random pointless swirls

[sturdycoldsteel]

The shaper known as Steel is flying down the right side of a road, shoring up the edges of the bluestream that lets her lift herself off the ground as she goes. Sure, she'll be a bit clumsy and weak when she gets to Opri, but she's not planning on doing much more stream-shaping today, so might as well.

She glances at the bluestream (the magical vision blinds her physical vision for a short moment, but not long enough to crash into anything) and determines that this next crossroads is where she needs to turn. She tilts to the right...

...And lands on a patch of orange grass in a forest clearing. This is not the town of Opri. She opens her eyes and ears to the bluestream, trying to figure out what the hell is going on.

The bluestream here isn't a nice, orderly, useful pattern like on the roads, or the formless fog that it usually decays to after a while. Instead it's a riot of random patterns swirling around, wispy and confused and obviously not designed to do anything useful.

Steel, deaf and blind for a few seconds thanks to her peek at the bluestream, stands very still and is very confused.

Comments

[alicornucopia]

"I will speak with my master about anything he might want transported. Perhaps you should fetch as many books as you can get and when you return we can discuss making up the rest of the trade with heavy lifting. Do you need the loads balanced and contiguous or can you, say, lift a lot of dirt out of the ground?"

[sturdycoldsteel]

"Balancing them is not strictly necessary but will help. Non-contiguous loads must be smaller than the largest contiguous ones I can handle, but are still doable. I expect to return in approximately three weeks. Is there anything else we should discuss before I go?"

[alicornucopia]

"What are you called? I'm Verve."

[sturdycoldsteel]

"Steel." She gives a polite little bow. "Shall I be off, then?"

[alicornucopia]

"In three weeks if I don't happen to be here when you arrive any of the lesser vassals will know when I'm expected," says Verve, nodding.

[sturdycoldsteel]

"Then I will see you in three weeks, or perhaps a little longer." Steel flies off.

A day later, she hovers invisibly and inaudibly a ways off and carefully surveys the area's harmonics in case they plan to ambush her. Then she really does fly back towards her gate at a relatively sedate pace, arriving at Promise's tree three weeks into her promised one-month absence. Steel looks for her.

[imeanforever]

Promise is in her tree, fixing lunch. "Hi, how was your trip?"

[sturdycoldsteel]

"It was fun. Lots of pretty scenery out there. I eventually found the correct sort of rock, but it was within a court's territory. I had to promise them some 'mortal fiction books' and heavy lifting services to secure permission to take it, but I was very careful not to imply that I could see or affect harmonics, they might try have tried to capture me if I did. They might still try, but I'll come prepared for an ambush."

[imeanforever]

"Well done, then. So you're going to go get a lot of books, then?"

[sturdycoldsteel]

"That's the plan. I was planning on bringing fifty for them, too many more will get awkward to carry. You want some too? Using and changing the bluestream, theory and practice?"

[imeanforever]

"Yes please."

[sturdycoldsteel]

"Promise, Promise me another month or two's sorcery lessons and you'll get your books. Sorry about the pun, I had to do it at least once."

[imeanforever]

Promise snorts. "Sorcery lessons are all yours."

[sturdycoldsteel]

So Steel bows sarcastically and goes to her camouflaged gate room, finds it unchanged, and visits a bookstore and a survival food store and takes care of miscellaneous chores on the other side. Three days later, she comes back, drops off Promise's books, and hauls the rest back to that court, arriving two days short of her three-week prediction.

[alicornucopia]

Where Verve is waiting.

[sturdycoldsteel]

Before she moves to land, Steel notes every nearby fairy and every change in the harmonics that looks like it might mean sorcery. Is there anything suspicious here?

[alicornucopia]

Verve has some sorceries active on her; so do some of the small fairies tending the garden, so does the garden itself. They are not readily identified from Steel's perspective.

[sturdycoldsteel]

She lands, force-shell active and giant bag o' books flopping onto the ground beside her. "Hello, Verve."

[alicornucopia]

"Hello, Steel. How many mortal books did you bring?"

[sturdycoldsteel]

"I ended up getting forty-eight mortal fiction books, and four more story-books that are not fiction, but stories of real mortals' lives. Is there anything around here that can be usefully lifted and carried to make up the difference?"

[alicornucopia]

"That depends; can you divert a river on your own?"

[sturdycoldsteel]

"I've done rivers before, but they can be tricky. It will also take some planning to do without causing water to rush into undesired areas. Perhaps I should see the river and the new path it should take first."

[alicornucopia]

"I can show you." Verve takes to the air.

[sturdycoldsteel]

Steel follows. Her flight path doesn't quite match Verve's, but it's smooth enough that it doesn't look like she's drunk.

[alicornucopia]

There is a river that currently switchbacks its way along a plain half an hour west. "Master would like this river to form a waterfall here - removing part of this hill and turning the water over it should do and it will run into a lake from there which should drain out its normal channels, just slightly faster."