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More materials, always more materials.

Dyakida wished she had more help with finding them. A set of eyes would be handy, for one thing. One that could speak. Peyla could only do so much for her.

Briella and Ilyra were often on errands. They would look out for materials and bring them to her, but it wasn't the same. They didn't know what to look for, what to feel for.
The others in the tree had other things they had to do. All very important, indeed, Dyakida didn't want to disrupt the flow of their household. That they were looking out for materials for her was wonderful, even if the materials were, to her, substandard quality.

Just because it looks nice, doesn't mean it is suitable she thought... but she kept it to herself.

She needed to find at least some good quality materials, however, and that meant looking and learning for herself, by herself. Peyla knew her well enough to direct her, but the sprite was so distractable.

But Peyla was a good sight better than nothing.
Her chirping directed Dyakida to a fallen, crystal infested log and she crouched, investigating the log's ridges and bumps slowly and thoughtfully with a single delicate hand, her other holding her precious staff. She was a strange sight, indeed. After all, she was a big tall alkidike, touching a grungy old log...

If Dyakida hand't felt the vibrations of his approach, she might have jumped back.
"Rotten? Not qu..." she felt the log under her fingers give a bit and moved on, "Yes. I did notice." her fingers touched and curled around a large crystal embedded in the trunk.
Ah. There.
She took out one of her tools and dug out the crystal, putting it in her bag. It was a good crystal, though the wood itself was not so good. Rotten indeed- she had been hoping for weathered. Ah well, such was the cycle of life. She tapped the end of the log once, twice, then stood up. Nothing more there.
Peyla had become distracted by the newcomer. Who was he? What was he? Why did he have so many colors? What was in those bags? The sprite thoroughly inspected him.
Dyakida shrugged at Peyla's preoccupied chirps. Of course she would inspect the newcomer. That was what Peyla did.
"She inspects anybody new that I meet." she said by way of apology, "You'r accent is interesting. Where are you from, Earthling?" She made a guess.
The voice was, after all, male. The likelihood of them being an earthling was very high.

"She won't." Peyla didn't bite.
Well.
Except for that one time... and then that other time...
"... usually. If she does, she won't do much damage, and she'll have been. Very. Bad." The last few words were not for Rastian but were a reminder to Peyla that she did NOT mess around.

Ooooo, he had STUFF! Lots of stuff! Peyla flinched at Dyakida's words.
She was being good. She wouldn't take anything, she promised!
Anyway, the new guy smelled interesting, like sand! It wasn't her favorite scent, but it was new!
And his eyes! They were really neat.
Peyla got very close to Rastian's face. They were really neat, even if they were grassy colored!

She hoped that Peyla wasn't bothering him too much.
"Sauti?" she exclaimed, moving closer to the voice and to Peyla's distinctive chirps, "That's a long way away."
And delivering supplies? Hmm.
"Would you have spare materials to trade, perhaps?" she asked politely. Perhaps a little bolder than usual, but he seemed very curt, so she followed his lead.

"Excellent!" she said, smiling broader than usual. She had heard the sudden change in his voice. He seemed to like trading. Well good. She loved trading. If he came from as far away as he said, he should have some materials that would be excellent to use. She walked towards his voice (and Peyla's chimes) and laid down a small mat, sitting by it.
"I'm afraid I don't have much on me at this time- I was out gathering materials- but I did make a few good finds, and I can give you collateral..." a word she picked up from her elders, a very nice, reasonable, polite, and logical word that she didn't often get to use, "For a future meeting. Or, if you would prefer, I could go back to my home and pick up a few things that may interest you?" She couldn't invite him back, of course. That would mean his death, and that wouldn't be very polite of her. Or diplomatic. Or halfway decent.
"I craft weapons, you see. At the moment, I'm looking for good base materials..." she took out her own pack, poised to take out what she had found, unless he thought the latter idea was better. Then again he seemed happier to unload than anything. She did, she remembered, have some small shells that some used as tradable currency, picked up on a market excursion and a few treks to the beach.

Not so close?! Peyla made an unhappy chime.
But... But she liked him! She chimed at Dyakida. Tell him! Tell him she was going to be a good sprite!

"Peyla, come here..." Now that she was trying to trade with the man, she wanted to be on good terms, and Peyla could be annoying as hell.
Which reminded her of a little problem with trading that she hadn't thought of, or had refused to admit. Damn. She didn't like admitting her blindness, but she would, wouldn't she? She was reluctant to say it, though.

Peyla unhappily flew towards Dyakida, stopping a little bit away. Oh, fine. She wasn't too far away from the pretty eyed man. But her Alkidike would need her, right? That was important! Peyla was important!

She hesitated.
"No. I cannot." she admitted, gritting her teeth. She hated admitting it, she really did. "So you will have to describe them to me, if you don't mind, of course." She set out a few of the things she had found that day, as well as some things she found that had lingered in her bag from the last time, including her spare dagger. It was a spare, and she had a few. Most would go to trade, but sometimes she just grew attached to their feel and shape. Things she made held memories, and memories were things she held onto dearly. She held out her hands.
"May I?"

"There is no need to apologize" she said pleasantly, and it was true. "I know I should mention it, or make it obvious, but I don't like to admit it." she said politely and honestly. She didn't like thinking about how she could be cheated, or- worse- how she needed help. It stung to think about how difficult life could be. She liked to pretend it was not.

She held out a hand and inspected a few of the crystals with her fingers. "These would be very useful for inlays, I think. Or, maybe for a magical weapon." she replaced the crystals and smiled, "A bit out of my skill range, but I could trade for a few and practice with them. What colors are they?" Light color meant a lot of things, and though lights went well with darks, but sometimes lights went well with lights, if she remembered correctly. It was good to have the colors in her head.

She angled her head questioningly, "Hollowed wooden rods? Interesting. Indeed, I could use them for weapon attachments, or to create a lighter weapon... which could be useful for some warriors, I would think. If you don't need to deliver all of them to your destination..." She offered forward some of her goods- a few small carvings of flowers (good practice), a carved radaku, and a small utilitarian dagger that she had made for her market trip to Andile. "I'll happily take a few off your hands."

Blue... red... green... and purple? Goodness. Gems actually came in purple? She remembered the colors as vague blurry concepts but that actually worked well for colors which were already vague blurry concepts. There were things she could do with all of them.
She felt the crystals for a moment then set a few clusters aside.
"For the radaku, the flower, and the dagger. I should have a good range of colors...?" she said, judging the fair trade based on what she could feel of the crystal's quality. She knew how well it might take to carving or inlaying at least. Quality would also be its suitability to magic. One day, she might be able to do that.
She knew she had a fair deal. These were crystals from quite a distance, and very nice quality. And a good deal of the bag to boot.
"Forgive me for asking, but what is a 'Nephew?'"

"I see!" said Dyakida, intrigued. That made Nephew the male form of Niece. It was, she had to admit to herself, a little strange to think that Earthlings did not come from a single source as Alkidikes did. She felt a little sorry for them. At least they came from somewhere, and had family. That was some sort of saving grace.
"And, just to be clear, an adoptive brother is a brother that was born to different parents?" such a concept! Alike, somewhat, to herself, but not truly. She was born of Aisha alone, but her mothers had loved her as if they had pleaded for her themselves. Her mothers were as much her sisters as her mothers, as much kin as any alkidike (or halfbreed, since all came from the same mother ultimately). "And then taken in by your own?" She smiled at the thought. It seemed a very kind thing to do.
"Either way, I'm glad that he would enjoy it. Most of my carvings do not see the light of day." most carvings ended up lost somewhere in her room, to be stepped on by accident at a later date. Or, perhaps, pilfered by a certain mischevious sprite. She placed the gems in compartments in her bag, trying to keep them as separate as possible, but she would check with a sister when she came home. Her hand touched a small bag in one of the compartments, one she had missed before. She cupped it experimentally, chuckling somewhat at herself.
"I also appear to have money in here from my last market trip. Interesting that it should still be here. I may be able to ease your burden further?"