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edenfalling"Getting to Know You" is set between Harvest and The Painted Sky. It's a tag to "Small Mysteries," which I have not finished nor posted any excerpts of. So. Context.
After her relationship with Denifar falls apart, Ekanu returns briefly to Vinaeo for some more studying with Master Irova, and then goes to Yanomy as part of a team of chapterhouse inspectors, who basically go from city to city making sure the various chapterhouses are keeping the terms of their charters with the local governments and abiding by the University-wide rules established by the High Council in the Motherhouse. They start in Neirot, head north to Tourin and Nerad, cut inland to Reshios and Sinvan, and then intend to head south to Pythas. (They probably check out some smaller chapterhouses en route, but those are the big ones.)
The trouble is that shortly after they leave Osillipin, which is a small city on the Sinora River, everyone except Ekanu catches a nasty local flu-like disease. So Ekanu proposes that she travel to Pythas alone in order to begin the inspection roughly on time. Along the way, she meets a rather reserved man named Ain Taylak, and they agree to travel together. Despite a semi-unspoken pact not to pry into each other's pasts or reasons for traveling, they grow close and Ekanu, at least, is reluctant to part ways when they reach Pythas.
She's quite surprised to discover, in her first meeting with the chapterhouse council, that Ain is a Master in Residence at the University! But she's very, very busy, trying to do the work of three or four people, so they don't have much time to discuss their potential relationship until her fellow inspectors arrive.
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Getting to Know You
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Three sixdays after her arrival in Pythas, Ekanu's fellow inspectors finally caught up to her. "I thought we'd only be two sixdays behind you," Barathia said, combing road dust from her long brown hair, "since we took the trade road instead of struggling through the mountains. You made excellent time."
Ekanu shrugged. "I had a skilled guide."
"Yes, Master Taylak," Barathia said, a sly smile easing over her face. "Nearly a month alone on the ridge road. What did you two get up to, I wonder?"
Ekanu bent her head to her guitar and ignored Barathia's further prying. Whatever she and Ain had -- and perhaps now that she didn't have to face the chapterhouse council all on her own, they'd have time to work out what that was -- she had no need to share it with the rest of the world.
"He was asking after you," Barathia said, temporarily giving up on teasing. "Subtly, of course -- I sometimes wonder if anyone in Yanomy can be anything but subtle and sideways -- but he was curious about your likes and dislikes, and what I know of your past. Didn't you tell him anything?"
"About as much as he told me," Ekanu said. "And you're right; perhaps it's time to change that." She eased her guitar back into its case and slung the leather case over her back. "Tell Machiyoge we'll work out schedules in the morning."
She slipped into the corridor, blinking against the sudden dimness after the sunlight that filled Barathia's room, and set off for the mechanists' hall. If she recalled correctly, it should be in the west wing of the chapterhouse, near the tanning shed and the alchemist's workshops, where unpleasant smells and accidental fires would do the least harm to the rest of the students, Scholars, and Masters.
Ekanu had spent much of her time in Estara lurking around the edges of the mechanists' projects, watching Denifar's hands deftly create order out of chaos. She wondered if Ain's hands were as swift and skilled. Probably they were.
It felt odd to compare Ain and Denifar, as if she were failing to see Ain as himself, but denying that they shared a profession and a passion would be as foolish as walking onto thin ice swearing all the while it was solid. And if she took pleasure in skilled hands, a keen mind, a curious eye, what was the harm?
She turned a corner and twirled aside, narrowly avoiding a collision with a tall form. "Please excuse," she murmured, automatically, and then, looking upward, "Ain?"
He smiled, a flash of white teeth in a lean, bronze face, and his hands reached down to steady her. "Ekanu," he said. "I was coming to look for you, but I see you had the same thought. How was your day?"
"Good," Ekanu said, "and now better. Come. Let us enjoy the sun before dinner."
Ain caught her hand in his as they walked toward the courtyard, together.
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Inspired by the 3/30/09![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
15_minute_fic word #104: acquire
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This was not at all what I meant to write -- I was trying to do a little dialogue scene with Ain asking Ekanu how many languages she speaks -- but I started giving that a touch of context by having Barathia and Machiyoge arrive, and the story veered out of my control. *sigh*
Whatever. It's done, it's posted, and I am going to bed.
After her relationship with Denifar falls apart, Ekanu returns briefly to Vinaeo for some more studying with Master Irova, and then goes to Yanomy as part of a team of chapterhouse inspectors, who basically go from city to city making sure the various chapterhouses are keeping the terms of their charters with the local governments and abiding by the University-wide rules established by the High Council in the Motherhouse. They start in Neirot, head north to Tourin and Nerad, cut inland to Reshios and Sinvan, and then intend to head south to Pythas. (They probably check out some smaller chapterhouses en route, but those are the big ones.)
The trouble is that shortly after they leave Osillipin, which is a small city on the Sinora River, everyone except Ekanu catches a nasty local flu-like disease. So Ekanu proposes that she travel to Pythas alone in order to begin the inspection roughly on time. Along the way, she meets a rather reserved man named Ain Taylak, and they agree to travel together. Despite a semi-unspoken pact not to pry into each other's pasts or reasons for traveling, they grow close and Ekanu, at least, is reluctant to part ways when they reach Pythas.
She's quite surprised to discover, in her first meeting with the chapterhouse council, that Ain is a Master in Residence at the University! But she's very, very busy, trying to do the work of three or four people, so they don't have much time to discuss their potential relationship until her fellow inspectors arrive.
---------------------------------------------
Getting to Know You
---------------------------------------------
Three sixdays after her arrival in Pythas, Ekanu's fellow inspectors finally caught up to her. "I thought we'd only be two sixdays behind you," Barathia said, combing road dust from her long brown hair, "since we took the trade road instead of struggling through the mountains. You made excellent time."
Ekanu shrugged. "I had a skilled guide."
"Yes, Master Taylak," Barathia said, a sly smile easing over her face. "Nearly a month alone on the ridge road. What did you two get up to, I wonder?"
Ekanu bent her head to her guitar and ignored Barathia's further prying. Whatever she and Ain had -- and perhaps now that she didn't have to face the chapterhouse council all on her own, they'd have time to work out what that was -- she had no need to share it with the rest of the world.
"He was asking after you," Barathia said, temporarily giving up on teasing. "Subtly, of course -- I sometimes wonder if anyone in Yanomy can be anything but subtle and sideways -- but he was curious about your likes and dislikes, and what I know of your past. Didn't you tell him anything?"
"About as much as he told me," Ekanu said. "And you're right; perhaps it's time to change that." She eased her guitar back into its case and slung the leather case over her back. "Tell Machiyoge we'll work out schedules in the morning."
She slipped into the corridor, blinking against the sudden dimness after the sunlight that filled Barathia's room, and set off for the mechanists' hall. If she recalled correctly, it should be in the west wing of the chapterhouse, near the tanning shed and the alchemist's workshops, where unpleasant smells and accidental fires would do the least harm to the rest of the students, Scholars, and Masters.
Ekanu had spent much of her time in Estara lurking around the edges of the mechanists' projects, watching Denifar's hands deftly create order out of chaos. She wondered if Ain's hands were as swift and skilled. Probably they were.
It felt odd to compare Ain and Denifar, as if she were failing to see Ain as himself, but denying that they shared a profession and a passion would be as foolish as walking onto thin ice swearing all the while it was solid. And if she took pleasure in skilled hands, a keen mind, a curious eye, what was the harm?
She turned a corner and twirled aside, narrowly avoiding a collision with a tall form. "Please excuse," she murmured, automatically, and then, looking upward, "Ain?"
He smiled, a flash of white teeth in a lean, bronze face, and his hands reached down to steady her. "Ekanu," he said. "I was coming to look for you, but I see you had the same thought. How was your day?"
"Good," Ekanu said, "and now better. Come. Let us enjoy the sun before dinner."
Ain caught her hand in his as they walked toward the courtyard, together.
---------------------------------------------
Inspired by the 3/30/09
15_minute_fic word #104: acquire---------------------------------------------
This was not at all what I meant to write -- I was trying to do a little dialogue scene with Ain asking Ekanu how many languages she speaks -- but I started giving that a touch of context by having Barathia and Machiyoge arrive, and the story veered out of my control. *sigh*
Whatever. It's done, it's posted, and I am going to bed.
