when researching blacksmithing in her own down time or out of a late night curiosity or so forth. But were any of these ore? Were any of these things potential ore for her to even attempt to smelt? Beyond that there were other concerns like fuel, like she'd have to make charcoal just to help begin fueling the idea of a smeltery and such, and if he did find anything she'd have to double up finding ways to get this all to work and-

...and...

...

...

And after a few moments of listening and focusing on thumbing through the rocks and stones before her, it clicked. Narasu had gone and done this fool thing for her, of all people. A growing, increaisngly hormonal, and story-fascinated kid who had piutched in to help her with this. With something that was so far out of his wheelhouse, so far out of the minds of his peoples' understanding, and yet he had believed her enough to do something this this.

It was also then, as her eyes widened somewhat, that a particular rock caught her eye. It didn't seem even, as if it had been paintaklingly taken out of the dirt. It had a grey-ish hue, yet much of it sat in a singular lump. It seemed...similar to metal? Seemed familiar to old images of ore at least, as her memories continued to be sifted through like a fine sand for ideas, that she'd seen before in the past online or something of the sort. Iron was held in other minerals, yes?

"Where did you say this one came from again?"

"Eh, Eriza, that one was sitting at the top of some dirt and rocks, had too work on that one to get it out of a hill over thataway-"

Narasu pointed in a roughly eastern direction, as far as she had managed to get the idea of thus far in this place if naught else thus far, which she responded to with a nod.

"Not many rocks like that one that I found. But I kept this one and some of the others till' I got back from the mountains with the rest, then I threw it all in this jar to carry over!"

The kid looked like an excited puppy as she went back to thumb through the rest of the rocks again, with her setting two more aside for the moment being alongside the one that had caught her eye first. It was as if he was lookiing for something, for praise, or-....heh. That thought had hit home a bit closer than she expected. Even so, and looking into the jar for further examples, Eliza would likewise find an amount of peculiarly-dark sand at the bottom of it as well. Raising another eyebrow at the matter, she reached in and ran her hand through it. It felt...fine, but peculiar, all the same. Not normal sand, that was for sure.

Sitting back once more, a small smile began to creep into the woman's face. Small, but one that was certainly present as she looked back at the growing younger man all the same.

"We...I...there's a chance some of this might be usable, actually."

The boy's grin seemed to lessen a little as she noted only a few of his rocks, at least initially, seemed to be potential candidates for 'metal ore' of some kind. But even so, his smile didn't disappear either, seeming to grow as she follow up with-

"You did a good job. I mean that...and thank you."

"So ca you make stuff with this? The tools and things you talked about? Stuff that's better than stone?"

Ah. He did seem a bit eager and excited about the matter, and yet she would lightly shake her head side to side.

"I can't be sure yet. I'll need to find a way to test out these rocks here for sure, and look at the others more later to try to get an idea. But to do that I'll need something that burns a lot hotter than a normal fire, and I do know how to do something like that at least."

Excxitement soon turned to a rapid bit of frustration on the boy's face, a sigh of definite exasperation coming from his mouth. And yet-

"Once we know what the right rocks look like, that'll make it easier to get more. It takes steps, like it took to make this home, or like it takes to make a tool or carve a piece of wood."

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh..."

The teenage moan of complaint rang out regardless, but despite sitting cross-legged in front of her the boy wouldn't storm off or anything. At the same time, however, he would finally move to get some water after this-...and dip his dirty hand in there to do so. Well, there went the whole morning's effort. Yet at the same time, once he had a good amount to drink and sat for a little longer in quiet thought, he would look back at her with a glint in his eyes. Softer than his prior excitement for sure, but a glint there nonetheless.

"So we just need to find the right type, yeah? Like gettin' the right kind of berries, or findin' the right spots the deer like too travel through?"

"Yes. Some might be easy to find on the surface, if we're lucky, but most rocks like it are found under the ground. Sometimes really deep, though where I came from they usually got the stuff closer to the surface and used it a long time ago. Here might be different, though, potentially."

The boy seemed to go into a state of deeper thought, almost like the day he had first approached her to offer help on her home if she explaiined her ideas to him, before looking back up and giving her a curt and short nod. Not that all the wiggles in his system seemed to leave either, if his hands on his knees were of any indication.

"Alright! Then we just need to get this figured out is all. Sooner than later I'd say."

That...was fast? And yet at the same time it left the smile on Eliza's face unfading all the same. In fact, a small laugh would emerge from the back of her own throat now, a chuckle she attempted to stifle as the boy in front of her raised a questioning eyebrow.

"Tch? What's so funny about what I said?"

Her laugh only grew in response, the sound of Kunne in his voice for a moment only making her laughter even greater, and everything just tickling her pink for reasons she hadn't a single clue about. And, perhaps, she didn't want to fully grasp it right now. A peal of laughter. Narasu's confused look and questioning. The smell of cooling, fresh air as they sat on the floor. And now...possibly, maybe, impossibly, some metal in her hands in what felt like thin air.

Perhaps she was coming to understand her mother more by the day, and to understand Narasu's a bit to boot!

---

[Summary - Eliza and Narasu began working on making her new home, though as she is giving part of her time to help with the villagers some of them eventually came back to also help her in turn. Finding wood, moving it, carving, and between her and the others they've worked out how to get the place built and how to make it work. She has even used fitted stones for the walls and such, an idea of hers inspired by village children playing with some rocks to build little things on the ground with, and has been using stones to also prepare an area near (but not too close to) her new home for some sort of far-flung future blacksmithing endeavors.

Her preparations, her aims for her goal, all of thiis goes on bit by bit....and yet after a time of the now-teenage Narasu not hanging around her as much for one reason or another she'd been surprised by him visting her home out of the blue. Turns out, at least part of the time if nothing else, he's been looking for what she described as 'metal ore' of some kind or another, and he might have lucked out on a few pieces being among the samples he's gotten from the local area and the nearby mountains. Maybe.]

I am starting to get used to the life of the Ozen's tribe. Despite some hiccups and getting used to nomadic life. I still miss my old life, and while I am not getting any closer to getting back home and where I am. At least the tribe is starting to like me as I help around with the tribe and not just standing around. It is different from my old life. I never had to take care of cattle, goats, or sheep before. Learning how to properly take care of them and other stuff that comes with taking care of livestock. Which I think one, a cow named Vue seems to like me.

Still, I am adjusting, and despite my lack of hunting skills. One of the hunters of the tribe has taken up the job of teaching me how to hunt and ride a horse. I have ridden a horse once, and that was with a saddle. Which riding a horse without one has proven to be a challenge to me. I just do not know how they can do it without a saddle and after I explained to them what a saddle is. They seem curious about it. Granted, I do not know how to make a saddle, and I know little about horses but, I have teamed up with a leather worker to figure out how to make one. Which I gathered help of some of the tribe to help since they know more about horses than me.

We have made some prototypes, some better than others, and while none are a perfect saddle. It is progress and better than nothing since I just remember what a saddle looks like and nothing else. Which the tribe's leader or chieftain, I should say. A man named Kun seems to appreciate my efforts to help the tribe. I mean, I might as well help the people who are helping me. It is only fair, and it beats doing nothing.

But some of the tribe have grown interested in where I come from and what I know. I can repeat what I have said, and as far I they can tell, they think I am from some faraway land, and they are probably right. This land I am not familiar with, and I do not know where on Earth I am. But I did get a clue where, one of the animals the tribe hunts. A weird looking antelope with enlarged nostrils, I have seen that animal before. I forgot what they are called, but those things are iconic and so far. They are the only clue to where I am and maybe I can figure out where I am and find a way home. Since I know they are not native to the Americas, Europe, Australia, or Africa. Well, I think not Africa and so that means Asia, but where in Asia and that still does not answer how the people I have met are this primitive. I just do not know how long that will take to get home.

Though one good thing I can say about living with the tribe is that. With no lights or anything other than fires. There is no light pollution, and at night, while the rest of the tribe sleeps. I stay up and watch the night sky in its unfiltered glory. A sight that would be impossible to see in most places, here. I think I can see the Milky Way and other stars that most people could not see back home or in civilization.

So, living here is not all that bad, but still a far cry from what I am used to. I am just glad I am not alone and have help. I would not know what I would do without Ozen's tribe. But, thanks to them, I have a chance of surviving wherever I am and getting back home. Whenever that will be.

[quote=@TruckKun]




After the galley had been built, and performed better than their ships. The elders of the village began to think more Highly of Olliver, and began to build more of them, by this time they had 1 built and had 3 more underway, as it took them almost 2 years to build the first ship. Olliver had the great honor of being able to go with the crew on its maiden voyage, and he enjoyed the short escapade. Soon after that they decided to build Olliver his own house. They seemed a bit confused by some of his requests, such as making it more of a tower, and also that there were 2 underground floors. This is still under construction, and is due to take another month and a half. Olliver told them to go check around the mountains in the center of the island, to look for new materials/metals he described iron ore for them 'color from bright yellow, rusty red, and deep purple to dark grey or near-black.' he also mentioned that it was heavy, and there might be red dirt nearby. Additionally he was able to gain acsess to a smithy. Despite the fact that he wanted his own, these things are expensive, and take time to build, and as such they take more time and effort to make. So for now Olliver contented himself with working/spending his spare time in the smithy. He had some ideas for things to make if they did find iron around those mountains. But for now he contented himself with making swords, and daggers, some of designs that they had never seen before (like kunai, or throwing knives) and these knives fetched a pretty penny, and also allowed him to gain a bit of a reputation as a quality craftsman.

"Congratulations, you have twins! A boy and a girl." Astrid barely registered what was said as she laid in bed, absolutely drained by the ordeal of childbirth without any modern pain medication. She had been given a cocktail of herbs but she was pretty sure this was just a placebo. She took it gladly non the less.

She had survived, but barely.

The little blonde boy she named Sigmund while the girl she named Sif, Vilkas offering her the chance to name them as a compensation prize for almost dying. Those were savage names for kids who would have to live in savage times.

This was, to say the least, a traumatic delivery for Astrid. Her only solace was that the wise women and physicians hired by Vilkas to look over her made him understand that she was lucky to be alive and that there would not be another pregnancy. As these experts prepared to leave, their job of helping Astrid's delivery being done, she held them back. Before Astrid had been sympathetic but also somewhat indifferent to the daily suffering of people around her, seeing it as somewhat inevitable, something she could do nothing about, but this had shown her she should at least try. And so, she paid a retainer to keep those she judged to be the best at what they did to stay in Sardinia to help other women who would not have the means to hire them to give birth as well as to transmit their knowledge so hopefully some much needed medical expertise might be fostered.

Astrid's time was mainly taken to recover, with her friend Cidri being of invaluable help once again. Pregnancy had changed Astrid, mentally but also physically. She had never been one to gain weight but put up a few pounds during these last few months, the wise women making her understand that she needed to gather all her strength for what was to come. She did lose most of it afterward but it had left her with a more... matronly shape, something that the looks men gave her made it obvious they found it an improvement. Even with that however, Astrid was not fruitful when it came to provide for young Sigmund and Sif and so she relied on Cidri to feed them as only a mother could.

And then there was the matter of Vilkas. Astrid was surprised to see he had softened a lot toward her, giving her more displays of affection and tenderness than he gave even Cidri and Bela. Being who she was, Astrid found it suspicious. When asked about it, Cidri simply laughed it off.

"This whole ordeal made him understand how much he loves you, depends on you. While you were pregnant your business slowed down a whole lot and he realized he had come to rely on your craftsmanship and also your advice. I think that you gave him a boy also contributed, me and Bela only have him one each, but soooo many daughters."

Ah, now she understood. Perhaps it could be a turning point, the start of a real consensual partnership?

The very thought infuriated Astrid. What, did he think she'd ignore all that happened because of a few tender gestures? That it was all water under the bridge? Hell, the fact that he even thought that his change of attitude somehow made everything better made Astrid rage even more at his sheer entitlement! Oh no, she would never forgive this man for what he did to her, for arbitrary and irresponsible he was with his power.

And so it started slowly as Astrid used the vices of the man against him. She worked tirelessly to make the best, strongest and tastiest alcohol, all around the tastes of her dear husband. Then it was just a matter of keeping his cup full at all time, something she either did herself or instructed the slaves to do. He'd get what's coming to him.



With the birth of her children, Astrid's focus switched from business more toward pediatrics. Stuff like education, health and the likes. It was little things really, wooden blocks with letters on them, she also experimented with paper making since papyrus was exclusive from Egypt and pretty damn expensive to import in volume. It was all chemistry after all, though again she struggled in identifying what plant and what minerals had what elements, recognizing them in the practical sense from all her theoretical knowledge.

One thing that proved to be major was actually another measurement: Time. She had this trouble with her workers before, how time was always so subjective to a people without watches. A timepiece was unfortunately outside of her abilities, but she knew astronomy. And so, she had a great stone sun dial made and placed in the middle of the town. From then on, there would be no excuse: Time was now measured! Workers would not be late for work and kids not be late for their lessons anymore. At least during sunny days.

Her other plan also progressed nicely. The more days went by, the more Vilkas was getting drunk on his own achievements and more literally on Astrid's alcohol. Every new village conquered was a reason for a feast and every feast was a reason to get blackout drunk, not that he needed a reason to do so. And of course every day he spent wasted by the previous night was a day with his fiefdom's affairs were delegated to Astrid as he became irritable and paranoid that his brothers, that maybe his very own eldest son might want to take power from him. But Astrid? She had become so meek, so submissive, always reassuring him he made the right choices, never talking back to him when he asked her to fill his cup again.

These responsibilities she gladly took to herself. Vilkas was consolidating a little kingdom on Sardinia, by the end of the decade he'd probably have conquered it all. With his victories however, he did nothing. Making the local lords swear loyalty while giving lands to his brothers to keep them away and busy or close and under watch. He was good at gaining land, at keeping land, but what did he do with this land?

Astrid had roads built, granaries, a mint, prevented the lords from building tolls at every internal borders so commerce may flow freely, also doing her best so this basic health care she had established could serve the whole island rather than just their town. All of these things however she did strategically, making sure the towns deemed loyal were the ones who had granaries and even then, those chosen would not have walls, just in case they got any rebellious intentions. The idea was simple: Interdependence. Make it so people had more to lose if they started killing each other again than if they went along with what she was building.

Her paramount work during this year was the census. Amatro the priest helped her greatly in this endeavor as he went around with an armed escort. This was because the census did not only record the amount of people, but also their belongings, the division of land and so forth. It was obvious what was coming: Taxation.

TL;DR
-Astrid survives childbirth thanks to the experts brought in to help her, afterwards she decides to pay them to stay as to make a basic form of health care and nurture medicine on the island.
-Chief Vilkas grows more fond of her, but she blames him for almost dying in childbirth and decides to play on his vices to have her revenge.
-She begins working on making something resembling paper since papyrus is exclusive to Egypt.
-Chief Vilkas is manipulated in leaving more and more management to Astrid who uses this to make small improvements, building sun dials for time keeping, centralized granaries and conducting a census in preparation to try and make a tax system.

I do not know how long it has been since I was dropped here. I have lost track, and without my watch, timekeeping is hard. Though I can say one winter has lasted so that is one way I can keep time. But I survive and live among the tribe. Thrive in a way, after more tests with the saddle, and thanks to the leather worker and an experienced horseman. We made one that works. Complete with a stirrup as well. It looks like a saddle that I am used to seeing, and the horses seem to wear it comfortably. With that success, more saddles are being made for the whole tribe and for my efforts. The chieftain Kun in thanks for this boon and has rewarded me by giving me my own horse, a young stallion by the name of Iis.

Thanks to the training by the tribe, I can say I can ride a horse now. More so with a saddle in place, and I think that Iis and I will be okay together. My hunting skill at least up to the tribe's expectations. I am doing well in that department. I can shoot and aim with a bow. Something I have not done since high school. But I can now hunt on my own to a degree, though I leave the skinning of an animal to the butchers. I have learned how to buther a animal, but I only do it when I have to. While I have gotten past the whole blood and guts part. I did throw up a few times while being taught. Which I was made fun of for doing that. I would rather leave that for others to do.

But for what other ways could I help the tribe. I initially did not know what, besides the saddle. They are skilled smiths, and they know how to make bronze. While I tried to think, I learned more about the tribe, their history, and their ways and more. I even made friends with the tribe's lore keeper in the process. An old man by the name of Yurr. He was happy to tell me the stories of the tribe, and being a history nerd. I intently listened and made an impression on the man. Who was training his son to take up the role once he has died.

Though some of the tribe were interested in me for my tales, the history of my people. After some convincing, I told some. It was hard to figure out what, since I did not want to confuse them or anything. So one story I told was one about the birth of the United States. I told how my people were foreigners who travelled to a new land to settle and start anew, and when the British gave my people injustice after injustice. They rose up and managed to defeat the British and throw off the shackles of tyranny. My people forming a new tribe and took control of their destiny. I am not sure if I am a good storyteller, but the tribe seems to like the story.

But one of them, a young woman named Luy seem to have an interest in me and thought I was hiding something. When she approached me about it, I told her the truth. She seemed to accept it, but she still had those judging eyes. Then she asked for more stories about my people and life. Spending more time with me, and I would tell her what I knew.

To the point that Luy started to stargaze with me. Despite me being know about the constellations, I could never find a way to find them in the night sky. But we still watched, and she asked me questions. It was weird, no one has been this interested in me before. Maybe that is what it means to be an outlander, and that is my nickname in the tribe. A name that comes with respect, then scorn. A modern man in a primitive place. Knowledge that these people do not have and knowledge I am happily willing to share.

While I still think of home, the tribe has given me a new one. For as long as I stay here, that is, and if nothing bad happens. I am still a newcomer to this place, and I need these people. Well, so far so good, and maybe I can make a life here. If nothing goes wrong, that is.

To say that she had to test everything she remembered about smelteries, a thing that had just been a matter of curious reading and learning to her before all of this, was an understatement. First she needed things like charcoal and bricks, for one thing, which had been its own journey just to create for the sake of maybe, potentially smelting some kind of iron. Maybe. A mere 'maybe' in all of this! And yet it was at least something, something to work toward, something....something to do with herself in this day and age at the very least. Something to do as she worked on two simple doors for her new home and tried to use what help the frustrated and groowing Narasu was willing to provide. Sometimes his father might pitch in outside of woodworking lessons and if he'd not as much to do for the day, perhaps, though Kunne had visited a couple of times to make sure she was 'doing well' if nothing else. Sometimes Eliza had found herself even invited over to eat with Iramande and his family, and a few times had eaten with them and another family who seemed to be Kunne's brother and his wife and kids. She likewise still went to help the village women each day, sometimes even watch the younger children for them, to boot.

In short, it had been a lot of work, a lot of effort, and a fair amount of things going on! Yet it hadn't all just been herself, in the end, despite things elsewhere taking from her efforts to get a smithy up and running. She'd even begun to get to know a local girl named Ayai more as of late, a younger woman closer to her age and....in all honesty she had barely begun to reflect on how much she was thankful for that in hindsight as of late. Someone who had similar thoughts about life, despite the cultural divide, but was a few years younger and was looking for a husband among the growing and younger men of the village. Someone who knew what it was like to have brothers and no sisters, and who had a penchant for burnt food thus far to boot! Not quite her best friend, and yet a familiar enough thing to have around as they'd hung out sometimes while Eliza had tried to help her learn to cook a bit at her place or simply wished to talk about things in what little free time each of them had.

Meanwhile, baked clay bricks, as well as supporting stones to prevent fires underneath, sat before her in a tube-shaped structure with a baked clay 'pipe' of sorts sticking out of the side for air intake. The fourth smeltery design sitting before her, and the sixth one she'd made overall since Narasu brought back possible ores to her. To the side of these, but separated from them distinctively, a tightly-made clay brick box filled with the latest batch of charcoal. Albeit most of her existing charcoal was stacked inside of her house atop stones to keep them out of the weather for the time being, or had been placed inside of the current and other possible smeltery designs to try to get them to work. Beyond that, though, a humble clay-dome-covered fire pit for firing clay bricks sat there as it was, with a pile of clay bricks that sat next to it. All the while, Eliza herself was currently busy putting what she felt were the finishing touches on the latest attempt at creating a smeltery of some sort.

And that wasn't mentioning how long even getting to this point had taken! She'd been here well over a year and a half now, and despite being seemingly a still-foreign oddity to a number of the villagers by now, albeit few had even come to watch her from afar now and then from what she had seen over the passing of the months, things had been going....well. Well enough that she'd managed to discern that some of the 'rocks' Narasu had brought prior were actually metals of some kind. Iron, maybe copper to boot, and he'd continued to bring her such rocks as they'd tried to refine 'what' to look for....then again the attempted smelting hadn't quite gone entirely according to what she hoped-

"Eriza! Are you working out back again?"

"Hmm?"

Ayai's voice rang clear as crystal, calling from her front door as the embers of the dying brick-making fire fizzled atop a bed of what by now was merely ashes. It snapped the redheaded woman out of her train of thought, hands on her hips and still midly-black-dust-stained fingers turned away from her clothing, a mild sigh coming from her mouth as the edges of her mouth turned up somewhat. The smell of smoke and burning wood clung to her, and yet she would turn about and lightly jog over to her home once more. Popping her head into the door, then, the face of the smiling, hair-bun-secured-with-a-bone-comb-wearing, friendly younger woman greeted her with-....eh?

"Tch. Good to see your showed up, Eriza."

"Kunne?"

"Yes! She wished to come along while you help me learn to cook today! Remember? And you're teaching me how to clean a fish!"

If Eliza could have smacked her forehead into the door frame for a moment, just to knock some memory back into herself, then she'd have done it. Ayai had told her a few days ago that Kunne wanted to come see the next session of her lessons! Er, not that Eliza had been doing anything but learning from Kunne and watching the other women work away at cooking otherwise by now. But where she'd been picking things up, it seemed, Ayai had, well...

"Ayai's mother tells me she's been somewhat improving, and so I came to see how you've been teaching her somewhat. The men have returned with fish and deer by now, and so we managed to get some to bring here."

She...Ayai's mother...eh?! It was time to spend together, at least, but...was the younger woman improvving enough for it to be noticed? And by Kunne of all people?

"O-Oh! Yes, we can get to preparing these right away. Ah, just let me clean my hands first-"

The surprise still fading, but not completely gone, Eliza would hurry to her 'washing hands' water vessel (kept distinct from drinking water) and would quickly move to get the black of charcoal soot off of her hands. As the vessel sat near her home fire in the center of the structure, and near a pile of bricks she hoped to make into a proper oven for wood in some fashion sooner than later, Ayai followed her example somewhat thereafter as Eliza took the one fish from the girl as Kunne held the chunk of deer meat that was to be cooked. The older woman never raised somewhat of an eyebrow at the practice, though Eliza's boiling of even fresh water before its use had raised her eyebrows in the past, but she did glance as Eliza moved to grab a stone knife she kept for cooking purposes. Well, cooking and cleaning purposes at least.

"We can head to the river, if you'd like, though I got another fresh pot of water sitting near the front door we can use to clean the fish."

Some of the women seemed to prefer going to the running river or the shoreline to wash some of the catch of the day. Well, the fish at least. Mostly they seemed to enjoy oysters for the most part, it seemed, especially in the spring and summer. Fish was still there as well, though it seemed more a winter things alongside smoked and dried shellfish kept for the winters. Not a common a thing, though the place where they dumped their many empty oyster shells and broken tools and such that had no use a bit outside of the village was something clearly visible even from afar during the day.

But on a day like this? A good fish was a treat it would seem. No wonder Kunne had come along to see this in particular.

"Hmm, if you've the good water to spare, then that is fine."

...It was a peculiar use of water, yes, that was for certain. Well, not too peculiar but...er...she had a pot for drinking, a pot for washing hands, and a pot for cleaning food to be prepared to eat. It was not exactly all 'normal' to everyone there in the village, she gathered, but it was something of a familiar comfort from home at least. Not that it didn't mean hauling a few jugs of water from the river rather early in the morning, though, so she could get other things done for the day. Water really was a heavy thing when it came down to it. Ugh.

Nodding, Eliza would wuickly go to retrive the pot nearby to Kunne, bringing it closer to the fire but keeping it away from her drinking water that had already been set aside next to the fire pit's opposite side. Then, as Ayai moved closer to her to watch, Kunne would work on getting the deer meat on the basic spit that Eliza had above her firepit. Not an uncommon thing for women in the village to make use of, a spit that is, as Eliza had come to learn over the past year somewhat. Not that she knew everything about the locals, really....but she was also splitting her time up with her own efforts as well.

"So take the blade, and place it about....here on the bottom of the fish. You see?"

Ayai nodded in return, before Eliza carefully moved to cut an opening on the bottom of the fish which she could then put the knife into. She then began to move it up the bottom of the fish.

"You want to not be too hasty, or else you might break the knife. But you also don't want to push the knife in too deep so you don't damage its guts. Those could make the meat bad."

"Eh? But won't it all wash out in the water?"

"Well, no, some things can taint good meat. It's the same with preparing a deer the hunters caught. Let's let you finish cutting this open, so if you'd put your hands over here with mine..."

Kunne watched silently as she now moved to put wood on the fire, seeing the hands of Eliza take those of Ayai's as she held the knife. Guiding her hands to cut the fish, how deep to hold it, and how to move the blade. It was...something, something the girl hadn't had a chance to learn from her own mother as far as the readhead knew. And that was rather strange to boot. Yet Ayai's mother had often been sickly and weak much of the time after the birth of her youngest child (Ayai), it seemed, from what Kunne had once told the redheaded foreigner in private. From there, Ayai's older sisters had done things, but not really shown her anything much in their scramble to get things done and help their mother over the following years since.

In that sense...well, someone willing to teach her was certainly a valuable asset to have around perhaps. Or a friend who was willing to teach things she hadn't the chance to learn.

"So like-, ah!"

"Careful! Careful. Whew. You nearly cut yourself there."

Ayai was a beautiful younger woman, and she'd eventually confided in Eliza that she felt 'behind' the other village women...younger and older alike. Not in every way, her mother and sisters had taught her some things, but time was finite and life contionued in its eternal march onward. She knew how to sew clothes well enough, somewhat on making clay pots and firing them, and she'd been among the few to talk to Eliza rather than gawk from afar. As far as Eliza was concerned after these past many months, Ayai was a friend who was trying her best. At the same time, the girl seeemed...almost a bit desperate to 'get up to par' to boot.

"This is how you remove this organ, slicing at these spots here...and here. That way you can get the stoamch with ease."

"Oh! What about the scales, though?"

"Only after we get the inside cleaned out first. That'll make it easier to remove them, and without the risk of cutting into the body and the guts in the process I think."

"But wouldn't doing that first be easier?"

"Eriza is right about that much, Ayai."

"Eh?!"

Well...progress was progress, at least, right?

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[Summary - Eliza has been doing a lot of work for almost the past year, mostly amounting to building her way up to hopefully some kind of smithing operation yet still in the future. She needed charcoal, and clay bricks, and that has taken months of work to get up and operational. She's prepared some experimental designs, based on her hobby and looking into things like smelteries when she was back home originally, and been able to do enough to figure out what 'rocks' Narasu has been bringing her are actually metal or not. Most of that metal in kind has turned out to be iron. Villagers don't all talk to her still, some still see her as a foreigner, but others have been looking at her work from afar with curiosity and Kunne's brother and his fmaily have met her properly by now too. Further, she's somewhat befriended a local village woman a few years younger than her named Ayai who has become a friend of sorts while tryhing to learn a few things from Eliza in an 'attempt to catch up to the other village women' in ways so she can find a husband.

Yet during an afternoon of finishing her latest attempted smeltery, and Narasu likely out hunting with his maternal uncle, Ayai showed up suddenly with a fish and...Kunne in tow?! Kunne carrying some deer meat to cook over Eliza's firepit and its spit at least, while mainly there to observe the two younger women go through a cooking lesson on how to clean and prepare a fish. Or is there perhaps more to Kunne's intent to observe than meets the eye?

In any case, Eliza continued to work at her personal goal as well as work with and learn from the Jomon villagers whom she lives amongst. She hasn't seen another tribe in all of this time either, though....so perhaps this tribe is a bit more isolated than some of the others, by choice or simply by coincidence or otherwise. Yet something in that vein might be on the horizon as well? Who knows for sure? Only time will tell!]