Sterims woke up in his bed knowing precisely how he got here. This 'Curie' woman is a nuisance. After the Word finally left him alone 'Curie' asked him two more questions.

"What are you doing in the mines?"

and

"Why have you not reached your goal?"

The second question was unnerving. She smiled while asking it. And he did not answer.

He paid his drinks, stood up, walked home with several detours to lose any 'Curie' following him, got home, locked all doors and went to bed.

That smile.

"Why did she ask this? Why should I have reached my goal? It is not like mining is easy or that these black stones are not in my way ...", Sterim said to himself with his eyes closed.

He opened his eyes.

No young woman nor Words were staring back at him. A good start for a day.

His room was as tidy as his work place. Nothing was laying around and not a speck of dust was on his desk. The sun began to rise over the city and light fell right onto his face through the window of his second floor apartment.

Before he went to work, he had to pick up something. 

So he got up and took a shower. Plumbing was a gift for the upper middle class made possible by the water sources around Skimbell. It was actually a very good start to the day.

He stepped out onto the street and began walking northwards. His living quarters were close to the new headquarters of the city. The stone streets around here made Skimbell seem like a proper city.

As he reached the city center, he overtook some of his miners on their way to work. They seemed tired and their clothes were full of sand, but they still managed to say a nice word or two. He did not stop for a chat because he had to be at his tailor and back to the mine before any of the miners started to get bored.

He met his tailor two streets away from his shop slowly walking with his hands in his pockets.

"Mr. Remdan, good to meet you this early in the morning!"

Remdan turning around a bit surprised.

“You want your gloves, don't you, Sterim? I'm not even halfway to the store yet, my boy.” Remdan said  with a smile. “Come. Walk with me.”

Sterim was in a hurry but he knew Remdan would not walk any faster just because Sterim wanted it. So Sterim matched his pace and looked around this part of Skimbell.

All of the building in this northern edge of the central city were made of wood. Beyond this part, the rugged field houses below the fallen tower started. Sterim never understood why Remdan settled for this place and he stopped asking him a long time ago.

"So, how is the mine going?", Remdan asked.

Sterim sighed. "Yesterday the whole place was swarming with Words because of some black stone. I hope this wont disturb the mining."

"Mhm. I bet it will.", Remdan said.

“Thank you for your reassuring words. Have you heard anything about any more crazy people turning up or black stones?”

"Yeah, two more of these 'crazy people' got locked up this week because they were a nuisance to the administration. They shouted some odd prayers in front of the directors office. But nothing about black stones."

Sterim and Remdan turned into the street with Remdans shop.

"The people are getting more and more restless since the fire. It can't be good for them to be sleeping below the fallen tower."

Remdan did not comment on this. He took his keyes out of his pocket and entered his shop. Sterim in turn took the money for his new gloves out of his wallet.

After some moments Remdan came out of his shop with a new pair of brown gloves. Sterim happily exchanged the goods for money and was about to turn around to leave.

The he stopped and looked at Remdan.

“Do you need anything else?” asked Remdan.

"Yes." Sterim paused. "How are you doing?"

Remdan raised his eyebrows in surprise and fell silent for a moment. "Did something weird happen to you?"

Sterim slowly put both his hand over his eyes."Oh god. Why do keep people asking me this?"

"You act weird. Normally you have a one-track mind. Going straight to the mine and back. Never a second wasted. And never a nice question like asked." Remdan sat down onto his old chair in front of his shop.

"I am doing fine. Thank you for asking. And thank you for your business."

Sterim took his hands from his eyes and took a deep breath.

"That's nice. Hopefully your day will be better than my last day."

Sterim turned around and walked straight towards the mine.