Chapter 15: Chapter 14 – More Fish In The Sea

 

"Water not move." She looked over at the ocean, and pursed her lips. She could already see the dark elements begin to gather and multiply. She didn't know the water was going stagnant, but she could see the elements that made it up.

"Need in and out. Stay fresh. Trench?" She thought for several minutes, and made a decision.

"Make trench. Go sea. Find in." Gei ran towards the sea, which was only a mile away, and walked up the shore.

"Lots life in sea." She smirked. "Griel take? Griel die." Of that, Gei was now sure that if her old family, the merchants by the name of Griel, tried to take what she built, they would die. There were faster fish in the sea then the wolf headed trout, and some so large, they were the size of half of a town alone. She detected vast amounts of metal moving in the sea, so there had to be things like the iron tusked boar in fish form.

Gei had not idea that there were fearsome fish that had iron plates on their heads, some had plated bodies, while others had chitin armor. The sea was a monster, and it could not be tamed.

Gei began her excavations without making blocks. She directly absorbed the earth elements and made a five foot deep trench, but left the plug in the end. Only a small amount of water splashed into the trench for now.

The inlet was a mile up the coast, swung in to the area she wanted, a hundred feet away from her plateau, and made two salt water pools in either side. The way she designed it is that sea side one allowed water to flow in, in a circular shape, which kept the current moving, and allowed water to exit.

The second pool was on her plateau side, and separated by a layer of stone. She could take water from the trench and move it into the pool to use. Two more pools were added, still separated by a foot of stone, one for the salt slime, and one for fresh water.

She spent another two hours forming the trench right back to the sea, rounding the bottoms, and making it so that there were no obstructions. She would later learn that if she wanted this place to have life, she would need to make some crevasses in the stone to catch silt and sand, which would allow sea life to grow.

Finally, she unplugged the first end.

"Water! Ha ha ha ha ha!" Little Gei danced around and grinned like a little girl should when something exciting happened. She ran with the flow of water and watched how it moved. She saw it enter the first pool and as she expected, it ran around it in a circular pattern while it filled.

"Water moves. Not stop. It good. Keep clean." Gei followed the water, and got in front of it. When it was about to collide with the end, she dissolved the plug slowly so that the ocean wouldn't overwhelm her river.

She watched and closed her eyes.

"It moves. Not move back. Like river." She danced again happily. Now she could take advantage of the sea without being too close. The sea made homes more vulnerable to cold in the Winter, which is something she knew a lot about.

The cold salt water may help keep them cooler in the summer, but she knew the salt spray from the sea could leave a chill in the air. The cold winds can take the warmth out of your bones, and freeze a homeless child just as fast as a heartless parent.

"Now, me make salt for Lise."

 

* * *

 

"So much power, and still a child." The scout put the spyglass down and smiled a little.

This was one of three that took turns, watched the wasteland, making sure none of their people angered the girl out there, and monitored her activities.

She wrote a report, and sent it to the governor.

"Such a project, removing the stone, timing so that both ends were in time with the water, storage, water retention, fishing reservoir, and salt reclamation, all would be impossible for the kingdom. They could try but a Barra school would turn it into a graveyard, and let those rock crabs feed for a year." She shivered.

"It isn't just the fish that are dangerous. Rock crabs, urchins with venomous spines, coral with razor sharp edges so they can feed off the flesh of the unwary, and those eight legged things." She shivered again.

She once saw the bulbous head of that eight legged monster envelope a man's head, and strip the skin off before it dragged the body into the sea.

"I hope no fool gets it in their head to try to steal it from her. Only she can make it work, and she has the strength to defend her work."

 

* * *

 

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"Gei, thank the heavens you're okay!" Lise said to her as she pushed a handcart she made. It was a simple box, with a front wheel, and handles, but she wanted to make it with two wheels soon.

"Yep." She grinned. "Weak. Thought Gei weak." Gei lifted four sacks of salt off her cart, and smiled. Lise was grateful for the salt since it happened to be her most profitable product.

"What is that smile for? You look like the panther that caught the harpy." Lise said and listened to that delightful giggle of Gei's. She sounded so unburdened by pressure, and was genuinely happy. Lise watched as Gei lifted a wooden crate off the cart, and noted that it didn't have any seams.

"Fish!" Inside the crate were four wolf-head trout, big ones, on a bed of salt.

"Gei gut, wash. Lise sell, split profit." Gei said with a grin. Lise was shocked to say the least. She had already sold some fish for Gei, and now she had four more to sell.

"Do you think you'll be able to get more?" Lise asked carefully. Gei tilted her head.

"More fish? Lots in sea. Some swim trench. Yeah, more fish. When? Gei not know." Gei said, and shrugged.

"I might have to sell to other merchants outside of town. I'll talk to the steward in the governor's manor. He can contact someone to come and buy from me, and they can sell in different areas. Fish is expensive, so Stormwall won't be able to swallow it all." Lise said.

"I'm glad you brought more salt as I've had more then a few inquiries about it." In fact, a lot of her customers were quite eager to buy more of the pure salt she now sold. Even some of the stewards from more wealthy families had made inquiries.

"Lise help Gei. Help Lise easy."

"Thank you, Gei." Lise said with a soft smile. She was filled with gratitude as this child didn't forget the ones who helped her.

Unlike some who even forget their own children, Gei would never forget.

 

* * *

 

"You are Lise? The merchant that the girl on the wasteland deals with?" An older man asked her. Lise nodded.

"I am." She said, as she knew who he was. The governor's steward was being cautious, which meant there were some things not being spread around.

"Good." He looked around, and leaned in. "Did she bring any fish yet?" He asked quietly. Lise smiled.

"She just brought over four large wolf headed trout, on a bed of pure salt. Would you like to see?" He nodded eagerly, so she opened the crate she left behind.

"Wonderful." The steward whispered. "The governor would like to buy all four. He'll keep one for himself, but send the others to the capital. Um, will the fish last like this?"

"They will. Salt keeps the meat from turning, and she brined it first, so it was salted well. Not with that stuff from the salt dealer. Pure sea salt, and freshly caught this morning, so it will last." The steward smiled brightly.

"This is most excellent. I take it that it's the going rate of fish on the market?"

"Yes, sir. For now, it's the going rate. However, there may be enough fish in the future that the prices will come down a little, and Stormwall will send some to other towns through other merchants." Lise said.

"Not yourself?"

"She only wants to deal with me and Ern, so we'll stay here. Merchants from other towns can take a bite of this business, and I'll sell it to them for a bit of a discount so they can make some profit." The steward considered this information, and knew that it matched up to what the guards had already told them.

"To think, she's only a child. She'll be quite formidable when she grows up." The steward said quietly, and took out his pouch. Fish cost as much as rank three iron tusked boar meat, as it was far too rare.

Few were willing to invest heavily in the equipment needed, and few were willing to risk their lives like Gei would. The sea was a cruel monster, and even if they had the best equipment, sometimes it would throw an even bigger monster at them to remind them of their folly.

Cold sea gathron was one such monster.

 

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