Shhh, Quiet! Part I (solo)

[Vala]

Vala clutched her right wrist in pain, face contorted into a grimace. She had expected record keeping to be tedious, she was prepared for the monotony, but she hadn’t prepared herself for the cramping. Vala let her small head slump to the counter as the fact that she had only finished half, sunk in, deep. At first it had been a breeze. Well if growling at a quill for growing dull at a disheartening rate, and tearing up every time she made a splotch (often), counts as a breeze. Her letters were wobbly, at best, frantic, at worst. She had tried her best, wrist aching at the memory, to stay within the lines. Though unpleasant to look at, each letter had been made with fervent, meticulous care: Vala was proud.

Vala picked up another librarian’s note, with her left hand. “The Art of Glassblowing by Rakus Varllem. Pages two and twenty seven - minor tears. Repaired with glue and used extra paper to patch. Binding loose - repaired with book glue. Extra notes: Seems like a popular book. Pages are getting worn - a copy should be made soon, maybe two.” Vala read under her breath. She picked up the book - The Art of Glassblowing by Rakus Varllem. She agreed with the librarian who had written the note, who ever he or she was, the book was definitely worn. Vala was surprised that throughout its life, the medium sized book had only sustained a few minor cuts and bruises. “You’re a trooper.” Vala whispered playfully at the book.

The simple, falcon feather quill, lay balanced upon the ink pot. Vala wanted to throw both the quill and the ink pot at the wall and lose herself in a good book. She mastered her impulse, stuffing it deep down inside, and replaced it with a forced industriousness. She picked up the quill with a trembling hand. She brought her finger down to the column of the ledger where the books’ name was written. It took her near half a chime for each word, she managed to string out The Art of Glassblowing. For the next column, for the author’s name, Vala had to stop to sharpen her quill. She took a nearby cloth, already stained black from ink, and wiped at the quill, emptying its reservoir and making sure to clean the the tip dry. Taking the small sharpening knife in hand, Vala began cutting the tip, trying to get the nib to the perfect writing angle. On her third try, Vala cried out, a shriek of a wounded animal. She reached for a cleaner cloth, and pressed it tight against the cut, where a drop of ruby life began to well. “Ach, why am I so clumsy.” Vala chastised herself. She pressed the cloth tight against it, waiting for the cut to clot. When the pain subsided Vala pulled the cloth away to reveal a minor cut stained red and black. “I’ll have to wash this out properly...” Vala promised herself, “but after I finish this one line of record keeping.“ Vala bit her lip, trying to ignore the pain on the pad of her left ring finger; It was a minor pain, but annoying nonetheless. It took her two more tries to finally get the perfect angle cut on out on the quill. With one last simple cut perpendicular to the end, to abet ink flow, Vala dipped her quill into her ink pot and continued her work.

Ra... Vala paused to dab at a stray ink splotch...kus. She smiled; except for the ink blot she had actually managed to make the name look pretty and legible. Her smile faded when she remembered how long the other librarian’s notes were. Without pausing, except to dab at the three further ink blotches, Vala finished writing all the notes, more or less decipherable to the trained eye. When she finished, she put her quill down, conceding that with her shaking, cramped hands, she wouldn’t be able to continue properly: it was better to take longer to do a job right, than be quick and do a shoddy job and repeat it later. She made sure to tidy up the station: capping the ink pot, lining up all the books into their proper columns, and cleaning the quill.

When Vala finished, she looked around. Kirna had yet to return from her business, leaving Vala unsupervised. She took hold of “The Art of Glassblowing” by Rakus Varllem and began to flip excitedly through the pages.

[Vala]

Vala flipped through the book, lingering at the pages with detailed ink sketches of glassworks. She closed her eyes, trying to imagine all the colors the glass could be - all the colors she could make it. Vivid swirls of fire red, oceanic blue, sunny yellow, lush green - every imaginable color, in every shade, tone, and brightness, swam in her mind. She opened her eyes. The colors of the dim, real life library, a pale comparison to her own imagination. She sighed, continuing to flip through the book again. She stopped when she reached a page heavily embellished. “I wish I could write and paint like that,” Vala whispered to herself. “Glass and Gravity”, it said, in bold colors across the top. Vala ran her fingers against the beveled flourishes. She rubbed her aching hand as she began to read under her breath. “Gravity plays an important role in the making of glass forms” Vala tried to remember the last time she had actually worked with glass... too long she concluded. “Angle your rod perpendicular, horizontal, to the floor, as you rotate the rod or punti, to prevent uneven sides from forming.” Obviously, Vala scoffed. Well not too obvious; Vala remembered the first time she had worked with a rod as a Yasi. She was weak, and hadn’t expected it to be so tiring - the image of her first and ,very, lumpy vase still haunted her. She continued to read, hoping to reiterate proper glass blowing techniques in her mind, before she forgot them from lack of use. “To counter the effects of severe lopsidedness, a marver should be implemented, but sparingly and with caution. A marver, due to its composition: marble or metal, is at a normally low temperature, compared to the molten hot glass you will be working with. The marver’s cool surface will suck energy from the glass, cooling the outer layers of the gathered glass: this will create a cooler outer film on the glass. If controlled the cooling capabilities, can be used to a gaffer’s advantage. If the edge is rolled on the marver, leaving the bottom warmer, then when blown into, the hotter glass will expand further, elongating the project; if used inversely: if the bottom is rolled across the marver, cooling the bottom, then when the piece is blown into, then the warmer sides will expand further.” Vala grabbed a nearby scrap of blank paper, popped open the ink pot, and dipped the quill in. Though her hand spasmed painfully, Vala forced herself to write take notes on the Glass blowing book. She knew most of the basic facts it had listed, she did have an apprenticeship, albeit a short one, but there were some interesting snippets she wanted to remember for later. “If punti is not at a close enough temperature to glass then it will not stick or may cause cracking.” Vala wrote, barely legibly. She tried to write the next line in short hand, but that was even more illegible. “If leath. pads aren’t kept cool they burn - ash - bad.” Vala flipped through the book a little more, scribbling down the minerals that would produce her favorite color in glass - black. “Mix of Manganese, Cobalt, Iron” She had already known that Iron would produce black, but she was pleasantly surprised to learn of other methods. Eventually, she stopped taking notes and just read the rest of the book. Her hand was too cramped to take notes properly. When she finished reading through the entire tome, Vala decided to work smart and start on another project while her wrist recovered. She would re-glue book bindings and return to recording when she was finished.

[Vala]

Vala squeaked, like a mouse, like a scared tiny, worthless mouse. And due to the projection from the Reception Desk, a handful of nearby patrons all heard Vala’s embarrassing reaction; most of them ignored it, not even looking up from their studying, but a few giggled. At the sound of their laughter Vala’s face burned a painful scarlet. Behind her, more laughter, a deeper, more malicious chortle continued to ring in Vala’s ears. “I didn’t take you for one to startle so easy. This might be more boring than I expected... doesn’t mean I’ll stop though.” Kiarika hissed. Shivers prickled across Vala’s bare flesh, in a combination of blinding rage, burning frustration, and convoluted embarrassment. She was frozen in her seat; in her surprise she had accidentally spilled some book glue on the pages of the book she was repairing. Vala was unable to turn around and say anything, she felt so defenseless. “So pathetic. I can smell the worthlessness on you: it stinks. You stink. A dek could do your job.” Vala gasped in pain. Kiarika giggled voicelessly. “What, did that sting? Did it sting because it was true? Haha, you chiet are no better than educated slaves. Don’t worry, you’ll learn your place soon.” Kiarika ran a sharp nail across Vala’s exposed arm, leaving a thin, swelling red welt.

~~~~~~

“Vala?” Kirna asked solemnly. “We need to talk...”

Vala tossed the cloth to the side as she finished wiping her hands. “Yeah? And I finished gluing all the books. I still have some recording to do, sorry I didn’t finish earlier, my hands just started to cramp and I couldn’t continue anymore.” She smiled apologetically. Her smile slowly transformed to a worried frown when Kirna’s face remained stoic and cold.

Kirna motioned for Vala to sit back down. “Vala, please. Try to stay calm now, ok dear?.. It has been noted that the ancient tome of “Glassblowing in Wind Reach”; one of the few written by Inartans has been missing for the past two days, its virtually priceless as it holds many secrets from our glassblowing culture and distinct Wind Reach methods. It is only shown to a select few Avora and Chiet with Kavisan, or my permission.” Kirna paused as Vala opened her mouth, about to ask why Kirna was mentioning this, but she just shut it in silence. Kirna continued. “Well... I don’t know how to say this, but uh... we found the book, in your room, on your desk. I just need to know, Vala, why did you do it? Why did you take it? I would have let you read it in time...if you just asked me...”

Vala’s jaw dropped.

End of Part I

[Phoenix]

Character: Vala Experience: Record keeping - 1 Organization -2 Intimidation - 1 Cooking - 3 Calligraphy - 3 Lores: Controlling her temper The possibilitites of blowing glass Punishment for pranks Working under emotional explosion Shame for all the right reasons Recovering from negative emotions Just how tattered a book should be Forgiving the implimentor of discipline Long day's work Rude awakening by an object of dislike Failed prank Busting out the big gun-kiara- to solve a problem Shoddy jewelry "merchants" Faking Kindness Haptophobia The application of “elbow grease” Feeling no pity for the lower Caste Proper food preparation Graciously accepting help Feeling a heartfelt moment of thanks Learning how to make bread Comments: This was an awesome read! You did a wonderful job. I liked the way that you had Vala interact with those who would normally be found in the places she explored and the situations she found herself in. Much more interesting than if it had all been internal dialogue. If you think there is anything that I may have missed regarding XP or Lores, send me a PM and I will review the thread.