Re: The Dawn Chorus
Dust fell from the book as Turu opened it on the rough bench. She and Asha stand in the small annex of a large house, the owner of which was bedridden. It had no floor -- so they walked on withered grass and cracked mud. The only thing not derelict was a larch chest and iron bed -- both of which Iccio Turu used, however minimally. The route to her hideaway is a tall, thin, black gate set into a wall so succintly it inspires absolutely no interest. This gate backs right out of the city -- so she is never seen coming or going. The disadvantage to this was that she couldn't keep a horse -- so she had to set out before dawn to reach a good 'hunting ground', as she called it.
"Most of the work on the anomalies has been destroyed. Accounts have been turning up for years regarding strange events... here we are." She pulled a dusty sheet out of the book, and handed it to Asha before turning back to the chest. Asha read:
"They are winged, and they fly through the daytime -- they are so bright that the stars shine at their backs, despite it being day. Like the sun, they blot out the rest of vision, leaving a rippling rift of stars and night sky in their wake."
Turu watched, hands on hips.
"People thought it was lightning -- high-altitude ball lightning, its light amplified through the lack of oxygen to convert the energy into flame. But it isn't! After years of research, we caught one. They're creatures... they refer to themselves as the Samsara -- an old word for the 'Circle of life'. I could not bear to look upon it, so bright was its light. And when we asked it about itself, it mentioned memories of old -- and the Ashen. It talked about the world being started again, and how most everything died out, including most of the Samsara."
Asha listened with rapt interest. The Samsara del Angeli -- she too had heard tales. Iccio continued.
"It took two years to capture, Sondossa is ideal -- miles and miles of boreal forest, which is their ideal habitat. We spent years chasing the sunrise, where the creatures contregate, at the brink of the day. And we caught one! It took months, we made a cage out of a boron-titanium alloy, which seems to insulate the Samsara from the rest of whatever it draws its power from. We took it back to our lab, and only did a few basic tests...
"Then it showed us its power. Within seconds, the cage was destroyed -- my partner killed, the lab destroyed and myself left penniless. It destroyed itself, such was its will to keep us away."
"But most intruiging of all was its flesh. It was made of a glimmering golden dust -- it was more like a machine than an animal -- all andgles and obits. I don't know why, but its kind cannot stand the night... they seem to circle the world, avoiding the night. You know the golden glimmer the sky takes on at sunset?"
Turu was really mobile now -- gesturing and raising her voice. This work was obviously what she lived for, not highwaywomanship.
"That light is the golden dust that makes their flesh." Turu took her fist from the trunk, and a golden light glowed out between her fingers. The bottle was all of two inches long, was tossed it to Asha.
"Insanely hard to capture. It's yours." Asha smiled, and tossed Iccio a pouch of coins, which was clumsily caught. Iccio tossed it back.
"I want you to carry on my research. But be wary, girl. I lost everything to their hands." Turu turned away, and stood silently for a moment.
"You're welcome to stay as long as you like. I have no company of my own."
"I... would like that."
-----
Sondossa. A well-planned city on the edge of the northern seas. Like most city-states, its affairs were run by money. Take the city gates, for example. They're hired out to various causes -- the National Health Service, for one. This orginisation hires a diseased beggar to stand at the gates, with a bucket. You pay ten shivo for the peasent not to breath on you. The beggar takes five shivo, the state takes the other half, and the NHS gets the business from those who can't pay.
All in all, it works out rather well.
In among the bubbling stew of multispecies activity, there is a dumpling of sense and practicality. It's the watch. Six hundred men, woman, dwarves, trolls, werebeings, lycan, menfish and one Panserbjørn keep the city in a well-planned order with a few words in the right ear and a lot of swords, knives, teeth, claws, poison-spitting glands and a well-clenched fist.
The leader of this is Astidu, a man who knows how people work. 'A good plan isn't where you win' -- he says -- 'It's where nobody thinks they've lost.' He sits at his big desk and drinks tea dark, strong as fine as mud. In the daytime, he's out on the rounds -- keeping an eye on the streets, plodding a well-trodden path. There's a line of indents in the older pavestones, they say, where his swordstick touches everyday on his passing. It's not true, of course, but it shows how devoted he is to his job. All stories are made for a reason.
But today he changes his route, today he stalks over the rooftops. Today he walked over the very edge of the city. Today he spots two women walking down a narrow, enclosed path that cannot be seen from the ground. One of them was Iccio Turu He watched them inside, and then smiles to himself as he renters the city centre -- sprinting only the last few streets, to make it seem as though he had to put energy into being brilliant. He bursts into the guardhouse, and yells the watch into wakefulness. When all bleary eyes are fixud upon him, he speaks loud with a contented malice.
"We've found Turu!"