Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn
From: li@Data-IO.COM (Phyllis Rostykus)
Subject: [MG] Half Done
Message-ID: <1993Oct21.184543.5086@data-io.com>
Keywords: Kardia, Dasham
Date: Thu, 21 Oct 1993 18:45:43 GMT


"Something's missing and I don't know why
 I always feel the need to hide my feelings from you
 Is it me or you that I'm afraid of
 I tell myself I'll show you what I'm made of..."

      	    	 --  "Bad Girl" Madonna



      Dasham was unusually quiet after the incident in the foyer with
Jameson.   The step through what was into Kardia's workroom was
becoming familiar.

      The red-haired Arch Mage said, "I have to finish the meeting the
Watcher pulled me out of.  After that we'll finish the fitting?"

      Kardia nodded and pushed back her own brown red hair and,
meeting Dasham's eyes, pointed at her own head.

      Dasham's eyes widened just a touch, and then she smiled faintly,
and reached out to the weaver's head.

      >> You have rethought a mindlink? <<

      Kardia grinned and let flood through the link her amusement at
her change of mind, and then her feelings of sorrow and blameless
apology at the disruption to the Arch Mage's schedule.

      Dasham showed white, even teeth, >> So, no words, but this is
better than nothing.  Thank you, for the apology. << Through centuries
strong shields, Kardia sensed a slow leak of panic, of a weariness
that was worse than bone deep.  Dasham's head went up, and another
layer of control slammed down over the leaks.  The mind touch was icy
cold for a moment, >> So... you would exploit my weaknesses? <<

      Kardia simply blinked at Dasham, and a mix of bewilderment and
pity was all she could hold up.

      "Pity."  Dasham's eyes narrowed and then she laughed a laugh
that made Kardia look up.  The Arch Mage shook her head, "I will see
you later."

      Kardia nodded and she watched Dasham disappear.  She sighed and
pulled a music soft from her backpack, and plugged it into her chip
jack.  "Bad girl/Drunk by six/Kissing someone else's lips/Smoked too
many cigarettes today/I'm not happy when I act this way... I'm not
happy/When I act this way..."  She stared out into the doorless room
for a moment, and shook her head and went to her spinning wheel.

      She spread the strick of plant fiber out in a towel and rolled
it up, tightly.  Kardia put the end of the roll behind her, between
her back and the chair, where it doubled as lower back support.  By
leaning on that end of the roll, she was better able to control the
ultra long fibers of the strick.  She pulled three or four strands at
a time, wetting the smoothing fingers of her left hand as her right
drafter fibers from the roll.  The smoothing hand guided the three or
four strands of fiber together, the water caused the pectin in the
fibers themselves to bind together, and the twist from the wheel made
the thread tight.

      The work was steady, mindless, especially in comparison to the
calculations she needed to do when she was designing; but the steady
flow of the fiber was soothing in its repetition and the steadiness
of the work.  The time flew by.


                   *               *              *


      For the fifth time that day, Dasham pushed at her forehead
suppressing the threat of the blooming headache that had been pursuing
her all day.  Thorn was manipulating her, and she knew it, knew it as
deeply as she knew that her memories were scrambled by her old mentor;
but she hadn't had the time to figure out in which direction the smooth
Arch Mage really wanted her to jump.  So she'd had to hear him out,
suppress her initial reaction to just contradict his proposal of the
liaison.  It was a tangled web that Thorn wove and challenging.  She
smiled a little grimly, far more tangled than the weaver's.

      It surprised her to find herself looking forward to the time with
the quiet weaver, especially after the spectacular interaction with the
Kardia's friend, Jameson, at lunch time; and the knowledge of what she'd
done to the weaver's lover.

      She stepped and ended up behind Kardia.  The Watcher's red eyes
looked at her and she automatically tested her link to it.  It was
solid.  Dasham's eyes narrowed just a touch, the shadow watcher was more
solid than it should be.  Something or someone was tinkering with it,
changing it.  It grunted when she loosed her probes on it.

      Kardia looked over at Sceadu at the grunt, and then followed the
red gaze towards Dasham.  The dog was writhing silently. 

      A white shawl appeared from Kardia's pack, and Dasham snarled,
"Leave it.  It's been tampered with.  I have to find out by who and
what's happened or I cannot guarantee your safety."

      The weaver hesitated and Dasham had to deal with the flood of
anguish and care for the creature that flowed over the link she'd
established with Kardia.  The flood made Dasham gentle her probes; and
as the information poured in, she was baffled.  The signature on the
work was young, rough, pure wish fulfillment; but powerful wish
fulfillment.  And the sole affect was to make the construct more... dog
like.  It didn't undermine her control of it, and didn't undermine any
of its obedience to her original call for it.  All it did was add the
possibility of flesh and bone for the creature.
      
      Flesh and bone.  She shook her head, "Did you actually feed it a
bone?" she asked Kardia in bafflement.

      Kardia nodded and scribbled on the wax tablet, "He enjoyed it/
Too."  The slender hands smoothed the dark fur on the large head.  A
pink tongue flicked over the comforting hands.

      Dasham laughed in disbelief.  "It..." at the outraged look from
Kardia, Dasham snorted, "He shouldn't need food."

      "But enjoy?" were the letters on the pad.

      Dasham just shook her head and pinched the bridge of her nose with
her fingers again as another headache tried to take her.  She heard the
weaver approach her; but didn't look up until a gentle touch on her arm.

      The weaver was holding out several handfuls of gossamer.  The
weaver had finished most of the top half, and this fitting was for last
adjustments before the pieces were going to be affixed to each other
solidly.

      Dasham stripped to the waist, and with Kardia's help, put on what
amounted to a vest.  The vest had patterning specific to the damage done
internally by the curse.  Kardia checked the fit and nodded.  The solid
panels of the vest matched up with the lines of poison that had woven
through all of Dasham's innards.  Two lace gloves that reached all the way
up to the middle of her upper arms; and Kardia did careful checking of the
way the fingers fit.  Dasham noted that some of the lines of the curse
were not quite as wide as the threads of the webs along her knuckles.
Adjustments for 'Raelf's white pills of the morning.

      There were minor adjustments at her joints as well.

      A light lace shirt over that, the lines of which were a perfect fit
against the forces that extended beyond her skin.  Next was the part that
she had the most difficulty with.  The four layer lace veil.  Kardia
helped her shake out her greying hair, and then placed the veils.

      The hard part was the fact that she could not see the placement
for herself.  Few magical properties reflect well in a mirror, and this
made it impossible for her to double check all of Kardia's work.  Though
she could and had checked and triple checked the designs.

      She could see the physical aspects of the work and herself in the
mirror and suddenly Dasham realized she was getting another image across
her link with Kardia.  As she felt her way into it, she realized that
Kardia was allowing Dasham to see herself through the weaver's eyes.  At
first, all she did was check for mistakes.  There were none.  There were
mismatches noted in the papers that Kardia was also holding that even
Dasham hadn't noticed.  The weaver's mentality was laid wide open to the
Arch Mage and she was astonished to find that Kardia was even harder on
her own imperfections than Dasham had managed to be.  For a moment, Dasham
considered taking advantage of Kardia's trust in her to explore the
weaver's mind, to find out why the vampire had loved such a common mortal
woman so much; but within Dasham arose a number of emotions at the
thought, and the Arch Mage withdrew gently from the link.

      Kardia's curiosity at her judgment surrounded her.  "The work
looks good." Dasham said.  "How soon will the skirts be done?"

      Kardia held up two fingers.

      "Two hours?" Dasham said half mockingly.

      Kardia snorted.

      Dasham sighed and slipped out of the veils and the shirt.  "Well,
I could hope.  So 'Raelf was correct, you will be taking another two
weeks?"

      Kardia nodded and helped Dasham with the gloves, carefully and
gently pulling them off.  Kardia suddenly winced.  

      Dasham captured the slender fingers in her own hand.  There was an
open blister on the pad of Kardia's left index finger and thumb.  "What
is this?"  Dasham looked into Kardia's grey eyes.

      The weaver looked away.  Dasham touched her question into Kardia's
mind through the link and received the feeling of water wrinkled skin
against a flow of fibers.  The steady spinning had worn away Kardia's
skin.

      "Why?" asked Dasham.

      The tall weaver smiled just a little crookedly, and reached
towards Dasham.  The Arch Mage flinched but the girl kept moving and
captured one of the grey locks of hair amid the auburn, and gently
stroked it from mid-length to tip.

      It was Dasham's turn to turn away.  

      >> You Needed it. <<  The three words were rusty, slow, eventhough
they were purely mental.  Then there was a flood of self-disgust and
Dasham realized that the reason Kardia stayed in non-verbal mode was so
to better be able to concentrate on the very non-verbal modes of action
required by Kardia's patterning mode.

      "I think you need a bit of a rest."  Dasham said, firmly, as she put
on the rest of her clothing.  "There's this party tonight..."

      Kardia looked up at her in curiosity and then smiled.

      "I think you should go and rest up for the second half of this..."
Dasham nodded at the pile of lace that looked, for the moment, like a
mound of cloud stuff.  The Supreme Arch Mage took Kardia's arm, and they
stepped into the foyer, "... 'Raelf assured me that it would be just
fine."


      	    	  *	      	    *	  	      *      


      When Jameson and Kron walked by the Arcade of Fountains on their
way to find Kardia, a dog's bark called them away from the main walk.
They found Kardia sleeping in the last dregs of evening sunshine on one of
the sun warmed marble fountain edges, watched over by Sceadu.  She was
using her backpack for a pillow and she was smiling in her sleep.

      She woke at a touch and her grey eyes opened and then smiled.  She
signed, "Party at 'Raelf's LH.  Wanna go?"

      Kron stretched his calves.  "That's where we were headed.  Hell of a
walk, though."  Jameson laughed out loud.

      "Failure to communicate, my lad," she grinned.  "She didn't ask if
we wanted to *come*."  There was a flash of light, starting at the red end
of the spectrum and sweeping through purple into the imperceptible.

      "She asked if we wanted to *go*."  The three took a step that
stretched somewhere between two feet and a parsec in length, and were
gone.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright 1993 by Phyllis L. Rostykus.  All rights, other than those
necessary for electronic distribution and archiving, reserved.

Dasham used with consultation with the Mage Guild Bunch.  Jameson was used
with permission from Kelly J. Cooper.  Kron used with permission from
HWRNMNBSOL.  And HWRNMNBSOL also wrote the very end of the piece.
-- 
Liralen Li           | "Looking down on empty streets, all she can see are
li@inigo.Data-IO.com |  the dreams all made solid, are the dreams made real."
aka Phyllis Rostykus |  - "Mercy Street" by Peter Gabriel