Silence
Anonymous Me
By the time Illya got home Kalizda was practically smothering him. "I'm..." Every time he tried to say something Illya would break out coughing. Despite his protests Kalizda directed him right back to the bed and had him lay down. He was barely back there for an agonizing 10 minute of nothing and she was arriving with tea. Illya desperately wanted to get up and he felt miserable, and grouchy. Taking the cup from Kalizda he frowned a little. This particular tea was not a favorite and he hated the way it smelled. "Yah get tea too eh?" Last thing he needed was for her to get sick and he knew it wouldn't take long to get over the cough. Still it wasn't fun and she was insisting that he do nothing. There was still so much to do and he needed to start putting together a little more on his map of where this new company was at. Since he hadn't really heard of it before he thought that it would be small. As he finished his tea he was about to grab the oil. Instead Kalizda did it and reached up his shirt. Having her little hands rub all over his chest wasn't something he would protest so he laid back in the bed. "T-that's much better."
After the initial grumpiness Illya decided that he didn't mind the extra attention. She wasn't the best nurse, but he never liked having someone that was a real nurse cause they threw fits over stupid things. "Ok I let yah help." Even though he thought that he might enjoy just laying back and letting her do what she wanted it got boring being by himself and nothing to do.
Kalizda left after a short while and Illya sat up in the bed. He listened for the door to close and then waited for as long as he could bare after that. Throwing the covers back Illya got up and started to head for his study. On the way he stopped in the kitchen and grabbed a little snack for himself. It was just some dried meat and a chunk of bread. Flopping the food on the table he wandered into the room to grab a blanket to wrap himself in.
When Illya finished eating his lunch all bundled up in a blanket he started feeling a little tired. Still he was determined to get at least a few books to take back to the room so that he could read and maybe the pad and his map along with a few markers so that he could continue his study. Illya began pulling out his books and map along with the markers and the one that was still sitting on his seat before he sat down and opened his pad and a few books. He wanted to have a little variation in case one subject got too boring or too hard while he was feeling sick.
During the study Illya started to get drowsy and he laid his head down on the book to read the page opposite. Cin sat in the doorway watching and began to inch closer. He wanted to sit with Illya and he crept close enough to nuzzle the man's legs and after that didn't cause any reactions or disturb the breathing the bear started to scramble to try and get on the desk. It was too high still so the cub pushed the other chair near the desk and crawled onto it so he could get on the desk with Illya. The bear kicked and clawed and threw the books away that happened to make his new nesting spot uncomfortable. Markers rolled across the floor and the first book fell on the chair while the other hit the floor open with a few pages wrinkled.
Despite the soft chortling from the bear and the ruckus that Cin made the Chip slept through it. Finally Cin stuffed his nose in Illya's hair and snuffed deeply. Illya didn't wake up till the early evening and he felt a strangely damp spot on his head. "Ugh..." Even his neck was cramped up and his back felt twisted. Sitting up he rubbed his face and then ran a hand through his hair only to draw it back with a nasty pale string of something.
It didn't take long for Illya to realize it was his bear cub. Cin sat panting on the desk looking sufficiently pleased with himself. Illya grabbed the cub and tucked it under one arm. "No!" Pointing to the desk and the mess he firmly scolded the bear that began to bawl at him in return. Even if it took more work to make the bear help him put stuff back on he desk Illya was determined to show the bear not to dump things all over cause he wanted to be there instead.
The next two days seemed to go slowly, but Illya improved. By the third morning he felt like himself though Kalizda was still a little under the weather. She didn't get it nearly as bad as himself and she seemed to insist that he didn't push it too hard though he felt better. Still there were a lot of things that Illya needed to do. One of those things was to get more food for the house and then he needed to go see Nathan about the rest of the camp and determine what kind of mining they were doing. If it was possible to teach these young Chippequoti the traditions while they were working then it would be worth it. They needed their people united and these young ones would not understand unless they knew where they were from.
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Nathan looked up from the mine where he stood looking into the open pit. "Illya." Holding his arms out he smiled a little and pulled the other Chip into a hug. "We got it started. Breaking ground today and my engineers tell me that we should have operations under way in a few days. "You think about working for us?"
Looking down into the pit Illya nodded. "I'll do et. Yah right, dey need ta learn." While they were together without anyone else Illya continued. "If t-they don't know language we teach dem together and train dem for war at night." It would make for long days, but there was no telling when war would break out and they needed them to know how to survive and protect themselves if anything happened.
"You're right." Nathan took a deep breath. "I'll shorten the days. Chippequoti work faster and he won't be used to seeing this kind of production in short hours. Never had an all Chippequoti team before." It was going to be risky, but he was pretty sure that he had a way to make this work. "I'll put own the average work day for them and we'll just keep a consistent pace." He thought for a moment longer and held one hand up. "No, we'll do half work a full day and the other half train and they switch off every two weeks. I need to show greater production levels." Kent would suspect something otherwise and he needed to make it look good. "I usually get better production out of my men then the average mine anyway."
Reluctantly Illya agreed with a nod. "Sometime they will all have to train together. Maybe on their days off."
Shaking his head the other sighed. "No, there isn't war yet and I can't pay them for these hours. Kent would expect to see a lot more production for those hours. Offer and see if any of them take you up on it. I'll make note of the most interested students and make more time for them to train with you. I'll give them 3 weeks at a time instead of 2." Nathan figured that would sound reasonable enough.
Illya reached out and shook the man's hand. "Good, t-then I work in yah mines." Turning to leave he stopped short and finally remembered to ask. "When yah agreed moves here yah come to meh house and we share meal eh?"
"I'll be there. Looks like Kent will assign me to be here for a good while." The work was going perfectly and Nathan was determined to see that the plan didn't fail.
When he returned home that night Illya was covered in dirt and sweat. He had a few new scratches that went up his arm from when he helped to move some equipment. "Smells good." Whatever she made didn't smell like snake stew or anything he knew, but it was still good smelling. By now he had gotten fairly used to trying new foods, but he didn't expect to see Ayrn sitting in his kitchen. "Yah get et?" That was the only thing he was interested in at the moment. Ayrn looked a little rougher for the wear, but he didn't find it to be terribly surprising.
After the initial grumpiness Illya decided that he didn't mind the extra attention. She wasn't the best nurse, but he never liked having someone that was a real nurse cause they threw fits over stupid things. "Ok I let yah help." Even though he thought that he might enjoy just laying back and letting her do what she wanted it got boring being by himself and nothing to do.
Kalizda left after a short while and Illya sat up in the bed. He listened for the door to close and then waited for as long as he could bare after that. Throwing the covers back Illya got up and started to head for his study. On the way he stopped in the kitchen and grabbed a little snack for himself. It was just some dried meat and a chunk of bread. Flopping the food on the table he wandered into the room to grab a blanket to wrap himself in.
When Illya finished eating his lunch all bundled up in a blanket he started feeling a little tired. Still he was determined to get at least a few books to take back to the room so that he could read and maybe the pad and his map along with a few markers so that he could continue his study. Illya began pulling out his books and map along with the markers and the one that was still sitting on his seat before he sat down and opened his pad and a few books. He wanted to have a little variation in case one subject got too boring or too hard while he was feeling sick.
During the study Illya started to get drowsy and he laid his head down on the book to read the page opposite. Cin sat in the doorway watching and began to inch closer. He wanted to sit with Illya and he crept close enough to nuzzle the man's legs and after that didn't cause any reactions or disturb the breathing the bear started to scramble to try and get on the desk. It was too high still so the cub pushed the other chair near the desk and crawled onto it so he could get on the desk with Illya. The bear kicked and clawed and threw the books away that happened to make his new nesting spot uncomfortable. Markers rolled across the floor and the first book fell on the chair while the other hit the floor open with a few pages wrinkled.
Despite the soft chortling from the bear and the ruckus that Cin made the Chip slept through it. Finally Cin stuffed his nose in Illya's hair and snuffed deeply. Illya didn't wake up till the early evening and he felt a strangely damp spot on his head. "Ugh..." Even his neck was cramped up and his back felt twisted. Sitting up he rubbed his face and then ran a hand through his hair only to draw it back with a nasty pale string of something.
It didn't take long for Illya to realize it was his bear cub. Cin sat panting on the desk looking sufficiently pleased with himself. Illya grabbed the cub and tucked it under one arm. "No!" Pointing to the desk and the mess he firmly scolded the bear that began to bawl at him in return. Even if it took more work to make the bear help him put stuff back on he desk Illya was determined to show the bear not to dump things all over cause he wanted to be there instead.
The next two days seemed to go slowly, but Illya improved. By the third morning he felt like himself though Kalizda was still a little under the weather. She didn't get it nearly as bad as himself and she seemed to insist that he didn't push it too hard though he felt better. Still there were a lot of things that Illya needed to do. One of those things was to get more food for the house and then he needed to go see Nathan about the rest of the camp and determine what kind of mining they were doing. If it was possible to teach these young Chippequoti the traditions while they were working then it would be worth it. They needed their people united and these young ones would not understand unless they knew where they were from.
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Nathan looked up from the mine where he stood looking into the open pit. "Illya." Holding his arms out he smiled a little and pulled the other Chip into a hug. "We got it started. Breaking ground today and my engineers tell me that we should have operations under way in a few days. "You think about working for us?"
Looking down into the pit Illya nodded. "I'll do et. Yah right, dey need ta learn." While they were together without anyone else Illya continued. "If t-they don't know language we teach dem together and train dem for war at night." It would make for long days, but there was no telling when war would break out and they needed them to know how to survive and protect themselves if anything happened.
"You're right." Nathan took a deep breath. "I'll shorten the days. Chippequoti work faster and he won't be used to seeing this kind of production in short hours. Never had an all Chippequoti team before." It was going to be risky, but he was pretty sure that he had a way to make this work. "I'll put own the average work day for them and we'll just keep a consistent pace." He thought for a moment longer and held one hand up. "No, we'll do half work a full day and the other half train and they switch off every two weeks. I need to show greater production levels." Kent would suspect something otherwise and he needed to make it look good. "I usually get better production out of my men then the average mine anyway."
Reluctantly Illya agreed with a nod. "Sometime they will all have to train together. Maybe on their days off."
Shaking his head the other sighed. "No, there isn't war yet and I can't pay them for these hours. Kent would expect to see a lot more production for those hours. Offer and see if any of them take you up on it. I'll make note of the most interested students and make more time for them to train with you. I'll give them 3 weeks at a time instead of 2." Nathan figured that would sound reasonable enough.
Illya reached out and shook the man's hand. "Good, t-then I work in yah mines." Turning to leave he stopped short and finally remembered to ask. "When yah agreed moves here yah come to meh house and we share meal eh?"
"I'll be there. Looks like Kent will assign me to be here for a good while." The work was going perfectly and Nathan was determined to see that the plan didn't fail.
When he returned home that night Illya was covered in dirt and sweat. He had a few new scratches that went up his arm from when he helped to move some equipment. "Smells good." Whatever she made didn't smell like snake stew or anything he knew, but it was still good smelling. By now he had gotten fairly used to trying new foods, but he didn't expect to see Ayrn sitting in his kitchen. "Yah get et?" That was the only thing he was interested in at the moment. Ayrn looked a little rougher for the wear, but he didn't find it to be terribly surprising.