Day 10

Breakfast was marred by a blazing row between myself and Govinda. It started when I annotated that we would detour to take a look at the structure he had noticed last night. Govinda was strongly opposed to this coarse of action. At first he tried to argue that we did not have provisions for the delay. When this did not dissuade me from viewing the structure he declared it blasphemy and a place built of lies.

I am not sure if the suns are getting to him or his upbringing is rearing its head with this knee jerk reaction to anything which may raise questions about those beliefs he had be holding as truth all his life.

In any case I laid his options out for him. He could return home disgraced or he could clam himself and remember his place. He seems to have chosen the latter and with that little drama out of the way we struck out towards the structure.

As the twins rose higher in the sky the scale of what I can only call a city dawned on us. We are all seem to be having some trouble processing it; except for Sem-buk who is as unphased as ever. I was afraid that Govinda was going to go catatonic on me but he seems to have gone all the way trough panic into so disassociated clam. He is like a man in a dream which he knows is not real but he is going along with it to see where it goes. Akanksha is bubbling with excitement and is coming with some truly entertaining out of this world theories. I mean this somewhat literally as she say this must be a citadel of the gods or perhaps beings beyond from beyond the sky. From anyone else at any other time in any other place I would scoff at these wild flights of fancy. But here and now with her I can not bring my self to. Govinda seems to be taken with the citadel of the gods idea.

We stop for our siesta on a ridge over looking the city. Whilst much decade from its former glory it shows signs that it once was much grander than even the capital.

As we walk towards what was once the main gate we noticed that Surya's path lead strait to it. The ruts in it seemed to fan out and fade away once it was pass the gate. The streets of the city were two level things. The centre was lower than the edges and appeared to have a slight raise towards the centre.

Very few of the buildings seemed to have survived much beyond their second story but there was clear evidence that they had once been taller. As we explored we sought answers to three questions: Who had built it, when and why had it been abandoned?

There was definite signs that some of the destruction had been down to fire. As we headed into the centre of the city the damage became more extreme with the buildings being all pocked marked and creators broke up the road.

At the very centre there appeared to be a park. It was surrounded on all sides by what must have once been vast buildings. The main temple and governmental buildings most likely. The were all merely shells now showing sings of some great conflaguation. I saw evidence of the actions of flame and air souled through out the park. At the centre stood the remains of four statues on a raised dias. There were carings in the Dias. One looked like an arcaic from of Sevai the others were in three distinq scripts which I do not reconise. I have inclueded a sceach of them. I believe the Sevai inscription reads "To Brotherhood and peace". It appeares they didn't get their wish.

After resting in shadow of the statue we discussed our options in regards to this discovery. It was quickly agreed that we did not have the resorces to do any sort of justice to this place. so we decided to split up. Govinda would stay near the park and explore the building on the perimeter. I think he plans on finding the main temple and being honest he has the best chance of all of us. Akanksha is taking the east of the city as Savi covention holds that where the mercent quarter should be. That left me with the west, hopefully I'll be able to see how the citizens lived. We agreed to meet at the northern gate at sunsdown. Sem-buk will take the nauls and our provisions and wait for us there.

walking through the residential streets I noticed there always seemed to be four types of houses. There was of corse the differences due to caste and class, but there seemed to be four philosophies underpinning the designs.

The first of which are very much like ours.

The second were round, often circular, with a hearth at the centre of a single room. The grander of this type show some eviendece of partitions.

The final two are somewhat simerlar to each other. They are both pretty much entirely underground. The major difference between the two was that one seemed to have been deliberately flooded. The remaining water in even the humblest was remarkably fresh.

Four seems to becoming a significant number in this expidition. when I reached the north gate I found that Sem-buk had stabled the Nuals at what I believe is best discribed as an inn. Its location and layout diffinatly fitted that lable. Our provisions had been stored in the main building but I seemed to be the only one arround. I took the oppertunity to clmb up the city wall and survey our onwards journey. To the north-west vegitation became evermore sparse probably leading to a Surya blasted wasteland. On the north-eastern horizon I believe the may be some large body of water. It is northward we are heading and there is a continuation of Surya's path leading to the foot hills of the mountains that the darkones call home. I found Sem-buk stood behind me when I turned back to the city. He confirmed that those foothills mark the border of his people's lands.

As the twin sunk below the horizon my students made the appearences at the north gate. First came Govida brimming with excitement over the discovery of what he believed to be the main temple. He has made copious notes and sketches which we will look over after supper.

Akansha returned a little dispondent and seemed a little put out by Govinda's success. She reported that what she was forced to assume was the merchent quarter seems to hav suffered the most damage. I can only assume that this was due to the large market places be open ground whilst the merchent's houses would have the most portable wealth making very attactive to looters. We ate in what was the old comunial room of the inn. Sem-buk had gathered wood for a fire which we sat round as we discussed Govinda's findings.

I will compile the oridgional notes into my formal report but I'll summerise the main points that arose in our discussions.

1 the temple that Govinda discribes deffinatly would put the grand temple in the capital to shame.

2 it seemed to have spaces dedicated to lesser or forgotten gods,

3 even during the fighting that brought an end to this city it seems that the temple was respected.

The temple had been cleared out of anything portable so the only evidence we have is inscriptions in the four writting styles that appear through out the city.

After much debate we decided that as we did not have the time or resorces to do this place justice we will press on tomorrow morning.