Aren't there rock fields around your volcano that you're not allowed to go near?
Eihlari doesn't have a volcano. Not a live one, at least.
Really? Then why did the islands colonize there?
Colonize us? *laughter* It's the other way around! We've been living on Eihlari long before anyone knew the Cluster Islands were there.
Oh, I'm so sorry, I completely misunderstood. I thought that since you're so far removed from the cluster, you must also have been a mining colony. That's why we're where we are. What the engineers told me is that all the easy holdurnose in the islands has been mined, and they're having to dig deeper for veins of it. Our volcano is valuable because it still has large quantites found above ground. It's easy to find, though difficult to take.
Why's that?
Because you'd have to get foolishly close to most dangerous parts of the mountain. It's, um... *pause* This would be easiest if I could draw a map. Do you have scrap paper I can use?
Of course. Here. And a pen.
Thank you. Look, here's the bay side of Ralcondray. The inlet comes up the middle, and Vitgrud is right here on the west peninsula. The bay curves a little, like so.
Huh. It looks like a pair of legs.
Doesn't it? And right at this narrowest point is Bottleneck Mountain.
*gasp* That's huge! Is it really as wide as the bay?
Oh, yes. And right up here, near the crater, this whole area is rich in holdurnose just waiting to be picked up. But notice how the mountain is closer to the east peninsula, almost touching it? You could wonder why Vitgrud wasn't settled over here if the whole point was to mine it, but the holdurnose itself is the reason.
The smell?
No, that's just the warning. This side of the mountain has vents that release it as smoke. If you see yellow-gray clouds, keep to a direction away from where they're blowing. If you're close enough to smell it, you're probably only a few steps away from being so close it will burn your body from the inside. Any part of the ground that looks like it's bleeding is beyond boiling hot. This is not the kind of place you want to have facing your home.
I agree. But what good is all that holdurnose if you can't get close to it?
There are machines that can extract it without as much risk to people. The workers who run them do get close to the danger zone, but don't have to go inside it. There are also vents underwater where we may be able to collect holdurnose the way the deeps-dweller does. It's not as hot there, and being submerged makes it easier for our water handlers to work from a distance.
Is that where the deeps-dweller is?
Actually, it's not. Those vents may be cooler, but they're still painfully hot. It lives more out here. You see, the whole island is on top of a sea of molten rock, and though Bottleneck Mountain is where it erupts, there are other places where some of that heat escapes less destructively. We have hot springs near Vitgrud, and the deeps-dweller is anchored near something like that underwater.
How can it be running out of holdurnose?
That, I'm not sure. It may be that the sea is shifting, or cooling. To be clear, I don't think it's almost out. The deeps-dweller is worried more on the level of how we worry about storing enough food for the dry season.
How can you tell? What I mean is, it doesn't seem possible that it can talk, and- *rattle* *rattle* Oh no, already? I'm sorry, that's the timer. May I talk to you again another day? I feel like I didn't ask half of what I wanted to.
Sure, I'll let you know when I'm free.
Thanks. End recording.
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Author's Notes
Bottleneck Mountain is based on Sakurajima in Kyushu, Japan.