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edenfallingFirst day of RE tomorrow. Eep. I met two of my co-teachers in passing at the orientation session, but had to leave before I could meet them properly. Another was one of my co-teachers last year, which will be helpful. And the fourth I do not know at all -- he hasn't even been replying to our group email conversation (possibly because his wife is one of the first two co-teachers, but still).
In other news, nearly two years after promising her a story, I am still trying to write a romance for Cat. I decided a couple days ago that since it has utterly failed to catch fire as a realistic narrative, perhaps I should go back to my original inspiration and write the damned thing as a fairy-tale. So I am attempting to strip it down and write the bare bones.
It starts like this:
---------------------------------------------
The Fox and the Star: a fragment
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Many years ago in the city of Shajento, there lived a thief-catcher named Ran Qajal, who was clever as the desert fox. He hunted and captured many wicked men, which should have made him rich. But he was also honest and warm-hearted, so he was a very poor man, always living on his last brass irti and a handful of luck.
One night in the month of Nar, a rich merchant ventured through the narrow streets against the city walls and knocked at Ran's door. His name was Seqoura atn Fasaj, and he was related by marriage to the prince himself -- far too important a man to call upon a poor thief-catcher, no matter how skilled. But Seb Seqoura's house had been robbed four nights running, each time a different room stripped of all its valuables, and he knew he had only a handful of chances left to stop the thieves and recover both his face and fortune.
"What will you pay me?" Ran asked as Seb Seqoura sat in his tiny room and told his tale.
"What do you want?" Seb Seqoura asked, spreading his hands. "Gold? Jewels? My daughter's hand in marriage?" He was jesting; it was clear from the edge in his voice. "No," he said, clapping his hands, "I will pay you three silver qipriuq for each man you catch, and a small percentage -- say, one irti for every seven qipriuq -- of the cost of any goods you recover."
"Seven qipriuq for each man, and one irti for every five silvers," Ran said.
"Done!" said Seb Seqoura, clapping his hands again. "Be at my house by sunset. The thieves strike between moonrise and midnight." And he slipped from the tiny room back into the narrow street without so much as touching the coffee Ran had poured for him.
Ran carried the coffee up the stairs to his landlady's room as a gift for her midday meal. Then he began to prepare his tools and plan for his latest hunt.
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I am not quite sure where the story thinks it's going -- this is not exactly in line with my muddled background notes, and I have no idea how and when Ran is going to meet Drinan'qar (the heroine, Seb Seqoura's foreshadowed daughter) -- but at least this version seems to be alive... for now. *sigh*
(You would never know from the style and the subject matter of this opening section, but "The Fox and the Star" is set in the same world as "Finding Marea." Seriously. If you read that story, you may recall the vague mentions of the Jenjani and the Symbolists? Well, you are now reading about them directly.)
In other news, nearly two years after promising her a story, I am still trying to write a romance for Cat. I decided a couple days ago that since it has utterly failed to catch fire as a realistic narrative, perhaps I should go back to my original inspiration and write the damned thing as a fairy-tale. So I am attempting to strip it down and write the bare bones.
It starts like this:
---------------------------------------------
The Fox and the Star: a fragment
---------------------------------------------
Many years ago in the city of Shajento, there lived a thief-catcher named Ran Qajal, who was clever as the desert fox. He hunted and captured many wicked men, which should have made him rich. But he was also honest and warm-hearted, so he was a very poor man, always living on his last brass irti and a handful of luck.
One night in the month of Nar, a rich merchant ventured through the narrow streets against the city walls and knocked at Ran's door. His name was Seqoura atn Fasaj, and he was related by marriage to the prince himself -- far too important a man to call upon a poor thief-catcher, no matter how skilled. But Seb Seqoura's house had been robbed four nights running, each time a different room stripped of all its valuables, and he knew he had only a handful of chances left to stop the thieves and recover both his face and fortune.
"What will you pay me?" Ran asked as Seb Seqoura sat in his tiny room and told his tale.
"What do you want?" Seb Seqoura asked, spreading his hands. "Gold? Jewels? My daughter's hand in marriage?" He was jesting; it was clear from the edge in his voice. "No," he said, clapping his hands, "I will pay you three silver qipriuq for each man you catch, and a small percentage -- say, one irti for every seven qipriuq -- of the cost of any goods you recover."
"Seven qipriuq for each man, and one irti for every five silvers," Ran said.
"Done!" said Seb Seqoura, clapping his hands again. "Be at my house by sunset. The thieves strike between moonrise and midnight." And he slipped from the tiny room back into the narrow street without so much as touching the coffee Ran had poured for him.
Ran carried the coffee up the stairs to his landlady's room as a gift for her midday meal. Then he began to prepare his tools and plan for his latest hunt.
---------------
---------------
I am not quite sure where the story thinks it's going -- this is not exactly in line with my muddled background notes, and I have no idea how and when Ran is going to meet Drinan'qar (the heroine, Seb Seqoura's foreshadowed daughter) -- but at least this version seems to be alive... for now. *sigh*
(You would never know from the style and the subject matter of this opening section, but "The Fox and the Star" is set in the same world as "Finding Marea." Seriously. If you read that story, you may recall the vague mentions of the Jenjani and the Symbolists? Well, you are now reading about them directly.)
