Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn
From: aaron@space.ualberta.ca (Aaron Humphrey)
Subject: [MI] Alfvaen[Generica]: Subcontract
Message-ID: <1992Aug25.212526.11171@kakwa.ucs.ualberta.ca>
Date: Tue, 25 Aug 1992 21:25:26 GMT

Alfvaen returned to the office after a class in Magic Theory.  His head hurt.
'Milteanas always told me I had no talent for this stuff.  The rest of the class
keep looking at me like I'm an idiot when I ask questions.  Why did I agree to
do this?  If it wasn't for the fact that most mages have one-track minds, I'd
probably be about as inconspicuous as if I were waving a sign that said "Plant!
Plant!"'

As he trudged up the stairs of 15A-Gamma Cor Caroli Lane, he heard voices.  One
was Queriche's, and the other was a slightly hysterical woman.  'Gods, we left
him alone and we got a customer.'  He sprinted up the rest of the way and
arrived in the doorway, out of breath.  The conversation stopped as they both
looked at him.

The woman was silver-haired, and wearing a threadbare cloak.  Her hair was kept
back in a tiara that reminded Alfvaen vaguely of something to do with the
priesthood.

Queriche smiled in great relief.  "Ah, Alfvaen.  This lady was just explaining
to me her problem.  It seems a ward of hers has been kidnapped, she thinks by
a Low City gang."

The woman nodded, Alfvaen's arrival seeming to have calmed her.  "Can you help
us--me?  I saw your handbill on a wall in Town Hall, where I was just before
she was captured."

Alfvaen took a deep breath, then nodded.  "We're working on another case right
now, so we're a bit short-handed, but Queriche and I, at least, can give you
some help right now."  He sat down behind Moriarty's desk and pulled out a
blank scroll and writing instruments.  "First we need some details.  Name?"

"Delmara."

"Occupation?"

"Priestess of Aditi."

Alfvaen snapped the quill.  Now that he looked for it, he saw the silken whip
around her neck.  Ye Gods, either Aditi was a more widespread deity than he
thought, or there was a mighty bizarre coincidence going on here--and he hated
the thought of the latter.  "Sorry--I wasn't aware that Aditi was prevalent on
this plane."

"Only barely.  Our 'temple' really isn't that much.  Just another Low City
house, in a lot of ways.  Not like Ilmater's, or that new one of Xyyv.  So it's
not really that hard to break in.  We're usually too poor for them to want to
rob us, and if you know anything about Aditi's priestesses you know that we
can't refuse a man if he asks for us."  Alfvaen nodded, pulling another quill
out of the desk.  "But when Elstree arrived, everything was different."

Alfvaen's hand convulsed and the second quill snapped into as many pieces as
the first.  "Son of a bitch."  He remembered what Azpiazu had told him--'You
already know someone in Generica.'  His thought whirled about chaotically.
Elstree alive?  In Generica?

"Did I say something wrong?" Delmara asked.

Alfvaen shook his head.  "No, not really.  It's just that I used to know
Elstree, not that long ago.  In fact, I was the one responsible for her death.
She's probably still in love with me, though."  At Delmara's look of shock, he
said, "Never mind.  Just tell me the details.  From the beginning.  How she
got here, how she is now, and what happened to her."

Delmara nodded.  "I had a dream.  Aditi told me that the next evening I would
get a visitor--a woman about to give birth.  I was to deliver the baby--I used
to be a midwife--and keep it, since the mother would not want it.  I was to
name her--for it would be a girl--Elstree.  And I was to take care of her.

"Elstree was a strange child.  For one thing, she grew incredibly fast.  She
was born only about a year ago, but she's already into her teens, physically.
She could speak very early on, and she would say the most bizarre things,
making predictions and prophecies, that would come true.  She predicted the
riots a few days ago, for instance.

"I kept her inside all the time.  She seemed to understand why it was necessary
for me to do that, and never complained.  I mean, this close to Low City, and
she's in full bloom right now.  I know that she's supposed to be from Aditi,
and follows the same rules as the priestesses, but somehow I didn't want her
beauty spoiled.  All to no avail, of course.

"I did have to leave her alone from time to time.  I had to go to the Town 
Square today to get food--sometimes we get donations, but often we don't.  When
I came back, the temple had been broken into, a lot of things smashed for no
reason, and Elstree was gone.  I think it was a gang that had been hanging
around the temple, but I can't be sure.  I don't know what kind of history you
and Elstree used to have--but please, I ask you to help."

Alfvaen laughed humorlessly.  "C'mon, lady.  This is the woman I love.  The one
that I killed.  The one who loves me.  You think I'm gonna pass up a chance
like this for a reunion?  Maybe we can all live happily ever after this time."
'Me and a Priestess of the Goddess of Hurtful Love.  Live happily ever after.
Right.'  He got out a third quill, which miraculously survived this time, and
scribbled out a note for Moriarty.  "C'mon, Q.  Lock this place up and let's
get going.  We got a woman to find."

--
---Alfvaen(a.k.a. Nysinra, rot13 Psycho)
"While we talk, I will hit your head with a nail
 to make you understand me"  --Ivor Cutler
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