From: li@Data-IO.COM (Phyllis Rostykus)
Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn
Subject: [MG] Room for Wonder
Summary: this comes after Hutch's post on dinner
Keywords: Kardia, ar'Elya, the Lighthouse
Date: 10 May 93 19:53:07 GMT


	When ar'Elya led Kardia through the hallway towards the room that
had been setup for her, Kardia didn't know what to expect.  There had
already been so many surprises, so many things that brought a touch of
longing and nostalgia to her.  To be this clean again and assume that one
could have a *shower* at any time... to be walking on smooth carpets with
no slip, no slide, and no tacks.  To have light around every corner and
bright enough to read by. 

	She was also still a little worried about Jameson's collapse at
dinner and at the look on 'Raelf's face as he had left for the Archmage's
meeting.  

        "Here we are." said ar'Elya and stopped before a door with writing
on it. 

        At first glance, the writing on the door said 'Guest Room'; but
when Kardia focussed on it, it was simply a flowing script that she
couldn't make out.  She squinted at it and still couldn't make it out.
Finally, she gave up trying to read it and 'Guest Room' floated back into
her head.

        Ar'Elya smiled and wiped her hand over the words, and then wrote in
the same flowing script over where the words were.  Kardia tried to follow
the formation of the new word, but, afterwards, realized she couldn't
remember.  Ar'Elya said, "Look at it without trying to read it."

        Kardia laughed, shook her head and tried.  Two word-concepts came
to mind.  The first was her name, 'Kardia'.  The second was 'Heart'.  The
first impression, however, was the stronger one.  "Goodness.  That's what
my name means..."

	For the first time, Kardia looked ar'Elya in the eyes.  Kardia
stilled as she saw herself on that damned rolling platform, oblivious to
the pyre behind her and surrounded by the wings of swans as she stripped
and broke nettles under a bare foot.  The green in Sean's unfinished shirt
showed bright amid the drab of the restless crowd.  Concentrating with all
her being on finishing at least that one sleeve...

	Kardia shivered and looked away, down at her hands.  They had 
swollen from the poison that the stinging nettle had injected, to the
point where she hadn't known if she'd be able to use them again.  Sean had
found her crying over them two days later, and he'd kissed them to thank
her for the use of his one hand.  She still remembered the coolness of
that gentle touch against the fire in her useless hands.  She shivered
again and looked at the door and listened to ar'Elya's voice.

	"The scribing of your name is what begins the process of generating
the room.  Your name is a template for your personality, and the main
processor uses that in order to rough out your room."

        Kardia blinked in some confusion but only said, "Oh.  O.K."  So
ar'Elya nodded and opened the door.

        There was a white metal wall with nothing but the imprint of a hole
offset to one side.

	Kardia knew she gasped when she saw it.  She knew that ar'Elya was
watching her, but she didn't care.  She walked up to the door, running the
tips of her fingers against the smooth metal of the security door.  The
paint, the size, the placement of the 'slot could have been identical to
the door outside her apartment in Ren'raku.  But then there were millions
that were identical to that particular door.  It had been her private
place, away from her father's palatial CEO estates, away from the guards,
the vidreporters, and the servants.

        She had to dig through her bag to find it.  What had once been
as important to her as breathing was now relegated to the bottom of a
leather bag.  She came up with her SIN and spun it over her forefinger
as she used to do and slotted the 'stick into the covered hole.  The
door disappeared in a whisper of hydraulics.

        "Enjoy." said ar'Elya with a smile and she walked away.

        Kardia looked after ar'Elya, half wanting to walk away from this
door.  This was something she thought she'd lost.  Kardia grinned a wry
grin and wiggled her left toes in their boots.  These folks seemed to be in
a habit of returning things that were lost forever.  She straightened her
shoulders and walked in.  The door closed behind her with a whisper that
spoke to Kardia of a sense of security she hadn't had for half a year.  No
one was going to be able to come through that door without warning her.

        It was not her apartment, as she had almost half expected it to be.
It was, however, laid out exactly like a Ren'raku luxury apartment along
one of the outer walls of the archology.  The wall of glass was the same.
This one, though, had a view of the Great Blue instead of Seattle.  The
fold out kitchen with all the capabilities to make all the foods she'd once
loved and hated was much the same.  She'd forgotten how small the
apartments were, only a dekameter square.  A double drive, flyer and
bobbin, upright spinning wheel with a stool took up most of the living
space in front of a tri-vid setup.  She grinned a wry grin at seeing the
Schacht label on it.  A basket sat next to it, and she frowned when she
looked in.

        There were needles in there.  Not just needles, but steel, circular
knitting needles with nylon cord connectors.  There were also sewing
needles of various sizes, packets and packets of them, both fine and
coarse.  By JP Coats.  Not the crooked, lumpy iron needles or the brittle
bone or wood sewing needles of this time and place, but shiny, smooth,
steel needles with regular eyes.

        Kardia sat on the stool next to the spinning wheel and just touched
and handled each knitting needle and the packets.  "Enjoy..." she said
softly and shook her head.

        She got up and went to the kitchen and found a shallow cereal bowl,
she turned on the tap and water came out.  Clear water, clean water, and
she didn't doubt that it would be safe to drink.  She put a quarter inch of
water in the bottom of the bowl and went back to the wheel.  She turned to
the tri-vid stereo system and found the datajack.

        Kardia stared at it.  Then she sighed, felt along her neck until
she felt the hardness of the edge of her 'slot, and then pulled the skin
colored dummy out.  The 'jack slid in and seated with a soft 'thunk'.  She
hadn't needed a keyboard since she was 21, but it had been a long time.

        Kardia carefully sat down on the floor and closed her eyes, a
purely mental movement, and she was floating in darkness with only a few
lights around her.  A disorienting moment went by as she re-adjusted to the
270 degree dome vision she usually had here on the Matrix.  There should be
more lights, she thought.  There should be millions of lights...

        A gnome appeared out of the darkness.  A little service gnome that
looked like service gnomes everywhere.  She saw the shadow of the silver
cord that probably held it to the main unit of this complex.  It came up
to her and bowed and then asked, "Is there anything more you might need in
your room?"

        "Well, at the moment, I'm just looking for some music..." 

        A directory web lit up in front of her, with thousands of icons
grouped by period, type, place, and subject.  One spoke of the web had
blues hung upon in in all the colors of the sea and sky, another was
covered with metal, another the wood carvings of various composers and
artists, and others were strange shapes and concepts that could only be
expressed on this type of space.  There were hundreds of spokes and ladders
between them.  A wet sprocket that looked like a toad looked up at her as
she went by.  They must have gotten the CD.  

        It was the entertainment libraries of the house, libraries that
were dated... she frowned at the dates.  The dates were in the same flowing
script as the door had been and when she looked at it just to look at it it
told her that the lastest records were for today.  She nodded and sighed,
she should have expected that.

        "Thanks." she said, "I was also wondering if I could take a look
around for a little bit?  Oh... and are there laundry facilities in the
room?" 

        "I'd be glad to show you around, and there is a full laundry
facility folded just right of the kitchen."

        "Cool.  Thanks..." and the world moved around them as the gnome
adjusted the view of the Matrix to suit their needs.

        The tour was entirely composed of the structures and management of
the house.  The little gnome was very proud of the size and extent of the
libraries, and Kardia was absolutely amazed.  Not only was every culture on
her Earth included, but thousands of other.  The stores were immense and
growing. There was, however, no access to the whole of the Matrix as she'd
known it, which didn't surprise her but did disappoint her a touch.

        The data area that was her room returned to her and she selected an
album by Broken Promises, one by Metal Mockingbirds for the next, and
finally one with the Mockers of Fate.  She examined them with a few of her
eyes.  Other eyes noticed a movement out on the Matrix's webs.  It was
another being, entirely ungnomelike.  Kardia blinked all her eyes in
surprise, the reflex still echo'ed here on the Matrix.  That other was
walking up here, not using the near-Flight of three-dimensional movement.
Kardia wondered who would *walk* on the Matrix as she came out of her
trance.  What did Jameson call herself during that introduction, a Walker?

	Kardia grinned and shook her head.  Strange to realize that her
style of hitech was more like ancient history to the folks she was now
with, on a planet who's tech looked like ancient history to her.  The plug
pulled out with a feeling like someone scritching her back with light
nails and then she was out again.  The hand that put the cover back in was
slow and it smoothed the area one more time before leaving it alone.

	The music started and startled her with its complexity and
harshness of the sound.  Rain's husky contralto sounded harsh compared to
the Listener's clear tones at the Inn.  Dust's tenor was closer, but he
only came in as background and seemed fragile compared to the music.
Lava's bass rumbled ground deep and Flashpoint's electric guitar was more a
scream of sound than distinctive notes.  The driving of the beat was
relentless, clean and as precise as picosecond timing.  Kardia's throat
tightened again.  She wiped her eyes so she could see to pull things out of
her rough cut bag.

	Realizing that she should probably wash the clothes she was sitting
in as well, she walked over to the closet area and opened the door.  There
were clothes there.  A mixture of clothing over various times, and it
included Generican style clothing, but the clothing was made out of machine
woven cloth.  She shook her head and chuckled at the even softness under
her hands.  So this is how ar'Elya came to be wearing the machine loomed
silk at the Dragon's Inn.  She stripped and pulled on a heavy satin robe
of silk and her eyes half closed at the swirl of the cloth against her
skin.

	All the clothes she had with her went into the 'mat with a tablet
of soap from the drawer next to the 'mat, and the machine quietly went to
work.

        Kardia pulled out the strick of moon silk and spread more of the
fibers in the towel and worked on more thread.  The smooth, swift action of
the ball bearings in the modern wheel made the spinning a breeze compared
to the wood on wood or wood on leather bearings of most of the wheels she'd
run into on Nexus.  As the fibers turned and twisted into shining thread
she planned out the next morning.  She would have to ask Andrea for a room
at the Dragon's Inn to be close to both her and Sheryl, the Weaver's Guild
would have to be told that she would be unavailable for service for those
three days, and she'd have to ask 'Raelf and ar'Elya if she could borrow
the knitting needles that were here for Sheryl's cover.  If the Inn worked
out she'd have to tell Mrs. Cludne what was up and to thank her for what
had come along, so far.

        Three albums and an hour or two later, she unbent herself from the
wheel, hearing her back pop and crackle as she stretched.  It was deep,
dark night outside.  The artificial lighting was such a godsend that she
didn't want to stop.  Kardia yawned a huge yawn, and then sighed.  If she
didn't get to sleep soon, it would eat into her daylight the next day.  She
regarded the work she'd done, and then pulled out the supported spindle
that had almost an equal amount on it.  It had been three days' worth of
work.  She joined the two threads and wound the spindle thread onto the
spinning wheel's bobbin.  She pulled a small niddy noddy out of her bag,
and there was enough yardage to have her winding for half an hour.

        She tied loops woven into and around the thread, and then pulled it
off the niddy noddy.  She put the skein away in her bag.  At finding it
mostly empty, she remembered her laundry.  The clothes were fresh and clean
and the 'mat had washed and folded them for her.  The pile of clothes went
back into her bag.  Kardia then went into the tiny bathroom to clean her
teeth.  She found toothpaste in the cabinet along with an actual toothbrush
and floss.  So she used the brush instead of her usual small cloth.  She
was amazed when the floss didn't make her gums bleed, the excess bits of
handspun linen she had used had tended to fray, but they seemed to have
done the job.

        The gel bed was set up with a feather comforter instead of the
thermal blankets that would have been at home.  She grinned a little at the
enormity of the anomaly.  Real animal products were nearly unheard of back
home, when she'd first been offered a dead animal part for food here,
she'd been amazed.  Then she'd learned that the Spirits of the animals
didn't gather and destroy the killers the way they'd killed the meat and
animal products industries at home.  The real meat was actually tastier
and had a better texture than the vat proteins she'd been used to and
without a reason to fear it, she'd adjusted fairly easily.  She'd also
learned to appreciate the warming capabilities of feathers and fur.

        She sat down gingerly on the gel bed and felt it contour itself to
her.  Kardia looked out into the darkness of the glass wall right next to
her and turned out the lights.  There was no one in the range of even her
low-light sight.  She got up to hang up the robe and settled more solidly
into the bed.  Muscles protested the needed flexibility as she pulled up
her leg to take a long look at the golden foot 'Raelf had made her.  She
examined her foot by sight and with gentle probing with her fingers where
she knew it was joined.  There was no pain, no discomfort, not even the
feeling of sweat where her flesh joined the other.  Heck, there was no
feeling of where the join was at all.  Satisfied that there was no damage
after the day she lay back in the soft, supporting warmth beneath her and
covered herself with the incredibly light and warm comforter.  As she
happily burrowed into her bed, the first silver edge of the moon peeked
into her window.

        Kardia was asleep before its silver light flooded her room.

                    *               *               *

        A chime woke her when the sky outside had already brightened.
Kardia woke and the first thing she saw was the ocean.  For a moment she
was confused and then she remembered where she was.  She sighed and then
winced as she got up.  Her body was adjusting to being balanced again and
muscles she hadn't used in a while protested their new duties.  She
stretched and then slowly walked over to the bathroom.  For a long while
she happily reveled in the hot water, scrubbing and rubbing until she felt
clean again.  For a minute all she did was watch the beading water run off
the gold of her foot.  The hair dryer built into the bathroom did it's job
quickly and easily and she sighed at the raggedness of her clothing as she
pulled on her underwear and undershirt.

	On impulse, she opened the closet again and started looking
intently through the clothes.  On a second pass she found a heavy skirt, a
shirt and vest, leggings and socks that all fit into her boots.  She smiled
and then pulled a solid shawl from her bag.  It was six feet square and
translucent but there was no lace work to it.  She put it across her
shoulders, and the shirt disappeared.  Kardia looked down with disbelief.
The skirt fell off as well as the back side of it unraveled.  She took a
breath and started laughing as she very carefully folded up her shawl and
put it back into the bag and put her old clothes back on.

        With a slightly intent look, she moved over to the basket of
needles, and pulled a packet out.  She wrapped it in her scarf.  She felt a
surge, but when she unwrapped the packet, it was still there.  The needles
were just as solid and just as real as before.  

        First, she packed and balanced all her things on her again.  She 
picked up the remainder of the skirt and brought it and her bag back
through the apartment door.

       Just before the door closed behind Kardia, she took one more look 
back in the room of her memories.  She quirked a smile and kept moving.

-----
[ADMIN: Thanks to Hutch for all the detailing of the capabilities of the
guest rooms, and to Kelly Cooper for Jameson's appearance.  The Mockers of
Fate is the creation of Bruce Harlick.  Broken Promises and Rain are the
creations of Carl Rigney.  I hope I did them justice.]

-- 
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