Limits

Time slowly passed, as I tended to my field, studied the plants, and rested in the Apium. This felt to me like vacation, I relaxed most of the time, and forgot about the training, skills and whatnot. Frosty also enjoyed the time off from everything. I grew used to Apium, and decided to stay there for a longer time, than I planned initially.

Some of the herbs on my field, already sprouted and grew. Arran Grass was the most common type of herb, and it already covered half of the section, that was designated to it. I collected some already, and tested it. Ulon was right, the herb had quite weak medical properties, but I could extract more, than he could. 'With my method of Extracts, I can easily improve those properties. The problem is, I don't have a supportive herb, which will draw out all the properties from Arran Grass' I thought.

I could try with Oviral Plants later, but I had to wait for them to grow properly first. Besides tending to the field, I also learned more about the properties of Serelis. It turned out that yes, the air will make it dissipate. Yet under one condition, it would happen. 'If Serelis is in concentrated form, and doesn't touch the air, it will not disintegrate. Making Serelis concentrated, is a bigger issue though' I thought.

If I could take the plants with me, or even cut them open and tested them extensively, I might've been able to come up with a method. 'But, I'm not allowed to do this. My only option, is to wait until one of the plants needs to be extracted. They do plant new ones, and take out the old ones. They shouldn't have a problem with me, if I wanted to examine the old, and extracted plant' I thought.

I didn't visit Ama very often, but I did ask her, if I could use the space in the craftsman area, to create my own fence for the field. She said "As long as you don't obstruct others, you are free to work here. That place over there is vacant. If you need some tools, come to me and I will borrow you some. As for the materials, you will have to pay for them, or get them yourself". I nodded, and asked about the materials costs. She said that, if I wanted Dead Wood, it would cost me 1 Red Hal, for a beam that has been cleaned up, and readied for plank making, or whatever I wanted to make from it.

I went to the place, where Ama pointed me to, in order to buy those beams. I decided to buy 50 of them. I also asked the Atols in the warehouse, if they could deliver them to that empty spot that Ama showed me. They agreed to do it, and I also bought nails, which were not that expensive. When they delivered all the beams, I started working on my fence.

'The beams are about 2 metres in length, and about 50 centimetres thick. I will need loads of posts. One beam will be enough, to make 8 such posts. Alright, let's start then' I thought. I borrowed some saws, and other tools from Ama, then went to work on my fence. I used 20 beams, to create 160 posts first. 'This should cover a large area, since I will place them about every 2 meters. With this, I should be able to cover a lot of my field in posts, I can then do the planks' I thought, and packed all the posts onto a cart, then went to my field.

It went like this for a few days, as I needed to make stuff, transport it there, then fix it. But after all that time, the fence around my field was completed. I left the holes that I dug, as I would have another use of them. 'These holes can be used, to transport water around the field. I just need to figure out, how to transport specific quantities of water, to specific sections' I thought. This would save me the time, of watering these plants everyday, and I could focus on something else.

I decided to ask Ama, about a possible solution to that problem. When I arrived to the craftsmen area, I saw Ama talking with another Atol. The Atol was dressed in some fancy clothes, compared to others. He had a long robe, that was light brown, with some golden ornaments. He also had brown pants that seemed to be made from some kind of expensive material, and shoes that exposed his fingers.

I decided not to interrupt them, as they seemed to be arguing about something. After a while, the Fancy looking Atol saw me standing on the side, and called out "Hey you, come over here!". I didn't intend to move at all. 'I'm not his subordinate, for him to order me around' I thought to myself. When he saw that I wasn't coming, he shouted again "Can't you hear me? Come over here!". I laughed, and shouted back "As if I'm gonna do that".

He became angry, and walked over himself. Ah he stood in front of me, Ama also walked over, and said "He did nothing wrong. The argument is between you and me". He just ignored her, and said to me "When I call you, you will walk over to me". I replied "Try it again, and let's see if I move". He became even more angry, and was about to attack me, but Ama stopped him, and said "What are you doing? You want to attack our guest? That is what we Atols do?". He stopped himself, which was unfortunate. If he attacked, I could just kill him, or at least break a few of his bones.

I said "It's a shame you stopped him. I could break a few of his bones. Maybe then he would realise, I'm not his slave, to which he can talk to like that". The Atol in fancy clothes was so angry, that he almost attacked me again. Ama shouted "Oran! Stop! If you attack him, he can retaliate. You are not a warrior". The Atol soon calmed down, and said to me "You have nothing to look for in this place. No one will sell you any materials, or tools". He then turned towards Ama, and said "If I see you talk with him again, you can look for another job. No other master will take you in, when I tell them about this". He then left.

Ama was angry, but not at me. She simply apologised to me, then left. 'So, the Atols have some sort of arguments between themselves too. No wonder. Creating a society without differences, is impossible. I don't know what his problem is, and I don't care. If he tries to do something, I will just dispose of those, who stand in my way' I thought.

Ama could no longer talk with me, and I assumed other Atol craftsmen wouldn't either. Buying stuff from them would also become impossible. 'This is just minor inconvenience. I already learned a lot, and don't need to frequent this place. It served its purpose. I will figure out how to water my field more efficiently by myself' I thought, and left.