[Kardia] The Weavers' Guild
Phyllis Rostykus
limped back across Dragon's Lane to Merchant's Hill, and towards the house
she remembered had the Weaver's Guild sigal.
It looked different in the sunlight. The slate roof was now
clearly multicolored, with the sigal repeated in a the subtle shading of
slightly pink and slightly blue and slightly purple slates. The windows
in the stone house seemed to have been placed wherever the stones most
easily allowed them, with little regularity. Kardia liked the house on
sight, and was amused to realize that each window had a lace curtain in a
different pattern of cloth, though all of them were similar in physical
make so that one that didn't know of the arts within wouldn't have thought
any of them to be different.
She walked up to the front door and knocked on the sun and weather
bleached oak. A few moments later, the door was opened by a small,
birdlike woman with bright blue eyes. "Hallo?" she said, cheerfully
peering up at Kardia's tall, lanky form. "May I help you?"
Kardia blinked, wondering if this really was the Weaver's Guild
house or if those were just decorations these folks had found, then she
remembered the curtains. "Uhm... I'm looking for the local branch of the
Weaver's Guild..."
The little woman beamed at her. "You've found her, deary. Come
right on it..." Kardia stepped in past her, and she said, "My, you are the
big girl, aren't you?"
Kardia laughed softly, "It's from my father's side, his father was
the youngest of seven sons and, at 6 feet tall, the shortest as well. My
brothers are even taller than... oh, my..." as they came out of the
cramped, dark, hallway into a Hall.
The little woman giggled. "That's what most of the real spinsters
say..."
The Hall was 30 feet by 30 yards of sun filled, stone floored, wood
panelled workspace. Workspace filled with standing looms, six different
styles of spinning wheels, yarn winders, pickers for wool, gin and carders
for cotten, combing setups, fully dressed distaffs, and the tremendous
scents of a working spinning and weaving environment. The rich, animal
scent of lanoline, the clean crisp grassy scents of flax, and behind it,
underneath it the acrid traces of dyeing mordants. Even on this overcast
day, the light from outside was clear and bright through a multitude of
small windows spotting the entire wall.
There were two women and a man in the area, using some of the
equipment. One of the women, a tall brunette with her hair netted back,
was teaching a young strawberry blonde girl the art of wielding wicked
looking wool combs with staggered teeth, the longest blades was about 10
inches long. Kardia didn't blame them for not even looking up at their
entrance. The man was spinning a flaxen thread fine enough that he had a
contrast colored cloth in his lap to see it. He drew the thread, wetted
the thumb of the front hand from a small dish of water and smoothed his
work as it spun from the point of the flashing, needle slender spindle. He
was built almost ridiulously big in comparison to the delicate work he was
doing. He was dressed comfortably in a shirt with no sleeves to get in the
way of his work and black pants. His hair was black, and his nose looked
as if it had been broken at some time. He didn't stop spinning, only
looked up at her with hazel eyes, nodded in her direction and at her
returning nod went back to his work, tugging gently at the fibers from the
distaff that loomed at his back.
The little woman and Kardia exited the Hall at the other end. "Who
were they?" asked Kardia.
"The teacher is Journeyman Davida Laumer, the student is Cassie
Lloyd, and the spinner is Master Peter Kroft. I'm Master Annie Torre."
Annie laughed, "And you're...?"
"Journeyman Kardia Xvaramene, first level." Kardia said.
"First level?" asked Annie, sounding slightly puzzled, "I dinna
know that there were weavers guilds that seperated levels out of the three
basic classes. The Magician's Guild has something like that... but we
haven't such nonsense here. Just gets too confusing and folks put on airs
with too much political hoohaw. We're more a results guild."
Kardia grinned at the words. "I think I'm going to like it here."
They turned into an office. Kardia blinked in surprise at the
metal filing cabinets that lined the walls. Annie laughed at the blink,
"They're for patterns, techniques, a kinda library of membership knowledge
made easy to look through and for things. One of the folks at the Mage
Guild was... inexpensive enough to bring them over for us. Master Sally
had gotten one once and pushed real hard for the Guild to swing a set.
They've been most useful..."
Annie went over to the desk, pulled open a drawer, and pulled out a
thick, leather bound red book and a dip pen with a bottle of ink. She
opened the book and wrote in Kardia's name, the date, and checked the
'arrived' column. While carefully writing in the entries, Annie asked,
"You have any examples of your work so that we can judge who you should be
working with?"
Without a word, Kardia undid the tie on her pack and pulled out the
cloth wrapped bundle, opened it and laid it's contents on the desk. She
heard the indrawn hiss of breath.
"My." said Annie and stroked the softness of the skein. Her hands
did not catch on it, Kardia noted with some surprise. "What else do you
have, Journeyman?" Annie's voice changed with the question, a kind of
respect that Kardia didn't often hear simply on the sight of some of her
work.
Kardia pulled out three more cloth covered bundles and laid them
on the table. She laid open one of them, unaccountably shy about seeing
Annie's reaction, and pulled out a scarf colored pale gold. The lace was
open enough for one to see the rest of the room right through it, and she
knew that the 6 foot long, 18 inch wide scarf weighed less than half an
ounce. Careful of any rough spots in the desk, she laid it across the
darkly finished wood and the lace glowed.
"Natural colored?"
Kardia nodded, "A boiled finish."
"Boiled?!" Annie flinched at the sharpness of her own voice and
reaction. "You boil silk?"
"No." Kardia said with a grin. "It's a variety of stinging nettle.
Nettle cloth and thread. Plant grown, not worms."
"Plant..." said Annie, wonderingly, stroking the scarf like a live
animal. "Boiled for softness?"
"And strength and pliability..." Kardia pulled apart the largest of
the three bundles, and cascades of lace came out. "... when done in the
thread."
Annie nodded, pulled back with the bottle of ink, pen and put them
away. Her eyes were intent and her hands well practiced when she handled
the lightness of the fabric. "A tablecloth?"
"Yes."
Together, they spread a section so that the lace pattern could be
seen across the darkness of the desk. The cloth had a spiky thistle as the
center panel, with a border around the central rectangle that was diamond
based. One section sprang from Kardia's hand and headed for the floor.
Two big hands deftly caught the cloth. It was the man from the Hall.
"How long did you ret the stalks?" he asked, as if he'd been a part
of the conversation the whole time.
Kardia blinked and thought, "Until they were done." she said and at
their look laughed, "That particular batch took two weeks to get to the
point where the stalks broke easily to the hand but the fibers were still
strong and intact."
"Water or dew?"
"Water because I wanted the softer finish and the lighter color."
"Hmmm... so it finishes exactly like flax?" his voice was polite
and quiet.
"Uhm... no, not exactly, there seem to be more joints in the
stalks, so the resulting length of the fibers is shorter..."
"And the shorter length also makes the finished yarn softer and
more pliable?" he asked. Kardia nodded, relieved and finding herself
relaxing in all the familiar technical talk, these folks knew their stuff,
not just the whats of rote learning but the whys behind how their
materials behaved. "Which would also make the retting process more
difficult, with a finer balance between when the pith was rotted away and
the finer fibers hadn't rotted away..." He just stood there looking at
the froth of lace in his big hands.
"By Issek, Peter, you could at least introduce yourself..." said
Annie with a twinkle in her eye.
He grinned at Annie a little crookedly and then faced Kardia
straight on, "She told you my name already, yes?"
Kardia nodded.
"And your name?"
"Kardia. Kardia Xvaramene. Journeyman..." she cut off before
talking about levels.
"Journeyman?" Peter frowned at the cloth in his hands, "Why in the
world are you just a journeyman with work like this?"
Kardia grinned a crooked grin, "Politics."
"Humph." The single sound left no doubt as to what Peter thought
of that. "Well, we'll have to see you in action, but I doubt that it'll be
hard for you to get a master's rating fairly quickly if you can do work
like this on a regular basis. Eh, Annie?"
Annie was looking at the third, unopened bundle with a smile and
a glint of anticipation, "Could be, Peter, could be. Why don't we see what
other treasure she's brought us?"
Peter and Kardia folded up the tablecloth and put it back in the
bundle. Annie undid the third one and whistled softly. A vest as fragile
seeming and transluscent at the other two pieces came out, glowing a blue
as rich as it was deep. The juxtiposition of its fragility and the
richness of the coloring involved made for an uncommon beauty, as of
something ethereal. "Indigo?" Annie asked softly.
"With a uria mordant." Kardia said.
"Aged a week?"
"Uhmmmhmmm..."
"How hot?"
"Just simmering, no roiling boil... spoils the fastness if it's
boiled too hard."
The two Masters nodded. "Damn, that took well." said Peter half to
himself. For a long moment, they were silent, just studying the
construction of the piece.
"Can you sell these for me?" asked Kardia.
Both of them looked at her, Peter started laughing hard enough he
had to sit down. Annie rolled her eyes at him and said gently to Kardia,
"How much do you want in advance?"
* * *
Kardia left the Guild House with gold tucked away in her belt as
well as a few silvers and coppers in the bag on her back; and a receipt
that showed the balance that was due her when the Guild actually did sell
the items. She had left some of her already retted fibers for use by the
Guild and a promise to take Annie to the plot that she'd planted the seeds
at. She was entirely and utterly amazed at how easy it had all been.
* * *
"Lets's just spread it out on this old table... just to see how it
looks when it's actually flat..." said Annie to Cassie as she pulled the
tablecloth out of the careful bundle.
It was the main table in the dining Hall of the Guild, an ancient,
dark with use giant of a table. The darkness of the wood contrasted
beautifully with the white cloud that slowly settled over it.
The table crashed to the ground, one of the legs gone halfway to
dust...
Both women screamed at the crash. Kitchen staff and Guild members
rushed into the dining hall at the huge sound. Peter first checked to make
sure that Cassie and Annie were all right; and then he knelt to examine the
the table under the shining web of the tablecloth. He frowned, thinking
hard. Pascere, the cook, came up with a knife still in one big fist. The
cook growled, "Damn hedge wizard, may the meal he got for fixing the table
rot in his gut..."
Peter blinked, "You had a *wizard* fix the table?"
"Was lookin' for a meal in exchange for a job. Knew needed fixin'.
So's had 'im do that. Much good it did..." growled the cook, nodding in
the direction of the destroyed leg, "Looks jus' like it did afore he got to
fixin' it..."
-----
[ADMIN - Introducing, enmass, the Weavers' Guild as I don't think that they
exist, yet. Masters Peter Kroft and Annie Torre, Journeyman Davida Laumer,
and Apprentice Cassie Lloyd. Also the cook, Pascere, just 'cause it was a
neat name. Plus a cast of dozens that I haven't really looked at yet.
Most of these are NPC's, I'd like to know of any use of Peter and Annie,
though. -PLR]
--
Phyllis Rostykus | "... and how you feel can make it real
aka Liralen Li | Real as anything you've seen... "
l...@Data-IO.com | Peter Gabriel _US_
Steve Hutchison
my own dialogue for 'Raelf at her request. Stuff in between the stars
belongs to Chris Meadows. Mine you have to guess at.
Sorry, Li, the title was just too hard to resist ;=}
---------------
Kardia limped away from the Weaver's Guild, and looked up at the
sky. The sun had slipped down near the horizon, and she realized that she
had missed the noon meal. It would still be a while until dinner at Mrs.
Cludne's. For a moment, she thought about going to the restaurant she had
found on the Hill, but then shook her head. Where was it the guard had
spoken of? Oh... yes... the Dragon's Inn.
She got back onto Dragon's Lane and headed back toward the gate she
came in on, and at seeing the Plaza, she looked for the corners and spotted
the Inn and a large cat man walking in. Intrigued, she quietly pushed her
way into the Inn.
The first thing she noticed when in was the music coming from above
her... She looked up and was shocked for a moment, thinking it was Alister
so confidently and easily perched up among the beams of the place. His
slender legs stretched along the joists and his pale hair brushing the
roof. She looked a little closer and realized that his hair was not the
silver white that Alister's was, instead, a creamier ivory. She saw his
eyes and they were as pale as Alister's had been dark. She shivered and
realized that she hadn't met enough elves, yet, if almost everyone reminded
her still of Alister.
She swallowed, realizing why she had thought as she had thought,
the sweet singing voice was so like to almost be a twin. Confident and
clear, and about the magic of music. Kardia suddenly blushed as she
realized that he had focussed on her entrance and her face; and she
wondered, a moment, if the stranger elf might have read her longing. She
looked down, hurredly, and looked for a table.
There were few empty tables, one was one away from the fireplace.
A woman with an olive colored complexion was seated at the one by the
fireplace, and the cat man was talking with her. Kardia's attention was
caught by a small white creature also at the table, which was gazing,
longingly at the bard in the rafters. She blinked again. It was a
unicorn. A small unicorn, to be sure, but, nonetheless, a unicorn. She
drew a deep breath in, and then let it out again, slowly.
She went and took a seat at the empty table, and when the barmaid
came up, with a baby in a sling across her chest. The barmaid smiled,
"You look as if you could use a warm bit of cider and a hot dinner."
Kardia smiled in response to the warmth in the smile she was given,
"Yes, please." she said quietly, "What are you serving?"
"How about roast turkey with fixin's and a salad?"
"Salad?" blinked Kardia in confusion. Fresh vegetables in this
technological level. Hmm... why look a gift horse... "Yes, I'd love a
salad." As the barmaid bustled off, Kardia looked after her with amazement
and shook her head at the food choices.
Carefully, Kardia shrugged out of her gear, and laid the box on the
table, the bag she hooked around her ankle and the staff she leaned against
the wall. She sighed for a moment, just sitting on the bench, and then
turned herself so that she could at least lean her tired body against the
wall and see what the patrons of the place looked like. Her hand hesitated
near the harp box and then dropped. She was tired enough that it would
probably sound awful. Kardia closed her eyes for a moment, just resting.
"Honey..." and a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Your food's done."
Kardia sighed and opened her eyes, amused that she had remained
seated even while sleeping. The barmaid shook her head at her,
"Adventurers, never getting enough sleep. You should take care of
yourself..." Kardia grinned at the tone and ducked her head. The platter
that the barmaid carried smelled delicious. "Thank you..." Kardia said and
looked a little lost as she suddenly realized she didn't know the barmaid's
name.
"Serene. I'm Serene." the barmaid said with a chuckle.
"You certainly are, taking to sleeping patrons so easily." Kardia
said slightly ruefully, "I'm Kardia. Thank you, Serene for the waking."
Serene nodded and went on her busy way.
At that point, Kardia was slightly startled at the appearance of
glowing sphere of colors and lights. There were two more people at the
table next to hers, far more formally attired than anyone else in the
place. A young blond man was looking intently at the sphere, as was the
olive skinned girl and the unicorn. The woman and the cat being went off,
together to the dance floor.
Kardia dug into her dinner, sipping the hot cider and curiously
watching and listening to the conversation that went on before her.
* * *
While Andrea told her tale, Kardia listened quietly, her eyes
narrowing just a touch at the tale of the transformation. She ate her
meal quickly and neatly as she listened, paying more attention to her food
with her eyes than she probably would have been doing if she hadn't been
listening.
At one point, she started studying the little unicorn and she
frowned a little at what she saw.
She finished her meal about the same time Andrea finished her tale
and the other table turned to other talk. For a moment Kardia simply sat,
frowning to herself. Then she smiled a crooked smile, took a deep breath,
gathered her belongings and got up. She sighed at how stiff her body was
after the workout of the day and her left ankle, calf, and leg were
horrendously sore as they had compensated all day for the missing half of
her foot. She leaned a little more heavily on the gnarled black walking
stick than she usually did, as she stepped up to the neighboring table.
For a moment, she just stood there, finally seeing up close the
young woman who had survived the story told and her friends. Then they
all realized Kardia wasn't leaving and looked at her. The blond man had
a small, black stick he started to play with and Kardia saw the power
about it and pulled the solid scarf closer about her throat. "Good
evening." she said, unconsciously pushing back her dark red-brown hair to
reveal her face a little better, "I overheard your story," she nodded in
Andrea's direction, "and I think I might be able to help." Her voice
shook a little with memories and at the steady regard of the people at the
table, "I... uhm... I seem to have the capability to... well, undo
magic..."
***
Andrea looked up at her suspiciously, toying with a pen that she'd been
fiddling with. She looked at Kardia cooly. "You can...undo magic?"
she echoed.
***
Tongue tied and looking for a way other than words to show what she
meant, Kardia slowly picked up the grapple-arrow, gave a slightly nervous
smile, and wrapped the end of her scarf around where the crosspin was.
There was a small ping and she unwrapped the scarf to show the broken
crosspin. The hook, however, was still shiney new and strong enough to
hold the weight of a man.
***
Andrea put the pin down and picked up the arrow, looking from it, to
'Raelf, to the strange woman who had just unfixed it. She handed it
to 'Raelf. "What do you think of this?" She asked. Then she turned
back to Kardia. "How did you do that?"
***
"It's... I... well, I found out how I could do it after a...
several brothers of mine went through something like what Sheryl went
through. It took me a year to free them, but it shouldn't take nearly that
long for someone Sheryl's size and there's only one of her." Kardia's grin
was genuine this time. "I can't *do* any magic at all, I'm no great
wizard or magician or anything, but I do now how to see what's holding a
magic together and how to undo the parts I want to undo with a matching
pattern. It's a little like what I did with the scarf and the arrow, the
parts that are covered get undone and the parts that aren't don't... the
patterns, though, with magic are... are..." Kardia shrugged in dismay a
she couldn't find the words.
***
Andrea looked at Sheryl, who was now peering at Kardia curiously.
"So you can break magic...All this time, I've been looking for someone
who could do that. Now it seems I've finally found her. The question
is--" and she continued to gaze thoughtfully at the unicorn "--where
do we go from here?
***
'Raelf had taken the grapple-arrow from Andrea, examining the
broken pin. Finally a grin split his face.
"Way cool! Raye, look here, what do you think?" He showed the
two parts to the woman sitting across from him.
"I think the lady should be invited to sit down," ar'Elya replied,
and she pulled back a chair. "Please, be welcome to sit with us."
"Thank you," Kardia said, sighing with relief when the strain was
off her left foot again. She smiled at the woman, wondering briefly how
she had gotten machine-woven raw silk around this town. Then her attention
shifted back to the unicorn, who was sniffing at her scarf.
"You'd better not touch, small one." Sheryl pulled her head back
and gave Kardia a long, measuring look.
"Milady disenchantress," 'Raelf said, placing the once-again-repaired
grapple-arrow on the table, "I may wish to contract your services for another
acquaintance of mine."
"Disenchantress?" Kardia was taken aback for a moment. "I never
sought such a title. Please, just call me Kardia."
"I'm 'Raelf. My mate, who reminded us of our manners, is ar'Elya,
and the tall furry fellow here is Khyra, you've met Andrea, and this is
her sister Sheryl. Serene?" 'Raelf waved to the barmaid. She came over,
Mista curled in her baby-sling on her hip.
"What's your pleasure, oh good, you ate your veggies."
"Yeah. Hey, howcome you keep showing up here, you're supposed to
be at home, being all domestical."
"Oh, but I like working, and Mary was so tired after the party that
I thought I'd help her out. Besides, we haven't found a fulltime replacement
for me yet, and I did say I'd work halftime until we found someone."
"Cool. Could you please bring me a Catamount Porter?" She looked
askance at ar'Elya, who sighed in disgust.
"I can't help it if I react to the stuff. I promise I won't be
drinking any, it's all for him." She pointedly took a sip of the elvenwine
which she'd gotten with her dinner. Serene smiled and went away, returning
in a moment with a glass of a stout ale so thick and black that it must have
taken a spoon to serve it with. Kardia felt her mouth go dry at the sight
of the stuff - bitters she could understand, but this liquid was on the edge
of being a solid.
"You're going to DRINK that?" she asked, and 'Raelf nodded and took
a deep swig. Kardia noticed then that his eyes were changing color, going
from sky blue to sea green, then to the yellow of candle flames, the brown
of fresh-tilled loam, then black as the space behind closed eyelids.
"For some reason this stuff works really well as a fuel for the kind
of magic I do, and I'm kind of low on energy today. Anyway, here's the
scoop on Sheryl. Andrea, could I please have the bio-scan record back?
Thanks," he took the sapphire and, producing the flat box he had used earlier,
he placed the stone on the center. The familiar globe of light sprang into
the air, again showing the web of green lines that represented the spirit
of the little unicorn. 'Raelf tapped on the box in a statacco fashion, and
the web opened and focussed in on a particular image.
"Techno-wizardry?" Kardia asked, and ar'Elya laughed and replied.
"Not exactly. `Sufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable
from technology' - or so they say."
'Raelf waited for them to finish, and then nodded to Andrea -
"If this is cool with you, I'd like to show her what we found out. You
okay with this?"
"I suppose. If Sheryl doesn't mind." The unicorn rested her
head on the table, making her eyes all dewy so that ar'Elya would scratch
her behind the ears. "Well, so far, no objections."
"Way tube. So, here's the place where her original body-image was
built, see how it's been completely removed? Did your brothers still go
back to human sometimes?"
"Once in a while."
"Why does this remind me of something? Never mind. Anyway, I bet
they still had their original body-images to revert to. But we'd have to
build a new one for Sheryl, probably with Andrea as template, and it would
most likely break down when your weavings got to it."
"Perhaps not. It would be a difficult thing to work, though, making
the pattern sensitive to one spell without disturbing a very similar spell."
"Strewth, dudesse. Here, let me refocus - <tappitytappity> There,
see how the Unicorn pattern connects in these four places? Well, this black
one is the curse. The others are ones she grew, so they're natural to the
way she is now. So if the curse was to go, she'd still be a unicorn, but
she could be changed into other things if she wanted."
"I see. Andrea, if you choose to have me remove the curse for you,
then I can do it, but as 'Raelf said, it may not return her to human. Are
you still interested?"
Andrea sighed. "I think I need to talk to Sheryl for a while."
Phyllis Rostykus
"My Dinner with Andrea". Those keeping track of lines, please shut the
door on [Kardia] as that one is now a part of the [AU] line. Also, I'm
adding something to the bulletin board that says that Kardia's looking for
a female roommate.
Much thanks to Kelly Cooper for getting me into this, to Hutch for
persisting in the face of idiotic mailers (and for the butterflies), to
Chris for his amazing enthusiasm, and to both for their insane volume.
Grin. It's actually getting me to write again...
Liralen Li
---------------
> "Why does this remind me of something? Never mind. Anyway, I bet
> they still had their original body-images to revert to. But we'd have to
> build a new one for Sheryl, probably with Andrea as template, and it would
> most likely break down when your weavings got to it."
Kardia smiled at 'Raelf's bet and nodded. Her brothers had
actually changed back to human every night, which had made things a bit
difficult then. Now she realized that this magician was quite correct in
that their forms had been very much there for her to work to. The shirts
she'd made for them had been fitted to them while they were human. Her
eyes narrowed as she thought about the details of this working as she said,
> "Perhaps not. It would be a difficult thing to work, though,
> making the pattern sensitive to one spell without disturbing a
> very similar spell."
>
> "Strewth, dudesse. Here, let me refocus - <tappitytappity> There,
> see how the Unicorn pattern connects in these four places? Well, this black
> one is the curse. The others are ones she grew, so they're natural to the
> way she is now. So if the curse was to go, she'd still be a unicorn, but
> she could be changed into other things if she wanted."
>
> "I see. Andrea, if you choose to have me remove the curse for you,
> then I can do it, but as 'Raelf said, it may not return her to human. Are
> you still interested?"
>
> Andrea sighed. "I think I need to talk to Sheryl for a while."
Kardia nodded and smiled. She held her slender hand out for Sheryl
to sniff and then gently scritched the tiny unicorn under the chin. "Can I
find you here later, then? I'm staying at Mrs. Cludne's boarding house for
this week and looking for a more open place to stay after that." She
smiled, "A place that I could set up a wheel and loom, if possible, or even
just a wheel."
Andrea nodded, "We'll be here."
ar'Elya said, "Littlefair maintains a bulletin board for ads,
it might be a place to start to look for a long-term housing
arraingement."
Kardia nodded, "Thank you, I'll do that. I will check with you,"
she looked at Andrea, "as to any decisions, then, whenever I check up on
wheither or not anyone's answered it... Oh..." she blinked as she
remembered something. "'Raelf, you said you had someone else that might be
able to use my capabilities? I'm pretty tired, right now, but maybe we
could talk about it some other time?" She smiled, "It's been a pleasure to
work with you and it'd be fun to look at some other curse that way. I'd
never before seen what a curse looks like to someone else, outside of my
head. The technology is fascinating."
Carefully, she got up out of her chair, wincing a little as she
stretched, and then bowing gently to all at the table. She left a tip on
her own table and then limped over to Littlefair to pay for her meal. As
she handed over the coinage she saw the board, looked it over once and
frowned a little. More advertisements for adventures and hirings than
something as prosaic as roomates. She shrugged and asked, "May I borrow a
pen and have a piece of paper for your bulletin board?" as Littlefair
handed over her change.
"Sure." he handed them over.
Kardia thought for a long moment, sighed, and then wrote:
FEMALE ROOMATE/HOUSING WANTED
Looking for a female housemate to share a
house and expenses who doesn't mind late nights,
no smoking...
Kardia frowned, not having a clue what more to put on it, so that it would
actually filter the kind of people that would answer it. Then she shook
her head, grinned a crooked grin and added
... and Toad the Wet Sprocket on _Fear_.
The one word is underlined.
Littlefair didn't even blink at what was on it. He just read it
and posted it and gave her a small nod. She grinned the crooked grin and
limped out.
It was dark now. Kardia breathed the coolness of the winter air
into her lungs and let it go in a plume of body-heated steam and then
turned back towards the Merchant's Hill and her bed at Mrs. Cludne's. The
walk wasn't all that long, just a touch nerve wracking until she reached
the Hill. That far of a walk managed to warm up all her stiff muscles, and
she swung along quietly, thinking over the evening... remembering the
colors that 'Raelf's eyes had turned, wondering if the Porter would have
tasted anything like the guinesses that Alistair used to feed her, and
being haunted by the silver web that was the patterns of power within the
young unicorn. They had been so beautiful.
She made it back to the house quickly, let herself in, locking the
door behind her. She went to her room, quietly undressed, washed up and
went to bed. All the while planning the making of Sheryl's cover. It
would have to be in the shape of the unicorn as she was, to emphasize the
shape that she was. Kardia fell asleep calculating the number of stitches
she'd need to comfortably surround Sheryl's barrel...
* * *
It was with a sense of deja vu that Kardia realized she was
dreaming again. A detached part of her mind worried over the fact that she
was having this many lucid dreams in such a short interval. The rest of
her was simply terrified by what she was watching.
She didn't know why it terrified her so. The image was merely that
of a dance of butterflies. She looked at the variety, the coloring, the
flight pattern and saw that these were butterflies a continent away. Then
she realized that what she'd first mistaken for sunlight was the presense
of power. Power on a scale she'd never even imagined before, and with the
kind of knowledge that is in dreams, she knew it was somehow connected to
Generica. The realization of the source of her fear broke the dream.
Kardia woke, drenched in sweat and looked out her window only to
see brick and darkness. Not even the hint of either moonlight or sunlight.
It was still night. She shivered and got out of bed long enough to pull
some knitting from her bag, a thickly cabled pullover from plain wool. The
terrifying flavor of that power was much like that in the dream that had
first brought her into this city, but she still had no clue as to its
source or its meaning. She lit the candle next to the bed and relaxed into
the straightfoward task of putting one stitch after another onto the right
needle. She would have to do Sheryl's unbinding in knitting unless she
worked with the looms at the Guild, and she was reluctant to do her... she
smiled at the word... disenchanting there.
She worked at the sweater until the metallic taste of adrenaline
faded from her mouth and she could relax enough to go back to sleep.
--
Liralen Li | "... and how you feel can make it real
aka Phyllis Rostykus | Real as anything you've seen... "
l...@Data-IO.com | Peter Gabriel _US_