A Good Day

Gonyaul'vaux lost track of time staring up at the ceiling of his lodging. His shelter was small and spartan, built by his own two hands, away from the other farmhands which worked together to build their homes in more of a grouping. It wasn't the ceiling that had captured his attention; however, a few slivers of light coming in through a hole in the side wall interacting with dust particles. It was captivating to just lay on the floor in silence and allow his eyes to focus on dust. It was remarkable, if he looked close enough, it was as if each unremarkable speck flickered in and out of radiant glory. He was presently covered in dust, ~how come when light hit him he didn't shine~ he mused.

He was stalling. He was tired. It had been a long day on the farm, a hard day of burrowing under the subterraneous scaffoldings to tend to the graphed fungus growing on the root systems. Most of the rows showed promising water retention; however, several had to be replaced along the southside. He was hypothesizing that those rows were taking longer and hotter periods of sunlight to account for the lower water retention. Perhaps, creating some type of shielding or at least a way to capture condensation could be a possible solution to look into. The toil and sweat of the day turned the dirt to mud on his person, which at this point, had dried and covered him from head to toe. It was highly probable that he was the one always stuck doing this unpleasant task because no one else wanted to.

Gonyaul'vaux slowly sat up, stretched his arms into the air and let out a much needed grunt. Kneeling back on his heels, he took out a blindfold-like wrapping from home and wrapped it around his eyes and ears. Enough stalling, he thought to himself. Taking a deep breath, he began to reflect back to his past. Where and when was memory going to take him today?

---darkness---

Roughly a year ago ... it was the crossing ship from Helias. Gonyaul'vaux could feel the lurching knots in his stomach from sea sickness. The hunger from struggling to keep the majority of his rations down. To make matters grim, this was the fateful day where the farm owner and his employer, Master Joseph, was about to breathe his last. The boss had gotten ill during the voyage and nothing seemed to break his climbing fever. Gonyaul'vaux remembers being by his side whenever possible in the hopes things would turn favorable; however, sometimes you don't get what you hope for. Upon his death, the other farmhands that Master Joseph brought along ostracized Gonyaul'vaux. They had only tolerated him and all his differences because the boss kept them in check. Now with the senior farmhand, and son, in charge it became very apparent things were about to change. Welcome to Arcadia.

---darkness---

It was earlier in the day... Today... He was in the market at Suncross Square after work. He tried to keep coming into town to a minimum. It was typically easy to do since his work kept him occupied away on the farm and he had his own little garden. Yet every now and then he would need to visit the market for supplies. He had an agreement with the vendors, that he was not to come to the front where others would see them doing business together, but around the back where he would wait ... and wait ... and wait for them to bring his usual order in exchange for his hard earned currency. Today's bread was harder than usual.

---darkness---

He was lying on a cot with an elder from his tribe injecting the ceremonial ink into his lower back. It felt like the bite of a bullet ant that then spread like a flashfire for inches around the injection point. He had a thick stick in between his teeth. The first stick, too thin, was in pieces on the ground beneath his face.

---darkness---

Memory stopped the journey and he became self-aware that he was in a present state of mind. He let his five senses take control. He did not try to make sense of any of the data they were pulling in. Instead, he just enjoyed the raw sensation of it. An unexpected bang suddenly caught his attention.

Gonyaul'vaux removed the head wrap, took a deep breath and smiled. He looked around his shed-like home and smiled again as his eyes readjusted to the light. The front door had swung open with a burst of wind. He had forgotten to close the latch. He got up to his feet and went outside with the plans of taking a bath and making a sandwich. "Et was a good dey todey." he proclaimed to the fresh air as he took off to accomplish plan number one. He clapped his hands together in appreciation, leaving behind a cloud of dust.