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From: li@Data-IO.COM (Phyllis Rostykus)
Subject: [MG] Lunch Break
Message-ID: <1993Oct12.172819.1727@data-io.com>
Sender: news@data-io.com (The News)
Organization: Data I/O Corporation
Date: Tue, 12 Oct 1993 17:28:19 GMT
Lines: 379

[ADMIN:  This is before the [LH] party and comes just before Kelly J's
"Slow Walking".]


      "All I can say's
       that my life is pretty plain..."
      	    	  	- Blind Melon


      Kardia sat on the edge of a fountain in the Arcade of Fountains
and basked in the sunshine.  The coldness from Dasham's windowless
room was gently baked out of Kardia's body by the clear early fall
sun.  The fitting hadn't been that long; but it had been detailed.
After the initial moments of fretting, Dasham had settled down and
shown Kardia exactly what had made her an Arch Mage.  The woman knew
magic, inside and out, as she lived and breathed, and had shown Kardia
not only a meticulous attention to detail, but the imagination of an
innovator as she worked with Kardia on the design.  But Dasham had
also coupled all that with an unforgiving perfectionism and the
all-pervading aura of her fear and pain at her aging.  Kardia closed
her eyes and listened to the sounds of dancing water all around her,
to the steady sounds of Jameson's breathing, and finally relaxed.

      She smiled a small smile.  Not really knowing why she was
suddenly happy.  The job with Dasham a tough one, made tougher by the
Arch Mage's attitude.  Jameson looked like something had chewed her
up, spit her out and never looked back.  But the Walker looked a lot
healthier than when Kardia had gone out to visit her on the rock by
the ocean, and the job for Dasham was definitely going well.  And,
Kardia thought, the sun felt very good.

      So she simply relaxed on the warm stone until she was touched on
the shoulder.  Kardia opened her eyes and watched as Jameson wrote,
"Where?" on the wax tablet that hung from Kardia's waist.

      Kardia picked up the tablet and wrote, "Ale House?"

      Jameson's head tilted to one side, pensively.

      Kardia wrote, "We'll go slow."  Then Sceadu rose from the angle
between the pavement and the edge of a Fountain, and the pony sized,
black Hound with flame red eyes shook himself like any ordinary dog
after a long wait.  He yawned a yawn that showed white teeth, and two
people walked over to the other side of the road.

      Jameson smiled, a slow dawning smile, and nodded once.


      	    *	  	      *	    	  	*     	       *


      Out at the edge of town there was a house.  An unpretentious
sort of place, built into the side of a hill.  It was at the end of
the docks, at the foot of Merchant's Hill.  A sign before it read,
'Ale House'.

      They walked into the cool darkness of the building, through the
Merchant's Hill entrance.  After the brightness of the noon sun,
Kardia flicked reflexively to low-light the split second she crossed
the threshold.  A hard muscled woman stood behind a maitre d's podium
and looked back at Kardia, Jameson and Sceadu, sizing them up.  The
woman was beautiful in the way a panther was beautiful, all fluid
grace.  Her short black hair was cut to emphasize her high cheekbones
and she moved like a fighter; but she was dressed in a black dress cut
to reveal every muscle in her body.  Her eyes were the color of
autumn, a kind of multi-colored hazel with flecks of green, gold, and
brown.  The woman bowed to them after Kardia paused the normal moment
that most folks would have had to pause to adjust to the dimness.

      "Two for lunch?" she asked.

      Kardia nodded.

      "Gaming or not?"

      Kardia shook her head.

      The woman smiled, bowed her head just a touch and said, "Please
follow me."  She led them down a hallway, towards the scent of seafood
and garlic and gently browned butter and the sea-like sound of the
murmuring of a crowd.  The sound of their steps was muffled by a thick
carpet that lay the length of the hallway.

      The front room was a gaming area.  Glancing back, Kardia noticed
that there was a man sitting next to the doorway that they had just
entered, dressed as well as anyone in the room; but with a build as
carved as the woman's.  

      An empty stage stood at the far end with a number of dining
tables clustered about a dance floor.  The opposite wall was a
beautifully stocked bar.  The gaming tables were full and small carts
roamed between them, and the air was filled with the scent of steamed
delicacies.  Kardia blinked as she recognized the scent of various
kinds of dim sum.

      They went through the game room, into a hallway that led into a
dining room, filled with people.  All kinds of people.  There were
sailors alongside merchants, and shaggy and slightly ragged Low
Towners in their patched best sitting with laughing men and women that
were beautiful in a way that drew the eye.  The place was well lit,
roomy, and the wait people were gorgeous.

      There were glances in Kardia and Jameson's direction.  Soft
murmurs rose from other tables.  "Pants?" Kardia heard.  A scandalized
glance and a giggle, and Kardia felt her back stiffening under the
looks.  A few steps into the room, and then all glances moved behind
Kardia, and she allowed herself to relax just a touch even as the
murmuring swelled a bit.  The sound of Sceadu's chain was odd in
contrast with the murmur of voices.  Cutting through the soft buzz of
gossip came a high-pitched yelp.  Kardia turned around to see Jameson
removing her heavy fighting staff from the delicate foot of a somewhat
attractive woman and making apologetic noises.  The woman's face was
tied in a pout that deepened with a touch of fear as she rubbed her
toes and stared after them.  Jameson met Kardia's look with a neutral
expression of innocence.

      The maitre d' led them to a partitioned booth, upholstered in a
thick, dense fabric, comfortable to sit on; and left their menus and
handed Kardia the wine list.  Kardia slid into one side, Jameson slid
in on the other with a soft sigh.  Kardia saw Jameson's face blank
just for a moment when the Walker's elbow accidently banged the edge
of the table between them.  The weaver reached out slender fingers to
touch Jameson's arm.  Kardia saw the green eyes finally focus and then
flick to look at her.  Whatever Jameson's eyes saw melted the
stillness and she smiled warmly back.

      Kardia sighed and put her wax tablet up on the table.  Then,
remembering her exchange with ar'Elya, Kardia made an o.k. sign and
then a question mark in the air between them.  Jameson nodded and, at
Kardia's raised eyebrow, chuckled and picked up her menu.  Kardia
heard Sceadu's canine sigh and the thump of his weight on the floor.

      So she picked up her menu and found her eyebrow raised again.
When ar'Elya had recommended this place, the 'kan had said that the
food was good and the company excellent.  She hadn't said that the
menu would be in another language.  Luckily, most of the entrees had
thorough explanations of their origins and ingredients.  Most of them
looked French to Kardia, or at least something that approximated the
same kind of Mediterranean style, with a generous scattering of
seafood because of the local port.  There was also a 'soup bone'
listed on the side dishes and a small note that it would delight ones
canine friend.

      She wrote, "What are you getting?" on the tablet, as she frowned
some more at the menu and passed the tablet to Jameson.  The former
straightened from where she had been achieving Sceadu's eternal
loyalty by scritching the itchy place on his back at base of his tail
and wrote in large letters "VEGETABLES.  LOTS."  At Kardia's stifled
giggle and raised eyebrow, Jameson erased the pad and wrote a bit
smaller -- "Protein doesn't usually interest me.  I have my own, made
for my body.  But I can never get enough vitamins/minerals/crunchy."
She slid the tablet back to Kardia, but managed to only make her laugh
harder.  Jameson shrugged and rested her cheek on her fist, while
sketching a question mark in the air with her other hand.

       At this Kardia frowned slightly and shook her head in
bewilderment, then she squinted her eyes and thought.  Her right hand
moved.  She waved her three middle fingers in the air, spread, and
then brought the index finger down horizontal, curled her smaller
fingers and pointed her thumb after the index.  Then a fist with the
thumb at the side, a small pause and the thumb was placed between the
index and and middle finger.

     Jameson perked up and her right hand flashed into a blur of
signs.  Kardia laughed, put both hands up at shoulder level, palms
toward Jameson and patted the air in a more universal, 'Slow Down!'
sign.

     Jameson nodded, and then echoed Kardia's 'What', added a flick of
the index finger, a fist with the thumb over the fingers, making it
into a 'What's' and then pointed up.

     Kardia blinked, blanked, and then grinned and threw her arms out
wide.

     The waiter said, "OOOooff."

     Kardia jumped and put her hand before her mouth; and then
scrambled for the tablet.  She blushed bright red.

     Jameson dipolmatically looked at her menu and then gave up and
patted the gorgeous waiter on the back as he gasped for air.  He was
nearly as bright red as Kardia.  By the time he had caught his breath,
Kardia had managed to erase her board and write, 'Sorry.' on it.  The
waiter picked it up, looked at it, and said, "I'm sorry, Ma'am.  I
should have warned you I was there." and then gave the tablet another
blank look.  He squinted at it, blinked and then chuckled and nodded,
"S'all right, ma'am.  The Lady keeps tellin' me that I move a bit more
quiet than right, sometimes."  He sighed and then straightened and
gathered himself to his full height.  His voice changed, deepened, "My
name is Danio, and I am your waiter for this afternoon..."

      Kardia watched him with just a touch of awe as he rattled off
the Specials for the Day.  Danio was a bit over 6'6", slender without
being skinny, crisp black hair cut short and cleanly, and he was clean
shaven.  His eyes were an intriguing shade of blue, a blue as dark as
mid-ocean.  And as he turned his hair sheened, slightly irridescent in
the light of the House.

      "What do you have as far as vegetables?" Jameson asked.

      He thought for a moment, brow wrinkling just a touch, and then
he smiled, "The Legumes Rotis ou Grilles.  They're carrots, potatoes.
onions, red bell pepper, green bell pepper, garlic cloves, three kinds
of squash, asparagus and mushrooms grilled over our own open grills,
brushed with olive oil and seasoned with salt and five kinds of
pepper.  They're served with a lightly buttered rice and go very well
with a fairly young Zinfindel."

      Jameson leaned against her fist and frowned at the menu for a
moment and then closed it and nodded.  "Sounds good.  Could you leave
out the red and green peppers?"  At Danio's nod, she thanked him.

      "And you, ma'am?"  Danio asked Kardia.

      Kardia opened the menu and pointed.  He gracefully bent to read
what her fingertip was on and smiled, "Excellent choice.  The
Aubergines Farcies a la Provencal.  The eggplant just came in today.
What would you like to drink?"

      Kardia pointed at Jameson's wine glass.  

      The waiter frowned, "I'm sorry.  Could you just tell me?"

      Kardia sighed and shook her head.  She pointed at her mouth and
waved one finger side to side at the waiter.  He laughed and then
sobered, "You cannot speak?"

      Kardia hesitated a moment and then nodded while waggling her
hand a bit.

      "Sort of?"  She nodded.

      "Hmmm... so how do we figure out what you want?"  Kardia grinned
and pointed at Jameson's wine glass again.  "Oh... what she's
drinking?"

      Kardia nodded and smiled.
      
      He returned the smile.  "Thank you."  He bent his head to write
down their order.  The tip of his tongue showed at the corner of his
mouth as he frowned at his writing.  There was the sound of chain, and
Danio jumped nearly half a foot into the air.  He peered at Kardia and
Jameson's feet and blinked.  "Oh." he said, and red eyes peered back
at him.  "Would...  would you like," he gulped, "something for your
dog, ma'am?"  He looked from Jameson to Kardia.  Kardia blinked and
then opened the menu to the Appetizers, and pointed at the bone.
"Ah." said Danio and scribbled quickly.  And then, a touch wistfully
he asked, "Is he friendly?"  Kardia blinked at the question and
shrugged.  The waiter put his hand before the big, black nose, which
sniffed carefully, and the huge black head lowered with a sigh when
Danio petted the wide head.  When Danio was done he deftly gathered up
the menus, and exited more gracefully than he had entered.

      WOW, signed Kardia and sighed.  Jameson smiled and nodded just a
touch and then tilted her head to look at Kardia.

      Kardia picked up the tablet and stylus.  "Faster this way." she
wrote, the tablet sideways so that Jameson could read it.  "Life's...
O.K. /Dash's bitchy/2B Xpected, but.../" she paused and then
continued, frowning, "sorry 4 her."  At Jameson's nod Kardia sighed
and erased the board.

      Jameson wrote in the air.  Kardia blinked and swapped to
infrared, idly wondering if she'd get a heat signature.  The words,
"Can you read this?" glowed in perfectly square lettering.  Kardia
nodded and then blinked and scribbled, "Backwards??!" on her tablet.
Jameson smiled her secret smile and nodded once.

      Kardia laughed with delight and then wrote, "Sorry 4 her/ so
want to do curse./ but sometimes hard/ All that yelling."  Kardia
wrinkled her nose as she erased.  "Wants All Just So." she looked just
a little sad at that, "mistakes upset her/so she upsets everyone."
Kardia frowned at the 'one' that cramped into the corner but at
Jameson's nod, she grinned and erased it all.

      "Good pay./Inner'estin'/Nice others."  

      "Who have you seen?" wrote Jameson.

      "Not many/Room no doors/bad light/But Cafeteria."
      "Bad food/but nice Rivy/cool kids/fun pranks."
      "Frogs a big/joke there/Big pressure."

      "Pressure for what?"

      "To achieve/Do Well/Make Town Proud/such like" Kardia frowned,
erased, "Trappish for/those w/ little/political savvy"  She shook her
hand out, gently, and the two sat back.

      The soft, liquid sound of a throat being gently cleared made
Kardia turn to look.  Her eyes widened at seeing the green clad,
voluptuous woman that stood as the source of the sound.  A soft hiss
against the background noise of the roomful of people, and half-lidded
eyes were veiled in pungent smoke.  "Many an organization the size of
the Mages' Guild could be considered... trappish... for those without
the political savvy to keep their place."  The woman's voice was rich,
smooth, almost hypnotic.  "Welcome to Ale House, Kardia Weaver," Lady
Ale paused and then smiled at Jameson, "Jameson Walker.  I am glad
that you took ar'Elya up on her offer."

      Kardia nodded to her and then signed, "Thank you."

      The edge of Lady Ale's blood red lips curled up in the faintest
of smiles, "Enjoy."  

      Kardia felt herself blushing as she watched Lady Ale leave, not
really knowing why.

      Jameson's finger traced, "WOW" so that it glowed in the air.

      Kardia nodded, took a breath, and then a sip of her water.

      Lunch arrived.  Danio served them deftly and silently.  Sceadu's
head went up when the waiter placed his bone in front of him.  The
bone was nearly a foot in length, large knobs of cartilage still on
it.  The red eyes looked at the waiter and then at Kardia, and then
far more delicately than Kardia had ever expected, the shadow dog took
the bone in its teeth.  There was a crunch and crackle, and the bone
was neatly without one of the knobs.  The sound of the chewing drew
glances, but no whispering.

      The food was so good, neither Kardia nor Jameson spoke much.
The eggplant had been baked to soft perfection, stuffed with a variety
of vegetables and pine nuts, topped with bread crumbs and parmesan and
then dalloped with herbed Creme Fraiche.  She traded half an eggplant
for several chunks of zucchini and sweet mushrooms from Jameson's
plate.  They were done to perfection, cooked but still firm in texture
and spicy with the seasonings.  Patient and steady crunching sounds
emerged from under the table.

      When they were finished with their main courses a dessert tray
appeared and selections duly made, the desserts were served with hot
coffee and rich cocoa and enjoyed with various sounds of happiness as
Sceadu cleaned himself up after his feast.

      Finally, Kardia sat back and smiled and gently patted her
stomach.  "Good", she signed and happily sighed.  

      Jameson nodded and sat back.  

      The waiter appeared with the check, and Kardia leaned forward
and snagged it.  She checked it, and then pulled gold out of a pouch
at her waist.  

      "Dash pays well." she signed at Jameson with a half smile.

      After a suitable tip was left and the last of the coffee and
cocoa was drunk, Kardia smiled and signed, "Shall we?"  Sceadu sighed
and with a final lick, stood up.  He shook to a singing of chain and
then walked after them, the floor creaking just a bit with his weight.

      They left through a different door than the one that they'd come
in, and saw Lady Ale working one of the gaming tables and laughing as
she bantered with her customers.  

      Kardia signed, "Thank you."  

      Jameson bowed in the direction of the Lady and received a smile
that had both of them smiling as they left.  

--------------------------------------------------------------------------      
Copyright 1993 by Phyllis L. Rostykus
Lady Ale and the Ale House are the copyrighted creations of Penny Hutchison.
Jameson Walker is the copyrighted creation of Kelly J. Cooper.  All were
used with their creators' consent.

And, actually, while it was written by me, Penny told me about the interior
a the menu and Kelly did all the writing of Jameson's actions.

-----
Kelly J. Cooper
Writer for Jameson W. Walker
Contact for the Generican Mage Guild
kjc@cs.rutgers.edu
-- 
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