Post by Kit on Mar 14, 2010 17:27:12 GMT 10
Title: Borderlines (1?)
Rating: PG
Length: 513
Round: 2/C
Competitor: Sabine (no, really. I promise)
Summary: Kel is intrigued by new Old stories.
"The first time I saw this, I nearly keeled over."
The Library at Pirate's Swoop was not large, but Myles's presence was a genial pressure in the room, catching at both women as the smaller of them ran gentle,slightly twisted hands over gilt and leather; spines that declared the collection various-but-glorious, with brief spasms of subject linked together on the ahelves, the room dark from the stone that kept its contents safe from spray and relatively dry.
Keladry, used to these spaces as occasionally imperfect armories rather than treasure troves, felt too big and clumsy for the room. Leaning on a shelf, she was sure, would break it. Vellum would split, paper would crumble to dust in her hands.
She could see, as the Lioness picked out a volume, face flushed triumphant in the gloom, that the woman was the daughter of both her fathers.
And this did not make Kel any less confused.
"You keeled over from it, so you want to give it to me?"
Alanna snorted. "Stick waving philistine. You'll see."
"Yes, Neal."
"Oi!" Alanna glowered. "I won't show you if you keep that up."
Alanna's movements had raised a cloud of dust. Kel sneezed, and sighed.
"Eleni had these all locked away for years, then Myles found them and," Alanna mused, "Well, if you don't know how he is with records, imagining wouldn't be all that hard. "
Kel found she had gently mouldering volumes in her hands. She squinted. "Reb...Bebek--"
"--Beka Cooper," said the Lioness. "George's Great Great Great somethingorsomesuch, which will become most ironic shortly. I'm going to read them to you."
"You are?"
"Yes."
***
"So," said Alanna, stretching and grinning at the younger woman, who blinked and, once the books were safely out of the way, pulled her into her arms again. "What did you think?"
"You'd make a dreadful Player, but--"
"--you're cruel. My reading voice is...oh, go on."
Kel studied Alanna's face, then the journals, then her face again, now stripped with early evening shadow. "What was it like when you first read them?" she asked.
"Amusement, mostly. George and his Dog relative are alarmingly similar, though if you tell him that he'll bute your ear--"
"--No," Kel smiled. "Anyway, you like it when he does that." She grinned as Alanna cleared her throat. "What I meant was, what did you think when you first read her?"
"Her," said Kel. "Sabine. When you...found out you weren't the first."
"I knew I wasn't the first. Corram and Maud had stories. Wicked ones."
"But she..." Kel swallowed. "I don't know. She gives them all a name. The other Lady Knights."
"Distaff Knights," Alanna grinned. "Like you. Not like me. Tall and solid, too."
"Oi."
"I suppose that's conjecture," said the Lioness. "But Beka's Sabine always did look like you in my head. Or...you look like her, since she does come first by about, what? 200 years?" She leaned in to kiss Kel, teasing and brief.
"Maybe that's why I like you so much."
Rating: PG
Length: 513
Round: 2/C
Competitor: Sabine (no, really. I promise)
Summary: Kel is intrigued by new Old stories.
"The first time I saw this, I nearly keeled over."
The Library at Pirate's Swoop was not large, but Myles's presence was a genial pressure in the room, catching at both women as the smaller of them ran gentle,slightly twisted hands over gilt and leather; spines that declared the collection various-but-glorious, with brief spasms of subject linked together on the ahelves, the room dark from the stone that kept its contents safe from spray and relatively dry.
Keladry, used to these spaces as occasionally imperfect armories rather than treasure troves, felt too big and clumsy for the room. Leaning on a shelf, she was sure, would break it. Vellum would split, paper would crumble to dust in her hands.
She could see, as the Lioness picked out a volume, face flushed triumphant in the gloom, that the woman was the daughter of both her fathers.
And this did not make Kel any less confused.
"You keeled over from it, so you want to give it to me?"
Alanna snorted. "Stick waving philistine. You'll see."
"Yes, Neal."
"Oi!" Alanna glowered. "I won't show you if you keep that up."
Alanna's movements had raised a cloud of dust. Kel sneezed, and sighed.
"Eleni had these all locked away for years, then Myles found them and," Alanna mused, "Well, if you don't know how he is with records, imagining wouldn't be all that hard. "
Kel found she had gently mouldering volumes in her hands. She squinted. "Reb...Bebek--"
"--Beka Cooper," said the Lioness. "George's Great Great Great somethingorsomesuch, which will become most ironic shortly. I'm going to read them to you."
"You are?"
"Yes."
***
"So," said Alanna, stretching and grinning at the younger woman, who blinked and, once the books were safely out of the way, pulled her into her arms again. "What did you think?"
"You'd make a dreadful Player, but--"
"--you're cruel. My reading voice is...oh, go on."
Kel studied Alanna's face, then the journals, then her face again, now stripped with early evening shadow. "What was it like when you first read them?" she asked.
"Amusement, mostly. George and his Dog relative are alarmingly similar, though if you tell him that he'll bute your ear--"
"--No," Kel smiled. "Anyway, you like it when he does that." She grinned as Alanna cleared her throat. "What I meant was, what did you think when you first read her?"
"Her," said Kel. "Sabine. When you...found out you weren't the first."
"I knew I wasn't the first. Corram and Maud had stories. Wicked ones."
"But she..." Kel swallowed. "I don't know. She gives them all a name. The other Lady Knights."
"Distaff Knights," Alanna grinned. "Like you. Not like me. Tall and solid, too."
"Oi."
"I suppose that's conjecture," said the Lioness. "But Beka's Sabine always did look like you in my head. Or...you look like her, since she does come first by about, what? 200 years?" She leaned in to kiss Kel, teasing and brief.
"Maybe that's why I like you so much."