homeland – the extinct geothermal vent called Mount Nevermind
by the knights. Unfettered I was at first, able to
commune with priest and commoner alike in that proud
city, until the Istarians manifested great annoyance with my
fellow diplomats and me over the failure of one of our gifts
of technology. We had directed the construction of a new
mode of urban transport, a steam-powered cart that traveled
over fixed rails, but on its trial run it caused considerable
damage to some important buildings in the capital. I was put
on trial and sentenced to enforced servitude for the
remainder of my life, as were my fellow diplomats, whom I
never saw again.
“My overseer, whose glacial visage I shall bear with me
to my grave, brought me along on an inspection tour of a
distant military encampment just before catastrophe
overtook Istar. In the anarchy and discord that followed, I
was able to effect my escape and leave my overseer and his
retainers to their own fate, which could not have been
pleasant given the multitude of ills that plagued the region
at that time. I journeyed westward on foot, feasting on the
meager bounty of nature like an untamed beast, until I
found a bare remnant of civilization in old Solamnia. There,
among bitter-eyed men who cursed the gods and slew one
another over trifles, I labored until I had saved enough steel
to cross the new sea to Hylo, on this island’s eastern shore. I
then purchased a cart and a donkey – dear old Axle, whom
you see now – and took up my most recent and probably
final vocation as a tinker. As such, I am now content with
my lot and desire nothing more.”
“Did you ever want to go home to Mount Nevermind?” I
asked. I had forgotten all about my problems and was trying
to imagine what it would be like to walk across the whole
continent, from Istar to northern Ergoth. I couldn’t imagine
it. I was also thinking about Ark and wishing that I could go
home myself.
“Mmm,” Cotterpin mumbled. “The thought has made
its disquieting presence known to me on occasion, but I
take thorough comfort in the realization that Mount
Nevermind will continue to exist regardless of my actual
physical location. I have determined that my best course is
to find my own footway in the world and meanwhile
examine the long-range consequences of the catastrophe
that the gods visited upon Istar. I have been content with
my work since then and have not regretted a moment of it.
My original life quest was to have something to do with
mass transit, but given the results of my development of the
prototypical urban travel system in Istar, for which I was
enslaved, I decided that another form of life-quest
expression was called for. I also fear that I’ve been much
contaminated socially by my contact with humans, and I
am concerned that my brethren at Mount Nevermind might
find my speech and mannerisms peculiar and would
perhaps ask me to volunteer for psychiatric research, which
at this time I am minded to avoid. No, I’d rather not voyage
to fair Mount Nevermind again. I am an itinerant vagabond,
happy at last, and wish to remain so to the end of my
vagabond days.”
We sat there for a while longer, and Cotterpin sighed.
“Would that I could render some comfort to you, Walnut,”
he said, “but I wonder if perhaps your father, Jeraim, might
give you more comfort than I, and if perhaps a visit with
him might not reassure him that you have not fallen victim
to tragedy. You have taken up a dreadful and thankless
assignment. It might be time to recuperate from your
excursion and renew your personal energies.”
Cotterpin yawned and set aside his mug. “Tea always
has a soporific effect on my psychomotor system,” he said,
his words slurring a bit. “The local angle of solar radiation
is also inducing drowsiness, and if you would be so
generous as to excuse my lapse, I would like to take a brief
moment to relax my … to relax my eyelids.” He closed his
eyes, and, only two heartbeats later, he began to snore.