“Sir,” Rei said, offering his hand. Ursay reached out and shook it.
“To what do I owe the pleasure?” he asked. “Last I knew you were still banished from the Earth.”
“Can we go somewhere and talk?” Rome asked, looking around furtively.
“Of course.”
It is good that they can trust Commander Ursay to not give away their presence but he has something in store for them completely unexpected yet wonderful. You'll see that tomorrow.
Entry 4-370: December 31, 2016
Good wine
We know from a previous post that Rome's first taste of wine came at the Mullen household. Rei's group had planted an experimental vineyard to the southeast of Lake Eprehem. The wine they produced was not totally awesome. It was too strong, more like port than table wine. And while Rome enjoyed the experience, we all know the best wines come from Earth. Thus Commander Ursay's surprise was all the sweeter:
Ursay led them back through the small vineyard, past his farmhouse, to a ramshackle building resembling a barn. Rei was surprised to see no sign of Vuduri aerogel anywhere. After all three entered, Ursay pulled the doors closed and directed them to one end of the building where there were multiple racks of oaken barrels stored on their sides. The floor was nothing more than combed dirt. Ursay had them sit at a rough-hewn table pushed up against the wall. To Rei, the chairs appeared to be hand-made and slightly mismatched. Once they were settled, Ursay left them to amble slowly back the way they came, pausing briefly at each barrel. Finally, he stopped in front of one of the larger ones. After reaching down for a pitcher that was dangling from a peg, he fussed around the spigot at the base of the cask. He returned to Rei and Rome carrying the pitcher filled with a dark, ruby-red liquid and placed it on the table.
Noticing the liquid’s aroma, Rei inquired, “Wine? Isn’t that a little out of character for a Vuduri?”
“I find myself more spiritually aligned with the mandasurte than the Vuduri these days,” Ursay said. “Probably because of you two. I have not quite made up my mind to go Cesdiud.” He reached up to a shelf mounted on the wall and brought down three glasses.
“You sure have mellowed from when I first met you,” Rei said. “But still? How do you even know what to do?”
“I agree I do not have much experience,” Ursay said. “But we are just north of Douro, which used to be known as the premier wine-growing region in a thousand square kilometers. They do not let the mandasurte near here so I decided to try it myself. It interests me, what can I say?” He lifted the pitcher and poured the wine into each of the glasses then handed one to Rei and one to Rome. “This red is young,” he said, “but I think you might like it.”
Rei lifted his glass and held it up to the light. He swished the glass in a small circle then took a sip. “This is good!” he said. “Better than the stuff we grew.”
Ursay took a swallow from his. “It needs to age,” he said. He looked at Rome who was staring at her glass. “Do you not wish to try it?” he asked.
Rome looked up at him with some pain in her face. Rei reached over, took her glass and moved it away from her. “Rome had a bad experience not too long ago. Wine was a part of it,” he said. “No offense but I don’t think she’s in the mood. Commander Ursay please do not be insulted.”
“No,” Rome protested. She extended her arm and pulled the glass back. “I refuse to allow one ompasil to take away the pleasures of my life.” She lifted the glass and took a healthy swig. “Mmm,” she murmured. She turned to Rei and said, “I believe you call it getting back on the horse?”
Rei laughed.
Ursay replied, “I cannot say I understand what you are talking about but I will send a bottle along with you. In a year or so, it should be ready.” He set his glass down. “Now tell me why you are here.”
The bad experience highlighted above, of course, was Edgar Mullen assaulting Rome after he had too much to drink. I had not planned on introducing wine in this scene originally but while I was researching where to put Commander Ursay's farm, I discovered that the Douro region of Portugal is famous for its excellent wines so I just folded that into the story to give a little more veracity.
Tomorrow, Rome and Rei get down to business.
Entry 4-371: Epilogue
Tales of the Vuduri: Year Five
Just like the previous three years, if you made it this far, I owe you my deepest gratitude. What an accomplishment. You have read four years worth of blog articles! What lies ahead? Why, Year Five, of course. However, Year Five will be my last year for this series. It is simply too draining writing articles day in and day out. I’ve written over 1500 posts. One more year will make it over 1700. That’s enough already!
I’m not going to stop cold turkey. My plan is to write one article a week after that. Each post will be a bit longer than they are now. I’m sure there will be new thoughts. I know there will be new and exciting developments in science, technology and nature and I’ll want a forum somewhere. I’ll have to change the name of the blog as well so that it stays nice and “round” at five. Over this next year, I should be able to finish up my review of The Ark Lords and even a good portion of Rome’s Evolution. I’ll push hard to finish it.
I have an ambitious plan over the next year and a half. First off, I want to rewrite Rome’s Revolution. It will broken up back into its original three parts. Part 1 will be a complete rewrite, not an edit job. Part 2 will be partially rewritten. Part 3 will be heavily edited. The reason for this is my writing has gotten better over the last eight years and Rome’s Revolution is my signature novel so it should reflect my best writing, not my worst. That is why the first part needs to be completely rewritten.
Once I rewrite the book, I am going to record each of the three parts as a separate audiobook. I will call the trilogy The Rome’s Revolution Saga. Part 1 will become known as Book 1: Rebirth. Part 2 will become known as Book 2: Rebellion. The final part will become known as Book 3: Redemption. Once I have completed all three sections, I’ll recompile all three parts back into a single volume and rerelease the book as Rome’s Revolution: Second Edition. I got permission from Audible to concatenate my own audio material so I only have to record each section one time to produce the full audiobook.
After that, I’ll finally get to my prequel tentatively named MASAL – The Robot War. Then I can finally start writing the second book in the Vuduri Knights series entitled, well, The Vuduri Knight. What is the third book? I don’t know. I’ll figure it out when I get to it. Before that, I have to write a book or books in the series entitled The Immortals. Jeez, I’m exhausted just thinking about it.
In any event thanks again for sticking with me and, as always, stay tuned!
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