From: bshsiung@quip.eecs.umich.edu (Bernard Hsiung)
Subject: [MG] Fireworks and other's works

     The young mage stood on the barge in the middle of the river.  His
robes fluttered in a gentle breeze as he shaded his eyes to squint at
the sun, just starting to set.  Faint strains of music and the sound of
shouting, laughing voices were barely audible this far from the docks.
He looked at the shoreline, at the crowds by the water and in the tents,
then at the woman he held in his other arm.  "What'd you think, honey?"

     She giggled and snuggled against him.  "Thanks for getting me
assigned to this.  It was a lovely afternoon.  It's nice to be outside
the Guild once in a while."

     He took a deep breath of fresh air, and smiled.  "Yes, it is.
It was easy.  Don't tell anyone I said it, but Urcohea's an old softy,
really."

     The gravelly voice of Galpois, the Guild pyrotechnics expert, came
crashing upon them.  "Dieter!  Coral!  Come on, you lovebirds, give me
a hand with this, hey?"

     They walked to the other side of the barge, where Galpois was
unpacking the last of his crates of Roman candles and rockets, both
single- and multi-stage.  Galpois, an immensely broad man with a
flattened nose, smiled widely as they approached.  "We're going to
have quite the show tonight," he said.  "Leonaco's authorized me to
clean out the warehouse.  Help me get them set up on the racks."

     Other than the racks for the rockets, there were already several
braziers standing on deck filled with what looked like flash powders,
whizzle strips, and other peculiar concoctions.  A few of them burned
with flames of unnatural colors, and still others gave off clouds of
thick smoke.  These last ones were tended by Linrik, an illusion-master.

     The sunset gave way to twilight which turned into dusk as they
finished their preparations.  Galpois and Linrik talked about what
they had already planned out for the evening.  They were just about
to start the performance when a faint humming noise became apparent.

     They searched for the cause of the noise, Dieter drawing his wand
cautiously and moving it slowly in a circle.  It quivered as he pointed
it at one of the burning braziers.  Then, an unnatural wind lifted a
single wave that knocked that brazier over.  Linrik grabbed at it, but
missed, and its contents and the water sluiced into the barge's muddy
gutter.  A powerfully built blond-haired man who wasn't there seconds
before stepped carefully over, or perhaps out of, the newly-created
mess and grinned at the group of mages.

     "You're 'Raelf," Dieter said, reversing his wand and returning it
to its sheath.

     "Bingo, Dieter m'boy.  Right first time.  But you can call me
Ollex for now.  I'm here to help you out with the fireworks."

     "How do you know who I am?" Dieter asked.

     "Easy.  Records.  As part of my contracted investigations in the
Guild, I have partial clearance, so I've seen the Guild register."

     "The Guild register is huge!  We must have hundreds, if not
thousands, of mages on file."

     'Raelf, or Ollex, tapped his head and smirked irritatingly.  "I
have perfect memory, Coral, m'dear."

     "But we weren't expecting anyone else," Galpois protested.

     "Of course you weren't.  I'm here on my own time.  I'm doing this
out of the goodness of my heart.  And to make sure you get it exactly
right."  He waved a hand lazily at Linrik, who disappeared abruptly
with a popping noise.

     Dieter's hand dropped to his wand again as he stepped in front of
Coral.  "What happened to Linrik?" he said in a serious tone of voice.

     "Don't worry, kiddo, he's fine," he said, yawning.  "You Security
folks should relax more.  I put him back in the Guild.  You don't need
an illusion-master now that I'm here.  I can do that."

    "But Linrik was supposed to help me with the display tuning,"
Galpois protested.

     "You've got me."  Again the aggravating smirk.  "Whatever he can
do, I can do better.  And it'll be real.  Not illusion.  I do like
the real thing more, don't you?"

     Galpois grudgingly gave in, with the condition that if the work
was unsatisfactory, he would call Linrik back.  He sent up the first
few rockets, the ones to let the revellers know that the display was
starting, then the first starbursts.

     The blond man looked into the sky.  "That's not impressive
enough," he said.  He curled the fingers of his hand upwards like he
was grabbing something from below.  He made a twisting motion, and the
bloom of fire far above seemed to pause as if he had caught it in his
grip.  He spun his hand the other way, and it collapsed, then spiraled
outward an order of magnitude brighter than before.  "Much better."

     Galpois frowned slightly, but let it pass without comment.

     Much of the rest of the display was like that, his expansions and
improvements implemented without even bothering to consult Galpois
about had been planned.  Dieter had to admit that he was pretty good
and highly skilled too but, even so, he thought that perhaps the
fireworks might have been better yet had they worked out beforehand
what they had wanted done, together.

     Galpois appeared to grow ever more subtly annoyed as the display
proceeded, but he never seemed to quite reach the point where he felt
that he had any real complaints, since he didn't say anything.

     Eventually, they sent up the last set of rockets.  Ollex ended
the display with an air-splitting bang and an incredibly bright flash
of light that split the night wide open.

     Galpois appeared to have finally decided what to say and opened
his mouth to give him a piece of his mind.

     But Ollex grinned, smugly cat-like, and slowly began to fade out,
all of him except his smirk, which hung suspended in the air by itself.
He said "One last thing.  Remember this, Dieter m'lad:  it's more
important than you can possibly imagine.  Whatever you do, don't you
dare say the name `Mar'."  Then the smirk winked out and he was gone.

     Coral looked at Dieter with a puzzled expression.  "Now, what in
the world did he mean by that?"

     "I don't know," Dieter said, scratching his head.  "I've never
heard of anything or anyone named Mar."