//------------------------------// // An Exchange of Partners // Story: A Cultural Exchange // by Illiad_Easle //------------------------------// Illiad wasn't alone. As he began to rouse from his sleep, he distinctly caught the emotional vibrations of both curiosity and a little bit of awe. Of course, it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to visualize Dax feeling this way towards the unicorn, and besides - it would mean that Dax had finished his chores and was waiting for Illiad to get up so they could-... But it wasn't Dax; it was Oglevy, sitting on the edge of the expensive four-post bed and staring at Illiad. When the colt saw the Trojan rousing, he sat up a little straighter and softly cleared his throat. "Uhm... Mr. Easle? Are you awake, sir?" Well, THIS was new... Illiad really didn't know what to do, he hadn't expected nor accounted for the fact that others could enter his room while he slept. He'd need to take precautions against that in the future. Call him paranoid but this had happened before, and the results were not pleasant. He didn't feel any ill intent from Oglevy so he supposed he would be fine, for the moment. He lifted himself up to sit on his makeshift bed, still tired from yesterday's ordeal but feeling much better after the night's rest. A quick test of his magic on his diamond resulted in a moderate glow, he wasn't back to full strength but he had enough to go about his daily routine so long as he didn't push himself too hard. That managed he finally turned to address Oglevy. "Yes I'm awake." He sighed, "What do you want? Another chance to reenact my greatest fear? You do seem to enjoy having things poured on me." Illiad wasn't particularly happy to see Oglevy, but he would at least be civil about it, he hadn't seen Oglevy since breakfast the prior day. Oglevy fidgeted a bit, a little smidge of shame eking out of him as his eyes tried wandering around on the floor instead of looking at the unicorn. "N-no, I'm not here to enact some master plan or anything - if I'd have wanted to do anything like that, I'd have done it by now." The discomfort he was feeling was awkward to Oglevy; Illiad could tell that this was not at all easy for him to do... yet he took in a big breath and blew it out before he spoke again. "I saw what you and Knee Slapper and Princess Luna were doing yesterday... in the deep mines... and I thought..." He swallowed, trying to choose words carefully. "... I thought what you did was really awesome, Mr. Illiad. I've never seen anything like that before - I don't know if anypony has. But I wanted you to know that I... I didn't know you were able to do stuff like that, or I..." Illiad could feel the colt's difficulty at trying to say what he apparently was wanting to say, and there was a streak of frustration writ large over his entire emotional aura. Regardless, however, he was still making an effort to communicate, and that was at least a start. "I know I was mean yesterday - and I'm... I'm s-sorry. I promise I won't tell anypony about what I saw, even though it was REALLY cool, and-..." He looked up at the unicorn with wide eyes that spoke volumes about the mental library behind them. "... and it's really, really cool that you know Princess Luna, too. I just..." Shrugging as his sentence petered off, Oglevy looked like he was somewhere between guilty, chastised and confusion over the other two feelings. Apparently, apologizing earnestly was something the little Blackwater didn't do much of. His eyes went back to the floor, and his small wings tried to cover his shoulders in embarrassment. Illiad didn't think the situation could get any more odd, he was honestly conflicted about the whole situation and unsure how to proceed. He could either forgive the colt or not. Though all the colt offered was his word in apology, it felt sincere. "I forgive you." The truth was he wasn't really angry at Oglevy's actions, he understood what could have motivated him. Illiad laid back down on the tub cover he was sitting on. "You should tell your father about what you saw, it's really up to him whether you can tell anyone else about it." His forgiveness did not mean they were friends. He forgave, but only the future would tell if he could forget. Oglevy flinched a bit when the unicorn forgave him, then a pout clamped down on his face as he was told to tell Luther about the incident. "Father will just tell me not to say anything... he thinks I'm too delicate for anything like that; Mother, doubly so. I guess you too." With that, Oglevy took flight and zoomed out of the door, slamming it open and almost toppling the butler pony carrying a covered tray right outside. He vanished down the hallway in an instant. The butler (perhaps it was Call?) gawked after the colt for a moment, then poked his head inside and looked at Illiad with concern. "Sir Easle, has there been another incident? Shall I alert the Master or the Madam of the Young Master's trespass? Are you hurt? Are there soiled articles of clothing to clean?" Apparently, they were used to Oglevy's shenanigans. The butler entered the room and brought the covered tray with him. He set it down onto a small table and removed the cover. Instantly, the scent of rich dark chocolate reached his nostrils. On the plate beneath the cover, still steaming, was a selection of different-grained toasts, a stack of aromatic hay bacon, two golden brown biscuits and a small bowl of what appeared to be apple butter... FRESH apple butter, at that. There was also a small carafe of apple juice to go with it, and it was all topped off with a generous slice of chocolate cream pie - the source of the earlier aroma. The butler looked at him. "Is this to your liking, Sir Easle?" Illiad gave a slight, yet tired smile as he approached his breakfast, They do like apples here don't they? I suppose it's easier for them to acquire. "No to your first four queries and yes to the last. Oglevy was actually here to apologize, and this breakfast looks wonderful." Illiad realized as he started at the food that he was behind on a few meals at this point. By his count he had had only breakfast for the past two days, he hoped that this would not make a third. The butler's jaw dropped open as Illiad told him about Oglevy. "Apologize? Really? Apologize? But the Young Master NEVER... really?" he seemed absolutely shell-shocked over the idea that the Blackwater colt would even be capable of considering the possibility of perhaps maybe being apologetic. Seeing his lapse in butler-ish attitude, he cleared his throat and stood straight once more. "Er, well... very good, sir. I am pleased you liked the breakfast - Beck made certain you had a good spread of what the Blackwaters partook of this morning." Without waiting for any sort of signal from the present butler he began to butter and eat the many kinds of toast, moving from highest to lowest grain count, before using the rest of the butter and crumbling the hay bacon on the biscuits. He saved the pie for last but it too did not last long before the force of his hunger. Call had watched, silent as a wall, as Illiad inhaled his food. There was no disgust at this; in fact, there was a slight line of pride coming from Call. He began stacking the empty dishes into the plate's cover as the food upon them was devoured, leaving the table clean and clear. As Illiad reflected on his meal it crossed his mind that he had eaten at a rather uncouth pace and was lucky to not be in a formal setting. He couldn't remember how it tasted and likely wouldn't notice if it tasted awful, so long as it was full of much needed calories. With a bit of a sheepish expression he returned his focus to the present butler. "Thank you for bringing my meal to me, if I had remembered to taste it I'm sure it would have tasted even better then it smelled." He noticed that he still had the apple juice and was tempted to guzzle it down right then but he held off and settled for drinking it at a much more moderate pace as he allowed his inhaled meal to settle. "Do you know how long Daxter will remain busy with his chores?" "One is glad to be of service, Sir Easle." Call grinned a bit as Illiad asked after Dax. "Master Daxter has been sequestered by the Madam for one of her jaunts into Canterlot - she apparently believes he does not currently own enough formal clothing, hence he shall be away for a while. However, he has informed me that Master Luther has approved of your presence here, and as such you are free to roam the manor and the quarry, so long as you refrain from disrupting the workers. If you wish, I would be happy to inform you when he returns." "Thank you Call, I would appreciate it if you alerted me to Daxter's return." I suppose this gives me more time to rest and recover. I should go back to Ziggy so she can check that my recovery is going smoothly, and to see if I can assist in Knee's. Paying no heed to whether the butler still remained in the room, Illiad contemplated returning to sleep, but decided he ought to check back on Knee, perhaps he would check what Mr. Blackwater had decided about the darkness in the depths. He wrapped himself a bit looser than yesterday, not that any not used to the toga would notice, and he proceeded to try and find his way back to the medical center. Again, the sheer size of the quarry was a bit daunting, but Illiad seemed to get a minimum of notice as he made his way there. On the grounds proper, there were a number of workers all hustling and bustling around, doing the things that workers here do. The medical shed wasn't hard to find, due to the large red cross on the side of it. Walking up to it, Illiad neither heard nor felt the emotional vibrations of Ziggy inside... nor Knee, for that matter. There was a wooden panel next to the door with a large red button on it. The sign above it said: [PRESS FOR THE DOCTOR]. Well, Illiad could either press the button or try to find Ziggy unassisted... or, of course, there were others he could speak to. Maybe one of those lovely mares he'd seen would be available? At any rate, the decision was his. Illiad considered his options, dismissing 'kill' as a viable option fairly early. Given that he had felt Ziggy before, and would notice if the area were being emotionally shielded, he was pretty certain that neither of them were inside. But the button couldn't hurt to press, just in case it was a bit more sophisticated than a doorbell. He pressed the button. As he waited for a response he looked about the quarry and considered his other options, he'd probably visit Silver or Tops next. I wish there were more cute mares back home, these ones don't seem to keen on moving away and I have no intention of moving back into Her kingdom. He sighed as he reflected on the life events that led him to this point, the key ones all resulting from him being Empathic. In a way he would have ended up in Troy regardless of many of his possible actions... He shook those thoughts from his head, now was not the time to worry about what could have been. At first, it didn't seem like anything had happened when he pushed the button. There was no sound, or signal, or anything... then, coming in from a distance, came a sound: "... gonna be there in just a sec hold on here I come!!!!!" She cam flying over the line of sheds. It wasn't the fact that a candy-cane colored half-zebra pegasus was flying around that got Illiad's attention as much as the fact that she was flying in a zig-zag pattern, as if she were a slow lightning bolt. It was curious to watch, yet she certainly had some skill at flight. She landed without incident, folded her wings up carefully, as if putting them away in a knapsack or something, then turned and beamed at the unicorn. She seemed quite happy to see him up and about. "I'm quite happy to see you up and about," she said, "and I'll have you know that Slapper woke up this morning right as rain... well, okay - he had a liiiiiittle headache, but I gave him that tea from yesterday; he'll be just fine by tomorrow. And how are you, Mr. Easle? You feeling your oats this morning - well, afternoon? And how's your diamond friend, uhm... uh... I'm sorry, I can't recall... her name..." She put on a sheepish grin. "But she was really nice!" She was a sweet mare, but a little scatterbrained, it seemed. All things considered Illiad felt decent today. "I do feel much better now than I did yesterday, and I'm glad to hear that Knee has similarly recovered. Selena is doing fine as she always is, there isn't much that can affect her the way she is now. She finds you interesting yet odd. She would like to talk to you sometime if you'd be interested?" Illiad hoped she was, not only to use up some more time, but also so Selena would have someone other than him to talk to for a bit. "Oh,that would be wonderful! Wait-... will she be able to talk back to me? What am I saying? You wouldn't have said such if she couldn't! What was I thinking? Of course I'd like that! I probably have a few questions myself, after all!" Doc Zinger seemed like quite a kind and caring sort - she fussed over checking out Illiad as if he were her own brother, it seemed like. She certainly had the mood to go with it - all sorts of bright, happy emotions ebbed and flowed from her, and she remained pleasant and sweet the entire time. It was almost surreal, how much there was going on here at the Blackwater Quarry; Illiad may have wondered why he hadn't ever heard of the place before. If the past few days were any indicator, this place was almost as lively as Ponyville itself! After the check that everything was healing well was done Illiad gave his farewells to Ziggy before moving on through the quarry. He noted how busy it was but was not surprised that he had never heard of it before, he did after all live in another country that didn't really trade with Equestria. He decided he would visit Taps first, he needed to send another letter to Luna so he could learn about the aftermath of the caves. In addition, Taps would probably know where Silver was. His decision made he started to make his way over to the pony express station, taking care to stay out of the way of any workers in the process. The pony express station wasn't too far from the Doc's Office, so it took no more than a minute or two before he was coming up the hill towards the house-turned-postal office. The building was in fairly good shape, especially for being located on the grounds of a quarry; one would think it would be dirty and a bit run-down. The reason for this must have been Taps herself, as she was hovering near a second story window, wiping it clean with a blue towel. She took notice of Illiad, and waved as he trotted up. Tossing the towel across her whithers, she flapped her way down to the ground in front of him. Smiling, she gave him a smart salute as she stood there. Her mismatched eyes looked him over for a moment before she gained eye contact - then she lifted an eyebrow in question. "Oh, hello there Taps. I just need to send another letter to Luna, don't worry, this one isn't important enough to be rushed." Taps grinned at Illiad's request, and quickly dipped into her satchel and produced a quill and scroll. She gave them over to the unicorn, and smiled as he thanked her for it. Illiad looked around a bit. To be honest, without someone to guide him around he felt lost. He felt already that he was intruding on Taps time and wondered if he would be able to muster the courage to go anywhere else without being invited. He couldn't bear to make himself a burden on anyone. "Also, do you by chance know where I could find Silver?" Taps’ muzzle scrunched in thought for a moment (an absolutely adorable sight), then her eyes widened and she smiled broadly, nodding enthusiastically. She looked past Illiad, and pointed a hoof directly at the enormous boulder at the end of the row of sheds. She then made a hammering motion, making certain to look at Illiad's face to see if he could comprehend what she was trying to communicate to him. Illiad had a slightly perplexed look on his face as he tried to parse Tap's charade. "She's... working in or on that boulder over there?" For some odd reason he could not remember what Silver's residence looked like despite having had been there not two days ago. It felt like it had been weeks. While he waited for Taps to confirm or deny his query, he quickly wrote down, in code, his message to Luna requesting to know what had happened after he fell unconscious. Once done he passed the quill and scroll back to Taps. Taps nodded vigorously as Illiad made the right guess. She smiled, and it brought out a sweetness in her that wasn't normally visible... and the emotion coming off of her was calm and kind, a soothing presence after the grandiose display of emotions that apparently much of the Blackwater Quarry had within it's walls. Taps took the quill and scroll back, nodding as she stored it away in her satchel once more. She started to turn and take flight... but she paused. Looking back at Illiad, her eyes ran first down, then up his frame. She turned and took a few steps closer, then reached out a careful hoof and touched the Trojan's outfit. Feeling the material, her mismatched eyes widened in pleasant surprise. She stroked the fabric once, then stepped back and took in the wrap as a whole. Her eyes went back to Illiad's, and she gave a small grin, tapping gently on his sleeve. Apparently, she approved of his taste in clothing. With a smart salute, she turned back around, flexed her wings, and took off in the direction of Canterlot. That was weird. I don't think that's happened to me before. Illiad stared off in the direction that Taps had flown, wondering what prompted her to pet his robes, and what she found so appealing about the fabric. Once Taps was out of sight he sighed and turned his attention to the boulder that Taps had pointed out to him. He felt apprehensive about bothering her while she was working, but he started off towards it nonetheless.