[Fic] "Small Mysteries," part 1 -- original, Ekanu

I have mentioned a few times over the years that I am working on a story called "Small Mysteries," wherein Ekanu meets Ain Taylak, the man she eventually marries, while she is on assignment as a chapterhouse inspector on the continent of Yanomy. I am not anywhere near done with the story, but I have a section that more or less stands on its own as an introduction. It will be 1/4 to 1/3 of the finished story.

Ekanu is about 25 years old here. Ain is 24, but he acts older. "Small Mysteries" is set after Harvest and before Getting to Know You and Nor Good Red Herring. There is brief reference, in one of the songs Ekanu sings, to the events of For Want of a Nail. Also, I stole the first verse of the Ramchad funeral song from Terry Pratchett's Small Gods, but the rest of the verses are my own, as is the tune I sing it to. *grin* (2,950 words)

( Small Mysteries, part 1 )

To be continued, whenever I get around to writing more. :-)

3 things: trouble sleeping, my neighbors' car, and smoke shop news

1. Burglary aftermath: I hadn't noticed at first, but it has become clear that I'm having some issues sleeping while it's dark out -- noises become magnified, and I get very paranoid about the shadows my nightlight throws on the curtains in the living room. Since night is generally dark, and I have to be at work during the day when it's light, this poses something of a problem. I have been getting maybe five hours of sleep a night, since I can't properly get to sleep until about 5am, railroad spike or no railroad spike.

Thank god it's summer, is all I can say. I can only imagine the trouble I'd be having with longer nights.

Anyway, today I got home from work around 6:30 and took a nap until 8:30, so hopefully that will keep me from falling asleep on my feet tomorrow. Then I have Friday and Saturday off, so I can sleep really late.

I need to work through this, though, because it could very quickly become a major problem.

Maybe I should try just leaving the kitchen light on tonight.

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

2. More burglary aftermath: I was talking to my upstairs neighbors R and A yesterday night, and they revealed that their car (which sits in the driveway beside my living room windows, just a yard or two from my bedroom window) was broken into sometime between Wednesday and Sunday. (They cannot be more specific, because they don't use their car that often.) The thief went through their glove compartment, took the loose change from the little change drawer, and may have also stolen an iPod.

We presume it was the same thief, and that he broke into their car before breaking into my apartment. Again, nothing really huge, but troubling.

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

3. We have a new employee at the smoke shop! His name is RE, and so far he seems quite decent. PM, JE, and I walked him through some of the basic tasks this morning and early afternoon. Tomorrow I will walk him through evening tasks and the closing routine. (This is, of course, why I need to be awake. I get bitchy and more incoherent than usual when I'm really tired, and that's not a good frame of mind for teaching.)