{"id":16,"date":"2017-07-03T07:14:10","date_gmt":"2017-07-03T07:14:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lynthornealder.com\/sidequest\/?p=16"},"modified":"2018-01-05T15:20:54","modified_gmt":"2018-01-05T15:20:54","slug":"day-one-chapter-one-the-quest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.lynthornealder.com\/sidequest\/2017\/07\/03\/day-one-chapter-one-the-quest\/","title":{"rendered":"Day One, Chapter One: The Quest"},"content":{"rendered":"

New Story with a short timeline! \u00a0This is Side Quest, a story for Camp NanoWrimo July 2017. \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

And so it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Tzar Vimyxa that representatives of all the families of the nation should come to Buscontra, in the north, to be counted and taxed.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Raizel was the only choice, when it came down to it. <\/span><\/p>\n

Her parents still had three children on apron-strings, one on the teat. \u00a0That effectively tied them to the home, for the little ones couldn\u2019t make a trip like that. <\/span><\/p>\n

Her surviving grandparents were too frail for such a trip, and her mother\u2019s father had lost a leg some time ago, making it almost impossible for him to try. \u00a0Of her surviving great-grandparents, <\/span>surviving<\/span><\/i> was the best that could be said for them. <\/span><\/p>\n

Her older sister had, proving herself prescient once again, gotten married a year ago and also had a babe at the teat, thus tying up that branch of the family. \u00a0Her oldest brother had been taken on as an apprentice with a carpenter in town, which tied him to the shop. \u00a0Raizel, whose apprenticeship was a far less formal one to her parents and her grandfather, was the only child old enough to travel and free of external obligations. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It having been decided that Raizel was going, of course the paperwork was then her duty as well. \u00a0Raizel needed to find witnesses and signatures for every member of the family, to attest that there were the number of people so declared, and that some of them were either too old or too young for working and thus not to be taxed at that workman\u2019s rate. <\/span><\/p>\n

That found Raizel going up the mountain to Madam Zalta with her mother\u2019s sweet rolls and asking her to come act as witness for her two surviving great-grandmothers, a task not all that pleasant, as her mother\u2019s father\u2019s mother was not a convivial woman at the best of times, and the weather this spring had gotten into her joints. \u00a0The task, in the end, was smoothed by the addition of two meat pies \u2014 said mother\u2019s father\u2019s mother\u2019s recipe \u2014 and an hour of Raizel\u2019s spent clearing brush around the path to the Zalta estate. <\/span><\/p>\n

Then she had to go down the mountain to the Elder Hoanian, who himself as getting on in years, armed with a tiny miniature clock Raizel\u2019s oldest brother still had home had carved up. \u00a0Elder Hoanian had, after being encouraged by a bone carving by Raizel and an hour sweeping the porch and walk in front of the Hoanian estate, been convinced that, yes, Raizel\u2019s father\u2019s father and <\/span>his<\/span><\/i> father were both too old for work, and were both still alive (the second being the harder argument in the case of Raizel\u2019s great-grandfather). <\/span><\/p>\n

Once all that was done, her parents had signed for the minor children and themselves, and her brother\u2019s master had signed for him, Raizel had to go down the mountain and up again, to the town that sat on what they called Little Hill, and convince the mayor there to sign an affidavit saying that everything in her papers was indeed correct, that the town had received its fair toll from the family, and that the number of people matched up with the town\u2019s records. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This was made slightly more difficult because the Mayor had worked with Raizel\u2019s maternal grandmother on several projects, and had a number of her embroidery projects around her house, and so considered the old woman still perfectly capable of doing piece-work. <\/span><\/p>\n

This problem was solved by three pieces of embroidery done by Raizel, her mother, and her second-oldest sister, a pile of sweet rolls, and a very nice bone carving done by Raizel herself. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

All this done, Raizel completed her chores for the morning, glad she had not ended up having to do yardwork for the Mayor as well, and headed back to the room she shared with three of her sisters. <\/span><\/p>\n

There she found her mother and oldest sister waiting, her bag packed already, a special pouch set aside, hidden in the lining, for the paperwork and the tax money. \u00a0In another hidden pocket was a small pile of coins for Raizel\u2019s trip \u2014 just enough, if she was parsimonious, for her to get to Buscontra and back in time to pay the tax and be counted without fees. <\/span><\/p>\n

Raizel did not begrudge her family the money. \u00a0They had given what they could, and the taxes would take a large chunk out of a budget already made tight. \u00a0She smiled as she noted the sweet and meat rolls tucked into her bag, the thread and needles should she feel the need to keep her fingers busy, the bone and wood and carving knives for the same. <\/span><\/p>\n

There was still a great deal of daylight left. \u00a0Raizel said fare-you-well to her family and walked back down the mountain and up the Small Hill into town. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New Story with a short timeline! \u00a0This is Side Quest, a story for Camp NanoWrimo July 2017. \u00a0 And so it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Tzar Vimyxa that representatives of all the families of the nation should come to Buscontra, in the north, to be counted and… Continue reading Day One, Chapter One: The Quest<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Day One, Chapter One: The Quest","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-quest"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8Tn4Q-g","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":45,"url":"http:\/\/www.lynthornealder.com\/sidequest\/2017\/07\/13\/six-the-evil-idol\/","url_meta":{"origin":16,"position":0},"title":"Six: The Evil Idol","author":"Lyn Thorne-Alder","date":"July 13, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Raizel was in a plane of white in front of a black spectre, without fifty sed and nowhere near the train station. If she got out of here, she was going to curse Trinner Traln and that idiot Esterzon Gorenz with every trick and hex and lie all of her\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Quest"","block_context":{"text":"Quest","link":"http:\/\/www.lynthornealder.com\/sidequest\/category\/quest\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":129,"url":"http:\/\/www.lynthornealder.com\/sidequest\/2018\/02\/16\/thirty-one-whispers\/","url_meta":{"origin":16,"position":1},"title":"Thirty-One: Whispers","author":"Lyn Thorne-Alder","date":"February 16, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Raizel watched the conversations move around in circles. \u00a0They were trying to be deferential, but she was a kid by their reckoning (and they weren\u2019t far off), and she wasn\u2019t firm or authoritative enough to make it easy for them. Raven got up after a bit and went wandering, came\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Quest"","block_context":{"text":"Quest","link":"http:\/\/www.lynthornealder.com\/sidequest\/category\/quest\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":58,"url":"http:\/\/www.lynthornealder.com\/sidequest\/2017\/07\/25\/eleven-the-diamond-raven\/","url_meta":{"origin":16,"position":2},"title":"Eleven: The Diamond Raven","author":"Lyn Thorne-Alder","date":"July 25, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Esteronzerai was the biggest town Raizel had been in yet, and it was where the carriage\u2019s route diverged from Raizel\u2019s, whether or not she had been stopping to lasso a wizard. \u00a0She bowed to the driver and, her grandfather\u2019s words in her mind, tipped him, although she had not been\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Quest"","block_context":{"text":"Quest","link":"http:\/\/www.lynthornealder.com\/sidequest\/category\/quest\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":51,"url":"http:\/\/www.lynthornealder.com\/sidequest\/2017\/07\/20\/eight-a-kiss\/","url_meta":{"origin":16,"position":3},"title":"Eight: A Kiss","author":"Lyn Thorne-Alder","date":"July 20, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Raizel took breakfast in the inn\u2019s bar the next morning, feeling well-rested, content, and ready to face the rest of her journey. \u00a0Perhaps she\u2019d even hire a coach. The barmaid leaned over the table while she was refilling Raizel\u2019s mug. \u00a0\u201cThere are opportunities around here, you know, for someone as\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Quest"","block_context":{"text":"Quest","link":"http:\/\/www.lynthornealder.com\/sidequest\/category\/quest\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":49,"url":"http:\/\/www.lynthornealder.com\/sidequest\/2017\/07\/14\/seven-moving-on\/","url_meta":{"origin":16,"position":4},"title":"Seven: Moving On","author":"Lyn Thorne-Alder","date":"July 14, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"The black-and-blue light danced upwards like a geyser and then seemed to be sucked downwards, towards the books. \u200b\u201dNo!\u201d Trinner Traln shouted. \u00a0Raizel glanced at him just in time to see him jerk away from Esterzon Gorenz and dart towards the idol. The blue-black light seemed to suck him in.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Quest"","block_context":{"text":"Quest","link":"http:\/\/www.lynthornealder.com\/sidequest\/category\/quest\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":56,"url":"http:\/\/www.lynthornealder.com\/sidequest\/2017\/07\/23\/ten-the-perils-of-ones-past\/","url_meta":{"origin":16,"position":5},"title":"Ten: The Perils of One\u2019s Past","author":"Lyn Thorne-Alder","date":"July 23, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"She should have thought of it before she agreed, she supposed. \u00a0She might be stepping into some long-held family feud \u2014 their mountain had several of those \u2014 or maybe into the sort of thing where the city wanted to move someone whose home had stood in the same place\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Quest"","block_context":{"text":"Quest","link":"http:\/\/www.lynthornealder.com\/sidequest\/category\/quest\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.lynthornealder.com\/sidequest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.lynthornealder.com\/sidequest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.lynthornealder.com\/sidequest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.lynthornealder.com\/sidequest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.lynthornealder.com\/sidequest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.lynthornealder.com\/sidequest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":119,"href":"http:\/\/www.lynthornealder.com\/sidequest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16\/revisions\/119"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.lynthornealder.com\/sidequest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.lynthornealder.com\/sidequest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.lynthornealder.com\/sidequest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}