motherherbivore

The Gate (1 of 1)

Sun, 24 Jul 2022 05:17:01 GMT

4.5k word count, set after Falnight

Fairlark hoped that she had dreamt the knock at her door. Nothing good had ever come of a unexpected midnight knock, nothing good that could not wait until dawn. It was too late and too cold for things to be well.

The second knock came. Louder, more urgent. Fairlark had to answer it now.

Reluctantly she left the warmth of her bed and her husband, wrapped her dressing gown around herself, and lit a candle with a gentle touch to its wick as she went to the door. There was a third knock before she reached it. Through the stained glass at the top, she saw Falnight, alone, without his furs or hood.

Fairlark opened the door and asked him, “What are you doing?”

“I did something wrong,” he said.

Now Fairlark truly wished she had dreamt the knocking.

( Continue reading )

comments

Falnight 14 (of 14)

Sat, 16 Apr 2022 05:29:52 GMT

Chapter navigation
CH01	CH02
CH03	CH04
CH05	CH06
CH07	CH08
CH09	CH10
CH11	CH12
CH13	CH14

She kept her word. There was little that Falnight could tell the mages—he scarcely remembered anything of the past six months, except for a few names and some of Griffon’s stranger habits. He described it as dreamlike, vivid in the moment but quickly fading. Seeing me had woken him up. Then all I could say was what I thought of Griffon, that he meant well but he was ill and saw the world through a skewed lens. An Assembly representative took our statements, but he told me that he did not expect we would be in contact again. That was perfectly fine with me.

( Continue reading )

comments

Falnight 13 (of 14)

Sat, 16 Apr 2022 05:26:56 GMT

Chapter navigation
CH01	CH02
CH03	CH04
CH05	CH06
CH07	CH08
CH09	CH10
CH11	CH12
CH13	CH14

Sergeant Nuressa Porthill was a hill elf with a scar across her forehead and a sharply raised eyebrow. She eyed me impassively when I opened the door, glanced past me into the house, then asked, “Goodwife Heiric?”

“Sergeant Porthill,” I replied, and ushered her party inside. She had brought another hill elf with her, and four Greater mages with the emblem of their lodge embroidered on the high, stiff collars of their mantles. They each nodded at Harlan, who barely inclined his head.

“Now,” said Porthill, “I will try to make this as quick and painless as possible.”

( Continue reading )

comments

Falnight 12 (of 14)

Sun, 10 Apr 2022 03:23:07 GMT

Chapter navigation
CH01	CH02
CH03	CH04
CH05	CH06
CH07	CH08
CH09	CH10
CH11	CH12
CH13	CH14

Malda ran off and returned minutes later with three more children: one that I recognized by sight but not name, Odida, and Falnight. They all looked clean and well-fed, even wearing fine clothes, and they appeared quite calm, if a little confused by the urgency. They looked at Harlan and me, and the confusion grew. I was scared for a moment, when Falnight did not immediately rush to my side. Then I saw something in his expression flicker, like he was remembering something that he had been struggling to grasp for some time, and then he pushed past the others and ran to me.

( Continue reading )

comments

Falnight 11 (of 14)

Sun, 10 Apr 2022 03:20:59 GMT

Chapter navigation
CH01	CH02
CH03	CH04
CH05	CH06
CH07	CH08
CH09	CH10
CH11	CH12
CH13	CH14

Hearth wards are not uncommon, especially in homes that lay outside of cities or towns, but they are usually simple enchantments meant to deter intruders and alert homeowners to ready more dramatic defenses. Anti-scrying measures are much more complex, and like all complex magic, they leave a trace, a feeling. My second husband, Mooreve Toorac of the Silverglen Lodge, spent months on the topic with our daughter Fairlark, often continuing his lectures at the dinner table while I listened patiently and smiled at his passion. I was not the student, but still I remember what he taught her of looking out for magical wards. What might this caster have felt when they hid their house from curious eyes? Deceit, I thought. Fear of being caught. I even hoped that there was guilt. I struggled to imagine someone who would steal a child from their family and not feel some measure of wrongfulness.

( Continue reading )

comments

Falnight 10 (of 14)

Sat, 02 Apr 2022 18:06:32 GMT

Chapter navigation
CH01	CH02
CH03	CH04
CH05	CH06
CH07	CH08
CH09	CH10
CH11	CH12
CH13	CH14

As I had promised, we arrived in Yuville before midday, and stopped into a bakery there for lunch. The Keepers’ house was at the end of the street, built on a small hill that raised it slightly above the roofs of the shops here. I watched it as we ate, leaning against the hitching post alongside our horses. Several people came and went in that time, two of them wearing the stiff black surcoats of the healing order of the Keepers, the others patients or visitors. It made me think of Fietree, my fourth child and a member of the Keepers in the rural midwest of Ylitte, and how much I missed him. He was a fine Keeper, even Steward of his house—always so gentle and reassuring, his healing magic unmatched by his peers. He always doted on Falnight.

Missing him made my heart ache for Falnight that much more. I made straight for the house as soon as I had finished my lunch, and Harlan only just kept up.

( Continue reading )

comments

Falnight 09 (of 14)

Sat, 02 Apr 2022 18:02:45 GMT

Chapter navigation
CH01	CH02
CH03	CH04
CH05	CH06
CH07	CH08
CH09	CH10
CH11	CH12
CH13	CH14

The ride to Yuville was far more pleasant, buoyed by hope for Falnight and relief after breaking the silence with Harlan. He seemed shy as we cleaned up camp, probably embarrassed, but I was careful to act normal, and that seemed to relax him. I asked again after the elf he’d been with the morning we left, and this time, he answered.

“Hearthmoor,” he said. “We met when I left the cavalry.”

“A friend?” I asked. I did not mean anything more by it, sincerely, but Harlan gave me a somewhat exasperated look.

“They have a wife,” he said. “I am a bachelor yet, Mama.”

“I did not say anything,” I insisted. “I know you value your solitude.”

“Yet you worry.”

“Only for your happiness, starlight.”

“I am fine.”

( Continue reading )

comments

In an alley at dawn (cyberpunkdreams)

Sun, 27 Mar 2022 17:32:34 GMT

cyberpunkdreams writing contest entry (made it to the top 10 and came in 4th)
Contest prompt: Bordertown, early in the morning. The sun's just coming up when the sound of metal clashing against metal disturbs the silence. Hushed voices, barely discernible. What happens next?

I'm still too green to just accept the sounds of the bordertown. I can't help it. I'm used to the relative silence of the badlands, being by myself, always on alert. A noise out of place still makes me jittery. A metallic crash has me reaching for a switchblade before I'm even fully awake.

( Continue reading )

comments

Falnight 08 (of 14)

Sat, 26 Mar 2022 18:42:56 GMT

Chapter navigation
CH01	CH02
CH03	CH04
CH05	CH06
CH07	CH08
CH09	CH10
CH11	CH12
CH13	CH14

I awoke later to the sound of scuffling, and a shout from Harlan made me sit straight up. It was not yet dawn, and I could only make out vague shapes moving about the campsite. There were the squeaks and growls of some animal, then the heavy clicks of a gun being loaded.

“Harlan?” I asked into the dark. A gunshot rang out, deafeningly close.

( Continue reading )

comments

Falnight 07 (of 14)

Sat, 26 Mar 2022 18:35:29 GMT

Chapter navigation
CH01	CH02
CH03	CH04
CH05	CH06
CH07	CH08
CH09	CH10
CH11	CH12
CH13	CH14

We waited for hardly more than an hour, in truth, but it felt so much longer. I sat on the porch steps and prayed while Harlan leaned against the house wall, arms crossed, hat brim pulled down over his face. Neither of us said a word. My prayers were silent, almost incoherent, sentences half-finished before my thoughts hurried onto the next idea. I made appeals to the good graces of Wisleve and Umbrine, the strength and tenacity and love of Dovisle and Everise, Silverune’s blessings for us. All of it was frequently and randomly interrupted by my anxieties, and the more I tried to focus on prayer the more insistently I thought, what if she finds nothing? What if she finds death? What will I tell them? I could scarcely take the hour—how had I survived six long months without Falnight? I drew my knees up and rested my forehead against them, eyes closed, mind roiling. The sound of the door finally creaking open again was a welcome interruption.

( Continue reading )

comments

Falnight 06 (of 14)

Sat, 26 Mar 2022 18:34:24 GMT

Chapter navigation
CH01	CH02
CH03	CH04
CH05	CH06
CH07	CH08
CH09	CH10
CH11	CH12
CH13	CH14

Harlan was sitting on the porch again when I arrived, just after the midday meal, but he was not alone this time. Another elf sat beside him in a rocking chair, swaying gently as they talked. Harlan said something to them as I rode up, and they paused to look at me. They raised a hand in greeting, and I waved back, but I did not get close enough to make out much more than the pale blue of their skin and their silver hair before they got to their feet and went inside.

“Who is your friend?” I asked, when Harlan came out to meet me at the gate.

“You’ve answered your own question,” Harlan said. “Just wait here. I’ll fetch my pack and horse.”

( Continue reading )

comments

Falnight 05 (of 14)

Sat, 26 Mar 2022 18:33:33 GMT

Chapter navigation
CH01	CH02
CH03	CH04
CH05	CH06
CH07	CH08
CH09	CH10
CH11	CH12
CH13	CH14

When the day to leave came, Ishgod was my silent companion as I rose before dawn to dress and finish packing my things. I had said my goodbyes to the rest of them the night before to spare them all having to get up in the dark to see me off, but Ishgod was already awake, and I realized that he had not slept. He had always been troubled by the night, uncomfortable in the darkness, and Falnight’s disappearance had only exacerbated things. He was worried for both me and Falnight, and unhappy that I would be gone even for just a few days. Our home was his safe place and our family his comfort, and here half of it was missing or leaving. Of course I did not like to leave, either, and I was very glad for his company that morning.

( Continue reading )

comments

Falnight 04 (of 14)

Sat, 26 Mar 2022 18:32:49 GMT

Chapter navigation
CH01	CH02
CH03	CH04
CH05	CH06
CH07	CH08
CH09	CH10
CH11	CH12
CH13	CH14

Night had fallen well before I reached our front gates, but there were still lights in the house windows, and Vicaste was waiting for me at the pen gate when I had finished untacking my horse.

“Before I ask anything about it, you should talk to Winedawn,” they said, before I had greeted them. “He was looking for you this morning. Searched the whole property before he came to me in tears, asking where you were.”

My heart sank. I had not spoken to him the night before, either. “I should have told him before I left. I do not know why I didn’t—”

Vicaste interrupted me, “It is done, don’t dwell on it now. Just talk to him.”

They sounded tired. When I write of them, it is easy to think that they were angry, because their words are sharp and honest, but that is simply who they are. People often think that they are angry and mean because they speak their mind and do not smile easily—and while that can be true, their ire is never unfairly given. I would not love them if they were cruel.

Still, I felt bad for upsetting Winedawn so carelessly, and we walked back to the house in silence.

( Continue reading )

comments

Falnight 03 (of 14)

Sat, 26 Mar 2022 18:31:45 GMT

Chapter navigation
CH01	CH02
CH03	CH04
CH05	CH06
CH07	CH08
CH09	CH10
CH11	CH12
CH13	CH14

My first love was a human named Henry. I was young when we met, and young when he passed—our relationship was just a moment in the time that I have lived, but I loved him as I have loved no other. He gave me my first taste of many things: cheap wine, long days of riding, building a home, raising a family. We had a son, Harlan. He was my first child and my only child with Henry—in my youthful naivete, I had forgotten how short a human’s life is, how much shorter it is when you are not paying attention. I was too focused on seeing that Harlan turned out alright under my clumsy parenting, and I forgot that Henry did not have the luxury of time that I do. I simply looked up one day and realized that he was withering away. There was nothing I could do about it.

( Continue reading )

comments

Falnight 02 (of 14)

Sat, 26 Mar 2022 18:30:05 GMT

Chapter navigation
CH01	CH02
CH03	CH04
CH05	CH06
CH07	CH08
CH09	CH10
CH11	CH12
CH13	CH14

When the first leaves began to fall from the trees, Vicaste could not take it anymore.

“How can you be content to wait?” they asked me one evening, as we all sat eating supper in silence. I was distracted, thinking about repairs that needed to be done at the hotel before the weather turned really cold, and at first I did not understand what they were saying. They became annoyed when I asked them to repeat the question, and even more so at my reply when they did.

“It has only been half a year,” I said. “Not even a full turn of the seasons.”

( Continue reading )

comments

Falnight 01 (of 14)

Sat, 26 Mar 2022 18:27:54 GMT

Chapter navigation
CH01	CH02
CH03	CH04
CH05	CH06
CH07	CH08
CH09	CH10
CH11	CH12
CH13	CH14

The day my youngest son disappeared dawned cool and gray, dampened by another spring storm that had passed in the night. We did not notice a thing that night—the constant rush of rain on the roof was white noise, a lullaby that we ignored until it was gone. Anything could have happened that night. None of us would have known.

( Continue reading → )

comments

commitment (cyberpunk 2077, ending spoilers)

Sun, 10 Oct 2021 19:19:54 GMT

Kerry hangs up on Kovachek mid-sentence when the text comes through.

are you busy rn?

It’s been days, over a week since he heard from V, since that melancholy, oddly chilling phone call from the space station. He’d hung up so that he could call friends of friends who knew someone that might know someone else, spent a few hours trying to get somewhere, get anything other than maybes and I’ll let you knows and when he tried to call V back, there had been no answer. The phone just rang and rang and rang. It was the same story every day after that. Leads dropped off, people didn’t call back, and V never picked up.

( Read more... )

comments

outside the Sunset Motel (Cyberpunk 2077)

Tue, 10 Aug 2021 00:53:26 GMT

It’s two in the morning and I’m leaning on the dataterm outside the Sunset Motel, waiting for a taxi to crawl its way out here and take me home. My gonk car is smoking in the parking lot. I’m done swearing at it, my throat hurts and that hunk of junk doesn’t have ears anyway so I’m just smoking too. Smoking and waiting. It’s a pastime of its own in Night City.

( Read more... )

comments

Ishgod: Repetition

Wed, 03 Apr 2019 07:39:00 GMT

Sweep the cobblestone paths winding through the temple grounds. Draw fresh water from the stream for the midday washings. Feed the ritual stag and his doe, brush his coat until it shines. Gather wood for the pile, never let it sit below waist height. Check the traps for Itisfit’s gifts, and reset them for tomorrow. Ishgod does his chores thoroughly and without complaint, every day whether the weather allows or not. He has a sealskin poncho for when it rains, heavy furs to keep warm in the snow. It is good, honest work that keeps him strong, and the temple runs all the more smoothly for it. No one bothers him. His days are peaceful.

( Read more... )

comments