Chapter 303: Beyond the Waystation

Hadrin rang the waybell after they crossed the bridge.

The note traveled ahead of the carts, clear enough that Rod expected it to fade in the open air. Instead, it seemed to gather beneath the trees. A quieter answer came from somewhere to their right.

The keeper listened, raised one hand, and led them away from the road Rod had been watching.

"This turn."

A narrow opening became apparent between two trunks. Rod could have passed it a dozen times without choosing it. Now he saw wheel marks in the leaf litter and a low branch trimmed to clear a loaded cart.

The drivers followed without surprise.

Hadrin had brought a station worker to handle his cart, leaving him free to guide. Reedbank’s delivery followed behind. Senn accompanied it as far as the lower junction, where he would turn toward the household’s own route home.

Rod walked beside Lana. Dain kept his damaged shield wrapped and strapped to the cart. Nessa had approved the arrangement after checking his arm that morning. Dirk ranged only as far as Hadrin permitted, learning the landmarks rather than trying to memorize every turn.

The woods grew quieter as they traveled deeper.

Not empty. Rod saw small figures working high in the branches, lowering baskets on cords. A dryad pruned a limb above a stone basin while two fairies gathered what fell. Somewhere beyond their sight, a hammer struck wood at a regular pace.

The bell sounded again.

This time the answer seemed to come from the left. Hadrin waited, moved a few paces forward, and listened once more before choosing a descending path.

"Why wait?" Lana asked.

"Water changed the lower ground overnight. I wanted to hear whether the way still carried through."

"Could you teach someone to hear that?"

"Someone willing to walk it often enough."

He glanced at her staff and the sample jars packed beside the cart.

"You will find other things to learn first."

They reached Lethren before midday.

Rod knew they were approaching a settlement when the rough path became a road with a drained center and raised walking strips along its edges. He heard wheels, voices, and running water. Then the trees opened around a broad basin of stone terraces.

Buildings occupied the terraces at different heights. Some had been constructed between trunks, others built around them. Woven bridges joined workshops above narrow streams. Colored cloth hung beneath awnings, and lines of prepared wood rested on racks where air could pass around every piece.

The settlement continued farther than Rod could see through the canopy.

Hadrin stopped at a low building beside the entrance. Its open front contained benches and a table covered with traveling records. A satyr clerk looked up, saw the bell, and rose.

"You have it back."

"And freight behind me." Hadrin said. "Let us give you something useful to record."

The clerk smiled, then called for someone to help direct the carts.

Hadrin introduced Rod’s party at the travelers’ court. He named their work at the crossing, explained that they had honored the terms of his commission, and asked that they be received as returning visitors if they chose to come again.

The clerk asked for their names and purpose. Rod said they wanted to trade, learn what work was available, and return to the station before their arranged flight.

They received small wooden visitor pieces carrying the settlement’s mark. These identified them at the public workshops and lodging houses. Private gardens and household paths required separate permission.

"Weapons stay sheathed in the market." the clerk said. "If you require a test space, ask the workshop. Do not try a new edge against the nearest railing."

Rod assured him they would not.

Hadrin took them to an inn beside the lower watercourse, arranged their rooms, and left them to trade while he delivered the station’s goods. He would meet them for the evening meal and guide them back the following morning.

For the first time since buying the lead, the party had no immediate job waiting.

They spent several moments on the bridge outside the inn deciding where to begin.

Dirk chose the bowyers. Lana wanted the resin workers. Nessa had seen a medicine stall on the way in. Dain looked at the workshop where curved wooden ribs hung beneath the roof.

"One place at a time." Rod said. "We have enough money to make five expensive mistakes before lunch."

They went to the bowyer first.

The craftsman inspected Dirk’s bow before discussing a sale. He checked the draw, the wear near the grip, and the marks left by the string. Then he asked where Dirk intended to use it.

"Different ground. Often tight spaces." Dirk replied.

The bowyer took him to a marked testing lane behind the workshop. Rod watched Dirk try two unfinished staves fitted with temporary strings. One drew smoothly but recovered too slowly for his preference. The second demanded a different grip and sent its first arrow above the target.

The craftsman adjusted Dirk’s hand rather than praising the shot.

After several attempts, Dirk ordered a stave to be finished for his measurements. It would take weeks. He paid a deposit and asked Hadrin’s station to receive word when it was ready.

The purchase gave him a definite reason to return.

Lana showed the resin worker the sealed briarback samples. He asked where they had come from and whether the animal had been fully grown. When she described its size, he fetched gloves before handling the jar.

The sap could be processed into an adhesive that resisted damp, but poor preparation left it brittle and irritating. He offered to buy part of the sample and teach her a small preparation in exchange for the rest.

She accepted after making certain the lesson fit their available time.

Rod and the others watched her work at an outdoor bench. The resin worker supplied measured quantities, corrected the order in which she heated them, and made her discard a batch that thickened too quickly. The finished amount filled only a small jar.

Lana labeled it carefully.

"That cost most of the sample." Rod said.

"Next time I can judge what I am buying." she replied.

At the fiber workshop, they delivered Orin’s measurements and showed the Reedbank test lengths. The rope maker explained which fibers tolerated repeated changes of tension and which were intended for steady loads. He had no experience aboard an airship, so he refused to promise a finished product from a description alone.

He sold them several marked samples and asked for records of the tests.

Rod liked the answer. So would Tessa.

Nessa purchased a prepared dressing from the medicine stall after its maker explained the ingredients and showed how long it kept once opened. She declined a second preparation whose effects interfered with remedies she already used. The seller recommended another stall instead of insisting.

Dain found a shield maker willing to inspect his damaged frame. Repairing it properly would take longer than their stay. The craftsman drew a proposed reinforcement and gave him a price, leaving Dain to decide whether to return with the shield or commission another.

They ate late beneath an awning overlooking the water.

Their purchases fit into two small bundles. Their list of possible orders filled several pages. Rod read a work notice for escorts carrying prepared wood through a northern part of the forest and another seeking help retrieving tools from an abandoned growth chamber.

He copied both without accepting either.

There was enough here for more than a single expedition. He wanted time to choose.

Hadrin joined them at supper with news that his deliveries had sold. Reedbank’s driver had secured another order for woven panels. The keeper mentioned both in the same pleased tone.

"Will you come back?" he asked.

Dirk pointed to the bowyer’s receipt.

"Apparently."

The next morning, the party left Lethren with their purchases and introductions. The waybell guided them back through a different sequence of turns. Rod stopped trying to match the entire route to yesterday’s memory and watched the places Hadrin told him mattered.

They reached White Stone that afternoon and the landing terrace the following morning.

The Sixth Knot arrived within the agreed window.

Tessa circled before descending. Rod stood clear of the approach and signaled that the terrace was safe. Once the vessel settled, Belda took their packs while Orin stared at the marked sample bundles.

"You found the rope workers." he said.

"They want your test results." Rod replied. "They were very clear about that."

Tessa waited until they were aboard to ask about the commission. Rod told the story while Min checked the baggage and Kesh prepared the departure. He described both households, the crossing, the beast, and the settlement beyond it.

The Five Knots listened closely to the details of the route and the trade. When Rod explained that the station could now receive regular travelers, Tessa took out a fresh sheet.

"Would Hadrin accept scheduled landings?"

"Ask him. He has beds to fill and freight to move."

They discussed that possibility all the way back.

Max heard about the expedition after Rod’s party returned, when a short account of the crossing reached the public route records. It included the new load restrictions and the station’s conditions for visitors. A second message asked whether the receiving hall’s trial equipment could be hired for testing unfamiliar rope.

The Five Knots had bought their own samples and wanted a safe way to measure them under changing loads.

Max read the request with Anna beside him.

"That is a useful discovery." he said.

"The settlement or the rope?"

"Both, if the rope works."

He approved a supervised booking at the ordinary equipment rate and asked the crew to supply their proposed loads. The gnomes who handled the hall’s freight had already tested its carts. They would know whether the arrangement gave the samples a fair trial.

Later, he opened the regional display and looked briefly at the Fey Woods. The station, households, and settlement occupied a small part of the broad canopy. Most of it remained outside the routes visitors regularly traveled.

Anna brought him the next room plan, and he closed the map.

In the market below, Rod’s party divided the expedition’s earnings after paying for repairs. Dirk kept his bowyer’s receipt. Lana packed her prepared resin beside the instructions she had copied. Dain booked a proper inspection of his shield, and Nessa replaced the supplies they had consumed.

Rod put their remaining papers together.

The Five Knots’ original account lay at the bottom. Above it rested Hadrin’s completed commission, the crossing agreement, and their visitor pieces from Lethren. The two work notices waited on top.

Before putting the papers away, Rod wrote the date of the next possible flight on a clean sheet. The bowyer’s work would not be ready by then, but the rope tests might be finished. If the Five Knots wanted a second set of samples, their party could carry the results back to Lethren and collect whatever the workshop prepared in response.

He left space beneath the date for everyone else’s plans. Lana added the name of the resin worker. Nessa wrote a question about the shelf life of the dressing she had purchased. Dain added the shield maker’s workshop and the measurements he had requested.

Rod set the sheet beside the two work notices. They could decide on the next commission after their equipment was repaired and everyone had rested.

Their next journey would begin with a road they knew.