Chapter 2 - The Twilight

"I don't know much about that," Caitriona replies, "I mean I can bandage my finger but I don't know much beyond that."

She looks beyond the village into the tangle of leaves and branches. "I can cut back the tangle if you want, show me what needs trimming and I'll chew it up for you. Shaw would be your best bet when it comes to fixing your tanglebike."

"I'm not great at it, but I'm actually somewhat skilled in treating wounds. You patch yourself back together enough times and you start learning where things go and why. So I can offer my assistance there as well." She taps her chin thoughtfully, surprised that her first-aid skills actually might mean something for once, usually when there are people hurt around her, they're supposed to stay that way.

I'll be glad to take a look at your tangleback. Just point me in the right direction. Shaw says as he stands there looking around.

"Follow me," Katkoni says to Cait as they climb back onto their functioning tanglebike. They lead her and the Dawn around the perimeter of the ruined, mostly improvised township to point out where she should cut it back with the ship's powerful bite.

At the same time, another tzelicrae, one inhabiting the discarded skin of some sort of flightless, climbing bird, leads Shaw over to the broken second bike. Moving around here has almost more to do with wavewalking than it does with normal walking, which is difficult for Shaw. He definitely doesn't have the same trained agility as his tzelicrae guide, but he makes it to the bike without major problems. The bike is powered by a small springwork engine, a mechanism designed to store kinetic energy extremely effectively and make use of it to power the vessel. Cheap, reliable and perfect for a tiny ship like this one. Shaw immediately recognizes what is wrong with the engine. Some integral components have been badly damaged in the fall and need to either be replaced or mended. Fixing it is harder, but not impossible.

Elrenna in turn is lead to a large wooden house that is still mostly standing, though it has been mended less than elegantly with large wooden boards and even uncut branches nailed to the old building. It's the largest structure in the town and most likely used to be a storage building.
Inside, there are hammocks strung up in all corners, between the walls and just under the ceiling. It seems like a large part of the town population sleeps in here, though at this time, most - but not all - hammocks are empty.
Elrenna is led to a middle-aged ardent man, tall and lean, who is lying on a bed made of rough sacks filled with something presumably soft, on the floor. His right arm is heavily bandaged and splinted after almost certainly being broken. He also has a number of bloody bandages applied to his bare torso, covering up deep wounds.
"He got hurt when we fell with the spit," Elrenna's guide, a huge tzelicrae in white silken skin, explains. "The arm broke and he was impaled on branches. We have taken care of him ever since but after his spouse was taken by the beetleships, we have nobody left who knows how to treat his wounds beyond cleaning them from time to time. Maybe you know more?"

"I'll see what I can do, then..." She looks through her gear for a moment before taking out a packet wrapped in wax paper, she requests a bowl or a mortar and pestle, then dumps the contents: A collection of oddly transparent thistle blossoms, almost spectral in appearance; into the bowl, mixing them with water and crushing them into a faintly luminescent paste. With that done, she soaks a new set of bandages in the liquid while she checks the man, cleans his wounds to the best of her ability perhaps oddly to her companions and the Tzelicrae sniffing around each puncture like an animal for a moment, and makes sure that the arm is set and splinted properly so that the break doesn't heal crooked. Finally, she cleans the wounds in his torso, checking carefully for internal damage before stitching them up and replacing the bandages with those she has soaked in the thistle-paste. "That's all I can do, I have no idea if it will help or not, but Phantom Thistle is good for deep wounds, that's what we used back at h- Back where I came from."

The Tangle down here is fairly thick and while the Dawn has a powerful Bite, maneuvering it along the edge proves harder than expected and after expanding part of the barrier around the town, something gets lodged in the Dawn's Bite, preventing it from continuing.
Upon inspection, Cait finds that a large branch has penetrated the massive chainsaw from the side, broken off and has gotten sap and splinters all over the Bite. Cleaning this out won't be a difficult task but definitely an annoying one that will take some time.

Katkoni still appears grateful for the help, even if they didn't accomplish half of what they set out to do. "I will take care of this. Before the morning, your Bite will be in full working order again."Elrenna's treatment of the wounds goes by without a hitch, though unfortunately, she had to use up all of the thistles for this treatment so that her resource is completely used up now.
Once she is done, the injured man props himself up on his healthy elbow and says: "Thank you. I've never heard of Phantom Thistle but it really dulls the pain." He groans as he reaches for a bag standing next to his sickbed and pulls out a small, silver box. He hands it to Elrenna. "This is for you," he says. "As a thank you for your efforts and the balm."
The box is small enough to fit in the palm of her hand and rather flat. It is made from very thin metal, most likely Pre-V. There are dents all over it that have been hammered out to restore the original shape but that left signs of damage. When Elrenna opens it, she finds it empty.Shaw immediately gets to work. This is exactly his specialty and by the time he is finished, not only is the engine running smoothly again but he even made it a bit more efficient by taking out some excess parts that would only be at risk of breaking in the future and don't really add to the functionality.
When he presents the pieces to the tzelicrae that lead him to the bike, the bird-skinned person waves it off. "Keep it. For your trouble."

---

Once everyone's task is finished, the mayor gathers the wildsailors again.
"Thank you for your help," they say with a bow. "Is there anything we can do for you in return? Do you need anything from us? Food, shelter for the night? Did the people of Narrowplate request anything from us?"

Cait watches Katkoni work on the bite for a while before starting to glance around at the trees that surround them. She looking for any kind of salvage or forage materials that catch her eye.

After a while she runs back across the tangle to the village, it still feels strange being this deep. When Shaw and Elreanna return she looks at them sheepishly. "I kinda broke the Dawn, we were sawing along just fine there was a bang and everything ground to a halt. Dead freakin’ stop."

---

Concern spreads across Shaw's face at the news. I'll check it out and met you guys know. Don't beat yourself over it.

"See, that's why I don't pilot anything. Always the worry something will break... Then again, I s'pose when you fight the worry is something won't break instead." She shrugged her shoulders, still a little twitchy and uncomfortable, being this close to the under-boughs always skeeved her out, but it was nice to help people when she could manage it. "Weren't we supposed to ask something about somebody? I also recall something about... no, no I think I just imagined that part. Or maybe it was a daydream that got mixed up in my head." She trailed off, trying to untangle the mess inside of her noggin, lost in her own head while her eyes darted about, keeping an eye on the surroundings even despite her scatterbrained moment.

"I break everything," Cait says glumly, "it's my one endearing quality."

She ponders Elrenna's words about the message and looks back over at their ship.

"No," Caitriona says, "you're right we were supposed to deliver a message to Wellon's brother, Senan." She thinks a moment, "It's in the locker in the main cabin."

"Senan," the mayor repeats. "Your friend already spoke to him." They indicate towards the large house where Elrenna just was. "She treated his wounds, I believe. That is good, he will be doubly glad for your arrival if you bring news of his family. And he has little to be happy about these days."