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Luned
12-16-12, 01:17 PM
This is a solo which takes place when Resolve was 13 and Luned was 18.

The wrinkled face of an elderly man, tired eyes squinting to focus through cataracts, peered around the corner and into the refuge of what he thought was supposed to be a broom closet. "I might be going blind," he said with the deliberate dictation of a far-too-learned man, "but I am quite certain that my entire inventory of cleaning supplies has sprouted legs." One skeletal hand, racked with arthritis, rose to scratch his chin through his white beard as he waited for a response.

"You said I could take on lessons," Luned replied from her makeshift office, the minuscule space now renovated into a cubicle of sorts. It was just large enough for an old desk she'd scavenged plus two chairs, barely enough wiggle room to get in and out, and a floating orb of light above, a magical fixture common to the dusky library and one of the few luxuries Bleddyn allowed. She sat proudly, back straight and expression austere, as she did her best to convince her mentor that it was a fine idea.

"Hm." He hesitated. "While I'm here, have you been cleaning my study again?"

Luned shook her head, lips primly pursed. She'd learned better than to disturb the organized chaos of his cave.

Bleddyn merely shrugged and wandered off, the shadow of his hunched body giving way to the soft mid-afternoon light as it filtered in through a window across the hall. It illuminated the dark gray stone which shaped the library, as unpretentious as the old-fashioned uniform Luned wore. She overheard rumors about him once in a while, that he could have had polished marble if all he did was ask, but instead he built himself a prison. She wanted to disagree –– they didn't know him like she did, his requirements for focus, his dislike of excess –– but still, she had to wonder what hid behind the gossip. There was always some truth in rumors like that, even if hidden at first glance.

It was true, Luned did have permission to take on students for tutoring and lessons. She'd been an apprentice scribe for a few years now and it was in her best interest to earn some money to stash away for later, though there were five years yet until the contract was up, and five years was a very long time to someone her age. But, still, regardless of what direction her life took, she imagined that funds would be useful.

Her first pupil was to be the daughter of a merchant, agreed upon through correspondence with the mother, and with the tidings of an unfortunate omen, the girl failed to show up at their meticulously scheduled three o'clock appointment. The anxious hours of preparation and waiting had worn Luned thin and, as minutes passed, it seemed that her scheme for financial independence had failed before it had even begun. She couldn't help but muse that the girl's name, "Resolve", had cursed her into perpetual undependability.

Three-thirty dared to pass and by four o'clock and Luned stubbornly gave in, knowing that obsessively checking the windows and front door wouldn't bring her pride back. Resigned to failure she decided to get on with her life, collecting a parcel from the table in the hall for the last errands before she was responsible for dinner. She pulled a short, fitted cape of gray wool over her shoulders and buttoned it down her chest, drab color matching her faded uniform smartly. She'd embroidered Bleddyn's crest in silver thread, coin-sized over the heart, a symbol of ownership but also a token of some use. Affiliation with the city's eldest and most trusted scribe held its own special benefits, but it would be some years before Luned would fully understand just what that meant.

In the hallway Luned stopped to check her crown of precise chestnut braids, adjusted the pleats of her slate blue skirt, and then she stepped out onto the street from the recesses of the library.

Luned
12-16-12, 02:44 PM
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Bleddyn's establishment was a wondrous place if one knew how to appreciate it, but even so, a deep breath of fresh air dislodged the dust from Luned's lungs. She coughed and sputtered on the front step as she closed the heavy door behind her. The main entrance opened up onto a busy little street, tucked unassumingly around the corner from one of Radasanth's main arteries, never far from the necessities.

First stop: courier. Once Luned recovered the ability to breathe she walked two blocks to Bleddyn's choice carrier, a privately run postal service, but she knew this parcel was a special case and had equally special instructions. She was greeted in the tidy little office by a round, little woman busied over some bookkeeping.

"Good afternoon," the clerk welcomed her in polite, business-like fashion, barely raising her round nose from her current occupation. Her pen continued to scratch a list down the third column on the page in perfect block handwriting. The apprentice could appreciate that. After a moment, she set the quill down and squinted up at the girl through her spectacles in an accusing manner. "Are you well? You have a bit more color in your cheeks than I daresay is healthy. I do hope you aren't out spreading some––"

"For Mister Varias," Luned interrupted her, placing the rectangular paper-wrapped package on the desk.

The woman immediately stopped her chiding, picked up the parcel, and inspected the instructions tattooed on the brown paper. "Very well." She spun around in her seat and opened a hatch behind her, next to "In Town" and "Out of Town", labeled "Special". The object disappeared into it without the telltale sound of it ever hitting at the bottom of the chute. Luned never asked, but she was quite certain the mysterious Mister Varias did not use coaches or ships for his deliveries.

"Thank you," Luned nodded, and departed again to the street. It felt warmer than the last few nights, one last taste of summer before autumn finished its descent, and in a stroke of sudden inspiration, she changed direction toward the grocer. If Luned had earned anything this afternoon, it was something especially comforting for dinner. She allowed herself to walk at a relaxing pace, admiring the beginnings of a new season. The last of the seasonal flowers wilted in window boxes, but the ancient trees which studded the cobblestone street boasted their first touches of gold and red, spots of heat in the cool canopies of green which kept much of the walkways in shade. This offered relief in their humid summers, but with the first tide of chilled air, the breeze nipped at Luned's extremities and snuck a shiver up her spine. She didn't mind, though. Instead, her thoughts ran busy, devising a way to mix an accurate gold ink which would convey the exact hue and temperature of this perfect little moment.

Resolve
12-16-12, 04:15 PM
The sound of quick footsteps approaching from behind broke her train of thought, then a familiar voice. "Luned! How'd it go?"

Luned blinked into focus the jolly face of Petru, a boy about her age who worked for a doctor nearby. He'd started his own apprenticeship only a year after hers, and what with their close proximity and Bleddyn's constant ailments in old age, had made acquaintance early and well. At this point he was the closest she had to a friend in a general sense, though she usually preferred the company of books to people. She welcomed his goofy smile, but the enthusiastic question only reminded her of her embarrassment. "No show," she replied bitterly, then continued on her way.

"You're kidding!" he offered sympathetically, strolling alongside as he ran a hand over his curly black hair in a futile effort to tame it. "What're you going to do about it?"

Luned shrugged in defeat. "Start all over again?"

Petru surprised her by taking her wrist precariously close to her hand, turning her despair into a sudden wash of awkwardness. Stopped in her tracks, she couldn't bring herself to look up at him and instead marveled at the contrast of his olive-tinted skin against hers, freckled and pale. Her panicked mind defaulted to ink: how could she mix that color, anyhow? Standard peach with a touch of gold and the smallest speck of royal blue…

"How about you let me try to cheer you up?" She could hear he was smiling as he spoke, but didn't dare look. She felt her flushed cheeks go hotter. "Tomorrow's your day off, isn't it? We could go to my brother's orchard. It's the first cider press of the season, and there'll be music, and––"

Petru's grip on Luned broke as a girl ran between them, snapping them apart in mutual astonishment as the offender disappeared around the corner with a flourish of crimson and violet cloth. Two boys chased after her, shouting insults all the while, and no more polite of fellow pedestrians as they ricocheted off Petru's lanky figure and set him storming. "Little bastards!"

"They're just kids," Luned shrugged, rubbing her wrist under the privacy of her cape.

"Can't let them get away with treating people like that. The watch has been cracking down on the urchins down by the docks, I bet they've come up here to scavenge." Petru was normally a tolerant sort but obviously frustrated to have been interrupted, and so he set off after the flurry of children in a fury.

Luned followed, approaching the alley just in time to overhear the climax of the boys' pursuit:

"I've got a resolution for ya right here!"

Luned
12-16-12, 05:23 PM
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In the past year, since her mother's new fortune as a full-fledged, sea-faring merchant and their rise from a basement hovel to modest third floor apartment above Moody's Ale Cellar near the river, Resolve successfully got herself kicked out of three different schools. Truly, it was quite unfair to expect a girl who'd essentially raised herself on the streets to suddenly become an educated young lady of fine manner, but that didn't keep her mother from trying.

The first had been an all-girls boarding school in one of the more affluent districts of Radasanth, where Resolve shared classes in subjects such as etiquette and foreign language with the children of the city's elite; her tuition cost more than all the money she'd ever seen put together, and it seemed a high price to pay to share company with Corone's most notorious brats. They'd roomed her with Hermine, a particularly entitled priss (http://www.althanas.com/world/showthread.php?24409-Bells-in-Trayas&p=197867&viewfull=1#post197867), and after several cat fights and one whopper of a shiner courtesy of Resolve's right fist, the board discharged her with enthusiasm.

The second and third were simply lower-classed versions of the above. Resolve would show up, find more interest in causing mischief and pummeling her classmates than learning, and soon find herself back in her empty apartment. She was sure she'd be in trouble when her mother returned from her most recent trade voyage to Dheathain, but until then she'd made a game of things, and held pride in her record of a mere three days at the most recent establishment.

Resolve was quite positive that the only education she needed could be obtained through her frequent visits with Rosie, a lovely young woman who occupied the floor below her flat. She knew more about the world than anyone Resolve had met before –– more than the teachers who taught about faraway lands from textbooks, that was for sure –– and was always anxious audience to hear the latest tales Rosie had gathered from her clientele, the dashing sailors who brought her trinkets from all over Althanas. Her apartment was a museum of curiosities, from clockwork figurines from Alerar to the richest silks from Fallien. The fact that she was a prostitute seemed inconsequential in comparison to her range of experience and expertise on the world as a whole.

In one last attempt to reign in her daughter, now black-listed from more respected institutions through word of mouth, Ms Curie was advised to seek a private tutor, and that was where Luned came in. Highly recommended, it fell upon Luned to attempt to wrangle the reluctant spirit of Resolve Curie, whose only incentive in actually making her three o'clock appointment today was the fact that she couldn't be kicked out if she never showed up. Somehow, those bragging rights had become the troubled thirteen year old girl's measure of pride.

Luned
12-16-12, 06:22 PM
Resolve left her apartment shortly before three o'clock, knowing fully well that it was a thirty minute walk to her tutor's location. It was her intent to appear fashionably late, just enough to grease the hinges in the slippery slope of impatience which would inevitably result in her discharge. She had it down to a science.

However, on her way, she encountered a complication. On the street she passed Hermine, still sour from the black eye Resolve had generously gifted her some months prior, walking with her brother, who was a year older than them and a pompous windbag if there ever was one. Resolve knew they were siblings because Hermine had threatened her with her brother before, and the pigeon-like puff of his chest under his tailored waistcoat ran in the family. "That's her!" Hermine shouted, waggling one rude little finger in Resolve's direction. "That awful girl who attacked me at school!"

Resolve knew a conflict in this neighborhood, far out of her territory and out in the open, would only end badly for her, so she took off down a side street and mentally mapped an alternate route to her destination. It seemed that plan may have worked until she rounded a corner and met with Hermine's brother and one of his friends in hot pursuit.

"I promised my little sister I'd teach this bully a lesson if we ever crossed paths," he said as he cracked his knuckles, tall, roman nose high in the air. "Shame to hit a girl, but a promise is a promise."

"Blow yourself," Resolve retorted as she spun on heel and sought a new route.

They followed with unfortunate ease which kept Resolve on her toes. She led them in a wide circumference around the block where she intended to meet her tutor in an effort to tire them out, but still they followed, relentless. At this point Resolve realized her best bet might be to seek refuge in the library and hope her teacher was a big, burly man who could turn the boys away at the door, but before she could make it there, she tripped on a cobblestone and wrenched her ankle, making it exponentially harder to run.

The boys closed in on her and she cursed, making one last attempt to lose them. In her concentration, she bumped into a couple on the street, then dashed into the closest alleyway to hide.

It was a dead end. Resolve cursed some more and looked for a way to climb out the back, a door, anything, but it was too late. She wrestled, but it didn't take much effort for the older kids to overpower her, the friend holding her hands behind her back in a position which jarred her shoulder while Hermine's brother approached from the front. "Nice try," he gloated, cracking his knuckles again in an unnecessary attempt to intimidate her. "Eye for an eye, Resolve. What a stupid name, your parents must be idiots, too." Her pale blue eyes widened as he drew his fist back, preparing for impact. "Well, I've got a resolution for ya right here!"

The punch never made impact but fell in a tragic, half-hearted swoop as Resolve's boot met the boy's jewels in one vicious kick. As he fell to the ground she elbowed back into her captor's ribs, managing to wrestle one arm out of his grasp. He grabbed her long braid, yanking her off balance, and she kicked at him, though he knew to avoid her jabs after the fate of his friend. In one last spiteful action he drew a pocket knife and sawed Resolve's braid off at the nape of her neck, at least three feet of hair and a lifetime of growth bunched limply in his triumphant fist. He laughed, but she did not fall as Samson.

"You bastard!" Resolve shouted, any remaining will to hold back completely gone. She leapt on him with monstrous ferocity and knocked him to the ground on his back, where she straddled his chest and struck him again and again. She couldn't stop herself, even after mangling his face to vengeful satisfaction.

Luned
01-07-13, 08:06 PM
"Hey, now!" A male voice interrupted, grabbing her by the arms and dragging her off her victim.

"What are you doing? Don't touch me! Let go!" Resolve screeched, kicking and writhing until a girl in a gray and blue uniform came into view with her hands up inoffensively.

"Stop," Luned requested firmly but gently, glancing down to the battered boys. Nearby, she saw Resolve's hair discarded on the ground as the bloody child gathered himself into fetal position. "Look, we saw what happened, and you're not in trouble. Just tell us what happened."

As Resolve calmed, Petru loosened his grasp on her and stepped away. Luned offered the braid and the girl accepted it with both hands, seemingly unaware of the blood on her knuckles as she dashed at her cheek, wiping away a nonexistent tear.

"Why did they want to hurt you?" Luned asked again, concentrating on Resolve as Petru tended to the injured boys.

Resolve glared up from her lost hair, expression accusing as her emotions displaced onto the apprentice. She spat what information she had, knowing it would put her in the right. "I don't know, I was just trying to get to my lessons! It was my first day and now I'm late, and I–– I guess I'll just go home."

It was all Luned could do not to groan as realization dawned over her. Of all her luck… "What's your name?"

The girl frowned questioningly. "Resolve."

The scribe started to hold her hand out for a proper introduction, saw the blood on Resolve's, and drew back. "I'm Luned, your new teacher. It's... it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance…?"

The young women stared at each other for a moment, two pairs of blue eyes locking with varying degrees of distrust, awkwardness, and curiosity. After a short silence, Resolve replied. "Nice to meet you, too."

Petru cleared his throat, gathering their attention. "Both of these kids will be just fine," he announced, taking Hermine's shamed brother by the upper arm and leading him toward the street. He walked with a lopsided gait which earned a snort from Resolve, but a glare from Petru set her back to silence. "I'll see them home. Good luck with your new student." They departed, the second boy nursing his face with a handkerchief as he avoided eye contact and followed close behind.

Alone, Luned looked to Resolve and took quick assessment of her pupil. Though the girl was much younger, she was about the same height, maybe an inch taller, and built with the lank wiriness of a sailor. She was obviously proud of her Fallien heritage and dressed in the brightly colored fabrics of her culture, now mussed and dirty from her brawl, contrasting starkly against her walnut skin. She still held her hair with uncharacteristic gentleness, though she was distracted from properly mourning it as she awaited Luned's conviction.

Resolve really wasn't sure what kept her there, feet glued to the ground, as Luned looked her over. She had little respect for authority, but this teacher wasn't that much older than her, and she didn't seem to know what to make of this situation, either.

"Well, then," Luned sighed, and Resolve couldn't tell if it was out of exasperation or apathy. "It's a little late, but shall we get started? You may stay for dinner afterwards, if you'd like."

Resolve wasn't really sure how to respond, so she laughed.

Luned
01-07-13, 08:23 PM
Before long, Luned and Resolve found themselves in the closet-office on opposite ends of the old desk. Resolve's fingers, now clean and bandaged, traced lines in the split grain of the worn wood as she tried to make clear just how uninterested in this whole learning thing she was.

"Your mother requested that we focus on language and geography," Luned explained as she shuffled through a few books she'd collected for the occasion on her desk. Along with an atlas and general world history tome were a few dictionaries in other languages. Luned selected the atlas first, opening it to a map of the whole of known Althanas. She spun it around and pushed it in front of Resolve, who glanced at it, then up to her teacher. "Let's start with this, just to get an idea of where you are in your studies. Can you name the regions?"

Resolve tapped on Corone, their island to the southeast of the largest continent. "We're here."

Luned nodded. "And?"

Resolve glanced back up. "And…?"

"The other regions. Where's Fallien?"

An awkward silence passed as Resolve stared at Luned. "I don't know."

Brow quirked and Luned tapped her own finger on Fallien, another island much smaller than Corone and further away from the other regions. "It's labeled here. The cursive is a bit antiquated, but if you look closely you should be able to read it."

Resolve looked at the word, squinted for a moment, and looked back to the other girl. "It says Fallien."

"Well, yes, I just told you that. How about the other regions?"

Some more silence passed and Resolve chewed on her lip, staring down at the book. Luned's brow furrowed as she watched the girl, wondering why she looked so lost, until she realized the issue.

"You can't read, can you?"

A variety of expressions flashed across Resolve's face at that accusation: embarrassment, frustration, anger, and finally, resignment. "Not really," she sighed, leaning back in her chair.

"Oh." This honestly surprised Luned, though she wasn't sure why. Half the population couldn't read. It really wasn't that unusual, but Resolve was obviously uncomfortable with her knowing this, and Luned's assumption had surely made an ass of them both. The girl shifted restlessly in her seat, unengaged.

"So, we'll work on that. That's fine," Luned said, doing her best to be encouraging. "Is there anything you, personally, want to know more about? Or anything in particular that you're good at?"

The answer came after a moment of genuine thought. "I'm good at figures," Resolve volunteered. "I help friends with their budgets. And, uh… no, never mind."

That was a starting point, at least, but Luned could see that Resolve was distracted. Either way this was only her first attempt at teaching, so in the end, she decided that they had accomplished enough for the day just by getting in the classroom and having a real conversation. Baby steps. "Alright," Luned said as she closed the atlas and placed it atop the stack off to the side. "Enough for today. Let's see about some food."

Luned
01-07-13, 09:10 PM
Luned learned quickly that Resolve was much more interested in food than education and stashed that knowledge away in the back of her mind, in case bribery would ever be called for. On top of that, Resolve seemed to be impressively domestically skilled, and the scribe was put to shame as someone five years younger schooled her in the art of cooking. Instead of falling back on the usual bland stews which Luned relied on, a significantly more attractive spread magically materialized, with fresh biscuits in the oven as icing on the proverbial cake.

"Where did you learn all this?" Luned asked as she cleaned the countertops and got out some cobalt-glazed serving bowls.

Resolve stoked the fire in the back of the oven with a long poker and tossed in another small piece of wood, causing a crackle of sparks to leap precariously out the door. She brushed them carelessly off the front of her sari and took a seat on a nearby stool. "Just… did. Mum's worked abroad for a few years now, so I got used to it. After a while you get better."

Laughing, Luned shook her head. "I've been cooking here for three years now and I'm fairly certain Bleddyn thinks I'm trying to kill him every time I try something new."

"Bleddyn?"

"My mentor."

"No, I know who he is. I just didn't realize this was his place. Is it really? Is he really weird, like they say?"

Luned frowned defensively. "What do they say?"

The girl went quiet, then shrugged. "Nothing, really. He's just an oddity, I guess. Anyone would be after living to such an unnatural age. Is it really true that he's over a hundred?"

Resolve was silenced by a shake of the head. In fact, Bleddyn was nearly twice that, but Luned wasn't going to perpetuate any rumors going around about the poor old man. He just wanted to be left to his work, and the details of the private life of the neighborhood's resident crazy old coot weren't any concern of a nosy girl. Luned changed the subject. "Are those biscuits ready? Help me take him dinner and I'll show you the library."

Luned
01-07-13, 09:20 PM
The promise of getting to meet this notorious shut-in was enough motivation to Resolve, and she even helped put together a tray before they departed down the hall on their mission. Dusk descended outside and it was difficult to see in the hallways as they navigated the living space. They walked past a parlor and stairs and various closed doors before arriving at the entrance, back to the public space of the building. The short ceilings and narrow main hallway gave way to a much grander area as it opened up into a vaulted dome, orbs of alchemical light hanging in the rafters in a symmetrical constellation which illuminated many rows of impossibly tall bookcases. The shelves weren't populated just by books but also compartments containing objects, cabinets of curiosities, and closed containers, all painstakingly organized with codes listed on the edges facing the path down the center of the vast room. There was beauty in the architecture in spite of its lack of ornamentation; at the very least, it did not feel like a prison like the rumors insinuated.

"This is the main library," Luned explained as she walked down the center aisle toward the back. Her voice bounced off the cathedral ceiling and rang back, sounding even smaller than usual. "It's open to the public a few days a week, we get a pretty wide assortment of… scholars… Resolve?" She realized she was walking alone and turned to see the younger girl still standing at the entrance. She approached her, shifting the weight of the heavy tray in her hands. "What's wrong?"

The warmth had drained from Resolve's face and her skin was ashen, a sickly gray as she looked around the room with wide eyes. "I don't know," she brushed it off, obviously spooked but unsure of the cause. "I'll be fine. Let's go." Luned thought she might have noticed some sweat on the back of Resolve's neck as she walked on ahead and with each row of shelves they passed, she seemed distracted, occasionally halting completely to gawk suspiciously down an aisle.

When they reached the end there were several closed doors leading to smaller special collections. One opened up under dramatic arches in the center, leading into another hallway. This space had a vaulted ceiling and was illuminated by more orbs of light, the walls lined with more doors. It wasn't long, however, and at the end Luned knocked while juggling the tray in her hands. Upon receiving no answer, she let herself in anyways, revealing Bleddyn's personal study.

The clutter was overwhelming, maps and documents and books in towering piles on every surface except one clear spot on the desk near some very large windows, upon which Luned placed the tray. In spite of the early evening light the room was somewhat gloomy, dark wood paneling making the walls seem claustrophobic, ceiling painted in the likeness of the night sky. There was a contraption on the desk which the scribe didn't recognize, a small glass box filled with intricately assembled brass gears, and she wondered why he hadn't mentioned such a curious little item. Something even more peculiar was a small, barely budded flower next to it, fresh and lovely and quite out of season. Luned couldn't remember the old man ever appreciating any flower and the breath of life was out of place amongst dusty antiques.

When Luned looked up, she realized she'd lost her companion yet again, and she sighed.

Luned
01-07-13, 09:21 PM
The hairs on Resolve's arms prickled as she felt something strange happen to her senses. The library whispered to her in a hundred different voices, pulling her in just as many directions, and quite suddenly she felt overwhelmed, as if she could hear the inner thoughts of thousands of inanimate objects at once. She vaguely knew that Luned was losing her up ahead, disappearing into a hallway, but her feet were frozen and she couldn't bring herself to move.

Every few seconds, something would rise above the clammer and become comprehensible. Sometimes it was a few words of Raiaeran or an ancient dialect of something even more foreign, clear but alien. Sometimes the words lingered, breathy in her ear, and somehow she knew they weren't meant for her, but still they came.

It was utterly overwhelming, and with clammy skin and trembling fingers, Resolve looked around. Fleeting hints of shadows fled her vision from the corners of her eyes, impossible to track, and they sent her spinning for a moment, until she was suddenly caught by the upper arm and immediately brought back to earth.

The hand that grasped her felt hot, and somehow she knew exactly who it was without looking. She knew him without ever meeting him before, not just the lines of his face or the crook of his spine but his ambitions, the exhausting length of his tired life. There was an ache there, indescribably, but it felt real and turned her stomach.

Resolve looked up, dizzy and speechless, into the face of a bearded old man, entire face furrowed in concern. "Are you unwell?"

"Sorry," the girl replied, unsure why she felt the need to apologize. It just came out. "I'm fine."

Pale gray eyes didn't leave her own for a long moment, as if he searched for something inside her which could be seen through the stormy blue of her irises. Then he let go, leaving her to catch her balance. "Very well. Take care, young lady." He then proceeded toward the hallway where Luned had disappeared, and from which she now reemerged.

"There you are!" Teacher didn't sound very pleased with student, her tone accusing, as if Resolve had intended some sort of mischief.

"Good luck with your studies," Bleddyn teased as he walked past.

"Oh," Luned stopped him, turning partly to face him. He glanced over his shoulder. "I'll bring a vase and water after I see Resolve out."

"Vase?"

"For the flower."

This struck a note and Bleddyn's mouth, though difficult to see under the weight of his voluminous white whiskers, curled into a frown. "No… don't trouble yourself." Something under his voice shook a bit, uncharacteristic of his usual confident wisdom, and Luned felt it in her gut. Was he sick?

Luned
01-07-13, 09:21 PM
After seeing off Resolve with a promise to meet again, Luned's mind quickly returned to Bleddyn. His odd behavior worried her.

When she arrived back at the library office, she found the old man hunched over a box as he stashed away a few items. He wrestled with tissue paper as he wrapped each thing carefully with trembling, arthritic hands, but without the usual thoughtfulness with which he cared for his collection. He didn't notice her reappearance, so absorbed was he in his busywork.

"Spring cleaning?" she piped up, kneeling next to him to assist.

"Something like that," Bleddyn groaned as he bent over to pick up the next object bound for storage. It was the contraption from earlier.

Luned recognized it immediately. "What's that?"

"Nothing of consequence." He promptly stashed it away, Bleddyn's hands shaking with strain as he hurriedly hid it under the box's lid. "These need to go in the Raiaeran archive for now. Will you see to it?"

"Yes. But wasn't that Aleran?"

"No, not quite." Without further discussion, Bleddyn lifted himself with some difficulty from his chair to situate himself at his desk, where his dinner grew cold. He noticed the difference in the food immediately. "I would say that this appears rather good, but I am afraid it is some sort of trap." With another grumbly groan he parked himself in his armchair there and inspected his meal further. "Since when do you know how to bake?"

"Resolve helped," Luned admitted sheepishly. "You met her earlier. My student."

It appeared the old man attempted to chuckle, but it came out more as a raspy wheeze. "Perhaps you should be paying her for these lessons. I have half a mind to fund such an improvement."

In an attempt to save face, Luned retorted matter-of-factly. "Well, she's nigh illiterate, so I'm certain her mother will get her money's worth."

"That's not all she is," Bleddyn muttered through a mouthful of biscuit.

Luned frowned. "What do you mean?"

Luned
01-07-13, 09:21 PM
Bleddyn ladled in a couple mouthfuls of soup before responding, enjoying it as Luned squirmed under the suspense. "How much have you read up on Fallien?"

"Not a lot… I've focused my studies on elven languages, and therefore elven histories."

"Consider some new reading material, then. While expertise is desirable, a general knowledge of all regions and cultures is invaluable."

Not particularly enjoying this miniature lecture, Luned contained a sigh of exasperation. "I will be conscious of that from now on. Are you going to tell me what you mean, about Resolve?"

Taking his sweet time to brush some crumbs from his beard, Bleddyn spoke after a drawn out silence. "She has Ahketamikan blood in her and I am fairly certain she is unaware of what that means. Very few Fallien humans have light colored eyes, and it should only be a matter of time before the markings begin to appear on her skin."

Luned couldn't imagine what all of this meant. "Markings?"

"Indeed. White designs appear naturally on the skin of the blessed members of the Ahketamika upon spiritual maturity, and then they are inducted into the warrior class led under a shaman. They are born with an innate tap into the spiritual planes of existence, giving them a variety of abilities unique to their race."

"And you don't think she knows?"

Bleddyn shook his head, taking another mouthful of his dinner before continuing. "You may not be aware, but even inanimate objects can host spiritual imprints of the individuals who owned them and the events they have witnessed. This Resolve certainly became aware of that today, but she didn't understand it, and it scared her."

Speechless, Luned balked. "Are you saying the library is haunted?"

"When you find willingness to understand what exactly your new friend is experiencing, Luned, you will discover that everything on the whole of Althanas is haunted, us both included."

Luned
01-07-13, 10:38 PM
The following days did not show improvement in Bleddyn's demeanor, but rather it worsened. He was a dedicated curmudgeon for sure, but this new level of introversion was unusual, even for him. He avoided patrons when he would usually make rounds to heckle young scholars and rarely left his study, to the point that his apprentice wondered if he had taken to sleeping at his desk. It was not a matter of being overworked, but preoccupation. Conversations were uninvolved.

Unable to determine a reasonable explanation, Luned blamed his health, and thereby summoned Petru. This was only done at the point which she felt there was no other option, when she was convinced she'd deliver breakfast one morning and Bleddyn would've wasted away to nothing more than a pile of dust overnight.

The visit, as one might imagine, was awkward. Having successfully avoided her friend since his proposition several days prior, Petru was understandably a little too peppy when Luned greeted him at the entrance for his house call. To his dismay, she briskly guided him through the halls and directly to Bleddyn's study, where she offered him a warning outside the closed door.

"Just pretend you're stopping in to say hello," she directed him in a low whisper.

"… He didn't know I was coming?" Petru quickly felt uncomfortable.

Luned shook her head, brow furrowed. "I'm worried about him. He hasn't been right the past few days… even if it's not a physical ailment, maybe you have something to treat depression?"

With a salute and a deep breath, Petru mentally prepared himself. Luned knocked on the door and, without allowing her mentor time to refuse, stuck her head in. "Petru's stopped by to say hello! Look, here he is," she chattered, shoving the boy inside and closing the door behind him.

There was some irritated discussion, muffled through the heavy door, and after a surprisingly short visit, the doctor's apprentice was soon out in the hallway again. Breathless and flustered, he ran a hand over his messy hair. "Seems fine to me," was his short response as he bid his friend good bye and made a beeline for the door.

Baffled, Luned was left in the dark back at square one.

Luned
01-07-13, 11:02 PM
Resolve was not only on time for her second weekly visit, but several minutes early. This thoroughly impressed Luned and they set in on a new curriculum she had developed which could concentrate both on literacy and geography at the same time, punctuated with easy navigational calculations which she would use as incentive to keep her student interested. When language became frustrating, she could switch to something her student already excelled at for some quick and dirty gratification to fuel the rest of the lesson.

When they finished, Luned also allowed the spirited girl to invite herself over for dinner, largely in hope that a good meal would bring Bleddyn out of his mood. Together, they assembled something similar to the first week, but this time the teacher was more receptive to instruction. Student latched onto the social activity quite well, unlikely incentive to better their relationship. Perhaps she wouldn't need to get herself kicked out quite yet...

"You need more flour," Resolve explained as Luned attempted to roll out some bread dough, the substance sticking hopelessly to her hands and rolling pin.

"Ah, I see." Surely enough it worked, and after another few minutes of work they had a lumpy but functional flatbread ready for baking. Resolve sprinkled some ingenious concoction of herbs over the top, and Luned spoke again. "So, your mother is a merchant… how about your father?"

Resolve didn't skip a beat as she put their project in the oven and hopped over to the stove to stir a pot. "She knew him from some trip in Fallien, I've never met him."

The nonchalant way the girl treated her absent father surprised Luned, the product of a large and happy family with both parents ever-present and involved. She knew she was lucky, but she also figured there would be an undercurrent of bitterness in such an admission. She found herself wanting to help the girl with whatever power he'd inadvertently given her, then left her in the dark to figure out on her own. "Bleddyn actually thinks he knows what tribe your father's from… in case you're interested in hearing about it, that is."

The girl shrugged. "Do you have more basil?"

"Oh, the green stuff? Um, there might be some in the courtyard."

Luned suddenly found herself stationed in front of the stove with a spoon in hand, receiving instructions. "You, stir. Don't stop stirring or it'll bubble over. Just tell me where the herbs are, I can get it."

Luned
01-07-13, 11:36 PM
The courtyard was situated just outside the kitchen and accessible through a little hall which led to the main library, a space which Resolve was glad to circumvent in light of her first experience there. She knew there was something about the way she perceived things, as if her senses were made differently than other people's. It made her self conscious in that she noticed things no one else did, felt things differently, and even just skin-to-skin contact could set off visions that she couldn't help but wonder if they were invented by her own mind.

The library was quiet today and she was grateful, making it out to the garden successfully. It was an overgrown nightmare compared to what she kept at home, but surely enough, there was a rampant amount of basil along with chives and several other herbs which could thrive under neglect. The courtyard itself was a small octagonal space which opened to the cloudless azure sky, gray stone walls covered in climbing emerald ivy, a disused oasis in the prison-like establishment. Resolve considered turning it into a pet project, just for the gratification of coaxing Bleddyn and Luned out for a little sun, instilling a little color in their impossibly pale cheeks.

There were multiple entrances to the courtyard, and after a few minutes of poking around, a voice beckoned from a different door than Resolve's intended exit. This whisper wasn't overwhelming like the ones in the library; it was gentle, inviting, and after a few moments of beautiful elven speech like a song in her ears, she gave into the temptation to see what it was.

The heavy mahogany door was unlocked, and behind it was a narrow hallway which ran between archives. On the door to the immediate right there was a word she recognized, one of the first she would ever read for herself besides her own name: Raiaera.

The gentle voice beckoned, and Resolve let herself inside.

It was difficult to see at first in the limited light, but she borrowed a small lamp from the outside wall –– one of the long-burning alchemical alternatives to candles which Bleddyn borrowed from Aleran technology –– and carried it in with her. The room was medium-sized, with a tall ceiling lined with shelves which reached taller than anyone could possibly reach, all completely filled with tomes and chests and other such things an archive would contain. A large amount of artifacts overflowed, however, and were contained in piles of boxes which also overflowed, transforming the room into an intriguing cave of wonders.

The box closest to the door called to the girl, warm and soft, and she knelt to lift the lid. Underneath, loosely wrapped in tissue paper, was a little glass box filled with intricately assembled gears and mechanisms. There appeared to be a latch and Resolve pried it open with a gentle click, followed by an elegant little melody. It was a music box, and the song which spilled forth resonated deeper than anything she had ever heard.

Luned
01-07-13, 11:37 PM
As Resolve allowed herself to slip into reverie, her mind got away from her, and soon she saw things inside her head which she'd never before experienced. She'd never been to Raiaera, but rolling green hills and ancient forests foreign to the climes of Corone became as real as life, vignettes presented to her which she could see, smell, touch. Somewhere in there, she discovered a place which felt like home, a secluded library which was as open and airy as Bleddyn's was shadowy and confining.

Two people lived there. She didn't know how she knew this, but she did. As she explored the library, admiring architecture of pristine white marble and the flora which was allowed to creep inside and make itself at home, she felt echoes of memories nested in the curling, flowered vines. As she reached for them, they slipped coyly away from her, drifting through the endless maze of shelves. She found herself chasing one but it always seemed just out of reach, disappearing around a corner just as she neared.

But the calm couldn't last forever, and as naturally as Resolve had found herself in such a place, it faded away. Archives were burnt and ransacked, plant life yellowed and faded, the memories crumbled into nothingness. The sanctuary had seen ruin. It left her with a bitter emptiness and intimate knowledge of something she never experienced, but of which she now truly understood. At the mere age of thirteen, Resolve knew the taste of death.

The Raiaeran archive felt bleak now, cold, and the shadows seemed to come to life. A fresh white flower, still attached to curling tendrils of vines, laid in the tissue paper where her hands rested. Still, she held the music box, but the song had long since expired. A tab inside clicked, signaling a need to be rewound.

Resolve couldn't shake the feeling that she wasn't alone.

"Who are you?" Her voice felt small in the cluttered room and, just as she felt the stirrings of a response, all was lost. The door swung open and a figure crowded the doorway, casting a shadow over her and breaking what link she'd established with the strange presence.

Bleddyn was furious, subtle and seething under his perpetually mild exterior, his words trembling with a quiet aggravation which sent Resolve flying back to the kitchen. "You should not be here."

Luned
01-07-13, 11:37 PM
Luned delivered Bleddyn's dinner alone that night and, after hearing about his and Resolve's confrontation, had low hopes for the effect it would have on his illness.

She discovered him in a different state than expected. Upon entering the study, she saw the elderly man sitting fully upright at his desk and facing out one of the large windows, all of which were opened to let in the breezy sunset. He held something small in his hands, and it played music. Crumpled flowers, retrieved from wherever he'd stashed them, lined the windowsill.

"Are you alright?" Luned asked hesitantly, placing the tray down on the desk.

Bleddyn didn't move. "Do apologize to your young student for me, I believe I may have unsettled her earlier."

She nodded. "I will."

"Good. And do not worry, she will let us help her when she is ready to be helped."

This comforted the young scribe and she smiled ever so slightly, watching out the window along with him. Birds fluttered in the trees just outside, scurrying through the yellowing leaves in bursts of blue and crimson. The pair shared a long moment of peaceful silence before the elderly man spoke again.

"I am not your father, you know."

This change of subject caught Luned off-guard and she let out a little laugh, unsure how to respond. "I'm aware, but thank you for the reminder."

"I mean to say that Petru is nice. Well, I might not really believe that. He is rather insufferable at times, but if you like him, I can try to put up with him better."

Luned frowned. "Is that what you told him when he checked in on you?"

The old man finally turned around, gripped in a wheeze-chuckle. "Ah, no. I may have displaced my foul temper on him, though he deserved it for letting you put him up to that."

Sheepishly, Luned fidgeted with the hem on her sleeve. "Sorry, I was just worried. I thought for sure you were sick, but I knew you wouldn't listen if I asked to call the doctor."

Suddenly pensive, Bleddyn simply shook his head. "No. I am just an old, haunted misanthrope who let his ghosts catch up to him." Shaking fingers reached out to retrieve one of the wilted flowers and he held it up for inspection, though she knew he couldn't possibly have seen it clearly with his failing eyes. "Luned, might I ask a favor? Don't ever allow yourself to live your life as a dead man, as I have. It really does no good, no good at all."

Luned
01-07-13, 11:38 PM
Petru was surprised, to say the least, when he stepped out of the physician's office to head out on his morning rounds and discovered Luned blocking his doorstep.

"Hello," she said, hands clasped together in front in an effort not to fidget.

The boy smiled warmly. "Hello, Lune."

"Look," the young scribe began, going over what she'd rehearsed in her head. "I'm sorry I didn't give you an answer, but I couldn't go anyway."

"Oh, that's alright! Actually, there should be another event next week––"

"No, Petru. I'm sorry." The guilt laid heavy over her, but Luned couldn't bear more awkwardness with one of her closest friends, even if she risked alienating him for a while. "I can't do those sorts of things with you. I hope you understand, it's not that I don't like you…"

The smile fled his face and her stomach sank. "It's alright, I just… is there someone else?"

Luned shook her head sincerely. "No. You've been a good friend for a long time, and I like things that way."

"Oh. Well, alright. Have a good day, I should get going," he sidestepped her, then took off down the street with unusual swiftness. Luned knew she was foolish to hope things would stay the same, but maybe down the road they'd look back at all this terrible teenage awkwardness and laugh. She watched him disappear around the corner, his physician's coat bright against the dingy cobblestones.

For now, she had her goals. Financial goals, social goals, and career goals, and her life felt full enough as it was. On her way home Luned stepped into the courier's to find that the usual clerk wasn't there, and instead a middle-aged man with a dark, waxed mustache was filling in at the front desk.

"Ah, Bleddyn's apprentice," he greeted her with a friendly grin. "How can I help you this morning?"

"Luned," she offered, extending her hand. "Mister…?"

"Varias," he shook her hand.

Oh, him! "Well, Mr. Varias, I'm just here to send a letter." Luned pulled it out of her pocket and offered it, an unexciting, crumpled token of gratitude she intended for her family back home.

The dapper man accepted it graciously and slipped it into the Out of Town box, then wrote a note in the ledger. "We will add it to your account. And since you're here, you can save me the trip," he cut off, turning around to fish an envelope out of a small messenger bag. "Here. For the old man."

Luned accepted it and noticed that it was from Raiaera, the paper and ink quite faded and worn.

The mysterious man smiled kindly. "Some old stashes of mailings which were misplaced during the Corpse War have been gradually cropping up –– a miracle, really, that any of this survived. I believe Bleddyn received a package from this sender last week, as well. I hope he enjoys his lost treasures."

Witchblade
10-14-13, 03:28 PM
Story - 16

Storytelling – 6 - I was really getting into this story and the characters involved herein, when it just suddenly ended. It had a subtle, fun storyline, that hinted at past experiences and made me want to dig deeper into each one of the characters, especially Bleddyn and Resolve. Sadly, in this, Luned came across more as a side character than those two, which may not necessarily be a bad thing. But, due to the abrupt ending, I had to knock some points off.

Setting - 5 - the setting was never described with abject detail, other than that one glorious scene in the library, where the books started talking to Resolve, it became more of a backdrop. A painted scene and nothing more. At times beautifully described, and at others left to wilt to the reader's imagination.

Pacing - 5 - it was slow, but the good kind. I was never bored, more like intrigued. But as I mentioned above in story, the ending threw me. I want to know more about each character and there definitely was a lack in any kind of resolution for Resolve. I guess the best way to describe it is, it felt like the beginning of a book and you just stopped writing after chapter two. Climax and conclusion be damned!

Character - 22

Communication - 6 - Most times, the dialogue between characters flowed rather nicely. The awkward moments felt awkward, but there were other instances when things said just seemed out of place. The break-up and subsequent questioning of Resolve in the alley is a good example of this. It didn't flow right, it became mechanical to me. Like you just needed to get it out of the way.

Action - 8 - I thought action was where you excelled the most. The characters came alive with the little things they did. An expression on Bleddyn's face, the way Resolve's footsteps turned to lead in the library. All those little touches were really what helped them come to life for me. Bleddyn himself is an exceptionally dynamic character. I hope to judge more of your threads with him in it.

Persona - 8 - Tying well into action, all of your characters were well described, even the NPC's. You've obviously put time and effort into who they are and it comes across nicely. You only lost some point here because of it looping back into dialogue issues for me. But otherwise, I would say character is your strongest point when writing.

Prose - 19

Mechanics - 6 - a solid 6! There were a couple sentences here and there I had to reread. Overall your mechanics are pretty good and you obviously edit your posts.

Clarity - 7 - I knocked off a couple points here, mainly for two reasons. In the opening thread, it took me a minute to grasp what Bleddyn was talking about with the cleaning supplies sprouting legs. Secondly, the ending, which as you told me was supposed to go full circle, did not. Those were the biggest issues for me, which hindsight, are not very big. Hence, you still get a decent score here.

Technique - 6 - Despite the clarity issue in the beginning, your hook to draw in the reader was a nice one. There was some foreshadowing to some later events that I'm sure will be quite interesting, especially with Resolve. The imagery in the kitchen could have been better. You really could have drawn the reader in with smells and tastes as Luned tried the things Resolve made.

Wild Card - 7 - This was a good read and I can't wait to learn more about the characters involved in this and pick up another judgement from you. Good job.

Total – 64

Luned receives 1314 experience and 200 GP!
Resolve receives 776 and 150 GP!

Mordelain
10-22-13, 03:08 PM
Experience and gold added.