This is the first part of a story by me. I might write more, I haven't decided yet. Please post your comments and constructive (!) criticism.
Sorry for the length of the post.
Controlling weather is difficult and takes much power, so it is almost impossible to use on a large scale... Zaratha closed the leather-bound book with a sigh. Another dead end. She looked the next book lying on the table, titled
Weather Spells, and closed her eyes. She should read that book next, but she couldn't concentrate. Zaratha stood up and walked around the room. It was small but full. A small bed stood in one corner, bookshelves lined the walls. There was one polished wooden table standing at one side of the room, also covered with books. A matching chair was standing in front of it. A chest near the wall held clothes, herbs, and other useful things. There was a vase on the chest, however the flowers it held were dried. There had been no rain for a long time. The Council of Nine would be meeting right now, deciding on a mage to investigate the unnatural drought. Zaratha silently wished the one chosen luck, the drought had lasted for months now.
Anybody coming into the room would immediately notice one thing: the size of everything.The chair and the table seemed like toys, as did the bed. The clothes lying near the bed looked like children's clothes, the staff leaning against the wall was also half as long as a normal staff. Looking at the room, one got the impression that everything was normal, save that the windows were too large, the bookshelves too high and the books themselves seemed more like massive grimoires than normal books. There were several footstools, apparently to help the room's inhabitant reach the top of the bookshelves. To others, the scene would seem strange and skewed. To Zaratha, it was home.
The young elf paced back and forth. She couldn't think, she'd been trying to find a solution to the problem of the drought for months now. Every single book she'd read had told her the same thing: Controlling weather needed a lot of power on a small scale, it was impossible on a large scale.
Zaratha brushed long black hair away from her face. She was tiny even for an elf - less than half as tall as an average human - and very sensitive about it. She rarely left her chambers nowadays, preferring to have food brought by a servant. In the halls, she could feel the stares of the other mages, despite her having lived here all her life. She'd been found on the steps outside as a baby twenty years ago - it was still common practice for people to leave unwanted babies outside of official buildings. Even now, two or three babies were found outside the University each year. They were taken in by the mages, fed, educated and encouraged to leave as soon as they could exist independently. Zaratha had been one of the few who had actually had magical talent, so instead of leaving, she'd stayed on - first as a student, then as a full mage. She'd always been interested in research and had therefore joined the Elji order of mages, an order that devoted its time to the study of esoteric subjects. However, the last few months they'd been trying to find a spell to end the drought. The drought had begun five months ago. All of a sudden, there was no rain. It simply stopped. Over the months, rivers had dwindled and springs had gone dry. At the same time it was very cold, although it was the height of summer. The University had not been affected as badly as others, yet one still felt the effects of the unnatural weather everywhere. Zaratha sighed, sat down in the well-used chair, and carefully opened the next book.
Suddenly someone knocked on the door. Zaratha turned around. "Come in." She stood up, resting her hands on her hips. The door opened, and a man came in. He was tall, well-muscled and was wearing armor showing the Shitai-rune, the symbol of the University. He was wearing a hilted sword and had a helmet, bearing the three red plumes that showed he was an officer, under his arm. He was almost three times as tall as she was and looked askance at the tiny, childlike mage in red robes. "Er… I'd like to speak to the Elji Mage Zaratha, please," he said. "Yes, that's me," snapped Zaratha, silently adding, and it's not
my fault I look like a short halfling, thank you very much.
"Um… the Council of Nine wishes to inform you that you have been chosen to investigate the causes of the drought," said the officer, still staring at the small elf. "
What?" Zaratha coughed. "This is a joke, right?" "No, it is not a joke!" the soldier barked. "Why me? I mean, I'm a researcher. Why in all the world should
I be the one to go out and try to stop the drought? I have no practical experience in this sort of thing whatsoever!" Zaratha said, trying to keep calm. "If you'll follow me to the Council of Nine, they'll tell you what to do and why they chose you," the soldier replied. "All right," Zaritha snapped, fuming. She stood up and strode out of the room, followed by the soldier.
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Sapphire Dragoness of ALSB
Waitress at Cloudy's Cafe
Guardian of the Temple of Aerie (specialized in GenCon and BG)
Most Illustrious Arch-Magess of the Illuminati
Lux omnis est