FSW: Broken Circle, G (Trade Winds)
Aug 2, 2020 20:43:41 GMT 10
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Post by mistrali on Aug 2, 2020 20:43:41 GMT 10
Title: Broken Circle
Rating: G (one mention of love/marriage, but no sexual content)
Words: c. 1100
Summary: Polyam visits some old friends, who need a favour.
Prompt/Event: A Little Help From My Friends, Triathlon 2020
Warnings: None
Notes: a) A note on Broken Circle: This temple was in the early editions of The Magic in the Weaving/Sandry’s Book as the temple Tris is rescued from. In reprints this has changed to Stone Circle.
For my purposes, Stone Circle is now defunct, but Broken Circle is well and truly running.
b) kaqua’ha as a neutral word for non-Trader is headcanon from a discussion on the Tamora Pierce server, where falliblefabrial suggested White Traders might have had a longer, politer word to denote an ordinary non-Trader, which then became shortened to ‘kaq’, which subsequently took on the meaning of ‘dirt underfoot’ that we see in MitW.
c) The idea of Tris’s finding ambient mages, like Niko does, is one I’ve heard a few times.
******
The twenty-ninth day of Snow Moon, 1053 K.F., the country town of Aikan, Capchen
The mage-tester’s front room was draughty, without even a fire on this chilly morning; he hadn’t offered Xiaoling so much as a cup of tea. She had seen less stingy paupers.
"For each child, the cost will be three gold astrels an hour.” He blinked dull chestnut eyes at the safe-box, as if already imagining her gold clinking into his belt-purse..
“Three gold astrels an hour!” she exclaimed. “What in Hebei’s name do you test for?” Ma and Baba had paid in silver to have her and her three sisters tested, and that had only been because Rosefinch Circle Temple needed an official certificate of competence from a mage tester who had earned their credentials from an approved school before it could reimburse the cost. Many folk sent their children to Living Circle temples outside the cities, out in the steppes of the north, the golden Great Madussa Desert in the south, the rainforests in the west and the red quinoa fields of the southeast, without paying one extra tal. Baba had growled about it, but not for nothing had Rosefinch earned its reputation as one of the prime schools for ambient magic in the world, to rival Lightsbridge and Winding Circle.
Xiaoling didn’t know exactly how much three gold astrels was in zhan, but she’d bet it wasn’t worth the piece of official-looking parchment this Master Eldridge, or whatever he called himself, was waving under her nose. She kept her face as impassive as Birina might have done, however, and took it.
‘Master Selwyn Eldridge, contractor, Broken Circle Temple, Ninver’, proclaimed the title, in bold cursive. Above it was a neat drawing of a circlet of stones with one missing. She ran her eye over the rest of the sheet:
We test for traditional magic and deviant magic-adjacent traits, such as elemental ancestry, possession by malevolent spirits, and curses. Ages 3 and up. Payment strictly upfront. Cancellation fee of 30 silver crescents may apply.
Xiaoling’s skin crawled. ‘Traditional’ magic? Spirits? How were these Broken Circle people allowed to practise in this backwater? The next closest temple, according to the maps, was a choice between Myrtle Circle, in northwestern Anderran, or Winding Circle itself.
“What are your testing methods?” asked Xiaoling sharply. She fixed him with what Birina called her butterfly-pin glare. “And your credentials?”
“We have a very rigorous questionnaire,” he said stiffly and rapidly. Xiaoling, a veteran of hundreds of civil court cases, recognised a memorised speech when she heard one. “Tested by Honoured Echinacea, who has fifteen years of experience as an Earth mage and five as an Honoured Dedicate. Our testimonials say we’re the best in all Capchen.”
Xiaoling kept frigid silence and counted to a hundred and eighty. It was a technique she’d used for fifteen years as a lawyer in the courts of Geyuan province, and it hadn’t failed her yet.
He squirmed, fidgeting with his fat silk purse. “My credentials are - are from Olive Circle Temple in Gansar. I can decrease the fee, if you wish…”
“I do not wish,” whispered Xiaoling, sick at heart. If Kurchali merchants as a whole had not been so penny-pinching, or Western dedicates so vain of their education system that they believed Yanjing, the wellspring of the Living Circle itself, ignorant of the simplest tenets of magic, the business of mage testing would have been simpler. How many nanshurs-in-training slipped through the cracks? How many didn’t have parents like her and Birina, who could afford expensive sea voyages abroad and years of temple fees? And how were they supposed to get him there in the first place?
She sighed and resigned herself to waiting for Polyam to arrive; only next month, thank Wei of the Orchard and Yating of the Harvest both. If Polyam couldn’t help, then gods willing, she’d hire someone to help Birina look after the place and take the child herself.
******************
The fifteenth day of Carp Moon, 1053 KF, Aikan, Capchen
The twinge in Polyam’s knee eased the moment she stepped into her friends’ house, and she sighed with relief and set her staff down. It was spring in Capchen, but a chill lingered in the air. Extra warmth always made the iron in her leg feel more like flesh. As Polyam and Birina hugged and chatted, Xiaoling made the tea.
Polyam was startled to realise how much she’d missed her friends’ easy chatter. Two years was a long time between visits, and letters weren’t the same. Of course, there was no law against keeping in touch with your regular customers from time to time, but making saati of them bordered on unusual. All her fellow daka except Pravunni had looked at Polyam curiously last time she’d come back to the caravan after spending three nights at their house. Alisa had ribbed her about leaving the Trader life and becoming kaqua’ha, or non-Trader, as some did for love (as Birina had done), and Polyam had told her tartly to get her head out of the clouds. If being a onetime wirok had not driven her from caravan life, she doubted anything would, even friends such as these two. If a certain woman from Thirteenth Caravan Achebe she’d been writing to for two months crossed her mind from time to time, well, marriage was another knot altogether, and a harder one than she cared to untangle for the moment.
On the table lay sesame-and-rice balls with pickled mangoes, sliced plantains, spiced chickpea crisps, dried jackfruit, and sticky rice buns stuffed with honey and chicken. The earthy scent of barley tea wafted from the teapot.
“Isn’t this a spread,” said Polyam, raising an eyebrow. “And most of it from your fruit trees and spice beds. Indulging in some bribery? Or are you trying to set me up with the baker’s daughter?” She nodded at the buns.
“Talk needs food,” quipped Xiaoling. It was an old joke. “What kind of hosts would we be if we let you collapse from hunger? But we do need a favour - a rather large one, actually.” Briefly she told Polyam about their son’s magic and her meeting with Master Eldridge.
Birina shook her head in disgust. “Merchants. Jishen through and through,” she said, nodding to Da Lien, who was busily moulding different coloured lumps of clay, grass, leaves, soil and twigs into a pyramid on the verandah. “We’d take him ourselves, but Xiaoling gets seasick and we can’t spare the orchard. You said you have trustworthy friends in Summersea. We thought… if we could pay for his passage, would they accept him at Winding Circle?”
Polyam smiled, thinking of what Daja’s sister Trisana would make of this Eldridge. She had earned her credential at Lightsbridge in vision magics, with a minor qualification in mind-healing, and was now an itinerant mage who specialised in finding children whose ambient magic had gone untested.
“I can do one better,” she said, sipping at her tea. “Let me see if I can get you someone reliable to go with him, a cut-price rate, and a discounted mage-test to boot. I happen to know one or two people who would be interested.”
Rating: G (one mention of love/marriage, but no sexual content)
Words: c. 1100
Summary: Polyam visits some old friends, who need a favour.
Prompt/Event: A Little Help From My Friends, Triathlon 2020
Warnings: None
Notes: a) A note on Broken Circle: This temple was in the early editions of The Magic in the Weaving/Sandry’s Book as the temple Tris is rescued from. In reprints this has changed to Stone Circle.
For my purposes, Stone Circle is now defunct, but Broken Circle is well and truly running.
b) kaqua’ha as a neutral word for non-Trader is headcanon from a discussion on the Tamora Pierce server, where falliblefabrial suggested White Traders might have had a longer, politer word to denote an ordinary non-Trader, which then became shortened to ‘kaq’, which subsequently took on the meaning of ‘dirt underfoot’ that we see in MitW.
c) The idea of Tris’s finding ambient mages, like Niko does, is one I’ve heard a few times.
******
The twenty-ninth day of Snow Moon, 1053 K.F., the country town of Aikan, Capchen
The mage-tester’s front room was draughty, without even a fire on this chilly morning; he hadn’t offered Xiaoling so much as a cup of tea. She had seen less stingy paupers.
"For each child, the cost will be three gold astrels an hour.” He blinked dull chestnut eyes at the safe-box, as if already imagining her gold clinking into his belt-purse..
“Three gold astrels an hour!” she exclaimed. “What in Hebei’s name do you test for?” Ma and Baba had paid in silver to have her and her three sisters tested, and that had only been because Rosefinch Circle Temple needed an official certificate of competence from a mage tester who had earned their credentials from an approved school before it could reimburse the cost. Many folk sent their children to Living Circle temples outside the cities, out in the steppes of the north, the golden Great Madussa Desert in the south, the rainforests in the west and the red quinoa fields of the southeast, without paying one extra tal. Baba had growled about it, but not for nothing had Rosefinch earned its reputation as one of the prime schools for ambient magic in the world, to rival Lightsbridge and Winding Circle.
Xiaoling didn’t know exactly how much three gold astrels was in zhan, but she’d bet it wasn’t worth the piece of official-looking parchment this Master Eldridge, or whatever he called himself, was waving under her nose. She kept her face as impassive as Birina might have done, however, and took it.
‘Master Selwyn Eldridge, contractor, Broken Circle Temple, Ninver’, proclaimed the title, in bold cursive. Above it was a neat drawing of a circlet of stones with one missing. She ran her eye over the rest of the sheet:
We test for traditional magic and deviant magic-adjacent traits, such as elemental ancestry, possession by malevolent spirits, and curses. Ages 3 and up. Payment strictly upfront. Cancellation fee of 30 silver crescents may apply.
Xiaoling’s skin crawled. ‘Traditional’ magic? Spirits? How were these Broken Circle people allowed to practise in this backwater? The next closest temple, according to the maps, was a choice between Myrtle Circle, in northwestern Anderran, or Winding Circle itself.
“What are your testing methods?” asked Xiaoling sharply. She fixed him with what Birina called her butterfly-pin glare. “And your credentials?”
“We have a very rigorous questionnaire,” he said stiffly and rapidly. Xiaoling, a veteran of hundreds of civil court cases, recognised a memorised speech when she heard one. “Tested by Honoured Echinacea, who has fifteen years of experience as an Earth mage and five as an Honoured Dedicate. Our testimonials say we’re the best in all Capchen.”
Xiaoling kept frigid silence and counted to a hundred and eighty. It was a technique she’d used for fifteen years as a lawyer in the courts of Geyuan province, and it hadn’t failed her yet.
He squirmed, fidgeting with his fat silk purse. “My credentials are - are from Olive Circle Temple in Gansar. I can decrease the fee, if you wish…”
“I do not wish,” whispered Xiaoling, sick at heart. If Kurchali merchants as a whole had not been so penny-pinching, or Western dedicates so vain of their education system that they believed Yanjing, the wellspring of the Living Circle itself, ignorant of the simplest tenets of magic, the business of mage testing would have been simpler. How many nanshurs-in-training slipped through the cracks? How many didn’t have parents like her and Birina, who could afford expensive sea voyages abroad and years of temple fees? And how were they supposed to get him there in the first place?
She sighed and resigned herself to waiting for Polyam to arrive; only next month, thank Wei of the Orchard and Yating of the Harvest both. If Polyam couldn’t help, then gods willing, she’d hire someone to help Birina look after the place and take the child herself.
******************
The fifteenth day of Carp Moon, 1053 KF, Aikan, Capchen
The twinge in Polyam’s knee eased the moment she stepped into her friends’ house, and she sighed with relief and set her staff down. It was spring in Capchen, but a chill lingered in the air. Extra warmth always made the iron in her leg feel more like flesh. As Polyam and Birina hugged and chatted, Xiaoling made the tea.
Polyam was startled to realise how much she’d missed her friends’ easy chatter. Two years was a long time between visits, and letters weren’t the same. Of course, there was no law against keeping in touch with your regular customers from time to time, but making saati of them bordered on unusual. All her fellow daka except Pravunni had looked at Polyam curiously last time she’d come back to the caravan after spending three nights at their house. Alisa had ribbed her about leaving the Trader life and becoming kaqua’ha, or non-Trader, as some did for love (as Birina had done), and Polyam had told her tartly to get her head out of the clouds. If being a onetime wirok had not driven her from caravan life, she doubted anything would, even friends such as these two. If a certain woman from Thirteenth Caravan Achebe she’d been writing to for two months crossed her mind from time to time, well, marriage was another knot altogether, and a harder one than she cared to untangle for the moment.
On the table lay sesame-and-rice balls with pickled mangoes, sliced plantains, spiced chickpea crisps, dried jackfruit, and sticky rice buns stuffed with honey and chicken. The earthy scent of barley tea wafted from the teapot.
“Isn’t this a spread,” said Polyam, raising an eyebrow. “And most of it from your fruit trees and spice beds. Indulging in some bribery? Or are you trying to set me up with the baker’s daughter?” She nodded at the buns.
“Talk needs food,” quipped Xiaoling. It was an old joke. “What kind of hosts would we be if we let you collapse from hunger? But we do need a favour - a rather large one, actually.” Briefly she told Polyam about their son’s magic and her meeting with Master Eldridge.
Birina shook her head in disgust. “Merchants. Jishen through and through,” she said, nodding to Da Lien, who was busily moulding different coloured lumps of clay, grass, leaves, soil and twigs into a pyramid on the verandah. “We’d take him ourselves, but Xiaoling gets seasick and we can’t spare the orchard. You said you have trustworthy friends in Summersea. We thought… if we could pay for his passage, would they accept him at Winding Circle?”
Polyam smiled, thinking of what Daja’s sister Trisana would make of this Eldridge. She had earned her credential at Lightsbridge in vision magics, with a minor qualification in mind-healing, and was now an itinerant mage who specialised in finding children whose ambient magic had gone untested.
“I can do one better,” she said, sipping at her tea. “Let me see if I can get you someone reliable to go with him, a cut-price rate, and a discounted mage-test to boot. I happen to know one or two people who would be interested.”
Maybe once we'd have seen it during Smackdown!