Keme Barea was, once again, bored. It wasn't uncommon, but he still hated it.

The warmth of the day was steadily rising, and the young man mused about hot summers and poor crops, anything to get the stillness of his mind moving. Looking into the noisily chirping chimes of the Dereko's interesting architecture, he could remember making similar windchimes in the forge with his master, feel the heat of the fire, see the color of the fine glass...

But this was his day off and he wasn't going to think of work. But he'd forgotten how boring things were in the Kohore part of the city. He might have to venture to Roek territory later, strictly for his art of course... though hopefully, someone would take pit on him here.

Frith sat cross legged on the floor, simply listening to delicate sounds of the instruments, his eyes firmly shut as he absorbed the music and the faint tinkling of chimes. Ever since returning from the flats, all he had wanted to do was listen, to alien noises he had not felt so close to in ten years.

There, even the faint, slightly tuneless hum that he made under his breath in time to the music would have been forbidden and now he was home, he had reveled in the simplest of noises. As a boy, he would never have come to a place such as this, as a huntsman in those days he had needed and even enjoyed the silence, lost in his own thoughts as he tried not to break twigs. But that had been then, and now he tipped his head back, listening to the sounds of people talking, actually talking.

Opening his eyes, he spotted a man alone, studying which tribe he was from- a Kohore, perhaps, he didn't recognize him, which was to be expected. Wicks who had been children when Frith had been exiled were now married with children of their own, though very little else had changed within Anhau.

He bent his head to avoid any glances, to avoid any eyes. He had heard gossip within the Roeks and it had no doubt spread. If he did not look up, he would not see disgusted faces, or mouths forming the word 'traitor', if he shut his eyes all he would hear was music and all would be well again.

Nic woke up earlier than his siblings. Although Osane needed daily naps or she would get cranky, Nic was old enough that even a short nap would leave him refreshed and even a little wired. He couldn't yet wander off because Osane was still sleeping, and his Daoa would have his ears if he did, instead he crept away from the pillowed area and looked around for anyone of interest. His eyes lit upon Keme, one of the glassblowers he'd had little contact with.

Truly, Nicias felt he'd never had any real contact with any of the glassblowers. He was mostly sent back and forth on errands for them, and only his father had more than a few words to say to him. This was how it was supposed to be, though, so Nic didn't mind.

He crept up silently until he was right behind Keme.

"You're the man what likes the Roeks." It was a statement and an introduction at the same time.


Meanwhile, unbeknown to him, Osane had woken up and was toddling about. She spotted a strange man with his eyes closed and approached him. She opened one of her little fists and held out a small round stone.

"Look." She chirruped, showing him the smooth stone.

Keme looked at the child, startled by his sudden appearance. He was also a little shocked the the blunt synopsys of himself. Blinking a few times, mouth curled in a confused frown, he wondered if perhaps he should get angry. From the mouths of babes, though... oh well, it was not worth the effort to become enraged, and besides, the boy was at least someone to talk to.

"Yes, I am... though it's certainly an interesting way to start a conversation, child. What is your name?" Obviously the kid knew something of who he was, and it vaguely bothered the man. Was it so obvious he was fascinated with the Roek? He knew the gossip, though that it had even made it's way to a boy he was fairly certain he'd had no meaningful interaction with... "I am Keme."

((sfsp!))

Frith opened one eye, as the little girl tweeted at him like a tiny bird, before slowly looking down at the stone held in one pudgy palm.

"Hello little one," he said, not unkindly, though his voice was gruff and hoarse from so little practice. "Have you come to sell me treasures?"

He peered in close to the stone and widened his eyes dramatically, like a story teller," This is a very nice stone. But you must keep it safe," he took her tiny hand and closed it gently back into a fist. He cocked his head at the wide eyed girl, pulling a funny face...it was refreshing to be engaged in conversation, albeit by a child.

However, as he caught wind of the conversation not far from him he winced slightly and bowed his head. He had caught the word 'Roek' and assumed it was gossip about him, it was his tribe, but the name for some reason cut him like a knife.

Perhaps, if the small girl in front of him permitted it, he would take his leave. There were things he could be doing now, useful things for the tribe that would gain their confidence again. "Boy," he said calling to Nicias who would have been a small slip of nothing when Frith first went into the flats, "This stone and the child attached to it belong to you, yes?"

"Nicias." The boy replied, making a face at being called child. He was not impressed. He was eleven, after all. And that was an age to be reckoned with. He assumed his grandparents were at least...30. He wasn't quite as old as them. 30 was old.

"I am going to be a glassblower some day." Nic told Keme seriously. "My father is Garaile Mattin. He is going to let me use the tubes soon." He hadn't been able to handle the weight of the tubes yet, but Nic had been trying to lift more heavy things so he could do it himself. Perhaps he'd be the first eleven year old to blow glass on his own.

Behind him, Osane was giggling at the man who had made a funny face. She had taken her stone back and was clutching it tightly. When the gruff man called out at her brother she pointed at Nic.

"Nisas." She intoned carefully, spotted something on the ground, picked it up and showed him this treasure as well.

"Look!" It was a small, pink, glass marble.

Nicias turned when the man called him and eyed Osane carefully. He payed even closer attention to the man before shrugging slowly. Frith didn't look dangerous, although he was very dark and strong... and he was close enough that if he did try anything Nic was fully confident he'd be able to get there.

"No." He replied. There might have been a hint of amusement in his eyes, and his lips quirked into a rare smile as Osane showed the man another treasure.

"She belongs to herself. I do not know about the rock."

Ahh! One of Garaile's brood. Keme smiled, recognizing familial features and feeling much less exposed. He should pay more attention his master told him of the other man's work; perhaps he would have caught that his son frequented the area, and this rather... awkward moment avoided. Besides, there was no harm done and I am rather known to disappear to the Roek areas. Yet there remained a niggling doubt in his mind about his conduct.

Looking at the lad as though scrutinizing his physique, he tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Well, Garaile will be a very lucky man to have such a son working with him. What do you want to make?"

Before there was much else that could be asked, Keme's attention was brought to the bearded man and the little girl. The older man was... certainly interesting. Possibly another good combatant against the rising tide of boredom. Turning to quirk an eyebrow at Nicias, he shrugged. Well, he'd see how the older man responded before making conversation.

He opened his hand and bowed his head in thanks to Osane, genuinely appreciative of the pink marble, of any color that wasn't a shade of brown.

"If you have no claim on the little miss, perhaps I shall keep her then," he said, the chuckle in his throat feeling odd to a man who had not laughed in a long time, "with an eye for treasure like this she would make a fine business partner."

He caught the other, older man looking, watching him and, assuming Keme was waiting for Frith to do something dangerous, his mood changed quickly.

Carefully Frith stared at his hands, mumbling "Not that I mean any harm."
To someone watching it would seem as though Frith, who looked a good deal stronger than Keme was afraid of the younger man. But Frith was not frightened, he just did not want anyone to think he was serious about these matters- that he was volatile and was threatening to steal children, joking was dangerous when there were eyes everywhere.

"If I had thought you mean harm I would have taken her away." Nic told the other man simply, and then turned back to Keme, only keeping half an eye on Osane. He opened his mouth to reply to Keme's earlier question and then had a thought.

"If she bothers you, tell me. She can do this for hours..." Another small smile accompanied this remark.

He was right. Osane was had already run off a few feet and was coming back with a small green plant and lifting it at Frith.

"Look! Look!" She crowed, delighted that someone was showing interest in her game. She waited for him to see it.

Nic quietly decided that he'd give her maybe a minute more of fun before rescuing the man. Daoa would have made him do it immediately, but the eldest Mattin didn't feel like entertaining his little sister...she would surely begin to shriek if she was interrupted right now.

"I will make glass things." He told him seriously. "My father makes vases and plates but..." He shrugged. "I want to make bigger things."

After all...how hard could it be to make a vase? But a big vase...that was a different story...

Keme smiled at the older man, who he was slowly deciding was Roek. Brilliant! "No harm, sir, I was merely curious about you, since I have not seen you before." It was a rather moot point after Nicias's clipped response but nothing could hurt. With a polite nod, he motioned to both little girl and bearded man. "Should you wish to return her to her-- overseer, then please feel free to take a seat here.

Turning back to Nicias, he smiled at the boy's quiet exuberance. "Big things, hm? Like... colored windows and sculptures?" In fact, it was a secret desire of Keme's to capture the Roek fluid motion of martial arts in glass sculpture, and Nicias's reply brought to mind his own big dreams.

"No you would not have done," he said slowly, tense shoulders relaxing a little, he was not the man he had been upon entering the beggar flats and his beard had done much to hide his past features. "You are kind to offer me a seat."

At first it seemed as though Frith was not going to take up the younger man's offer, perfectly content in the company of Osane and her games, but after a few moments consideration he stood up and seated himself besides Keme whilst Osane had gone off to find another treasure, if she wanted to continue the game she would only have to walk a few paces further. Upon sitting between the two younger males, Frith found himself at a loss as to what to do next. Years in the flats had left him rude of speech and unfamiliar with the concept of polite conversation.

He did not yet grasp again why people greeted each other with words when a nod of the head would do, or why instructions were barked at children when a soft motion of the hand would tell them more than they needed to know. More alien than this is of course, was the notion of gossip and conversation.

Once Osane was sure Frith had seen her plant, she went in search of another object. A small piece of string was next. This time, because it was customary for her to do so, she clambered into his lap and held up the piece of string.

"Look." She said in a very serious voice.

Nic was grinning at his little sister but his ear was on Keme. He put his hand in his pants pocket and grabbed a small leather pouch. Out of this he pulled a small, square piece of glass.

"Windows." He told Keme, feeling as if he was telling the man a secret. He hadn't told his father of this yet.

The square of glass was composed by different colours of melted blue glass and a single round yellow one in the center. It was a very precise, geometrical piece, and one that Nic hadn't had the permission to make. He had done this when his father hadn't been there, with one of the older apprentices to help him carry out what he wanted to do.

In return he had given him a whole bag of candied cherries. Itzal and Argi had both protested loudly, but he had silenced them with a mere look.

"It is the sun."

In his mind though, he was frustrated. He hadn't come close to creating what he had wanted to-- the picture he had seen in his mind...But he was going to some day. He was going to make a window of the sun. And of so many other things.

[Geometric shapes like this: http://www.justglass-online.com/wp-cont ... -round.jpg but of course much smaller]

Keme was secretly pleased when the bearded elder sat with them. Upon closer inspection, he was able to discern a distinct... roek-ness about the man. Something in his carriage, his movement? Although possessing two left feet himself, Keme could see there was a delicate tenseness in the man's walk. Yes, a roek or I'll dash my own glass work! Grinning broadly but keeping the elder's silence he turned back to Nicias.

"Windows, you are very farseeing. They are difficult, but I'm sure--" He had been about to say something condescendingly encouraging, but the lad's scrap of glass shut him up properly. The child was so young, but already able to be so precise? Keme's early work had been mess, pretty but chaotic with undefined corners and wave like color transitions. Nicias had done something very lovely indeed. Quietly rearranging his thoughts, Keme glances from boy to glass bit again. "That is a very good piece. Did you-- did anyone help you? May I see it closer?"

"Alder put it in the fire." Nic replied, naming the older boy who had helped him. "Had to give the pillock my whole bag of sweets." He glanced at Frith and explained, "They are not allowed to help us."

"I cut it and got one of the metal smithies to help fit the wires so it wouldn't melt out of shape." He let Keme hold the small square of glass and then rocked back and forth on his feet nervously. He wasn't afraid Keme would drop it-- but it made him nervous when other people looked at his work. Even if it was rather precise, he'd still been sloppy with some of the edges.

[sfsr]

"Nicias, I do believe this is some of the best amateur work I have seen. If you want further instruction, come by when my master is away." He grinned warmly at the lad and with a smooth, friendly movement, he placed one finger on the boy's forehead. "And there will be no need for buying me off with sweets. I will do this free of charge." He remembered looking up tot he older smithies and glassblowers as a child; while the same may not be for Nicias, he rather hoped he'd made an impression on the boy. Someday his father would have to release him for apprenticeship, and while it wasn't unheard of to teach your own children, normally they were sent to others for instruction. By then Keme would be well into his journeyman stage, and he and the lad might make fine pieces; plus, assisting with the younger students was looked well upon by the community in general.

Turning to Frith, his curiosity getting the best of him, he nodded politely before surreptitiously asking-- "And you, Elder? What do you go by?"

If Keme had not turned to him, Frith would not have known who he was addressing, 'Elder' was not a title he was used to, having been but a young man when he entered the flats. He tugged at his dark beard, it was no doubt incredibly aging.

Frith smiled faintly, though it was partially hidden by his thick facial hair, "I have never been called Elder before," he said his expression becoming slightly more serious, "I am Frith Rair. Of the Roek. You are Keme, yes? You said earlier."

He looked at the glass peice, and then at is own hands, rough and caloused with split nails chewed down to the stubs when his mouth had ached for something to do, "I do not know much about glass blowing I am afraid, and even less about beauty- but that looks a fine piece of work to me."

Nic stared at Keme suspiciously for a few minutes and then nodded. "Yes. I would like that."

He grinned, looking more like the boy he was now. Osane was still chattering away as if she actually believed Frith was listening to her. Nic noticed this and then picked her up, shushing her.

"Thank you, Elder Frith of the Roek." He said, trying his best to be respectful while Osane crowed at him loudly.

"Dzeh. I must go bring--" He made a face, now trying to avoid his little sister's flailing limbs, "Osane to-- tch. Excuse me, both of you."

He put the writhing girl into a more comfortable position (for him-- she was too busy screaming to be comfortable), and then walked off in the direction of his home. He'd stayed out too late anyway.