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From: hutch@ibeam.intel.com (Steve Hutchison)
Subject: [AU] Origins for Dinner
Message-ID: <C4spyL.4F1@ibeam.intel.com>
Organization: Intel Corp., Hillsboro, Oregon
References: <16BA1138E7.CHM173S@vma.smsu.edu.Ext>
 <16BA113A3C.CHM173S@vma.smsu.edu.Ext> <16BA113C32.CHM173S@vma.smsu.edu.Ext>
Date: Thu, 1 Apr 1993 08:23:09 GMT
Lines: 119

CHM173S@vma.smsu.edu.Ext (Chris Meadows) writes:

[...]

     "And a salad for 'Raelf," Serene decided.  "In fact, you
could probably all do with some vegetables."
     "But--" 'Raelf began weakly.
     "No 'buts.'  You need to eat your greens..."
     Andrea shrugged and smiled.  "Sounds good to me.  Do you
have any bleu cheese dressing?"

( 'Raelf muttered under his breath.  "Wait til I get you back into
   training, Serene Uhtsong, you are going to be SORE..." )

     Serena smiled.  "Aye, that we do.  And what will your wee
friend here have?"  She gestured to Sheryl.
     "Uh, she'll have a large salad, I think," Andrea said.
Sheryl nodded, and Andrea said, "Yes, that's definitely what
she'll be having."

[...]
     Andrea sighed.  She'd come to a decision.  "After all you've
done for me, 'Raelf, you deserve to hear my story.  You too,
ar'Elya.  And wait--" she said, stopping Khyra as he got up to
go.  "You can hear this too.  After all, we've agreed to
adventure together, have we not?"
[...]
     Andrea took another sip from her ale, and began to spin her
story.  "A long time ago, in a town far, far away..."

[  She told them about Raoh in his early days as an all-destroying
   conqueror, before his reputation had grown to the point that
   villages were surrendering before he could even reach them.

   While she spoke, Listener tuned down the music, and listened,
   mentally composing the dirge for the village of Yellow Wheat.

   A few other people from nearby tables also listened - they had
   been attracted by the "show" when 'Raelf explained what he'd
   learned of Sheryl's curse to Andrea.  Most of these had been
   distracted when Listener started the chair-dance, but one in
   particular, a weary-eyed woman in a lace shawl, had seemed to
   feel no particular urge to go dancing.

   But now Andrea was telling the story, going on as if by telling
   it, she could make it a separate thing from her, so she could
   get hold of it and shake it loose and punish the ones who had
   done the deed.  Raoh, the butcher, and Raykor, his toadying pet
   wizard.  'Raelf met ar'Elya's eyes when the transformation and
   curse was described.  The reflection of terrifying revenger in
   one eye vied with the image of oppressive tyrant in the other
   eye, and he knew he didn't want either role.  She smiled as he
   made the choice.  Andrea told of her father's useless death at
   the lightning-struck tree, and ar'Elya whispered, with the voice
   of a secret whispered at midnight, <<Raykor called the storm
   on them, then.  It could not have been an accident.>>

   Andrea told of the spy, thief, warrior woman Fujiko, and her
   aid and kindness when the Issek priests failed to break the curse.
   She told of her training, the way she learned the skills of the
   spy, the cutpurse, the street magician's sleight of hand.  She
   told, with a bitter humor, of the failure to learn anything new
   from the many wizards and priests and libraries, and she told them
   of the expedition to gain wealth by pilfering an underground ruin
   that turned out not to be the empty ruins claimed by their enemy
   Raykor, but the abode of monstrous warped creatures who attacked
   the town she was in.  She told of her escape, and the clever idea
   that Callus and his mates had about selling this pretty thief to
   the Rameshanders, cutting the horn off the unicorn for the black
   magic black market, and cooking the beast up for dinner.  She was
   especially graphic about what she did to Callus' first mate, and
   recieved a small round of applause for the description, which she
   acknowledged with a brief bow. ]

     "And the rest you all know," Andrea finished, leaning back
in her chair.  She looked around, and noticed that their dinner
had arrived but no one had noticed, they'd been so wrapped up in
her tale.  "Hey, everybody, let's eat!"
     This suggestion was greeted with much approval, and the
conversation level at the table dropped appreciably as everyone
tore into their roast turkey (and 'Raelf, with some reluctance,
into his salad).

"I wish they had something other than just lettuce," he muttered.

After they had eaten, he mused for a few minutes.

"You know, Andrea, it seems to me that we ought to do something about
that curse.  Sheryl is able to do without it now, she's got her own
quite effective connection to the Unicorn shape.  All it does is give
Raykor an easy way to find you, and it keeps her from getting any of
the really fun skills the unicorns can learn."

"Oh?  What do you suggest?"

"Well, theres' several ways to disrupt such a thing.  Either ar'Elya
or I could try pulling it loose, but she's much stronger at that sort
of thing than I am.  My strongest specialty is making things, not the
breaking of complicated curses.  If I had the artifact Raykor used, I
might be able to remove his curse.  Raye can do a better job, right,
sparkles?"  He nodded to his partner.  She gave him a _look_.

"Sparkles?"  She sighed. "Yes.  I could disrupt the curse, but it's got
some risk associated with it.  The change in local gods means I would
have to use the magical mode to do the cursebreaking, and there is
more danger of her having side effects, like having the shape become
stronger, or weaker.  I'd prefer to prepare a ritual of some kind."

"What would it cost me?"  Andrea asked, prepared for the usual wizardly
declaration of half a king's ransom.

"Oh, exchange of favors.  Your story was payment in full for 'Rafe's
analysis of Sheryl's unicorn curse, for instance."

"It was?"  She looked at the blond man, who nodded, chewing on a stray
leftover carrot stick, then offering the remnant to Sheryl, who sniffled
it and took it delicately in her teeth.

"Fer shure."


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From: li@Data-IO.COM (Phyllis Rostykus)
Subject: [Kardia] The Weavers' Guild
Message-ID: <1993Apr1.063421.24176@data-io.com>
Sender: news@data-io.com (The News)
Organization: Data I/O Corporation
Date: Thu, 1 Apr 1993 06:34:21 GMT
Lines: 273

        After cooling off from the workout in the Public Gardens, Kardia
limped back across Dragon's Lane to Merchant's Hill, and towards the house
she remembered had the Weaver's Guild sigal.

        It looked different in the sunlight.  The slate roof was now
clearly multicolored, with the sigal repeated in a the subtle shading of
slightly pink and slightly blue and slightly purple slates.  The windows
in the stone house seemed to have been placed wherever the stones most
easily allowed them, with little regularity.  Kardia liked the house on
sight, and was amused to realize that each window had a lace curtain in a
different pattern of cloth, though all of them were similar in physical
make so that one that didn't know of the arts within wouldn't have thought
any of them to be different.

        She walked up to the front door and knocked on the sun and weather
bleached oak.  A few moments later, the door was opened by a small,
birdlike woman with bright blue eyes.  "Hallo?" she said, cheerfully
peering up at Kardia's tall, lanky form.  "May I help you?"

        Kardia blinked, wondering if this really was the Weaver's Guild
house or if those were just decorations these folks had found, then she
remembered the curtains.  "Uhm... I'm looking for the local branch of the
Weaver's Guild..."

        The little woman beamed at her.  "You've found her, deary.  Come
right on it..."  Kardia stepped in past her, and she said, "My, you are the
big girl, aren't you?"

        Kardia laughed softly, "It's from my father's side, his father was
the youngest of seven sons and, at 6 feet tall, the shortest as well.  My
brothers are even taller than... oh, my..." as they came out of the
cramped, dark, hallway into a Hall.

        The little woman giggled.  "That's what most of the real spinsters
say..."

        The Hall was 30 feet by 30 yards of sun filled, stone floored, wood
panelled workspace.  Workspace filled with standing looms, six different
styles of spinning wheels, yarn winders, pickers for wool, gin and carders
for cotten, combing setups, fully dressed distaffs, and the tremendous
scents of a working spinning and weaving environment.  The rich, animal
scent of lanoline, the clean crisp grassy scents of flax, and behind it,
underneath it the acrid traces of dyeing mordants.  Even on this overcast
day, the light from outside was clear and bright through a multitude of
small windows spotting the entire wall.

        There were two women and a man in the area, using some of the
equipment.  One of the women, a tall brunette with her hair netted back,
was teaching a young strawberry blonde girl the art of wielding wicked
looking wool combs with staggered teeth, the longest blades was about 10
inches long.  Kardia didn't blame them for not even looking up at their
entrance.  The man was spinning a flaxen thread fine enough that he had a
contrast colored cloth in his lap to see it.  He drew the thread, wetted
the thumb of the front hand from a small dish of water and smoothed his
work as it spun from the point of the flashing, needle slender spindle.  He
was built almost ridiulously big in comparison to the delicate work he was
doing.  He was dressed comfortably in a shirt with no sleeves to get in the
way of his work and black pants.  His hair was black, and his nose looked
as if it had been broken at some time.  He didn't stop spinning, only
looked up at her with hazel eyes, nodded in her direction and at her
returning nod went back to his work, tugging gently at the fibers from the
distaff that loomed at his back.

        The little woman and Kardia exited the Hall at the other end.  "Who
were they?" asked Kardia.

        "The teacher is Journeyman Davida Laumer, the student is Cassie
Lloyd, and the spinner is Master Peter Kroft.  I'm Master Annie Torre."
Annie laughed, "And you're...?"

        "Journeyman Kardia Xvaramene, first level." Kardia said.

        "First level?" asked Annie, sounding slightly puzzled, "I dinna
know that there were weavers guilds that seperated levels out of the three
basic classes.  The Magician's Guild has something like that... but we
haven't such nonsense here.  Just gets too confusing and folks put on airs
with too much political hoohaw.  We're more a results guild."

        Kardia grinned at the words.  "I think I'm going to like it here."

        They turned into an office.  Kardia blinked in surprise at the
metal filing cabinets that lined the walls.  Annie laughed at the blink,
"They're for patterns, techniques, a kinda library of membership knowledge
made easy to look through and for things.  One of the folks at the Mage
Guild was... inexpensive enough to bring them over for us.  Master Sally
had gotten one once and pushed real hard for the Guild to swing a set.
They've been most useful..."

        Annie went over to the desk, pulled open a drawer, and pulled out a
thick, leather bound red book and a dip pen with a bottle of ink.  She
opened the book and wrote in Kardia's name, the date, and checked the
'arrived' column.  While carefully writing in the entries, Annie asked,
"You have any examples of your work so that we can judge who you should be
working with?"

        Without a word, Kardia undid the tie on her pack and pulled out the
cloth wrapped bundle, opened it and laid it's contents on the desk.  She
heard the indrawn hiss of breath.

        "My." said Annie and stroked the softness of the skein.  Her hands
did not catch on it, Kardia noted with some surprise.  "What else do you
have, Journeyman?" Annie's voice changed with the question, a kind of
respect that Kardia didn't often hear simply on the sight of some of her
work.

        Kardia pulled out three more cloth covered bundles and laid them
on the table.  She laid open one of them, unaccountably shy about seeing
Annie's reaction, and pulled out a scarf colored pale gold.  The lace was
open enough for one to see the rest of the room right through it, and she
knew that the 6 foot long, 18 inch wide scarf weighed less than half an
ounce.  Careful of any rough spots in the desk, she laid it across the
darkly finished wood and the lace glowed.

        "Natural colored?"

        Kardia nodded, "A boiled finish."

        "Boiled?!" Annie flinched at the sharpness of her own voice and
reaction.  "You boil silk?"

        "No." Kardia said with a grin.  "It's a variety of stinging nettle.
Nettle cloth and thread.  Plant grown, not worms."

        "Plant..." said Annie, wonderingly, stroking the scarf like a live
animal.  "Boiled for softness?"

        "And strength and pliability..." Kardia pulled apart the largest of
the three bundles, and cascades of lace came out.  "... when done in the
thread."

        Annie nodded, pulled back with the bottle of ink, pen and put them
away.  Her eyes were intent and her hands well practiced when she handled
the lightness of the fabric.  "A tablecloth?"

        "Yes."

        Together, they spread a section so that the lace pattern could be
seen across the darkness of the desk.  The cloth had a spiky thistle as the
center panel, with a border around the central rectangle that was diamond
based.  One section sprang from Kardia's hand and headed for the floor.
Two big hands deftly caught the cloth.  It was the man from the Hall.

        "How long did you ret the stalks?" he asked, as if he'd been a part
of the conversation the whole time.

        Kardia blinked and thought, "Until they were done." she said and at
their look laughed, "That particular batch took two weeks to get to the
point where the stalks broke easily to the hand but the fibers were still
strong and intact."

        "Water or dew?"

        "Water because I wanted the softer finish and the lighter color."

        "Hmmm... so it finishes exactly like flax?" his voice was polite
and quiet.

        "Uhm... no, not exactly, there seem to be more joints in the
stalks, so the resulting length of the fibers is shorter..."

        "And the shorter length also makes the finished yarn softer and
more pliable?" he asked.  Kardia nodded, relieved and finding herself
relaxing in all the familiar technical talk, these folks knew their stuff,
not just the whats of rote learning but the whys behind how their
materials behaved.  "Which would also make the retting process more
difficult, with a finer balance between when the pith was rotted away and
the finer fibers hadn't rotted away..."  He just stood there looking at
the froth of lace in his big hands.

        "By Issek, Peter, you could at least introduce yourself..." said
Annie with a twinkle in her eye.

        He grinned at Annie a little crookedly and then faced Kardia
straight on, "She told you my name already, yes?"

        Kardia nodded.

        "And your name?"

        "Kardia.  Kardia Xvaramene.  Journeyman..." she cut off before
talking about levels.

        "Journeyman?" Peter frowned at the cloth in his hands, "Why in the
world are you just a journeyman with work like this?"

        Kardia grinned a crooked grin, "Politics."

        "Humph."  The single sound left no doubt as to what Peter thought
of that.  "Well, we'll have to see you in action, but I doubt that it'll be
hard for you to get a master's rating fairly quickly if you can do work
like this on a regular basis.  Eh, Annie?"

        Annie was looking at the third, unopened bundle with a smile and
a glint of anticipation, "Could be, Peter, could be.  Why don't we see what
other treasure she's brought us?"

        Peter and Kardia folded up the tablecloth and put it back in the
bundle.  Annie undid the third one and whistled softly.  A vest as fragile
seeming and transluscent at the other two pieces came out, glowing a blue
as rich as it was deep.  The juxtiposition of its fragility and the
richness of the coloring involved made for an uncommon beauty, as of
something ethereal. "Indigo?" Annie asked softly.

        "With a uria mordant." Kardia said.

        "Aged a week?"

        "Uhmmmhmmm..."

        "How hot?"

        "Just simmering, no roiling boil... spoils the fastness if it's
boiled too hard."

        The two Masters nodded.  "Damn, that took well." said Peter half to
himself.  For a long moment, they were silent, just studying the
construction of the piece.

        "Can you sell these for me?" asked Kardia.

        Both of them looked at her, Peter started laughing hard enough he
had to sit down.  Annie rolled her eyes at him and said gently to Kardia,
"How much do you want in advance?"

                        *               *               *

        Kardia left the Guild House with gold tucked away in her belt as
well as a few silvers and coppers in the bag on her back; and a receipt
that showed the balance that was due her when the Guild actually did sell
the items.  She had left some of her already retted fibers for use by the
Guild and a promise to take Annie to the plot that she'd planted the seeds
at.  She was entirely and utterly amazed at how easy it had all been.

                        *               *               *

        "Lets's just spread it out on this old table... just to see how it
looks when it's actually flat..." said Annie to Cassie as she pulled the
tablecloth out of the careful bundle.

        It was the main table in the dining Hall of the Guild, an ancient,
dark with use giant of a table.  The darkness of the wood contrasted
beautifully with the white cloud that slowly settled over it.

        The table crashed to the ground, one of the legs gone halfway to
dust...

        Both women screamed at the crash.  Kitchen staff and Guild members
rushed into the dining hall at the huge sound.  Peter first checked to make
sure that Cassie and Annie were all right; and then he knelt to examine the
the table under the shining web of the tablecloth.  He frowned, thinking
hard.  Pascere, the cook, came up with a knife still in one big fist.  The
cook growled, "Damn hedge wizard, may the meal he got for fixing the table
rot in his gut..."

        Peter blinked, "You had a *wizard* fix the table?"

        "Was lookin' for a meal in exchange for a job.  Knew needed fixin'.
So's had 'im do that.  Much good it did..." growled the cook, nodding in
the direction of the destroyed leg, "Looks jus' like it did afore he got to
fixin' it..."

-----

[ADMIN - Introducing, enmass, the Weavers' Guild as I don't think that they
exist, yet.  Masters Peter Kroft and Annie Torre, Journeyman Davida Laumer,
and Apprentice Cassie Lloyd.  Also the cook, Pascere, just 'cause it was a
neat name.  Plus a cast of dozens that I haven't really looked at yet.
Most of these are NPC's, I'd like to know of any use of Peter and Annie,
though. -PLR]
--
Phyllis Rostykus |  "... and how you feel can make it real
aka Liralen Li   |       Real as anything you've seen... "
li@Data-IO.com   |                      Peter Gabriel _US_


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From: hutch@ibeam.intel.com (Steve Hutchison)
Subject: [AU] [Kardia] My Dinner with Andrea
Message-ID: <C4tqCy.DuA@ibeam.intel.com>
Organization: Intel Corp., Hillsboro, Oregon
References: <1993Apr1.063421.24176@data-io.com>
Date: Thu, 1 Apr 1993 21:29:22 GMT
Lines: 267

[ADMIN]  This is posted for Liralen Li.  Most of it is hers, but I added
my own dialogue for 'Raelf at her request.  Stuff in between the stars
belongs to Chris Meadows.  Mine you have to guess at.

Sorry, Li, the title was just too hard to resist ;=}

---------------

        Kardia limped away from the Weaver's Guild, and looked up at the
sky.  The sun had slipped down near the horizon, and she realized that she
had missed the noon meal.  It would still be a while until dinner at Mrs.
Cludne's.  For a moment, she thought about going to the restaurant she had
found on the Hill, but then shook her head.  Where was it the guard had
spoken of?  Oh... yes... the Dragon's Inn.

        She got back onto Dragon's Lane and headed back toward the gate she
came in on, and at seeing the Plaza, she looked for the corners and spotted
the Inn and a large cat man walking in.  Intrigued, she quietly pushed her
way into the Inn.

        The first thing she noticed when in was the music coming from above
her... She looked up and was shocked for a moment, thinking it was Alister
so confidently and easily perched up among the beams of the place.  His
slender legs stretched along the joists and his pale hair brushing the
roof.  She looked a little closer and realized that his hair was not the
silver white that Alister's was, instead, a creamier ivory.  She saw his
eyes and they were as pale as Alister's had been dark.  She shivered and
realized that she hadn't met enough elves, yet, if almost everyone reminded
her still of Alister.

        She swallowed, realizing why she had thought as she had thought,
the sweet singing voice was so like to almost be a twin.  Confident and
clear, and about the magic of music.  Kardia suddenly blushed as she
realized that he had focussed on her entrance and her face; and she
wondered, a moment, if the stranger elf might have read her longing.  She
looked down, hurredly, and looked for a table.

        There were few empty tables, one was one away from the fireplace.
A woman with an olive colored complexion was seated at the one by the
fireplace, and the cat man was talking with her.   Kardia's attention was
caught by a small white creature also at the table, which was gazing,
longingly at the bard in the rafters.  She blinked again.  It was a
unicorn.  A small unicorn, to be sure, but, nonetheless, a unicorn.  She
drew a deep breath in, and then let it out again, slowly.

        She went and took a seat at the empty table, and when the barmaid
came up, with a baby in a sling across her chest.  The barmaid smiled,
"You look as if you could use a warm bit of cider and a hot dinner."

        Kardia smiled in response to the warmth in the smile she was given,
"Yes, please." she said quietly, "What are you serving?"

        "How about roast turkey with fixin's and a salad?"

        "Salad?" blinked Kardia in confusion.  Fresh vegetables in this
technological level.  Hmm... why look a gift horse... "Yes, I'd love a
salad."  As the barmaid bustled off, Kardia looked after her with amazement
and shook her head at the food choices.

        Carefully, Kardia shrugged out of her gear, and laid the box on the
table, the bag she hooked around her ankle and the staff she leaned against
the wall.  She sighed for a moment, just sitting on the bench, and then
turned herself so that she could at least lean her tired body against the
wall and see what the patrons of the place looked like.  Her hand hesitated
near the harp box and then dropped.  She was tired enough that it would
probably sound awful.  Kardia closed her eyes for a moment, just resting.

        "Honey..." and a gentle hand on her shoulder.  "Your food's done."

        Kardia sighed and opened her eyes, amused that she had remained
seated even while sleeping.  The barmaid shook her head at her,
"Adventurers, never getting enough sleep.  You should take care of
yourself..."  Kardia grinned at the tone and ducked her head.  The platter
that the barmaid carried smelled delicious.  "Thank you..." Kardia said and
looked a little lost as she suddenly realized she didn't know the barmaid's
name.

        "Serene.  I'm Serene." the barmaid said with a chuckle.

        "You certainly are, taking to sleeping patrons so easily." Kardia
said slightly ruefully, "I'm Kardia.  Thank you, Serene for the waking."

        Serene nodded and went on her busy way.

        At that point, Kardia was slightly startled at the appearance of
glowing sphere of colors and lights.  There were two more people at the
table next to hers, far more formally attired than anyone else in the
place.  A young blond man was looking intently at the sphere, as was the
olive skinned girl and the unicorn.  The woman and the cat being went off,
together to the dance floor.

        Kardia dug into her dinner, sipping the hot cider and curiously
watching and listening to the conversation that went on before her.

                    *              *             *

        While Andrea told her tale, Kardia listened quietly, her eyes
narrowing just a touch at the tale of the transformation.  She ate her
meal quickly and neatly as she listened, paying more attention to her food
with her eyes than she probably would have been doing if she hadn't been
listening.

        At one point, she started studying the little unicorn and she
frowned a little at what she saw.

        She finished her meal about the same time Andrea finished her tale
and the other table turned to other talk.  For a moment Kardia simply sat,
frowning to herself.  Then she smiled a crooked smile, took a deep breath,
gathered her belongings and got up.  She sighed at how stiff her body was
after the workout of the day and her left ankle, calf, and leg were
horrendously sore as they had compensated all day for the missing half of
her foot.  She leaned a little more heavily on the gnarled black walking
stick than she usually did, as she stepped up to the neighboring table.

        For a moment, she just stood there, finally seeing up close the
young woman who had survived the story told and her friends.  Then they
all realized Kardia wasn't leaving and looked at her.  The blond man had
a small, black stick he started to play with and Kardia saw the power
about it and pulled the solid scarf closer about her throat.  "Good
evening." she said, unconsciously pushing back her dark red-brown hair to
reveal her face a little better, "I overheard your story," she nodded in
Andrea's direction, "and I think I might be able to help."  Her voice
shook a little with memories and at the steady regard of the people at the
table, "I...  uhm... I seem to have the capability to... well, undo
magic..."

***
Andrea looked up at her suspiciously, toying with a pen that she'd been
fiddling with.  She looked at Kardia cooly.  "You can...undo magic?"
she echoed.
***

        Tongue tied and looking for a way other than words to show what she
meant, Kardia slowly picked up the grapple-arrow, gave a slightly nervous
smile, and wrapped the end of her scarf around where the crosspin was.
There was a small ping and she unwrapped the scarf to show the broken
crosspin.  The hook, however, was still shiney new and strong enough to
hold the weight of a man.

***
Andrea put the pin down and picked up the arrow, looking from it, to
'Raelf, to the strange woman who had just unfixed it.  She handed it
to 'Raelf.  "What do you think of this?"  She asked.  Then she turned
back to Kardia.  "How did you do that?"
***

        "It's... I... well, I found out how I could do it after a...
several brothers of mine went through something like what Sheryl went
through.  It took me a year to free them, but it shouldn't take nearly that
long for someone Sheryl's size and there's only one of her." Kardia's grin
was genuine this time.   "I can't *do* any magic at all, I'm no great
wizard or magician or anything, but I do now how to see what's holding a
magic together and how to undo the parts I want to undo with a matching
pattern.  It's a little like what I did with the scarf and the arrow, the
parts that are covered get undone and the parts that aren't don't... the
patterns, though, with magic are... are..."  Kardia shrugged in dismay a
she couldn't find the words.

***
Andrea looked at Sheryl, who was now peering at Kardia curiously.
"So you can break magic...All this time, I've been looking for someone
who could do that.  Now it seems I've finally found her.  The question
is--" and she continued to gaze thoughtfully at the unicorn "--where
do we go from here?
***

        'Raelf had taken the grapple-arrow from Andrea, examining the
broken pin.  Finally a grin split his face.

        "Way cool!  Raye, look here, what do you think?"  He showed the
two parts to the woman sitting across from him.

        "I think the lady should be invited to sit down,"  ar'Elya replied,
and she pulled back a chair.  "Please, be welcome to sit with us."

        "Thank you,"  Kardia said, sighing with relief when the strain was
off her left foot again.  She smiled at the woman, wondering briefly how
she had gotten machine-woven raw silk around this town.  Then her attention
shifted back to the unicorn, who was sniffing at her scarf.

        "You'd better not touch, small one."  Sheryl pulled her head back
and gave Kardia a long, measuring look.

        "Milady disenchantress,"  'Raelf said, placing the once-again-repaired
grapple-arrow on the table, "I may wish to contract your services for another
acquaintance of mine."

        "Disenchantress?"  Kardia was taken aback for a moment.  "I never
sought such a title.  Please, just call me Kardia."

        "I'm 'Raelf.  My mate, who reminded us of our manners, is ar'Elya,
and the tall furry fellow here is Khyra, you've met Andrea, and this is
her sister Sheryl.  Serene?"  'Raelf waved to the barmaid.  She came over,
Mista curled in her baby-sling on her hip.

        "What's your pleasure, oh good, you ate your veggies."

        "Yeah.  Hey, howcome you keep showing up here, you're supposed to
be at home, being all domestical."

        "Oh, but I like working, and Mary was so tired after the party that
I thought I'd help her out.  Besides, we haven't found a fulltime replacement
for me yet, and I did say I'd work halftime until we found someone."

        "Cool.  Could you please bring me a Catamount Porter?"  She looked
askance at ar'Elya, who sighed in disgust.

        "I can't help it if I react to the stuff.  I promise I won't be
drinking any, it's all for him."  She pointedly took a sip of the elvenwine
which she'd gotten with her dinner.  Serene smiled and went away, returning
in a moment with a glass of a stout ale so thick and black that it must have
taken a spoon to serve it with.  Kardia felt her mouth go dry at the sight
of the stuff - bitters she could understand, but this liquid was on the edge
of being a solid.

        "You're going to DRINK that?" she asked, and 'Raelf nodded and took
a deep swig.  Kardia noticed then that his eyes were changing color, going
from sky blue to sea green, then to the yellow of candle flames, the brown
of fresh-tilled loam, then black as the space behind closed eyelids.

        "For some reason this stuff works really well as a fuel for the kind
of magic I do, and I'm kind of low on energy today.  Anyway, here's the
scoop on Sheryl.  Andrea, could I please have the bio-scan record back?
Thanks," he took the sapphire and, producing the flat box he had used earlier,
he placed the stone on the center.  The familiar globe of light sprang into
the air, again showing the web of green lines that represented the spirit
of the little unicorn.  'Raelf tapped on the box in a statacco fashion, and
the web opened and focussed in on a particular image.

        "Techno-wizardry?"  Kardia asked, and ar'Elya laughed and replied.

        "Not exactly.  `Sufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable
from technology' - or so they say."

        'Raelf waited for them to finish, and then nodded to Andrea -
"If this is cool with you, I'd like to show her what we found out.  You
okay with this?"

        "I suppose.  If Sheryl doesn't mind."  The unicorn rested her
head on the table, making her eyes all dewy so that ar'Elya would scratch
her behind the ears.  "Well, so far, no objections."

        "Way tube.  So, here's the place where her original body-image was
built, see how it's been completely removed?  Did your brothers still go
back to human sometimes?"

        "Once in a while."

        "Why does this remind me of something?  Never mind.  Anyway, I bet
they still had their original body-images to revert to.  But we'd have to
build a new one for Sheryl, probably with Andrea as template, and it would
most likely break down when your weavings got to it."

        "Perhaps not.  It would be a difficult thing to work, though, making
the pattern sensitive to one spell without disturbing a very similar spell."

        "Strewth, dudesse.  Here, let me refocus - <tappitytappity> There,
see how the Unicorn pattern connects in these four places?  Well, this black
one is the curse.  The others are ones she grew, so they're natural to the
way she is now.  So if the curse was to go, she'd still be a unicorn, but
she could be changed into other things if she wanted."

        "I see.  Andrea, if you choose to have me remove the curse for you,
then I can do it, but as 'Raelf said, it may not return her to human.  Are
you still interested?"

        Andrea sighed.  "I think I need to talk to Sheryl for a while."


Path:
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From: CHM173S@vma.smsu.edu (Chris Meadows)
Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn
Subject: [AU] Quiet Time/"Cat" Burglar
Date: Thu, 01 Apr 93 19:45:49 CST
Organization: Foundation to Further Anime References
Lines: 354
Message-ID: <16BA3115ED.CHM173S@vma.smsu.edu.Ext>
NNTP-Posting-Host: vma.smsu.edu
Keywords: Andrea Sheryl unicorn burglar inn 'Raelf ar'Elya
X-Newsreader: NNR/VM S_1.3.2

ADMIN:
     I would like to thank Stephen Hutchison
(hutch@hutch.intel.com) for his help.  He's has helped me a great
deal with my story, far more than just lending the use of his
characters.  He--
     "Not that his characters aren't really nice, too."
     Huh?  Hey, Andrea, you're not supposed to be on...the ADMIN
note isn't over yet.
     "I don't care.  I just want to say that I'm glad 'Raelf and
ar'Elya have been helping me with Sheryl's problem, and that
Generica is a really great place.  I--"
     Andrea, you can't do this.  Stop it.  I--  >POKE!<  Ouch!
Hey, Sheryl, quit that!  Hey--
     "I'm taking over this ADMIN post."
     Andrea, put that dagger away.  Andrea--!
     "While I'm at it, I would also like to say thanks to Kardia,
she's really nice, isn't she, Sheryl?"  >Whinny!<  "And also--"
     (where's that DELETE key...ah, there)  >ZOT!<  Okay.  Back
in control.  Ahem.  On with the story.


     Once they were alone in their room, Andrea turned to look at
Sheryl.  "Well," she said.  "'Raelf said that we should have a
talk about what you wanted."  She shrugged, smiling wanly.
"Guess the conversation's going to be pretty one-sided, huh?"
     Sheryl snorted.  Here she was, a unicorn, magical creature
of purity and goodness, and she couldn't talk.  It was one of the
few great frustrations of her unicornish existance.
     "So, you like being a unicorn, eh?" Andrea said, in the
manner of one who didn't know what she was supposed to say and
was only talking to avoid an embarrassed silence.  Sheryl nodded
vigorously.
     "Why didn't you try to tell me, try to let me know how you
felt before?" Andrea asked.  Sheryl snorted and tossed her head,
then fixed Andrea with a steady gaze.
     "Me?" Andrea touched her chest with both hands.  "You didn't
try to let me know because of me?"  Sheryl nodded at this.
Andrea sighed, and sat down heavily on the bed.  "I see...I think
I understand."  She threw up her arms and collapsed backward onto
the bed, staring at the ceiling but continuing to talk to the
unicorn.
     "I guess you're right," she finally admitted.  "These last
several years I've been all but obsessed with finding the
'magical cure' for you, and never even thought that you not want
to be 'cured.'  If you had tried to tell me, I probably wouldn't
have listened."
     Sheryl whinnied an affirmative, and stamped her foot as if
to say, "Now we're GETTING somewhere."
     Andrea continued, "Even if the curse is lifted, according to
'Raelf, you'll still be a unicorn.  So I guess that no matter
what, you're pretty much stuck that way, and it would take
another curse to change you back.  And since you don't want to be
changed back, it probably wouldn't stick anyway."
     Andrea got up off the bed and knelt before her equine
companion.  "Sheryl..." she asked, "are you sure this is what you
want?  I mean...just because you have a longer lifespan, magical
abilities, and nothing to do except play and eat..."  She trailed
off.  "Hell, when I put it that way, I wouldn't mind trying it
for awhile myself."  She grinned.  "Yes, I think I see now.  So
where do we go from here?"
     Sheryl yawned, indicating that the only place SHE wanted to
go right now was to sleep.  "All right, all right...we can
continue this discussion later.  I have some more work to do
tonight anyway."
     Sheryl cocked a curious eye at Andrea.
     "Don't worry about it, Sheryl.  I just have some more stuff
to fix tonight, that's all."
     As Sheryl closed her eyes and dozed off, Andrea pulled out
her tool kit and looked at the remaining pile of equipment.
While no artificer or tinker, she had taken several courses in
equipment maintenance at the Selactican 'Guild and knew how
important that skill could be.
     Andrea got to work, and gradually the pile of broken
equipment shrank.  She put a new hinge on the broken hand lamp,
mended the torn strap on the leather housebreaker's harness,
whittled a new handle to replace the broken one on a lockpick,
oiled the glasscutter, and did whatever else had to be done to
get her gear in top condition.
     By the time she was finished, it was about 10:00 p.m.
"Hell, the night is still young..." Andrea said.  "I might as
well try out my equipment..."

     A couple of minutes later, Andrea had shouldered her
backpack and walked out of the inn.  In a nearby alley she pulled
on her dark nightsuit and skin-tight gloves, and smeared black
grease all over her face.  She buckled on the newly-patched
housebreaker's harness, and checked to be sure her climbing
daggers and sharkskin gloves were where they were supposed to be.
She wasn't sure what she wanted to do, but she knew that she
wanted to do SOMETHING.  For some reason, she felt as though a
great weight had been lifted from her shoulders.  No longer did
she have to worry about looking for a cure for Sheryl's
condition...all she had to do now was stay alive.
     Andrea walked out into the Plaza of Glittering Steel.  Most
of the shops here had closed their doors already, and the owners
had retired to their upstairs apartments.  A couple of guards
were in the square, but they were looking elsewhere.  Andrea
selected her prey.
     It was a large jewelry store across the square, with a sign
hanging from it: "KARRIGAN'S QUALITY JEWELRY".  Andrea grinned
wickedly.  It was always the larger places who could better
afford a loss.  Of course, they did tend to have better security,
too...but Andrea loved a challenge.
     Keeping to the shadows, Andrea made her way around the
square.  The only danger zone would be the open, lit space she'd
have to cross to make the building.  From the shadows, she eyed
the movement of the guards carefully...if they kept to their
pattern, she should have a thirty-second opening about...now!
     Wasting no time or motion, Andrea dashed across the open
space to an alley beside the jewelry store.  The adrenalin
started flowing, her heart started pumping.  Had she been seen?
She held her breath nervously.  No, she guessed not.
     What now?  She looked around.  There was a side entrance to
the jewelry store, off the alley, but it had been boarded up.
"Probably some wise-guy troubleshooter's idea..." Andrea thought.
No matter.  This just gave her a chance to test some of her new
equipment...
     Andrea unslung the light crossbow she'd purchased that day
at Throcken's Armory to replace the one lost during her flight
from the ship.  The major grapple arrow that 'Raelf had fixed for
her (and Kardia had re-broken) fit nicely, and a black-dyed cord
attached to its end completed the ensemble.  Now to aim it
upward, and...>KA-THWUMP<  >KLINK!!!<  Andrea froze, thinking
that the sound the arrow made must have been heard for miles, but
nothing happened.
     "Nerves," Andrea told herself.  "Still, it's good to have
them..."  She pulled on the line to take up the slack, make sure
that it held.  Okay, no problems there...She took the rope in her
hands and walked up the wall.  It was easy to do, and actually
rather fun.
     Once she was on the roof, Andrea kept low, let she be seen
silhouetted against the sky.  She coiled up her rope, returned
the crossbow and grapple arrow to their places, and looked
around.  There was a skylight in the center of the roof.  Okay...
     The skylight was partially open.  Andrea reached out to
touch it, swing it open further, then decided against it.  First
she pulled out a flask of oil, poured it on the hinges, worked it
in.  Then she pushed the light open easily and silently.  "Heh,"
she thought, "they ought to thank me for fixing this squeaky
hinge."
     Andrea descended through the skylight utterly soundlessly,
lowering herself down with her hands and then dropping with the
grace of a cat to the floor.  She could have used a rope, but
didn't want it remaining there to give her away in case she had
to go out a different direction.
     The room Andrea found herself in was some kind of a
workshop.  There were burners and pots for melting gold and
silver, and spools of wire lying all around, and some magnifying
lenses and jewelers' loups--the kind of thing you would expect to
find where jewelry was being repaired.
     Andrea looked around, carefully.  Okay...so far so good. She
moved toward the door, keeping a wary eye out for traps, and
picking up a couple of the loups along the way.  Magnifying
lenses were a very useful tool to thieves, and there were so many
lying around that they might never miss them...ah!  What was
that--?  Andrea stopped short of the door, and moved backward
slowly.  There, at ankle level...a tripwire.  She followed it up
the doorframe.  Hmm, she couldn't see where it led, but it was
better not to take chances. She stepped over the wire and
continued onward, with the stealthiness of a shadow.
     Through the door was a corridor, and on the corridor a
stairway.  Also on the corridor were several other doors,
presumably to the shopkeeper's quarters and other important
rooms.  Andrea made very little noise at all as she crept down
the hallway and to the stairs.  Her heart was pounding like a
triphammer in her ears now...
     Andrea put her foot down, tested the first step carefully.
No sound.  She tested the next step.  It creaked.  No good.  She
tested the step after that.  Creak.  This really wasn't good.
She couldn't afford to step on either of the next two steps--they
would creak and possibly give her away.  What could she do?
     Only one other option.  Andrea grimaced, and climbed up onto
the banister.  A short (soundless) slide later, she was at the
bottom of the stairs and looking around nervously for any sign of
trouble.
     "Okay, no guards so far," Andrea thought.  "Now, on to the
showroom..."
     A few yards from the foot of the stairs was the entry to the
showroom.  Just a little bit farther...
     Andrea was about to creep into the door when the scrape of a
chair leg on the floor alerted her that she was not alone.  She
froze, and faded into a nearby shadow as a heavyset man walked
through the door, his hand scratching down the back of his pants,
yawning, making enough noise to wake the whole village (or so it
seemed to Andrea).  How could she POSSIBLY have missed hearing
him?!  "Better be more on your guard next time," she scolded
herself.
     The guard walked through a nearby door, and a splattering
sound could be heard shortly after.  He walked back out,
fastening his pants, still oblivous to Andrea's presence, and
went back into the showroom where there was again the sound of a
chair scraping and wood creaking as the man settled into his
seat.
     Hmmm, obviously this was a problem.  But what could...?  She
had it!  Andrea cupped her hands to her mouth and made a noise:
"Meow!"
     "What?!"  The guard got up, walked out.  "Is that cat in
here again?!  Dammit, I hate cats..."  He walked down the
corridor.  Andrea slipped into the showroom as he left.
     "Ah...this is perfect."  The showroom was actually an
addition onto the front of the original building.  It had a
high-vaulted ceiling with a huge chandelier hanging from the
center.  There were glass display cases lining the walls, and one
in the central counter, too.  The guard had been sitting on an
old wooden chair in the center of the room, and a copy of the
Generican Examiner lay open on the floor by his chair.
     Wasting no time, Andrea pulled something out of her pocket.
It was a caltrop, a small, 4-pointed object usually used for
tripping people up by injuring their feet.  However, one of her
classes at the 'Guild had suggested a different use for it.
     Andrea pulled a small flask out of one of her pockets.
Holding the caltrop by one point, she poured a few drops of the
contents over it.  The fluid dried almost as soon as it hit the
metal.  Replacing the flask with one hand, she placed the caltrop
on the chair with the other.  Then she heard footsteps--the guard
was coming back!
     When the guard walked in, ten seconds later, he yawned
again, grabbed the paper once more, and sat down on the chair.  A
second later, he jumped up again.  "Yow!" he said.  "Something
just poked...me...in the...but--"  His eyes rolled up in his
head.  THUNK!
     Andrea dropped down off the chandelier and picked up the
caltrop, grinning.  "Heh," she thought, "that sleeping potion
always does the trick.  Lucky I never let that leave my person,
woulda been hell to try to find another alchemist to make it
around here..." She pocketed the caltrop, picked up the sleeping
guard and set him down on his chair, and bent to her work.
     The magical lockpick on the Dagger of Resource, combined
with her own natural skill, made the locks on the cases easy to
pick.  Of course, first Andrea had to be sure that picking them
would set off no traps, and this she made sure of easily.  These
were just cheap locks, pure and simple.  Why did the big stores
always go in for the cheap lock-and-key bit?
     Andrea was very selective in her tastes, taking only the
older, unnoticed gems, the ones in the very backs of the display
cases that weren't quite as handsome as the ones in front.  She
hid these in secret compartments in her boots, her belt buckle,
her dagger sheathes, and so on.  Each gem she took, she replaced
with a like-colored marble from the marble bag at her waist.
     Without close inspection, it could be days before someone
noticed the loss.  Not that it would matter all that much to
them; they'd just chalk it up to fate and the insurance company
would write it off.  Andrea never stole from the little guy if
she could possibly help it; it was always the big, impersonal
places that got her attention.
     As she was done, she noticed the guard's eyelids flutter.
Uh-oh, time to be gone.  She locked the last case behind her and
slid out through the door again, silently as a wraith.
     "What the--" the guard muttered.  "I must have drifted off.
Better go splash some water on my face..."  He got up, walked
out, looked around, yawned.  As he walked into the washroom,
however, there was another, "Meow!"
     Andrea's eyes widened.  What--?  She hadn't made that sound!
     The guard came out of the room, wiping water off his face.
"What--Oh, THERE'S that damn cat..."  He drew his sword.  "Here,
kitty kitty..."  He walked forward slowly...
     Andrea looked where the guard was looking.  There was a
small, slightly scruffy-looking cat, a solid grey with three
white socks, standing in the open.  It looked around, confused,
and mewed again.
     "Aw, hell..." Andrea thought as the guard walked right past
her.  "There's no way I'm going to let that brute..."  So as the
guard walked forward, intent on his slaughter, Andrea swiftly and
silently stepped out of her hiding place, reversed her dagger,
and clubbed the guard on the back of the neck with it.  He went
down with no fuss at all.
     Andrea looked around.  "Great.  Now what do I do?" she
muttered.  Fortunately there was an ornamental suit of field
plate armor standing nearby.  "Not a problem!" Andrea realized,
dragging the guard over next to it.  She grabbed his short sword,
swung around, and struck it a great blow, making a horrific
noise, then dumped the whole thing over onto the unconscious
guard, making sure the helm was positioned on the base of his
neck.  She put the sword back in his hand.
     There was a noise from upstairs, a kind of combination of a
scream and a "What in the hell--?!"  Andrea permitted herself a
quick smile, then ran over, scooped up the cat, and ducked
underneath the staircase.  From there, she watched the fun, and
held the cat's mouth closed so it couldn't mew.
     A little man with a mustache, wearing a green nightgown came
dashing down the stairs, dagger in hand, followed by a woman with
her hair in curlers.  "What in blazes is going on here?!" he
demanded. "Lawrence!  Lawrence!"  He kicked the unconscious
guard, who groaned and moved a little.  "Look at--"  He turned to
his wife.  "Look at this mess!"  He picked up the breastplate of
the fallen suit of armor.  "There's a big dent here!  He's ruined
my suit of armor!"
     The guard groaned.  "What the--hunh?"  He looked up into the
eyes of his boss.  "Ow..."  He fingered the welt on the back of
his neck.  "Who hit me...?"
     "Who hit you?  You clumsy oaf, YOU hit my suit of priceless
antique armor, it fell on you and knocked you out! Look at the
damage!"
     "But--I was after this cat, and--"
     "Cats?  Cats?!  Don't talk to me of cats, you dolt!  After
what you've done--you're fired.  That's it, you're fired.  Get
out of here, go, shoo, just get out."  He waved his hands at the
guard the way someone might try to fan away a disgusting odor.
"I'll call a town guard to come in here and look after the place
until I can hire someone else.  Just get, go on, shoo."
     "But--"
     "But nothing!  GO!"
     After the befuddled guard had stumbled out and the
proprietor and his wife had returned to their room, Andrea
managed to find a way back out of the building and into the
alley.  She put the cat down there.  "You little devil," she
said.  "I guess my cat imitation was so good that you just
naturally had to come and check it out, eh?  Be off with you."
She put the cat down, and started to make her way back to the
inn.
     By the time she got there, Andrea had removed all her
facepaint and suspicious gear and stowed it in her rucksack.  She
walked in, running her fingers through her hair, mentally
calculating the night's haul.  Probably three or four thousand
gold pieces' worth, easy.  She'd just have to wait until later to
fence them.
     As she walked in, she saw that 'Raelf and ar'Elya were still
at the table, talking to each other.  Kardia and Khyra had
apparently decided to call it a night.  'Raelf looked up at
Andrea, then glanced behind her and said casually, "I see you've
picked yourself up a new friend."
     Andrea turned, looked and saw that same grey cat was
following her.  "Well I'll be--I'd say I have at that."
     "What are you going to call him?" 'Raelf asked.
     Andrea picked him up, looked under.  It was a him.  Hmm,
lucky guess on 'Raelf's part maybe?  "Hmmm...well, he is a little
thief, just like me, so I guess I'll name him after one.  Yeah.
Carson."
     "Hmm," 'Raelf said.  "Kitten...Carson.  'Kit Carson'?  I
know I've heard that name before somewhere...or was it Johnny?"
     Andrea shook her head.  "No, no...he's named for an old
friend of mine from the Selactican Thieves' Guild.  His name was
Carson, too.  First and last."
     'Raelf shrugged.  "Mary Littlefair probably has some scraps
you could give him.  Why don't you ask her?"
     Andrea nodded.  "I will tomorrow.  Right now, I think I'm
heading for bed."  She yawned.  "It's been a tiring night."
     'Raelf nodded.  "Mm-hmm," he said.  "Well, good night."
     "'night," Andrea said, going back to her room.
     Sheryl opened an eye and gazed reproachfully at her as she
entered.  "Oh, will you give me a break?" Andrea asked.  "It's
been a hard night."  She unslung her knapsack and tossed it
carelessly to the side of the bed, then set Carson down on the
floor, made sure the door was closed so he wouldn't run out.
"Look after that one for me, will you?  I'm going--I can't--"
She yawned, and collapsed across the bed.  She was asleep within
a few moments, clothes and all, leaving Sheryl to peer curiously
at the little grey cat who was currently curling up to sleep on
the rug at the foot of Andrea's bed.
--
Chris Meadows           ||  "The Zetons look like beautiful
CHM173S@SMSVMA.BITNET   ||  women, but their tissues are made
CHM173S@VMA.SMSU.EDU    ||  of paper, so they burn, like paper."
CMEADOWS@NYX.CS.DU.EDU  ||  --Captain Harlock, Ziv's lame-o dub.

Remember to put your own thread identifier in the header with
[Storm], if you have one.  BTW, Enn Piecy is not my own
character, but since I cannot find who owns him, I can't
acknoweldge him personally.  And now, let the rains begin!


     Out over the Great Blue, the weather happened, as it did
always.  Air patterns circulated, variated, acted on each other
to produce precipitation or other effects.  Only this time,
something was different...
     Warm, moist air from the tropical regions of Nexus collided
with cooler air from the northern glaciers.  Gradually, a low
pressure center formed, with high pressure areas swirling around
the rim due to a shearing force that Terran scientists called the
Coriolis Effect.  Soon this disturbance gathered force, and it
started moving toward Generica.

     <<Start song "Hurricane" by Kim Carnes (off the "Cafe
     Racers" album) as the storm builds.  Accompany this
     with time-lapse visuals of clouds rolling together,
     thickening, growing darker.>>

     Atop the Tower of Leviathan, an old, grizzled seaguard
tamped down and lit his pipe.  It had been a rather misty morning
so far, but now the sun was beginning to shine through.  But he
observed the darkening horizon to the west with not a little
trepidation. His bones had been acting up, and now this dark blot
that was showing on the horizon only reinforced his suspicions.
     "'Morning, grandfather," the young man who emerged from the
stairs onto the observation deck said.  He wore a Seaguard
uniform, but was probably little more than 18 or 19 years old.
Of course the oldster wasn't really his grandfather; it was a
title of respect that his advanced years had earned him.  "See
anything interesting out there?"
     The old man handed the wood and brass telescope he'd been
using to observe the storm over to the young man, who took it
with customary deference.  "Look ye out over there," he advised.
"At that dark blot on the horizon.  What do ye see?"
     The youngster focused the instrument and took a glance.
"It's getting pretty dark out there," he said.  "Think maybe a
squall is blowing in."
     "Aye, that's a squall.  From the feel of these old bones
it's going to be a big 'un."  He took the telescope back and
peered out at it some more.  "I reckon we've got maybe an hour
'til it hits, maybe more."
     "But it looks closer than that," the young man said.  "Maybe
twice as near as all that."
     "Nay, sonny, that's not all that close.  Don't confuse size
with distance.  It's big, that's what it is."
     "But at that distance...and that dark..."  The youngster's
jaw slowly dropped.  "Impossible.  It can't be that big--"
     "Aye, lad, it is that big.  Bigger 'n any since long before
you were born, I reckon.  Come on, we'd best warn the townsfolk,
that's what we're here for..."  The oldster collapsed the
telescope and stowed it away, then headed for the stairs.  The
young man took one more look, then followed rapidly behind him.

     <<Insert suitably dramatic visuals of roiling clouds
     and flashing lightning over an angry sea here as the
     storm gets closer to Generica.  Do a slow fade to the
     interior of the Dragon's Inn, where life is going on
     pretty much as usual.>>

     Andrea and Sheryl had just emerged from their room after a
suitably late night's work and long sleep-in.  Carson the cat was
still sleeping in--Andrea didn't blame him, it was past
midmorning now and she still felt sleepy.  When she'd awoken,
Sheryl had still been staring curiously at him, and Andrea'd had
to explain the whole story of how she'd gotten him before the
unicorn would come to breakfast.
     Andrea was now ordering their breakfast from Serene as they
sat at their usual table (which was 'Raelf and ar'Elya's usual
table, too).  Then it happened.
     A piercing noise sounded all throughout the bar. Several
bottles and tankards of ale shattered, there was a sound of
creaking timbers in the ceiling above, and some dust filtered
down.  The closest printed approximation of this sound would be,
perhaps, "EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" only much
louder and more shrill.
     The noise was emanating from the 9th dark corner of the main
room.  One of the ubiquitous darkly robed and cloaked figure sat
there, his hands clapped to his ears, a glowing crystal figurine
of a male cow in front of him.  "Who's that?" Andrea asked
Serene.
     "What?!" Serene yelled, cupping a hand to her ear.
     "Who's that?!" Andrea repeated, as Sheryl desperately tried
to hide under the table from the awful sound.
     "That's--!" Serene began yelling.  Then the noise abruptly
stopped, and Serene started over.  "That's Enn Piecy.  He claims
to be a seer, and he often sits over in that corner."
     Andrea nodded.  "Thanks, I was--" she began, but was stopped
as a voice boomed out from Piecy's crystal bull.  "Your attention
please!  This is a severe tropical storm warning from the
National Wizard Service.  There is a massive storm twenty miles
southwest of Generica, moving northeast at approximately 30 miles
per hour.  This tropical storm system will strike with
devastating force, with winds estimated from 70-90 miles per
hour, tidal waves, and possibly severe lighting.  I repeat, this
is a severe tropical storm WARNING.  This means that the storm
has been sighted!
     "These types of storms have been known to spawn devastating
tornados as well, and it is likely that there will also be severe
flooding.  All Generican residents are strongly advised to
abandon your carts and hovels and seek some form of solid
shelter.  Acceptible shelters include basements, cellars, and
reinforced stone structures such as towers or temples.  Keep away
from all glass windows!  It is still possible for this storm to
upgrade to hurricane force, which could be even more devastating,
with winds in excess of 100 miles per hour.  Take shelter, I
repeat, TAKE SHELTER!  Please stay tuned to this channeler for
further information.  That is all."
     The entire inn had quieted down at this announcement.  Even
Enn Piercy looked a bit shook.  It took a few seconds for the
general chatter level to get back up to normal, and as it was
doing so, Andrea threaded her way over toward Enn, followed, as
always, by Sheryl.
     "What was that?" Andrea asked.
     Enn shook his head, and pushed his hood back.  "Why, you're
only a BOY," Andrea said.
     Enn shushed her, looking around worriedly.  "Don't go around
saying that!" he said.  "It's bad for business!"
     Andrea shrugged.  "All right.  But what was that
announcement?"
     Enn shook his head again.  "I think I tuned my crystal bull
to the wrong frequency--I got the weather band."
     "Is that announcement legit?" Andrea asked, strongly
resisting the urge to grab this young seer by the collar and
shake him.
     "Huh?  Legit?  Oh, yes, the National Wizard Service doesn't
lie.  In fact, you might have noticed, if you'd been keeping an
eye on it, that the barometer has been falling fast."  He pointed
to the ornately-carved wood and brass device that hung on the
wall nearby, labelled with such conditions as "FAIR", "CLOUDY",
and "CHANGE".  And it was true, the needle was on the downswing,
almost as they watched.
     "Hadn't we better do something?"
     Enn shrugged, and his mouth quirked into a half-smile.
"I've been prophecying doom for ages and no one's believed me.
Why should they believe me now?"
     Just then a Seaguardsman came running into the inn.
"There's a big storm coming!" he yelled.  "Everyone better take
shelter, and we need volunteers to help reinforce the seawall
with sandbags!  It would hold against a normal storm, but this
one is much bigger than any we've seen in twenty years!"
     As the inn customers looked back and forth among themselves
in confusion, Enn took the opportunity to crow triumphantly, "You
heard it here first!"
     Andrea walked over to the bar, and asked Rowan Littlefair,
"Do you have a cellar?"
     Rowan nodded.  "Aye, we've got the wine cellar..."
     "I suggest you open it up as a shelter.  And any other
underground rooms you have."
     Littlefair nodded.  "Aye, it would probably be best.
Womenfolk and children first, of course..."
     Andrea nodded.  "Of course..."  She walked back to her table
and took a seat, humming an old tune she'd heard somewhere,
probably from Fujiko.  "Konya wa hurricane..."
--
Chris Meadows           ||  "The Zetons look like beautiful
CHM173S@SMSVMA.BITNET   ||  women, but their tissues are made
CHM173S@VMA.SMSU.EDU    ||  of paper, so they burn, like paper."
CMEADOWS@NYX.CS.DU.EDU  ||  --Captain Harlock, Ziv's lame-o dub.