Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn
From: hutch@ibeam.intel.com (Steve Hutchison)
Subject: [AU] [Kardia] My Dinner with Andrea
Date: Thu, 1 Apr 1993 21:29:22 GMT


[ADMIN]  This is posted for Liralen Li.  Most of it is hers, but I added
my own dialogue for 'Raelf at her request.  Stuff in between the stars
belongs to Chris Meadows.  Mine you have to guess at.

Sorry, Li, the title was just too hard to resist ;=}

---------------

        Kardia limped away from the Weaver's Guild, and looked up at the
sky.  The sun had slipped down near the horizon, and she realized that she
had missed the noon meal.  It would still be a while until dinner at Mrs.
Cludne's.  For a moment, she thought about going to the restaurant she had
found on the Hill, but then shook her head.  Where was it the guard had
spoken of?  Oh... yes... the Dragon's Inn.

        She got back onto Dragon's Lane and headed back toward the gate she
came in on, and at seeing the Plaza, she looked for the corners and spotted
the Inn and a large cat man walking in.  Intrigued, she quietly pushed her
way into the Inn.

        The first thing she noticed when in was the music coming from above
her... She looked up and was shocked for a moment, thinking it was Alister
so confidently and easily perched up among the beams of the place.  His
slender legs stretched along the joists and his pale hair brushing the
roof.  She looked a little closer and realized that his hair was not the
silver white that Alister's was, instead, a creamier ivory.  She saw his
eyes and they were as pale as Alister's had been dark.  She shivered and
realized that she hadn't met enough elves, yet, if almost everyone reminded
her still of Alister.

        She swallowed, realizing why she had thought as she had thought,
the sweet singing voice was so like to almost be a twin.  Confident and
clear, and about the magic of music.  Kardia suddenly blushed as she
realized that he had focussed on her entrance and her face; and she
wondered, a moment, if the stranger elf might have read her longing.  She
looked down, hurredly, and looked for a table.

        There were few empty tables, one was one away from the fireplace.
A woman with an olive colored complexion was seated at the one by the
fireplace, and the cat man was talking with her.   Kardia's attention was
caught by a small white creature also at the table, which was gazing,
longingly at the bard in the rafters.  She blinked again.  It was a
unicorn.  A small unicorn, to be sure, but, nonetheless, a unicorn.  She
drew a deep breath in, and then let it out again, slowly.

        She went and took a seat at the empty table, and when the barmaid
came up, with a baby in a sling across her chest.  The barmaid smiled,
"You look as if you could use a warm bit of cider and a hot dinner."

        Kardia smiled in response to the warmth in the smile she was given,
"Yes, please." she said quietly, "What are you serving?"

        "How about roast turkey with fixin's and a salad?"

        "Salad?" blinked Kardia in confusion.  Fresh vegetables in this
technological level.  Hmm... why look a gift horse... "Yes, I'd love a
salad."  As the barmaid bustled off, Kardia looked after her with amazement
and shook her head at the food choices.

        Carefully, Kardia shrugged out of her gear, and laid the box on the
table, the bag she hooked around her ankle and the staff she leaned against
the wall.  She sighed for a moment, just sitting on the bench, and then
turned herself so that she could at least lean her tired body against the
wall and see what the patrons of the place looked like.  Her hand hesitated
near the harp box and then dropped.  She was tired enough that it would
probably sound awful.  Kardia closed her eyes for a moment, just resting.

        "Honey..." and a gentle hand on her shoulder.  "Your food's done."

        Kardia sighed and opened her eyes, amused that she had remained
seated even while sleeping.  The barmaid shook her head at her,
"Adventurers, never getting enough sleep.  You should take care of
yourself..."  Kardia grinned at the tone and ducked her head.  The platter
that the barmaid carried smelled delicious.  "Thank you..." Kardia said and
looked a little lost as she suddenly realized she didn't know the barmaid's
name.

        "Serene.  I'm Serene." the barmaid said with a chuckle.

        "You certainly are, taking to sleeping patrons so easily." Kardia
said slightly ruefully, "I'm Kardia.  Thank you, Serene for the waking."

        Serene nodded and went on her busy way.

        At that point, Kardia was slightly startled at the appearance of
glowing sphere of colors and lights.  There were two more people at the
table next to hers, far more formally attired than anyone else in the
place.  A young blond man was looking intently at the sphere, as was the
olive skinned girl and the unicorn.  The woman and the cat being went off,
together to the dance floor.

        Kardia dug into her dinner, sipping the hot cider and curiously
watching and listening to the conversation that went on before her.

                    *              *             *

        While Andrea told her tale, Kardia listened quietly, her eyes
narrowing just a touch at the tale of the transformation.  She ate her
meal quickly and neatly as she listened, paying more attention to her food
with her eyes than she probably would have been doing if she hadn't been
listening.

	At one point, she started studying the little unicorn and she
frowned a little at what she saw.

	She finished her meal about the same time Andrea finished her tale
and the other table turned to other talk.  For a moment Kardia simply sat,
frowning to herself.  Then she smiled a crooked smile, took a deep breath,
gathered her belongings and got up.  She sighed at how stiff her body was
after the workout of the day and her left ankle, calf, and leg were
horrendously sore as they had compensated all day for the missing half of
her foot.  She leaned a little more heavily on the gnarled black walking
stick than she usually did, as she stepped up to the neighboring table.

	For a moment, she just stood there, finally seeing up close the
young woman who had survived the story told and her friends.  Then they
all realized Kardia wasn't leaving and looked at her.  The blond man had
a small, black stick he started to play with and Kardia saw the power
about it and pulled the solid scarf closer about her throat.  "Good
evening." she said, unconsciously pushing back her dark red-brown hair to
reveal her face a little better, "I overheard your story," she nodded in
Andrea's direction, "and I think I might be able to help."  Her voice
shook a little with memories and at the steady regard of the people at the
table, "I...  uhm... I seem to have the capability to... well, undo
magic..."

***
Andrea looked up at her suspiciously, toying with a pen that she'd been
fiddling with.  She looked at Kardia cooly.  "You can...undo magic?"
she echoed.
***

	Tongue tied and looking for a way other than words to show what she
meant, Kardia slowly picked up the grapple-arrow, gave a slightly nervous
smile, and wrapped the end of her scarf around where the crosspin was.
There was a small ping and she unwrapped the scarf to show the broken
crosspin.  The hook, however, was still shiney new and strong enough to
hold the weight of a man.

***
Andrea put the pin down and picked up the arrow, looking from it, to
'Raelf, to the strange woman who had just unfixed it.  She handed it
to 'Raelf.  "What do you think of this?"  She asked.  Then she turned
back to Kardia.  "How did you do that?"
***

	"It's... I... well, I found out how I could do it after a...
several brothers of mine went through something like what Sheryl went
through.  It took me a year to free them, but it shouldn't take nearly that
long for someone Sheryl's size and there's only one of her." Kardia's grin
was genuine this time.   "I can't *do* any magic at all, I'm no great
wizard or magician or anything, but I do now how to see what's holding a
magic together and how to undo the parts I want to undo with a matching
pattern.  It's a little like what I did with the scarf and the arrow, the
parts that are covered get undone and the parts that aren't don't... the
patterns, though, with magic are... are..."  Kardia shrugged in dismay a
she couldn't find the words.

***
Andrea looked at Sheryl, who was now peering at Kardia curiously.
"So you can break magic...All this time, I've been looking for someone
who could do that.  Now it seems I've finally found her.  The question
is--" and she continued to gaze thoughtfully at the unicorn "--where
do we go from here?
***

	'Raelf had taken the grapple-arrow from Andrea, examining the
broken pin.  Finally a grin split his face.

	"Way cool!  Raye, look here, what do you think?"  He showed the
two parts to the woman sitting across from him.

	"I think the lady should be invited to sit down,"  ar'Elya replied,
and she pulled back a chair.  "Please, be welcome to sit with us."

	"Thank you,"  Kardia said, sighing with relief when the strain was
off her left foot again.  She smiled at the woman, wondering briefly how
she had gotten machine-woven raw silk around this town.  Then her attention
shifted back to the unicorn, who was sniffing at her scarf.

	"You'd better not touch, small one."  Sheryl pulled her head back
and gave Kardia a long, measuring look.

	"Milady disenchantress,"  'Raelf said, placing the once-again-repaired
grapple-arrow on the table, "I may wish to contract your services for another
acquaintance of mine."

	"Disenchantress?"  Kardia was taken aback for a moment.  "I never
sought such a title.  Please, just call me Kardia."

	"I'm 'Raelf.  My mate, who reminded us of our manners, is ar'Elya,
and the tall furry fellow here is Khyra, you've met Andrea, and this is
her sister Sheryl.  Serene?"  'Raelf waved to the barmaid.  She came over,
Mista curled in her baby-sling on her hip.

	"What's your pleasure, oh good, you ate your veggies."

	"Yeah.  Hey, howcome you keep showing up here, you're supposed to
be at home, being all domestical."

	"Oh, but I like working, and Mary was so tired after the party that
I thought I'd help her out.  Besides, we haven't found a fulltime replacement
for me yet, and I did say I'd work halftime until we found someone."

	"Cool.  Could you please bring me a Catamount Porter?"  She looked
askance at ar'Elya, who sighed in disgust.

	"I can't help it if I react to the stuff.  I promise I won't be
drinking any, it's all for him."  She pointedly took a sip of the elvenwine
which she'd gotten with her dinner.  Serene smiled and went away, returning
in a moment with a glass of a stout ale so thick and black that it must have
taken a spoon to serve it with.  Kardia felt her mouth go dry at the sight
of the stuff - bitters she could understand, but this liquid was on the edge
of being a solid.

	"You're going to DRINK that?" she asked, and 'Raelf nodded and took
a deep swig.  Kardia noticed then that his eyes were changing color, going
from sky blue to sea green, then to the yellow of candle flames, the brown
of fresh-tilled loam, then black as the space behind closed eyelids.

	"For some reason this stuff works really well as a fuel for the kind
of magic I do, and I'm kind of low on energy today.  Anyway, here's the
scoop on Sheryl.  Andrea, could I please have the bio-scan record back?
Thanks," he took the sapphire and, producing the flat box he had used earlier,
he placed the stone on the center.  The familiar globe of light sprang into
the air, again showing the web of green lines that represented the spirit
of the little unicorn.  'Raelf tapped on the box in a statacco fashion, and
the web opened and focussed in on a particular image.

	"Techno-wizardry?"  Kardia asked, and ar'Elya laughed and replied.

	"Not exactly.  `Sufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable
>from technology' - or so they say."

	'Raelf waited for them to finish, and then nodded to Andrea -
"If this is cool with you, I'd like to show her what we found out.  You
okay with this?"

	"I suppose.  If Sheryl doesn't mind."  The unicorn rested her
head on the table, making her eyes all dewy so that ar'Elya would scratch
her behind the ears.  "Well, so far, no objections."

	"Way tube.  So, here's the place where her original body-image was
built, see how it's been completely removed?  Did your brothers still go
back to human sometimes?"

	"Once in a while."

	"Why does this remind me of something?  Never mind.  Anyway, I bet
they still had their original body-images to revert to.  But we'd have to
build a new one for Sheryl, probably with Andrea as template, and it would
most likely break down when your weavings got to it."

	"Perhaps not.  It would be a difficult thing to work, though, making
the pattern sensitive to one spell without disturbing a very similar spell."

	"Strewth, dudesse.  Here, let me refocus - <tappitytappity> There,
see how the Unicorn pattern connects in these four places?  Well, this black
one is the curse.  The others are ones she grew, so they're natural to the
way she is now.  So if the curse was to go, she'd still be a unicorn, but
she could be changed into other things if she wanted."

	"I see.  Andrea, if you choose to have me remove the curse for you,
then I can do it, but as 'Raelf said, it may not return her to human.  Are
you still interested?"

	Andrea sighed.  "I think I need to talk to Sheryl for a while."