Chapter 82: Day 81,

Day 81,

We’ll be getting back to Siren Overlook in a couple of hours.  

We spent the morning packing up and moving things down to the boarding archway.  We’ve replaced the food we brought with us with an equivalent volume of books and documents.  And that doll from Priscilla’s room.  We wanted to bring some of those unhung paintings, but we couldn’t figure out a good way to get them through all the overgrowth on the trail without getting them torn up.  We left what food and water was remaining in the house for Maiko when she makes her return trip.  It’s not much since we had to dump things on the way out of the Village and I don’t know how long it will keep, but hopefully it’ll be better than nothing.

Feeling bad for closing the chickens out of their home/shelter with the rainy season coming in a month or so, we left one of the tents pitched on the veranda and nailed to the floor so it wouldn’t blow away.  Maybe not the best idea, but the best we could come up with on impulse.

Not much to do now but watch as we start cutting across over the southern tip of the main island.  

It is a bit strange though that the island’s circuit breaks the pattern here by both cutting across land instead of staying over water, and dock on a southwest-facing cliff instead of a southern-facing one.

 

Well, I’d hoped to get back to the house today, but I’m sleeping in the archive again.

We arrived to find a small crowd waiting for us at Siren Overlook, Vernon at the head.  There was some cheering and helping us move things off the island before it took off again and load them onto a cart that was properly hooked to a capy this time around.

Vernon apologized for the fanfare, saying he’d tried to talk people out of it, but at least a few people had insisted.  He warned us that there’d be a large crowd once we got back to the Village proper.  Like he said before about the supply donations, everyone wants to feel like they’re a part of the novel happenings, if even in a small way.

He did manage to pull me aside and ask about Maiko while Lin and Cass were reuniting with their respective family members who’d shown up to greet them.  I hastily explained as well as I could in a few seconds while trying to keep onlookers from hearing.  He seemed relieved, both that nothing bad had happened and that he hadn’t accidentally brought a crowd to gawk at her.  

From a few snickers I heard afterwards, I suspect some of the villagers might have gotten the impression Vernon was flirting or being intimate with me in some way.  That’s a headache I don’t want to deal with unpacking right now.

But anyway, we were borne back to the Village, the market forum in particular, were Pat gave a small informal speech welcoming us back and we spent the rest of the afternoon and evening in a sort of street party that had been set up repeatedly recounting the details of the trip to the succession of villagers coming up and asking about it.  I was afraid initially that they were going to call upon me as Archivist to stand up and give a telling of the expedition to the crowd, but apparently that’s usually reserved more for “stories” and not “recountings”.  The upcoming Equinox Festival in a few weeks however, that I would be expected to go up on stage and perform for.

So, yeah, that was news to me.  I think I might have dropped some of my food when Vernon mentioned it offhand like he assumed I knew about it.  Next big thing to stress about and plan for I guess.  According to Vernon, this evening’s party was as much about people being in a festive mood already in anticipation and wanting an excuse for an outlet as it was about us.  I find that strangely comforting.

The rest of the evening passed without any more surprises.  Lin’s got back to her house with her father and Cass is staying at Norman and Marva’s with both of her parents.  I guess they left the second oldest in charge of the farm for the day.  Laios I think his name was?

Huh, it occurs to me that I never did get the chance to ask Vernon whatever happened with that capy right before we left.  Tomorrow perhaps.

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