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Bonds under Ocean Waves and Sanity both have on their latest chapters and explanation for delays to my chapter writing, but you guys need one too, and I won't be lazy about it, and no it wasn't my hand again, that's only a small part and it's already by now healed save for discoloration.
I was struck by a curious illness that felled my like a tree for nearly a week. I was hardly able to move out of bed, let alone type chapters. My computer rests usually in the front of my house unless I bring it to my room and rest it on a night stand, and I had enough forethought to have the thing with me before I was more or less bed-ridden.
I slept a lot during that week, and when I wasn't sleeping, I had headaches when I tried to focus on something. I spent my waking hours on an anime. (Go figure, haven't done that in years... It was about Puzzles, however, I did not bother trying to solve them, just watched the characters do it, trust me it would have been more harm than good for me to try to get into it...=S)
Once I managed to recover enough to get to work, I saw a mountain of work left for me, as it seems I was not the only one struck by the illness. It treated us like nine-pins it did. =S. I still wasn't a hundred percent, (I estimated abut 70% to a colleague when asked. ) but I had enough wits to think that they were about to work me right back into my bed again. It didn't manage though.
Took up a lot of my time however.
You know, it really pains me, writing these shorts. Chapter thirteen is a vital chapter, I know it doesn't seem that way, but everything I do in this chapter is needed, and nothing is extra. Everything I type for HAS to happen for the storyline to function, and I mean everything. Absolutely nothing is simply for entertainment. So splitting the chapter up just makes it all the easier to spot, which upsets me. Keep this up and you'll know exactly what I'm going to do, and that's no fun. =S.
Once Thirteen is done, the shorts will finish. My hand is better now.
~C.F Winchester
~Lemongrass Stains: Recette's Annual.
Chapter Thirteen Slice Three: Deal.
I sighed. I was loathe to have to hire another horse, especially since it meant I had to lead it. That was work for a personal aide, not me. I could ride, but I didn't want another beast tied down to my horse to weight it down with it's gait, or drag mine around...Recette wasn't a rider. I had been expecting she could. Everyone knew how to ride.
Well, everyone that I knew, which pretty much meant all rich had a thing for teaching their kids the higher life in education, like riding and etiquette, dancing, speech and posture, things Recette seems to sorely lack in her lower class "plebeian"upbringing...and I had to teach her it. I had a week.
I excused myself from Recette and walked into the inn. I needed a drink. Badly.
The light in this room was a crystal chandelier. It's glimmering crystals cast a merry shards of light in various shapes about the wall, but at the moment the effect was lost on me. It wasn't as if I paid much attention to such trivial details anyway, it was just a chandelier, nothing fancy about that...
Unbidden, a sentence came to mind, one that I could have sworn I heard spoken in the voice of a young man and not the woman who I had left supervising the packing of my belongings...I felt my own mouth word the sentence under my breath.
"...You'll never miss anything...until it's gone."
My eyes roved the light above me and it's effect on the room. It cast glittering little mirrors all along the walls, lighting on faces and pictures alike with a playful kind of fancy, giving people tattoos made of light, diamonds and stars, crescents and squares...everyone in here had a servant of some kind squatting near them, some better treated than others but all with a kind of vacant smile that was drilled into them. I wended my way to the bar, passing people dressed in rich colors and with even richer adornments. It made me feel a bit naked without any jewelery on, but it was all in my carry cases.
In my mind, a single necklace of beaten false gold, a tiny heart of lapis-lazul ringed with rubies...and I had only seen that today, no other day had she appeared to have worn it...
My eyes sought out the servants in the room as I reached the counter. Not even the richest of lords seemed to have given servants jewelery of their own. One man however, seemed to have attached his servant to a collar...like a dog...
...or a slave...
I averted my eyes. I had a swell of anger that was unbidden. It was not the first time I had seen something like this...so why did it affect me like this now?
"Can I get you anything mam?"
I mastered my tone and answered him as coolly as I could without being dismissive. Like Recette had mentioned with the bag carriers, it did no one good to misdirect anger.
"Would you happen to have any Red Moon?"
He smiled a little apologetically, and I sighed.
"A little high of taste hmm lady? I'm sorry, but our stock is fresh out, the snow prevented us from sending requests to the local, Is there anything else that I could possibly get you?
I really did wish he had some...I don't think I could stomach something stronger than wine at the moment...but I still had anger on my side.
"Do you have any malt? Straight?"
"Yes, I do."
"Then please mix it with some fire whiskey for me."
His brows shot up, but so did his smile.
"Watered and on the rocks?"
"Straight, chilled; please. Ice separate, under."
He made no comment, but his face morphed into a near comical expression. If I wasn't still angry at the man with his collar around his servants neck or the bag carriers, I might even have laughed a little. Pure malt was rather high and heady, and mixed with a fireball like the whiskey made for something that would kick a twelve months dead horse alive and in heat for a race track. Especially chilled. Fire whiskey's taste became sharper and hotter when cold, it's bite was worst when it was just before turning to ice. Putting chilled, malted whiskey over a ice platter was asking for a time bomb...and something far, far out of my league.
The only way I would drink that was if I wanted to meet my grandmother of twelve greats.
As he walked away, I observed the room a bit more, with a slightly more peaceable eye. The wait men in the corner did nothing to improve my mood; but I ignored them the same as I did the collar. I noticed a few of the servants catching each others' eyes every now and then, new comers being raked with eyes and silent nods or shakes of the head to blank faces. The lords and ladies noticed nothing. I wondered if this silent communication system was everywhere, or just in this town...and if it did exist, what were they trying to say to each other?
It certainly could not just be-
"There you are, Hello."
I nearly jumped into the chandelier. I spun around in my seat and promptly grabbed it's edge to prevent myself shot-putting into Recette, who had spoken. I looked at her with wild, mad eyes for a few seconds before I found my voice.
"D-don't sneak up on me please?"
Her smile and tilt of the head broke the conversation.
"You bags are finally packed properly I think, and if that yours?"
She pointed to the tender, who was setting down the glass of whiskey over a platter of ice as if it were explosive. I looked up at him and felt a tiny bit of fear. The tender saw this and his own face morphed into relief. He let out a good natured chuckle. Recette locked eyes with it curiously.
"Come to your senses my lady? It's twelve thousand regardless. I'll just toss it out for you-"
"Wait a moment."
The tender turned to her instead as she picked up the glass. My eyes bugged.
"H-hey, I thought Tear and you both didn't like-"
"We don't. I don't smell the barrels however..."
"It's kept in glass."
"Is it now...?"
She sniffed it curiously and her own eyes bugged. She coughed before looking from me to it as if I were mad and it was poison. I sighed and held out my hand for it.
"I was mad and ordered it out of spite. Give it here so I can pay for it and the tender can throw it out."
"Pay for it...I'll pay for the glass."
I looked at her quizzically. She smiled.
"I'm taking the glass with us. This gives me an idea."
There was a light in her eyes. I didn't question it. I guessed she thought maybe she could poison someone with it...who knows? I paid fifteen thousand pix for the drink and the glass, I saw that Recette discreetly tucked the glass in her pocket, freezing it's contents solid. We walked out of the building...and smack into an argument.
"I've paid the debt our family owes you. It's time you hold up your end of the bargain!"
On the cobble stone road, two men were standing a bit apart, facing off. Their voices were low, and the taller man was even slightly friendly, though with some veiled emotion I could not place...Off to the side, a servant with a collar meandered. My blood picked up a boil again, but I said nothing.
"You forget about the interest my friend, much of it has accumulated. I'm afraid you debt is still woefully unpaid."
The shorter of the two men pointed at the servant and it suddenly struck me that the two of them looked familiar somehow...it clicked. The girl was young enough to be the man's daughter I suppose... So. It was servantry to pay off a debt...the worst kind. I set my face and tried to walk past them, but Recette grabbed my hand.
"You can't keep my sister locked up like this. She's not an animal!"
Or his sister. The taller of the two yanked on his collar rather nonchalantly, and I could see the others' blood boil to match my own. The girl stumbled from the yank and Recette let go of me. In a flash she was there, and I was quick to bring myself into the picture too. Recette caught the girl, I entered to make a circle of the two men and I.
"I shall treat my property as I see fit, and how may I help you?"
I remembered something from Recette's past, and my eyes locked with her for just a moment. I unconsciously felt my pocket. There wasn't much pix in there, most of it was in my pack...but I felt the hourglass I had been given. It was a bit hot from resting near me all this time.
"How much does this man owe you?"
I wasn't a merchant though...but that lock of eyes...I had one to guide me. I felt it grow hotter in my pocket to nearly burn my skin. I almost yelped, but I noticed that Recette had been discreetly pointing at me, and now she gave the smallest of taller man smiled.
"Ahh, my lady, he owes me ten thousand at the moment."
"Would you accept only currency, or would you accept something from treasury? I'm already packed, and I loathe to unpack at the bequest of these wait men."
I pointed at my set of horses, which was being led to me by a man still out of earshot. The taller man smiled.
"Ahh, I saw you in the bar, so you spent you pocket change there and loathe to pick into your purse, I understand the feeling. I suppose I could take treasure...you wish to pay for him?"
"I wish to end this noise and leave in peace yes."
I reached into my pocket and pulled out the hourglass. Raising it to eye level I saw that it shone with a full luster and glow. I remembered the heat I had felt...and my other hand felt inside the pocket as if I were pressing it back in after taking such a large object out. I felt flakes of dust in there.
The sneaky little...had she flaked off the rust and discoloration with heat? Oddly, my pocket felt ice cold. I shrugged it off and smiled at the man, who was looking at the hourglass with an appreciative eye.
"Ahh. It's full of material. I suppose it's a carry glass? This...is it...yes. Yes, I'll take this as compensation. Indeed."
He seemed almost too eager to grab the glass from me and shove the collar's lead at me. I watching him in almost complete silence as he almost scurried away with glee. What the heck was that about...?I shook my head as Recette disengaged the collar from the girl's neck and led her to the man. I tried to give him the collar, but he looked at me with disgust. I tried to explain to him, and his face softened a little.
"Sell it. It's a disgusting thing, but some person might want to put their dog on it. It's worth at least it's weight in gold..."
He however, shook his head and pushed it at me.
"You sell it then. I can't think of owning that thing, but It could at least compensate you some for that hourglass...Thank you. I never thought a lord or lady would help me..."
He seemed awkward, so I helped him as the wait man handed me my reigns.
"You're welcome. No need to mention it. We are people too..."
I looked at Recette, and she was smiling at the girl and his hands, which were linked. She said nothing, but I got the message. I looked back at him.
"Sometimes stuck up people but still people. Please take care of her from now on."
"I will...thank you again...come on...let's go home."
I watched as they walked off. I suddenly remembered what stipulation I had been given with that hourglass...
"...Of course I know. I just have a feeling you need to see it to believe it. Bring it tomorrow, and if I'm not done with the story yet, the days after that too. You can tell people you have it and where you got it if you like...but don't sell it. I gave it to you as a gift, and you might have to give it to someone else as a gift before we say goodbye..."
I looked to where Recette was, but she was gone. I spun around before looking at the horses. I caught her in the act of climbing up one awkwardly. She managed well enough and set herself in a more or less workable fashion.
"I gave it away as a bargaining chip for a girl's freedom. That counts as selling it doesn't it?"
She smiled at me in her odd way.
"The way I see it, it was the gift of freedom for that girl and the gift of a family to her brother...and a gift to feed the wheels of greed for that man...and that collar will continue the cycle."
She pointed at the offending thing, and I wrapped it up and stuffed it in my pocket. I looked at her with a face that made her laugh as I picked a horse, climbed on and handed her the reigns to the pack ones. She accepted them without comment.
"Is there a point to all this? You somehow knew I would need to give away the hourglass...are you sure you haven't...I don't know, been through a time loop with this already or something?"
Her smiled faltered a little, and she tugged the reigns of the pack horses experimentally before trying her own to set a trot. It was a bit faster than it should be, so I had to set a pace to match. Only when I caught up did she answer.
"No. I did not know. I have not gone through any loops, nor can I anymore, not the way I once did, and I don't think ever. No I...hoped. I believed. There are events, political and otherwise, moving about in the world, and it's a merchant's job to learn these and figure out how it will effect the market...and what people want..."
I looked off in the direction the man had gone with the hourglass.
"...Why do I get the feeling that this won't be the last time I see that thing?"
Recette smiled and then let her hold on the reigns loosen, so that the horses picked up speed. She probably knew that much from cart driving. I set my own mare to keep pace. Her voice floated back to me.
"I hope you don't! If you do then all would be for nothing, because everything lost would come back in the end!"
I didn't understand what she meant, but she didn't elaborate, simply opened up her horse to run to a near gallop, and I was forced to follow the clumsy rider as she chased the sun.
+~E~+
Chapter thirteen is finally finished, and it was indeed a rather unlucky one for me. =S Now we can finally do some real work though. All the pieces are in place! ...At least, I can't remember if I forgot any...that sickness messed me up, I know my entire plan and storyline, but I can't figure out if I forgot something, yet I have a nagging feeling I did.
=S
Hikari, I understand that one and it's okay. I fully expect Lemongrass Stains to be a quiet novel of mine. I know for a fact that a story in the General Section for a game that has no section of it's own and is essentially Indie cult is not going to pick up hundreds of reviews and favorites. XD.
~Finalage