Planet Zar: Nexus

⦿ Bushiri stood on the upper awning of the research center, hand outstretched. A single flake of snow falls gently into his palm and melts into a perfect droplet, flowing down the creases of his hands.

⦿ Bushiri glances up at the growing, grey clouds, frowning. It had never snowed on Sunfall before and this didn't bode well for the crops. Many of the fruits and vegetables were genetically enhanced to manage a bit of frost, but a true snowstorm would decimate entire fields.

⦿ Bushiri shakes the snowflake off and frowns deeply. It's an odd look on his usually joyful face.

⦿ "No one's going to like this," he says to the sky. As useful as his magic has been on Sunfall it comes with a price - good weather and reliable rain littered Bushiri with greetings of gratitude. But wind and snow was likely to turn those greetings cold. It made little difference that Bushiri didn't control the weather, he was only capable of predicting it. Delivering bad news soured everyone's mood.

⦿ "Nothing for it, though," he mutters to himself, taking a deep breath to bolster his courage. Dawdling carved away the time Sunfall would have to prepare their crops for poor weather. They'd have three days at most to sort things out.

⦿ Bushiri allowed himself a sigh, then tossed his shoulders back and flipped his mouth in a determined smile. He could do this.

⦿ He stepped back inside the conservatory to grab his jacket.

⦿ A clatter of pickaxes and jackhammers followed the shrill shriek of the shift whistle. Yennenga wipes sweat from her brow and tugs her thick, leather work gloves off. Her bones ache from a hard day's work and she feels satisfied.

⦿ Someone's hand falls heavy on her shoulders, a quick pat-pat as Vikar strides past her. Yennenga jerks away, frowning. How many times...

⦿ "Do you want to come to dinner with us?" asks Potamo.

⦿ Yennenga shakes her head, brusque, sharp. "No." They've asked her every day since she started this job and she's turned them down each time. She's fine on this island, happy in these mines, but she's not here to make friends with anyone.

⦿ "You're sure?" Potamo cocks her head like a friendly dog and Yennenga is disgusted by it. She wants to be alone.

⦿ "I always am," Yennenga replies, not bothering to disguise the sneer in her voice.

⦿ Potamo's face falls and Yennenga hates that her heart twinges at the sight. She scurries off after Vikar.

⦿ Yennenga grabs her pack and follows several seconds behind them. She doesn't want the awkwardness of brushing past them.

⦿ Her grandfather waits at the lip of the mine with a commlink and a heavy jacket. His breath puffs out in frost. It's chilly in the mountains but Sunfall never really gets cold.

⦿ Potamo and Vikar wave good-byes and platitudes as they pass him, heading for the lift that will take them back to the village proper. Yennenga will join her grandfather in the mountainside cabin they keep.

⦿ "You need to make friends," grandfather grumbles. "Not stay cooped up here and grouching at your co-workers. Vikar told me you've been hostile."

⦿ "I don't want to make friends, I want to do my job," Yennenga snaps. "If they didn't bother me, I wouldn't be bickering at them."

⦿ "It's a small town." Grandfather turns away, heads toward the cabin knowing Yennenga will follow him. "You don't come to a small town to be alone. Everyone here is family, of a sorts."

⦿ "Family is just as likely to stab you in the back as friends are."

⦿ Grandfather snorts. "Might be so, but not this place. You need to snap out of this venomous funk you've got going on and start being part of this community."

⦿ "I'm working for it, aren't I?"

⦿ "Working isn't the same as belonging. I offered you a place to start over, not to hole yourself up in like a trod-on viper. I don't want anymore complaints from Vikar and Potamo. Get over yourself or find somewhere else to live. You can work and shut yourself off in a space station. Not here."

⦿ Yennenga frowns, sour, but she holds the cabin door open for her grandfather and steps inside the warmth after him.

⦿ Making friends is dangerous. Being part of a community just opens you up to heartbreak. She just wants to work hard, shut her mind off with the toil of physical labor, and come home to a hot meal and a warm bed. It might not be much of a life, but it's one where she can't get hurt.

⦿ Grandfather stares her down, his eyes flinty.

⦿ Yennenga pulls fresh vegetables from the fridge and start chopping. "I'll apologize to Vikar and Potamo tomorrow."

⦿ "You should go to dinner with them."

⦿ Yennenga chops with vigor, jaw clenched. "Maybe."

⦿ Grandfather snorts and pulls out the second chopping board.

⦿ Yukiko bundles her freshest batch of spun silk into a bag and slings it onto her shoulders, ready to trek across Sunfall to the village proper. Evening purples greet her as she leaves her home. It's later than she expected, must have lost track of time. It was easy to lose herself in spinning silk, but she has a delivery to make and knows the tailor will be unlocked even if the proprietors have returned home for the evening. Yukiko's schedule has always been off, no one will mind finding a batch of silk in the morning.

⦿ The air is comfortingly chilly, brisker than the usual evening cool. Yukiko turns her face into the breeze and enjoys the bite of it on her cheeks.

⦿ She spots Bushiri thundering down the main path toward the village proper- his gait long and stilted, quickened to an unusual pace. It's curious. Bushiri loves to be in town for the evenings, but he's never seemed so agitated by it before. Yukiko should find out what's going on. She's likes Bushiri quite a bit, he never treats her as if she's off-putting. He's kind to everyone, of course, but Yukiko is glad that she's not an exception to his comforting demeanor.

⦿ He's so distracted by his thoughts that he doesn't see Yukiko approaching and jumps when she greets him with a breathy "hello."

⦿ "Oh, Yukiko!" he gasps, then laughs a little stiffly at himself. "You startled me. You're heading into town?"

⦿ Yukiko nods and falls into step beside him. He's taller than her in this form, but she has no problem matching his stride. "You're bothered."

⦿ "Hm?" He's still distracted. "Oh, no. I'd love your company for the walk."

⦿ "Not by me, by something else."

⦿ "Ah, well... yes, I guess." He hesitates, his step faltering as he considers whether or not to tell Yukiko what's on his mind. Yukiko remains quiet and lets him think. It doesn't take him long to decide. "There's going to be snow."

⦿ "It's been cold before," says Yukiko. "I like it." Even if her worms didn't.

⦿ "Not just cold this time. It's going to be a proper snowstorm and we don't have much time to prepare. I'm just headed down to see the mayor now. I'm really not sure what to do."

⦿ Yukiko didn't know either, but she cast a wistful glance at her little worm farm. Cold could kill her entire colony and her orchard of mulberry. The trees will be hardier than the worms, but frost could kill the leaves and starve her stock. She wants to turn back right now and do what she can to protect her charges. She has no heat magic, but she has centuries of experience and a warm stove. She should strip all the leaves off her mulberry now so she didn't lose any to the storm. There are so many things she should do.

⦿ But Bushiri looks terrified and is still distracted by his worries. He needs someone right now, and Yukiko likes him. She'll have enough time to protect her worms.

⦿ Yukiko loops her arm into the crook of Bushiri's elbow. "Storms pass," she says. "Everything will continue."

⦿ Bushiri pats her hand and offers her a warm smile that soothes the wind's sting. "Thank-you."

⦿ Sunfall's mayor was an energetic individual with control issues out the wazoo. A storm was their nightmare, something that could not be stopped or curbed or perturbed in anyway. The only thing to do was prepare for it. A town meeting was called immediately despite the lateness of the evening and nearly all the residents arrived at town hall, chilly and tired.

⦿ There is panic, of course. Sunfall wasn't built to resist snowstorms and it's strange that one is coming, but Bushiri informs everyone that this is an alien moon and they haven't inhabited it long enough to know everything about the weather patterns. Snow should be infrequent, though, but they need to have a contingency plan in place so things aren't chaotic the next time it happens.

⦿ The farmers worry the most of all. Animals can bundle up in barns to wait out the storm, safe and cozy, but there are few temperature controlled greenhouses on the island and some fields are just too big for that to be a possibility. There isn't enough time to build all the greenhouses they'd need for that.

⦿ But there are tarps, which can offer some protection.

⦿ "Anyone who lives out on the fringes should stay in town the next few days," says the mayor. "Just in case we get snowed in or lose power. It's better we're all together to weather the storm."

⦿ A murmur of agreement erupts.

⦿ "How much food do we have in storage?" someone asks. "If all the crops die and we don't have power, we might not be able to ask for reserves to be brought in."

⦿ The mayor turns to their assistant.

⦿ "Plenty," she says. "More than a month's worth... and beyond that we have many seeds preserved for planting."

⦿ "There we are," says the mayor, clapping their hands together. "If everything goes awry, we'll just start over. Replant the crops."

⦿ There are groans. Starting seeds is taxing and time consuming. But everyone will pitch in, they always do in times of trouble.

⦿ Yennenga stands up from the back of the room. She's an odd sight here, next to her grandfather. She rarely comes to the village proper and never attends group meetings. The prospect of staying in town with everyone else for the next few days must have been excruciating for her, but the miner's cabin up the mountains would be one of the worst places to stay during a snowstorm.

⦿ Quiet settles in the town hall.

⦿ Yennenga eyes her grandfather. He responds by sitting back in his seat, watching her expectantly. She looks supremely uncomfortable but turns to address the room anyway.

⦿ "I used to work life support on a space station," she says. "I can probably rig a few things together to help warm crops if we can gets tarps going to insulate them. That'd probably help."

⦿ Bushiri breaks into a smile. "That would be perfect. We've got plenty of supplies at the research station. Do you have a horse, or-?"

⦿ "I do!" says Potamo, leaping to her feet. "I can help load things up to bring around to the fields."

⦿ A chorus of 'me too's erupts all around them. Yennenga colors and swallows hard, but nods agreement.

⦿ Vibeth pipes up: "I'll get the cafe reopened and we'll start handing out coffees. It's going to be a long night, I think."

⦿ A long one, perhaps, but a good one.

⦿ Lanterns are lit and the sleepy town of Sunfall gets their second wind.

⦿ Honeydew Inn has never been so busy. The rooms are full to bursting and other town members spill out into the main floor. A cheery string of lute music and quiet singing permeates the dining hall, accompanied by the thump of dancer's feet while wind and snow rock a cacophonous percussive accompaniment against the sturdy walls. Voices murmur louder than the storm, upbeat despite the raging storm.

⦿ Yennenga's heat generators worked wonders for the crops and Yukiko provided silk as strong as steel to tie down the tarps. Bushiri helped her strip her trees and install a generator to warm her worms and while she worried, her fears were lessened greatly by their help.

⦿ Yennenga's discomfort of socializing remained present, but she was riddled with gratitude for her help. It was... easier when it was the whole town paying attention to her, rather than a few individuals. It felt safer. If someone turned their back on her, there were dozens more who still cared, still wanted her here. She relaxed by increments as she drank honeyed tea, her frigidity warming with each sip.

⦿ A "BANG" shook the foundation of the inn. Music and conversation faltered to a stop as everyone turned their attention to the ceiling.

⦿ "Was that a tree?" said Yennenga, frowning.

⦿ "It certainly sounded big," replied Bushiri, wringing his hands.

⦿ Yukiko rose from her seat and crossed to the door. She ignored the shouts of 'no' behind her and yanked the door open. The wind caught it, fighting against her strength to slam wide against the opposite wall, but Yukiko held fast. She stepped outside and peered up.

⦿ A massive blue dragon peered over the edge of the roof, his wings tucked tight against his body as snow pelted his hide. He looked entirely displeased by the weather, which Yukiko could understand.

⦿ "Bad weather for flying," she said.

⦿ "We mostly traveled between," the rider replied.

⦿ The dragon lowered his forelimbs to the ground so the middle-aged man perched on his neck could amble off. His face was red-stung from sleet. Yukiko stepped away from the doorway and held her arm out in invitation. He hurried inside, pulling off mittens and blowing warmth on his chapped hands.

⦿ "I really hate to rush people, but Ancith is having a terrible time out there," said the rider. "My name is R'lan and Ancith tells me there's a few good people here that would do well standing for a dragon clutch." He pauses, expression turning dazed as he received a telepathic message from his bond. He nods, although his dragon can't see him do it.

⦿ "You," he says to Yukiko - who is surprised by not upset. Dragons are fascinating and it would be nice to have someone with a lifespan similar to her own.

⦿ R'lan turns and scans the room until his eyes land on Bushiri, hovering not too far away with a steaming cup of tea in his hands.

⦿ "And you," R'lan concludes.

⦿ Yennenga bursts up from the table where she'd been playing a quiet game of cartds with Potamo and her grandfather.

⦿ "If we can offer ourselves, I'd like to come too," she says, holding her chin up high.

⦿ R'lan grins. "Absolutely, but I hope you've got your stuff ready. Ancith doesn't want to stay out there any longer than he has to."