Celta Thursday: Halloween/Samhain

Celta Thursday: I wanted something cut from Heart & Soul, which took place at this time but it was clean with only about 3 small paragraphs cut, so here's an EXCERPT:
Then they were at the door and snaked with the mass of people through the entry hall of RoundDome Temple. They passed through the corridor that encircled the temple and into the main sacred space. It was decorated in brown and black and orange and red and yellow, autumn's colors.

They followed the couple before them along the circle inscribed in the floor and ended up in the northeast quadrant. The doors closed a couple of minutes later and the main priestess and priest in the city entered, dressed in costume as the autumn lord and lady, leaves in their hair. There was a great shout.

The Halloween ritual was upbeat and fun and ended with a spiral dance. She didn’t even mind the fact that she was hand-in-hand with Asant and a stranger. Asant's energy was high and mischievous, adding to the general atmosphere in the temple.
As they wound back to their original places, Genista found herself laughing with all the rest, and it was a good release. The flatsweets passed out at the end of the ceremony were excellent.

Celta Thursday, cut scene from Heart Fortune, Jace and Laev T'Hawthorn at the fussy women-mostly Ladies' Tearoom

Celta Thursday, cut scene from Heart Fortune, Jace and Laev T'Hawthorn at the fussy women-mostly Ladies' Tearoom: You'll find much, but not all of the scene in Chapter 25...more next week:

**I do not like this place. It is too fussy. I want OUT!** Zem the FamHawk said.
T'Hawthorn coughed.
Reluctantly, Jace opened the door. I will miss you, he said privately to Zem. Please stay close.
There is a strip of park with a fountain across the street. Bathtime! Zem sounded thrilled. With only a flip of a wing as good bye, he soared away.
Dammit, Jace could have used his Fam's advice. He closed the door and turned back to the room. The place reminded him of his mother and how sweet she seemed on the outside and to other people and how rotten she was to him when no one was watching.
Eventually whispers started up again and a genuinely amused woman came their way. "Greet you, Laev."
"Hello, Aquilaria. Looks like business is good."
"Business is great, as usual," she said.
"Nice to hear."
"Camellia isn't in, today."
T'Hawthorn smiled charmingly. "I know."
The woman nodded. "I thought you did. How about a table in the corner." She flashed a smile and began wending her way through the tables to an empty area in a small corner. Then she gestured for them to sit at a table with a white cloth that actually relieved Jace.
Setting fancily cut sheets of papyrus before them, she said, "The menu. Not as simple or hearty as what you'll find at Darjeeling's HouseHeart, or as extensive as the cuisine at Darjeeling's Teahouse."
"Camellia's at Darjeeling's HouseHeart," T'Hawthorn said, without looking up from the menu, "and the manager of Darjeeling's Teahouse would insist on scrying Camellia and telling her that I was there. Which you won't, will you Aquilaria?"
A few seconds' hesitation and a slight sigh from the woman. "No, I won't, Laev. Not right now, not unless she scries me and asks if you're here."
T'Hawthorn smiled up at her, "Which won't enter her mind."
"Probably not."
"I'll tell her soon enough, when I compliment her on the place." He grimaced. "I don't like the decor, but I can tell the women do."
"We were all having a very good time until you two gorgeous men walked in," said a waitress, stopping at the table. "Now everyone is preening and watching you." The newcomer laughed. "Aquilaria won't have to tell Glyssa that you were here, she'll hear as soon as a guest here wants to call her, and if that doesn't happen, the gossip will hit her by tomorrow."
The GreatLord set down the menu, rested his arms on the table and steepled his fingers. "Tomorrow will be fine. In a half-septhour, not so much. I have business."
"Uh-huh," said the waitress. "What can I get you?"
Jace glanced down at the menu, printed in very fancy script that he had trouble reading.
"I will have dark roast caff," T'Hawthorn said. "I noticed that at the bottom of the menu you offered 'a full Celtan tea for those who want a heavier meal.' That's me."
"Excellent, and you, sir?" the waitress turned to Jace.
"I'll have that meal, too." He thought about drink. Caff was the standard of the day in the camp, most bad, some good if you knew the right person. He'd had some good tea with Glyssa, didn't remember the name of it, but Camellia had provided it. He grinned at the manager, then the waitress, handed the server his menu. "I'll have the Darjeeling."
They smiled back and T'Hawthorn narrowed his eyes. "Clever."
"I can be," Jace said.
"Have a good business discussion, my lords," said the manager. "Take any physical disagreements to The Green Knight Fencing and Fighting Salon. The ladies might be delighted to see a fight – or might not, but, I assure you, Camellia would be displeased."
Jace sat stunned at being addressed a lord, even if it was by only one letter.
After the two women left – and he noticed that the next party that came in was seated on the opposite side of the room.
"I'm not a lord." Jace finally shook his mind from a trance.
T'Hawthorn shrugged. "I'm sure they feel it's better to error on the side of courtesy and respect. And though I don't think T'Blackthorn or his sons, especially Draeg, would step in here for any amount of gilt, you are dressed much like the trackers when they are working."
"Oh." Jace frowned. "I thought T'Blackthorn...that the Blackthorns..." He stopped since T'Hawthorn's face went still.
"Straif and Mitchella have adopted. They consider Straif's cuz's sons as his own."
"I don't know too much about Druida City or the FirstFamilies, haven't ever associated with nobles, especially on any kind of regular basis."
"Until now," the GreatLord leaned back in his chair, floral patterened like everything else from the walls to the rug.
The waitress appeared with two china floral pots, one long and slender, the other short and round, the standard teapot. Murmuring easy comments about the day, she poured rich smelling caff from the taller pot into a tall, thin mug of simple white. Jace's nose twitched.
Then she poured his light-brown tea that smelled a little flowery, a little delicate but still tasty. He wanted it on his tongue. And when he did taste it, he smiled and looked up at her. "Perfect."
She returned his smile, nodded to T'Hawthorn and left.
"You're really going to drink that?" The GreatLord asked.

LAST BIT OF CUT SCENE REGARDING WRITING HOKU'S STORY FROM HEART FORTUNE. Here was opening as revised by Glyssa annd Jace that Jace read to the Hawthorns

Belated birthday present to fan on Facebook: LAST BIT OF CUT SCENE REGARDING WRITING HOKU'S STORY FROM HEART FORTUNE. Here was opening as revised by Glyssa annd Jace that Jace read to the Hawthorns:

I opened my eyes to see the fog thin from the cryonics tube, and the top opened before my brain came completely online. Some techs and Umar Clague and his lady stood beside me.

Umar was significantly older than when we'd parted and I watched the fog take him under – late fifties or early sixties. He looked as close to cracking under pressure as I've ever seen him.

His lady's smile was strained as she said, "Welcome back, Netra."

I tried to open my mouth to ask them what was wrong, but couldn't. A pretty female tech I didn't know leaned over and wiped my face with a soft cloth. She gave me a juice cup with a straw. Clague and a male tech angled me up and my eyes stung because my body lost some contact with the steady and comforting vibration of the ship.

My first words were, "Are we going to die?"

"I hope not," Clague said.

Unlike me, he was – had been – a man of an optimistic nature.

This was bad.

Celta Thursday, Cut from Heart Fortune, Glyssa Writing:

Celta Thursday, Cut from Heart Fortune, Glyssa Writing: Maybe she'd do a flashback later in the book to show it, but she wanted to start when Hoku was Awakened and became Captain. That's when his journals started, though the one that dealt with his life aboard Lugh's Spear was sketchy. He was far more elolquent after he and the remaining colonists left the ship, tried to establish a community, watched the ship disappear as the ground beneath it gave way, then began the trek to Druida City where Nuada's Sword had landed.

Hoku was Awakened and named Captain when the colonists decided to settle on this planet. A couple of months – she'd have to record the exact amount of time which she didn't know right now. More research needed! She'd just put in a placeholder note: **months before the Landing of Lugh's Spear.

That was sufficient for now. She could barely keep her eyes from closing.
Lepid! she mind-called her FoxFam.

A distant yip came. **I am by the fire. You should come, too. It is very pleasant.** A pause. **Though some people do not sing very well. *I* sing better than they.**

That had her smiling. She stood and stretched, set the page of her story atop the many sheets of papyrus she'd used to detail her report of the camp, the Elecampanes, the progress of her studies as well as the investigations of others and the progress of the excavation. Put the longer outline for her story atop that.

**I am going to bed now.**

LATER IN THE STORY:

She worked.

Tried to craft the story. The field report was going fine.

She'd finished transcribing all of Hoku's journal of the time he was on the ship, had helped with the founding of the town they'd hoped to live in, and the tragic disappearance of Lugh's Spear. She knew the events well, but that was all. She wanted to write it from Hoku's point of view.

Finally she flung the writestick aside. Why did she think she could get into a man's head? She couldn't even understand Jace, and she had a bond with him. She had definitely misread him from the beginning.

She stared at her pitiful sentences and gulped, then her mouth dried.

This story terrible. She would fail her friend. She would fail her field study.

She was doomed.

Cut Scene from Sorceress of Faith

For Amy, a cut scene from Sorceress of Faith, I'm pretty sure it's not in the book...but it's been a long time...

The next day, Jaquar leaned back in his seat in the amphitheater on Parteger Island and watched the show. All thirty of the sorcerers and sorceresses who lived in towers on the islands off Lladrana had showed up except the greatest – and oldest – Bossgonde. And most of them were down in the stage-pentagram area in the middle arguing. It was supposed to be a rational debate as to whether to have the Marshalls Summon an exotique for the Towers – and when.

He looked on the scene with mild amusement. They couldn't get along, the "discussion" had deteriorated into raking over old insults, but he'd rather be among this outspoken, individual bunch than with the Marshalls, whose politics were among friends and quietly nasty.

Just as well the acrimony was taking place down in the middle, the magic would prevent any sorcerous duels and the pentagram would be soaking up all the excess energy and storing it. Just as well he was up here instead of down there, too, or he'd be word-slinging with the rest of them.

Jacquar felt sure that the others agreed with him that they would need the Exotique. Anyone with the slightest foresight knew that the next step in the fight to save their land – their world, fell to the Towers. His fellows weren't even quibbling about the price – essentially a library of spell books concerning the weapon and battle magic and the horrors that invaded. Were sent to invade Lladrana. Every sorcerer worth his or her salt had extra copies of those books already. Price wasn't an issue.

When was a bit of a concern – there were five more times the dimensional link would be made with the Exotique land over the next year and a half. He held the opinion that the very next Summoning should be theirs. No opportunity should be missed. His mouth grimmed. He sensed they would need every chance and every Exotique they could Summon. The soul of his world, Ame, was struggling, weak, and they must ensure it lived.

He closed his eyes and imagined himself on his island, in his Tower, sitting at his desk. He wafted a sheet of paper onto his desk, uncapped the purple inkbottle and picked up the pen to compose a note to the Marshalls. "Your price for Summoning an Exotique to work with the Towers will be met." He listed the books they'd receive.

The best, the most important – not too many that they wouldn't read or cherish them, but if he gaged the thirst for knowledge by the loremarshall, Bastien and Alexa right, they'd be used. Not time to refuse what the Marshalls needed. Jaquar attached a standard list of qualities needed for an apprentice, and ended. "She must be of wide and flexible mind, must have the twelve tones of power." Alexa had had ten, and ten was fine for a Marshall, but the Towers would need twelve.

Frowning, he wondered if the Marshalls normally counted the tones of power. Then he shrugged. The Marshalls would use his letter and the qualifications for their Summoning spell, and when the chant went out to the Exotique land, the proper one would respond. He rippled distance and placed the paper on the loremarshalls desk with a little spell that it be discovered at the correct time.

Smack! The sound jerked his attention back to the amphitheater to see a red hand mark on Charlmon's face. Jaquar winced in sympathy, that must hurt. Venetria stood in front of Charlmon, hair rumpled, magnificent bosom heaving. Jaquar deeply admired Venetria's looks and skills, as did most of the younger sorcerers, none of them was fool enough to mix in the love-hate relationship between Charlmon and the lady.

Jaquar's mind drifted back to the love between his parents he'd seen the night before. That was what most wanted – a matched pairing. The love of the couple who loved each other and rescued him from the streets of Sparee City, brought him into the warm circle of their love, was what had saved him.

Unfortunately the relationship between Charlmon and Venetria was what most sorcerers and sorceresses got.

Jacquar stood and projected his voice. "Has this quarreling deteriorated to pointlessness? For myself, I want the Exotique Summoned, and at the next proper conjunction of moon and stars. I am willing to pay the price."

"And get an Exotique of incredible power for an apprentice," a sorceress said.

Jacquar smiled. That was what most of the fighting had been about, who would carry the new Exotique off to their Tower.

"I think we should consider this whole topic most carefully," quavered an old man and Jaquar wasn't sure which of the trio of minor sorcerers spoke.

Smiling, Jaquar said. "Consider all you want. That is my opinion and the option I cast my vote for. As for having the Exotique as an apprentice, I would imagine that would depend on his or her power bent." He lied. From what he could tell, Alexa could have turned her hand to any sort of magic, and he'd wager the new Exotique would be strong enough to do the same.

"But Summoning the Exotique is not the only item of discussion. There's the matter of a loose sangvile, and an upcoming battle." He'd shared the feycoocu's sight of the sangvile attacking Alexa and the words it had said to Alexa. "My forecasting has not shown a battle, but it is not my best magic." No lie there.

Silence thundered.

Charlmon took Venetria's hand, kissed her fingers, brought her close, then glanced up to Jaquar. "If we are to discuss blood and battle, I would prefer to be in a warm hall with wine and mead."

"I take it your forecasting showed the battle then."

Charlmon jerked his head. "Of course. It was a hovering smear a couple of days ago. Now it's a deep, jagged line on my forecast chart. My island and Tower is closest, let's adjourn to it."

"I said we would stand with the chevaliers of the field in the battle."

"Of course," Charlmon and Venetria said in unison. Most of the others echoed the phrase.

Most, not all.

Jacquar stared at the group thoughtfully, at the apprentices and journeyfolk seated in the first rows of the amphitheater, others who hadn't descended to the stage. "Let's go," he said.

Celta Thursday: Cut Scene from Heart Fortune: Continuation of Glyssa Trying To Write

Cut from Heart Fortune and Glyssa trying to write: Setting aside her story, she put writestick to papyrus and began a nice list from what she'd already found out about her subject.

**Captain Hoku was interviewed as a colonist and accepted provisionally as a pilot.**

**He liquidated all his property and possessions and contributed to the fund to buy the starships.**

**When the ships were purchased, Lugh's Spear was the oldest and in the worst condition. It was determined to be the most difficult to land successfully. Of the five starship pilots who were colonists, Hoku had the most experience with that model of starship. He accepted being appointed as the pilot who would lift off and land the starship.**

How proud Camellia should be of her ancestor!

**During the outfitting of the ships and before the colonists left, Hoku practiced and refined his technique for landing Lugh's Spear.**

**The colonists left Earth ahead of schedule due to mobs mobilizing to destroy the starships. Hoku piloted Lugh's Spear from its Earthbound berth into space.**

He'd already proven himself to be a valuable member of the crew.

**As soon as the coordinates to the original planet were set, Hoku entered the cryonics tube for the flight, to be awakened in time to land the starship.**

Glyssa smiled with satisfaction. That was the most she'd discovered with regard to his life before he was awakened. Maybe she'd do a flashback later in the book to show it, but she wanted to start when Hoku was Awakened and became Captain. That's when his journals started....
***
to be continued, next Thursday or at a birthday request :)

Heart Fortune Cut Scene: Continuation of Glyssa trying to write the Captain of the starship Lugh's Spear's story...

Birthdays on Facebook translate to more stuff here:

With an irritable shrug, she took the record sphere that held the lists of people on Lugh's Spear. She slid her thumb over it and murmured her personal password, standing there as the officers, crew, and colonist sleepers in the cryogenics tubes were enumerated.

The first name was the immediately previous Captain who'd stepped down mere months before the landing on Celta, Umar Clague and his wife.

Next came Captain and Pilot, Netra Sunaya Hoku with no lover or other relatives noted. A twinge of sadness pinged through Glyssa. Not one other person had travelled with him. No wonder he had been considered moody.

As she walked back to her desk, a stray thought flickered through her mind. If she'd been one of the ruling council of Chinju, the continent where the third starship, Arianrhod's Wheel, had landed, she'd have sent an observer to this excavation.

Each of the three starships had specialized a bit. Each had human and animal DNA. Nuada's Sword, as the largest and newest had carried most of the mission founders in cryogenics tubes. Lugh's Spear was supposed to have deeper and more specific databases about the development of psi power on Earth.** Arianrhod's Wheel held the most artisans and craftspeople.
Surely the Chinju council had been informed of the Elecampanes's project. Seafaring ships and even airships made the trips more often so regular commerce, exchanges of ideas and history and knowledge, were more common – as well as immigration and emegration.

Hmm. Perhaps Glyssa should contact Camellia and Laev Hawthorn to ensure someone from Chinju came. Laev probably was already considering providing a communications array to Corona, the capital city of Chinju.

But what was the capacity of the brand new communications satellite? Glyssa didn't know. She knew very little about old Earthan tech. For a moment she thought of how fascinating it would have been to be in Druida City this afternoon when Nuada's Sword launched the thing. She couldn't even imagine what it looked like. Surely many people would have gathered in Landing Park outside the Ship to witness the epic event.

Her whole Family might have gone on the outing...and why hadn't she asked more questions of the Ship, or Laev? Though, upon reconsideration, her father would have taken the plum assignment of being the liasion between Captain Elder and Dani Eve Elder and the Ship and the PublicLibrary. Glyssa hadn't even submitted and had her FirstLevel project approved.
Which jolted her back to her own work and duty.

She looked at the piece of papyrus, picked up the writestick again.

Please Help City of Titans Kickstarter! Reward, a cut scene from Enchanted Ever After below!

Yes, the successor to City of Heroes game has funded, but it's run by all volunteers who've been working for a year for love and no money. Furthermore, my best friend (see below), plays on a Mac, and the funding hasn't reached the stretch goal. So if you're interested in the game, join! If you're interested in supporting a great community that has lasted over 8 years, become an armchair hero at $5!

Here is a (nearly) true scene that I wrote for the beginning of Enchanted Ever After, then scrapped at editor's request. The game, Fairies and Dragons, was introduced in Enchanted No More, and mentioned in Enchanted Again. There IS a different/new game in Enchanted Ever After. :)

Twilight, Mid September, Denver, Colorado, PLAYING THE GAME, FAIRIES AND DRAGONS

"Oops."

Kiri Palger – Moonsilver – stared at her fallen partner, Saturnina, as giants jumped on her body in the Deathgulp Forest.

"Wha’ happened?" Shannon, the person running Saturnina, asked over her mic, a little tinny since it was electronic and Shannon was actually in her home across town.

For a minute Kiri considered lying. But she was the long-distance shooter and she loved her sonic bow and arrows. She’d be doing the same thing again.

She cleared her throat softly, so the mic didn’t amplify it. "You were fighting the giants next to a high explosive tree burl and I, um, shot it. Took most of you out."

"Dammit, they’re stealing my new wings!"

Kiri winced as the pretty transparent wings were ripped off Saturnina’s back. Kiri opened the email program and sent her friend some gold pieces to replace them. Least she could do.
Shannon said, "I think this forest mission is too difficult for us, and I’m wiped. It’s been a hard work week. Let’s call it a night."

They’d only been playing an hour, but Kiri agreed. "Yeah."

"‘Porting to the Dome," Shannon/Saturnina said.

"Kk," Kiri said as she hit the spacebar on her keyboard to do the same. During the few seconds it took to zone to the safe area, her game concentration and adrenaline faded and dark weariness filtered through her, muzzying her mind. She let her shoulders slump.

When she was in the Dome, a safe lounge for good fairies, she saw the sparkly Saturnina rise with a groan and shake her limbs. "Got the gold pieces, thanks," Shannon said.

"‘Welcome."

"Kiri, have you talked to your neighbor, Jenni Weavers yet?"

Kiri’s heart stuttered for real, even as she let Moonsilver sit on a couch. Jenni Weavers was the best writer for the game, Fairies and Dragons. The woman had moved into a developer position.

"No."

"But you sent in your resume and application for the job," Shannon pressed.

"Yes."

"And your docs have your Mystic Circle address on them, so she knows you live in the same cul-de-sac."

"Yes."

"Following the plan then. Go, Kiri!"

"I intend to say something to Jenni tomorrow at the block party. Sure you don’t want to come?"

"Unlike you, stalker-girl, I have a man."

"Yeah, yeah."

Shannon’s voice softened. "I know how much you want this."

"Work sucks."

"IT always sucks, especially end-user software support. Nature of the business. By the time they get to us, clients are usually fuming."

"The game developers are opening that new area next year, Pegasus Valley. I know I have good story arcs for it," Kiri said.

"I liked them," Shannon said.

"Thanks. It’s real luck that the folks who bought out the company are based here in Denver. I’ve got a shot at the job. I have the background and some credits."

"You can do it."

"Good to hear that," Kiri said.

"It’s true. See you Sunday brunch," Shannon said.

"Right. Later."

"Mmmmm," Shannon purred. Her guy must be doing the neck-kissing thing.

"Smooches to Jesse," Kiri said.

"Mmm. ‘Night." Shannon’s mic thumped and sounds of smooching came. Shannon’s character began the logoff countdown.
Kiri just stared at the computer screen. Blinked. Her shoulders and fingers ached, but sometimes the game beckoned more than reality. And once you began spending more time in the game than anywhere else, you were in trouble. She logged off.

Danith Mallow (D'Ash) Interview, birthday present for fan

On facebook, and here, if you let me know you have a birthday, I will do my best to do cut scenes or something.

Here's one for DT.

A long forgotten Danith D'Ash interview

My name is Danith Mallow -- it really is my very own name and not one that was given to me by Dannan at the Saille House for Orphans. I am 5'4'', small, I have round breasts and hips and thighs and a narrow waist. I have green eyes and chestnut hair -- that's a dark brown with reddish highlights. I am twenty-nine.

Distinctive physical marks? I don't think I have any. I have some scars from running and playing in the grounds of the Saille House for Orphans.

Favorite clothes: I hadn't thought of it before, but I have this very, very thin silkeen dress of a pale blue-green that feels so soft and slinky against my skin that I nearly purr when I wear it. I only wear it on special occasions, like my nameday, or sometimes for the Albans, when I'm celebrating them inside.

I've never been married. I had a childhood friend. A boy I met in Saille House, we were very close -- at least I thought so. We shared our dreams -- dreams of a real family with Mother and Father and children. As many children as we could have, though each of us were only childs. Anyway, Timkin left the Saille House before I did and went into the real world. He found a job melding Science and Flair into instruments. He also found another girl. Someone he liked better than me. So he married her.

I am interested in marriage. It is very, very important to me, and so is having children, as many as I can manage, and I want as big a family as I can have. Did I tell you I'm seeing Cascara Clover? He comes from a line with a large, large family. Maybe even as large as some of those on Earth.

My Father? I don't remember him very well. A large presence. Quiet, kind of scary. Did I say big? He always seemed like a huge shadow looming over me. He's dead, of course. He and mama died in an accident. An air accident. Flying is still not very safe. The machines don't go here as well as Earth and the winds, above a certain height, are very fickle. Anyway, they were on the ground when an airship crashed. I was playing somewhere else. I was three. I think I was a pretty girl, but I never got adopted. It's sort of scary since there are a lot of people without children. But bloodlines and natural children are very, very important. I don't care, of course, but they are to other people, ordinary people. And they're particularly important to the Thirteen First Families. I hear there are secret rituals at weddings and births to make sure the blood stays pure or some such. Do you believe that? I think I might.

Mother. Mama. She was soft. Not only in body. I think she was weak. She wasn't a very independent sort. Father always made the rules around the house. I don't think I would ever want to live that way. I want to follow my own rules. I've had enough of rules.

Extended family members -- none.

Schooling. Oh, most schooling is private, you know. There are small private schools for the middle class. I'm not sure what Downwind people do. But I learned my skills in Saille House.

Military service? What's that?

Goal: Easy, I want to marry Cascara, a nice, simple, uncomplicated man and be welcomed into his wonderful, large and loving family. This is important because then I won't ever be lonely, and I will always be loved by someone and I will always belong to someone. And life wasn't great at Saille House, and I want it to be better now, and marrying Cascara will be easy.
Obstacles: Well, Mitchella, Cascara's sister, thinks he isn't the right one for me. That hurt a lot, even though she said it was because she loved me and liked me better than her brother. I'm not sure if she said anything to Cascara, but I sure hope she doesn't make him think too much.

I like to feel things. And taste things.

Temperment. I have a fairly even temper unless you push me too far.

Occupation: I work as an accounting clerk at Pennyroyal & Poppy. It's a job, but the Clovers have a furniture manufacturing business and I'm sure that once I marry into the family, I will work with them in the office.

Skills: I take good care of my cat. I am good at my job, slow and conscientious. I work hard. Umm, other skills -- I master small magical items easily, which is why I thought I might, once, have Flair.

I'm tired. Really, really tired. I believed in myself once, but no more. I made a mistake, trusted the wrong person, and got railroaded into a deadend job with people who use my talents but don't respect me. Talents, yeah, with a small "t." Funny, isn't it, when I was a child, even a young girl, I was a dreamer, and just knew I had Flair, with a capital "F," thought I could feel it pulsing within me, ready to unfurl butterfly wings and soar. And it would make me happy to use the Flair, as it does everyone. And it would free me from the common life I thought I would never have to live. I would be discovered and swept up a class or two, gaining in status. I never wanted much, just to live a good life making good money doing something I loved, being independent of the rules of the orphanage, making my own rules and with a loving, supportive family. Yeah, told you I was a dreamer, huh?
Well, I don't have Flair. I've buried my dreams of that, finally.

I go through the motions of my job, I'm a good worker.

Lately, I've been excruciatingly lonely. And it wasn't until I hooked up with Cascara that I knew that I could make at least a few of my old dreams come true. His family is wonderful, so warm and outgoing and charming and cheerful. They really like me. Me, as I am and I really, really want to belong to them. To be a member.
Cascara is a good man, a little boyish, but at least he's no more of a jerk than most. And he's a reflection of his family, outgoing and ready for a good time. I laugh a lot with him.

Another birthday present posting

Again, a Facebook fan and friend, and a continuation of the previous cut scene from Heart Fortune:

The PublicLibrary naturally had a list of all the colonists who'd put together the project and contributed the funds, all of those who'd been in the cryonics tubes of the three starships. Many of the generational crew members had written down lists of themselves and their friends and the interlacing relationships of Families. Those names had been copied and kept, cross-checked and tabulated.

And many Celtans had kept the Family Ancestral Trees up to date. Glyssa grimaced. Most of the Families had diminished. Some had died out. Celta had not been an easy planet to colonize and few Families had actually thrived. Sicknesses swept through, and though lifespans and psi powers had increased greatly, the population had not flourished the way the original colonists had anticipated and planned for.

Some people even believed now, that in the end, humans would not survive on Celta.

Glyssa set her chin. She didn't subscribe to that notion. Human life had a good toehold here, and people were stubborn. Flair and tech and knowledge increased with every generation. Humans would triumph.

Surely even in the depths of whatever doubts haunted Captain Hoku, he would have believed the same. He had contributed money and skills to the colonists, believed in their mission.

She wrote: *Hoku was sure he could land the starship, Lugh's Spear, and was determined to do so!*

But back to research. She hurried into the bedroom and the cabinet with the strongest spellshield Laev had ordered. Inside were the copies of all the colonists and Family Trees that the library had. Glancing at the papyrus copies of Hoku's journals, she nodded. Whether or not it took her long, head-throbbing septhours, she'd have to transcribe those. Along with keeping the record of the excavation for her Family and Laev, and writing Hoku's story for Camellia.

And learning the camp, talking to others, discovering more about herself...as well as Lepid, and he should have been back from his "perimeter looksee" by now. She had the lowering feeling that her FoxFam liked being in the company of other people more than just with her.

With an irritable shrug, she took the record sphere that held the lists of people on Lugh's Spear. She slid her thumb over it and murmured her personal password, standing there as the officers, crew, and colonist sleepers in the cryogenics tubes were enumerated.......

Another Cut from Heart Fortune

Yes, when a birthday girl/guy gets a cut on Facebook, you get one here.

Captain Netra Sunaya Hoku was Awakened, she wrote. She studied the last word. Should she use the word "Awakened?" It meant that the Captain had departed Earth in a cryonics tube that kept him alive for centuries and the procedure had been scientifically reversed while in space. How many people knew that word?

Tapping her writestick on her desk, she decided that most folk would know the term. After all, the play detailing the last days of the voyage and the landing of Nuada's Sword had been popular for many years and most everyone would have seen it live or on viz.
And the Elecampanes had produced a play – and vized that – based on Raz Cherry T'Elecampane's ancestress who'd been a cook aboard Lugh's Spear. Everyone Glyssa knew had seen that multiple times, too.

Not to mention that since the popularity of those first plays and vizes, more fiction had been written and vized about the colonists and the voyage of the starships, life on the ships and the early years of Druida, the lost colony near Lugh's Spear. Much fiction, including romances, Glyssa's favorite.

She frowned. A huge amount of the fiction was historically inaccurate. She would not tolerate that in her own story.
And, yes, she would use, "Awaken."

He was excited and frightened.

Glyssa nibbled on the end of her writestick. Of course anyone would be frightened. But a man wouldn't show that, would he? No strong person would in such circumstances, would they? Glyssa didn't think revealing emotion also showed weakness. But perhaps that was a female notion. She scratched out "and frightened."

Who would have been at the Awakening procedure? Someone who loved him, probably. Did he have a HeartMate?

No! Earthans didn't have HeartMates, no matter how strong their psi had been. The HeartMate phenomena was a development since the colonization of Celta.

So, did Hoku have a lover – female or male? Gnawing her lip, Glyssa thought of the Captain. She'd picked through the journals, but didn't recall anything about a lover. From the moment he'd been Awakened he'd been incredibly busy – and despite the image she'd projected earlier, Glyssa didn't truly read Geek Class language easily.

Research! She definitely needed to do research for this bit...................

Early Celta Thursday -- Cut Scene from Heart Fortune

I will be on the road racing a winter storm tomorrow, so here's a small cut scene that takes place in the airship as Glyssa and her Fam, Lepid, fly to the excavation site of the starship, Lugh's Spear.

*Adventure!* Lepid popped out of the basket, the lid falling to the floor of the cabin. The pilot flinched and the airship rolled alarmingly on its side. Glyssa swallowed a scream as she saw the ground far too close.

"Get. That. Animal. Secured," the pilot gritted out between her teeth.

Glyssa grabbed at Lepid – who'd hopped on top of the small upper shelf of the control panel – caught his bushy tail, and yanked him to her with Flair.

He yipped excitedly, his tail flapping across her face.

"Urgh. Hold on to me, Lepid, until we, uh–"

"Forever," the pilot said, righting the airship. "I don't want a fliggering loose animal in my control cabin on my fliggering instrument panel."

"Of course not," Glyssa soothed. She tucked Lepid into the seat by her side and gave him some clucker strips infused with an herbal calmer. He munched contentedly, settled down. "Lepid, you can watch the scenery outside."

*Clouds are pretty. Soft. Sky and stars are nice.*

"Uh huh." Glyssa turned to the pilot. "My deepest apologies. I haven't had the fox long enough to anticipate his actions." She felt herself flushing, waved a hand at the food hamper. "I have tubes of caff with cream, cocoa with white mousse and cocoa sprinkles, and hot and iced tea, if you'd like anything."

The pilot's jaw loosened a bit and her gaze slid toward Glyssa. "What kind of tea?"

Since Camellia ran two teahouses and Glyssa had learned about varieties and mixtures, she said, "Darjeeling Teahouse Prima Blend."

A pause, then the pilot said, "I'll take the tea." She sounded less truculent.

Glyssa opened the hamper with a Word, floated the large tea tube over to the pilot, unsealing the top.

After a few sips and a grunt of satisfaction from the woman, Glyssa said, "Camellia also packed several large meals for me for the trip, entrees from Darjeeling's Teahouse and Darjeeling's HouseHeart. I'd be glad to share."

That brought a hint of a smile to the pilot's face. "Sounds good. Sailing is smooth once we get out of the hills. We can eat then and later over the Bluegrass Plains."

"Great," Glyssa said.

Lepid burped. *What is that light in front of us?*

Glyssa relayed the question.

"Dawn, we're heading east," the pilot said and her movements slowed from efficient crispness to casual competence.

"Dawn. That must be a wonderful sight," Glyssa said.

Finally she got a real smile aimed at her. "Oh, it is."

"We'll all enjoy it, then," Glyssa replied and blessed Camellia for her tea and cooking and drank the cocoa herself and enjoyed flying into the sun and a sky lightening with streamers of pink and gold.

*****************************************************************
A facebook friend has a birthday tomorrow, so I might be posting another segment.

Robin