The Gift of Giving

Megan was able to recall most of the English alphabet and even a few symbols from the language of the Zafreen and due to her excellent memory, it didn't take her long before she was reading away, taking notes and memorising knowledge. She found gaining knowledge to be a very enjoyable experience and the Professor saw her comprehension and understanding grow by leaps and bounds as she appeared to absorb information like a sponge and disseminate understanding of what she learned at a pace that excited the Kroa'tal to no end.

After a few hours, Tau led Megan back down to the courtyard, where Master Zanik had her jogging again while Master Zanik and Tau practised with spears. After this, they returned to the kitchen, and this time, Tau had to leave to work in the stables while she did her newly learned duties as a kitchenhand under the direction of Mam.

Dinner was a simple fare of stewed meat and vegetables, but Megan found she was allowed to eat as much as she wanted. After this, Megan and Tau were actually given some free time to do whatever they wanted, and Megan took out one of the books lent to her by the Professor, much to the disappointment of Tau. She assured him they could do whatever he wanted after she finished reading, but she had so much she wanted to learn.

After reading for a while, she went with a bored Tau and played a game on a checkered, black and white squared board that Tau called Checs, at least, he thought it was called that. Tau then had Megan follow him and show her all the rest of the inn, which she learned had a name called The Sandalwood Gates. Megan was shown around the big main building from the entrance room, which she now learned was a lobby down to the common tavern where people drank cheap wine and beer and ate greasy food and then up to what she was told was a formal restaurant and ballroom with a stage that Tau told her was usually used for 'boring conferences' where people sat and talked all the time. Megan got the full grand tour of the stables, including great places to hide and waste time if I needed to.

On the other side of the main big building, a tall building with large chimneys poking from the roof Tau informed her was what was called a Workshop, and this was where exciting stuff was usually happening. Inside, she was shown a small smelter and forge, an area for drying and processing herbs and plants, and an area for tailoring with a sewing machine. Tau brought her through a room used to butcher and process animals and out a door to show an area that looked like it was used as a growing field and garden. Huge lights glowed and pointed bright, warm light onto patches of the ground underneath them and two large square buildings made of glass. Megan could see many plants and even some trees growing in the light.

Tau explained that food is grown this way and sold for a premium, and it was cheaper to grow and produce the alcohol as well as certain cooking ingredients.

Eventually, Megan and Tau ended up back on the roof gazing at weird objects floating silently down from the sky on their mysterious path down into the depths of the hole that Faren City rounded to do whatever it is that they do down there.

The next day pretty much remained the same, Megan and Tau would train with Master Zanik, have breakfast, work in the kitchen then lessons with the Professor, then back to Master Zanik for more torturous training, lunch and then another few hours in the kitchen, dinner and some free time and then bed.

Megan revelled in the routine of it all, glad to finally find a place away from Markus and his cronies. The training was tiring and boring as Master Zanik had her just jogging around the courtyard every lesson and would shush her when she asked questions, eventually she decided to just keep quiet and do what she was told. That was what slaves were supposed to do anyway.

The thing she looked forward to every day and enjoyed above everything else was lessons with the Kroa'tal Professor Ayn'welk. She found everything she was taught fascinating and just wanted to dive into an attempt to read every book she could get. She learned about so many things real and imagined from mathematics to engineering and geography to sciences. The knowledge filled her head with ideas and concepts she would have never believed possible. She learned that the Zafreen and Kroa'tal and numerous other beings inhabiting the world they currently resided on were not native to what she learned was called a planet. The planet or world they were on was called Barbeedo II and was one of three inhabited planets in the solar system called Netherous IV. Apparently the stories and various historical documents the Professor had a hold of referenced a huge interstellar civilisation that once spanned multiple solar systems and galaxies and even universes on a scale that quickly made Megan's mind shut down, unable to grasp the sheer vastness of it. She had to delude herself into believing it all must be a work of fiction. Despite this, at the back of her consciousness, thoughts churned over silent forms floating down from the sky to enter the depths of a certain hole she knew nearby.

The Professor confirmed for her that the stories of space and flying through the sky were only stories these days and if people still did these things they were beyond the knowledge of the current inhabitants of Barbeedo II, as far as he knew anyway. Megan could only nod and play along.

Despite there being no one any more that used ships to fly through the sky Megan learned that the technology of the past was still quite prevalent in today's Bardeedo II society and although creating new technology was not done very often there was still beings out there that could maintain or repair old tech and sometimes spent thier whole lives devoted to the art. She also learned that technology everywhere varied in levels of complexity from stone age tools all the way up to tech so advanced that the capabilities were likened to magic with effects that were miraculous and unexplainable.

According to the maps available to her she found that the parts of Barbeedo II populated by the Zafreen were restricted to small parts of the world, mostly the dry arid deserts closer to the equator of the planet which left vast stretches of ocean and land completely filled with large forested areas and mountainous terrain. The planet Barbeedo II was a fairly large planet with a higher than usual gravity and huge landmasses with oceans that could almost be mistaken as big lakes if there weren't shallow watery areas joining them in places between continents.

Megan learned that in places on Barbeedo II there could still be found ruins of the civilisation that once called this planet home and that her owner Marcus was a part of a team that would follow rumours and stories to try to find remnants of old tech, fix it up, then sell it to the

highest bidder.

There were always more rumours to follow and stories abounded about ancient civilisations whose technology surpassed all sentient wildest dreams and fantasies. Massive organisations across the planet had arisen and fallen over the fortune in tech and rubbish, grasping at any opportunity for fame and profits.

At any time of the week no matter where you looked there was another party of explorers stating they knew where the real treasure was and if you bought the next round they would bring you along and share the glory. There were many budding adventurers that had become rich overnight or tragically lost their lives through misdeeds and deception.

Megan learned about the leaders of Barbeedo II and how there was a very clear distinction between people who ruled and people who followed them.

Although basically a feudal system, there didn't appear to be centrally governed kingdom as such. It is more like a series of citystates with a powerful family in control of the biggest city in an area with each area likely surrounding a key resource or particular commodity either gathered or manufactured. Businesses were usually owned by the leading families in an area and would be responsible for maintaining law and order to a certain extent. Faren City itself was known for its raw metal ores and gemstones that were mined somewhere in the depths of the hole that the city was built around, for example.

Megan fell into the routine of awakening, training, working, learning, and sleeping as time seemed to just float by as the days, then weeks, and finally months past her by before she could even realise it.