Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn Path: netcom.com!netcomsv!decwrl!uunet!pilchuck!li From: li@Data-IO.COM (Phyllis Rostykus) Subject: [MG] An Interlude for a Latte Message-ID: <1993Oct5.180614.14885@data-io.com> Sender: news@data-io.com (The News) Organization: Data I/O Corporation Date: Tue, 5 Oct 1993 18:06:14 GMT Lines: 124 ADMIN: Written by Penny Hutchison and modified by me. =========================================================================== Kardia was sitting in one of her favorite spots in the Lighthouse. The chair was large, deep and soft, but not _too_ large, _too_ deep or _too_ soft. And the chair was positioned in front of the huge picture window, which allowed her an incomparable view of ocean and sky. Her work was spilled across her lap in a translucent cloud of white. The bright sunshine made the work easy to see against the brown of her hands, and she watched the sea as she put stitch after stitch after stitch into her work. Her movements as steady as the surf that pounded the shore. The work was going well, faster than she had originally planned; but Dasham's aging had made it easier for Kardia to work longer hours than she had originally planned. It was strange to see the Arch Mage's pain. The sound of ice clinking in a glass drew her attention away from the view and her work. Turning, she saw ar'Elya in her neutral form, bringing in two tall, cool-looking glasses filled with a light-brown liquid. She sat up at the sight and grinned at ar'Elya. "Please forgive my intrusion, but I thought you could use some refreshment now, and I need to talk to you." ar'Elya handed her one of the glasses, and, sitting in a neighboring chair, sipped at the other one. Kardia took it, the ice cool against her work warmed hands, and cocked her head at ar'Elya in question. "You liked the coffee on the camping trip so much, I decided we needed an espresso machine in the kitchen. I hope you like this. It's iced latte with a healthy shot of Bailey's Irish Cream. You may have heard that we've recently put in a wine cellar, so I thought I'd put some of its contents to good use. Cheers!" Kardia raised her glass to ar'Elya, took a sip and hummed her delight. She drank deep. They sat in companionable silence for a time, while Kardia had fun imagining what her system thought of having caffeine, alcohol and chocolate duking it out all at once. Sceadu, who had been at her feet all along, heaved a peculiarly doggish sigh as his head sunk down upon his paws. At the sigh, ar'Elya smiled and a great white dire wolf padded into the room and stood with cocked head by Kardia's chair. Sceadu scrambled to his feet in a snort of surprise. The white wolf softly sing-songed an almost-snarl into a greeting. Sceadu's ears, which had been lain back flat at the entrance of the wolf pricked forward. The large black nose snuffled the air and Sceadu cocked his black head. The black smoke plume of a tail suddenly raised and waved tentatively in the air. The white tail raised and matched. Critter, the white direwolf leaped into a play bow to the black dog, and Sceadu followed suite. The two canines whirled off in a black and white cloud of exuberance. Kardia watched wide eyed, and then laughed with ar'Elya. The wolf and hound stopped just a moment at the sound and then whirled off again. Then ar'Elya spoke again. "I thought you might like sitting in on the bedtime stories I've been telling Little Rat and Kev in the evenings." Kardia's eyes widened just a touch and then she nodded. "I thought this would be the most painless way to let them know about my other selves. They've already had visits from Leah, Errol... by the way, have you met him?" Kardia shook her head. Ar'Elya nodded and continued, "Sister El'n and Father Howard. I'm having some trouble deciding who should be next. A'ree will be teaching the Rat how to become a warrior, as she requested. H'ro could come, but he might be a bit too scary for Little Rat right now." Kardia laughed softly at the last, wondering who could actually frightened that tough little girl. She quieted with a frown, knowing that there must have been some. The two canines ran through, the thunder of their paws causing Kardia to blink a bit, ar'Elya didn't seem to notice. "There is Lady Ale, but she's so disruptive and unpredictable, and her story isn't exactly restful. Then there's Ilya." Kardia raised one eyebrow in question. "No, you haven't met him yet, but you probably will at one of the meals. He's as used to solitude as the Father, but for different reasons. If you have any preference for any of their stories, please let me know." Kardia frowned in thought and startled at the next sentence. "No, you won't have to break your silence. I know we can communicate better than that." Kardia laughed softly with ar'Elya. Kardia's right hand came up and she made a fist with the pinky out. A small pause then she put the pinky back in and put her index finger at a right angle to her thumb and held that for a moment. She curled up the three center fingers into a fist, and showed the pinky and thumb. Finally she ended with a fist with her thumb on the side. Kardia smiled brightly in question at ar'Elya. ar'Elya smiled back and made a ring of her thumb and index finger and the three other fingers out. Then, far more quickly than Kardia had signed, ar'Elya's fingers flicked out the same word Kardia had signed and then a pinky, then a fist with a thumb between the index and middle fingers, a flick of the index finger, two right angles of index and thumb, and a pause. Then a flat palm with the thumb crooked into the palm, and a then all the fingers and the thumb clenched like a claw. Kardia laughed softly and nodded with a smile. Critter and Sceadu came back in, at a slower pace, this time, and with pink tongues lolling. Sceadu folded long, black legs to lie down again at Kardia's feet. Critter reached down and bit him gently on the top of his nose, and he licked her under her chin. Satisfied, Critter wandered off. Sceadu grinned a white toothed grin. ar'Elya got up to go, and patted Sceadu on his broad, black head. "There's more latte in the kitchen, or anything else you want. Thank you for choosing to be here, you bring a blessing of quiet and peace with you, whether you speak or not." She then surprised Kardia by bending over and giving her a quick, light kiss on her forehead before she walked away. As if in automatic reaction, Kardia touched the kissed spot with her hand, then looked at her fingers. Was that a sparkle or a trick of the light? She smiled and went back to work. -- Liralen Li | "Remember, science is talking about the universe in a li@inigo.Data-IO.com | way you can understand it, magic is talking to the aka Phyllis Rostykus | universe in a way it can't resist hearing." Carl Rigney