MISS DERMARK'S LITERARY RAMBLES: OUTLINE OF MY SQ ARCANA FUSION

EAST OF THE SUN, WEST OF THE MOON, NORTH OF THE STAR

An Adventure in Seven Stories

Story the First: About a Shattered Egg of Mirrors

Wouldn't you like to see something strange?

At the Ivory Estate, five demonic Courtiers have gathered

Story the Second: Julian and Portia

"Now the seaport of Nevivon, for it is in Nevivon that our story proper begins, is a quaint little town, perchance a large village, but the people there live so clustered together in three-story townhouses that there is little room for every family to have a personal garden; therefore most Nevivonians have to content themselves with a pair of plant pots, or potshards full of soil worst-case scenario, upon their windowsill. But in the very heart of Nevivon, in a garret with eaves jutting out, above the local tavern, there lived a pair of orphan children who had a garden somewhat larger than a sill full of potted flowers. Julian and Portia were brother and sister, of the same flesh and blood, yet no other sibling pair had ever squabbled as little as the two of them, who tenderly loved one another."

carrot sprigs and pea tendrils with butterfly-like flowers grow and thrive on a crate, along with spearmint, parsley, and other kitchen herbs, in a crate on the windowsill of the siblings' room, on the upper floor,

One evening in autumn around the equinox while watching shooting stars from their windowsill garden, suddenly what appears to be stardust falls on Julian's right eye, and he breathes some of it in, wincing at the pain in his eye and then, after a coughing fit, in his chest

as winter approaches and the years go by he becomes more and more insufferable

one winter in the main square the snow queen whisks him away and kisses all his memories goodbye, gives him a heart-freezing potion

Srory the Third: Leaving Nevivon

when julian does not return in spring, everyone in nevivon thinks he's gone out to sea and will never come back having left to seek his fortune

that year and the next and the third, the signs of spring and especially the sun by day and the north star by night reassure portia, as well as her plants, that her brother is still alive

portia then throws her shoes into the strait, the ones she got for her birthday and ilya has never seen, into the strait, the waves return her footwear as if they had no one to give in exchange

that night she packs her luggage and early in the morning she kisses her grandmothers and cat pepi goodbye and heads out into the countryside

then it's like when psyche in c&ps by william morris bids the world farewell

Story the Fourth: Count and Countess

one day in a rocky outcropping she meets a raven --malak--after they make friends, malak tells her that he might have seen ilya - but that he might forgotten her

first things first they're in the kingdom of prakra

the youngest daughter of the rani is an exceedingly bright countess, but lonely in all her brilliance

suitors come and go but they are all stunned by the beauty of the taj and the courtiers' attires

one day a young man with bloodshot eyes and very fair skin comes along and is completely unfazed - he wins the countess with being curious about her intelligence and with his own wartime tales

portia thinks it may be ilya maybe not - she has to come to the palace, in spite of being a peasant foreigner, and attend the engagement event (even the rani and her consort are coming over from the capital of prakra) and see it with her own eyes

while portia waits and later sneaks in, malak chats with nadia's pet chandra - who lives in a tree taj in a ficus in the taj gardens - and, once she has entered the gardens, the owl drops a spare sari and slippers of navra's down to the garden floor for portia to wear

in the taj portia is breathtaken by the interiors and meets all the royal family - but when she gets to see nadia and her count in the ballroom - she is stunned - the young man is not julian, but nevertheless young and attractive

he has golden hair, both eyes bloodshot with red sclerae, a left arm of solid gold

portia explains the case of mistaken identity and nadia gifts her a spare bedchamber to sleep in for the night, under lavender-scented sheets after a warm bath

nadia also tells portia that she can address her by first name ditto all of her family, introducing them

the next day at the breakfast table, over tea and backlavas, nadia asks portia if she wants to be her handmaid and have her very own clothes and shoes and the bedchamber where she slept to live in, but she declines and prefers to resume her quest

so she is gifted a royal carriage with a coachman and postillions as well as lots of backlavas and the sari and slippers that she wore to the event (she still keeps her peasant dress in the trunk)

Story the Fifth: The Warrior Queen

while crossing the southern steppes in a dazzling sun, the carriage dazzles some warrior nomads, who spear the coachman and postillion, seize the horses, and claim the spoils

the leader, a tall blonde in spotted catskins who drives a chariot and pets an eagle, takes portia prisoner as an indentured servant, kneading her lower back and buttocks and arms to feel for muscle

portia and the warrior queen set off in the chariot while some of the crew take up the carriage and the redshirt servants' liveries: the warrior queen tells her she will kill anyone who lays a fingertip on her, and if portia offends her captor, she will slit her throat quickly and painlessly

they set up camp at dusk and portia begins to pitch up tents with mallet and pegs

by the fireside they all have a supper of roast meat - the warrior queen introduces herself as morga

the two of them decide to trade stories with one another

Story the Sixth: The Star, the Moon, and the Sun

portia enters the arcana realms

she finds herself in a labyrinth with walls of crumbling marble so high they block the skies above, statues flanking the great arched entrance

As the path goes further in, the geometry of the place becomes stranger and more unsettling, with stairs leading to nowhere and doorways bricked up or dropping off into a sudden abyss - but she keeps on walking, determined not to give up yet

at the top of the labyrinth she finds a lighthouse beacon made of a thousand little stars - through vast lighthouse windows a breathtaking view of an evening sky above and an equally vast ocean below -- there, a blue-eyed orange tabby catgirl who resembles portia herself comes eye to eye with her

the star explains to portia about their connection, congrats her and tells her she knew she'd pass the trials, and gifts her a vial of starlight

then tells her to plunge into the ocean to find the moon's realm

though at first skeptical, remembering the shipwreck that orphaned her and ilya, she shuts her eyes and leans out the lighthouse railing, taking the plunge

saltwater stings the sores on her worn aching feet, her drenched clothes drag her down

there is an islet with a female silver direwolf-anubis -the moon- in the middle of the ocean; she takes off her soaked clothes and the moon gifts her roe to eat and a fishing net to wrap herself in, then instructs her to find a moonstone from the bottom of the ocean trench, between the two sunken turrets

as she dives deep luminescent fish like a fierce anglerfish, or a school of fish which form a ghost of julian, try to seduce her in the midnight zone, but she still finds the moonstone as she reaches for it

as she resurfaces, her consciousness slips

she washes upon a beach-like shore with dunes and a wall along the shore, with a sunflower garden beyond the wall and up a white chalk cliff to the left: the sun's eyrie - the day sky above is cloudless and full of pure air

portia follows the wall up to the cliff and eats sunflower seeds from flowers that project above the wall before climbing up; there is a rill and a large nest in the middle of the garden, she drinks herself unthirsty

right then a humanoid golden eagle swoops down and lands in the nest

the sun sits down in the nest and preens her plumage... then lays a hot golden egg that portia receives

Story the Seventh: What Happened at the Snow Queen's Palace and Afterwards

Valerius as the Great Troll

Volta, Vulgora, Valdemar, and Vlastomil (the two latter made the Mirror Egg) as Trolls

Portia Devorak as Gerda

Julian Devorak as Kai

Mazelinka and Lilinka as the Grandmothers

Nadia Satrinava and Lucio Morgasson as the Prince and Princess

Malak as Mr. Crow and Chandra as Mrs. Crow

Morga Eirsdottir as the Robber Mother/Robber Maiden (composite character)

Jäger as the Wood Pigeon

The Star, the Moon, and the Sun as Finnwomen/donors/cardinal winds (ever read East of the Sun or the Singing Springing Lark?)

Anastasia "Tasya" Devorak as the Snow Queen

MISS DERMARK'S LITERARY RAMBLES

viernes, 16 de octubre de 2020

OUTLINE OF MY SQ ARCANA FUSION

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