Jacob Earl

or: A different song, but the same tune.

NEAR PAGE 125 SUPPLEMENTAL

#book/marsep

After laying out the temple the pastor and wrycken carefully chased the edges with (mud concrete) and let it dry. The storm clouds still threatened green on the horizon, and they worked as quick as they could. Tyn supervised, but after awhile dissapeared to see what the purple dragon was doing. The design of the temple was podular¹, the large central circular chamber had seats, of carefully smoothed concrete the same material as the floor and walls. The sense of unity was important, it should all be one object, not several disparate things. The design of the room faced inwards to a hole, two meters across and ten centimeters deep. When it is finished the hole would be mirrored by a gap in the ceiling for light and smoke. If someone were to stand in the center, he would be slightly below ground level. The walls curved around and opened into gaps that would become archways hung with cloth, seperating smaller rooms. Each room except the main one had only one door. They could not finish before the storm came. The concrete was still wet, and the design would be strong when finished but was weak now. They stopped, and hoped, but when they came back after the high winds and cold hard rain a few days later it was clear that the foundation had cracked, and they needed to start again. The pastor was discouraged, but Wrycken set to work right away. The two of them dug up and destroyed everything they had done before, dragging the chunks to a pile off to the side. The rain came pissing back in gusts, rolling off the brim of Wrycken’s wide-brimmed black hat. He looked at the pile of their labor and laughed. “The next batch will be stronger for it.” The pastor wanted to cry for all the work he had been doing, but they both set upon the wreck and started systematically pulversizing it back down to dust. After awhile the pastor started singing a song, an old hymnal, and Wrycken joined in his own language. A different song, but the same tune.