//------------------------------// // [5] 27th Granite, 222 // Story: My Little Fortress: Shadytrails // by PersonalGamer //------------------------------// 27th Granite, 222 The weather had started turning warmer, but it would have still been considered chilly to the average pony. It was getting late in the day and the gray-blue sky was beginning to take on a darkened hue of indigo. The sole bat-pony of the establishment had just finished washing up from the long and fruitless day of digging around in the rock-barren dirt. He decided it was best to warm himself up in the only building which had yet been constructed, relaxing the tension in his locked-up wing joints. Most of the light and heat within its confines was currently being yielded by the cooking fire which Shortstack used throughout the day to supply the party with their needed rations. An attractive thing, that toasty flame was. It would seem that he was not the only one to think so at this moment. Patina sat near to the fire, wrapped under her blanket. Shortstack busied herself nearby preparing dinner for the others. Patina had a book opened in front of her, with a small bottle of ink nearby, a magically levitated quill slowly scribbling out a drawing of some sort of geared contraption into the journal. The unicorn mare seems lost in her work. He doesn’t notice what the brown-furred unicorn is doing at first, simply walking over towards the glowing, orange relief from the cold. A worn, leather knapsack drops to the floor beside him, the weighty clank of metal tools issuing from within. Silver follows suit and gets down on his haunches as he stretches out the blackened membranes between the ribs in his wings. The stallion inhales and bends his neck side-to-side, letting out a puff of disappointment, “Nothing new to report about our stone supplies, I’m afraid. Just clay, clay and more clay. I suppose you’ll have to wait a little longer before you’ll have anything to work with, Ms. Dreams.” In spite of his words, he still wears a smile, “Don’t you worry, though: I’ll get right back out there tomorrow and dig some more. I guarantee I’ll find something sooner or later!” Patina is startled by the dropped tools, but relaxes instantly upon seeing the source, "Oh Mr. Silver. That's... That's alright, there's got to be stone down there somewhere. And when you do strike some, I'm going to have my hooves full for a long long time. So... no rush." She gives a nervous chuckle. “I can imagine so,” he agrees, folding his wings so that their backside can be warmed as well, “Surely when it comes time for that, we’ll all have more help. I can’t picture you shouldering the burden all on your own.” His copper eyes wander over towards her journal, now curious about how she has been spending her time, “Already making some plans there?” Patina nods and shuffles a bit to move close enough to show the drawings to the bat stallion, without getting up. "Yeah, Mistress Isolde wants me to design and help construct a saw mill when we have the material," she says showing the drawings. The work is very detailed, parts are labeled in Arabic and each piece is drawn by skillful magic hand from multiple angles. Silver Rush is visibly impressed, “Well, well, that’s some skilled penwork. I’m not an expert on machines, but I can tell that you’ve got plenty of experience doing this sort of thing. I’m guessing you can work with metal and stone with equal ease? What were you doing before you tagged along with us?” Patina puts her book down and pulls her blanket closed around her body, "I was... I was, uh working with an architecture guild in... in Saddle Arabia." The gray-furred pony nods, “Sounds pretty fancy. You’ve got a good education too, from what I’ve been hearing. It’s little wonder that Ms. Hookbill wanted your expertise out here. Do you just work with stone for structure or for aesthetics as well? How about when it comes to, say, cutting gems from rough stone?” "Oh. Well, despite what I studied at university, I consider myself an artist first, and an architect second... I started with casting things from metal; figures, statues, and things." She smiles, "The first thing I ever made was a set of tin soldier-ponies for my little brothers. But I've done some stone carving too. Though architecture is an art too, and one I’m… well... talented in. One day I hope to be able to design a really grand temple, and have it actually built. One day. However to answer your question, no, I’ve never done anything with gemstones really. Have you?" “Maybe you’ll have that chance some day here in Shadytrails. Given that you’re the first architect here, I’d say that gives you some seniority over any subsequent arrivals. That’s gotta work in your favor, right? At least when it comes to making suggestions to Ms. Hookbill.” Now satisfied that his wings are sufficiently revived, Silver Rush retracts them back against his body, “I’ve never actually cut gemstones either, but I’ve had plenty of opportunity to find them. Well, the natural precursors to them, at least. I’ve built up a small collection of my finds and have had them cut whenever my funds would allow for it. I still have a rough cerussite I found back in the lead mine I worked in before it shut down. Haven’t been able to get that cut yet.” "Hmm. Well, I'm the wrong mare to talk to about gemcutting, but if you get that done, and we have some metal for me to work with, I can make a nice piece for it to be set in, if you'd like," she says subconsciously touching one of her bracelets with a hoof. “Oh, that’s actually an excellent idea…” he muses while arranging the gems in his mind, contemplating how to best line them up, “I’ll definitely have to consider that offer in the future. I wonder if I should have them set by color? By ore type? By cut?” Silver rubs the tip of his muzzle while the thoughts run through his mind. "Depends I suppose, on what all you have. If you have lots of different color gems, probably best to split them up into complimenting groups. On different pieces," Patina offers. “Sounds good to me. Maybe I could bring what I’ve got over here and you could make some further suggestions?” Patina nods, “Yeah. That would be fine. I’d be happy to make some recommendations.” The bat-pony grins, showing his fangs, “Great! I’ll grab my stuff!” He heads off towards his own little corner of the building, rooting through his belongings to retrieve the box which contained the 10 mineral samples that he currently possessed. After returning, the two of them continue their discussion about using gemstones as art as the Sun finally dips in its entirety below the horizon.