MLTF outtakes -- Alix & Parry (Part 1 of 5)
I know I said I wasn't going to blog today, with it being the Labor Day holiday here in the U.S., but the chapter I'm posting this week is a big one. It's in five parts and will be running all week. It features Alix and Parry who are referred to in MLTF, but never seen. Alix is Raine's best friend, and Parry is a Conclave emissary and Alix's lover.
Also, today starts my blog's Character-of-the-Week feature. Each Monday I'll post who the character is, and throughout the week, you send me your questions for that character. Either respond to a blog during the week with your questions, or email me at lisa@lisashearin.com. The character will be available to answer your questions beginning on Friday and throughout the weekend, if needed to get all the questions answered.
The character in the question hot seat this week is Raine. What questions do you have for her?
Preface to the Alix & Parry chapter: The following chapter (had it remained in the final version of MLTF) would have taken place immediately after Chapter 7 (which ends on page 109 of the final book). In the old Chapter 7, Janek Tawl asks Raine about a receipt he found in a box in Nigel Nicabar's bedroom. The box contained an elaborate and obscenely expensive mage robe. The receipt was from Alix Toril's shop. The date on the receipt was on the day that Nigel disappeared. Here's Part 1 of 5 -- enjoy!
Janek wanted to ask Alix some questions. Since I had a few for her myself--and even more for Parry--I thought I'd tag along.
Janek also wanted a cup of coffee. I knew what was coming next. He liked his coffee black. He was in the minority. Coffee wasn't a drink in Mermeia; it was a social event. Some of the city's coffee and teahouses were better for seeing, others were best for being seen. Some were small and quiet, while others were large and noisy. The most popular weren't necessarily the best in quality. The best-known were on The Cobbles--Mermeia's central market square. Pedestrian traffic was heavy, so business was good.
And where there were coffee and teahouses, there were booksellers. While wealthier sorcerers and mages often had their own libraries, they always seemed to want more. Either for actual study, or for show to impress potential clients. So while many charlatans were illiterate, that didn't stop them from buying books. Not to mention a lot of business was done and sorcerers hired over a cup of coffee or in the stacks.
After a wait, Janek finally got his cup of coffee. He had what he wanted, but he didn't look happy. I had heard what was coming next so often, I could have saved him the breath and said it myself. It was always the same. He complained all the way to Alix's shop.
"Where can an honest, working man go to get a cup of good, strong coffee that costs less than a day's wages? And I don't want anything with it, or on it, or in it. I just want coffee. Doesn't anyone drink coffee black anymore?"
Janek stepped aside to allow a mage to pass. She acknowledged his gallantry with the barest nod, and continued her progress down Heron Row, glancing neither left nor right, nothing and no one mattering except her destination. I hoped she wasn't bound for Alix's shop.
Robe designers and tailors in Mermeia did a booming business. On the Isle of Mid, robes were strictly regulated--fabric, design, embroidery--so that a Conclave mage was immediately recognized as such. I'd heard that the Seat of Twelve made that law to help justify and reward an expensive and grueling Conclave education. To me it sounded more like graduate so you have to spend most of your money on fancy robes. It also sounded like a couple of the archmages on the Seat of Twelve had relatives in the silk business.
We didn't do things that way in Mermeia. Local sorcerers were free to indulge their fashion tastes, or lack thereof, any way they wanted. If they could afford to dress like a Conclave mage, and could act like a Conclave mage, a gifted Mermeian sorcerer could often command a Conclave mage's fee. Most of those doing the hiring didn't care that they weren't getting the genuine article, only that their social circle or business associates believed the deception. Sorcerers in the District knew that chances were, the gaudier the robes, the less talented the wearer. But as long as clients continued to expect extravagant robes, a good portion of a mediocre sorcerer's income went directly his or her tailor.
The most fashionable shops were just off The Cobbles on Heron Row. Alix's shop was one of them. In my opinion, Alix was easily the most talented robe designer in the city. More than a few Conclave mages on Mid shared my opinion. Alix had done very well for herself.
It was early afternoon, and normally there would be customers in Alix's shop either for fittings or consultations, but as Janek and I crossed Heron Row, I saw Alix's head seamstress Adrienne just now opening for the day. Normally that would be odd, but normally, Alix hadn't been up most of the night convincing Khrynsani shamans to spend their evening elsewhere. There were no customers waiting. Alix must have cleared her calendar. That was good. Most everyone in the Sorcerers District knew Janek, and absolutely everyone knew of Nigel, whether they would admit it or not. But it might be better for Alix's business not to be linked too closely to either one. Then again, notoriety might be good for business. As long as it didn't darken their own doorsteps, there was nothing people loved more than a good scandal.
(Come back tomorrow for Alix & Parry, Part 2 of 5. )
Also, today starts my blog's Character-of-the-Week feature. Each Monday I'll post who the character is, and throughout the week, you send me your questions for that character. Either respond to a blog during the week with your questions, or email me at lisa@lisashearin.com. The character will be available to answer your questions beginning on Friday and throughout the weekend, if needed to get all the questions answered.
The character in the question hot seat this week is Raine. What questions do you have for her?
Preface to the Alix & Parry chapter: The following chapter (had it remained in the final version of MLTF) would have taken place immediately after Chapter 7 (which ends on page 109 of the final book). In the old Chapter 7, Janek Tawl asks Raine about a receipt he found in a box in Nigel Nicabar's bedroom. The box contained an elaborate and obscenely expensive mage robe. The receipt was from Alix Toril's shop. The date on the receipt was on the day that Nigel disappeared. Here's Part 1 of 5 -- enjoy!
Janek wanted to ask Alix some questions. Since I had a few for her myself--and even more for Parry--I thought I'd tag along.
Janek also wanted a cup of coffee. I knew what was coming next. He liked his coffee black. He was in the minority. Coffee wasn't a drink in Mermeia; it was a social event. Some of the city's coffee and teahouses were better for seeing, others were best for being seen. Some were small and quiet, while others were large and noisy. The most popular weren't necessarily the best in quality. The best-known were on The Cobbles--Mermeia's central market square. Pedestrian traffic was heavy, so business was good.
And where there were coffee and teahouses, there were booksellers. While wealthier sorcerers and mages often had their own libraries, they always seemed to want more. Either for actual study, or for show to impress potential clients. So while many charlatans were illiterate, that didn't stop them from buying books. Not to mention a lot of business was done and sorcerers hired over a cup of coffee or in the stacks.
After a wait, Janek finally got his cup of coffee. He had what he wanted, but he didn't look happy. I had heard what was coming next so often, I could have saved him the breath and said it myself. It was always the same. He complained all the way to Alix's shop.
"Where can an honest, working man go to get a cup of good, strong coffee that costs less than a day's wages? And I don't want anything with it, or on it, or in it. I just want coffee. Doesn't anyone drink coffee black anymore?"
Janek stepped aside to allow a mage to pass. She acknowledged his gallantry with the barest nod, and continued her progress down Heron Row, glancing neither left nor right, nothing and no one mattering except her destination. I hoped she wasn't bound for Alix's shop.
Robe designers and tailors in Mermeia did a booming business. On the Isle of Mid, robes were strictly regulated--fabric, design, embroidery--so that a Conclave mage was immediately recognized as such. I'd heard that the Seat of Twelve made that law to help justify and reward an expensive and grueling Conclave education. To me it sounded more like graduate so you have to spend most of your money on fancy robes. It also sounded like a couple of the archmages on the Seat of Twelve had relatives in the silk business.
We didn't do things that way in Mermeia. Local sorcerers were free to indulge their fashion tastes, or lack thereof, any way they wanted. If they could afford to dress like a Conclave mage, and could act like a Conclave mage, a gifted Mermeian sorcerer could often command a Conclave mage's fee. Most of those doing the hiring didn't care that they weren't getting the genuine article, only that their social circle or business associates believed the deception. Sorcerers in the District knew that chances were, the gaudier the robes, the less talented the wearer. But as long as clients continued to expect extravagant robes, a good portion of a mediocre sorcerer's income went directly his or her tailor.
The most fashionable shops were just off The Cobbles on Heron Row. Alix's shop was one of them. In my opinion, Alix was easily the most talented robe designer in the city. More than a few Conclave mages on Mid shared my opinion. Alix had done very well for herself.
It was early afternoon, and normally there would be customers in Alix's shop either for fittings or consultations, but as Janek and I crossed Heron Row, I saw Alix's head seamstress Adrienne just now opening for the day. Normally that would be odd, but normally, Alix hadn't been up most of the night convincing Khrynsani shamans to spend their evening elsewhere. There were no customers waiting. Alix must have cleared her calendar. That was good. Most everyone in the Sorcerers District knew Janek, and absolutely everyone knew of Nigel, whether they would admit it or not. But it might be better for Alix's business not to be linked too closely to either one. Then again, notoriety might be good for business. As long as it didn't darken their own doorsteps, there was nothing people loved more than a good scandal.
(Come back tomorrow for Alix & Parry, Part 2 of 5. )
posted by Lisa Shearin at
8:36 AM
1 Comments:
This brings up the thought of Conclave Guardians showing up at Mermeia to enforce Mid's rules about attire, and punish those wearing Conclave robes who weren;t Conclave.
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