Part three, naturally:
“Our first day in the field was pure adrenaline. I arrived at the front by ornithopter and my squad was deployed to the spear of the lines, a hill far forward we had taken from the enemy that day. I had my training, and months of practice shooting and reading about combat procedures, but nothing prepared me for the thrill, the kiss of danger as I stepped off that transport. I cracked my knuckles and set to work, invoked the form of a manticore like the rest of my patrol, and barreled over the top, into the blind plain of battle. I can’t describe to you how it feels to a wizard, to taste blood with a tongue other than your own, to run headlong into artillery barrages and watch platoons of men scatter like scared mice, plowed to the ground by sheer force of confidence! I got my first kill that day, and my commandant told me he was impressed, but if he was impressed by me then, he had better wait and see what was to come!”
-Mirrin Anselov, Tales of Glorious Valor, Issue 7, Siphrobion 6th, 6011
Her head rose, and my jaw dropped, or so I would like to say. Perhaps I contained my fascination too well, hidden behind a serious demeanor. She gave me a furtive glance and nodded, returning to her work. I felt the class’ attention on me, standing out of place above this busy girl and her artwork. A blonde underclassmen offered me his rose colored pencil and smiled. I must admit I sneered harshly at him.
“No thank you, freshman.” The boy looked discouraged and slumped down.
“We do not refer to our fellow actors by anything other than their given names!” The flamboyant theatre instructor called from the wings. He shook his finger comically at me and reproached me for acting superior to my fellow student. After reminding me of my own grade and status he made me apologize and shake hands with the boy. I forget his name, and I hardly recall the class’ resounding laughter around me- instead my attention was warped in that moment, to her subtle glance up at me. Some first impression I had made. I shook my head and returned to my place in the circle and sat out the rest of the class in silence. Oddly enough I didn't feel the need to sulk or even reflect on my mistake, I was utterly entranced with countless distractions, least of which were highly implausible situations involving Ausrine.
Ausrine. And that was her name. I would find this out in approximately thirty minutes, walking out of the theatre by way of the back exit, I caught Ausrine slinging her canvas satchel over her shoulder to keep it from falling.
“Hey there, cool satchel you have. It’s like mine.” I motioned to my tan canvas book bag and smiled. Indeed ours were identical, but this was an idiotic comment since most everyone in the school had either this satchel or a similar backpack, both tan with the navy blue outline and the academy crest. And so it was even more implausible that she obviously blushed at my comment and giggled. She managed to mouth a thank you and I continued: “You wear it better, I suppose- Maybe you can teach me to make it look that good?”
“Sure...” She said, bewildered by my overblown confidence or perhaps my absurd attempt at a compliment. Her voice was soft and formal. Like a pristine rose, if they ever made any sound. I leaned in as we walked to hear her better and she cleared her throat and repeated herself. “Sure. It’s.. Dmitri right?”
“That’s right-” I struggled to recall her name and failed miserably. “Elaine?” I guessed at the most common name of my generation for young women. Around the time of our birth Queen Elaine’s ascent to the throne was wildly popular and many took to naming their children after her or her deceased husband, King Dalton Voltacore.
“Ausrine,” She supplied helpfully. Only- she pronounced it as though the “I” was a double “E”, and with a sharp Blackheart accent under all her softness of voice. I nodded as if I knew all along and grinned. I extended my hand to shake, a gesture only informally used between the sexes at the time, and she blushed further as she reached back to squeeze my hand briefly. Internally this primary contact was setting off fireworks, but externally I kept my all-affirming smile and said it was a pleasure to meet her.
“My sister’s name is very similar, but I like yours, it’s very exotic.” This was a blatant lie. My sister’s names were Maria and Delphine, and Ausrine's name was hardly exotic, even with the altered pronunciation, its roots were in the mythology of the Eastern Shore. This falsehood would mark the very moment she acknowledged her initial internal attraction, incidentally. In the meantime we walked and nodded meekly, both flashing beaming smiles at each other when we dared make eye contact, and walking oddly close for two youths who had just met. After walking for some time behind the school we entered the main hall and approached the same class.
“You have first-turn Deltoran class too?” She giggled as I held the door open. It hadn't occurred to me that she’d be in the grade below me. She didn’t look anything like the miniscule freshmen girls that crowded our theatre class, her long hair and height caused me to suppose she might even be a grade above me. I stammered yes, then no, and realizing the time clumsily thrust myself forward to leave and our skulls collided with a delightful thump as she attempted to enter her class. We exchanged nervous glances and confident smiles and shrugged off the whole incident. I was shrugging and nodding and smiling to myself all the way to class. Which of course I was frightfully late too, seeing as I had walked to the opposite end of the school in my escorting Ausrine to class.
After class I could have talked to her, I saw her walking alone for a few seconds before an acquaintance of hers seized her by the arm to chat. We passed each other in the halls four more times before the final bell sent us home free. I'd expected to walk home most days but that day my uncle had offered to pick me up at a public park a few block away from the school, somewhat inexplicably. So as I emerged from the gates of the school I spotted Ausrine waiting on the street out front with hundreds of other students, some boarding busses and most struggling to reach the cars that clogged the street awaiting them. Ausrine turned around the moment I thought to call for her, leaving a brief moment of eye contact before my voice reached her. I can’t imagine she thought I could hear her over the crowd but in halting hand gestures I explained my route home and she accepted my invitation to join me on my stroll.
“So you live by Nyazrin Park, then? Or where?” My eyes were fixed on her hair, I hardly noticed the battle she fought to keep her satchel upon herself and how often she brushed her hair out of her eyes.
“Oh, no. I live that way-” She pointed the opposite way we had been walking. “Down Maisie Lane, off of Sakahlin Street.” So she lived by me! I was damn curious why she’d be walking the opposite way she lived then, but so was I, and it wasn’t my place to pry. The park turned out to be an exquisite portion of magically-tended land surrounding the district grammar school with a scenic ornamental lake at the far end. We sat on a hill while I waited for my uncle, close enough to see the street but far enough from the public path. She had attended this school, she had been to this park many times, her father had taken her here and... Her father was calling her when my attention snapped back to reality. As much as I’d like to say it was still the hair that was captivating me, well the way we’d been laying on the hillside gave me plenty of time to lose track of myself in other ways.
“Sorry, that’s my Father calling, one moment.” She smiled and fished an amethyst pendant on a frail gold chain out of her blouse and squeezed it in her palm. “Hello? ...Didn’t Mama tell you? ... No Father the park by the Junior Academy! ... Yes, where I went to school! ... No send Mama then. ... You never listen! No, no, just come there then that’s fine. ... Yes, goodbye.”
“Is that a Glassheart?” I was constantly being impressed by the new marvels and magic baubles of the capitol, but the countless uses of an enchanted stone and a chain never cease to amaze me, even to this day. Now any two humans with an empathic link could ask a wizard to infuse portions of their minds with some Aether conductive magic trinket, but this of course is an extravagant gesture with the dawn of telephones and reliable postage. It wasn’t until the Nexus Corporation created a fully programmable “Glassheart” type pendant that very many people carried around any kind of Audiolith. It wasn’t just for crazed lovers or mortal enemies, anyone with an Electronic Audiolith could open a line to anyone else who had one. Not without syncing at first, and early on the most expensive models could only record up to six contacts.
Now Ausrine unhooked the chain and took it off her neck, dangling it above my hand as I admired the intricate fusion of transistors and clockwork, all packed behind a single almond sized Amethyst gemstone. It lit up in my palm and I felt the cold tingle of magic work up my spine. Ausrine must have recognized my surprise, and looked into my eyes curiously. I could see her of course, but since I was holding the pendant I could also behold its contents in a exclusive illusion before my eyes. Contacts, messages, music... Contacts. Father, Mama, Anya, Dany... Who was Dany? I navigated the illusion back to messages, and sought to pry even farther but she must have recognized the vacant look in my eyes and snatched the pendant from my palm.
“Do you like it?” She stared down bashfully as she fiddled to reconnect the pendant behind her head.
“Those are.. Amazing, yeah! Here let me help you with that.” I crawled around in the dirt behind her struggling to find a balance on my knees on the hill.
“Do you have one? Mine’s just a worthless shard, not even a Nexus model.” She spread her hair apart and passed the delicate links to me to rejoin behind her pale neck. I fumbled for several minutes with the loops while she explained how she only really had an Audiolith because of her status as an only child. “The just want to check on me, day and night, they’ll call me from the only other room in our apartment sometimes and my Father still does not know he cannot speak to me while I’m at school! Hey are you getting anywhere back there? That tickles! Give me that and let me see your ‘lith and we’ll sync them.” She boldly nudged me as she turned around and I sat down to face her on her level and to confess I didn’t have a device to connect with hers, but I was flattered by her offer. I was prepared to confess this, when a telltale hissing entered my peripheral hearing and the screech of some familiar brakes echoed from up the hill behind me. My uncle peered down as if to check if it was me before sounding the car’s whistle and horn. I waved and gathered my belongings and told Ausrine I had to go.
She looked dismayed, and peered at her pendant momentarily (to check the time I presume) before nodding to agree. She lingered a moment too long after I started staggering up the hill and gave me the courage to turn back and offer her a handshake good-bye. She took this gesture with vigor and shook hard, leaving me with red marks where her fingertips had pressed. Waving, Ausrine started down the hill, still fiddling with her Audiolith behind her neck.
“Well, well! Big man! I could have driven the car down into that park if you needed me to pick you up from your date! Look at you, you have dirt all over your pants. Brush off a bit before you get in here.” I panted and bent down to dust off my trousers but my uncle reached out of the car and patted me on the back and signaled to get in the back. “Who’s the babe? She rich?”
“Ausrine, and I’m not sure. She has one of those crystalline trinkets around her neck, I was wondering where you could buy one.”
“Good question! You’ll like where I’m taking you today then, I got off work early to take you to the Nexus Bazaar. Your money’s in this box, right?” He tossed the padlocked lunch pail into the backseat with me as we careened through the streets, faster and faster into the blur of other cars and trolleys. It was another nerve-wracking ten minutes holding on for dear life in the backseat, with the added bonus of clinging to my life savings as an extra thrill. We parked a few blocks away from the grandiose Nexus department store but I could see its black facade rising over the surrounding gray stone streets. Outside I stood transfixed below the Golden N above the entryway, but once I passed through those black glass sliding doors I was ushered into a haze of frenzied purchasing the likes of which I had never beheld.
No comments:
Post a Comment