Tamora Pierce owns the entire universe of this story, all the characters,
the world they live on and the very air they use to sustain life. Only the
vague plot and dialog I have attributed to TP's characters in this tale
belongs to me. I freely give my permission for Tamora Pierce to use any or
all of the plot/story/dialog/concept if she so desires in any way she
desires.
Anyone has my permission to use anything from this and my other story in anyway they want. So have at it, expand, add, enhance, just think if you can write a fan fiction based on a story that has a copyright why not a fan fiction based on a fan fiction. So tale spinners, spin on.
Blame all lousy spelling and grammar on the California Education System. Thank the Lord for spell checkers.
The Circle Expands
Chapter 9
Ten days later.
Duke Vedris IV of Emelan, Lord Seneschal Baron Erdogum and Lady Sandrilene fa Toren were relaxing in the Citadel's library, The Duke and Baron each had a glass of wine, Sandry had a glass of fruit juice.
"That was a long and hard day shuffling paper and cutting red tape." Commented Baron Erdogum.
"Is the party ready to go, food arranged, overtime budgeted (UNION HELP), orchestra ordered?"
"Yes Uncle, the only thing left to do is for you to use the last four Rememballs Keth delivered and you have not yet filled."
"Where are you going to put them?"
"We found, down in the Sub, Sub, Sub-basement of the Citadel a bunch of matching marble pedestals and we brought them out of storage polished them up and put them around the ball room, since glass is a mixture of silica obtained from beds of fine sand or from pulverized sandstone, it really a unique form of stone. Evvy was able to fuse the Rememballs to the pedestals so they cannot be removed. When the Nobility sees them this ball will be the second wonder of the decade."
"What was the first?" asked Erdogum.
"The fires what?"
"The first wonder of the decade."
"My arrival at Summersea of course," Sandry replied with a demure smile.
That drew a laugh from the Duke, and laughs had been few and far between since the discovery of the cursed jewelry.
"Entertainment?"
"Yazmin and Pacos are going to perform and Yazmin is bring a troupe from her school to dance for us."
"Pacso's what? About eighteen now."
"Yes and quite the young man, I think Evvy has a crush on him."
The Duke smiled.
"We have purchased her a new dress for ball, along with new dresses for Tris and Daja."
"Daja in a dress?"
"Oh yes, along with Glaki, we will be quite the quintet of young ladies. Even though Daja will not give up her trader staff."
"You will never talk her into that."
With a sigh Sandry replied, "I know, actually I thinking of having all of us carry a walking staff and set a new fashion."
The Duke chuckled, "You could probably do it too."
"We also have two of the best Illusion mages in Summersea to do a illusion contest, Daja gave me the idea from something she saw while wintering in Kugisko, she was at a meeting of the mage guild and the illusionist were having a contest to see who could create the most creative and flashy illusions. Should be fun."
"Getting late, time for bed." The Duke and Baron finished their wine and stood, Sandry, carrying her fruit juice, lead the way out the door. The Baron said goodnight and left to go to his rooms, Sandry and her uncle headed up the stairs to their bedrooms.
The Next Morning.
When Duke Vedris entered the breakfast room the next morning, he found Sandry and Tris all ready at the table, in the middle of their meals.
"Sorry uncle, we were starving and couldn't wait."
"I think I'll forgive you just this once."
"Good morning Tris."
"Good morning, My Lord."
"I hear you have a new dress for the party."
"Yes, Sandry twisted my arm and made me stand for hours at the dressmakers, I may never forgive her."
Sandry stuck her tongue out at Tris.
The Duke chuckled.
"Oh by the way, I finished that book by Jule S'Vern, and you are right, it can not be called a fable, fairy tale, parable or even a sermon. How are you going to classify it?"
"I think I'll call it fantasy."
"That sounds about right."
"Are you keeping busy otherwise?"
"Yes, we have the press we got from Tenth Caravan and are learning how to print books."
"Print books? I thought we knew how to do that."
"Well the people who make books know but it is a learning process for the ones in my shop."
"For example if you are going to print a small twenty page fairy tale you have to print the pages like this." She removed a piece of parchment from a folder on the table beside her and slid it down the table to the Duke.
Duke Vedris picked it up and read.
Layout print on the parchment left right
Sheet 1, Side a, contains pages 20 and 1.
Sheet 1, Side b, contains pages 2 and 19.
Sheet 2, Side a, contains pages 18 and 3.
Sheet 2, Side b, contains pages 4 and 17.
Sheet 3, Side a, contains pages 16 and 5.
Sheet 3, Side b, contains pages 6 and 15.
Sheet 4, Side a, contains pages 14 and 7.
Sheet 4, Side b, contains pages 8 and 13.
Sheet 5, Side a, contains pages 12 and 9.
Sheet 5, Side b, contains pages 10 and 11.
"Printed in that manner when the pages are stacked, folded and stitched at the fold the pages are in the correct sequence from 1 to 20, and of course the larger the book the more complex the layout. However there is a limit to the number of sheets you can fold and bind in a single section. We are setting the limit to ten sheets of parchment or forty pages in a section, so the first section will have pages 1 to 40, the second, pages 41 to 80 and so on. We can bind any number of sections into a single book."
The Duke shook his head, slid the parchment back to Tris and ate breakfast.
After breakfast Tris headed to BOOKS, the Duke and Sandry went to the office to begin the day of shuffling paper and cutting red tape.
When the weight driven, pendulum regulated, custom made standing clock (Daja is working on a spring driven, wind up, pocked watch) chimed 10 there was a soft knock at the open door. Looking up from the paper work, the Duke and Sandry saw Major L'rain Kunsch standing in the doorway with a stuffed folder in one hand and a leather case in the other.
"Come in Major, do you have something for me."
"Yes My Lord, we have finished the investigation into the spelled jewelry."
"Have a seat and report."
The Major sat in a chair in front of the Dukes desk.
"My Lord, as you know Lady Sandrilene and I took the jewelry to Winding Circle, the mages were able to remove the spells but it took two days to accomplish it."
"Once the jewelry could be safely handled we took it to every jeweler in Summersea, here are the reports of what was discovered." Laying the folder on the Desk.
The Duke waved a hand, "Just tell me."
"Very well My Lord, every top line jeweler in the city identified part of the collections as something that he had sold in the last 30 days."
"The were three individuals involved in the purchases."
"The first was average build, about five foot seven inches (Imperial), approximately thirty years of age, lightly tanned and had soft hands."
"The second was tall, about six foot, thin, graying hair and a broken nose."
"The third was about five foot ten inches, well build, muscular, had calluses from the sword on his right hand and a small scar on his left cheek,"
"They all wore green and gold livery."
The Duke and Sandry turned to look over the fireplace, hanging over the mantel were three shields, the one in the center carried the Dukes Coat of Arms, a Gold Griffin on a blue background, the one on the right was that of his youngest son bearing a Gold Griffin on a red background, one on the left was that of his oldest son bearing a Gold Griffin on a green background.
"One of the jewelers came to the coop and told us that he had just seen the man who purchased his stock in a lunchroom. He lead us there and pointed him out, we followed the man when he left and he lead us to the estates of of your oldest son Baron Frantsen."
"Thank you Major, I'll handle it from here on."
Major Kunsch stood, "At your service My Lord." Turned and departed.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
A/Question.
What do you think of my bad guy????
I know, I know, Tamora called Frantsen, Lord Frantsen in Magic Steps but I demoted him. Beside I needed a barony for the final chapter, coming up.
Appendix Chapter 9. You can skip all this educational stuff.
Sorry about the dull section on book binding but I needed some filler and it was educational.
*One of my reviewers tells me that a Duke is properly addressed as Your Grace. However since I am forced to create the entire rank system of Imperial Nobility I have decided that in my version of this reality Dukes and called My Lord Duke. Besides I don't really want to go back and change everything at this late date.
Apart from the imperial Emperor's family, there are five ranks in the peerage:
Duke - Duchess - addressed as My Lord Duke - Highest.
Marquis - Marquise - Hey, Hey it's the Marquis (sneaky historical reference)
Count - Countess - Obvious
Viscount - Viscountess - Obvious
Baron - Baroness - Lord Baron - used by Tamora Pierce in Magic Steps.
All but baronies are exclusively hereditary titles; that is, they are passed down from father to (usually) son. Some baronies are inherited as well, but others are life peerages, granted by the Emperor and reverting back to him upon the death of the title-holder. Life peerages do not have seats in the Council of Lords. The oldest title is that of duke.
Anyone has my permission to use anything from this and my other story in anyway they want. So have at it, expand, add, enhance, just think if you can write a fan fiction based on a story that has a copyright why not a fan fiction based on a fan fiction. So tale spinners, spin on.
Blame all lousy spelling and grammar on the California Education System. Thank the Lord for spell checkers.
The Circle Expands
Chapter 9
Ten days later.
Duke Vedris IV of Emelan, Lord Seneschal Baron Erdogum and Lady Sandrilene fa Toren were relaxing in the Citadel's library, The Duke and Baron each had a glass of wine, Sandry had a glass of fruit juice.
"That was a long and hard day shuffling paper and cutting red tape." Commented Baron Erdogum.
"Is the party ready to go, food arranged, overtime budgeted (UNION HELP), orchestra ordered?"
"Yes Uncle, the only thing left to do is for you to use the last four Rememballs Keth delivered and you have not yet filled."
"Where are you going to put them?"
"We found, down in the Sub, Sub, Sub-basement of the Citadel a bunch of matching marble pedestals and we brought them out of storage polished them up and put them around the ball room, since glass is a mixture of silica obtained from beds of fine sand or from pulverized sandstone, it really a unique form of stone. Evvy was able to fuse the Rememballs to the pedestals so they cannot be removed. When the Nobility sees them this ball will be the second wonder of the decade."
"What was the first?" asked Erdogum.
"The fires what?"
"The first wonder of the decade."
"My arrival at Summersea of course," Sandry replied with a demure smile.
That drew a laugh from the Duke, and laughs had been few and far between since the discovery of the cursed jewelry.
"Entertainment?"
"Yazmin and Pacos are going to perform and Yazmin is bring a troupe from her school to dance for us."
"Pacso's what? About eighteen now."
"Yes and quite the young man, I think Evvy has a crush on him."
The Duke smiled.
"We have purchased her a new dress for ball, along with new dresses for Tris and Daja."
"Daja in a dress?"
"Oh yes, along with Glaki, we will be quite the quintet of young ladies. Even though Daja will not give up her trader staff."
"You will never talk her into that."
With a sigh Sandry replied, "I know, actually I thinking of having all of us carry a walking staff and set a new fashion."
The Duke chuckled, "You could probably do it too."
"We also have two of the best Illusion mages in Summersea to do a illusion contest, Daja gave me the idea from something she saw while wintering in Kugisko, she was at a meeting of the mage guild and the illusionist were having a contest to see who could create the most creative and flashy illusions. Should be fun."
"Getting late, time for bed." The Duke and Baron finished their wine and stood, Sandry, carrying her fruit juice, lead the way out the door. The Baron said goodnight and left to go to his rooms, Sandry and her uncle headed up the stairs to their bedrooms.
The Next Morning.
When Duke Vedris entered the breakfast room the next morning, he found Sandry and Tris all ready at the table, in the middle of their meals.
"Sorry uncle, we were starving and couldn't wait."
"I think I'll forgive you just this once."
"Good morning Tris."
"Good morning, My Lord."
"I hear you have a new dress for the party."
"Yes, Sandry twisted my arm and made me stand for hours at the dressmakers, I may never forgive her."
Sandry stuck her tongue out at Tris.
The Duke chuckled.
"Oh by the way, I finished that book by Jule S'Vern, and you are right, it can not be called a fable, fairy tale, parable or even a sermon. How are you going to classify it?"
"I think I'll call it fantasy."
"That sounds about right."
"Are you keeping busy otherwise?"
"Yes, we have the press we got from Tenth Caravan and are learning how to print books."
"Print books? I thought we knew how to do that."
"Well the people who make books know but it is a learning process for the ones in my shop."
"For example if you are going to print a small twenty page fairy tale you have to print the pages like this." She removed a piece of parchment from a folder on the table beside her and slid it down the table to the Duke.
Duke Vedris picked it up and read.
Layout print on the parchment left right
Sheet 1, Side a, contains pages 20 and 1.
Sheet 1, Side b, contains pages 2 and 19.
Sheet 2, Side a, contains pages 18 and 3.
Sheet 2, Side b, contains pages 4 and 17.
Sheet 3, Side a, contains pages 16 and 5.
Sheet 3, Side b, contains pages 6 and 15.
Sheet 4, Side a, contains pages 14 and 7.
Sheet 4, Side b, contains pages 8 and 13.
Sheet 5, Side a, contains pages 12 and 9.
Sheet 5, Side b, contains pages 10 and 11.
"Printed in that manner when the pages are stacked, folded and stitched at the fold the pages are in the correct sequence from 1 to 20, and of course the larger the book the more complex the layout. However there is a limit to the number of sheets you can fold and bind in a single section. We are setting the limit to ten sheets of parchment or forty pages in a section, so the first section will have pages 1 to 40, the second, pages 41 to 80 and so on. We can bind any number of sections into a single book."
The Duke shook his head, slid the parchment back to Tris and ate breakfast.
After breakfast Tris headed to BOOKS, the Duke and Sandry went to the office to begin the day of shuffling paper and cutting red tape.
When the weight driven, pendulum regulated, custom made standing clock (Daja is working on a spring driven, wind up, pocked watch) chimed 10 there was a soft knock at the open door. Looking up from the paper work, the Duke and Sandry saw Major L'rain Kunsch standing in the doorway with a stuffed folder in one hand and a leather case in the other.
"Come in Major, do you have something for me."
"Yes My Lord, we have finished the investigation into the spelled jewelry."
"Have a seat and report."
The Major sat in a chair in front of the Dukes desk.
"My Lord, as you know Lady Sandrilene and I took the jewelry to Winding Circle, the mages were able to remove the spells but it took two days to accomplish it."
"Once the jewelry could be safely handled we took it to every jeweler in Summersea, here are the reports of what was discovered." Laying the folder on the Desk.
The Duke waved a hand, "Just tell me."
"Very well My Lord, every top line jeweler in the city identified part of the collections as something that he had sold in the last 30 days."
"The were three individuals involved in the purchases."
"The first was average build, about five foot seven inches (Imperial), approximately thirty years of age, lightly tanned and had soft hands."
"The second was tall, about six foot, thin, graying hair and a broken nose."
"The third was about five foot ten inches, well build, muscular, had calluses from the sword on his right hand and a small scar on his left cheek,"
"They all wore green and gold livery."
The Duke and Sandry turned to look over the fireplace, hanging over the mantel were three shields, the one in the center carried the Dukes Coat of Arms, a Gold Griffin on a blue background, the one on the right was that of his youngest son bearing a Gold Griffin on a red background, one on the left was that of his oldest son bearing a Gold Griffin on a green background.
"One of the jewelers came to the coop and told us that he had just seen the man who purchased his stock in a lunchroom. He lead us there and pointed him out, we followed the man when he left and he lead us to the estates of of your oldest son Baron Frantsen."
"Thank you Major, I'll handle it from here on."
Major Kunsch stood, "At your service My Lord." Turned and departed.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
A/Question.
What do you think of my bad guy????
I know, I know, Tamora called Frantsen, Lord Frantsen in Magic Steps but I demoted him. Beside I needed a barony for the final chapter, coming up.
Appendix Chapter 9. You can skip all this educational stuff.
Sorry about the dull section on book binding but I needed some filler and it was educational.
*One of my reviewers tells me that a Duke is properly addressed as Your Grace. However since I am forced to create the entire rank system of Imperial Nobility I have decided that in my version of this reality Dukes and called My Lord Duke. Besides I don't really want to go back and change everything at this late date.
Apart from the imperial Emperor's family, there are five ranks in the peerage:
Duke - Duchess - addressed as My Lord Duke - Highest.
Marquis - Marquise - Hey, Hey it's the Marquis (sneaky historical reference)
Count - Countess - Obvious
Viscount - Viscountess - Obvious
Baron - Baroness - Lord Baron - used by Tamora Pierce in Magic Steps.
All but baronies are exclusively hereditary titles; that is, they are passed down from father to (usually) son. Some baronies are inherited as well, but others are life peerages, granted by the Emperor and reverting back to him upon the death of the title-holder. Life peerages do not have seats in the Council of Lords. The oldest title is that of duke.