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Well, here you go. Part of chapter one of The Dying of the Dark. The prologue is...er...back there somewhere. *waves vaguely* I think I'll just start putting these in my memories.
Chapter One
Yasmin rested her chin on her father's shoulder and stared at the list of names. Half of them were crossed out, and as she watched, he drew a line through another.
She scanned the list. "You've crossed out all the boys," she noted with some surprise. "Why?"
"Because of you," her father said absently. "Not this one, either." He scratched through another name. "You'd think an apprentice would be easier to find, considering how many talented children there are in this city. Thirty-two."
"Father," Yasmin persisted, reaching down to point at the names. "Haven't you seen them? Chole is really good already at magic. So's - "
"No males, Yasmin," he said firmly.
She gave a cry of indignation. "Father! The prince is on here! You can't turn down a prince!"
"He was the first one. I will not train another tyrant, and be blamed for it."
"Father, I can be trusted. I am fourteen, you know. I won't go about lying with men and running off with your apprentice - "
"Yasmin," he said, holding up a hand to silence her. "I will not take on a male apprentice while you are in the house. Please leave me to this. Go to the market - there's a list of herbs I need on the hall table."
"Yes, Father," Yasmin said glumly.
It was always like that with him - go to market, Yasmin, go to your room, Yasmin, go away from me, Yasmin. She always felt like such a disappointment - a magicless girl-child. It did not get worse than that for an Oldtimer like her father.
She took the list and some money from the drawer where her father kept it, and trotted the few blocks to the marketplace.
Chole was working at his father's butcher stall. He waved with a blood-stained hand, and she went over to him. "Yas, hi."
"Hello. Father's looking for an apprentice."
"I hope he picks me. Anything to not have to do this." He gestured at the table behind the counter, where he had been plucking a chicken.
"He won't. No boys."
"That's not fair."
"I know. Prince Yavash is on the list he was given, and he crossed him out right away. For being a boy! I mean, the prince! He'll be king someday!"
Chole rolled his eyes. "Yas, you don't want a prince about. He'd be imperious and treat you like a servant girl." He glanced up and groaned. "Oh, not again."
"What?" She turned to look at what had caught his attention: a tall, gangling boy with a squint and a bad haircut who was doing coin tricks in the street. "Him?"
"Danil Sorena," Chole muttered. "Thinks he could be a great wizard. He keeps doing tricks around here, nothing real. How are real magicians like me supposed to get noticed when false ones like him are messing about?"
Yasmin shrugged, her eyes on the tall boy. "Danil, you said his name was?"
"Yes."
She watched the flickering gold and silver in his hands. He had gathered quite a crowd, and several coins littered the ground at his feet. A tiny smile graced his thin lips as he threw a coin into the air, snapped his fingers, and spread his hands to show they were empty.
The coin didn't come down.
"Nice," Yasmin noted.
"It's up his sleeve, I bet," Chole said, affecting boredom.
The people began to drift away as Danil bent to retrieve the money he'd earned. An older man in long wizard's robes stayed, eyes on the boy.
Yasmin, ignoring Chole's protests, inched closer. Danil straightened up, saw her, and smiled, then turned his attention to the wizard.
"You've got talent," the man said gruffly. "I wish to take you as my apprentice."
"I'll think about it," Danil said. His voice was soft and low.
The wizard's eyes narrowed. "You don't think about an offer of apprenticeship, boy, you take it."
"It's my third offer this week. I'd like to think about it, please. Come back here in a few days and I'll let you know, sir."
The wizard nodded sharply and walked away, muttering about arrogant children.
"You were only doing tricks," Yasmin said.
Danil shrugged. "Mostly."
"My father is a wizard."
"Are you?"
"No. I'm magicless."
"Sad." Danil tilted his head to the side. "Is he looking for an apprentice?"
"A girl apprentice."
"I should like to meet your father."
"He won't take you on," Yasmin warned. "No boys."
A smile flickered across his lips. "I think I should meet him, anyway."
"But he won't - "
"Please?"
Yasmin glanced back at Chole, who was helping a customer, and then at Danil, who was staring at her with mild grey eyes.
~~~~~
She never knew what Danil said to her father, but when they came out of the study, somehow Danil had become his apprentice.
He was given Yasmin's room, beside her father's, and she moved into the spare bedroom down the hall. Presumably that was so her father could keep a close eye on the boy.
Danil didn't need watching. He didn't seem to have any interest in girls - or boys either, for that matter. He did magic without thinking, without speaking, as if it was as natural as breathing. He tripped on the wizard's robes that Yasmin's father provided and dropped things when he was struck by a sudden thought.
He was struck by a lot of sudden thoughts.
Aside from the rigorous magical training, he read books, all kinds of books: philosophy, theology, history, fiction. He asked for and received a telescope, and studied the stars and moons. He didn't observe most of the rites of the Elders, but went to the temple once a week anyway.
Yasmin could really have liked him if he had a better haircut, or corrective lenses for his eyes.
She found him at the communal water fountain one day on her way to market. There was a butterfly resting on his finger, and he was watching it with the same dull look in his eyes that he got when he was reading - like nothing else in the world mattered.
"What are you doing?" she asked, pausing beside him.
He glanced up, then nodded toward the butterfly. "They can change the weather, you know."
"What?"
"When they flap their wings. Think about it. Tiny stirrings in the air here could cause a thunderstorm in Kerleize. According to Ptarrh, anyway, and he seems to have good ideas. By the same principle, anything could change the weather - anything at all. If we only knew exactly how it worked, we could make a - a machine, to change things and give us perfect weather."
Yasmin shook her head. "You're mad, Danil. Butterflies don't change the weather."
The butterfly lifted off and flapped away, vanishing into the city.
Danil smiled, and reached into his pocket for a coin to play with.
Yasmin shook her head and continued on to market.
She would have been quite shocked to know that, three days later, a thuderstorm shook the city of Kerleize, and the lightning set fire to a nearby forest.
~~~~~
Zenda swept the broom across the floor in erratic strokes, tripped over it, and grabbed a shelf for balance.
The shelf completely failed to collapse.
Zenda growled and continued sweeping. Stupid well-built shop! How was she supposed to convince her father that she was a lost case if it was impossible to accidentally destroy things?
The bell on the door jangled, and a customer entered. Zenda shuffled behind the counter and propped the broom against the wall.
The man looked around for a minute, then brought a teacup over to her. "Is this a good present for my wife?" he asked.
Zenda thought it was dreadful - what kind of woman would want a single teaecup? - but she put on her best smile and said, "She'll love it, sir. One dollar, please."
He gave her a silver dollar coin and left. Zenda put the coin into the money box and rolled her eyes. Well, if selling something for much less than it was worth didn't get her out of here, nothing would.
She took up sweeping again, simply moving the dirt around, and began to ponder what she would do when her father finally wised up and despaired of her. There simply weren't many opportunities out there for women. She didn't want to be a priestess or a servant. She was no good at sewing and would try prostitution only as a last resort. What else was there, really?
Eventually she took a break for lunch, abandoning the broom and locking the shop up before heading off. As usual, she stopped to peruse the notice board for new job offers.
There was a new one up, covering several of the smaller notices. It was colorful and had large print and, unfortunately, was badly misspelled. Zenda sighed and reached for the chalk she kept in her pocket. The army wouldn't get many intelligent recruits like that.
She was just correcting "eleet" when she noticed the pay rate. Two dollars a day - almost twice what her father gave her. Recruits didn't have to pay for training or uniforms or anything.
And there wasn't even a war on!
It would be perfect, Zenda thought wistfully, if only they allowed women in the army.
~~~~~
She suffered through two more weeks of shopkeeping before she threw up her hands in despair and started handing out free water to anyone who asked. She couldn't take a lunch break because people kept coming in to get something to drink along with their food.
"Zenda," her father hissed when the crowd had gone away. "What was that about?"
She stared at him with wide, innocent eyes. "They were thirsty, Father."
"Water is tenpence! You've lost us a lot of money!"
"Water is necessary for survival, Father. It should be free."
"Nothing is free!" He glared at her, then jerked the broom out of her hands. "Go home, Zenda. I'll speak with you later."
Zenda rejoiced, once she was out of sight.
The large poster was still up on the notice board, she saw, as were her corrections, and someone had added something to the bottom. She sauntered over and scanned the nearly-illegible line of print.
ALL RECROOTS TO REPORT TO CRYA FOR TRAININGNING.
Zenda sighed and took out her chalk. They couldn't even spell "Cyra" right. She was surprised they'd managed to stop spelling "training" so quickly.
She'd been to Cyra, once, a little fort on a mountainside with fields spreading out below it. It was miles away, however. Even if she were allowed to join the army, her father would never let her go.
Her eyes fell on a small, handwritten plea for help from a seamstress.
That was her future, now.
She realized that she was pressing too hard with the chalk and eased up, finishing the corrections.
There were all kinds of stories about women pretending to be men to join the army, and they all ended up as heroes. Heroines, really.
Zenda put the chalk away and walked home, whistling and making plans in her head.
Chapter One
Yasmin rested her chin on her father's shoulder and stared at the list of names. Half of them were crossed out, and as she watched, he drew a line through another.
She scanned the list. "You've crossed out all the boys," she noted with some surprise. "Why?"
"Because of you," her father said absently. "Not this one, either." He scratched through another name. "You'd think an apprentice would be easier to find, considering how many talented children there are in this city. Thirty-two."
"Father," Yasmin persisted, reaching down to point at the names. "Haven't you seen them? Chole is really good already at magic. So's - "
"No males, Yasmin," he said firmly.
She gave a cry of indignation. "Father! The prince is on here! You can't turn down a prince!"
"He was the first one. I will not train another tyrant, and be blamed for it."
"Father, I can be trusted. I am fourteen, you know. I won't go about lying with men and running off with your apprentice - "
"Yasmin," he said, holding up a hand to silence her. "I will not take on a male apprentice while you are in the house. Please leave me to this. Go to the market - there's a list of herbs I need on the hall table."
"Yes, Father," Yasmin said glumly.
It was always like that with him - go to market, Yasmin, go to your room, Yasmin, go away from me, Yasmin. She always felt like such a disappointment - a magicless girl-child. It did not get worse than that for an Oldtimer like her father.
She took the list and some money from the drawer where her father kept it, and trotted the few blocks to the marketplace.
Chole was working at his father's butcher stall. He waved with a blood-stained hand, and she went over to him. "Yas, hi."
"Hello. Father's looking for an apprentice."
"I hope he picks me. Anything to not have to do this." He gestured at the table behind the counter, where he had been plucking a chicken.
"He won't. No boys."
"That's not fair."
"I know. Prince Yavash is on the list he was given, and he crossed him out right away. For being a boy! I mean, the prince! He'll be king someday!"
Chole rolled his eyes. "Yas, you don't want a prince about. He'd be imperious and treat you like a servant girl." He glanced up and groaned. "Oh, not again."
"What?" She turned to look at what had caught his attention: a tall, gangling boy with a squint and a bad haircut who was doing coin tricks in the street. "Him?"
"Danil Sorena," Chole muttered. "Thinks he could be a great wizard. He keeps doing tricks around here, nothing real. How are real magicians like me supposed to get noticed when false ones like him are messing about?"
Yasmin shrugged, her eyes on the tall boy. "Danil, you said his name was?"
"Yes."
She watched the flickering gold and silver in his hands. He had gathered quite a crowd, and several coins littered the ground at his feet. A tiny smile graced his thin lips as he threw a coin into the air, snapped his fingers, and spread his hands to show they were empty.
The coin didn't come down.
"Nice," Yasmin noted.
"It's up his sleeve, I bet," Chole said, affecting boredom.
The people began to drift away as Danil bent to retrieve the money he'd earned. An older man in long wizard's robes stayed, eyes on the boy.
Yasmin, ignoring Chole's protests, inched closer. Danil straightened up, saw her, and smiled, then turned his attention to the wizard.
"You've got talent," the man said gruffly. "I wish to take you as my apprentice."
"I'll think about it," Danil said. His voice was soft and low.
The wizard's eyes narrowed. "You don't think about an offer of apprenticeship, boy, you take it."
"It's my third offer this week. I'd like to think about it, please. Come back here in a few days and I'll let you know, sir."
The wizard nodded sharply and walked away, muttering about arrogant children.
"You were only doing tricks," Yasmin said.
Danil shrugged. "Mostly."
"My father is a wizard."
"Are you?"
"No. I'm magicless."
"Sad." Danil tilted his head to the side. "Is he looking for an apprentice?"
"A girl apprentice."
"I should like to meet your father."
"He won't take you on," Yasmin warned. "No boys."
A smile flickered across his lips. "I think I should meet him, anyway."
"But he won't - "
"Please?"
Yasmin glanced back at Chole, who was helping a customer, and then at Danil, who was staring at her with mild grey eyes.
~~~~~
She never knew what Danil said to her father, but when they came out of the study, somehow Danil had become his apprentice.
He was given Yasmin's room, beside her father's, and she moved into the spare bedroom down the hall. Presumably that was so her father could keep a close eye on the boy.
Danil didn't need watching. He didn't seem to have any interest in girls - or boys either, for that matter. He did magic without thinking, without speaking, as if it was as natural as breathing. He tripped on the wizard's robes that Yasmin's father provided and dropped things when he was struck by a sudden thought.
He was struck by a lot of sudden thoughts.
Aside from the rigorous magical training, he read books, all kinds of books: philosophy, theology, history, fiction. He asked for and received a telescope, and studied the stars and moons. He didn't observe most of the rites of the Elders, but went to the temple once a week anyway.
Yasmin could really have liked him if he had a better haircut, or corrective lenses for his eyes.
She found him at the communal water fountain one day on her way to market. There was a butterfly resting on his finger, and he was watching it with the same dull look in his eyes that he got when he was reading - like nothing else in the world mattered.
"What are you doing?" she asked, pausing beside him.
He glanced up, then nodded toward the butterfly. "They can change the weather, you know."
"What?"
"When they flap their wings. Think about it. Tiny stirrings in the air here could cause a thunderstorm in Kerleize. According to Ptarrh, anyway, and he seems to have good ideas. By the same principle, anything could change the weather - anything at all. If we only knew exactly how it worked, we could make a - a machine, to change things and give us perfect weather."
Yasmin shook her head. "You're mad, Danil. Butterflies don't change the weather."
The butterfly lifted off and flapped away, vanishing into the city.
Danil smiled, and reached into his pocket for a coin to play with.
Yasmin shook her head and continued on to market.
She would have been quite shocked to know that, three days later, a thuderstorm shook the city of Kerleize, and the lightning set fire to a nearby forest.
~~~~~
Zenda swept the broom across the floor in erratic strokes, tripped over it, and grabbed a shelf for balance.
The shelf completely failed to collapse.
Zenda growled and continued sweeping. Stupid well-built shop! How was she supposed to convince her father that she was a lost case if it was impossible to accidentally destroy things?
The bell on the door jangled, and a customer entered. Zenda shuffled behind the counter and propped the broom against the wall.
The man looked around for a minute, then brought a teacup over to her. "Is this a good present for my wife?" he asked.
Zenda thought it was dreadful - what kind of woman would want a single teaecup? - but she put on her best smile and said, "She'll love it, sir. One dollar, please."
He gave her a silver dollar coin and left. Zenda put the coin into the money box and rolled her eyes. Well, if selling something for much less than it was worth didn't get her out of here, nothing would.
She took up sweeping again, simply moving the dirt around, and began to ponder what she would do when her father finally wised up and despaired of her. There simply weren't many opportunities out there for women. She didn't want to be a priestess or a servant. She was no good at sewing and would try prostitution only as a last resort. What else was there, really?
Eventually she took a break for lunch, abandoning the broom and locking the shop up before heading off. As usual, she stopped to peruse the notice board for new job offers.
There was a new one up, covering several of the smaller notices. It was colorful and had large print and, unfortunately, was badly misspelled. Zenda sighed and reached for the chalk she kept in her pocket. The army wouldn't get many intelligent recruits like that.
She was just correcting "eleet" when she noticed the pay rate. Two dollars a day - almost twice what her father gave her. Recruits didn't have to pay for training or uniforms or anything.
And there wasn't even a war on!
It would be perfect, Zenda thought wistfully, if only they allowed women in the army.
~~~~~
She suffered through two more weeks of shopkeeping before she threw up her hands in despair and started handing out free water to anyone who asked. She couldn't take a lunch break because people kept coming in to get something to drink along with their food.
"Zenda," her father hissed when the crowd had gone away. "What was that about?"
She stared at him with wide, innocent eyes. "They were thirsty, Father."
"Water is tenpence! You've lost us a lot of money!"
"Water is necessary for survival, Father. It should be free."
"Nothing is free!" He glared at her, then jerked the broom out of her hands. "Go home, Zenda. I'll speak with you later."
Zenda rejoiced, once she was out of sight.
The large poster was still up on the notice board, she saw, as were her corrections, and someone had added something to the bottom. She sauntered over and scanned the nearly-illegible line of print.
ALL RECROOTS TO REPORT TO CRYA FOR TRAININGNING.
Zenda sighed and took out her chalk. They couldn't even spell "Cyra" right. She was surprised they'd managed to stop spelling "training" so quickly.
She'd been to Cyra, once, a little fort on a mountainside with fields spreading out below it. It was miles away, however. Even if she were allowed to join the army, her father would never let her go.
Her eyes fell on a small, handwritten plea for help from a seamstress.
That was her future, now.
She realized that she was pressing too hard with the chalk and eased up, finishing the corrections.
There were all kinds of stories about women pretending to be men to join the army, and they all ended up as heroes. Heroines, really.
Zenda put the chalk away and walked home, whistling and making plans in her head.
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From:
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She would have been quite shocked to know that, three days later, a thuderstorm shook the city of Kerleize, and the lightning set fire to a nearby forest.
thunderstorm.
From:
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i see no point to magicless people like yasmin.
They're the entire reason for my plot. So, huge point.