73 - 78 Ashan 722
The unfortunate problem was that none of the company were miners by trade. Robin knew how to forge metal, but he did not know how to break it from the earth and refine it into the ingots he was used to working with. Nor did anyone in Haven when Balthazar asked around there... nor Beacon. He knew he was stretching when he reached out to Beacon but he had some hope that maybe, just maybe, the soup kitchen would be able to throw a few miners who were looking for work his way. They weren't able to. So he knew he would have to elsewhere- outside the circle he trusted. He left Faldrass and flew for Scalvoris Town on Simula while the weather was still good. He could feel a storm on the wind but it hadn't arrived yet.
The person he found in Scalvoris Town worked for a shop called the Little Korlasir. Hurk. Hurk's name was fitting but he had to work at the shop and couldn't take a ten trial trip to the mountains. Balthazar might have been able to persuade him if he told him more about the rumored metal, but Balthazar didn't want to play that card until he knew he had no other options. He went with the usual offer of favors and Hurk indicated he didn't really need help unless Balthazar wanted to take trips to Gunvorton to safeguard the shipments he was already receiving. The comment was a double edged sword. One on hand, Hurk indicated why he did not need to make the trip with Balthazar. On the other, he'd given away where he was getting his supplies. Unable to come to an agreement, Balthazar thanked Hurk for his help and left.
Gunvorton must have had miners or connections to some. Either way he knew it would be the next stop on his journey. Another few trials on the move and he was in Gunvorton. Late into Ashan, the weather had turned a little more wet than the mage would have liked. He didn't feel comfortable flying Simula in the rain so he road atop her back as he made the journey to Gunvorton. Well, he felt comfortable enough to try it and after being knocked out of the saddle he decided he didn't want to try it again. The elements showed him a great amount of deference when he was manipulating them, but the wind and rain were unkind to the mage as soon as he and the Scalvwing had taken to the sky.
The take off was rocky and nearly put Balthazar on the ground but he held onto the reigns with his hands and the steed with his legs. Simula was the best trained creature he'd ever ridden so he felt she was doing most of the work, but he was learning. It took a few trills to adjust to the continuous flapping of Simula's wings as she soared. The wind was what knocked Balthazar off. Simula had moved as he commanded and he had made the mistake of telling her to go fast. On a merquestrian it didn't matter, the water tried to pull him in so he was often more stable. In the air... there was no stability. Simula went forward and Balthazar was not braced to move forward with her, so the wind shoved him out of the saddle. He caught himself with the embrace of his kin element and Simula rounded back to him quickly when he whistled for her to. He lowered himself to the ground and decided that they would use the land to reach Gunvorton.
Initially it was not much better. The saddle felt uncomfortable with each trot that Simula took so after a few bits of riding Balthazar found himself adjusting his posture repeatedly. Eventually he found a comfortable enough way to sit that he tried to speed Simula up. Her trot slowly shifted into a gallop and he held on firmly- probably too firmly because the seat began to get uncomfortable again. He needed to loosen up and he knew it. A few bits later, he'd figured that out too. From there, the ride to Gunvorton was rather simple- if wet.
He didn't like the village at all. It was better than Egilrun but only because Egilrun hated mages so passionately. He felt like there were eyes on him from the moment he arrived to the moment he left- another similarity between the two villages. It wasn't a large place but much of it was off limits, especially it seemed, to him. The warehouse district was his first stop because he didn't know how tightly patrolled it was. He simply heard it referred to as the warehouse district and he assumed miners would work near there. He didn't really even get near it before a patrol of guards who were clearly not Elements told him in a polite but firm way to turn back. He didn't argue. He wasn't there to cause trouble so he did, but he also noted how strange it was that the area was so tightly patrolled by a group were not the Elements. If it was as important as they made it seem, why were the Elements not helping to secure it? Land Troopers could have done the job as effectively.
It was strange, but it was not for him to investigate it. He was looking for miners and that was all. Gunvorton seemed to be doing well, people seemed happy. He knew he should let go of little things that rubbed him wrong. He went to the Hope Street Marketplace and found similar treatment. He was steered away more by the increase in price for non-residents than he was by private guards here. That and, once again, a lack of miners. He did however have the opportunity to poke around about the private guards patrolling everywhere. He got a few strange looks when he asked but he never asked incredibly direct questions. Just little things like 'who was that' when one of the well armed guards moved passed him. After all, what non-resident wouldn't want to know about the people carrying around weapons? The answers always came heavily in favor of the Consortium so Balthazar intuited that he shouldn't imply his suspicions. He might have thought the way things ran in Gunvorton were a bit odd, but it was clear that none of the residents there did.
It was a little bit too much like a cult for Balthazar's liking but who was he to judge? As long as they weren't sacrificing people like the cult in Quacia, there was little to be concerned with... hopefully.
The private guards were better trained and better armed than the Elements to protect the warehouse and Gunvorton. By allowing them to do it, the Elements didn't need to worry about draining resources. It all made perfect sense, right? No cost to the Elements or Scalvoris and their warehouses were supposedly secure- all out of the Consortium's pocket? Balthazar wasn't sure because he wasn't willing to ask the probing questions he needed to ask while he was wearing his own face. It seemed, from the overwhelmingly positive image being presented, that they were hiding something. Who needed the level of control they were exerting? He knew it rubbed him the wrong way but he wasn't going to do anything about it. He even considered adopting a few of the ideas for Haven but that would ultimately fall to Elisabeth to decide.
All the really mattered for his trip was that his assumption was wrong. Gunvorton dealt in trade but it seemed not to mine the ore themselves. He was out of the village in the same afternoon that he had arrived, unsuccessful and on his way back to Scalvoris Town where he knew that, at the very least, he could find information about mining. Hopefully the librarian would be glad to see him again.
Hopefully he learned something that would actually help him rather than more mysteries to tempt his attention away from where it belonged.
