Saturday, December 15, 2012

Look no further, Iana's Story #38 has arrived


So much to do. So little time. Ah, but it only feels like that because there is so much to do. If there wasn't, then it would feel as if you had all the time in world. Time slows down when you count each second, trying to hurry it along, but when you are having too much fun, when you are busy preparing for Christmas, why then it runs off and suddenly the month of December is half over.

A simple solution presents itself, has Iana found her answer at last? 


#38 Look no further

"Can I help you Princess?" Olwen asked, pushing at the door with me. "What are you doing?"

"Wait, you'll see, or you'll hear it. Listen!" I told him, pointing upward. 


I always thought whoever designed and built Winding's Great Hall must have had acorns rolling around his head. It looked so strange, the wooden beams hung at odd angles, and poked through the walls. They were carved perhaps to look like leafless ornamental tree branches, only without any tree trunks. Some resembled lace, and others honeycomb. It wasn't elegant, it looked messy and half finished and no matter how many tapestries were hung or banners draped from point to point, it did not block out the roughness, the rustic carving and oddity of it all. Winding's Great Hall was nothing at all like the grand coliseum of the Circle Kingdom.

Once I complained to Mother about it, she told me, the great hall was built this way on purpose, for the sound. Voices carry easily from one end to the other, and a talented minstrel could make the whole room vibrate with pure tones. Dances are held in the Great Hall for that very reason, when everyone was busy dancing no one cared what the ceiling might look like. But I'd never really just stopped and listened to the room. 

From the dais at the far end, and what remained of father's large mahogany throne (the silver had long been stripped away), through the large double doors I'd opened, you could see all the way down to the entrance hall and the main doors. I held a finger to my lips and pointed up to the ceiling. It was soft and, unless you listened carefully, it was easy to miss.

Olwen stood there frowning, until a gust of wind came, blowing all the way from the entrance, straight through to where we stood. The wind rippled against the walls and then upward. There it danced and sang in the strange carvings and wooden rafters. The sound was sweet and radiant, different from a small delicate chime, but it had that same dazzling ring.

Olwen's eyes lit up as he heard it.

I danced around, unable to contain my excitement. It didn't matter that all the chimes in the kingdom had been destroyed. We didn't have to search any longer for a weapon. The castle itself was our weapon. The castle of Harmony Wind was just that! It was a chime all on its own!

"I'd often wondered about the odd design." Olwen mused looking up at the rafters, a smile curling on his face.

"Isn't it something!" I danced over to him. My enthusiasm getting the better of me. I hadn't felt so giddy in ages. Olwen must have felt the same way. We both threw caution to the wind, never mind I was a Princess and he the servant. He bowed to me, offering his arm. I took it and we twirled around together several times before Mother came rushing in. We broke our embrace and stepped apart. 

"Iana, what is all this running about?" Mother demanded. Her eyes darted first to Olwen and me, and then around the great hall. She wrinkled her nose. It still had a musty, unused smell after being closed and unused for so many months.

My heart was still hammering in my chest. I glanced at Olwen, but he had resumed his usual posture, formal and humble, spine straight, and arms to his side.

Mother continued berating me, "All the windows, and doors open like this! Your Aunt are frail. Do you want them to catch their death?"

"No Mother, it's not that at all. We're fine. More than fine. Now we have a way to fight them."

She shook her head. She didn't like the idea of fighting, but it was the choice I'd made. I wasn't going to give in, nor would I let them take my sister away. Joli was wrong to give in. Even if I was afraid, I'd use that fear to fight with everything I had, rather than giving up.

Father came down stairs, drawn in by all the noise. He was as intrigued and amazed by the sounds the wind created as I was. I doubt the Castle of Harmony Wind had been this empty in ages, and the sound would have been interrupted with furniture and tapestries everywhere.

We didn't leave the castle open, the chilly wind wasn't good for anyone. So we sealed it back up, and made our battle plans. I prayed for a heavy wind tomorrow.


to be continued . . .

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