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

[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."

[sturdycoldsteel]

Steel settles to the ground and studies the river, the hill, the lake. She gets out some paper and sketches plans and calculations. "Where should the removed dirt and stone go?"

[alicornucopia]

"Border the river after its splashdown, on the south side, to encourage it towards the lake - it should go there on its own but it can't hurt."

[sturdycoldsteel]

"Alright. This will take at least two days to do properly, I have to plan it out and I'll have to stop for rest during. But I can sleep anywhere and I've brought food, so no need for me to impose on your hospitality."

[alicornucopia]

"If you'll give me the books now, I'll leave someone to watch the river diversion and assuming they don't have anything alarming to tell me you can simply take the stone you want without pausing afterwards."

[sturdycoldsteel]

Nod, nod. Steel hands over the bag of books. They're very heavy all together, though she wasn't bothered by the weight at all.

She gets a measuring device and a miniature abacus from one of her many pockets and starts muttering numbers and writing things.

[alicornucopia]

Verve turns out not to be able to carry that many books. She flits away, comes back with three vassals, leaves one perched somewhere to watch Steel, and divides the books between herself and the other two.

[sturdycoldsteel]

"I'd like my bag back, by the way!"

Then, back to investigating the river. After maybe two hours she has a good estimate at how much dirt will have to be moved around to make a sufficiently impressive waterfall, and starts planning places and ways to put it. She won't talk to the vassal left to watch her beyond occasional glances unless the vassal talks to her.

After six hours, she starts the heavy lifting. Great globs of dirt and stone float up without being suspended from anything and move over to their new position. Hills are big, but Steel can move a lot of dirt. There is visible progress by sunset.

[alicornucopia]

(Someone brings her bag back and leaves it with the tiny fairy who is watching her.)

[sturdycoldsteel]

Steel checks something wrapped in paper for tampering, and finding none eats it. She informs the tiny fairy, "Time for me to sleep. I prefer not to be watched while I sleep."

[alicornucopia]

"I've been told to stay here and watch you," the tiny fairy says. "Until I'm relieved by someone who'll have the same order."

[sturdycoldsteel]

"I will not be watched while I sleep." Steel leaves, at very high speed.