07.11b: Morning on a Fae Hill

[Rasanam]

It is the morning of the third day of the seventh year, a few hours before Rasanam's planned expedition with Odin into the forest. ((And I'm posting this thread now because it seems unlikely that events at the previous evening's festivities are going to change what happens here. Also making it 07.11b to allow room for threads that happen before it - we're running low on letters for 07.9, and I expect 07.10 to still be the previous evening.))

The scene is Alchemist's Alley, a narrow road winding along the upper reaches of a set of hills overlooking the ocean. It is one of the more affluent sections of 'Faetown', home to those who have skills of limited focus but unusual value* - a talking dog that can spin straw into silk cloth, a trio of elven witches that specialize in growing gourds into carriages, and many others, including, of course, actual alchemists of all stripes and persuasions.**

Three figures fly in, headed for a small oriental-style house surrounded by a wide rock garden; a raven (Fjolnir, not The Raven), followed by two dragons (Rasanam and Lyra; Rasanam is still - or perhaps again - in his armored drake form).

"I've made a deal with one Celeste Ammarith Victoria," Fjolnir explains. "She moved in after a fire about a month ago; bought up the three most damaged properties and," the raven dips a wing towards part of the rock gardens, "turned the outer two into fire breaks. Understandable, given that her big trick seems to be hardened paper - apparently it's easier for her to make the stuff weatherproof than fireproof."

The raven pauses, circling down towards a landing on the bell just outside Celeste's gate. "Which is how I made a deal with her - wherever she came from, she seems to have showed up here with quite a bit of wealth already on hand; wasn't interested in selling either side-property for anything material. So I offered to arrange for some fireproofing for the neighborhood."

"Seems reasonable," Rasanam comments, looking around. "Though possibly a bit tricky - not the fireproofing itself, but making sure that I don't interfere with anyone else's magics. Might be better to go for barriers to prevent a fire from spreading than outright fireproofing?"

"Well," Fjolnir replies, "technically I only agreed to offer fireproofing to people, so..."

_____
* It is worth noting that, in general, these sorts of skills are both slower and less effective in Amber. Silk spun out of straw tends to degrade back into straw in a matter of days or weeks - though that's plenty of time for, say, a dress for an uppity noble who never wants to wear the same thing twice. There are, of course, exceptions - a pumpkin carriage takes most of a year to grow (instead of instantly the way it would out in shadow), but once grown will last about as long as a normal carriage would. And there are a few near-sorcerers that have figured out how to manage lasting enchantments; more annoying to create, but correspondingly more valuable.
** There are even a few human alchemists around, though most of the population is some variety of elf or talking animal.***
*** A category that ranges from perfectly ordinary looking animals that happen to talk, all the way to animal-headed people that resemble depictions of egyptian deities.

[ShadowOfPreservation]

"We'll figure out something acceptable I'm sure." Following Fjolnir's trajectory, Lyra lands just outside the gate, admiring the architecture of the surrounding buildings. "Hardened paper...it sure makes for some very interesting looking structures. If it could be made hard and flexible it'd make a very intriguing skin material for clockwork creations. I wonder if it remains as lightweight as normal paper."

[Joshua]

Most of the passer-bys are already fairly familiar with Rasanam and Lyra so not a lot of distress there. In addition, even though the Tir-Na nog'th meeting is that night, everyone who will get invitations has invitations. There is a bit of hustle and bustle for last minute preparations, but since most of them are board and parlor games, there's significantly less spectacle than you might expect.

[Rasanam]

The surrounding buildings (and indeed the whole of the street) vary widely in architectural style; the people who live here are all comfortably upper-middle-class and can afford custom constructions.
On one side of Celeste's home is an apothecary shop, of brick (the first floor) and wattle-and-daub (the second floor); there are no obvious signs of fire damage, though a fresh coat of paint on the upper story suggests that there's been some repair work recently. On the other side, a circular yurt-like structure occupies much of a fenced-in yard; un-cleared snow hides most of that property, but a few trees show clear indications of the recent fire.

Rasanam nods. "If she's using it as a construction material, I'd expect it has some stiffness to it - but that doesn't rule out working up some variations... Definitely worth asking about."

He reaches out and rings the bell, dislodging Fjolnir, who flaps in a circle around the two dragons before settling on Rasanam's head with a disgruntled "rrk" noise. ((Good-natured mock-annoyance on the raven's part; everyone present has more than enough psyche to realize that.))

[NPC]

In a few minutes the door slides open, revealing a tiny entrance chamber* occupied by a short elven figure. Pale blue eyes peer out at the three people outside her gate, then blink.

"Oh dear," Celeste says, and bows nervously. "Fjolnir, you did not tell me you would be bringing such distinguished visitors; I have not cleared the path!"

She reaches into a nook hidden behind the door frame** and withdraws a broom, with which she starts to brush the night's fresh snow off the path from the front gate to her house.
_____
Celeste Ammarith Victoria
* Standard oriental design; this is a small room with two levels of floor, designed to allow a quick switch between outdoor shoes and indoor shoes with minimal chance of tracking dirt or snow into the home.
** Warfare says: this would be a perfect nook to hide a weapon in.

[ShadowOfPreservation]

Lyra gives a slight bow in return, giving Celeste a warm smile. "No need to trouble yourself on our account. A little snow never hurt anyone. I'm Lyra and this is my husband Rasanam. It's a pleasure to meet you."

[Rasanam]

"Besides," Rasanam adds, "All three of us can fly, and none of us have any interest in insisting on formality."

[NPC]

Celeste responds to Lyra's bow by bowing that much deeper herself.

"Just doesn't seem right," she mutters, but she reluctantly puts the broom back after merely sweeping away the snow that had drifted onto her porch.

"Please come in, then, and make yourselves at home..."

Assuming people do, the interior of the house is mostly taken up by a single room. There are no windows, but the paper construction is translucent and the room is relatively well-lit by the morning sunlight.

At one end of the room a large pot-bellied stove (topped by a teakettle that's just starting to steam) occupies a square brick pad - the only section of the floor that isn't paper.

At the other end of the room a half-dozen sets of shelves are full of dolls - wooden carved figurines, complicated cloth puppets, nesting dolls set up in neat rows, painted porcelain figures, and on and on; no two are in quite the same style.

There's a low table down the middle of the room, and padded mats to sit on, but no actual chairs or other furniture.
_____
Celeste Ammarith Victoria

[Rasanam]

Rasanam nods to Celeste, "Thank you, we will." And he flies over the fence and pauses in the entryway to try to remove bits of snow stuck to his feet.

"And this," Fjolnir says, watching Rasanam, "is why I prepared a cleaning cantrip today." The raven will actually cast said spell once Lyra is at least in the air.

"Useful," comments Rasanam, as he heads into the interior and curls up next to the table. "I'll have to keep that in mind; maybe make a permanently enchanted trinket sometime."

[ShadowOfPreservation]

"That'd be really nice to have," Lyra agrees as she lands next to her husband. "That's precisely why Prestidigitation was one of the first spells I learned back home."