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At first, it looked very strange. For sure, the forest dwellers should have been harboring an ulterior grievance for such an unpleasant first meeting. The offense was brought to Wey-Leya, but Master Nao was wise, quickly found a Common Language with the Vedich girl, and apologized. She accepted and judging by her behavior, no longer held a grudge.
As a result, both nations regarded the collision on the coast as a misunderstanding.
Ulari himself became acquainted with Fao and Ina, rather grown-up and cheerful girls. They told him that they could turn into squirrels, martens, raccoons, and ferrets. Curious, Ulari asked for a demonstration, but they laughed loudly.
The young Vedich with greenish hair looked at his communication with the girls with obvious indignation. If he remembered right the boy’s comrades abbreviated his name to Nome, but Ulari would never be able to utter the full name.
Strange names these Vedichs have! Although they themselves say these names were prompted by the forest; nature prompted them. What a nature they have, that whispers such names!
When the city of Kawa appeared on the horizon, Ulari became a little sad. He managed to make friends with the forest people and he very much hoped that his path would one day again intersect with Fao and Ina in the Valley.
Masters Kuno and Ean also left the squad, entrusting their schools to Nao. They returned to the waterfall of the Celestial Staircase to await new envoys from the mountain people.
7
As Kawa was getting closer and closer, Ulari began to see the differences. Tokana was made of huge stones and built on majestic peaks, whereas Kawa was small and compact like a toy and stood on the river. The Kawa houses were made of wood and the city was surrounded by a high hedge of tall pine trunks, pointed upward. Master Nao called this hedge a fence. He explained that it protected against wild forest animals and robbers.
Nao, like everyone else, was seeing the Valley for the first time, but had already read almost everything about it in the information about the remaining nations brought to the Tokana by Rogue Azir. Having learned the local language, Rogue Azir translated many books about his people for them, and also wrote several of his own in the Ulutau language. The Ulutau were taught the Common Language using his books.
Ulari never understood why they needed to learn the Common Language until he met the Vedichs. And it turned out to be very convenient! How would the Vedichs know the language of the Ulutau, and vice versa if not for the Common Language? The Vedichian people spoke it terribly, as if they had just learned, and it was Wey-Leya who spoke the most. Fao and Ina had to be asked to repeat what they said several times to understand what they meant.
At the entrance to the city, their squad was met by a strange man with long blond hair wearing a leather suit with steel heels – an outfit which obviously didn’t resemble armor. The Ulutau themselves didn’t wear armor either, but in Tokana’s libraries there were many pictures of the Taurs and one could immediately understand that armor was needed to protect against demons. This stranger’s clothing would not help in battle; the cloth was sewn chaotically. And on the bridge of his nose the man wore a metal frame with transparent glass circles.
“He’s from the Tuasmatus people,” Nao explained.
“What’s on his face?” Ulari inquired.
“It seems that it helps him to see better.”
Tuasmatus! Or Mechanicum, as they were also called. This nation was related to the Ulutau and the Itoshins. However, if Emperor Tosho blessed the mountain people, then he cursed the Mechanicum! Itoshin Kunu-Lau left the city of Shohan without the knowledge of the Emperor, and afterwards with like-minded people he founded his kingdom in the west.
Mechanicum, according to stories, are strange people. They are smart and inventive, but don’t share their secrets, so information about them is very contradictory. They say that Mechanicum can use their technologies to create people from stone and revive them, they can build special devices to swim in under the water, they can almost build the second Celestial Staircase.
But who in Tokana believed such stories?
“Master Nao,” said the same Mechanic, “It’s good to see you!”
“You know me?” the Master asked with surprise.
“They sent me especially to meet you!” The stranger smiled, but that smile was cloying and disgusting. Ulari’s attention was immediately drawn to this. After all, any Ulutau feels sincerity. The smiles of Vedichs were sincere!
“Who are you?” asked a clearly puzzled Nao.
“My name is Eoamit Asmalou. I am the representative of the Reyro kingdom, a glorious Tuasmatus people. The burgomaster of the Great Cities has instructed me to meet you and lead you to the Valley with all the honors.”
“It’s not worth honoring,” Nao waved him away. “Our people do not accept this. However, I am grateful for the warm welcome.”
“The leader of the city of Kawa is already aware of your arrival, and has prepared the best chambers for you in his own home.”
“It’s not worth it! We’ll stop at the guest house. What’s it called?”
“The inn? What are you talking about?” the Mechanic spoke heatedly before the Master. “It is extremely uncomfortable in there! Hard loungers, meager food.”
“On the journey, we slept on rocks and ate what we had,” the Master interrupted. “Thank you, but we will choose an inn.”
“And you will not visit the governor of Kawa?”
“Does he relate to the Valley?”
“He fulfills the will of the Burgomasters of the Great Cities.”
“Does he know why the Valley was deserted?”
“Not at all, just like everyone else. Neither I nor the Burgomasters.”
“In that case, we’ll go to the inn if you have nothing more to say.”
“Then until tomorrow… come to the pier! The river ship will take you to Eavette in a couple of days!” Asmalou held out a heavy bag, “A gift from the Burgomasters! This is money! We are aware that it is not being used in the Ulutau country, but here you will have hard times without it. By the way, they simply don’t allow you to go into the inn.”
The Mechanic quickly disappeared from sight, and the Master remained standing, holding the gift in his hand, which he either did not have time to, or just could not, refuse.
This Eoamit Asmalou is insistent indeed, you can say nothing else. What will be next?
The wooden city struck the Ulutau. And the inn, scolded so much by the Mechanic, seemed to be an abode of ancient fairytales. It was so unusual inside! In a separate outbuilding stood tall beautiful animals that looked like mountain deer. They were called horses and people rode them.
Inside the tavern, there was a delicious smell of roasted meat and fragrant vapors from drinks that sharply warped the mind. Master Nao said that people in the Valley drank such drinks which turned them into fools. Why they drank them, he did not know.
The dinner was just amazing. Ulari and the other Ulutau never ate such delicious and unusual food but praised it. However, at night almost all their stomachs twisted. Some spent the morning in the special rooms, and when there was no more space there, others were right behind the inn.
8
The Master openly confessed to his disciples that he did not want to go to the pier or travel with the ingratiating Mechanic. However, the route that ran along the river was the fastest indeed, and the offer had to be taken advantage of.
Eoamit Asmalou outwardly was unimaginably glad to see the Ulutau.
Maybe he did not expect us to actually come?
The School of the North Slope experienced more and more miracles, and on this day was excited to sail on a ship for the first time. However, they quickly learned from Captain Torros, a mighty bearded Guawar, this was not a real ship, but a river boat.
Captain Torros, wearing the traditional Guawarian caftan girded with a red sash to which a sharp curve of a saber was attached, shared a lot of interesting things about this seaworthy craft. He told them that the ships in the sea had much higher sides which allowed them to stay on the waves better. They also had wide sails and a device called a keel.
Ulari missed or did not understand some things, but ships sounded quite different than the craft they were on. With no language to call their own, they spoke the Common Language using a Guawarian dialect and some Ulutau words went misinterpreted.
The team of strong muscular men sang songs as they leaned on the oars, and the boat seemed to literally fly across the river’s surface. Given there were women and children on board Ulari felt the oarsmen’s songs too obscene, but convinced himself that he probably misunderstood unfamiliar words.
Ulari and Master Nao were standing at the stern when Asmalou approached them with his fake smile. He wanted to say something, but Nao was ahead of him.
“I don’t understand,” the Master began. “I thought that the Valley was completely deserted, that there were no people left!”
“Quite right.”
“But in tiny Kawa, I counted more people than in huge Tokana!”
“Quite right, again!” repeated the Mechanic, “Having learned about the mountain in the Valley, the people immediately rushed to bring life to it!”
Nao said nothing. And when Asmalou left, he turned to Ulari and said:
“They hurried here to quickly get rich! This is the Valley, my dear disciple, and the customs are like that!”
At night, they slept in the open air and the next day arrived at the Lake of the Ancestors in the evening. Such large lakes could not be found in the Celestial Plateau, and the beautifully deep waters hinted of violet in the twilight. Sailboats, similar to Captain Torros’s ship roamed the lake; slowly moving the barges and longboats loaded with goods, some so heavy that people from the shore dragged them with cables. And there was no number to the fishing boats on the lake.
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