From alt.pub.dragons-inn Sat Dec 24 11:00:03 1994 Xref: netcom.com alt.pub.dragons-inn:8008 Path: netcom.com!csus.edu!news.ucdavis.edu!agate!spool.mu.edu!uwm.edu!psuvax1!news.cc.swarthmore.edu!netnews.upenn.edu!blue.seas.upenn.edu!schimmel From: schimmel@blue.seas.upenn.edu (Scott Schimmel) Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn Subject: Re: [Flowers] in the inn Date: 19 Dec 1994 00:55:15 GMT Organization: University of Pennsylvania Lines: 32 Distribution: world Message-ID: <3d2llj$mks@netnews.upenn.edu> References: <3d0tsr$ilp@gandalf.rutgers.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: blue.seas.upenn.edu X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL2-upenn1.1] The legends tell that Vanda Bushfield once wrote: : She sighed and jumped down from her : chair to walk over and pick up the black rose that seemed to have fallen : on her neighbor's table. She never glanced at the table's occupant as : she reached for the flower, "That's odd," she thought "I've never seen : a BLACK rose before." The sight of a tiny hand reaching toward the black blossom turned Alaric's thoughts away from the service at the Inn (unusually slow this night, it seemed). He raised an eyebrow as he gazed at the possessor of the limb. She was small compared to him. If she had been human, he might have put her age at eleven or twelve. But she was not human. Her skin was almost unnaturally pale, her hair silver, though it was apparent that she was not old--at least, not in the mortal way. Her eyes appeared cloudy to him... He couldn't tell... and she was wrapped in a forest-green cloak that was a little too large, and dripping. He hadn't noticed the storm starting... ... but she was drenched. The elves he had seen here were twice her size. He could ask, but if she was a faerie, he could never be sure that the answer she'd given him was the truth. He suddenly realized that there was a more important matter. "What _are_ you doing?" he asked her, curiosity evident in his voice... +---------------------------------+--------------------------------------+ |* Alaric Morgannan, Gleeman *| "The Night is my companion, and | +---------------------------------+ Solitude my guide; I could spend | |* "Ex ignorantia ad sapientium; *| Forever here and not be satisfied." | |* Ex luce ad tenebras." *| -S. Mclachlan | +---------------------------------+--------------------------------------+