I'm not sure that I agree that January is the Monday of the year and February the Tuesday, but I am quite curious as what to August is in this reckoning. Do some of the months clump together to become Wednesday? And I feel like November fits into neither Saturday nor Sunday, which could be problematic too....
Under the table The alleyway led, through a couple of curves and twists, past some more shops -- small, single-roomed affairs with few customers that Fabian could see -- and opened out into a small, bright courtyard. The afternoon sun, though low in the sky, came into it from across the river and it felt a little like stepping onto a brightly stage for the first time. There were quite a lot of people in the courtyard, standing together in groups and moving about, and slowly Fabian realised that many of them were Elvish, or at least not hiding their Elvish heritage. Even more slowly he realised that most of them were quite young, and while Elves were longer-lived than humans by about fifty years the paucity of people looking older than him worried him slightly. "Are you here for the lecture?" Fabian jumped; he hadn't heard anyone approach him, and this -- woman, likely spider-elf he thought -- hadn't even sneaked up behind him but had approached him quite openly from the front while he was staring at other people. He reddened with embarrassment and muttered an apology, which she laughed off. "You're obviously new," she said. "Were you sent or did you find your own way here?" Fabian paused, wondering what the question meant, but embarrassment was demanding that he do something that wasn't stupid, so he answered quickly, "A rust-elf friend suggested I come here." She blinked. It wasn't much and Fabian would have missed it if he hadn't been so embarrassed and so alert now. She smiled while he ran back over what he'd said and suddenly realised that he'd referred to a rust-elf friend. That would surprise anyone, human, elf or otherwise.
"We're glad you came," she said smiling, laying a hand on his arm. Her hand was noticeably cool; a human would probably have been complaining about being cold if they'd had the same temperature. "Was there anything in particular you wanted to find out?" Fabian smiled, feeling just a little calmer now. Nothing bad seemed to be happening, and here was an individual to talk to who didn't seem aggressive. This was fine. "Magic," he said. "I was showing my friend --" there was that blink again, he hadn't imagined it -- "some figurines I have and we got to talking about how they were enchanted. He suggested I come here and learn a little about magic." "Ah!" The woman placed another hand on Fabian's arm and he tried to ignore that she had four more to touch him with if she chose. "You have arrived most serendipitously!" "Pardon?" Fabian's brain registered the word and chose to translate it as 'luckily'. "You have been fortunate. The submensa lecture will start in --" she looked at a watch on a spare wrist -- "a little over five minutes. It's a children's lecture really, but that means it's free, and it covers the basics of magic. Not so that you'd be able to use it, naturally, but it's a good theoretical grounding. You should attend." "I should," said Fabian, intending it as a question but getting sidetracked as he formed the words so that it turned into a flat statement that could be taken for acceptance. "Wait, submensa means --" "Under the table," said the woman before he could puzzle it out. "For children, who are too small to see above the table. The supramensan lectures are for practitioners, really." "Like necromancers?" asked Fabian, only remembering as he asked that Rystin had not reacted well to the idea. "Er, or illithids?" It took him a moment to remember where he'd heard that word before, and then he realised the Maestro used it to refer to Sebastian. "Cthonic magic is one of the branches," said the woman, but she removed all but one of her hands from Fabian's wrist. "I think you should listen to the lecture. Find me afterwards and I'll try and answer any questions you still have. This way though, as the lecture will be starting."
Greg - I don't claim to make any sense on any matter, and this one in particular. I would say the summer months make up the weekend but beyond that things tend to get out of order a bit... or just don't fit into the week comparison at all :)
Ah, Fabian, I'm glad he's been made welcome, despite his awkwardness. I think he's found the right place for what he needs to learn though, so that's encouraging news!
3 comments:
I'm not sure that I agree that January is the Monday of the year and February the Tuesday, but I am quite curious as what to August is in this reckoning. Do some of the months clump together to become Wednesday? And I feel like November fits into neither Saturday nor Sunday, which could be problematic too....
Under the table
The alleyway led, through a couple of curves and twists, past some more shops -- small, single-roomed affairs with few customers that Fabian could see -- and opened out into a small, bright courtyard. The afternoon sun, though low in the sky, came into it from across the river and it felt a little like stepping onto a brightly stage for the first time. There were quite a lot of people in the courtyard, standing together in groups and moving about, and slowly Fabian realised that many of them were Elvish, or at least not hiding their Elvish heritage. Even more slowly he realised that most of them were quite young, and while Elves were longer-lived than humans by about fifty years the paucity of people looking older than him worried him slightly.
"Are you here for the lecture?"
Fabian jumped; he hadn't heard anyone approach him, and this -- woman, likely spider-elf he thought -- hadn't even sneaked up behind him but had approached him quite openly from the front while he was staring at other people. He reddened with embarrassment and muttered an apology, which she laughed off.
"You're obviously new," she said. "Were you sent or did you find your own way here?"
Fabian paused, wondering what the question meant, but embarrassment was demanding that he do something that wasn't stupid, so he answered quickly, "A rust-elf friend suggested I come here."
She blinked. It wasn't much and Fabian would have missed it if he hadn't been so embarrassed and so alert now. She smiled while he ran back over what he'd said and suddenly realised that he'd referred to a rust-elf friend. That would surprise anyone, human, elf or otherwise.
"We're glad you came," she said smiling, laying a hand on his arm. Her hand was noticeably cool; a human would probably have been complaining about being cold if they'd had the same temperature. "Was there anything in particular you wanted to find out?"
Fabian smiled, feeling just a little calmer now. Nothing bad seemed to be happening, and here was an individual to talk to who didn't seem aggressive. This was fine.
"Magic," he said. "I was showing my friend --" there was that blink again, he hadn't imagined it -- "some figurines I have and we got to talking about how they were enchanted. He suggested I come here and learn a little about magic."
"Ah!" The woman placed another hand on Fabian's arm and he tried to ignore that she had four more to touch him with if she chose. "You have arrived most serendipitously!"
"Pardon?" Fabian's brain registered the word and chose to translate it as 'luckily'.
"You have been fortunate. The submensa lecture will start in --" she looked at a watch on a spare wrist -- "a little over five minutes. It's a children's lecture really, but that means it's free, and it covers the basics of magic. Not so that you'd be able to use it, naturally, but it's a good theoretical grounding. You should attend."
"I should," said Fabian, intending it as a question but getting sidetracked as he formed the words so that it turned into a flat statement that could be taken for acceptance. "Wait, submensa means --"
"Under the table," said the woman before he could puzzle it out. "For children, who are too small to see above the table. The supramensan lectures are for practitioners, really."
"Like necromancers?" asked Fabian, only remembering as he asked that Rystin had not reacted well to the idea. "Er, or illithids?" It took him a moment to remember where he'd heard that word before, and then he realised the Maestro used it to refer to Sebastian.
"Cthonic magic is one of the branches," said the woman, but she removed all but one of her hands from Fabian's wrist. "I think you should listen to the lecture. Find me afterwards and I'll try and answer any questions you still have. This way though, as the lecture will be starting."
Greg - I don't claim to make any sense on any matter, and this one in particular. I would say the summer months make up the weekend but beyond that things tend to get out of order a bit... or just don't fit into the week comparison at all :)
Ah, Fabian, I'm glad he's been made welcome, despite his awkwardness. I think he's found the right place for what he needs to learn though, so that's encouraging news!
Post a Comment