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rainbowfic2024-03-27 08:17 pm
thisbluespirit) wrote in rainbowfic2024-03-27 08:17 pm
Vert #12 [Starfall]
ETA: Mods, I failed to note that Glue had to be the current sign & used one of the others, so I've removed that, but I can't remove the tag. Thanks! <3
Name: House of Cards
Story: Starfall
Colors: Vert #12 (Tomorrow)
Supplies and Styles: Resin + Novelty Beads (from June 2021 Candy Green: The wave of the future is coming and there is no fighting it. -Anne Morrow Lindbergh)
Word Count: 1688
Rating: PG
Warnings: None.
Notes: Portcallan, 1313. Viyony Eseray, Tam Jadinor, Leion Valerno. Written forno_true_pair's March 2024 mini-round, for March 27th "2 [Viyony] & 4 [Tam] play a game." This takes place after events that I haven't yet written, but is just an isolated vignette in itself.
Summary: Viyony tries to teach Leion's stepfather a game, and learns something else entirely.
"Here," said Tam, pulling out a battered card box. He carried it across to the table, and laid it in front of Viyony. This was evidently what he had brought her up here to see. "I've had these forever—belonged to my grandmother." He pulled off the lid and spilled the contents out onto the table—a pack of playing cards, yellowed and dog-eared. "It's an Eisterlander set, so I was always at sea with them. Thought you might know the way of it, being from the eastern borders yourself."
Viyony leaned over, spreading them out with her fingers. She smiled to herself, and then sat down at the table, tugging her chair closer. "I can try—although I have to say we mostly used to play very silly made up games with our set."
Each card's value had been personified in the Eseray pack. She and her siblings had used them as characters in stories they were acting out. Or sometimes Father would lead them all in playing games with increasingly ridiculous invented rules, everyone collapsing into laughter before they were done. Grandmother would look in and shake her head, telling Mother yet again—although with a certain pride underlying it - "I told you that man would be nothing but a bad influence!"
"They're not so different, really," said Viyony, rearranging the cards face up in front of her. She rested her hands on them. "The Great Powers, then the Lesser Powers, each assigned to Air, Water, Fire, or Earth, same as ours." She picked up a card and ran the tip of her finger along the edge, letting him see the yellow border, symbolising fire or light. "But we only have the main eight Powers. High Eisterland has so many more Great and Lesser Powers, so there all the cards represent Powers. They don't have our Empty Cards, though."
Tam turned a stray card over and tapped it with his finger. "I used to like looking at the patterns on these when I was a boy. Maybe I liked the mystery too well to want it explained."
"Until now?" Viyony cast a quick look at him. Pentamon Jadinor had previously been Head of the Guardians of the Peace in Portcallan, and while he had retired from that position, he was still Speaker to the Council on the Guardians' behalf, which wasn't much less exalted. He was not a man to underestimate.
Tam grinned. "Until now," he agreed, his gravelled voice even. "Carry on."
"This kind of pack of cards were originally made for the temples, for divination," said Viyony. "Emoyran sets never were. I read about it once—they still do it, but it's a complicated discipline to learn, and you have to use specific types of cards. People say they can, but they're usually cheats and liars."
"Ah, so, it's not real when they see the future. Not like you."
Viyony swept the cards towards her, and then into a neat pile, ready for use. Yesterday's odd waking visions darted back to the forefront of her mind. She frowned, concentrating on shuffling the deck, the familiar action steadying. Anything was better than discussing her dreams again. She glanced up, pulling her mouth down at the corners. "Has everyone in Portcallan heard about me?"
"I'm paid to know things," said Tam. "Besides, Leion knows, so..." He let that trail away into the air and gave her a wink.
"I only meant that it takes years to learn how to do it properly. You can't just put a lump of fake starstone in the middle of the table and spout nonsense, which is all I've ever seen done—but people will fall for it."
"That's people for you. Another sort of game."
Viyony cut the deck and frowned down at the result. The designs on these were too unfamiliar. "Hmm. You know, I think these are divided into Day and Night as well as the elements. There are little suns and stars on each one." She laid out several more of the cards, turning them over one by one. "I can't remember how that affects play." She lifted her gaze and flashed him a quick grin. "Or divination."
"You can't tell me my fortune, then?"
Viyony shivered. "Of course not, Imor," she said briskly, laying out more cards and focusing on them, naming them silently. Cyro, Fire—Alyn, Water—Sia, Air, or was it water? Was Sia sometimes in both, or was that one of Father's tricks? "I'd need starstone, in any case."
The cavern on Calla Island with its alcoves of where starstone and other relics sat flashed into her head again. She put down the next card. Imora—Earth—Night.
Sitting there with the card in hand, she was suddenly also somewhere else entirely. Tam was with her. They were struggling up a steep, rocky incline. It might be somewhere in Central—there was a red and grey tint to the stones that couldn't be anywhere in the Eister Ranges. They stopped in front of great steel gate. It was decorated with vine-like swirls of painted metal embedded with chips of starstone. Somewhere beyond it, the shadow of a great house loomed over them. Viyony caught sight of a stone distance marker, lopsided and half buried in the grass beside the high wall, and crouched down to examine it. NLN 1—LKS 5, it read. That was code for two different towns or cities, but she didn't know which ones.
The image receded. Viyony gave a small cry as her surroundings reclaimed her. She sprang up from the chair, wanting only to get away. Cards flew off the table and onto the carpet, patterned like the gates in swirling, coloured vines. Tam's brow furrowed. He rose slowly as she stepped back. The room around her faded in and out of the sunset hued light, and then slipped into night.
"Hey," said Tam, his arm around her as he helped her up, blinking and confused. "I forgot you'd already had more than enough excitement for one day."
Viyony struggled to find her voice, to explain, but she was too dizzy. She let Tam guide her back to the chair, where he sat her down, laying a reassuring, warm hand on her shoulder.
It had been exactly like a dream, even if she hadn't been asleep. She could categorise it in the same way. A matter of life and death—her pulse sounded loud in her ears as if to drum its importance into her. But she didn't feel the desperate urgency in the pit of her stomach that meant she was being warned of something imminent.
By the time she had her breath back, Tam was standing in the doorway, whistling. "One of you bring some of that tea in here!"
"Imor Jadinor," said Viyony, when he looked back across at her. "You mentioned my dreams. I don't usually have waking ones, but these last two days have been—a little unusual. I saw something just then. I think it was serious. Can you believe me? Or, at least, write down what I ask you to and keep it somewhere safe?"
Tam pushed the door to softly, and crossed back to the table. He collected a half-used notebook from the shelves beside him on the way. "Go on," he said, stub of pencil in hand.
Viyony swallowed, and then told him, as simply as she could, what she had seen. "Write down the location on the marker stone. We needed to see it—I felt I must look at it."
It was on the tip of her tongue to ask aloud the most puzzling element of it—why would she and Tam ever be going anywhere together in the future? Before she could frame the words, she looked up and caught his eye. The same question was written on his face, and she saw the answer there at the same moment as it dawned on her. There was, after all, only one thing the two of them had in common.
"Please. Don't tell him," Viyony said. "Keep that piece of paper safe, that's all. A lot of these vague things never even happen—they are only possibilities. The future is always changing."
Tam nodded. "Of course."
"Tea," said Leion, elbowing the door aside and entering with a tray and a flourish that made them both jump. He placed the tray on the table between them, heedless of the cards, and then shot Viyony a sharp look. "What have you been up to now?"
Tam waved Leion's question aside. "Tea," he insisted.
"Yes, Imor," said Leion, his concern vanishing in amusement. He inclined his head in mock formality. "At once, Imor." He poured Viyony a cup of ginger tea while Tam shook his head and passed her the plate of lemon finger biscuits.
"Eat that." Tam said. "If you do, I'll keep my end of the bargain."
Viyony gave shaky laugh and bit into the biscuit. The sweetness helped. It was as well not to tell Leion anyway. He'd only start insisting all over again that what had happened yesterday had been an act of malice, when they'd already proved it couldn't have been. She had reacted to all the starstone collected together, and this was merely a lingering after-effect.
"Well, now I am worried. What have you two been plotting? Is Viyony going to take over the High Council and put it in proper working order? About time, I say."
Tam took his cup of ginger tea. "She was teaching me Eisterland card games with these."
"Was she?" Leion raised an eyebrow. "In that case, I hope you've been taking notes. She'll probably set you a test later and make you go back and do it again if you haven't been paying attention."
Tam directed a look at Viyony, with a twinkle in his eye. "Oh, I took notes, don't worry." He sobered as he added, "I'll keep it safe somewhere. Just in case."
"Thank you," said Viyony. "Another time, I hope we'll actually be able to play something."
"I shall look forward to it."
Name: House of Cards
Story: Starfall
Colors: Vert #12 (Tomorrow)
Supplies and Styles: Resin + Novelty Beads (from June 2021 Candy Green: The wave of the future is coming and there is no fighting it. -Anne Morrow Lindbergh)
Word Count: 1688
Rating: PG
Warnings: None.
Notes: Portcallan, 1313. Viyony Eseray, Tam Jadinor, Leion Valerno. Written for
no_true_pair's March 2024 mini-round, for March 27th "2 [Viyony] & 4 [Tam] play a game." This takes place after events that I haven't yet written, but is just an isolated vignette in itself.Summary: Viyony tries to teach Leion's stepfather a game, and learns something else entirely.
"Here," said Tam, pulling out a battered card box. He carried it across to the table, and laid it in front of Viyony. This was evidently what he had brought her up here to see. "I've had these forever—belonged to my grandmother." He pulled off the lid and spilled the contents out onto the table—a pack of playing cards, yellowed and dog-eared. "It's an Eisterlander set, so I was always at sea with them. Thought you might know the way of it, being from the eastern borders yourself."
Viyony leaned over, spreading them out with her fingers. She smiled to herself, and then sat down at the table, tugging her chair closer. "I can try—although I have to say we mostly used to play very silly made up games with our set."
Each card's value had been personified in the Eseray pack. She and her siblings had used them as characters in stories they were acting out. Or sometimes Father would lead them all in playing games with increasingly ridiculous invented rules, everyone collapsing into laughter before they were done. Grandmother would look in and shake her head, telling Mother yet again—although with a certain pride underlying it - "I told you that man would be nothing but a bad influence!"
"They're not so different, really," said Viyony, rearranging the cards face up in front of her. She rested her hands on them. "The Great Powers, then the Lesser Powers, each assigned to Air, Water, Fire, or Earth, same as ours." She picked up a card and ran the tip of her finger along the edge, letting him see the yellow border, symbolising fire or light. "But we only have the main eight Powers. High Eisterland has so many more Great and Lesser Powers, so there all the cards represent Powers. They don't have our Empty Cards, though."
Tam turned a stray card over and tapped it with his finger. "I used to like looking at the patterns on these when I was a boy. Maybe I liked the mystery too well to want it explained."
"Until now?" Viyony cast a quick look at him. Pentamon Jadinor had previously been Head of the Guardians of the Peace in Portcallan, and while he had retired from that position, he was still Speaker to the Council on the Guardians' behalf, which wasn't much less exalted. He was not a man to underestimate.
Tam grinned. "Until now," he agreed, his gravelled voice even. "Carry on."
"This kind of pack of cards were originally made for the temples, for divination," said Viyony. "Emoyran sets never were. I read about it once—they still do it, but it's a complicated discipline to learn, and you have to use specific types of cards. People say they can, but they're usually cheats and liars."
"Ah, so, it's not real when they see the future. Not like you."
Viyony swept the cards towards her, and then into a neat pile, ready for use. Yesterday's odd waking visions darted back to the forefront of her mind. She frowned, concentrating on shuffling the deck, the familiar action steadying. Anything was better than discussing her dreams again. She glanced up, pulling her mouth down at the corners. "Has everyone in Portcallan heard about me?"
"I'm paid to know things," said Tam. "Besides, Leion knows, so..." He let that trail away into the air and gave her a wink.
"I only meant that it takes years to learn how to do it properly. You can't just put a lump of fake starstone in the middle of the table and spout nonsense, which is all I've ever seen done—but people will fall for it."
"That's people for you. Another sort of game."
Viyony cut the deck and frowned down at the result. The designs on these were too unfamiliar. "Hmm. You know, I think these are divided into Day and Night as well as the elements. There are little suns and stars on each one." She laid out several more of the cards, turning them over one by one. "I can't remember how that affects play." She lifted her gaze and flashed him a quick grin. "Or divination."
"You can't tell me my fortune, then?"
Viyony shivered. "Of course not, Imor," she said briskly, laying out more cards and focusing on them, naming them silently. Cyro, Fire—Alyn, Water—Sia, Air, or was it water? Was Sia sometimes in both, or was that one of Father's tricks? "I'd need starstone, in any case."
The cavern on Calla Island with its alcoves of where starstone and other relics sat flashed into her head again. She put down the next card. Imora—Earth—Night.
Sitting there with the card in hand, she was suddenly also somewhere else entirely. Tam was with her. They were struggling up a steep, rocky incline. It might be somewhere in Central—there was a red and grey tint to the stones that couldn't be anywhere in the Eister Ranges. They stopped in front of great steel gate. It was decorated with vine-like swirls of painted metal embedded with chips of starstone. Somewhere beyond it, the shadow of a great house loomed over them. Viyony caught sight of a stone distance marker, lopsided and half buried in the grass beside the high wall, and crouched down to examine it. NLN 1—LKS 5, it read. That was code for two different towns or cities, but she didn't know which ones.
The image receded. Viyony gave a small cry as her surroundings reclaimed her. She sprang up from the chair, wanting only to get away. Cards flew off the table and onto the carpet, patterned like the gates in swirling, coloured vines. Tam's brow furrowed. He rose slowly as she stepped back. The room around her faded in and out of the sunset hued light, and then slipped into night.
"Hey," said Tam, his arm around her as he helped her up, blinking and confused. "I forgot you'd already had more than enough excitement for one day."
Viyony struggled to find her voice, to explain, but she was too dizzy. She let Tam guide her back to the chair, where he sat her down, laying a reassuring, warm hand on her shoulder.
It had been exactly like a dream, even if she hadn't been asleep. She could categorise it in the same way. A matter of life and death—her pulse sounded loud in her ears as if to drum its importance into her. But she didn't feel the desperate urgency in the pit of her stomach that meant she was being warned of something imminent.
By the time she had her breath back, Tam was standing in the doorway, whistling. "One of you bring some of that tea in here!"
"Imor Jadinor," said Viyony, when he looked back across at her. "You mentioned my dreams. I don't usually have waking ones, but these last two days have been—a little unusual. I saw something just then. I think it was serious. Can you believe me? Or, at least, write down what I ask you to and keep it somewhere safe?"
Tam pushed the door to softly, and crossed back to the table. He collected a half-used notebook from the shelves beside him on the way. "Go on," he said, stub of pencil in hand.
Viyony swallowed, and then told him, as simply as she could, what she had seen. "Write down the location on the marker stone. We needed to see it—I felt I must look at it."
It was on the tip of her tongue to ask aloud the most puzzling element of it—why would she and Tam ever be going anywhere together in the future? Before she could frame the words, she looked up and caught his eye. The same question was written on his face, and she saw the answer there at the same moment as it dawned on her. There was, after all, only one thing the two of them had in common.
"Please. Don't tell him," Viyony said. "Keep that piece of paper safe, that's all. A lot of these vague things never even happen—they are only possibilities. The future is always changing."
Tam nodded. "Of course."
"Tea," said Leion, elbowing the door aside and entering with a tray and a flourish that made them both jump. He placed the tray on the table between them, heedless of the cards, and then shot Viyony a sharp look. "What have you been up to now?"
Tam waved Leion's question aside. "Tea," he insisted.
"Yes, Imor," said Leion, his concern vanishing in amusement. He inclined his head in mock formality. "At once, Imor." He poured Viyony a cup of ginger tea while Tam shook his head and passed her the plate of lemon finger biscuits.
"Eat that." Tam said. "If you do, I'll keep my end of the bargain."
Viyony gave shaky laugh and bit into the biscuit. The sweetness helped. It was as well not to tell Leion anyway. He'd only start insisting all over again that what had happened yesterday had been an act of malice, when they'd already proved it couldn't have been. She had reacted to all the starstone collected together, and this was merely a lingering after-effect.
"Well, now I am worried. What have you two been plotting? Is Viyony going to take over the High Council and put it in proper working order? About time, I say."
Tam took his cup of ginger tea. "She was teaching me Eisterland card games with these."
"Was she?" Leion raised an eyebrow. "In that case, I hope you've been taking notes. She'll probably set you a test later and make you go back and do it again if you haven't been paying attention."
Tam directed a look at Viyony, with a twinkle in his eye. "Oh, I took notes, don't worry." He sobered as he added, "I'll keep it safe somewhere. Just in case."
"Thank you," said Viyony. "Another time, I hope we'll actually be able to play something."
"I shall look forward to it."
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Oh, good, that's not good.
I like the way this story is becoming partly about time, first the parallel narratives, then the timeslip, and increasingly the open field of foretelling.
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XD
I like the way this story is becoming partly about time, first the parallel narratives, then the timeslip, and increasingly the open field of foretelling.
Thank you! It took a little while to work my way there from the original vague thoughts that changed, but, yes. :-)
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I really liked this! Blasted cards, triggering all sorts of images and visions and timeskips! ;)
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