NaNo Day 18: Haircut and excerpt
Nov. 18th, 2009 11:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
matrixrefugeeI managed to get up to 42 between last night and now, and that included going to the hairdressers to get my hair cut and have it given to Locks of Love for a donation: they got a 12 inch sample from me and now my hair is bit below jaw-length. Amazingly, it did not cost me a dime to have it cut!
And I actually have a good section to excerpt from my NaNo novel:
“Hey Ma, I know it’s late, but could you tell me the story?” Asato asked.
“You’re a little old for a bedtime story, and I’m sure you can probably recite that one by heart now,” she said.
“I know, I just feel like hearing it,” he said, his violet eyes pleading innocently.
She knelt down beside his bed. When did our baby get to be so tall? she wondered to herself as she looked down at her son, lying stretched out before her, his toes sticking out from under his covers.
“Once, long ago," she began, "but not too long ago, there was an alchemist, an older man, who worked in a lab deep within a cave under a castle in the east. The alchemist had agreed to dwell here as he served the king, because a student of the alchemist had married the king and while the alchemist knew he could never be as close to the queen as they had been when he had served as her teacher, he knew he could remain close to her this way. Both the queen and the king, who had also studied alchemy, had set to work creating magical armor that would allow the wearer to slay the dragons which, it had been prophesied, would one day attack the castle and steal the treasure which lay hidden deep in the caverns beneath it.
“One day, the queen offered to test the first suit of armor which she and the king and their assistants had completed. The alchemist advised her not to attempt this, for he feared that she might not be able to remove the armor; some of the spells worked into it had not yet been tested, nor did they fully understand the properties of some of the materials used in it. But the queen persisted; she donned the armor, but once she did, something went terribly wrong. The queen’s body died, but her soul became bound to the armor, unable to speak with anyone outside it. The armor had been crafted for the king’s young son, that he might wear it one day when he was grown, but the king grieved for the loss of his queen and in so doing, he sent his son away, for the boy reminded him too much of the queen, the boy’s mother.
“In time, the prophesy came to pass: the first of the dragons attacked the castle; the king called his son from seclusion and ordered him to put on the armor and slay the dragon. At first, the king’s son refused; angered, the king ordered a girl knight to don the armor and go out to fight, but when the girl knight came forward, the king’s son could see she had been injured during a practice battle. He begged the king to allow him to go in her place. The king’s son went forth to slay the dragon; at first he was awkward and fearful and the dragon nearly slew him, but without him knowing it, his mother’s spirit inspired him to conquer it.
“During the battle, some of the king’s servants had thought they could hear the dragon speaking in a strange language; to better understand their enemy, the king and his army needed to know how they thought, and so the king asked his advisors if they knew of someone who could translate the dragons’ speech. The advisors told him they knew of a girl, the daughter of a wealthy merchant, who could help them, and so the king sent for the girl to come to the castle. The alchemist had his doubts about the matter, but being a wise man, he did not close his mind to the notion, as crazy as it might seem.
“Now the merchant, who was more than he seemed, had heard of one of the treasures hidden in the castle, including one small silver spearhead, which the king kept hidden in his sleeve at all times. He wanted the spearhead for himself, for the merchant was an angel, a cousin to the dragons, and he sought the spearhead since it contained a spell which would awaken his brother, who had fallen into a deep sleep. And so the merchant told his daughter to get as close to the king as she could and see where he kept the treasure hidden. The girl agreed, but for all her wisdom, her heart could as wayward as the wind, and she became a close friend to the alchemist. They shared much in common, for neither of them really preferred to dwell in the cave, and neither of them liked the king very much, and there were things which they would rather use their time and talents to discover. The alchemist would not admit it to anyone, but the merchant’s daughter reminded him of the queen, for she had a kind and friendly heart, and in time, she began to fill the space in his heart which the queen had left behind at her death.
“In time, the merchant grew impatient, for his daughter was taking her time in telling him where the silver spearhead had been hidden, and so he sent some of his warriors to claim it from the king. The alchemist managed to defend the king, though a small part of his heart wanted to see the king die for the things he had done to those around him. Angered that this had not succeeded, the merchant visited his daughter and warned her that she was in danger of being cut her off from her family. She told her father the little that she had learned. Her father’s anger abated, but he warned her that the time had come for their kind to seclude themselves from the human world. She told him, sadly, that she could not choose to follow their people, since she had found her happiness with the alchemist. And so her father left her, leaving her to wonder if they would ever see each other again.
"Now the king’s advisors had been plotting behind his back for some time now, for they did not approve, and once the last of the dragons had been slain, they planned to send in an army of their own to attack the castle. The alchemist suspected that this would happen, and so he brought the merchant’s daughter far away from the castle, to a small cabin in the mountains, promising, if all went well, he would return to find her. The army of men attacked, but as if to add insult to injury, the advisors sent in a second army made up of replica dragons of their own alchemy. The king’s general sent out a girl knight clad in the armor they had devised, and for a time, she fought back the false dragons, but they healed their injuries too quickly for her, and they soon defeated her.
“So one of the king’s generals beseeched the king’s son to don the armor which contained his mother’s soul and go out to defeat the false dragons; at first the boy refused, but nothing else could be done to save the castle and the caves below it. So he donned the armor, but no sooner had he gone out, when the false dragons pounced on him, and by way of strange spells, some created by the king, some by his advisors and some by the dragons, the caves below were opened and one of the hidden treasures was brought forth, an image of a giant woman in white, who drew into her being the king‘s son, still clad in his armor. And by her strange magic, she cast the souls of all that walked the earth into a deep sleep in which they all came forth from their bodies and were drawn together into a great black stone that had been hidden with her, those souls included the alchemist and the merchant‘s daughter, who now knew that she was not a human, but an angel, the kin of the dragons.
“But this did not last long: the king’s son realized that humans were not meant to dwell in a state like this, where all could hear each other’s inmost thoughts and feel each other’s inmost fear and pain and anger. It is one thing to be able to share each other’s strength, but it is something that must be given freely and not snatched from our hands. In the midst of all this, he met the soul of his mother once again and she showed him the way to break the spell and allow all the trapped souls to awaken once again and live as humans ought to live. The alchemist too, encountered the queen, and she told him how she had watched over him all those years, till the merchant’s wise daughter had come his way; only then did the alchemist admit to how he truly felt about the girl, the angel, and so the queen sent him forth to find his angel once again.
“The white giant soon died and fell to the earth, and the black stone collapsed into a great red sea. And the magic armor which bore the queen’s soul floated off into the night sky, where it became a violet star, to remind people of what had happened that night.
“The alchemist awakened on the shore of the red sea, where he soon found the king’s son and the girl knight whom the prince had loved, even though neither he nor the girl knight would that they felt this way about each other, and in time, the alchemist found his angel once again. The four of them set out, seeking others who had awakened from their deep sleep in the sea, and in time, they found more who had chosen to rise from the sea and live again. It was hard work and it took many trial spells to find what would coax the sleepers awake, but they soon found a means to lead the willing sleepers back into the light of day. In time, the alchemist asked the angel to be his wife and to live with him, helping him and some of the king’s more loyal advisors to continue the magic that would allow the sleepers in the sea to awaken. And in time, the angel gave him a son, who brightened the life which his parents had created for themselves. And so they lived, sometimes happily, sometimes not so happily, ever after…”
“The end,” Asato murmured.
“Which, as they say, is really another beginning,” Sabia said, rising. “Now, go to sleep.”
“Hey, Ma?”
She had opened the door, but turned back to him. “Yes?”
“I know I’ve asked this before, but… the alchemist and the angel… that’s you and Dad,” he said, knowingly.
She smiled at him. “Yes, Asato, that’s your father and me.”
“Just… well… thanks… for choosing to live,” he said, awkwardly.
“You and your father make me thankful that I made that decision,” she said. And stepping through the door, she slid it shut.
And I actually have a good section to excerpt from my NaNo novel:
“Hey Ma, I know it’s late, but could you tell me the story?” Asato asked.
“You’re a little old for a bedtime story, and I’m sure you can probably recite that one by heart now,” she said.
“I know, I just feel like hearing it,” he said, his violet eyes pleading innocently.
She knelt down beside his bed. When did our baby get to be so tall? she wondered to herself as she looked down at her son, lying stretched out before her, his toes sticking out from under his covers.
“Once, long ago," she began, "but not too long ago, there was an alchemist, an older man, who worked in a lab deep within a cave under a castle in the east. The alchemist had agreed to dwell here as he served the king, because a student of the alchemist had married the king and while the alchemist knew he could never be as close to the queen as they had been when he had served as her teacher, he knew he could remain close to her this way. Both the queen and the king, who had also studied alchemy, had set to work creating magical armor that would allow the wearer to slay the dragons which, it had been prophesied, would one day attack the castle and steal the treasure which lay hidden deep in the caverns beneath it.
“One day, the queen offered to test the first suit of armor which she and the king and their assistants had completed. The alchemist advised her not to attempt this, for he feared that she might not be able to remove the armor; some of the spells worked into it had not yet been tested, nor did they fully understand the properties of some of the materials used in it. But the queen persisted; she donned the armor, but once she did, something went terribly wrong. The queen’s body died, but her soul became bound to the armor, unable to speak with anyone outside it. The armor had been crafted for the king’s young son, that he might wear it one day when he was grown, but the king grieved for the loss of his queen and in so doing, he sent his son away, for the boy reminded him too much of the queen, the boy’s mother.
“In time, the prophesy came to pass: the first of the dragons attacked the castle; the king called his son from seclusion and ordered him to put on the armor and slay the dragon. At first, the king’s son refused; angered, the king ordered a girl knight to don the armor and go out to fight, but when the girl knight came forward, the king’s son could see she had been injured during a practice battle. He begged the king to allow him to go in her place. The king’s son went forth to slay the dragon; at first he was awkward and fearful and the dragon nearly slew him, but without him knowing it, his mother’s spirit inspired him to conquer it.
“During the battle, some of the king’s servants had thought they could hear the dragon speaking in a strange language; to better understand their enemy, the king and his army needed to know how they thought, and so the king asked his advisors if they knew of someone who could translate the dragons’ speech. The advisors told him they knew of a girl, the daughter of a wealthy merchant, who could help them, and so the king sent for the girl to come to the castle. The alchemist had his doubts about the matter, but being a wise man, he did not close his mind to the notion, as crazy as it might seem.
“Now the merchant, who was more than he seemed, had heard of one of the treasures hidden in the castle, including one small silver spearhead, which the king kept hidden in his sleeve at all times. He wanted the spearhead for himself, for the merchant was an angel, a cousin to the dragons, and he sought the spearhead since it contained a spell which would awaken his brother, who had fallen into a deep sleep. And so the merchant told his daughter to get as close to the king as she could and see where he kept the treasure hidden. The girl agreed, but for all her wisdom, her heart could as wayward as the wind, and she became a close friend to the alchemist. They shared much in common, for neither of them really preferred to dwell in the cave, and neither of them liked the king very much, and there were things which they would rather use their time and talents to discover. The alchemist would not admit it to anyone, but the merchant’s daughter reminded him of the queen, for she had a kind and friendly heart, and in time, she began to fill the space in his heart which the queen had left behind at her death.
“In time, the merchant grew impatient, for his daughter was taking her time in telling him where the silver spearhead had been hidden, and so he sent some of his warriors to claim it from the king. The alchemist managed to defend the king, though a small part of his heart wanted to see the king die for the things he had done to those around him. Angered that this had not succeeded, the merchant visited his daughter and warned her that she was in danger of being cut her off from her family. She told her father the little that she had learned. Her father’s anger abated, but he warned her that the time had come for their kind to seclude themselves from the human world. She told him, sadly, that she could not choose to follow their people, since she had found her happiness with the alchemist. And so her father left her, leaving her to wonder if they would ever see each other again.
"Now the king’s advisors had been plotting behind his back for some time now, for they did not approve, and once the last of the dragons had been slain, they planned to send in an army of their own to attack the castle. The alchemist suspected that this would happen, and so he brought the merchant’s daughter far away from the castle, to a small cabin in the mountains, promising, if all went well, he would return to find her. The army of men attacked, but as if to add insult to injury, the advisors sent in a second army made up of replica dragons of their own alchemy. The king’s general sent out a girl knight clad in the armor they had devised, and for a time, she fought back the false dragons, but they healed their injuries too quickly for her, and they soon defeated her.
“So one of the king’s generals beseeched the king’s son to don the armor which contained his mother’s soul and go out to defeat the false dragons; at first the boy refused, but nothing else could be done to save the castle and the caves below it. So he donned the armor, but no sooner had he gone out, when the false dragons pounced on him, and by way of strange spells, some created by the king, some by his advisors and some by the dragons, the caves below were opened and one of the hidden treasures was brought forth, an image of a giant woman in white, who drew into her being the king‘s son, still clad in his armor. And by her strange magic, she cast the souls of all that walked the earth into a deep sleep in which they all came forth from their bodies and were drawn together into a great black stone that had been hidden with her, those souls included the alchemist and the merchant‘s daughter, who now knew that she was not a human, but an angel, the kin of the dragons.
“But this did not last long: the king’s son realized that humans were not meant to dwell in a state like this, where all could hear each other’s inmost thoughts and feel each other’s inmost fear and pain and anger. It is one thing to be able to share each other’s strength, but it is something that must be given freely and not snatched from our hands. In the midst of all this, he met the soul of his mother once again and she showed him the way to break the spell and allow all the trapped souls to awaken once again and live as humans ought to live. The alchemist too, encountered the queen, and she told him how she had watched over him all those years, till the merchant’s wise daughter had come his way; only then did the alchemist admit to how he truly felt about the girl, the angel, and so the queen sent him forth to find his angel once again.
“The white giant soon died and fell to the earth, and the black stone collapsed into a great red sea. And the magic armor which bore the queen’s soul floated off into the night sky, where it became a violet star, to remind people of what had happened that night.
“The alchemist awakened on the shore of the red sea, where he soon found the king’s son and the girl knight whom the prince had loved, even though neither he nor the girl knight would that they felt this way about each other, and in time, the alchemist found his angel once again. The four of them set out, seeking others who had awakened from their deep sleep in the sea, and in time, they found more who had chosen to rise from the sea and live again. It was hard work and it took many trial spells to find what would coax the sleepers awake, but they soon found a means to lead the willing sleepers back into the light of day. In time, the alchemist asked the angel to be his wife and to live with him, helping him and some of the king’s more loyal advisors to continue the magic that would allow the sleepers in the sea to awaken. And in time, the angel gave him a son, who brightened the life which his parents had created for themselves. And so they lived, sometimes happily, sometimes not so happily, ever after…”
“The end,” Asato murmured.
“Which, as they say, is really another beginning,” Sabia said, rising. “Now, go to sleep.”
“Hey, Ma?”
She had opened the door, but turned back to him. “Yes?”
“I know I’ve asked this before, but… the alchemist and the angel… that’s you and Dad,” he said, knowingly.
She smiled at him. “Yes, Asato, that’s your father and me.”
“Just… well… thanks… for choosing to live,” he said, awkwardly.
“You and your father make me thankful that I made that decision,” she said. And stepping through the door, she slid it shut.
