almost !!! ! But a very nice :D in this section, anyway. :D!
Awright. Let’s get dangerous. No, let’s get Dovaris.
~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~
The rest of the afternoon passed in a haze of talk and excitement stabbed through with occasional anxiety. Binsi and his family really were nice people, and they really tried to make Kellerin comfortable, explain things to her, hear her side of things, and sympathize. None of them stared, and they all tried to help. The granddaughter Michandrisca had new, nicer clothes brought for Kellerin - longer shirt with black embroidery, black pants with white embroidery, and a black cloth belt thing that was, yeah, embroidered - and the daughter Risti pronounced her fit to walk in public again, and then they all went out into the gardens and looked at the pretty bushes and flowers. But in the back of Kellerin’s mind, shoving their way forward every now and then, were memories of this morning and thoughts of this evening and this morning. She had to stop herself, when they wandered close to the front gate, from going out and looking - god, that wouldn’t do anyone any good, and besides they’d probably … what, cleaned up? Cleaned him up and put him in prison? Kellerin looked away from the gate and nodded uh-huhly as Binsi expounded upon the beauty of the trees, and tried to stop herself from looking at her watch, too.
(3:45.)
(4:09.)
(4:49.)
5:04. She stopped trying to hide her glances at her wrist.
5:36.
5:38.
5:55. Risti reassured her that candleworks were no great matter and oughtn’t be much trouble or hassle, really, and didn’t the Sorrovers themselves use them quite often? Of course Binsi nodded, and Kellerin uh-huhed again and nodded back.
6:11.
6:14. Risti was getting huffy at not being paid full attention. Kellerin didn’t care. 6:16. 6:21. 6:29. 6:30.
Greening was usually around 7ish, and by 6:37 Binsi’s family was ushering her in the direction of the palace. Coming out of the gardens she saw Lissa striding in her direction; the Sorrovers fell back, Lissa stopped short, and Kellerin crossed the space in between, looking toward the front gate despite herself.
Greening wasn’t like dusk - it was still full and bright linlight. Through the gates she saw the stage, guards at the corners of it, the forked tree in the middle of it, someone kneeling behind the tree, tied, red, god -
She didn’t realize she’d stopped til Binsi called from behind her, “Miss Jameson?”
Kellerin blinked. But didn’t take her eyes from - it had to be Landri, but she didn’t want to see, but she couldn’t see him properly from here, and what the hell had they done to him, and didn’t she have a card in her bag?
She did. She did. The dude way back in the dorm, the cliff-with-a-coat-on. He’d given her one. Weeks ago. had given her one, And the freakshow Two had shown her how to use it. What if she just -
“Mandranim is waiting.”
Kellerin looked forward at Lissa. She looked back at the Sorrovers. She looked out at the gate -
- and what? Walk out? Just leave all of them behind? Forget about these assholes and just waltz off, ignore everyone and walk over there and get Landri off the thing and open a door home? Really? Really? Go home with a random badly-wounded dude back to Charlotte Laine University and go to the hospital and tell them, yeah, he’s not from around here, no, I’m not the one who did it, and by the way, you know those Missing Persons ads?
She shut her eyes, rubbing them with the heels of her hands. Dammit. After this. After this candlework whatever thing. This was it, anyway, right? She’d walked all these weeks and days and come here just for this, right? Fucking Waste of worry if she just waltzed off now. Fuckin waste of sixteen days of what-the-hell-is-this and why-is-this-happening and by-the-way-this-place-is-insane. Just a candlework. She’d done candleworks before. The thing with the Sorrovers. It was weird, and you got sick afterwards, but it was okay. (But Kyle-Morgan had said it was dangerous.) She would be fine.
But what if it wasn’t fine?
The Red Prince needs a topsider body in a bellwork. Plenty of things he could do with a body. Not that she was listening to Tannoc anyway, but - but he’d changed his mind, too. And there was Visney, too.
It is unjust that an innocent should be asked to give her life in a candlework.
It was, wasn’t it? And he was the Ironjust. Visney wouldn’t let it happen if it was actual danger, right? He would help, or stop it, or something, right? And he could help Landri, too.
Kellerin opened her eyes onto Lissa and the palace.
“Where’s Visney?”
Lissa blinked, but answered quick enough. “Inside. With Mandranim.”
Kellerin nodded. “I wanna talk to him.”
“Then we should go,” Lissa said, and half-turned, holding the door open. Kellerin went forward, and Lissa shut the door behind her.
It was up some back stairs this time, down more pale-yellow halls with laceworks and murals, round a corner and through large, ornate doors and into a wing where rugs lain the middle of the floors and the silver-backed sconces were already lit. Guards stood the doors, and the doors were open, not shut - one austere room, one nice and large, one with hangings, one a child’s. One, at the hall’s end, set in a wall all built of nmari-brick; the door black wood and copper and silver bearings. It opened as they got there, and Visney stepped out.
“Ah, Kellerin,” he said, stepping away from the door. “You’re in perfect time. I need to give you the counterwork. Come with me.” He glanced at Lissa. “We’ll only be a moment.”
Lissa nodded and took the door and went in.
And Visney started back down the hall. “My room. How was your afternoon? Have you seen all the palace?”
“Not the whole thing,” Kellerin said. “Just the gardens. Hey, so, I got a question.”
“Yes?”
“About the candlework thing…” Visney turned right, into the first door in the wing. It was the austere one - well, as austere as anything with yellow walls could get. Still, there wasn’t too much stuff, and what was there was fastidiously clean: bed, small table, chest at the end of the bed, desk with paperwork on it. Paperwork? It seemed like such a modern-day thing, but oh well. But something else that didn’t belong - “- you got a photo?”
‘Photo’ came out in English, but it was there alright: a photograph, matte and in glass-backed holder. It was straight-up weird seeing it. Kellerin peered closer. A much younger - still bald, though - Visney, and another dude, out in some forest place. The other dude was standing on a rock, hand up in a grand gesture, nose in the air, mugging shamelessly. Young-Visney was laughing at him.
“Adon,” said Visney, coming back over from the small table. “A dear pair-friend of mine. We grew up together.”
Kellerin frowned in confusion. “Wait, so how’d you get the picture, though? And that’s a forest? How’d you -”
“Adon’s a Sorrover.” He added, at Kellerin’s stare, “Massey’s younger brother. As I said, we grew up together. He lives in Olinscarr now, but he has a way of coming and going without much travel. The house you were in topside explains it. You said they had doors to different cities?” Kellerin nodded. “Then there you have it. Cards and doors. He comes by quite often, once or twice a tenday. I’ll have to tell him I finally know how he does it.” He smiled, then held a closed hand out. “Here.”
Kellerin held her own hand out, and Visney dropped a thing in it. She looked at it - red rope bracelet with a bone pendant thing in gold - as Visney explained, “it’s a counterwork. It runs counter to candles, though not to bells and drums. But it’ll hold you here instead of a bellwork every night, so you shouldn’t have to worry about Cai-Morgan calling you.”
“Kyle,” Kellerin said, but put the thing on. “Thanks. You know I hung out with Binsi today?”
Visney looked at her, then covered a smile. “Ah. You mean Bansacan Sorrover.”
“Well, yeah, but he told me to call him Binsi. And Massey called him that.”
Visney’s smile shortened. “They’ve taken you in, then?”
Kellerin shrugged. “Well, they keep saying that, but - I dunno, I’m okay back here, if I gotta stay overnight. They’re nice, but they’re kind of …smothery. They all wanna take care of you.”
“Hm.” Visney looked at the photo, then went and leaned on the windowsill. “Kellerin, I might recommend,” he hesitated, “a distance from them.”
“Yeah?”
“Yes.”
“But you just said,” Kellerin pointed to the photograph.
“Adon is not his family,” Visney said firmly. “Massey, on her other hand, is. I promise you, she doesn’t talk to you out of the kindness of her thoughts, or the sweetness of her ses. And Binsi works to Sorrover ends. They live their family. Adon does not.”
“Huh. So what’s so bad about them?”
Visney paused, and looked aside. “Possibly nothing more than the other Houses. All Houses try to build themselves up. But -” he moved his eyes, “after Ycai, in the infighting, I lent Hassavan support. And Hassavan won out.” And he looked up at Kellerin. “And Hassavan is gone.”
Kellerin waited. It still didn’t make sense.
“The Sorrovers are far more than they should be,” Visney said finally. “Massey runs them like the Hunt, and if they do have doors to all the cities, that would explain it. It might even be good for you for them to take you in. But I don’t think you like those games.”
And it still didn’t mean anything, except a general warning about how the Sorrovers sucked, and maybe how Massey and Binsi were hiding things. But why not? Everybody hid things. And actually, with the whole courtesy thing, it made sense for them to. So fine.
So “okay,” said Kellerin. “I mean, that’s great, but I’m going home after this. So I don’t really have to deal with them.”
Visney looked at her. It was not a pleased look. He didn’t say anything.
“I mean, sorry, but I’m not from here. I’m not gonna get into their faction or whatever, so they can be nice as they want and I’m still not in. Or if they’re actually, you know, doing stuff like you said, trying to expand or whatever, I’m not in it. I don’t even know what they’re doing. And they’ve been nice, but,” she shrugged. “I’m going home.”
Visney watched for a few more seconds, but finally looked away, shaking his head. “I suppose you are.” He stood from the windowsill. “And it’s a consolation at least that they can’t use you.”
He went past her and out of the room.
Was he disappointed? Kellerin turned and followed, but he was already down the hall, and she just followed. Light was coming in the windows pale green, and the yellow hall looked like the undertree light in a forest. Candles flickered in their sconces and Kellerin went down to the end, through the black door, and into the dustroom.
Because that was exactly what it was. A room made of dust. A room formed entirely of bricks of nmari-dust. Dust floors, large chunks like the ice blocks of an igloo. Dust walls, crenellate-sided bricks that made the whole wall a fluted section. Dust ceiling, tapering up sharp like the inside of a gothic arch. And dust carved, into the walls, in lotuses and ivy and many-petalled flowers, round the whole wall above and at the foot of the door. Across the foot of the door, actually - the inside of the door was tiled with dust, as well.
~:~:~:~:~:~:~
Wall.
But a very good write tonight! Awesome things happened, and awesome things and coming up on happening! And :DDD at Visney and Adon BFFs. Because Visney :D and Adon :D and both of them = :D^2.
WHEE DOVARIS
~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~
The rest of the afternoon passed in a haze of talk and excitement stabbed through with occasional anxiety. Binsi and his family really were nice people, and they really tried to make Kellerin comfortable, explain things to her, hear her side of things, and sympathize. None of them stared, and they all tried to help. The granddaughter Michandrisca had new, nicer clothes brought for Kellerin - longer shirt with black embroidery, black pants with white embroidery, and a black cloth belt thing that was, yeah, embroidered - and the daughter Risti pronounced her fit to walk in public again, and then they all went out into the gardens and looked at the pretty bushes and flowers. But in the back of Kellerin’s mind, shoving their way forward every now and then, were memories of this morning and thoughts of this evening and this morning. She had to stop herself, when they wandered close to the front gate, from going out and looking - god, that wouldn’t do anyone any good, and besides they’d probably … what, cleaned up? Cleaned him up and put him in prison? Kellerin looked away from the gate and nodded uh-huhly as Binsi expounded upon the beauty of the trees, and tried to stop herself from looking at her watch, too.
(3:45.)
(4:09.)
(4:49.)
5:04. She stopped trying to hide her glances at her wrist.
5:36.
5:38.
5:55. Risti reassured her that candleworks were no great matter and oughtn’t be much trouble or hassle, really, and didn’t the Sorrovers themselves use them quite often? Of course Binsi nodded, and Kellerin uh-huhed again and nodded back.
6:11.
6:14. Risti was getting huffy at not being paid full attention. Kellerin didn’t care. 6:16. 6:21. 6:29. 6:30.
Greening was usually around 7ish, and by 6:37 Binsi’s family was ushering her in the direction of the palace. Coming out of the gardens she saw Lissa striding in her direction; the Sorrovers fell back, Lissa stopped short, and Kellerin crossed the space in between, looking toward the front gate despite herself.
Greening wasn’t like dusk - it was still full and bright linlight. Through the gates she saw the stage, guards at the corners of it, the forked tree in the middle of it, someone kneeling behind the tree, tied, red, god -
She didn’t realize she’d stopped til Binsi called from behind her, “Miss Jameson?”
Kellerin blinked. But didn’t take her eyes from - it had to be Landri, but she didn’t want to see, but she couldn’t see him properly from here, and what the hell had they done to him, and didn’t she have a card in her bag?
She did. She did. The dude way back in the dorm, the cliff-with-a-coat-on. He’d given her one. Weeks ago. had given her one, And the freakshow Two had shown her how to use it. What if she just -
“Mandranim is waiting.”
Kellerin looked forward at Lissa. She looked back at the Sorrovers. She looked out at the gate -
- and what? Walk out? Just leave all of them behind? Forget about these assholes and just waltz off, ignore everyone and walk over there and get Landri off the thing and open a door home? Really? Really? Go home with a random badly-wounded dude back to Charlotte Laine University and go to the hospital and tell them, yeah, he’s not from around here, no, I’m not the one who did it, and by the way, you know those Missing Persons ads?
She shut her eyes, rubbing them with the heels of her hands. Dammit. After this. After this candlework whatever thing. This was it, anyway, right? She’d walked all these weeks and days and come here just for this, right? Fucking Waste of worry if she just waltzed off now. Fuckin waste of sixteen days of what-the-hell-is-this and why-is-this-happening and by-the-way-this-place-is-insane. Just a candlework. She’d done candleworks before. The thing with the Sorrovers. It was weird, and you got sick afterwards, but it was okay. (But Kyle-Morgan had said it was dangerous.) She would be fine.
But what if it wasn’t fine?
The Red Prince needs a topsider body in a bellwork. Plenty of things he could do with a body. Not that she was listening to Tannoc anyway, but - but he’d changed his mind, too. And there was Visney, too.
It is unjust that an innocent should be asked to give her life in a candlework.
It was, wasn’t it? And he was the Ironjust. Visney wouldn’t let it happen if it was actual danger, right? He would help, or stop it, or something, right? And he could help Landri, too.
Kellerin opened her eyes onto Lissa and the palace.
“Where’s Visney?”
Lissa blinked, but answered quick enough. “Inside. With Mandranim.”
Kellerin nodded. “I wanna talk to him.”
“Then we should go,” Lissa said, and half-turned, holding the door open. Kellerin went forward, and Lissa shut the door behind her.
It was up some back stairs this time, down more pale-yellow halls with laceworks and murals, round a corner and through large, ornate doors and into a wing where rugs lain the middle of the floors and the silver-backed sconces were already lit. Guards stood the doors, and the doors were open, not shut - one austere room, one nice and large, one with hangings, one a child’s. One, at the hall’s end, set in a wall all built of nmari-brick; the door black wood and copper and silver bearings. It opened as they got there, and Visney stepped out.
“Ah, Kellerin,” he said, stepping away from the door. “You’re in perfect time. I need to give you the counterwork. Come with me.” He glanced at Lissa. “We’ll only be a moment.”
Lissa nodded and took the door and went in.
And Visney started back down the hall. “My room. How was your afternoon? Have you seen all the palace?”
“Not the whole thing,” Kellerin said. “Just the gardens. Hey, so, I got a question.”
“Yes?”
“About the candlework thing…” Visney turned right, into the first door in the wing. It was the austere one - well, as austere as anything with yellow walls could get. Still, there wasn’t too much stuff, and what was there was fastidiously clean: bed, small table, chest at the end of the bed, desk with paperwork on it. Paperwork? It seemed like such a modern-day thing, but oh well. But something else that didn’t belong - “- you got a photo?”
‘Photo’ came out in English, but it was there alright: a photograph, matte and in glass-backed holder. It was straight-up weird seeing it. Kellerin peered closer. A much younger - still bald, though - Visney, and another dude, out in some forest place. The other dude was standing on a rock, hand up in a grand gesture, nose in the air, mugging shamelessly. Young-Visney was laughing at him.
“Adon,” said Visney, coming back over from the small table. “A dear pair-friend of mine. We grew up together.”
Kellerin frowned in confusion. “Wait, so how’d you get the picture, though? And that’s a forest? How’d you -”
“Adon’s a Sorrover.” He added, at Kellerin’s stare, “Massey’s younger brother. As I said, we grew up together. He lives in Olinscarr now, but he has a way of coming and going without much travel. The house you were in topside explains it. You said they had doors to different cities?” Kellerin nodded. “Then there you have it. Cards and doors. He comes by quite often, once or twice a tenday. I’ll have to tell him I finally know how he does it.” He smiled, then held a closed hand out. “Here.”
Kellerin held her own hand out, and Visney dropped a thing in it. She looked at it - red rope bracelet with a bone pendant thing in gold - as Visney explained, “it’s a counterwork. It runs counter to candles, though not to bells and drums. But it’ll hold you here instead of a bellwork every night, so you shouldn’t have to worry about Cai-Morgan calling you.”
“Kyle,” Kellerin said, but put the thing on. “Thanks. You know I hung out with Binsi today?”
Visney looked at her, then covered a smile. “Ah. You mean Bansacan Sorrover.”
“Well, yeah, but he told me to call him Binsi. And Massey called him that.”
Visney’s smile shortened. “They’ve taken you in, then?”
Kellerin shrugged. “Well, they keep saying that, but - I dunno, I’m okay back here, if I gotta stay overnight. They’re nice, but they’re kind of …smothery. They all wanna take care of you.”
“Hm.” Visney looked at the photo, then went and leaned on the windowsill. “Kellerin, I might recommend,” he hesitated, “a distance from them.”
“Yeah?”
“Yes.”
“But you just said,” Kellerin pointed to the photograph.
“Adon is not his family,” Visney said firmly. “Massey, on her other hand, is. I promise you, she doesn’t talk to you out of the kindness of her thoughts, or the sweetness of her ses. And Binsi works to Sorrover ends. They live their family. Adon does not.”
“Huh. So what’s so bad about them?”
Visney paused, and looked aside. “Possibly nothing more than the other Houses. All Houses try to build themselves up. But -” he moved his eyes, “after Ycai, in the infighting, I lent Hassavan support. And Hassavan won out.” And he looked up at Kellerin. “And Hassavan is gone.”
Kellerin waited. It still didn’t make sense.
“The Sorrovers are far more than they should be,” Visney said finally. “Massey runs them like the Hunt, and if they do have doors to all the cities, that would explain it. It might even be good for you for them to take you in. But I don’t think you like those games.”
And it still didn’t mean anything, except a general warning about how the Sorrovers sucked, and maybe how Massey and Binsi were hiding things. But why not? Everybody hid things. And actually, with the whole courtesy thing, it made sense for them to. So fine.
So “okay,” said Kellerin. “I mean, that’s great, but I’m going home after this. So I don’t really have to deal with them.”
Visney looked at her. It was not a pleased look. He didn’t say anything.
“I mean, sorry, but I’m not from here. I’m not gonna get into their faction or whatever, so they can be nice as they want and I’m still not in. Or if they’re actually, you know, doing stuff like you said, trying to expand or whatever, I’m not in it. I don’t even know what they’re doing. And they’ve been nice, but,” she shrugged. “I’m going home.”
Visney watched for a few more seconds, but finally looked away, shaking his head. “I suppose you are.” He stood from the windowsill. “And it’s a consolation at least that they can’t use you.”
He went past her and out of the room.
Was he disappointed? Kellerin turned and followed, but he was already down the hall, and she just followed. Light was coming in the windows pale green, and the yellow hall looked like the undertree light in a forest. Candles flickered in their sconces and Kellerin went down to the end, through the black door, and into the dustroom.
Because that was exactly what it was. A room made of dust. A room formed entirely of bricks of nmari-dust. Dust floors, large chunks like the ice blocks of an igloo. Dust walls, crenellate-sided bricks that made the whole wall a fluted section. Dust ceiling, tapering up sharp like the inside of a gothic arch. And dust carved, into the walls, in lotuses and ivy and many-petalled flowers, round the whole wall above and at the foot of the door. Across the foot of the door, actually - the inside of the door was tiled with dust, as well.
~:~:~:~:~:~:~
Wall.
But a very good write tonight! Awesome things happened, and awesome things and coming up on happening! And :DDD at Visney and Adon BFFs. Because Visney :D and Adon :D and both of them = :D^2.
WHEE DOVARIS