Completed Graces and Prayers

[Lani Stranger]

1st of Spring, 519AV

Although the flowers bloomed outside and the animal emerged from their dens once again, Lani found herself avoiding market day. Her excuse was that she had nothing to buy, but in reality she didn’t want to see faces she would have to say goodbye to. Nor did she want to see what all the pent up energy and suffering from the winter would be released as among the Inarta. She did have something to buy though, although she knew she would have to work for it. Lani had found the only Kontinese journal in the Enclave two seasons prior, and has since likely been the only one to touch the book. By now she had poured through ever page, memorized most of the prayers and songs within. For such a foreign place as Wind Reach, it was her last bit of home, wherever home was. It wasn’t that the mixed blood had ever been to the Konti Isle, or that she was raised just like any other Konti, but that her adoptive mother was Konti. And although the last years spent with R’yse were horrid and scarring, she would always remember her childhood with her loving Konti mother, and this book only sweetened those memories.

”Hello Kavisan,” She spoke to the head librarian who never seemed to leave the Enclave. Her departure was coming up, although she had yet to speak to him about it. The Inarta had never been the most friendly to her, but he was a staple of her day, and likely the Inarta that she saw more than any others, even if he was not the most beloved. He had made her jump through tedious loops, but as the Enclave remained her sanctuary in such a city that hated her, she did everything his asked without complaint, even when it was blantantly unfair. He had not thrown her through any hoops recently, and she wondered if perhaps she had grown on the man, or at least become less of a nuisance. Her lack of grasp on the language in the beginning irritated him, but now she was able to hold almost whole converstaions with the man, when he let her.

”How are you today?” She asked, perfectly sweet, and the man looked up from his text, the usual bored expression on his face.

”Babysitting you fools, instead of going to market day. I had to send a Chiet for me to get what I needed.” He huffed, a slight irritation in his voice. Even if it had been directly aimed at her, Lani had grown used to ignoring his tone.

”I avoid market day today.” She sighed, leaning slightly on his desk as if preparing for a conversation. She wanted to butter him up to what she was going to ask for.

”Hmm,”He grumbled, mossy green eyes looking pointedly at her elbow that balanced her weight on the edge of his desk, but he made no comment on it.

”I no trust the weather is good, like they say.” She offered, trying to get him to respond. Instead Kavisan turned back to look at his book, and she sighed, straightening up. ”I have a question, Kavisan.” She implored, getting to the point.

”What is it, Lani?” He asked, more respondent to this than the small talk.

”I want to buy the book in Kontinese.” She explained, pulling her purse. Kavisan’s turned slightly quizzical and he watched her hands fiddle with the straps on her coin purse for a tick before replying.

”I hope you don’t expect someone else to copy it for you?” He asked, a slight amusement in his voice, as if she was that much of a fool. Used to it, Lani ignored the insult to her intelligence, or perhaps her entitlement.

[Lani Stranger]

”No,” She said slowly, counting out fifteen pinions. ”I will copy my own, I just want to buy… for use.” She explained, somewhat choppy. Her vocabulary was much larger after her few seasons in the volcano, and her grammar was better, but when she got nervous, her sentences still got choppy.

”You want to pay me to copy it yourself?” He asked, again with the haughty tone that implied Lani was stupid.

”Yes,” She confirmed, slightly insecure of what she was asking now. She admired and feared Kavisan, and he had a tendency to do that to her. She wanted to impress the Avora, but always seemed to fall short on doing so.

”Why?” He asked, and she turned her head slightly, raising a brow in confusion at his quesiotn.

”Because… I pay to use book-” She started to explain, and he cut her off.

”No, why are you so obsessed with that Kontinese book? You are always borrowing it, and now you want to copy it?” He asked, and Lani’s shoulder’s relaxed. It just occurred to her that she knew almost nothing about Kavisan and his history, and likewise, he knew nothing of her. The librarian had no idea she was raised by a Konti who had passed, and so this was the closest thing to her mother that still remained in her life. How could he? She had never told him. In fact… she wasn’t sure she had told anyone in this mountain that information. Or really… anyone at all. Except Madeira. She had told Madeira in her letters… or at least alluded at it.

Suddenly Lani was consumed with the idea that no other living soul may know this information about her, other than perhaps the people who had witnessed her sending her mother to death. Quett had an idea, but the wise Jamoura had never pressed Lani, and Lani had never offered the information. Her obsession with Kontinese culture, and her step into it, was misplaced for a lot of people who viewed her.

”Lani?”

”Oh, uh, my mother is Konti.” She rushed to explain and Kavisan snorted.

”Nice try, I am no fool, girl. You are not Konti, your mother could not possibly be Konti.” He said, a slight disappointment in his tone, likely because he thought her a blatant liar.

”No, not my…. Birth mother. My ‘adopt’ mother.” She explained, waving away the dismissal with her hands. ”When I was baby, I was give to her… to raise.”She explained, and then, as if to prove her point, she switched to the tongue of her mother, as if Kavisan would understand. ”I speak almost good Kontinese, but I forget much… Kontinese.” She explained, and for the first time in her many moons working for Kavisan, she watched his eyebrows raise in some semblance of interest.

”Is that so? How interesting.” He mused for a tick, and Lani could watch the pages turning in his head as he put something together. He nodded to himself once, and then his face slowly smoothed back into the bored monotone she was used to seeing. ”That seems like a reasonable request.” Then he looked up at her, putting out a flat hand to not accept her pinions. ”Pay me when you are done, I want to look it over.” He said, and Lani nodded, shuffling her pinions away, and strapping the purse back to her belt.

[Lani Stranger]

”Thank you, Kavisan, thank you very much.” She grinned, bowing deeply and politely.

”Why do you do that?” He asked, all of the sudden, and Lani rose again, looking at his quizzically. This was possibly the most in depth conversation she had had with Kavisan yet, and none of it was expected

”It is, uh, how Lhavitians do. It is respect.” She said, and Kavisan just nodded, no expression on his face. Without another word he waved at her, which she took as a dismissal, and scurried away from him before he freaked her out with any more questions or expressions that showed he was a living sentient creature, and not a statue that was constantly irritated with her. Lani swept through the few bookshelves in the Enclave and selected the familiar binding that she had recopied in her first few days there, tucking it in her elbow and hurrying back to the workroom to get her supplies.

When she had gathered what she needed and set up her usual work station at her desk, Lani was eager to get to work. She had formatted her papers accordingly so that she could just begin copying. Dipping her quill in the black ink, she let it glide across the parchment, forming the familiar Kontinese words with her pen as well as her mouth. As she wrote, she didn’t realize she was silently mouthing the Kontinese poetry as she wrote it. It was not completely from memory, but she enjoyed the prayers so much that she could practically recite them, and writing them only seemed to solidify them in her memory.

Once she finished the first page, taking up the first half of the parchment she had cut for herself, she had to flip the book to the last page, and begin copying that one. She intended to bind her copy into a book, although it would not be as extravagantly bound as the copy she had made for the Enclave. Hirro and all his skill had bound that copy, listening to her summary of the fluidity and poetry, and creating a binding art that reflected it. Her own copy would not be so elegant, but she was still preferring to bind it into a book rather than a scroll, or stacking of paper.

Once she had written the last page completely, Lani flipped back to the front of the book, starting the second page on the back of the second parchment. She had to continue in this pattern, working from the two outermost pages at the front and back of the book inward, until the whole book was complete. Luckily she was copying from her own hand, and so she could get the pages almost exactly the same, giving her best script and carefully making sure each letter was perfect before continuing.

Due to the permanence of ink, copying was a slow and tedious task. One could not let their mind go numb, which would leave room for mistakes. Every word had to be thought about to ensure that it was spelled entirely and correctly, that no words were being missed, and that even when the original writer’s grammar was off, it was copied exactly. She had learned about the integrity of copying, which essentially was to copy the piece exactly, and at least legibly, unless the original writer requested otherwise. If the original writer did not request corrections, then their work was to be copied exactly, with the assumption that any mistakes found where on purpose. Since Lani did not know who the Konti author of this journal was, although she had her name, Lani did not change anything about the book, ensuring that the copy remained exactly the same as the original.

[Lani Stranger]

By the time that Lani had neared the end of the copy, the end of the day was drawing near. In her trance of writing, she had forgotten to take a break and gather lunch. She had departed from the table a few times to relieve herself and refill her water skin, but had managed to forget the eating time. The journal was not long, but she had gone through two feathered quills, and had somehow managed to smear ink on the table, which she knew she would have to clean. It would be difficult to remove, and she could see the traces of ink smears and spills from years past in the wood, but she did not want to damage any further parchments that could absorb the smeared ink.

While she had been writing, she had noticed Kavisan’s figure brushing past her desk a few times. At the moment she was so absorbed she did not think much of it, but as she wiped down her quill for the final time, catching sight of his hovering figure a few desks away, Lani realized that he had been paying close attention. Sore from the hunched over position, and eyes burning from focusing for too long. The scribe popped her knuckles, and then stretched, a yawn forcing its way through her mouth. The other scribes were wrapping up their work too, some more ahead in the cleaning process than others. Lani decided to give herself a few ticks to let the ink dry and admire her work while she massaged her hand, but before she was done, Kavisan appeared at the head of her scribing desk.

”Complete?” He asked, and Lani nodded, her mind a little too numb to think of the motives behind his odd interest in her personal copying. ”Excellent.”

”I will bind tomorrow, I pay then or now?” She asked, knowing that she did not have the energy or time to begin binding the book tonight, but assuming that Kavisan was wanting payment for the utensils she had already used to create the copy.

”No, no, tomorrow you need to work on some cataloging lists for the Infirmary. I’ll have someone else bind it, and return it to you when it is done.” Kavisan said, an aura of authority in his voice as he examined the ink on her top page for dryness, before scooping up the stack of unfolded parchment and tapping it on the table a few times to straighten it out. A small part of her wanted to fight him. She always got a bit possessive over her work once it was complete, which is why she had taken to binding. There was a satisfaction in having a tangible complete work that could show what you did, but Kavisan was taking it away from her, before it was complete. Still, she did not argue with him, nodding at his suggestion.

”Of course, Kavisan. I will do that.” She muttered agreement, dreading the boring cataloging of Infirmary herbs in comparison to the beautiful poetry she got to read and rewrite all day. Oh well, it came with the job. Kavisan tucked the pages under one elbow and nodded to her.

”Have a good night, Lani. I will see you bright and early.” He said, in a remarkably warm greeting. It saddened her slightly that Kavisan was just warming up to her, when she had an appointment with the Valintar, to discuss wrapping up her ties in Wind Reach, and carrying out the work she owed them, tomorrow. Lani was confident in her reasons for going, but she was a little saddened to leave her kind Inarta behind, of which Kavisan was beginning to become one. Such is fate. She thought to herself, watching Kavisan disappear into the workshop and scooting her chair back to begin cleaning. Such is fate.