forgotten

[mute_pen]

It's past dark, but when you need the outhouse, you need the outhouse.

Isabel picks her way across the yard of her father's house in the moonlight, hoping to sneak back into bed without waking him.

Comments

[mute_pen]

"Mm."

There is a question to ask of this (stark naked) girl, but it could offend; Etty will save it till she's sure there is nothing else she needs from her.

"Do you know what's the first thing to go when Odettes - deteriorate? And - is there any way I could get something to write with, and on?"

[growcrooked]

"I don't know anything about the early times," she says, shaking her head. "I can give you pens and inks and books, that's simple enough -" and she gets up, abandoning her sheets, and rummages in the drawers of an enormous oak desk.

[mute_pen]

"Thank you," says Etty, heartfelt. "...What do you know about the later times?"

She thinks of blank staring faces. And swan sounds. And shivers.

[growcrooked]

"I've been to the lake when he was out looking for a new one," she says. "I've seen what they're like when they're all used up."

She returns carrying a blank scroll, a pen, and an inkwell, all of which she hands to Etty.

[mute_pen]

"...Yeah. So've I. Do you think it's sudden or gradual?"

[growcrooked]

"Gradual. That's how the magic works," she says. "If he took them all at once he couldn't use them to make us immortal."

[mute_pen]

"...So if I break the curse you're going to die."

[growcrooked]

"Not right away," she says. "Unless I try to kill him and he kills me first. I just won't be young and beautiful forever anymore. But I'm tired of being young and beautiful."

[mute_pen]

"Of being young and beautiful," murmurs Etty, "or just of the circumstances you have to do it in?"

[growcrooked]

She snorts. "It's the same thing, isn't it? I don't really think I can kill him. I just know I'm going to try, next chance I get."

[mute_pen]

"What makes him hard to kill besides the part where he's immortal?"

[growcrooked]

"He's twice my size, a trained swordsman, a sorcerer, and sometimes when I look at him I can't think for screaming?"

[mute_pen]

"...Those are all things that might make someone hard to kill."

Etty thinks.

"How does one learn sorcery?"

[growcrooked]

"I don't know. I've tried. I've picked up a few things just living with him, but when he caught me with one of his books—" She shakes her head. "I catch fire if I try the library door, now."

[mute_pen]

Etty hisses a sharp indrawn breath. "Eegh."

[growcrooked]

"So I can light candles and freeze raindrops and make my rooms tidy themselves, but I can't do anything useful."

[mute_pen]

"I take it the spells for candles and raindrops won't work on a person. At least not him."

[growcrooked]

"You think I've never tried lighting his beard on fire? He put it out. I suppose I could freeze a drop of his spit but I don't see how it'd help."

[mute_pen]

"I was thinking freezing his blood. Or the fluid in his spine, or his brain."

[growcrooked]

"One raindrop's worth at a time, when I can't see any of it? Stabbing him would be surer."

[mute_pen]

"A small ice crystal in the heart could - well, if it were sharp, otherwise I suppose it would just melt harmlessly," muses Etty, nibbling her lip.

[growcrooked]

"You've a vicious turn of mind," she snorts. "I like that. But he's by far a better mage than I am. If I try a little trick like that, he'll catch me, and then he'll be on his guard and it'll be that much harder to get him on the next try."

[mute_pen]

"I didn't have a vicious turn of mind until a few hours ago. Adversity makes me creative."

And:

"Pardon me if I offend. But. I don't suppose by any chance you have never loved before?"

[growcrooked]

"Not once."

[mute_pen]

Etty lets the obvious conclusions hang in the air for a moment.