Of Stuff and Nonsense

My conversation with Mezoo had jogged a memory, which sent me in search of something in my wagons. I am a simple man with simple needs.


My personal wagon would probably be called spartan by some, but it suits me. It has a sleeping platform covered with warm furs, rugs on the floor to insulate my bare feet on mornings when I get up and the frigid outside air had seeped into the floor boards. I have a locked chest to hold my weapons, and another to hold clothing. Simple. It is all that I need.


I have found, that women are all the same in some respects, whether they are free or slave, and my slaves are no different. There is something in a woman that makes her want to fancy things up, to make them appealing or pretty. Even my girls are guilty of this. They had this habit of bringing things into my wagon, that......match. They can't quite understand that I do not want or need a tapestry that matches one of the rugs on the floor. Flowers belong on the plains in their natural home, not in some jar in my wagon. I believe that my hand across their cheeks has finally convinced them that my personal wagon is just fine like it is. It does not need to match.


Ok, this does not mean that I have nothing. Quite the contrary. I am a Tuchuk warrior, I raid, rape and pillage with the best of them, and over the years, I have accumulated a lot of......stuff. Stuff that I do not use, or need exactly, but that I do not part with because it can be of value to someone else, maybe, and can be traded for some stuff, that I do need. It is a simple concept. Or to me it is.


There is a downside to this accumulating of stuff. While my personal wagon, and the wagon I use in scarring are quite basic and organized, the wagons where I keep this stuff, are not. And it has gotten even worse since I have become Ubar because people keep leaving me gifts of....stuff on my platform, and I have one of the slaves take it to what I jokingly call..my storage wagons.


So that morning when I had the singular thought of purpose, to find that one small item, I was actually dismayed that it was not in the chest where I kept my clothes, nor in the one where the weapons were, which meant that I needed to go look through my stuff for it. The very idea of that is daunting in itself.


In the first one I began to open chests, peek in barrels and even slit open the tops of bags. Ah, there was that dagger I took off a dying Arian. Why was he dying, that is another story for another time. But it is of nice quality steel, blade and handle all cast as one piece and well balanced. The handle is wrapped in leather that is darkened by years of skin oils and sweat from the hands that have held it. I slipped it into my belt, I think I will add mine to the handle.


The next barrel was bolts and bolts of cloth like women like to make tunics with. I drug this to the platform. It will be sent to Cana, she is a woman, she sews so she will know what to do with it.


The next that I opened, when I pulled the straw away that was protecting the contents, proved to be a chest of toys for children. Small leather shields and wooden swords, even some leather greaves and bracers sized for a child. I amused myself with a wooden bowl on a stick, with a cork ball hanging from a tether trying to get the ball into the cup by swinging it. Now so easy as it looks.


There was a small box of warriors cast from some metal, all brightly painted with the ridiculous red tunics and tiny weapons in their hands. There seemed to be two factions, painted with different styles of tunics. I could see the value of using these to maybe teach the value of battles.

There were all manner of animals stitched from fur and stuffed with somethingm and with these shiny discs for eyes. Even a couple of larger dolls dressed in the robes of free women. I turned one of these over and just as I suspected, nothing of interest under those robes. Maybe Canas' girls would find them amusing when they were older.


There were also animals carved from wood. It is always amazing to me how dwellers waste something as precious as wood. Some of the animals had small wheels on them and cords that ran to a large wooden handle. It seemed they were meant to be pulled over the ground. Interesting. There was even a small wooden wagon with metal wheels and a long handle on it for pulling. I can almost see Also pulling his sisters around in it.


Amazingly enough there were also toys made from another metal. And if I am not mistaken this metal was silver. Out here on the plains, mothers often find dried gourds that have the seeds still in them. When you shake them, they make a noise that seems to fascinate babies. Some of these silver objects were like that, but when you shook them the sound they made was more musical. These would go to his nieces. They were the daughters of a Ubar, the nieces of a Ubar, why would they not deserve engraved silver rattles. It made perfect sense to me.


At the very bottom I found something that did puzzle me. It was a bundle wrapped in leather. Taking it out I sat down cross legged and untied the thongs that held it shut and folded back the leather. There was this thing I know is called a frame. Dwellers often used these wooden frames to put around portraits. I have seen this before. But there was no portrait in this one, only what appeared to be a smooth, flat stone. Odd.


There was a canister and when I took the lid off of it, there seemed to be these sticks of candy like I have seen in the cities in it. Taking one out I sniffed it, but did not get that aroma of mint that I had expected. In fact, it did not smell. Taking a bite off the tip, I immediately spit it out for it had no flavor. Stupid dwellers. It fell on the framed stone and when I reached to brush it off, something curious happened. It made a mark. Taking the small bit, I made other marks then rubbed them off with my fingers.


Another distant memory made its' was through my head. I remember these things from a city once. There were shops that sold goods and the merchants had bigger pieces of this same stone on stands and wrote the prices of their good with something someone told him was chalk. That is what this was. One of those boards and the canister held several new pieces of this chalk. Immediately, I thought of Also, and his penchant for drawing pictures on the ground with a stick.


Carefully I wrapped the bundle back up and tied the thongs. All of the toys were placed back in the chest with the bundle on top and shoved it over and between the flaps to the platform. Then resumed my hunt.


Two barrels of salt were found in one corner, a large bag of blackwine beans, Damn I could use a bowl of blackwine about now, various bags of herbs and spices, sugar and some dried fruit. All of this found its' way to the platform.


Opening the drawers on a standing chest I found other oddities. In one, there was an intricately carved box which contained those golden chains and what not that the Vaci were so fond of. But in there, I also found a few simpler pieces that caught my eye. This box was tucked into his tunic as he continued his search.


Finally, I found it, wrapped in a small square of cloth. Taking it out I held it up to the dim light that came through the smoke hold in the top of the wagon. It was a small disc of bronze, a perfect example of two metals that had been brought together each with a different property to it. One for strength, the other for pliability, then they had been shaped, the rough edges filed off, to make this simple object. This would be a gift for Mezoo. It would need to be cleaned in polished, but even in the dim light he could see how it would pick up the light and cast the gold and amber back towards her. A simple gift, but one that I thought would suit her.


I was still admiring the disc when I threw the flaps of the wagon open and stumbled over the....stuff, I had shoved out onto the platform. I turned to look over my shoulder and had to admit the wagon looked emptier, more organized. But that is because all the stuff was on the platform blocking my way!


Fortunately for me, and for him, a passing out rider asked if he could take some of the boxes and barrels somewhere for me. Bright lad, he did not mention that I was trapped behind all this stuff, he might earn a promotion for his discretion. Soon, he and one of comrades were carrying the chests, barrels and bags off to where I wanted them delivered.


Me? I was on my way to polish my gift, already thinking of the light it would bring to her eyes.