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Dear Mr Curly,
I have done little travelling lately because I have been so dreadfully weary. Can it be true as the old Ecclesiastes said; that all things lead to weariness? Surely not. Perhaps the opposite is true: that all nothings lead to weariness. I have a peculiar feeling, Curly, that I am worn out from something I haven't yet done and the more I don't do it, the more exhausted I become. How strange. Could it be something I haven't realised? Perhaps it's something I haven't said? Something I haven't finished! It must be very large and true whatever it is and a lively struggle in the doing but I look forward to it immensely. I know I need it. First, however, I must curl up in my chair and sleep deeply with the duck. Perhaps I'll dream of this thing and wake up refreshed and do it. My fond wishes to you Mr. Curly, and to all Curly Flat.
Yours sleepily,
Vasco Pyjama
xxx
P.S. Not having breakfast can make you weary. That's for sure!
Michael Leunig. The Curly Pyjama Letters.

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Made a couple of superficial edits so it reads better. No substantial changes, but here it is anyway.


Tzirret looked out at the horizon as well. He couldn't help but let out a small laugh at Ma'tanza's comments. "Yeah, Bheja is a bit too good at embarrassing others," he said. The sun had made contact with the sands now, casting a spatter of deep orange flecks across the uneven landscape. "Tzirret was surprised that S'nishi did not object. Does she enjoy embarrassing others as well?"

Encouraged by Ma'tanza's previous words, Tzirret slowly brought his arm around her back and held her just above the waist. He felt that it was a risk to be in such free physical contact without explicitly asking, but Ma'tanza said he did not have to be embarrassed. As well, in the past, when he had asked for permission for every advance with La'khay, she got tired of his requests very quickly. Tzirret did not want to make the same mistake again.

"I see," Gallus murmured. By her omission, Gallus assumed that Ri'vashi had no better idea of why she had been chosen as leader in the end as anyone else. It didn't seem to make sense at face value why Ri'vashi's father would choose her over Dro'cahi, but..."There has to be a reason," Gallus said, staring at the ground in contemplation, "A leader for so long, still of sound mind...I could not see someone like your father choosing you for no good reason. Perhaps...I would say that it is precisely the differences between you two that..."

Gallus looked up, then interrupted himself, "...ah, it is not my place to dictate, but if you would hear friendly advice from me, hear this: My mother always told me that I shouldn't second-guess myself for the sake of the opinions of others, that I should always do what I think is best. On the other hand, my father was a military man. He told me that the best advice comes from the experience of subordinates, that pride should never discount the usefulness of other points of view, for...in a war, you are all on the same side." Gallus angled his head, "You are both passionate, but you are on the same side, no? Is it really useful to take the disagreements between you two so personally?"
G'night!
There was a bit of relief to hear that Ma'tanza acknowledged that she was around her friends almost all of the time. Tzirret wanted to follow up on that, but he could only look at Ma'tanza and nod while he chewed his mouthful. That lead Ma'tanza to ask about what they should talk about in the first place, which caused the tiniest of panics in Tzirret's mind.

Tzirret swallowed his mouthful a little early in an effort to speak. It made it uncomfortable and he closed his eyes for a moment, but he didn't choke. "Er...we could talk..." Tzirret felt as though there would be a mental blank in his future if he tried to find a subject from scratch, so he instead defaulted to what he was thinking of earlier. He started off a little quiet, but gained confidence gradually as he spoke. "You know, this one was thinking the same thing. It is nice to talk without your friends around. I-it is not that Tzirret does not like your friends - many are his friends as well, it's just..." The corner of Tzirret's mouth twitched, "...Tzirret gets self conscious. Maybe it's Bheja and his jokes, maybe it's...he doesn't know exactly, but he always enjoys being around Ma'tanza. In front of everyone else its...he feels like he draws eyes, but up here..." Tzirret's smile returned and he reached to take Ma'tanza's hand, "...he does not worry so much." A single huff of what could be a laugh sounded from Tzirret and he looked down and forward again, "Unless this one embarrasses himself anyway."

Tzirret took another bite of his meal. He was close to finishing anyway.

After the seriousness of Ri'vashi's speech, there was a low, rhythmic laugh from Gallus' nose. He was smiling again, looking at the training dummy, but he was not laughing at the results of Ri'vashi's now clear attempts to relieve her frustration. "If I wanted professionalism, Ri'vashi, I would have left you alone as soon as I was ensured that the clan would be alright. This is all me being a prying gnat, no more, no less. Swat me away if you're sick of me."

Gallus lowered his arms and clasped them behind his back before looking up to Ri'vashi once more. "How long have you been the leader of this clan? Has this always been a cloud over you?"
When Tzirret took his portion of their meal and bit into it, there were so many juices that flooded his mouth that it was as if he was discovering fresh meat all over again. He smiled as he tasted the moon sugar as well. It may not have been mutton, but it was probably the best he could have picked out.

"It really does go on forever, doesn't it?" Tzirret mused as he looked out over the now pinkish-orange sands. Even though the dunes made a sort of repeating pattern as they stretched on, the way the shadows and the colours laid out across them made it impossible to run out of things to look at.

"It, um..." Tzirret tried to find eloquent words for the scene before them, but whatever he came up with seemed a bit silly. He instead found his eyes drawn to Ma'tanza. He smiled without considering it, but felt a pang of worry in his chest. As usual, he did not want to do something wrong, but he just felt like putting his tail around her waist again. He found himself doing so anyway, in spite of leaving his sentence hanging in the air. He realised himself and stammered as he tried to say something - or anything, really. "He, uh, w-we found a nice spot, he thinks..."

With the attempts at eloquence in his mind just moments before, Tzirret felt his ears flushing with embarrassment. He looked ahead and took another bite of his dinner to try and escape the awkwardness.

Gallus listened on with interest to Ri'vashi. He smiled and crossed his arms at the last comment, narrowing his eyes with interrogating interest. Even Ri'vashi's imposing physique didn't give him pause in this matter. "Better than you?" Gallus paused as Ri'vashi's sword struck the practice dummy, "He sounds like a wise enough man, but what makes you think that he is a better leader? You're the leader of this clan for good reason, no?"
Their shadows were growing long, but Tzirret stood with Ma'tanza to see where she was looking as well. He took a moment before he responded, panning his eyes over the crags and the dunes. "This one grew up on green roads and in the snow. This place...it is the opposite. And it goes on forever, or it looks like it." Tzirret looked up one of the hills, "He wonders if he could see the edge of it if he climbed up these hills?"

Tzirret was careful climbing up the hill they chose, still hand in hand with Ma'tanza. It was not a large hill, but it was closer to the edge of the dunes and would provide a good view. Patches of loose scree meant that there were a couple of close calls and overbalances, but thankfully neither of them tumbled down the hill.

They reached the summit, or close enough to it, just in time. The entire landscape was beginning to take on a shade of pink. Tzirret laid out the bedroll on a relatively flat surface and sat himself down, facing out west. He let out a deep breath to finally relax and looked up to Ma'tanza with a smile. "Would Ma'tanza like something to eat?" Tzirret asked, gesturing to the satchel he had brought up with him, "Tzirret found something fresh."

Gallus brought his head back and rubbed his neck. "Alright then. Well, thank you for standing up for us all." Gallus took a deep breath and seemed to hold it as he spoke, "Look, it would be naive to think that bringing the Senchal clan here would have no impact on you all. We do not want to be a burden, so if there is anything we can do to pull our weight, please, bring it to us. I mean, I am not Ri'nakhad, so I cannot speak for the clan officially, but I do not see why he would differ."

Perhaps pushing his luck, Gallus brought his curiosity further. "Do...your arguments ever become a problem?" Gallus brought his hands up to his chest and quickly clarified with a small laugh in his voice, "Excuse me prying, it's just that the last time that there was a major division in the Bruma council, our leader was murdered and my father got stabbed by the leader's son in a rage. You will have to let me know if I am being paranoid."
<Snipped quote by Muttonhawk>

He's not that big on ceramics. You should be able to get that.


Sweet.
"Tzirret never asked, but he thinks they are for the garden and for decoration," Tzirret and Ma'tanza were passing through the main chamber quickly, despite slowing down a little to admire it. They were almost at the gate already, "He will admit, he did not search below for a bath, he just splashed himself with the water in the streams. They looked clean enough. Still, he would like a proper bath. Maybe he will find one below anyway."

The tunnel made much more of an echo as they passed through. There were still a few people ferrying supplies, so it was not as eerie as when Meesei and her advance party first stepped through it. "She says that the waterfalls are like being back in Pelletine. Are there many waterfalls in the Tenmar? Tzirret did not get to see any."

For a moment, Gallus considered dropping the issue and leaving Ri'vashi to her own devices, but his curiosity got the better of him. He nodded and gave a short hum. "That is fortunate," he said, before angling his head forward and continuing more slowly, "Are you allowed to disclose what the disagreement was over? I can tell that it was passionate, you look worse than my father after learning that a patrol was skipped."
Here is the current state of my CS. I may improve on it, especially if I get feedback.

...Teknall, The Great Artisan...


This guy is a cool kid. I have a question, though. How much dibs has he got on ceramics? That's kind of a theme for my god. I was thinking of aiming for a portfolio those lines later on, when the automatons get numerous enough.

Considering posting my CS tonight instead...


Tzirret looked apologetic when Ma'tanza was startled by him. He realised that he didn't need to rush so much here. He smiled and nodded at the good news about finding cloth, but fidgeted on his toes as he waited.

"See you, M'ibasa," Tzirret said quickly with a small grin as he walked off with Ma'tanza. Tzirret kept a brisk pace as he walked through the clan home. He normally wouldn't walk so fast, but the sun would be setting soon.

"Um, this one is sorry for startling Ma'tanza," Tzirret said as he walked. His ears were held back, but they perked a little as he continued, "It is good that she found some cloth, though. You can move around without being so sore again." Tzirret let out an uneasy laugh.

When they entered the main chamber, Tzirret couldn't help but gaze around at the various grand features. "This place is very beautiful," Tzirret said loudly over the sound of the waterfall they were passing, "Tzirret never thought he would see so much water here."

Gallus had just finished up advising a pride where they could set down to sleep when he spotted Ri'vashi passing by. He was in his mail armour and equipped with his weapons again. "Ah, Ri'vashi! I was just looking for..." Gallus raised a hand in greeting and turned as the clan leader walked straight past him without acknowledging him at all. His first thought was that she didn't recognise him in his clothing. "Hold on! Clan leader, wait!"

The expression on Ri'vashi's face interpreted in Gallus' mind as a greater issue going on. He broke into a jog to catch up with her. "Wait!" Gallus slowed to match the large stride of Ri'vashi's Cathay gait and looked up to the side of her face, "Has something happened, clan leader?"
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