When the elves leave Fazoul’s store Heppa considers the merits of going to Zhafa’s spice shop next or looking for pottery. “The pottery is all the way outside of town,” Tric points out. “Besides, Roshanak said you should go to the aviary. Maybe there’s a message for you.” After all, the way they have been recognized so far suggests that people here have gotten messages about them.
The Dan’Tonk aviary is operated by Sazid, who serves the dual roles of falconer and scribe. When the cousins enter his shop, there is the tinkling of bells. Sazid pokes his head out from behind a privacy partition and assures them he will be with them shortly. When he has finished taking down a message for his current customer, he emerges to greet them. “Welcome to my shop!” the middle-aged human says. He has light brown skin and short brown hair similar to Fazoul’s.
Maybe the greeting is part of the professional code, Tric muses. Maybe that’s how I can pin Damal, he jokes to himself. He never welcomed us.
“May I ask your name?” Sazid says to Heppa.
“Hepalonia of House Thrandolil,” she replies formally. “It’s nice to meet you.”
“Ah! I have a message for you.”
Sazid hands over a small strip of paper, and Heppa looks at it quizzically. She begins reading it to herself. “Heppa – Things are good here in South Tower. I have some new things from Serces that I can show you next time you come. I have a new server too to help out.”
Heppa gasps. “This must be from Alric!” she says aloud.
“Kilkk does not like the pack, so you need to visit Zhafa before you leave town. I have been rationing the Fresh Air. I’m going to sign this myself. Hope you can read it! ALRIC” The last five letters are in a different hand than the rest of the small script. They are rather sloppy, but Heppa does not care, thrilled that Alric made the effort. She blushes as she shows the letter to Tric.
“I have a new server… That’s interesting,” Tric murmurs.
It is just one of many personal references, as far as Heppa is concerned, since she has gotten pulled into waitress work a few times at the Parting Glass. She is also pleased at Alric’s comments regarding the fancy drink they concocted together.
“I wonder if it’s anyone we know,” Tric continues. “Maybe Heledd is too busy…” He cannot tell whether the letter was written by her rather than Damal.
“How much is it to send a return message to South Tower?” Heppa asks Sazid.
“For you, it is free,” he tells her. “It has already been paid.”
“Excellent!” Heppa says, a huge grin plastered across her face. “But I left my writing supplies back in my room. Would tomorrow be all right for a return?”
“Certainly,” he says, handing over a strip of paper since Heppa wants to do the writing herself. “The shop is closed in the morning, but you can come by in the afternoon.” When Heppa remarks that that would be after Dune School, Sazid is surprised that she knows of it and asks whether she will be attending.
Tric interjects that they will be there as visiting guests. “I have a story to tell about Dame Terwaen, Mhaev’s daughter. I don’t know if you knew Mhaev? Of the Manu?”
“I’ve not met Mhaev. So this Terwaen is also of the Manu?”
“Yes,” Tric says. “Of the new generation, you might say. She won some accolades in a tournament in South Tower.”
“She’s Tric’s sister,” Heppa adds to provide some more context.
“Oh! You’re of the Manu as well,” Sazid says to Tric. “I’m of the Kahlé.”
Tric now realizes that Fazoul was providing a Dunefolk clan name, not just an extra Wesnoth name. Sazid seems a friendly sort, and so Tric gestures at the letter that Heppa is rereading. “Do you mind if I ask… Does that handwriting look like a different scribe than normal from South Tower?” That does not seem to Tric like it would be protected information.
Sazid asks to see the letter and then shrugs. “It could be different, but I don’t read a whole lot of the incoming letters. Once I see the name at the front, I generally pass it off to the recipient.”
That makes sense to Tric. Particularly around here, most of the people receiving letters can read it seems, judging by the shop signs and indications of Dunefolk influence. “Thanks… I was just curious.” He internally debates raising the question of profession ethics here as well, since Sazid is another scribe.
“Is Kilkk here?” Heppa asks, letter back in hand.
“Yes,” Sazid says. “Kilkk flew in two days ago, and I was instructed that he could remain up to five days.”
Ideas have been spinning in Tric’s head, and he speaks up again. “Now, I don’t have so much experience with the sending and receiving of these letters… How do you develop trust with the recipients and senders of your letters? How do you ensure that trust?” Tric asks Sazid.
Heppa seeks to clarify the question. “Do you mean because they can’t necessarily read what he’s writing?”
“Hmm… Right, most people here can read, but they let him handle all their information. What I mean is… Well, this is a really excellent professional shop you run here, Sazid. Things in South Tower are not as well coordinated. The aviary is on one side of town, the scribe shop is on the other.” It is true that Damal performs his scribe function at the Parting Glass, but that detail does not suit Tric’s purpose here of complimenting Sazid’s operation at the expense of the one in South Tower. He does not want to directly bad-mouth the distant one, but he wants to insinuate that there are questions about how trustworthy the scribe is. Maybe there is some sort of licensing involved with being a scribe, like there is with producing alcohol, and there is a way to revoke it, he considers.
“How do I build up trust? Well, many of my clients can read their message to double check its contents. But I do have clients who cannot read themselves. Not everyone is so educated as the descendants of Dunefolk. In that case, I read it back to them. It would require a good deal of mental agility to fabricate a message on the fly while reading,” Sazid says.
Nah, wouldn’t be that hard, Tric thinks.
Sazid goes on to explain that he reads through the message three times in a row. That provides the check, since each time it needs to have the exact same wording. “That is how my customers know their message is being transmitted faithfully.”
Tric frowns, beginning to think that there may be no professional breach to exploit and that this is just an internal family matter. Although Damal did overcharge Heppa based on things she said in a letter that was addressed to Alric… “Well then, how does someone know that if they send a message with you, you won’t use the message for your own benefit on some other matter?”
“Of course I benefit monetarily from the fees paid for services rendered,” Sazid says, “but nothing beyond that.”
“Suppose someone sent a message to a family member that describes some minor scandal,” Tric posits. “Of course you would not blackmail that person, even though you now possess that information.”
“Blackmail? Of course not!” Sazid objects. “But would I bring it up to the council if it was a serious breach? Possibly. Some crimes, if they pass a certain legal threshold, need to be reported. As a scribe, I have that responsibility. If a life is in immediate danger, for example. Financial well-being or loss of honor do not meet that bar.”
“Do people write to you just for general news or information? The aviaries are controllers of information, after all.”
Now it is Sazid’s turn to frown. “I do not control information. I am a broadcaster of information, a transmitter of information. Not a controller of information.”
“Probably if someone is doing something illegal, they’re not sending a falcon,” Heppa suggests, trying to diffuse the situation. Tric and Sazid seem to be getting a little worked up.
Tric raises an eyebrow at that. Kachen and Heledd sent messages about stealing a ring by falcon, never mind all the other business that goes on under tables at the Parting Glass. Maybe that’s why Heledd learned to write.
“That aside, I do not change information in any way. I just relay it,” Sazid says. “Getting back to your question about news, though, I do take advantage of empty space in scroll cases to send notices. Also, there are some people who cannot afford the regular service but they can buy the end of strips at a discount rate. If a falcon is going to Elensefar, for example, there are people here who might want to send a little message. Sometimes people just want to say hello. Some people get a thrill just by being remembered by their relatives. So if there’s space in a scroll case, I have a list of people I check with for that destination. If there is a lot of space, I include an update of notable goings-on in Dan’Tonk to share news. The scribe on the other end would then relay that.”
“All right, but if someone asked you personally about a family member who some tragedy had befallen, would you just say you had nothing to report?” Tric presses.
At this point, Sazid decides he has had enough of all the indirect questioning. “What exactly did Damal do to you?” he asks. It is clear Tric has some personal grievance with the scribe in South Tower. “Did he write falsehoods in your letters?”
“It wasn’t my letters,” Tric says. “He refused to tell my Auntie Lonfar what happened to her son for years.” Enough Manu have claimed some sort of kinship with him that Tric feels comfortable adopting the same posture for his own ends here. Alric himself used the term cousin, after all. “Alric had moved to South Tower to… well, for a number of reasons. Naturally, Lonfar wrote to Damal to see how he was doing. Something happened—I don’t even know what exactly. Alric is still there and doing quite well, but every time Damal responded to Lonfar’s queries, he always just wrote, ‘I have no news for you.’ It was carefully written to not be a lie, but he was clearly doing that just to not break the letter of some law. It seems to me that if you go through that much effort to not break a code, you are in fact breaking a greater code,” Tric concludes, thoroughly worked up.
“And you wish the Luminaries to consider the case?” Sazid asks.
“I don’t know. I only learned today that Luminaries exist, so I think that might be a little forward.”
“And yet, you are bringing it up to me,” Sazid observes.
“I’m bringing it up to you because you are also a scribe. Perhaps I’d like to hire you as a Luminary to advise me—”
“One does not hire Luminaries,” Sazid says, shocked.
“Sorry. I apologize. I was raised by elves; I don’t understand these things. So many humans expect payment in exchange for services.” Tric shrugs it off. “I don’t know if this is a professional breach or just a family issue to be dealt with internally. But it seems wrong to me.”
Heppa’s eyes have gone wide, surprised at all that Tric has shared. “I don’t know if Luminaries need to be involved,” she tenders.
Sazid turns to her. “Do you also have some stake in this matter?”
“I…” Heppa is concerned about Alric in all this, but the letter that has made her so happy does not give her the right to speak on his behalf. “I know of the situation,” she says carefully. “I do not know the ins and outs—I apologize—of the culture and the Luminaries and things like that. But I suspect this issue is not at that level.”
Tric nods a little reluctantly. “From my very limited understanding of the professional code and the role of the Luminaries, I don’t think this meets that threshold,” he agrees.
“I don’t know that you’re the party that would bring the grievance, based on my understanding of how this works,” Heppa tells Tric, drawing on the little knowledge she has of how the elvish council works.
Tric nods. The party with the grievance might be bringing it with a fist. Lonfar was quite agitated, and who knows how Alric will react. Assuming Alric didn’t tell Damal to write the messages that way… I suppose that’s a possibility. To Sazid, Tric says, “We will be returning to South Tower at some point, so if you have any advice on how to approach this matter with Damal, we are receptive to it. But I also understand if your position is that you should not interfere, that being a paramount code of conduct for a scribe.”
Sazid compresses his lips. “Let me think on this matter and consult the Luminaries.” Tric appears about to object, and he quickly clarifies, “It will not be a formally raised issue. It seems like something that, as you have said, walks a line. The scope, as well as the matter of who should present it, are important factors.”
“I appreciate that,” Tric says. “There could be things here we don’t know. I don’t wish to cast all aspersions on Damal. It might be that we just need to clarify some things with him…”
“Why does this upset you so?” Sazid asks.
“Because Alric is a close friend of mine. And we placed a certain level of trust in Damal, but now I don’t know if we can fully trust that.” Tric grows more intense as he continues, “I grew up among the elves not knowing my Manu family. I’ve been getting to know them just a little bit recently, and seeing them, frankly, betrayed—that hurts. I’ve known what it’s like to lose connection with family. No one should have to have that happen to them when you have these wonderful falcon systems with which you can maintain some connection. The falcons exist for a reason!”
“But perhaps we should confer with Alric before we set anything in motion,” Heppa interjects again.
“That’s true, that’s true. Alric and Lonfar are the aggrieved party,” Tric agrees, letting the topic go for now.
“Would it be amiss for us to say hello to Kilkk?” Heppa asks Sazid now that things have calmed a little. He is surprised that she wants to greet a falcon, and she grows apologetic. “I’m sorry. Is that a strange thing to ask?” Alric said the falcons were family, and Heppa takes that seriously.
“It’s quite unusual,” Sazid says. “Not many take an interest in the birds themselves, but I will go get Kilkk.” He returns before too long with a leather guard and a large falcon on his arm. Tric cautions Mate to hide in his backpack roost.
“We may need his help,” Heppa says, not sure if she will be able to get the greeting whistle correct. “But let me see if I can do it first.” Her caution proves unnecessary as she manages the sound well enough for Kilkk to recognize it and calmly acknowledge her in return. This greatly pleases Heppa, who is already rather giddy from getting a letter from Alric. Some of the tension from the earlier conversation dissipates.
Tric pulls out an old field mouse that Mate gave him and uses it to tip Kilkk for his services. The magpie objects, poking at Tric through the backpack, and Tric scolds him, “You gave me this field mouse to do with as I please. You know I don’t eat field mice. What did you think I would do with it?” Tric tries to interact with Kilkk a bit, but ultimately caves to Mate’s demands for a snack, splitting some of Tric’s own trail food with the magpie.
“Thank you for honoring my strange request,” Heppa tells Sazid. “It’s been some time since I’ve seen Kilkk.” Then she and Tric take their leave of the falcon and the falconer.