Brown Paper Packages Tied Up with String - (Day 2, Morning)

Lyen raised a hand in silent greeting of the pilot. She always looked so smart in that beret, and today she seemed busy with her clipboard and sign. Already, she'd seen a new face aboard the Veil--a Mr. Charcoal? The nun gathered her robe around her as she stepped off the ramp and into Bodie, empty bags slung over her shoulder.

List in hand, the nun glanced through the requests:

*1. Dinner bell triangle - Roose

2. Extra, extra candy - Serena

3. A gallon of bearing grease - Marisol <3

4. Sourdough starter, bread flour, ceramic bowl - Elle

5. Special surprise!*

The first two on her list were simple enough requests, though it begged the question as to why Roose needed to alert (warn?) everyone that dinner was served... Maybe that was why Serena asked for extra candy. Candy didn't need to be cooked, after all. Truthfully, the nun was not picky, as ten years in the monastery could attest, but she was a sucker for Marisol's salsa verde and covered everything she could in it anyway.

A quick stop at a food stall had everything she wanted of the edible variety: bonbons, taffy, hard candies--Serena had said extra-extra, right? Her eyes lit when she found some popping corn, just knowing how much Haddie and Gill would enjoy it. Bread flour was a cinch to find, but it took some hunting to track down sourdough starter. A few places claimed to have it, but upon laying eyes on the stuff, Lyen politely excused herself. Sure it should smell sour, but not *that* sour. Finally, a 'proper' bakery parted with a pinch of their starter, suspicious that the nun was planning on starting a rival bakery 'round the corner.

The bowl and the grease were, oddly, procured from the same grinning supplier. As ceramic bowls went, this one had some of the local flair embellished in the piece, with various metallic rocks polished to shine embedded along the edge. It was a handsome piece of pottery, and she thought it would suit Elle. The purchase took a little longer than expected as the grinning shop owner proved none too happy to exchange days wages into singles.

Her list was complete except for the last item, which Lyen hunted shrewdly for among the stalls without luck. She found her quarry on the corner, with tall, grand walls and a placard which read "The Jewel of Bodie." The nun, laden with her spoils, entered through the fine wooden doors with etched glass to the sound of a pleasant bell.

"Tiān a (Oh my)," escaped her lips.

An attendant was soon at her hip, divesting her of her baggage and leading her from case to case. There were so many beautiful silver pieces for which Bodie was known, or so the attendant informed her in his pleasant baritone.

*A mechanic,* she thought, *can't have things hanging or loose about herself. Something that won't hinder her, but that she can wear easily.*

Rings, bracelets, necklaces all were arranged with rubies, diamonds, and lapis, but it was a marvelous set of earrings which caught Lyen's breath. The small and simple silver disks were etched with a pair of Chinese lions. As earrings went, these were understated enough to be worn casually, without gaudy stones or ornate trim. As Lyen pointed to the pair, the attendant placed them in her palm.

The lion is strong and brave, and these particular lions appeared to be modeled after the 'Lion of the Shakyas.' Such allusions were very important to the teaching of the Buddha Shakyamuni; even the Buddha's voice was often called the 'Lion's Roar.' Ly smiled. She could think of no other symbol which embodied the feisty mechanic.

The nun produced the coin from her pouch, and set off toward the Lunar Veil's berth, chewing bonbons along the way.