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rainbowfic2023-03-06 08:38 pm
thisbluespirit) wrote in rainbowfic2023-03-06 08:38 pm
Vienna Orange #17; Tourmaline #13 [Starfall]
Name: Boundary Break
Story: Starfall
Colors: Vienna Orange #17 (or maybe this is a test, maybe this is a course correction); Tourmaline #13 (rush/calm)
Supplies and Styles: Paint-by-Numbers fromshadowsong26 (a string of unhappy coincidences)
Word Count: 2011
Rating: G
Warnings: None
Notes: 1337, Starfall; Lyel Nanoller, Kaia Aemullens, Camecia Tolling, Tannis Kellen, Garner Rulwarch, Aliyna Dimue, Arin Teykal. (Starfall in action, collectively, or sort of anyway!)
Summary: Starfall Manor is having one of its usual emergencies…
Lyel marched up the front lawn and back down again, surveying the staff of Starfall Manor standing there in untidy files. “Still barely more than half of us! I’d like to think ‘assemble outside the front of the building as quickly as possible’ isn’t beyond us, but apparently not.”
“It wasn’t much better last time,” said Kaia, as Lyel stopped beside her. “You shouldn’t be surprised by now.”
They both watched as more stragglers made their way out of the main building and onto the grass.
“I’ve told you before,” said Kaia leaning towards him, her pale hair close to his increasingly grizzled black, “you should just ring the fire bell instead.”
Emergencies on the Boundary Paths happened fairly often at Starfall and while they had to be taken seriously – anything or anyone could come through the Paths, at least in theory – the truth was that at least seven or eight times out of ten, the cause turned out to be nothing to worry about.
Lyel Nanoller, as joint head of security, frowned over everything to do with each one. He didn’t feel that waiting for more than one of the Pathwalkers to have bad dreams or sudden inexplicable twinges was a reliable way to go about maintaining the safety of not only the Manor but potentially the nation. Nevertheless, if that was the only system they had or could have, it should be acted upon promptly by everyone without exception, every time.
“Good morning,” said Cam, at his elbow, and sounding far too breezy. She had dressed hastily – her hair was pulled back in a simple tail, and she was wearing a jacket and long skirt with a loose night shirt underneath.
She folded her arms against herself and joined Lyel in watching Starfall collect itself, before she moved forwards and clapped her hands for attention. “Pathwalkers! Garner, Osmer, I know, but over here, if you please. I’ve sent Larn and Ria westwards with Pio. Now, you two, can you head east with Kaia, if that’s where you felt the pull? Take Aliyna with you. Lyel and I will check the grounds.” She turned to Lyel with a bright smile. “Well, Imai Nanoller? Shall we?”
“We’re not all here yet.”
Cam put a soothing hand on his arm. “Tannis will see to that. We’re the important ones, and we’re all here. The others will try to help, of course, but they wouldn’t know what they were looking for, even if they saw it.”
“What about Imai Wolmer? Who’s present for medical?”
“Rion is on her way up and Sy and Huen are waiting over at their station. So, come along – unless you want me wandering about the grounds in an emergency situation without your protection?”
Cam in full flow was always hard to resist. Lyel fell into step with her as they walked along the main drive towards the lower mountain slopes.
“This isn’t good enough,” Lyel said as they went. “I’m going to have to speak to everyone about it.”
Cam put her hand up to shield her eyes as she turned in a circle. “Oh, I know. This morning has been particularly disgraceful. Still, don’t alarm yourself too much – if it had been a major infraction, all of us Pathwalkers would have been woken – probably half of the rest, too. Maybe even you.”
“Hmm. Then what are we hunting for this time?”
“Garner and Osmer’s dreams were vague. Only Aliyna’s were a little clearer, but she doesn’t have any experience to judge its proper meaning.” Her forehead wrinkled. “I’d say nothing more than a stray animal at most. Nobody had any sensation of real intent behind the intrusion – and it was certainly minor.”
Lyel shifted his stance. He cast a sidelong look at Cam, who was standing very still. “Any sign of it?”
She shook her head. “No, but I’m not expecting anything down here, not really. I let Garner and Osmer follow their noses. Oh, stop scowling, Lyel. The stragglers will get what’s coming to them. If I know my Tannis, she’ll be giving them all a piece of her mind already!”
Tannis Kellen took one look at the incomplete, uneven lines of half-dressed staff, before turning on her heel and striding over to Arin, who was standing close by with a ledger in his arms and one hand over his mouth as he attempted to suppress a yawn. “Go ring the alarm bell,” she told him, taking the book from him.
She resumed her inspection, sharp gaze taking in the numbers of domestic staff present, then Leaira, her assistants and several of the scholars, as well as her administrative teams, the medics, and some of the grounds staff who lived in. The only people missing were the guards and the Pathwalkers, who were now out looking for the source of the alert – and Arin, ringing the bell.
Tannis walked to the front, catching most of the assembled group’s attention, and waiting a few moments longer before she whistled to ensure everyone was looking at her.
“To your respective posts,” she ordered. “I’d say you know what you should be doing, but this performance doesn’t inspire confidence. So – please ensure all doors and windows are locked. Any day staff are to return to the village, along with any non-essential domestic staff, until you receive word to come back. And next time I expect to see every one of you here within minutes! There’s no excuse for this exhibition! May I remind you, we already have one representative from Portcallan who could easily have been here – and before the month is out we will be welcoming a District Governor. I don’t want any outsider witnessing this sort of behaviour – they would hardly gain a favourable opinion of our ability to protect the realm from disturbances in the Paths. Now,” she finished, and clapped her hands, “go – and don’t ever let me see you dragging your feet like this in an emergency again!”
Arin arrived at Tannis’s side, out of breath. He wiped his forehead with his handkerchief. “I see I had a lucky escape.”
“It wasn’t directed at you,” she said, remaining in place to make sure everyone moved away in an ordered fashion. “Thank you for that, by the way.”
Arin laughed. “You can always rely on me to irritate everyone at need.”
Arin followed the others away from the lawn, while Tannis still waited where she was.
“Lyel is right,” she muttered under her breath. “It’s not good enough!” Perhaps if she had greater affinity herself – if she had been a Pathwalker and not an administrator she would have made a better leader. She gave herself a small shake. That was neither here nor there, and it didn’t really excuse all this dawdling whatever the truth. Besides which, she had a greater concern. “It had better not be serious,” she said, addressing the sky. “Not now!”
Garner and Kaia led the way up the uneven mountain path, emerging through a fine morning mist into chilly sunlight. Aliyna was close behind them, with Osmer trailing some considerable way after that. Aliyna hadn’t bothered to protest this time – even she wasn’t about to provoke Kaia in a hurry, and she had a sneaking admiration for Garner. Anyway, even if a Starfall emergency wasn’t half as exciting as she’d expected the first time, it was at least more interesting than her usual training and library duty.
“What do you think it was this time?” she asked, pushing a thin leafy branch out of her way. “A snake or a rabbit? Or someone sneezed the wrong way on the other side?”
The others ignored her. She sighed. It would probably also be more interesting if she could understand how things worked properly, but she hadn’t even been up onto the Paths yet, and wasn’t privy to their mysteries, even aside from not necessarily paying attention when they were telling her things. There just didn’t seem to be any opting out of getting the weird dreams along with the actual Pathwalkers anyway.
“You tell us,” said Garner. “You had the clearest warning.”
Aliyna pulled a face. “Clear isn’t the word I’d use. It was more – cloudy.” She shrugged.
She wasn’t prepared for the sudden tingling in her fingers and, weirdly, at the tip of her nose. It wasn’t new, though – more an echo of the dream that had woken her so abruptly nearly three hours ago.
Garner must have felt it as well. She turned sharply, the thin end of her tight plait swinging into her face.
“Yes,” said Osmer gruffly, reaching the rest and stopping with them. “I feel it, too.” He cast a glance down at Aliyna. “Which way would you say, Dimue?”
Aliyna waved forwards with her hand. She’d have liked to shrug and refuse – let them get on with it – but the pull was too strong, too annoying. She wanted to get whatever it was found and this whole stupid thing over with.
“Go on,” said Garner in her ear, more softly than before.
Aliyna scrambled a short way up the steeper slope, and perched there beside a rock. Its surface had been worn away enough to make a dip that had collected water. The tingling in her fingers strengthened, and then at last, eased. “It’s this, here,” she said, touching the rock. She peered round it and then ran her hands up and down its sides. It didn’t seem to be anything other than mere stone. Her scowl deepened.
“There’s nothing here!” Garner said, joining her. She turned her gaze outwards, scanning the area, but was drawn back to the rock. “Osmer?”
He held out his hands.
“You sense it there?” asked Kaia, who didn’t share the Pathwalkers’ affinity with the Paths.
Aliyna nodded. “Yes. But there’s nothing! Only – well – there’s the water. But that doesn’t make sense!” She lowered her face until her nose was almost in the puddle. “Nope. No tiny fish or what have you swimming about in it!”
“It hasn’t rained for some days,” Kaia said.
Garner wrinkled her brow. “Water? That’s not possible!”
“I said I saw a cloud,” said Aliyna. She poked her little finger into the tiny pool.
Osmer stepped forward. He looked at Kaia. “What are you thinking, Aemullens?”
Kaia crouched down beside the rock. “I wondered if it was snow or ice when it came through.”
“You think your old Ice Prince sent something across to us here – and then it melted?” Garner’s voice rose in disbelief.
Kaia straightened herself. “I hope not.”
“Sorry,” said Garner. She put a hand on Kaia’s arm. “Look, if that’s the worst he can do – no need to worry, hey?”
Kaia brushed loose dirt from her hands and replaced her gloves. “Now. It’s not cold enough here yet. It will be in time.”
“Well,” said Osmer, glancing from one to the other, “we have our culprit. It isn’t dangerous and the chances are that it came through by accident as usual. I don’t suppose ice would melt in the Paths – nothing changes in there. So if ice got in, it could easily emerge intact – and then, equally naturally, melt.”
Garner nodded. “Hear that, Kaia?” she said. “Don’t start imagining monsters made of ice and snow, not here!” She threw a look over at Osmer. “I’ll go and inform the others – I’ll try to avoid telling everyone what it was, or I don’t know what they’ll do!”
Aliyna stepped back down onto the path. Kaia caught her by the elbow, steadying her progress. The three of them waited there, mostly ignoring each other. Kaia watched the rock, as if it was her duty to make sure the puddle didn’t suddenly rise up and somehow attack everyone, while Osmer turned away to look at the view, stretching out below, still hazy with mist.
“What’s so bad about ice anyway?” asked Aliyna.
Kaia looked at her, eyes so light for a moment they were almost colourless. “I suppose, when the snow falls this year, we will find out, won’t we?”
Story: Starfall
Colors: Vienna Orange #17 (or maybe this is a test, maybe this is a course correction); Tourmaline #13 (rush/calm)
Supplies and Styles: Paint-by-Numbers from
shadowsong26 (a string of unhappy coincidences)Word Count: 2011
Rating: G
Warnings: None
Notes: 1337, Starfall; Lyel Nanoller, Kaia Aemullens, Camecia Tolling, Tannis Kellen, Garner Rulwarch, Aliyna Dimue, Arin Teykal. (Starfall in action, collectively, or sort of anyway!)
Summary: Starfall Manor is having one of its usual emergencies…
Lyel marched up the front lawn and back down again, surveying the staff of Starfall Manor standing there in untidy files. “Still barely more than half of us! I’d like to think ‘assemble outside the front of the building as quickly as possible’ isn’t beyond us, but apparently not.”
“It wasn’t much better last time,” said Kaia, as Lyel stopped beside her. “You shouldn’t be surprised by now.”
They both watched as more stragglers made their way out of the main building and onto the grass.
“I’ve told you before,” said Kaia leaning towards him, her pale hair close to his increasingly grizzled black, “you should just ring the fire bell instead.”
Emergencies on the Boundary Paths happened fairly often at Starfall and while they had to be taken seriously – anything or anyone could come through the Paths, at least in theory – the truth was that at least seven or eight times out of ten, the cause turned out to be nothing to worry about.
Lyel Nanoller, as joint head of security, frowned over everything to do with each one. He didn’t feel that waiting for more than one of the Pathwalkers to have bad dreams or sudden inexplicable twinges was a reliable way to go about maintaining the safety of not only the Manor but potentially the nation. Nevertheless, if that was the only system they had or could have, it should be acted upon promptly by everyone without exception, every time.
“Good morning,” said Cam, at his elbow, and sounding far too breezy. She had dressed hastily – her hair was pulled back in a simple tail, and she was wearing a jacket and long skirt with a loose night shirt underneath.
She folded her arms against herself and joined Lyel in watching Starfall collect itself, before she moved forwards and clapped her hands for attention. “Pathwalkers! Garner, Osmer, I know, but over here, if you please. I’ve sent Larn and Ria westwards with Pio. Now, you two, can you head east with Kaia, if that’s where you felt the pull? Take Aliyna with you. Lyel and I will check the grounds.” She turned to Lyel with a bright smile. “Well, Imai Nanoller? Shall we?”
“We’re not all here yet.”
Cam put a soothing hand on his arm. “Tannis will see to that. We’re the important ones, and we’re all here. The others will try to help, of course, but they wouldn’t know what they were looking for, even if they saw it.”
“What about Imai Wolmer? Who’s present for medical?”
“Rion is on her way up and Sy and Huen are waiting over at their station. So, come along – unless you want me wandering about the grounds in an emergency situation without your protection?”
Cam in full flow was always hard to resist. Lyel fell into step with her as they walked along the main drive towards the lower mountain slopes.
“This isn’t good enough,” Lyel said as they went. “I’m going to have to speak to everyone about it.”
Cam put her hand up to shield her eyes as she turned in a circle. “Oh, I know. This morning has been particularly disgraceful. Still, don’t alarm yourself too much – if it had been a major infraction, all of us Pathwalkers would have been woken – probably half of the rest, too. Maybe even you.”
“Hmm. Then what are we hunting for this time?”
“Garner and Osmer’s dreams were vague. Only Aliyna’s were a little clearer, but she doesn’t have any experience to judge its proper meaning.” Her forehead wrinkled. “I’d say nothing more than a stray animal at most. Nobody had any sensation of real intent behind the intrusion – and it was certainly minor.”
Lyel shifted his stance. He cast a sidelong look at Cam, who was standing very still. “Any sign of it?”
She shook her head. “No, but I’m not expecting anything down here, not really. I let Garner and Osmer follow their noses. Oh, stop scowling, Lyel. The stragglers will get what’s coming to them. If I know my Tannis, she’ll be giving them all a piece of her mind already!”
Tannis Kellen took one look at the incomplete, uneven lines of half-dressed staff, before turning on her heel and striding over to Arin, who was standing close by with a ledger in his arms and one hand over his mouth as he attempted to suppress a yawn. “Go ring the alarm bell,” she told him, taking the book from him.
She resumed her inspection, sharp gaze taking in the numbers of domestic staff present, then Leaira, her assistants and several of the scholars, as well as her administrative teams, the medics, and some of the grounds staff who lived in. The only people missing were the guards and the Pathwalkers, who were now out looking for the source of the alert – and Arin, ringing the bell.
Tannis walked to the front, catching most of the assembled group’s attention, and waiting a few moments longer before she whistled to ensure everyone was looking at her.
“To your respective posts,” she ordered. “I’d say you know what you should be doing, but this performance doesn’t inspire confidence. So – please ensure all doors and windows are locked. Any day staff are to return to the village, along with any non-essential domestic staff, until you receive word to come back. And next time I expect to see every one of you here within minutes! There’s no excuse for this exhibition! May I remind you, we already have one representative from Portcallan who could easily have been here – and before the month is out we will be welcoming a District Governor. I don’t want any outsider witnessing this sort of behaviour – they would hardly gain a favourable opinion of our ability to protect the realm from disturbances in the Paths. Now,” she finished, and clapped her hands, “go – and don’t ever let me see you dragging your feet like this in an emergency again!”
Arin arrived at Tannis’s side, out of breath. He wiped his forehead with his handkerchief. “I see I had a lucky escape.”
“It wasn’t directed at you,” she said, remaining in place to make sure everyone moved away in an ordered fashion. “Thank you for that, by the way.”
Arin laughed. “You can always rely on me to irritate everyone at need.”
Arin followed the others away from the lawn, while Tannis still waited where she was.
“Lyel is right,” she muttered under her breath. “It’s not good enough!” Perhaps if she had greater affinity herself – if she had been a Pathwalker and not an administrator she would have made a better leader. She gave herself a small shake. That was neither here nor there, and it didn’t really excuse all this dawdling whatever the truth. Besides which, she had a greater concern. “It had better not be serious,” she said, addressing the sky. “Not now!”
Garner and Kaia led the way up the uneven mountain path, emerging through a fine morning mist into chilly sunlight. Aliyna was close behind them, with Osmer trailing some considerable way after that. Aliyna hadn’t bothered to protest this time – even she wasn’t about to provoke Kaia in a hurry, and she had a sneaking admiration for Garner. Anyway, even if a Starfall emergency wasn’t half as exciting as she’d expected the first time, it was at least more interesting than her usual training and library duty.
“What do you think it was this time?” she asked, pushing a thin leafy branch out of her way. “A snake or a rabbit? Or someone sneezed the wrong way on the other side?”
The others ignored her. She sighed. It would probably also be more interesting if she could understand how things worked properly, but she hadn’t even been up onto the Paths yet, and wasn’t privy to their mysteries, even aside from not necessarily paying attention when they were telling her things. There just didn’t seem to be any opting out of getting the weird dreams along with the actual Pathwalkers anyway.
“You tell us,” said Garner. “You had the clearest warning.”
Aliyna pulled a face. “Clear isn’t the word I’d use. It was more – cloudy.” She shrugged.
She wasn’t prepared for the sudden tingling in her fingers and, weirdly, at the tip of her nose. It wasn’t new, though – more an echo of the dream that had woken her so abruptly nearly three hours ago.
Garner must have felt it as well. She turned sharply, the thin end of her tight plait swinging into her face.
“Yes,” said Osmer gruffly, reaching the rest and stopping with them. “I feel it, too.” He cast a glance down at Aliyna. “Which way would you say, Dimue?”
Aliyna waved forwards with her hand. She’d have liked to shrug and refuse – let them get on with it – but the pull was too strong, too annoying. She wanted to get whatever it was found and this whole stupid thing over with.
“Go on,” said Garner in her ear, more softly than before.
Aliyna scrambled a short way up the steeper slope, and perched there beside a rock. Its surface had been worn away enough to make a dip that had collected water. The tingling in her fingers strengthened, and then at last, eased. “It’s this, here,” she said, touching the rock. She peered round it and then ran her hands up and down its sides. It didn’t seem to be anything other than mere stone. Her scowl deepened.
“There’s nothing here!” Garner said, joining her. She turned her gaze outwards, scanning the area, but was drawn back to the rock. “Osmer?”
He held out his hands.
“You sense it there?” asked Kaia, who didn’t share the Pathwalkers’ affinity with the Paths.
Aliyna nodded. “Yes. But there’s nothing! Only – well – there’s the water. But that doesn’t make sense!” She lowered her face until her nose was almost in the puddle. “Nope. No tiny fish or what have you swimming about in it!”
“It hasn’t rained for some days,” Kaia said.
Garner wrinkled her brow. “Water? That’s not possible!”
“I said I saw a cloud,” said Aliyna. She poked her little finger into the tiny pool.
Osmer stepped forward. He looked at Kaia. “What are you thinking, Aemullens?”
Kaia crouched down beside the rock. “I wondered if it was snow or ice when it came through.”
“You think your old Ice Prince sent something across to us here – and then it melted?” Garner’s voice rose in disbelief.
Kaia straightened herself. “I hope not.”
“Sorry,” said Garner. She put a hand on Kaia’s arm. “Look, if that’s the worst he can do – no need to worry, hey?”
Kaia brushed loose dirt from her hands and replaced her gloves. “Now. It’s not cold enough here yet. It will be in time.”
“Well,” said Osmer, glancing from one to the other, “we have our culprit. It isn’t dangerous and the chances are that it came through by accident as usual. I don’t suppose ice would melt in the Paths – nothing changes in there. So if ice got in, it could easily emerge intact – and then, equally naturally, melt.”
Garner nodded. “Hear that, Kaia?” she said. “Don’t start imagining monsters made of ice and snow, not here!” She threw a look over at Osmer. “I’ll go and inform the others – I’ll try to avoid telling everyone what it was, or I don’t know what they’ll do!”
Aliyna stepped back down onto the path. Kaia caught her by the elbow, steadying her progress. The three of them waited there, mostly ignoring each other. Kaia watched the rock, as if it was her duty to make sure the puddle didn’t suddenly rise up and somehow attack everyone, while Osmer turned away to look at the view, stretching out below, still hazy with mist.
“What’s so bad about ice anyway?” asked Aliyna.
Kaia looked at her, eyes so light for a moment they were almost colourless. “I suppose, when the snow falls this year, we will find out, won’t we?”
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