The Plan in Motion

About two decems have passed since we began working on the town hall, it's now the 13th of Straat, I think, and the town hall is almost complete. The walls are made from logs, like most houses in Riverhold, but Jack wanted to try a new roofing type, so it's made from slabs of wood rather than straw or logs. This made the roof much lighter than log, but sturdier than straw. The interior has two floors, with a multi-story room in the front. This is supposed to be an indoor meeting place for future town residents, but right now it serves as a bedroom for everyone.

The first floor is behind the main room, and has two rooms in it, both meant to serve as offices, but we are currently using them as storage until they're needed. The upper floor is for the mayor, with an office and a bedroom. Neither of these rooms have much furniture, besides a bed for Mr. and Mrs. Smith.

Just yesterday we put in shudders and makeshift windows so sunlight could come in, and the day before the floor was finished. Diana and Troy took a mixture of rock and sand, set large rocks in it, let it dry, and then set it into place in the floor in large tiles. It looks pretty nice, and it won't rot like wood, so it'll last longer. I asked if it would be possible to make entire buildings out of stone, but Diana said, "It is, but it's difficult. We'd need a lot more stone, and it would make the houses heavier, so maybe the walls but not the roofs," so I guess we're not gonna see that for a while.

The day before that, Jack finished making a fence for Holly's garden. It has the same footprint as the town hall, and it's right next to it. I've found some wild herbs and vegetables that are similar to what we're used to, so getting seeds for the garden wasn't an issue. The fence itself is made similarly to the roof of the town hall, with flat strips of wood on the sides rather than sticks. For some added decoration, Diana put some smooth stones around the perimeter of the fence, and I like how it looks.

And the day before that, we finished drawing out the main road leading to the cave, as well as the outline of future building locations. Well, I say drew, but we really just put some stones every so often to outline what we think would be the edges of the road and corners of the houses. We currently have a smithy, a storehouse, and a carpentry planned out along the main road, and we'll probably have individual houses branching off from the main road at some point. This'll be after we've explored the caves a bit, so hopefully the better tools we'll have will make it easier to build them.

It was just before midday, after I spent some time at the shore fishing, when Mr. Smith came up to me with a request.

"Hey Prestin, how were the waters today?"

"They were good Mr. Smith," I said after clearing my throat, "what brings you here, I was just about to bring these fish to Holly for lunch prep." I continued, lifting the bag of a half dozen fish with my left hand.

"Well, the thing is," Mr. Smith started before looking around and guiding me behind the town hall, before continuing in a hushed whisper, "I have a request."

'What is he requesting that it needs to be this secret?' I thought before asking in a similarly hushed tone, "What is it that you need?"

"There are two things," Mr. Smith gestured with his hand, holding up two fingers, "The first is I need you to get Troy out of the town for a while, at least until evening."

I was a little shocked, but knew Mr. Smith always usually has a purpose behind what he does, so I didn't question it.

"And second I want you to find some vibrant flowers or stones. You'll need Troy for this, he'll be able to help identify the rocks needed."

"Ok, I understand the flowers and stones thing, it'll bring some color to things, but why keep Troy away from town?"

Mr. Smith once again looked around before answering, "Troy turns 17 at the end of the day, so we're gonna surprise him with the Celebration of Adulthood."

I didn't know that Troy was coming of age. In Riverhold, when someone was around 17, it marked their transition into adulthood. Usually, its commemorated with a huge festival lasting from sunset to sunrise full of games, food, and drinks. For mine, I remember Grampa cooking veal steak sandwiches and drinking a bit too much. When I woke up I was at the top of a tree, so that's probably where my habit started, but I digress.

"So, while you're gone," Mr. Smith continued, "the rest of us here are going to be preparing for the festivities."

I nodded and said, "Gotcha, I'll keep him away until just before sundown."

"Good man. I'm counting on ya Prestin."

As we parted ways, I thought about why this would be a secret. Troy's probably expecting something to happen for his Commemoration of Adulthood, but my guess is that Mr. Smith wants it to be extra special because of it being less extravagant than what would be possible in Riverhold. I don't know why he couldn't think of something more creative, but whatever.

It took me about an hour to find Troy. I had never been in the caves before, and he was deep in there examining the rocks and minerals and cataloging them, but I didn't get lost on my way, which was good.

"Yo, Troy." I said, walking up. Troy had recently been in charge of a lot of the surveying work in the cave, so he's more bold and seems to be more confident in himself. Very fitting for him becoming an adult later today.

"Prestin," Troy responded, "how did you get here?"

I was a bit shocked by his question. I expected him to ask "why are you here" not "how did you get here." I looked down at my hand and realized I forgot to bring a torch, and had been walking around in the dark for the last hour.

"Oh, umm. Not sure. Guess I got lucky."

Troy gave me a look full of suspicion, but I continued, "Anyway, Mr. Smith asked me to take you to find some materials that could be used as dyes, flowers and minerals and the like."

"Why didn't he ask you to take anyone else?"

"Because you know what rocks are what?" I wasn't sure if that was why, but I was asking if he would be able to tell from a glance if something was usable.

"Yes, I can." Troy stood up, "So you'll need me to determine if a rock is something like lapis or malachite?"

"Yeah…" I don't know what lapis or malachite are, but they must be rocks with colors, so I went along with it. I just needed to get him out of town.

"So, where are we headed?"

"We're gonna look at the edge of the mountain range."

"Got it. I'll meet you at the north end of town in 20 minutes."

"Nice see you there." I responded as I walked back into the darkness, finding my way out without issue, barely noticing that I couldn't see.

I waited with my walking stick and backpack at the north end of town for about 15 minutes before Troy came up.

"That was quick." I said as he approached, with a pickaxe in one hand, a shovel in his other, and a satchel by his side.

"Not as quick as you though," he responded, "how did you manage to go in and out of the cave without a light and not get lost?"

"I don't know. Maybe I'm just that good at navigating."

We chuckled before setting off, the sun high above us. We walked for a while, and I found a few yellow and white flowers near the mountainside, and Troy found some rocks he called turquoise and azurite near the base of the mountains, both with blueish hues.

While he was collecting those, I went a bit deeper into the forest to find more varieties of flower. I walked for a few minutes haphazardly, before something felt familiar. I've never been here before, so I figured it was just something similar. I went over to where I got the feeling and saw a light in the distance.

As I got closer, the feeling of familiarity got stronger. I was sure that I'd seen these before but couldn't remember when or where. The lights drifted around, but when I got close, they moved towards me, and when I reached out to touch one, I could barely think straight.

It felt like someone was prying my head open from the inside, and I collapsed on the ground as my vision went foggy. The last thing I saw was Troy running up to me frantically before I blacked out.