From: li@Data-IO.COM (Phyllis Rostykus)
Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn
Subject: [AU] [MG] Hurry, Hurry, Hurry 'Til We're Done...
Keywords: Kardia, Andrea, Sheryl, Mrs. Cludne, Weaver's Guild.
Date: 11 May 93 00:05:26 GMT


        Kardia didn't see Jameson in the Guest Rooms hallway as she came 
out of her room, so she headed towards the main dome of the place.  As she 
headed there she stopped in the middle of the hallway and frowned.  The 
building, from the outside had resembled a giant beehive.  Inside, the 
entire beehive structure were the main rooms of the house.  There were no 
guest rooms from outside the building.  She sighed and kept going.

        The door back to the main building opened easily; and she found 
Jameson eating with ar'Elya and 'Raelf.  "Sorry I'm late," Kardia said as 
they looked up at her, "I had a little... uhm..." she chuckled, "trouble 
with dressing myself this morning..."  She held up the remainder of the 
skirt. 

        Jameson looked away with a smile on her face and ar'Elya laughed 
with Kardia.

        "What I don't get is this..." Kardia said as she walked up to the
table.  She showed them the packet of needles she'd already wrapped in her
scarf once and wrapped them again.  This time there was no surge.  "It's
really real..."

        'Raelf nodded, "It's got the matter to matter."  Kardia raised one
eyebrow and ar'Elya took a breath.  'Raelf went on, "The guest wing is run
by a reality processing unit, our kids invented it.  Unit handles the
furnishings and equipment for the guest wing.  Works on some of the same
principle as the lab, but better.  Takes your expectations as input, and
first builds a high-order illusion, then fills it in with a reality 'type.
Used to be, only a sapient could do that kind of work.  Anyway, if the
processor hadn't rewritten some virtual matter into 'em, the needles woulda
gone poof as well."

        "Fills them in with what?" asked Kardia.

        "'Life is complex...'" said Jameson with a small smile.

        Kardia looked at her blankly for split second, took a sharp breath
in and then at 'Raelf. "She's got it..." he said.

        "Oh." said Kardia, "Then what was the surge I felt when I wrapped
the needles the first time?"

        "The processing unit keeps a string on the things that it's built.
For recycling purposes.  Here... let me see that..."

        Kardia handed over the packet of needles.

        "Yup.  It's snapped."  'Raelf handed them back.

        "Oh... sorry about that." said Kardia.

        'Raelf thought a moment.  "It's probably best though, if you're set
to do your dispellings with 'em.  The ambient magical fields mighta messed
with your nettle cloth if the cloth was in the construction stages.  If you
like, I could make 'em for real for you in my shop upstairs, or you could
do like you did with this one and dispell the field.  But that whole basket
seems to have gotten enough reality put into 'em to stand up to your
cloth."

        Kardia looked at the basket, "How can I pay you back for them?"

        'Raelf smiled, "I'll charge the Mage Guild for 'em.  You'll be able
to use 'em for Dasham's curse, right?"

        Kardia smiled back and nodded.  "Right." she said and hugged the
basket for just a moment and then set it down next to the rest of her
stuff.  Then she joined them for breakfast.

                *               *               *

        After breakfast, she spoke with 'Raelf for a moment to setup a
meeting with him after she was done with Sheryl's cover so that they could
get started with Dasham's curse; and then with Jameson about Andrea's
housestorming and what her schedule was for the next three days.  'Raelf
then showed her how to operate the gate to the Mages' Guild.

        Kardia exited the Mage Guild with clean laundry and a light step.
She took one look backwards as she existed, still amazed by the insane
architecture.  She felt refreshed, renewed by her visit with her past.  It
had been the first completely dreamless nights sleep she'd had in some
time.  She still had an incredible sense of homesickness from all the tech
that had been missing from her life, but the rest had made things better.

        The walk to the Dragon's Inn was quick and easy.  She found Andrea
in the main taproom.  "Hiya, I thought about it some more, and it would be
easier for me to do the cursebreaking if I were staying near you two.
Would you have any problems putting me up in the Dragon's Inn for the three
nights?"

        "No, I don't have a problem with that," Andrea said.  "As a matter
of fact, I was rather expecting that you would be needing a place to work,
and I'm more than happy to pay for a room for you.  Gods, Kardia, you're
doing me the greatest favor anyone's ever done me in my entire life, and
you think I'd worry about pocket change?"

        Kardia laughed softly, "I guess I don't think of that as pocket
change, but, you're right.  Compared to your house..."  She grinned, "I'll
be back around noon, then, to take you up on that offer."  Kardia left with
a lighter heart.

                        *               *               *

        Mrs. Cludne's was cleaned up and the worst of the holes were
already fixed.  Kardia went in and looked around for the hostess, finally
finding her in the kitchen with a crowd of cookie hungry grandchildren.
"Hi."

        "Oh!"  Mrs. Cludne patted her flour covered hands and came over to
Kardia and gave the tall girl a hug.  "We were worried about you, girl.
Where were you?"

        "I was out, and by the time I realized what time it was, it was
late enough that my host thought it'd be safer for me to stay than to try
and walk across town."

        "Good for him."  Mrs. Cludne gave Kardia a wink.

        Kardia blushed at the wink, not quite knowing how to deny what Mrs.
Cludne might be implying without confirming it beyond all refute.  She just
gave up, knowing that the blush was incriminating as well.  Then she
realized that she now had a perfect excuse for leaving early, so she used
it shamelessly.  She batted her eyes at Mrs. Cluden and said, "Uhm... well.
I now have a place that I can stay, so I'll be moving out today instead of
at the end of the week.  I'm sorry that I am not able to stay with you
longer, the stay that I had was quite enjoyable..."

        Mrs Cludne patted Kardia's hand, leaving a faintly white mark.
"It's all right, dearie, with the poor hospitality that we've given you,
I'll be givin' your money back ta you... just a minute..."

        Kardia blinked in some confusion as Mrs. Cludne trotted off and
came back with the gold that Kardia had paid for the week.  The coins
clinked into Kardia's hand.  "But..."

        "But me no buts, girl.  You've been a pleasure and you did so much
of the entertaining and work during the storm time... Please do keep it."

        "I..." Kardia took a deep breath, "I would feel better at least
paying for the first night and the food that I did eat during the storm."
She looked up at the ceiling, "That must have taken some amount of money to
rebuild..."  She held out two of the five gold pieces.

        Mrs. Cludne smiled and took the money.  "Your things are back
here."  She walked Kardia over to a locked closet.

        Kardia laughed softly.  "It's been a pleasure doing business with
you, Mrs.  Cludne."  She carefully gathered the larger runsack, the harp
and case, the quiver and horsebow arrows.  She distributed about herself
and smiled to find it feeling lighter with her balance back.

        "Likewise, young lady.  Please do come back sometime."

        Kardia smiled at the hostess, "I will if I need to."  She bowed to
the older woman, and walked off toward the Weaver's Guild.

		*		*		*

        Davida, the tall brunette that Kardia had seen the first second day
that she'd been in Generica, was the one in the reception area.

        "Uhm... hi, I'm Joureyman Kardia Xvaramene...?" Kardia said,
somewhat hesitantly.

        "How may I help you?" asked Davida with no trace of recognition.

        "I'd like... uhm... I guess I'd like to register two contracts wtih
the Guild, so that they know what I'm doing."

        Davida pulled out a form and pulled out a pen and started filling
in the name section.

        "Uhm.  I can write." said Kardia, blushing.

        Davida gave Kardia a flat, tired smile and handed the form and pen
over to Kardia.  The form was labelled, and Kardia worked through it fairly
quickly for Sheryl's coverlet.  At the address of the employer, Davida
whistled softly, and then at the price Kardia was getting for the contract,
Davida blinked.  "You sure you have that right?" she asked Kardia.

        "Yes.  That's the price we agreed on, it's not only for the three
days' work, but the materials involved."  Kardia said absently as she
filled in the fact that she was going to be staying at the Dragon's Inn as
well.

        "Whooo..." said Davida softly, "Guess those adventurer types have
money to throw around."

        As Kardia put in what she was making, Davida choked on laughter, "A
unicorn cover?"  She paused and the next was said with the delicacy one
usually reserves for the insane.  "You are working for a beast?"

        "No, her sister."  Kardia said with a small smile. 

        "Oh."  Recognition dawned on Davida's face, "You're the one that
broke the table!"

        Kardia blinked in complete confusion, "Excuse me?"

        "Your tablecloth broke the Guild's table."  
        
        Kardia frowned and then sighed and relaxed, "I'm sorry, I just have
no idea what you're talking about..."

        "Come on... Lyra!!" Davida called into the Hall, a young girl with
brown hair popped out of the darkness, and cocked a head at the journeyman.
"Wouldja watch the front just for a little?  She's the one that made the
tablecloth... I wanna show her what happened."  The youngling turned wide
eyes in Kardia and gulped as she nodded.

        Kardia followed Davida's long stride with a sense of forboding.  It
felt strange to be walking inside with all her things; and then she
realized the strangeness was more because she was walking so easily and
quickly.  The speed wasn't much more, but it felt good.  By the time they
reached the Dining Hall, she realized that there were quite a few people in
the Weavers' Guild, far more than she had seen the first time she was
there.  The work Hall was filled with people at various pieces of
equipment.  The Dining Hall had at least a dozen folks just working in the
kitchen next to it.  Kardia revised her estimate to at least a hundred if
not that much again through the whole, rambling building.

        Davida pivoted neatly to a standstill next to a huge oak table that
was resting on the ground.  One of the legs was pulverized, the other three
looked as if they'd broken off when the one leg gave way.  "See?"

        "What did my tablecloth have to do with this?" asked Kardia.

        "When Master Torre," Kardia had to think and realized Davida was
speaking of Annie, "and Cassie spread the cloth on the table, that leg
broke." 

        "Wait, you're talking about the lace tablecloth, right?"  Davida
nodded.  Kardia continued in bewilderment, "How could *that* be heavy
enough to do this?"

        Davida's closed hostility broke on her laughter.  "You really don't
know, do you?"

        "Uhm... no, I guess not."

        "A hedge wizard came in and fixed that leg..."

        Kardia interrupted, "A *wizard* fixed the table?"  Comprehension
dawned on her face, "Oh..."  She sighed and then looked at Davida, and
asked with some asperity, "Magic here is as cheap and easy as a meal?"

        Davida nodded.

        "Oh, no... but..." Kardia wrinkled her nose in confusion again, "I
didn't..."  She stood there and thought.

        Davida coughed lightly, startling Kardia out of her thoughts,
"What?  Didn't what?"

        Kardia's expression cleared, "I didn't know that magic was so
common in Generica.  Out where I come from, there isn't that much of it so
it's expensive and rare.  I mean... folks out on the farm wouldn't dream of
fixing a table or a chair with magic."

        "Ha!" crowed Davida, "I knew it!  Your work does dispell magic!  I
told Annie.  How do you do it?"

        Kardia blinked in the face of the celebration and shrugged, "I just
spin and knit or weave something with a variety of stinging nettle that's
been dried and retted like flax.  I observe a vow of silence while I do it,
and it seems to work.  What puzzles me is that I wasn't in a vow of silence
when I made that tablecloth, though I was silent during a lot of it.  I am
now wondering if parts of it work for draining magic and if other parts
don't or if it's a restriction that I don't need to do anymore."

        Davida's face fell, "But anyone can do stinging nettle cloth, it's
just too work intensive for production, especially since it can't be done
by mechanical or magical mass production techniques.   Besides, it's a pain
to work and with the finer varieties of flax that are appearing..." she
shrugged, "There is no need for it.  But I do know of some pieces folks
have made for curiousity's sake, but no other pieces I know have your 
pieces' properties, though."

        "Mass production?" asked Kardia, feeling a little bit like
confusion was a common affliction today.

        "Uhm... forgot, you're from those backwards lands..." Davida said
with obvious pride in her Guild, "Mass production is when..."

        "I know what mass production is." said Kardia, cutting Davida off,
and gritting her teeth.  "I just didn't know that it could be driven by
magic."

        Davida sniffed, "I guess that you don't know everything about mass
production, then."  
        
        Kardia sighed and rubbed both eyes with the heels of her hands.  "I
don't believe this..." she muttered to herself.

        When she looked up she found Davida gone and Peter looking at her.
She turned on her left foot to look to see where Davida had gone and saw
her leaving into the Hall.

        "Journeyman." said Peter.

        "Yes, sir?"  At the tone, Kardia came around smartly.

        "Why did you not tell us about the magical capabilities of your
work?"  Kardia could read nothing into Peter's tone.

        "Uhm... I didn't think that the pieces that I sold you had those
properties, actually.  I hadn't taken all the precautions I thought I
needed to take in order to inbue them with those capabilities."

        "Did you know that such garments might actually be dangerous to
some of our clientele?"  This time Peter's tone left no doubt as to his
disapproval. 

        "No, sir.  I was just explaining to Journeyman... uhm... Davida,
that magic isn't nearly as common where I'm from and so I hadn't even
thought it would be a problem.  Just as I hadn't thought that they could do
what they did..."  Kardia sighed.  "I'm sorry.  That's the explanation, but
I guess that's no excuse.  Did..." she swallowed her dread, "did anyone get
hurt?"

        Peter looked her in the face, studying her for a long moment.  Then
the seriousness on his face broke as he grinned a wry grin.  "No one was
hurt, but Lady Ellen got a rather rude awakening the morning she tried on
her new vest.  The beauty spells she'd paid for were... well..."

	Kardia gaped, "Beauty spells?... Oh, dear..." she said helplessly.

	Peter nodded with a very long face, "Yes, indeed.  A serious matter
indeed."  At Kardia's incredulous look, Peter broke into laughter and shook
his head, "We're just going to have to be careful who we sell your work to,
now."  The smile turned warm, "There have been some who have gotten
interested in the magical protection they might provide, so we can give you
a better margin on them.  If you'd told us about that to begin with we
could probably have advanced you not only money but extra work.  You might
want to register you skills with the Mage Guild as well."

	Kardia nodded, "I've sorta done so... that's the second contract
that I wanted to register here, it's through one of the Mage Guild members
and for a curse lifting as well as the lace work...."

	"Pity..." said Peter and then shook his head.

	"whatj, sir?"

	He was silent for a while, and then smiled, "A pity that the
magical draining characteristic is the main property our new buyers are
looking at in those pieces.  They don't have an inkling as to the
workmanship that went into them.  Just seems a pity..."  Peter shook his
head, "Well, the Guild makes its money where it can.  Shall we get your
other job registered?"

	Kardia grinned, "Yes, please, and, Sir,... as to the other... I
guess knowing that folks like you and Master Annie who know your stuff
admiring what I do is more than adequate appreciation for me.  They don't
know what they're looking at, so it... well... I guess it doesn't matter,
does it?"

	Peter looked at her again with the apraising look then smiled, "No,
I guess it doesn't."

-----

[ADMIN: Thanks to Hutch for his help with 'Raelf's conversation, and there
may be other details as to the breakfast after the night of the Archmage's
meeting, but I'm trying to catch up with Chris Meadows and Andrea and
Sheryl.  WHEW!  They run too fast...  Grin...]
-- 
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