11-18-2016, 11:23 PM
The smells of sweat, soap, unwashed clothes, leather, plastic, metal and fried food combined into the pungent people-scent of a trading market. It hit Kelly like a physical blow, wafting out of the open door on a tide of warm air. With it came the clamor of people haggling, bartering, arguing, settling, lying, or making a deal. Metal and dishes clattered. On either side of a central path, tent-flaps whispered and goods thudded on wooden countertops. At the far side of the courtyard, a wide hole in the permafrost, apparently man-made, led down into the earth.
A trading post? I guess that makes sense. A permanent structure of this size in a frozen tundra, especially one located so close to a crossroads, is bound to draw a lot of traffic.
Kelly's estimation of Amber rose a couple of notches. She hadn't been exaggerating, in the Nexus, when she'd said it was her fort. The honorific at the door hadn't come across as entirely in jest, and her proprietary attitude towards the place was impossible to miss: It wasn't just her home, it was her home. Also, the name was kind of a big hint.
It followed that, assuming the choice of location was her decision and not a happy coincidence, she had some strategic sense. Combine the ability to spot an opportunity with her willingness to do things other people wouldn't necessarily do, like bringing him here, for instance, and her obvious self-assuredness with a certain natural charisma... that would make her an effective leader, intellectual titan or not. True, the nihilistic streak seemed at odds with her apparently can-do attitude, but a search for meaning could be a powerful motivator. He knew that better than most.
Amber ignored the tents, and the traders, and they ignored her as she led the way across the yard, making a beeline for the burrow on the far side. Kelly took passing note of the activity around them, but he thought at this point that the odds of an ambush were extremely low. He was more interested in what awaited them underground.
"I'm impressed," the traveler said, keeping pace beside Amber and pointing at the burrow ahead of them, fingers tingling as his extremities thawed. "It can't have been easy to tunnel into permafrost. How exten- ... that is, how big is the underground section?"
A trading post? I guess that makes sense. A permanent structure of this size in a frozen tundra, especially one located so close to a crossroads, is bound to draw a lot of traffic.
Kelly's estimation of Amber rose a couple of notches. She hadn't been exaggerating, in the Nexus, when she'd said it was her fort. The honorific at the door hadn't come across as entirely in jest, and her proprietary attitude towards the place was impossible to miss: It wasn't just her home, it was her home. Also, the name was kind of a big hint.
It followed that, assuming the choice of location was her decision and not a happy coincidence, she had some strategic sense. Combine the ability to spot an opportunity with her willingness to do things other people wouldn't necessarily do, like bringing him here, for instance, and her obvious self-assuredness with a certain natural charisma... that would make her an effective leader, intellectual titan or not. True, the nihilistic streak seemed at odds with her apparently can-do attitude, but a search for meaning could be a powerful motivator. He knew that better than most.
Amber ignored the tents, and the traders, and they ignored her as she led the way across the yard, making a beeline for the burrow on the far side. Kelly took passing note of the activity around them, but he thought at this point that the odds of an ambush were extremely low. He was more interested in what awaited them underground.
"I'm impressed," the traveler said, keeping pace beside Amber and pointing at the burrow ahead of them, fingers tingling as his extremities thawed. "It can't have been easy to tunnel into permafrost. How exten- ... that is, how big is the underground section?"