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rainbowfic2024-04-24 09:24 pm
thisbluespirit) wrote in rainbowfic2024-04-24 09:24 pm
Burgundy #9; Colour of the Day (24/04/2024) [Starfall]
Name: Between the Leaves
Story: Starfall
Colors: Burgundy #9 (oak); Colour of the Day - 24th April 2024 (gallimaufry)
Supplies and Styles: Graffiti (April Food Challenge) + Novelty Beads - February Leap Day Challenge 2020 (Bookstore).
Word Count: 1327
Rating: PG
Warnings: None. (Very brief mention of blood.)
Notes: 1313, Portcallan; Leion Valerno, Yitava Pollens.
Summary: Leion acquires a very strange book.
Leion headed under the narrow arch that led into a small court off Little Market Street. He hesitated for a moment between the door of the second-hand bookshop and that of the Pollens eatery, and then pushed open the bookshop door, lowering his head to step inside.
"Hello?" he called. "Yita?"
There was no response. He rolled his eyes, and turned to examine the nearest bay of bookshelves, stuffed to overflowing with old books of all shapes and sizes, most of which at least notionally fitted the description of Spiritual & History that was pinned to the top. Leion avoided knocking over a pile of books at its foot, and leaned in to pull out a small brown-backed volume.
"Oh, at last," said Yitava Pollens from behind him. "I was beginning to think you hadn't got my message."
Leion turned on his heel, the book open in his hands. "I came as soon as I could. What's so urgent?"
"Ha!" Yita held up one finger and then led Leion past more piles of books and out into the lighter study beyond. It was also filled with bookshelves, but several of them were half empty. There was a desk in one corner, with papers and yet more books scattered about, while in the centre was a table, where Yita carried out repairs. On it lay one book, placed carefully separate from the everything else.
"Now," said Yita, "look at that."
Leion leant over, drawing it to him across the surface of the table. "Eforo's A Child's History of Callamaine and Portcallan? What's the panic about that? They were always making us read it at school."
"Not this one!"
Leion frowned and raised his gaze. Yita waited, arms folded and a knowing look on his face.
Leion opened it, turning over its pages gently. The furrow on his forehead deepened. What might have been more apparent in the gloomy warren of the bookshop proper was far less obvious out in the sunnier study. Leion pulled it in nearer, holding up his hand to shade the page. He had to blink to be sure, but the paper was glowing faintly. "It's lightwood, isn't it? How?"
"Oh, you get them from time to time," said Yita. "There used to be lightwood groves near the mines in Lighthaven, right up until a few decades ago. It's not common, but I've come across the odd one or two before. That's not why I wanted you to see it."
"Come on, spit it out. What's up with a school textbook that's stranger than it being printed on lightwood paper?"
Yita watched him, birdlike, with bright dark eyes and a distinctive beak of a nose that dominated his narrow face. "Keep looking."
"I haven't got time to read the whole thing," said Leion, while flicking onwards through the book. He stopped before the words were barely out of his mouth, pressing the page down to check he'd really read what he thought he had. The creamy old paper glowed softly behind words that should have been tediously familiar, but, impossibly, were not.
"What the -?" Leion perched on the edge of the table, and picked the book up, holding it closer. Chapter Ten, dealing with the riots, the military takeover, and Colnaon Sola's government was not as he remembered from class. "What is this? 'Auran Wardern, Captain of the High Guards, cornered Sola and his troops as they defended the area west of Ship Way and' -" Leion stopped. He raised his head to meet Yita's eyes.
"Arrested him," Yita finished for him. "Yes. That part was new to me as well."
Leion turned the book over. "Someone's expensive little joke," he said, closing it sharply. "Dangerous, too, depending on when they had it printed." The book was yellowed, and if what Yita said about the lightwood was true, it had to be two or more decades old. "This is pure Allinist fantasy!" He picked it up again, unable to keep from reading on. "'The rest of the rebels holed up in the western corner were soon hunted out—the Dann Brook ran red with blood.' All the stars and powers, what's the point?"
"The pages weren't inserted later," said Yita. "It was printed that way."
Leion shut it again, more firmly, finally. "Well, it would be. Let's face it, the only people who would want this kind of thing could easily pay to have it made specially."
"I didn't know. I wondered. It's lightwood paper. Maybe it changed the book."
"Into the world the Allins and the Hyans and the Barras wanted? I think not."
Yita shrugged. "I don't like it."
"No," said Leion. "Neither do I. What do you want me to do about it?"
Yita pulled a face. "I'm supposed to send notice of lightwood books to Starfall Manor for first refusal, but." He wiggled his fingers. "You know how it is. They rarely want them, and other people do."
"Yes, I know how it is." Leion bit down on amusement. "This is my problem how?"
Yita widened his eyes. "You're in High Chamber Offices at least once every week. It'd been no trouble for you to submit the notification to Starfall. Much easier than it would be for me."
"Having stumbled over it by chance on the market stall?"
"All I am saying is that I do many favours for you—you can do this for me."
Leion picked up the book. "If I ask you to obtain books for me, you do, and then I pay for them, how much of a favour is that?"
"I go to great lengths to get you your odd little books about affinity this and starstone that," said Yita.
Leion laughed. "Do you? I didn't realise."
"And then sometimes you ask too many questions about all sorts of things, which have nothing to do with books."
Leion stood, the book resting in his hand. "Yes, yes. Don't worry. I can send the notification for you." He glanced back down at the volume, his gaze narrowing. "Tana will probably want to see it anyway. Where did you find it, dare I ask?"
"Questions again," said Yita, more sharply. "This is what I mean."
"I'm not going to tell anyone, but this item combines both my areas of interest. Where did it turn up?"
"House sale." Yita held up his hands, and then patted down his shirt and trousers. He pulled a sheet of paper out of his pocket, for an auction in Lock Street. "I don't know anything, Leio, I promise. The book is probably around forty years old or more, if that lightwood is local—and I can't see an Eisterlander publisher printing Portcallan textbooks, can you?"
Leion felt the weight of it in his hand, against the lightness of the paper in his other. The names on that—former owner, agent, and auctioneer, all meant nothing to him.
"If you're going next door," added Yita, "please say nothing to Imenna! She'd take it the wrong way."
Leion nodded. "I wasn't, sadly. I have other places to be." Yita's cousin Imenna and her family kept the adjoining eatery, and probably subsidised the bookshop, although Leion never enquired too closely. He might ask more questions than Yita liked, but only about his business, not other people's.
"Careful with it," said Yita, leading Leion back to the door.
Leion raised an eyebrow.
"You never know," said Yita. "I'll be happy to have it out from under this roof, that's all I'm saying."
"I didn't know you were so superstitious."
"I'm not. It's an unnerving item."
Leion headed out into the court with it under his arm. It was unnerving, but that must have been the intention. Print the words on lightwood paper and it looks like an omen or a stray from another universe. It raised it above some petty private revenge, rewriting history in secret. Suddenly, the very stones of Portcallan shift under the reader's feet.
It was, he thought, a very disturbing little volume indeed.
Story: Starfall
Colors: Burgundy #9 (oak); Colour of the Day - 24th April 2024 (gallimaufry)
Supplies and Styles: Graffiti (April Food Challenge) + Novelty Beads - February Leap Day Challenge 2020 (Bookstore).
Word Count: 1327
Rating: PG
Warnings: None. (Very brief mention of blood.)
Notes: 1313, Portcallan; Leion Valerno, Yitava Pollens.
Summary: Leion acquires a very strange book.
Leion headed under the narrow arch that led into a small court off Little Market Street. He hesitated for a moment between the door of the second-hand bookshop and that of the Pollens eatery, and then pushed open the bookshop door, lowering his head to step inside.
"Hello?" he called. "Yita?"
There was no response. He rolled his eyes, and turned to examine the nearest bay of bookshelves, stuffed to overflowing with old books of all shapes and sizes, most of which at least notionally fitted the description of Spiritual & History that was pinned to the top. Leion avoided knocking over a pile of books at its foot, and leaned in to pull out a small brown-backed volume.
"Oh, at last," said Yitava Pollens from behind him. "I was beginning to think you hadn't got my message."
Leion turned on his heel, the book open in his hands. "I came as soon as I could. What's so urgent?"
"Ha!" Yita held up one finger and then led Leion past more piles of books and out into the lighter study beyond. It was also filled with bookshelves, but several of them were half empty. There was a desk in one corner, with papers and yet more books scattered about, while in the centre was a table, where Yita carried out repairs. On it lay one book, placed carefully separate from the everything else.
"Now," said Yita, "look at that."
Leion leant over, drawing it to him across the surface of the table. "Eforo's A Child's History of Callamaine and Portcallan? What's the panic about that? They were always making us read it at school."
"Not this one!"
Leion frowned and raised his gaze. Yita waited, arms folded and a knowing look on his face.
Leion opened it, turning over its pages gently. The furrow on his forehead deepened. What might have been more apparent in the gloomy warren of the bookshop proper was far less obvious out in the sunnier study. Leion pulled it in nearer, holding up his hand to shade the page. He had to blink to be sure, but the paper was glowing faintly. "It's lightwood, isn't it? How?"
"Oh, you get them from time to time," said Yita. "There used to be lightwood groves near the mines in Lighthaven, right up until a few decades ago. It's not common, but I've come across the odd one or two before. That's not why I wanted you to see it."
"Come on, spit it out. What's up with a school textbook that's stranger than it being printed on lightwood paper?"
Yita watched him, birdlike, with bright dark eyes and a distinctive beak of a nose that dominated his narrow face. "Keep looking."
"I haven't got time to read the whole thing," said Leion, while flicking onwards through the book. He stopped before the words were barely out of his mouth, pressing the page down to check he'd really read what he thought he had. The creamy old paper glowed softly behind words that should have been tediously familiar, but, impossibly, were not.
"What the -?" Leion perched on the edge of the table, and picked the book up, holding it closer. Chapter Ten, dealing with the riots, the military takeover, and Colnaon Sola's government was not as he remembered from class. "What is this? 'Auran Wardern, Captain of the High Guards, cornered Sola and his troops as they defended the area west of Ship Way and' -" Leion stopped. He raised his head to meet Yita's eyes.
"Arrested him," Yita finished for him. "Yes. That part was new to me as well."
Leion turned the book over. "Someone's expensive little joke," he said, closing it sharply. "Dangerous, too, depending on when they had it printed." The book was yellowed, and if what Yita said about the lightwood was true, it had to be two or more decades old. "This is pure Allinist fantasy!" He picked it up again, unable to keep from reading on. "'The rest of the rebels holed up in the western corner were soon hunted out—the Dann Brook ran red with blood.' All the stars and powers, what's the point?"
"The pages weren't inserted later," said Yita. "It was printed that way."
Leion shut it again, more firmly, finally. "Well, it would be. Let's face it, the only people who would want this kind of thing could easily pay to have it made specially."
"I didn't know. I wondered. It's lightwood paper. Maybe it changed the book."
"Into the world the Allins and the Hyans and the Barras wanted? I think not."
Yita shrugged. "I don't like it."
"No," said Leion. "Neither do I. What do you want me to do about it?"
Yita pulled a face. "I'm supposed to send notice of lightwood books to Starfall Manor for first refusal, but." He wiggled his fingers. "You know how it is. They rarely want them, and other people do."
"Yes, I know how it is." Leion bit down on amusement. "This is my problem how?"
Yita widened his eyes. "You're in High Chamber Offices at least once every week. It'd been no trouble for you to submit the notification to Starfall. Much easier than it would be for me."
"Having stumbled over it by chance on the market stall?"
"All I am saying is that I do many favours for you—you can do this for me."
Leion picked up the book. "If I ask you to obtain books for me, you do, and then I pay for them, how much of a favour is that?"
"I go to great lengths to get you your odd little books about affinity this and starstone that," said Yita.
Leion laughed. "Do you? I didn't realise."
"And then sometimes you ask too many questions about all sorts of things, which have nothing to do with books."
Leion stood, the book resting in his hand. "Yes, yes. Don't worry. I can send the notification for you." He glanced back down at the volume, his gaze narrowing. "Tana will probably want to see it anyway. Where did you find it, dare I ask?"
"Questions again," said Yita, more sharply. "This is what I mean."
"I'm not going to tell anyone, but this item combines both my areas of interest. Where did it turn up?"
"House sale." Yita held up his hands, and then patted down his shirt and trousers. He pulled a sheet of paper out of his pocket, for an auction in Lock Street. "I don't know anything, Leio, I promise. The book is probably around forty years old or more, if that lightwood is local—and I can't see an Eisterlander publisher printing Portcallan textbooks, can you?"
Leion felt the weight of it in his hand, against the lightness of the paper in his other. The names on that—former owner, agent, and auctioneer, all meant nothing to him.
"If you're going next door," added Yita, "please say nothing to Imenna! She'd take it the wrong way."
Leion nodded. "I wasn't, sadly. I have other places to be." Yita's cousin Imenna and her family kept the adjoining eatery, and probably subsidised the bookshop, although Leion never enquired too closely. He might ask more questions than Yita liked, but only about his business, not other people's.
"Careful with it," said Yita, leading Leion back to the door.
Leion raised an eyebrow.
"You never know," said Yita. "I'll be happy to have it out from under this roof, that's all I'm saying."
"I didn't know you were so superstitious."
"I'm not. It's an unnerving item."
Leion headed out into the court with it under his arm. It was unnerving, but that must have been the intention. Print the words on lightwood paper and it looks like an omen or a stray from another universe. It raised it above some petty private revenge, rewriting history in secret. Suddenly, the very stones of Portcallan shift under the reader's feet.
It was, he thought, a very disturbing little volume indeed.
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I like—even in this case disproven—all the implications of that conjecture.
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I love this! Also, the second-hand bookshop sounds so wonderful! <3
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Novelty beads!
1. http://www.photo-dictionary.com/photofiles/list/6139/8085dragon_dagger.jpg
2. I Wanna Get Better, Bleachers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8twpQTna_9w
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