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edenfallingThe Apple and Daphne Rumluck who feature in Secrets as OC yearmates of Ginny Weasley were not originally created for that story. They are transplants (with alterations, obviously) from a world I created in my teens, with occasional help from Vicky. In that world, Apple is the heir to Ivy House and the northern third of Elsewhere proper (one of the four mountain valleys that make up the tiny country of Elsewhere -- the other three being Nowhere, Eastwick, and Southward). Daphne is still Apple's second cousin, but she is also related to the Turnagain family, who rule Nowhere from Briar House.
Apple has a slightly awkward relationship with Blue Turnagain, one of Daphne's cousins, which you can read about in the ficlet Apple & Blue. Blue does not feature in the following ficlet, however, which tells the story of a single incident from one of Apple and Daphne's childhood visits to Briar House. I think Apple is thirteen and Daphne twelve in this story. Therefore, Frost is fourteen, Coin is twelve, and Moon is eleven. Moon is Blue's little sister. ...Actually, given those ages, this is most likely set only a week or so before Blue announces that he's leaving home to see the world.
But anyway. On to the story! (700 words)
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Heirlooms
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The Turnagains were by far the oddest of Elsewhere's six high families, which surprised no one. There was fairy blood in them, people said, and even their name whispered of magic: look once in the shadows and nothing's there, but turn again and who knows what you might find.
Apple Rumluck held little truck with old stories, but she believed fervently in the serendipity of Daphne's cousins' attics. The Turnagains had been collecting treasure and rubbish for centuries, with no regard for organizing it or dividing the useful and beautiful from the useless and ugly. Spend an hour up in one of the long, dim, dusty rooms that ran the length of Briar House's ridgepoles and you might find anything from a nest of cockroaches to a delicate filigreed crown or a stone carved with strange runes that glowed at the touch of human skin and changed color with its bearer's mood.
Daphne was suitably impressed by Apple's discoveries, but she had no patience for opening and examining boxes herself -- "It's too hot, too dark, and too dusty," she said, "and besides, don't you want to spend time with Frost and Coin and Moon? Or maybe with Blue?" she added, her voice shading cheerfully sly.
"Blue's gone hunting," Apple said, "and I don't want to get roped into Coin's newest play. They always go wrong, and in any case, the attics are much more interesting than her stories."
"You'll get pulled in no matter what," Daphne said. "Why don't you look for curtains while you're up there? Aunt Rillie says we can't take down any of the good ones since we set her rose-print set on fire last winter."
"I had nothing to do with that!" Apple said, but she agreed to make note of any curtains and interesting costumes.
An hour later, she ran downstairs and out into the garden, interrupting what was either a game of statue-tag or Coin trying to decide on where her captive actors should be positioned.
"Look!" Apple said, tugging a faded Abanessian carpet off her shoulder and letting it unroll down her front and forward onto the grass. The embroidered image was of the Tree of Life, rooted in the earth and surrounded by water, and stretching its branches up past mountains and sky toward the fire of sun and stars. "Look what I found!"
"That's too narrow for a stage curtain," Frost said, standing up from his awkward crouch and grabbing the bottom edge. "It's pretty, though. It looks a little like the rugs your mother brought from Shehrun," he said, turning to look at Moon. "I suppose she wasn't the first person from the Far Kingdoms to marry into the family."
"I know it's not big enough for a curtain," Apple said. "It's much better than that. Help me spread it out, and then everyone sit down. On the carpet, not the grass," she added to Daphne, who grinned and knee-walked over to the carpet.
"This had best not take long," Coin said severely. "I want us ready to perform tomorrow, which means we need to keep rehearsing -- and don't think you're getting out of helping. I wrote the part of the river sprite specifically for you, Apple."
Apple waved her hands absently. "Whatever, whatever. Just sit down!"
Rolling their eyes, the three Turnagain cousins sat on the carpet between Apple and Daphne, making an uneven row from one end to the other.
"Now what?" asked Moon.
Apple touched her palms flat to fabric. "The spirit is woven of flame and yearns to rejoin the Eternal Fire," she said. "Aid us on that journey, chariot of the middle air."
Slowly, trembling and shedding dust, the carpet rose from the ground, higher and higher with every breath until it hovered over the ridgepoles and on the level of the bell tower.
Frost swallowed and clutched at the fringe to his left and right. Coin clutched her notebook and murmured, "Oh! Do you suppose it can hold in place lower down, so we can use it as a balcony instead of piling chairs on top of each other?" Moon spread her arms wide and laughed in delight.
Apple smiled triumphantly at Daphne. "I told you the attics were interesting."
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Inspired by the 5/24/10![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
15_minute_fic word #140: carpet
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Someday I really must get around to writing the story in which Apple and Blue, and Daphne and some as-yet-unknown characters sort out a political plot in Meriwhen and Elsewhere, with all the complications of having to piece the thing together from two ends and then wait four or five days for letters to travel from Candlewick (the capital of Elsewhere) to Myria (the capital of Meriwhen). But not now.
Apple has a slightly awkward relationship with Blue Turnagain, one of Daphne's cousins, which you can read about in the ficlet Apple & Blue. Blue does not feature in the following ficlet, however, which tells the story of a single incident from one of Apple and Daphne's childhood visits to Briar House. I think Apple is thirteen and Daphne twelve in this story. Therefore, Frost is fourteen, Coin is twelve, and Moon is eleven. Moon is Blue's little sister. ...Actually, given those ages, this is most likely set only a week or so before Blue announces that he's leaving home to see the world.
But anyway. On to the story! (700 words)
---------------------------------------------
Heirlooms
---------------------------------------------
The Turnagains were by far the oddest of Elsewhere's six high families, which surprised no one. There was fairy blood in them, people said, and even their name whispered of magic: look once in the shadows and nothing's there, but turn again and who knows what you might find.
Apple Rumluck held little truck with old stories, but she believed fervently in the serendipity of Daphne's cousins' attics. The Turnagains had been collecting treasure and rubbish for centuries, with no regard for organizing it or dividing the useful and beautiful from the useless and ugly. Spend an hour up in one of the long, dim, dusty rooms that ran the length of Briar House's ridgepoles and you might find anything from a nest of cockroaches to a delicate filigreed crown or a stone carved with strange runes that glowed at the touch of human skin and changed color with its bearer's mood.
Daphne was suitably impressed by Apple's discoveries, but she had no patience for opening and examining boxes herself -- "It's too hot, too dark, and too dusty," she said, "and besides, don't you want to spend time with Frost and Coin and Moon? Or maybe with Blue?" she added, her voice shading cheerfully sly.
"Blue's gone hunting," Apple said, "and I don't want to get roped into Coin's newest play. They always go wrong, and in any case, the attics are much more interesting than her stories."
"You'll get pulled in no matter what," Daphne said. "Why don't you look for curtains while you're up there? Aunt Rillie says we can't take down any of the good ones since we set her rose-print set on fire last winter."
"I had nothing to do with that!" Apple said, but she agreed to make note of any curtains and interesting costumes.
An hour later, she ran downstairs and out into the garden, interrupting what was either a game of statue-tag or Coin trying to decide on where her captive actors should be positioned.
"Look!" Apple said, tugging a faded Abanessian carpet off her shoulder and letting it unroll down her front and forward onto the grass. The embroidered image was of the Tree of Life, rooted in the earth and surrounded by water, and stretching its branches up past mountains and sky toward the fire of sun and stars. "Look what I found!"
"That's too narrow for a stage curtain," Frost said, standing up from his awkward crouch and grabbing the bottom edge. "It's pretty, though. It looks a little like the rugs your mother brought from Shehrun," he said, turning to look at Moon. "I suppose she wasn't the first person from the Far Kingdoms to marry into the family."
"I know it's not big enough for a curtain," Apple said. "It's much better than that. Help me spread it out, and then everyone sit down. On the carpet, not the grass," she added to Daphne, who grinned and knee-walked over to the carpet.
"This had best not take long," Coin said severely. "I want us ready to perform tomorrow, which means we need to keep rehearsing -- and don't think you're getting out of helping. I wrote the part of the river sprite specifically for you, Apple."
Apple waved her hands absently. "Whatever, whatever. Just sit down!"
Rolling their eyes, the three Turnagain cousins sat on the carpet between Apple and Daphne, making an uneven row from one end to the other.
"Now what?" asked Moon.
Apple touched her palms flat to fabric. "The spirit is woven of flame and yearns to rejoin the Eternal Fire," she said. "Aid us on that journey, chariot of the middle air."
Slowly, trembling and shedding dust, the carpet rose from the ground, higher and higher with every breath until it hovered over the ridgepoles and on the level of the bell tower.
Frost swallowed and clutched at the fringe to his left and right. Coin clutched her notebook and murmured, "Oh! Do you suppose it can hold in place lower down, so we can use it as a balcony instead of piling chairs on top of each other?" Moon spread her arms wide and laughed in delight.
Apple smiled triumphantly at Daphne. "I told you the attics were interesting."
---------------------------------------------
Inspired by the 5/24/10
15_minute_fic word #140: carpet---------------------------------------------
Someday I really must get around to writing the story in which Apple and Blue, and Daphne and some as-yet-unknown characters sort out a political plot in Meriwhen and Elsewhere, with all the complications of having to piece the thing together from two ends and then wait four or five days for letters to travel from Candlewick (the capital of Elsewhere) to Myria (the capital of Meriwhen). But not now.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2010-05-27 02:22 am (UTC)And now I think I need to friend you so I can read more about your writing. :)
(no subject)
Date: 2010-05-27 05:06 am (UTC)I keep a master list of all my fanfiction and original fiction in a sticky post at the top of my journal, if you are interested in poking around. :-)