Halfway done! [Igueris]
I'm still dubious about the canonicity of number 33, but I thought I'd post it anyway because it's so likely. I may call it an AU later, though.
26. Haircut
Yohko holds her hair, a brown rope that falls past her waist when it’s down, in her right hand. In her left hand, she holds a freshly sharpened knife.
Her husband looks at her in disbelief, fading to anger. Before he can yell at her, she puts the knife at the base of the ponytail and saws, once, twice, thrice.
She throws the dead hair at his feet. It scatters like so many twigs, lain to start a fire.
He raises his hand. She raises her knife, and backs out of the house.
Once she’s past the threshold, she runs.
27. 1000
Years and years and years ago, there was a woman, a healer, who walked an ice-cold leyline, never stopping until she reached the sacred island, the source of all.
One thousand generations have passed since then. Her story lives on in the name she gave her land, and the colour of her descendents’ hair.
Now there is a woman, a healer, who walks an ice-cold leyline, accompanied by a goddess, two mages, a witch, and three soldiers. They stop every damn night and they’re headed in exactly the wrong direction.
But the goddess says that the world is a circle.
28. Midnight
Lirael always takes Laeson’s watch. It’s the second hour after darkness falls, the time when the moons are up and White creatures shuffle just out of sight.
She’s sure that there’s nothing to harm them; they’re crossing fields now, not forest, and she’d feel something nasty a mile off.
She keeps watch anyway. The silver light softens everything. In it, Hosi looks relaxed, Mahabra looks… right, Sakli is calm, Ryoko almost smiles, even Irvine looks honest.
And Yohko, under moonlight…
When she wakes Yohko for her watch, it’s with a kiss.
There is nothing more beautiful, Lirael thinks, than mid-night.
29. Famous
It’s a problem she’s never heretofore encountered: what to do when people recognize her.
“Look, it’s that Life Mage…”
“Look at her, think she was Queen Yalsi from the way she’s standing…”
“They say she’s Guersi’s descendent, if that’s true she might as well be.”
Mostly, ignoring them is easier than calling them out. When they plead for help, she snaps at them and does whatever they ask of her.
Yohko asks why she doesn’t just take the sash off. Hosi doesn’t dignify that with a response.
She hates being famous, but she’s still got a goddessdamned job to do.
30. Disguise
When Lirael tosses the sheet over Hosi’s head, she thinks her appearance doesn’t bother her like the loss of her voice. To create the illusion of being pious, she’ll have to keep silent.
The Iguerisan word for ‘human’ has its roots in the word for ‘voice’.
Whenever Yohko speaks for her, she has to grit her teeth to keep from screaming. Whenever Irvine explains her silence, she remembers once watching a shepherd take his mute child into the woods and come back alone.
Later, when she can speak, she takes a more than usual pleasure in ripping out creatures’ throats.
31. Witch
Hosi remembers a witch when she was three. The woman wore black, a colour Hosi hadn’t seen outside of a temple, and cut a path through the square like a wolf through sheep.
Hosi’s father spoke politely to her and ushered Hosi inside. Hosi’s mother looked tense and suspicious as she offered the witch a place to stay. She declined.
Hosi remembers how relieved her father looked, and how distant her mother was that night; and how, when she went out the next day to play, she traced the path of bootprints, which had not strayed far from the leyline.
32. Snow
Mahabra likes snow.
“Oi, ‘Hab, stop that!”
Ten points! A square shot to the back of Irvine’s neck. He piles up another snowball, a bit of Laeson’s heat making it stick.
Yohko showed him how to make snowballs today. They and Ryoko had a good fight. Yohko throws a lot harder than he can. He aims at Hosi.
“Throw that and I will make your hair lice grow exponentially.”
That sounds nasty. Mahabra re-aims and hits Sakura. She grins at him, and sends a flurry that gets in his hair and makes him shiver, and laugh.
He really likes snow.
33. Pregnant
When she finds out she’s pregnant, it takes her almost completely by surprise, which is stupid, considering.
Fuck. I knew this was going to be trouble.
Don’t curse at me; it was all your own fault.
It shouldn’t take nine months to get to the border, and once they’re there she’ll only have to find somewhere she can stay until the birth. It’ll work out.
She’ll make a horrible mother, and no child of hers is growing up with him for a parent. She has no idea what to do.
She doesn’t tell anyone else, least of all the father.
26. Haircut
Yohko holds her hair, a brown rope that falls past her waist when it’s down, in her right hand. In her left hand, she holds a freshly sharpened knife.
Her husband looks at her in disbelief, fading to anger. Before he can yell at her, she puts the knife at the base of the ponytail and saws, once, twice, thrice.
She throws the dead hair at his feet. It scatters like so many twigs, lain to start a fire.
He raises his hand. She raises her knife, and backs out of the house.
Once she’s past the threshold, she runs.
27. 1000
Years and years and years ago, there was a woman, a healer, who walked an ice-cold leyline, never stopping until she reached the sacred island, the source of all.
One thousand generations have passed since then. Her story lives on in the name she gave her land, and the colour of her descendents’ hair.
Now there is a woman, a healer, who walks an ice-cold leyline, accompanied by a goddess, two mages, a witch, and three soldiers. They stop every damn night and they’re headed in exactly the wrong direction.
But the goddess says that the world is a circle.
28. Midnight
Lirael always takes Laeson’s watch. It’s the second hour after darkness falls, the time when the moons are up and White creatures shuffle just out of sight.
She’s sure that there’s nothing to harm them; they’re crossing fields now, not forest, and she’d feel something nasty a mile off.
She keeps watch anyway. The silver light softens everything. In it, Hosi looks relaxed, Mahabra looks… right, Sakli is calm, Ryoko almost smiles, even Irvine looks honest.
And Yohko, under moonlight…
When she wakes Yohko for her watch, it’s with a kiss.
There is nothing more beautiful, Lirael thinks, than mid-night.
29. Famous
It’s a problem she’s never heretofore encountered: what to do when people recognize her.
“Look, it’s that Life Mage…”
“Look at her, think she was Queen Yalsi from the way she’s standing…”
“They say she’s Guersi’s descendent, if that’s true she might as well be.”
Mostly, ignoring them is easier than calling them out. When they plead for help, she snaps at them and does whatever they ask of her.
Yohko asks why she doesn’t just take the sash off. Hosi doesn’t dignify that with a response.
She hates being famous, but she’s still got a goddessdamned job to do.
30. Disguise
When Lirael tosses the sheet over Hosi’s head, she thinks her appearance doesn’t bother her like the loss of her voice. To create the illusion of being pious, she’ll have to keep silent.
The Iguerisan word for ‘human’ has its roots in the word for ‘voice’.
Whenever Yohko speaks for her, she has to grit her teeth to keep from screaming. Whenever Irvine explains her silence, she remembers once watching a shepherd take his mute child into the woods and come back alone.
Later, when she can speak, she takes a more than usual pleasure in ripping out creatures’ throats.
31. Witch
Hosi remembers a witch when she was three. The woman wore black, a colour Hosi hadn’t seen outside of a temple, and cut a path through the square like a wolf through sheep.
Hosi’s father spoke politely to her and ushered Hosi inside. Hosi’s mother looked tense and suspicious as she offered the witch a place to stay. She declined.
Hosi remembers how relieved her father looked, and how distant her mother was that night; and how, when she went out the next day to play, she traced the path of bootprints, which had not strayed far from the leyline.
32. Snow
Mahabra likes snow.
“Oi, ‘Hab, stop that!”
Ten points! A square shot to the back of Irvine’s neck. He piles up another snowball, a bit of Laeson’s heat making it stick.
Yohko showed him how to make snowballs today. They and Ryoko had a good fight. Yohko throws a lot harder than he can. He aims at Hosi.
“Throw that and I will make your hair lice grow exponentially.”
That sounds nasty. Mahabra re-aims and hits Sakura. She grins at him, and sends a flurry that gets in his hair and makes him shiver, and laugh.
He really likes snow.
33. Pregnant
When she finds out she’s pregnant, it takes her almost completely by surprise, which is stupid, considering.
Fuck. I knew this was going to be trouble.
Don’t curse at me; it was all your own fault.
It shouldn’t take nine months to get to the border, and once they’re there she’ll only have to find somewhere she can stay until the birth. It’ll work out.
She’ll make a horrible mother, and no child of hers is growing up with him for a parent. She has no idea what to do.
She doesn’t tell anyone else, least of all the father.