Absent Friends

I'm missing Kate tonight, and it occurs to me that I haven't yet told you what little I know about her abrupt departure. 

Last week, as you may recall, I expressed concern that if Black Rose Katie Specks didn't somehow make it back to her own time, she would soon be resuming her life of crime, right here in the 21st Century.  When I discussed the issue with Kate herself over the weekend, she didn't even bother to deny it.  So when I got home on Monday and she wasn't here, my first thought was that she got tired of waiting to be mysteriously returned home, and hitchhiked down to Nogales or Naco to become a smuggler; or else that she'd gotten in trouble trying to rob a bank. 

But there was nothing on the news about a bank robbery, or about anyone trying to rob anyone with only a flintlock gun for a weapon, or crossing the border into Mexico in a pirate outfit and with no identification.  Furthermore, there was nothing missing from my house, not even the clothes I loaned to Kate.  Even the necklace that Kate loaned to me for the VIVI Awards was still here.   Had she left on her own, I doubt very much that she would have foregone the chance to steal anything that she might find useful.  She was grateful for my hospitality, but not that grateful.  All things considered, then, it was starting to look as though my friend the pirate had disappeared the same way she appeared - mysteriously, suddenly and involuntarily. 

I hoped that meant that she did return to the late 18th Century, but there didn't seem to be any historical record of her - not online, anyway.  Google turned up quite a few results for "pirate Kate," but most of them are either an Internet handle or clearly fictional, including a pirate's daughter in an old novel, a woman who meets a time traveling pirate in a recent novel (!), and one of the daughters in The Pirates of Penzance.  Maybe Katie Specks didn't make it home after all, or maybe she did nothing under the name Kate that was noteworthy enough to make the pirate websites. 

It wasn't until last night that I noticed a Word file on the desktop of my computer, one I never put there.  The file name was "To Karen."  Thinking it might be a note of farewell from Black Rose Kate,  I opened it up and read:

Karen -

I write this in haste, because, as you might say, "my ride is here," and cannot wait.  Her name is Ariel - or so she claims.  She is certainly no airy spirit (or mermaid - I did glance through your Disney collection over the weekend).  She also claims to be indirectly responsible for my having been beached here in the desert with you.  In the final of her three claims, she proposes to take me home.  I have decided to put this third claim to the test!

Thank you for your hospitality, patience and friendship.

Regards,

That Disobedient Wench,

Black Rose Katie Specks

*********

Underneath this, in a different color font, was a second, more surprising note:

Dear Karen:

I found out about your "house guest" earlier today while Googling for evidence of disturbances in time in your version of reality.  When I read your journal entries about Black Rose Kate, I realized that I ought to "swing by," as you put it, and get her safely home.

Based on similar recent incidents in this part of the Multiverse, I'm pretty sure that Kate's arrival in Tucson was a side effect of what I've been calling a "leak" in my pandimensional sports car.  I think you'll agree that a sports car is a much more practical way of traveling than my dad's castle is--if I can get it working properly.  I know that you know about Toujours Chez Moi, because I saw it mentioned in your story Mall of Mâvarin.  Cathy and Carl are fine, by the way.  Your imagination seems to be pretty closely tied in with worlds my dad and I move through on a regular basis.  Intriguing!  Kate is not from your reality, any more than I am, so in a way you were right to make the contradictory claims that she was both fictional and real.

I'd love to stay and say hello in person, but I have a test in the morning.  I'd better get Kate back to her bit of space-time, and then go study.  The test is on A Wrinkle in Time, and I haven't finished reading the book yet!

Your Imaginary Friend (LOL!),

Ariel Allegra
(Joshua Wander's daughter)

I don't know why I'm so shocked about this.  After all, Joshua Wander himself once bought tickets at Worldwide Travel while I worked there.  Why shouldn't his daughter borrow my laptop for a few minutes?

By the way, I also found my notebook, the one in which Black Rose Kate wrote a brief version of her life story.  I'll share that with you another time, but for now I'll tell you this much: she was not born with the name Kate or Katherine, or anything like that. 

Fair weather and safe harbor, Kate!

********

 I saw a mouse again tonight, briefly, but wasn't able to get a picture (of course).  Instead, here's a picture of the patch of scrub where we let brown mousie go.  Can you spot brown mousie in the photo? Neither can I, but I think he's there somewhere!

The mouse I saw tonight looked a little more brown than gray.  How many mousies are in this house right now?  One?  Two?  More?  If we do catch gray mousie, and if gray mousie turns out to be female, I'm naming her Kate.  Then I'm letting her go, probably in the same place as brown mousie.

Oh, and this big black rat is one of my Halloween props.  John added the plastic snake to its mouth  the year I was Not Rani. 

Karen


  

Fiction: Mall of Mâvarin, Part Thirty-Three

Well, I wanted to finish this tonight, and yee-haw!  I've done it!  Finally!  It's long, but that just makes up for the short ones.  Can I have that VIVI Award now? ;) - Karen

The easiest way to catch up on past installments of this serial is on Messages from Mâvarin at http://mavarin.blogspot.com. However, all links in this entry are to AOL unless otherwise labeled.

Synopses to Parts One through Six can be found at the top of Part Seven. Synopses to Parts Eight through Thirteen can be found at the top of Part Fourteen. Synopses to Parts Fourteen through Eighteen are at the top of Part Nineteen.  Synopses to Parts Nineteen through Twenty-Five can be found at the top of Part Twenty-Six.  The installments themselves can be read in order on Blogspot using the sidebar, or on AOL from the links at the bottom of this entry.

Part Twenty-Six:  Cathma and Cathy wonder why they haven't lost consciousness with everyone else.

Part Twenty-Seven:  Cathy and Cathma belatedly collapse and faint, much as the others did.  They find themselves in a place without physical bodies, surrounded by a thousand versions of themselves.  The only person present who doesn't have their face is Joshua Wander.

Part Twenty-Eight:  Cathma is pretty sure they're in something called the subjective plane.  Joshua Wander is pretty sure he's meant to be their guide.  The other versions of Cathy and Cathma disappear, leaving just the two of them to work out the answer to Josh's question: which one of them will be the one to return home?

Part Twenty-Nine:  Joshua Wander explains that there is an imbalance in magic between the worlds, which can only be solved by someone relocating to the other person's world - permanently.  However, the explanation makes no sense, and Cathy doesn't believe it.

Part Thirty:  Cathy refuses to sacrifice her normal life on the basis of what she's hearing.  Angered by the lack of cooperation, "Joshua Wander" disappears, replaced by Cathma's self-proclaimed "oldest enemy" - Imuselti, former royal mage to a family of usurpers.

Part Thirty-One:  Based on her secondhand memories of who Imuselti is, Cathy realizes that the man in this no-place knows things that the real Imuselti would not know, such as who the Beatles were.  She begins to suspect that of all she sees and hears around her, "nothing is real," and nothing to get hung about.

Part Thirty-Two:  Although the identity of the man making the offer remains in doubt, Cathy becomes convinced that unless she signs a blood oath agreeing to give up any chance of going home, she may never even leave this no-place in which she's trapped.  She signs the oath, but only in exchange for a promise that everyone else "who wants to go home, will go home." Shortly afterward, shefinds herself back in the mall in Mâvarin, surrounded by family, friends and cold pizza.

Part Thirty-Three: Croatoan

Cathy’s reaction to what Cathma had said must have showed on her face, because Carl frowned.  “Thanks for doing what?  What is she talking about, Cath?”

“She’s thanking me for sacrificing my chance to go home, so that other people can get there, and so that I wouldn’t be trapped nowhere at all,” Cathy said, a little bitterly.  She pushed the pizza plate away. 

Carl stared at her.  “You did that, too?”

“What?”

“I was just in this weird dreamland place, all dark, just me and, well, more of me, and King Carli, and this other guy.  Were you really there with me, Your Majesty?”

King Carli nodded.  “That’s what I remember.  Yes.”

“And I agreed to stay behind, too, just as you say you did.  I even signed something called a blood oath.”

“Okay, so we were both maneuvered into giving up our lives in the real world,” Cathy said.  “But we did it under duress.  Isn’t there a way out of it?”

“Not if you took a blood oath, no,” said Fayubi.  “Violating one of those has lethal consequences.  Fabian and I had a similar experience, but we didn’t agree to anything.”  He looked around.  “Oh, and I’m myself again.  For whatever reason.”

Jamie Barrett nodded.  “Whatever that was, a dream or weird astral plane or something else, it straightened the two of us out, too.  But nothing was said about giving up on going home.  How could you two do that?  I thought I raised you better than that.  What about high school, your friends, your college plans, to say nothing of my feelings in the matter?  What about the rest of your lives?”

“It looked as though I wasn’t going to get a chance to go home, regardless,” Cathy said.  “I thought if I did this, at least you and Carl, Randy, the two teachers and everyone else could go home, even if I couldn’t.”  She turned to Carl. “But no, you had to be all self-sacrificing too,didn’t you?”

“What, am I not allowed to do something heroic, and try to help my family, too?” Carl asked.  “Are you sorry that we’re in this fix together?”

“Well, no,” Cathy admitted.  “I think I’m grateful.”

“So what do we do now?” Jamie asked.

Jami Baret pointed to the other end of the food court, where Lee and Li and Josh Wander had just appeared around a corner, followed by Randy and Rani.  “I think we’re about to find out,” Jami said.

The new arrivals looked around, apparently spotted the twins and their friends, waved, and hurried over.  “I think we’ve got the portal working the way it’s supposed to work,” Li said.

Josh was all smiles.  “It seems to be working great, in fact.  Some of the Americans have gone home already, feeling almost completely like their old selves again. Are you folks ready to go?”

Cathy stood up. She was shaking with anger.  “How dare you even ask me that?  Where do you expect me to go?”

“Why, home to DeWitt, of course.”  The itinerant magician looked around at all the angry faces directed at him.  His smile fell away. “What’s the matter?” he asked.  “What’s happened here?”

Cathy told him.

“Well, that wasn’t I,” Josh told her.  “I suppose it could have been a different Joshua Wander.”

Carl frowned.  “A different one?  How many are there?”

“At least two others that I know about,” said JW.  “One of them is a pretty nasty character, much more insane than I ever was.  He seems to think he can only get home if he can deprive other people of the same opportunity.”  His lips parted. “Oh, my.  I should have thought of this before.  He could have caused this whole mess.”

Li shook his head.  “I really don’t think so.  This was at least mostly my fault.”

“He took advantage of the situation then, at the very least,” Josh said.  “As I told you, he’s insane. He even tried to steal my daughter from me once.  Fortunately, Ariel was too smart to fall for his tricks.”

“You have a daughter?” Cathy asked. “You didn’t mention that before.  Where is she?”

“Oh, didn’t I tell you about her?  I thought I had.  She’s in school, most of the time, but she’s inherited her dad’s tendency to wander the multiverse as well.”

“Where does she go  to school, then?”

“Croatoan College.  It’s a wonderful place, sort of an educational Callahan’s Crosstime Saloon, except with fewer puns.” He looked at Cathy and Carl in turn.  “You know,” he said thoughtfully, “you two would probably fit right in there.”

There were a number of discussions that followed Joshua Wander’s idea, an argument or  two over whether Jami or Randy or both would accompany Cathy and Carl into their new life, and more than a few tears when it was decided that both would return to DeWitt instead.  Then it was time for everyone to say their goodbyes.  Large portions of the mall had already vanished, presumably back to DeWitt, by the time Jamie, Randy and the two teachers walked away through the portal’s nexus point and disappeared. 

“You know, despite all the trouble it caused, I like this shopping mall,” Fayubi said. “I’m rather sorry to see it go.”

Cathma chuckled.  “Well, perhaps you and Mera can open your own little outlet mall.  But not tonight.  It’s been a long day, and Carli and I really need to get back to the Palace.  Will we ever see you again, Cathy?”

Cathy shrugged, but Fayubi said, “I’m pretty sure Cathy and Carl will make a return appearance here – but probably not for quite a while.  In my vision, they’re at least ten years older than they are now.”

“Really?  What else can you tell us?” Carl asked eagerly.

Fayubi shook his head.  “Nothing.  What little I’ve seen would not help you now.  But at least you know you will survive your adventures, for the next decade at the very least.”

This was not exactly encouraging, but Cathma reassured Cathy that Fayubi meant well.  There was one more round of goodbyes, and then the Mâvarinû were gone, leaving behind only Cathy, Carl and Joshua Wander.  Even the last of the mall had disappeared.

“Now what?” Carl said.

“I’ll take you in my castle,” Josh said.  “Ariel will be pleased to meet someone from her dad’s home town—I hope!”

Hand in hand, the twins followed Joshua Wander into the blue castle, now restored to its full size.  Joshua fiddled with what looked like a box of rocks, and said words that sounded like Lopartin, the vaguely Latinesque spell-tongue used in Mâvarin and Mâton.  Cathy was pretty sure she heard the name Ariel mentioned.  This time there was little sensation of movement, but in a few minutes the castle’s front hall was suddenly filled with a pleasant green light.  “Ah!  Here we are,” Josh said happily.  “Are you ready for your new lives?”

“I guess we have to be,” Carl said. He didn’t sound too upset about it, though.

Josh opened the castle’s front door into Technicolor sunshine – and an entirely new adventure.


The End

 

Welcome to Mâvarin

Messages from Mâvarin (BlogSpot: use sidebar to get to the individual installments).

This serial on AOL:

Part One    Part Two   Part Three   Part Four   Part Five  
Part Six   Part Seven   Part Eight   Part Nine   Part Ten  
Part Eleven   Part Twelve   Part Thirteen   Part Fourteen  
Part Fifteen   Part Sixteen   Part Seventeen   Part Eighteen 
Part Nineteen  Part Twenty   Part Twenty-One   Part Twenty-Two  
Part Twenty-Three   Part Twenty-Four   Part Twenty-Five   Part Twenty-Six  
Part Twenty-Seven   Part Twenty-Eight  
Part Twenty-Nine   Part Thirty   Part Thirty-One   Part Thirty-Two

Next week:  New Adventure!  Or something.

Fiction: Mall of Mâvarin, Part Thirty-Two

Sorry, Vince.  I barely even started this entry before 1 AM. 

The easiest way to catch up on past installments of this serial is on Messages from Mâvarin at http://mavarin.blogspot.com. However, all links in this entry are to AOL unless otherwise labeled.

Synopses to Parts One through Six can be found at the top of Part Seven. Synopses to Parts Eight through Thirteen can be found at the top of Part Fourteen. Synopses to Parts Fourteen through Eighteen are at the top of Part Nineteen.  Synopses to Parts Nineteen through Twenty-Five can be found at the top of Part Twenty-Six.  The installments themselves can be read in order on Blogspot using the sidebar, or on AOL from the links at the bottom of this entry.

Part Twenty-Six:  Cathma and Cathy wonder why they haven't lost consciousness with everyone else.

Part Twenty-Seven:  Cathy and Cathma belatedly collapse and faint, much as the others did.  They find themselves in a place without physical bodies, surrounded by a thousand versions of themselves.  The only person present who doesn't have their face is Joshua Wander.

Part Twenty-Eight:  Cathma is pretty sure they're in something called the subjective plane.  Joshua Wander is pretty sure he's meant to be their guide.  The other versions of Cathy and Cathma disappear, leaving just the two of them to work out the answer to Josh's question: which one of them will be the one to return home?

Part Twenty-Nine:  Joshua Wander explains that there is an imbalance in magic between the worlds, which can only be solved by someone relocating to the other person's world - permanently.  However, the explanation makes no sense, and Cathy doesn't believe it.

Part Thirty:  Cathy refuses to sacrifice her normal life on the basis of what she's hearing.  Angered by the lack of cooperation, "Joshua Wander" disappears, replaced by Cathma's self-proclaimed "oldest enemy" - Imuselti, former royal mage to a family of usurpers.

Part Thirty-One:  Based on her secondhand memories of who Imuselti is, Cathy realizes that the man in this no-place knows things that the real Imuselti would not know, such as who the Beatles were.  She begins to suspect that of all she sees and hears around her, "nothing is real," and nothing to get hung about.

Part Thirty-Two: Escape from Nowhere

“I don't want to get esoteric, but what do you mean by real?” Cathma asked.  “Do you mean he’s not Imuselti, or that he’s not a person, or that he’s not physically present, wherever this is?”

“I’m  not sure,” Cathy admitted.  “But I don’t think this is your subjective plane.  That’s supposed to be about truth.  This place seems to be about lies.”

“Well, I haven’t lied to you,” Cathma pouted.

“Haven’t you?”

“No. And I’m real, whatever you may think.”

“Maybe you are, and maybe you aren’t,” Cathy said.  “I’m not sure I really care at this point.  I just want out.”

“Fine. So do I.  How?”

Cathy turned to the male figure, who still looked like a smirking Imuselti.”  “Right.  How do we get out of here?”

“Oh, no,” said the man. “I’m not real, remember?  So how can I be expected to tell you anything useful?”

“You were full of advice, until I questioned what you said.  Whoever or whatever you are, I think you must have the information I need.  Now tell me!”

“Or what?  Is this where you shout that we’re nothing but a pack of cards?  What do you want from me, ruby slippers?”

“What is he talking about?” Cathma asked.

“He’s talking about the worst possible ending to any story,” Cathy said bitterly.  “And then she woke up, and it was all a dream.”

“Maybe it is a dream,” Cathma said.  “We did see the others go unconscious.”

“Maybe.  I just want back into the world.”

“Which world?  Yours or mine?”

“I’ll settle for either one to start with,” Cathy said.

“Okay.  Now we’re back to the question of how to do it.”

“If you give up, I’ll let you go,” the man said.  “Not home, but I will get you out of this place of nothing.”

“Give up what?” Cathy asked suspiciously.

“Your life in what you thought was the real world,” the man said.  “Agree to that in a blood oath, and you’ll be back in Mâvarin.”

“How do I know I can’t get out on my own?”

“Well, you’re certainly doing a good job of it so far,” the man said.

“And how can I trust you to do this?”

“If we sign a blood oath, we are bound by its terms,” the man said.  “That’s how it works.  And that’s true whether I’m real, as you put it, or not.”

Cathy turned to Cathma.  “What do you think?”

“I think a blood oath is a tricky thing, but effective,” Cathma said.  “The one Rani did probably saved my life.  Just read it over very carefully, if you do it at all.”

Cathy thought about this.  Ever since arriving in this non-place, she’d been trying to think of a way out.  But pinching, shouting, opening her eyes, a good scare, even waiting things out, as she’d threatened to do – none of these things were likely to get her anywhere.  And would it really be so bad, living in another world?  Cathma seemed to like the place.  It was more interesting than DeWitt, anyway. But still….

“I’m sorry, but that’s not a good enough inducement for signing my life away,” Cathy said. “I may yet wake up from this. Or something. And I want the others to be able to get home, even if I can’t. Can you promise that?”

“Everyone who wants to go home, will go home, except you,” the man said. Sometime in the last minute or two, he had reverted to looking like Joshua Wander. “And that’s a blood oath promise,” he added.

“Show me what I have to sign,” she said.

Ten minutes later, according to the watch on her recently-insubstantial wrist, Cathy opened her eyes again, this time for real.  She was at the table in the Mall in Mâvarin.  The cold-congealed remnant of a slice of pizza lay on a paper plate in front of her.  Around her, Carl and Carli, Uncle Jamie and the rest were just waking up.

“Thank you for doing this,” Cathma said.

 

Welcome to Mâvarin

Messages from Mâvarin (BlogSpot: use sidebar to get to the individual installments).

This serial on AOL:

Part One    Part Two   Part Three   Part Four   Part Five  
Part Six   Part Seven   Part Eight   Part Nine   Part Ten  
Part Eleven   Part Twelve   Part Thirteen   Part Fourteen  
Part Fifteen   Part Sixteen   Part Seventeen   Part Eighteen 
Part Nineteen  Part Twenty   Part Twenty-One   Part Twenty-Two  
Part Twenty-Three   Part Twenty-Four   Part Twenty-Five   Part Twenty-Six  
Part Twenty-Seven   Part Twenty-Eight  
Part Twenty-Nine   Part Thirty   Part Thirty-One   Part Thirty-Two

Fiction and Poetry, Already in Progress

 

Well, well,  well.  The VIVI nominees have been announced, and overall I'm very pleased.  Most of my favorite journals have been nominated in appropriate categories, and there are lots of other nominees that I look forward to checking out as well.  So far, I've been impressed with nearly everything I've seen.  Congratulations, everyone, on your well-deserved honors!

And yes, I'm also pleased for reasons of personal validation.  Musings from Mâvarin has received two nominations, both fiction related:

The second one is for the Joshua Wander serial:

Non-Mâvarin Fiction Entry: Meet Joshua Wander

Meet Joshua Wander
After a series of dangerous experiments and the death of his beloved professor, a physics student becomes unstable, in more ways than one!
Part One    Part Two   Part Three   Part Four   Part Five  
Part Six   Part Seven   Part Eight   Part Nine   Part Ten
Part Eleven   Part Twelve   Part Thirteen   Part Fourteen   Part Fifteen  
Part Sixteen   Part Seventeen   Part Eighteen   Part Nineteen 

I don't really expect to win, I'm telling myself, as an innoculation against disappointment later.   But if you've enjoyed Meet Joshua Wander or Mall of Mâvarin, my haiku or my other poetry, I'd really appreciate your vote!

For those of you who are just now sampling my wares, here's a handy link list to other fiction and poetry I've posted in the past year:

(Okay, this is fun.  Tonight, Google insists that I'm German!)

Mall of Mâvarin
My current serial is a non-canonical crossover story between Joshua Wander and the Mâvarin novels.  High school students from DeWitt, NY find themselves remembering their lives in another world. 
Part One    Part Two   Part Three   Part Four   Part Five  
Part Six   Part Seven   Part Eight   Part Nine   Part Ten  
Part Eleven   Part Twelve   Part Thirteen   Part Fourteen  
Part Fifteen   Part Sixteen   Part Seventeen   Part Eighteen 
Part Nineteen  Part Twenty   Part Twenty-One   Part Twenty-Two  
Part Twenty-Three   Part Twenty-Four   Part Twenty-Five   Part Twenty-Six  
Part Twenty-Seven   Part Twenty-Eight  
Part Twenty-Nine   Part Thirty   Part Thirty-One   Part Thirty-Two

Mâvarin Fiction Entries
These are first-person accounts (mostly letters and diary entries) from the characters in my Mâvarin novels.  I did them mostly as a writing exercise, to shed a little extra light on the events in the two novels.  (And yes, the other reason was to drum up interest in the books!) The ones listed below were posted in October, 2004:
A Londran Police Report
A Letter from Uncle Jamek
A Letter from Rithe Fost
From the Secret Diaries of Commander Wil Masan
A Letter from Fayubi 

Other Fiction:
Only one of the following is a formal short story.  The rest are oddball entries with fictional elements:
Seasonal Fiction: Snowflake
100 Things About Karen That Aren't True - and 10 That Are
The Frightful Beam of Light  / Day Tripper
Black Rose Kate, the Pirate Scribe!

Poetry and Songs:
There are more haiku here than I realized, plus a variety of other poetical pieces.
Almost Unassisted Poetry 
Here Lies Some Blocher
Christmas Haiku, Part One: At the Mall
Christmas Haiku #2 Retro Christmas
Meeting Nicholas Again for the First Time
My Low-Tech, Postage-Free Holiday Card to You All
Tuffy's Resolutions for 2005 - in Haiku!
Maybe I'll Post Something Cheerful Later Today
Radio!  Radio!  Right Now! 
Haiku Declaration
Haiku as Performance Art
My Teen-Aged Alienation Comes Back to Haunt You
That Unforgettable Trip
Today's Lunchtime Confection

 I was feeling a little guilty about only posting one fiction entry a week (usually), and poetry less often than that.  But it really adds up, doesn't it?  I do plan to step up the frequency of both for the next couple of weeks, but there will still be Weekend Assignments, photo shoots, and anything else I feel like posting.  Tonight, for example, I was going to write about the role of rhymes and errors in filling my head with junk from the past.  All things considered, though, I think I'll hold that entry for Sunday.  I'm determined to finally finish Mall of Mâvarin before the month is out, even if I have to say that "they woke up, and it was all a dream."  And I really hate that kind of cop-out ending!

Karen

VIVI Nominees:
VIVI Official Nominees, Part One
VIVI Official Nominees, Part Two
Submitted For Your Consideration...  (my suggestions, now moot, for nominating people)

********Later***********

I just finished checking out all the other nominees in these two categories, with the exception of one I've visited before.  (I'll be right there, Vince!)  They are as follows:

BEST FICTION/POETRY JOURNAL:
The Falling Apart - bjp555
Messages- jouell3935
Poetry Dance - auburndawn
Tidbits - octoberroots
TO GROW IS TO BE ANXIOUS - deabvt


BEST ENTRY OR SERIES OF ENTRIES:
"baby got back"
        Adventures in Juggling - nicurnmama
"Growing up Shelli (Part One)"
        Day in the life of Shelli D - dazeychic
"It's Just a Toaster..."
        In my opinion, and Yes I have an opinion on EVERYTHING - pixiedustnme
"Monday Makeover, Week #1"
        Simple yet satisfying - Annalisa135
"okay, so here's the deal"
        Random Ramblings... - xzasporated1
"Satan is a Manicurist"
        ChaseNKids - chasenkids
"The Wedding From Hell"
        Adventures of a desperately fat housewife - tillysweetchops

And mine, of course.

I've read some very good poetry in several places, true tales of comic misadventures that probably weren't much fun to live through, a proof of group generosity, heart-wrenching entries about an unimaginably horrendous childhood, and a reaction to an unexpected visual reminder of the death of a child.  Good stuff, all of it. (Well, there was one I stopped reading after a few paragraphs,  but I won't tell you which one.)  Go see for yourself!

But after you've read all this wonderful work by other people, I still want you to vote for mine.  Does that make me a bad person?   ;)

Karen

Fiction: Mall of Mâvarin, Part Thirty-One

Okay, so I cheated a little bit.  I still got this done earlier than usual.)

Tonight's installment is an interruption to my main project of the night, typing up several handwritten scenes into the 35th and final chapter of Mages of Mâvarin.  I've entered 5 1/2 pages so far, and I have at least nine pages of handwritten text still to do, not counting the part I skipped over.  (Guess I won't be finishing it tonight, Sara.  Sorry!)  Now I only have seven minutes to post - oops, six now - by my self-imposed deadline.  So if this thing goes out only one paragraph long, you'll know why.

The easiest way to catch up on past installments of this serial is on Messages from Mâvarin at http://mavarin.blogspot.com. Synopses to Parts One through Six can be found at the top of Part Seven. Synopses to Parts Eight through Thirteen can be found at the top of Part Fourteen. Synopses to Parts Fourteen through Eighteen are at the top of Part Nineteen.  Synopses to Parts Nineteen through Twenty-Five can be found at the top of Part Twenty-Six.  The installments themselves can be read in order on Blogspot using the sidebar.

Part Twenty-Six:  Cathma and Cathy wonder why they haven't lost consciousness with everyone else.

Part Twenty-Seven:  Cathy and Cathma belatedly collapse and faint, much as the others did.  They find themselves in a place without physical bodies, surrounded by a thousand versions of themselves.  The only person present who doesn't have their face is Joshua Wander.

Part Twenty-Eight:  Cathma is pretty sure they're in something called the subjective plane.  Joshua Wander is pretty sure he's meant to be their guide.  The other versions of Cathy and Cathma disappear, leaving just the two of them to work out the answer to Josh's question: which one of them will be the one to return home?

Part Twenty-Nine:  Joshua Wander explains that there is an imbalance in magic between the worlds, which can only be solved by someone relocating to the other person's world - permanently.  However, the explanation makes no sense, and Cathy doesn't believe it.

Part Thirty:  Cathy refuses to sacrifice her normal life on the basis of what she's hearing.  Angered by the lack of cooperation, "Joshua Wander" disappears, replaced by Cathma's self-proclaimed "oldest enemy" - Imuselti, former royal mage to a family of usurpers.

Part Thirty-One: Nobody Knows

Cathy looked through her second-hand memories for Imuselti.  He wasn’t hard to find.  The former (and deceased?) royal mage had been involved in pretty much everything bad that had ever happened to Cathma.

“Wait a minute, though,” Cathy said.  “This can’t really be Imuselti, can it?  Isn’t he dead?”

“Technically, yes,” Cathma said, “but only in my reality. He’s still alive elsewhere.”

“But this can’t be him, can it?” Cathy said.  “Whoever we were talking to before knew about the Beatles's music, and other stuff that Josh knows.  Would Imuselti know those things, especially one from Rani Lunder’s world?”

Cathma stared at her.  “You’re right,” she said.  “That doesn’t make sense.  So who is he?”

The man only smiled at them.

“I don’t know,” Cathy admitted.  “Maybe he isn’t real at all.”

 

Welcome to Mâvarin

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Fiction: Mall of Mâvarin, Part Thirty

Someday this story will end, and I will rejoice.  But I sure as heck don't know when or how.

The easiest way to catch up on past installments of this serial is on Messages from Mâvarin at http://mavarin.blogspot.com. Synopses to Parts One through Six can be found at the top of Part Seven. Synopses to Parts Eight through Thirteen can be found at the top of Part Fourteen. Synopses to Parts Fourteen through Eighteen are at the top of Part Nineteen.  Synopses to Parts Nineteen through Twenty-Five can be found at the top of Part Twenty-Six.  The installments themselves can be read in order on Blogspot using the sidebar.

Part Twenty-Six:  Cathma and Cathy wonder why they haven't lost consciousness with everyone else.

Part Twenty-Seven:  Cathy and Cathma belatedly collapse and faint, much as the others did.  They find themselves in a place without physical bodies, surrounded by a thousand versions of themselves.  The only person present who doesn't have their face is Joshua Wander.

Part Twenty-Eight:  Cathma is pretty sure they're in something called the subjective plane.  Joshua Wander is pretty sure he's meant to be their guide.  The other versions of Cathy and Cathma disappear, leaving just the two of them to work out the answer to Josh's question: which one of them will be the one to return home?

Part Twenty-Nine:  Joshua Wander explains that there is an imbalance in magic between the worlds, which can only be solved by someone relocating to the other person's world - permanently.  However, the explanation makes no sense, and Cathy doesn't believe it.

Part Thirty: Who Are You?

“Well, I reject the whole premise,” said Cathy.  “The fate of two worlds can’t possibly depend on whether or not I relocate to Mâvarin.  For all I know, I may just be dreaming.  Or you could just be lying.”

“Besides, it’s generally agreed that two versions of the same person shouldn’t spend too much time together,” Cathma said. “Who was the other mage who told you all this?”

“I didn’t catch his name,” said Joshua Wander.  “But he seemed to know what he was talking about.”

“Did Li know him?” Cathma asked.

Josh shook his head.  “I don’t think so.”

“Well, I’m not going to trust some stranger to tell me what to do with the rest of my life,” Cathy said.

“What is your alternative?” Josh asked.  “How do you expect to get out of here, without doing what you’ve been brought here to do?”

The man had a point.  It was all very well to stand firm and refuse to be pushed around by, well, whoever or whatever was trying to do this to her.  It was quite another to actually get home.

“I’m going to sit here and wait until the scenery changes,” Cathy said.

“Aren’t you being a little selfish?” Cathma asked.  “You may be trapping me in here with you, possibly forever.”

“I don’t care.  That explanation makes no sense, and I refuse to be persuaded by it.”

“I guess that’s it, then,” said Cathma.  “Sorry, Josh.  If you can get us out of here, you should, because there’s nothing more to be accomplished in this non-place.”

“You people are so stubborn!” said Josh disgustedly.  “Aren’t there any worlds in which you do as you’re told?”

“What are you talking about?” Cathma asked.  Then her eyes narrowed, and she stared at Joshua Wander—if it was Joshua Wander.  There was a look of malice in his eyes that did not go with the easygoing itinerant mage Cathy had met earlier in the day.  “Who are you, really?” Cathma asked.

“Why, I’m your oldest enemy, my dear,” said the man.  The figure of Joshua Wander faded away.  Another man took his place, an elderly, white-haired man with piercing blue eyes.

“Imuselti.  I should have guessed it was you,” said Cathma.

 

Welcome to Mâvarin

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Fiction: Mall of Mâvarin, Part Twenty-Nine

This is going to be a relatively short one.  Sorry.  I've been distracted all day and all night with sleeping in, comment spam, the Vivi Awards, a little shopping, a little laundry, My Favorite Year (with and without commentary) and Buffy Season Six, more or less in that order. 

The easiest way to catch up on past installments of this serial is on Messages from Mâvarin at http://mavarin.blogspot.com. Synopses to Parts One through Six can be found at the top of Part Seven. Synopses to Parts Eight through Thirteen can be found at the top of Part Fourteen. Synopses to Parts Fourteen through Eighteen are at the top of Part Nineteen.  Synopses to Parts Nineteen through Twenty-Five can be found at the top of Part Twenty-Six.  The installments themselves can be read in order on Blogspot using the sidebar.

Part Twenty-Six:  Cathma and Cathy wonder why they haven't lost consciousness with everyone else.

Part Twenty-Seven:  Cathy and Cathma belatedly collapse and faint, much as the others did.  They find themselves in a place without physical bodies, surrounded by a thousand versions of themselves.  The only person present who doesn't have their face is Joshua Wander.

Part Twenty-Eight:  Cathma is pretty sure they're in something called the subjective plane.  Joshua Wander is pretty sure he's meant to be their guide.  The other versions of Cathy and Cathma disappear, leaving just the two of them to work out the answer to Josh's question: which one of them will be the one to return home?

Part Twenty-Nine: Give It Up

“What are you talking about?” Cathy said.  “Why wouldn’t I be able to go home, assuming Li and Lee get the spell working properly?”

“And I’m already home,” Cathma added.  “The Palace is only a twenty minute walk away.” Looking around in the dark nothingness, she faltered a little.  “At least it was until a moment ago.”

“Oh, it still is, relative to your real body,” Joshua Wander assured her.  “And I grant you, this will be easier if Cathy is the one who gives up her world.”

“I should think so,” Cathma said.  “She’s not home already, and she doesn’t have a country to run.”  She looked at Cathy apologetically.  “Sorry, but you don’t.”

“Et tu, Cathma?” Cathy said, a little bitterly.  “I don’t believe this.  Why shouldn’t I go home?  I’m nobody very important at home, but I do have family and friends, and plans and dreams and all that stuff.  Why should I be asked to give that up?  Why should anyone be asked to do it?  Everyone should go home.”

“Maybe so,” said Josh, “but just before I appeared here, I was talking to Li and some other mage who arrived to help.  This other guy told us that the problem is one of balance.  Dewitt has already absorbed too much magic to be put right easily, and everyone who has been to Mâvarin has already absorbed magic into themselves.  That’s how Lee and Fabian managed to do spells.  The world you come from can’t take everyone back without further damage.”

“But why should I be left behind?  Why not one of the people who have actually done magic?  I’m as normal as Cathma, if not more so.  How can my arrival back home hurt anything?”

“Alternatively, how would my giving up Mâvarin help the spell?” Cathma asked.  “We already have lots of magic here, and when it comes to magic I’m as normal as it gets.”

“Mâvarin actually needs more magic overall to mend the breech,” Josh said.  “The amount involved is small but critical.  If Cathy doesn’t stay, then you need to go, to make room for someone with slightly more magic than yourself.”

“I’m sorry, but I don’t believe you,” Cathma said. “That makes no sense at all.  And even if it did, why would the spell depend on the two of us?  Why not you, or Rani and Randy, or even Jami and Jamie?”

“I’m not sure, but I think the others are being offered similar choices,” Joshua Wander said.  “When someone agrees to do this, the spell can proceed.”

“So maybe I can go home, and Cathma doesn’t have to give up anything.” Cathy said.

“Don’t count on it,” said Joshua Wander.

 

Welcome to Mâvarin

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Fiction: Mall of Mâvarin, Part Twenty-Eight

All week I've been trying to figure out what was going to happen in this installment of Mall of Mâvarin.  Then tonight, Josh, Cathy and Cathma pretty much wrote it themselves.  I love it when that happens, as long as they don't just talk things to death.  My characters do that, sometimes.  In this serial, they do that a lot.

The easiest way to catch up on past installments of this serial is on Messages from Mâvarin at http://mavarin.blogspot.com. Synopses to Parts One through Six can be found at the top of Part Seven. Synopses to Parts Eight through Thirteen can be found at the top of Part Fourteen. Synopses to Parts Fourteen through Eighteen are at the top of Part Nineteen.  Synopses to Parts Nineteen through Twenty-Five can be found at the top of Part Twenty-Six.  The installments themselves can be read in order on Blogspot using the sidebar.

Part Twenty-Six:  Cathma and Cathy wonder why they haven't lost consciousness with everyone else.

Part Twenty-Seven:  Cathy and Cathma belatedly collapse and faint, much as the others did.  They find themselves in a place without physical bodies, surrounded by a thousand versions of themselves.  The only person present who doesn't have their face is Joshua Wander.

Part Twenty-Eight: Two of Us

“What are you doing here?” Cathy asked.

Joshua Wander shrugged.  “I’m not so sure I am here,” he said.  “I don’t even know where ‘here’ is.”

 “The subjective plane,” Cathma said.

Josh looked at her blankly.  “The what?”

“The subjective plane,” Cathma repeated.  “It’s sort of a way station of the Infinite, where spirits commune without regard for physical distance.  Fayubi’s friend Harisi sends people here all the time.”  Cathma looked around.  “I’m not sure how we all got here, though.”

“It must have something to do with that messed up portal between worlds,” Cathy suggested.  “Something Li and Lee did resulted in our being sent here.  Or was this was your fault?” she asked Josh.

“I don’t know,” Josh said.  “Possibly.”

“But that doesn’t explain why the others aren’t here,” Cathma objected.  “Where are Carli and Carl and the rest?”

“And how did are all these other Cathys and Cathmas get here?” Cathy added.

“They’re leaving,” Josh said.

It was true.  The thousand or more people with Cathy’s face faded away, leaving just Cathy, Cathma and Josh in the darkened void.

“That’s better,” said Josh.  “You both seem like decent, reasonable people, but two of you is plenty for any one place, time and universe.”

It was almost an insult, but Cathy privately agreed.  At least now she didn’t feel quite so overwhelmed.  She’d been carrying on for quite some time now as if she weren’t tired and scared and confused, but she was really all of those things.  Being able to deal with just two other people in this bizarre situation, instead of a hundred or so (at the mall) or a thousand or so (in this strange non-place) helped a lot.

“Fine,” said Cathma.  “I had nothing to say to all those other Cathmas and Cathys and Crels anyway. But the question remains: why are the three of us here?  And why are we still here?”

“I have a theory about that,” Josh said, “but I don’t think you’re going to like it.”

“It’s hard to know whether that’s true, until you tell us what it is,” Cathma said.

“I think I’m here as sort of your spirit guide,” Josh said.  “Like Coyote in the Native American legends.”  He shrugged again.  “Or maybe like Marley’s ghost.”

“Why do you think that?” Cathy asked. “Why would we need a guide?  You don’tseem to know much more than we do about all this.”

Joshua Wander grimaced. “I know about some things,” he said.  “In fact I have a bunch of ideas that weren’t there until just a few moments ago.  Now my head is filled with things to say.”  He hummed for a moment, something Cathy vaguely recognized as a Beatles song.  “Sorry,” he said.  “I really wanted those Beatles records.”

“You didn’t answer Cathy’s other question,” Cathma said.  “What do we need a guide for?  Can you get us out of here?  Can you get us both home where we belong?”

Josh shook his head. “Not both of you,” he said.

Cathy was suddenly more frightened than she’d been all day.  “What do you mean?”

“You two have a decision to make,” Josh said apologetically.  “Only one of you gets to go home.  You have to choose which one.”

 

Welcome to Mâvarin

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Fiction: Mall of Mâvarin, Part Twenty-Seven

I think I'm finally on the home stretch here, or at least back on track.

The easiest way to catch up on past installments of this serial is on Messages from Mâvarin at http://mavarin.blogspot.com. Synopses to Parts One through Six can be found at the top of Part Seven. Synopses to Parts Eight through Thirteen can be found at the top of Part Fourteen. Synopses to Parts Fourteen through Eighteen are at the top of Part Nineteen.  Synopses to Parts Nineteen through Twenty-Five can be found at the top of Part Twenty-Six.  The installments themselves can be read in order on Blogspot using the sidebar.

Part Twenty-Six:  Cathma and Cathy wonder why they haven't lost consciousness with everyone else.

Part Twenty-Seven: It's All About Me

Cathy tried to get to her feet, but a sudden wave of dizziness pushed her back into her chair.  Her eyes closed involuntarily, and when she tried to open them again she found she could not do it.  Nothing about her body would obey her.  She was no longer sure she was in her body at all.

For a moment she was surrounded by darkness and silence, but then a dim gray light grew all around her, accompanied by the murmur of an uncountable number of voices.  Many of the voices sounded familiar, but there were so many of them, all sounding at once, that Cathy could not distinguish individual words in the hubbub. All of the voices were female – except one.  Cathy tried to focus on the one voice that was different, but it was barely audible amid the others.

“Will everyone please shut up for a moment?” she cried out.  She had no idea how she had managed to say anything, when she could not feel her own mouth or lungs or throat.  She hadn’t intended to speak at all.  Her voice rose above the others, and then faded away.  It sounded no different from any of the other female voices she had been hearing.

The other voices subsided.  “That’s telling them,” the male voice said.

But it was hopeless.  The female voices rose again, a thousand versions of her own voice, she realized now, all sounding frightened or annoyed or downright angry.

The gray light resolved itself as Cathy’s bodiless vision sharpened.  Shapes and colors emerged, gradually becoming distinct and recognizable.  She was surrounded by teenaged girls, most of them blonde, all with her face, or a close variation thereof.  They sat in a bewildering variety of chairs, or lay on beds.  One of them was on a vinyl raft in a night-darkened swimming pool.  Real eyes could not have processed what she saw now, a thousand Cathys or more, all in their own tiny room-sized environments, all so close she felt she could touch them, if she had a hand to touch them with.  She directed her inexplicable gaze downward, and saw her own arms and legs and body.  They did not look quite real or solid, but it reassured her a little to see them at all.

Through all of this, the thousand variant Cathys gradually quieted, and began to stare at each other instead.

Yet another girl appeared.  Cathy was pretty sure it was Cathma.  She was dressed exactly the same as the Cathma she had met at the mall, right down to the pizza napkin that still clung to her collar.  “Merciful Mâshela!” she said.  “What now?”  She looked directly at Cathy, as if recognizing her specifically.

“I’ve no idea,” Cathy replied.  Several other Cathys, scattered about, echoed her words, or said something similar.  “But somewhere around here, there’s at least one person who isn’t a version of us.”

“Uh, that would be me,” said the male voice.  It came from off to the left.

Cathy turned her noncorporeal head.  Joshua Wander sat cross-legged nearby, on what looked like an Andy Warhol-inspired rug depicting Marylyn Monroe.

“Sorry about this,” said Josh.

 

Welcome to Mâvarin

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Fiction: Mall of Mâvarin, Part Twenty-Six

I'm getting a complex over this darn story.  Having watched episodes of House all afternoon and evening, I see that there are things other writers know how to do - characters manipulating each other, for example, or the unraveling of a mystery - that I don't know how to do.  All I can do is tickle the part of my brain that speaks for Cathy and Rani and JW, and hope one of them knows how this story turns out. I sure don't.

The easiest way to catch up on past installments of this serial is on Messages from Mâvarin at http://mavarin.blogspot.com. Synopses to Parts One through Six can be found at the top of Part Seven. Synopses to Parts Eight through Thirteen can be found at the top of Part Fourteen. Synopses to Parts Fourteen through Eighteen are at the top of Part Nineteen.  The installments themselves can be read in order on Blogspot using the sidebar.

Part Nineteen:  Li Ramet, Lee Ramirez and Joshua Wander go off to try to reverse the effects of Li's modified portal spell, which, along with the appearance of Josh's magic castle, apparently caused all the trouble.  Meanwhile, Rani and Randy announce they have successfully returned their own minds and spirits to the right bodies.  Rani sets out to try to help Carl and Carli do the same.  Despite being only a bookish high school student in a strange and magical land, Randy Foster thinks he has acquired sufficient magic and knowledge to sort out Cathma and Cathy as well.  They sit down together to let him try.

Part Twenty: In mindtouch with Randy, the girl who thinks of herself as Cathma is told that she is really Cathy after all. According to Randy, Li's spell is more an accidental "mindpush" (magical brainwashing) than an actual transfer mind and spirit.  Randy takes Cathy on a whirlwind tour through the memories of her own life, until she feels like herself again rather than the Queen of Mâvarin.  At the same time, Randy helps the real Queen Cathma to reclaim her own identity.  The process leaves Randy exhausted—and there are still dozens of people from Dewitt and Mâvarin who need similar help.

Part Twenty-One: Since Rani and Randy are too tired to do mind magic with anyone else for the moment, Cathy suggests going back to "Plan A"--seeing that Li, Lee and Josh successfully reverse Li's spell, getting everyone home both mentally and physically.  Although leaving the castle once again floods Cathy's mind with Cathma's memories, this time it does not overwhelm her sense of who she is.  Shoppingtown Mall now looks intact again, albeit in Mâvarin instead of Dewitt.  Li and Lee are proud of this accomplisment, Josh less so.  Cathy points out that the point is to get the mall and the people back where they belong, not to reassemble the building in the wrong world.

Part Twenty-Two: Li and Lee propose to leave Shoppingtown in Mâvarin, at least temporarily, until the people are restored.  When Cathy and Cathma press them on how that part of the problem is coming along, they say that the people who actually traveled with the mall (as opposed to safely in the castle) are "feeling much better now."  They have mindpushed these people from a state of emotional shock to one of relative normalcy.  The mall employees have even started selling their goods and services to customers--including curious Mâvarinû, who have started coming in from outside.

Part Twenty-Three: Li and his counterpart have convinced the mall personnel to accept Mâvarin coins, on the theory that they will be valuable in the other world for their gold and silver content and as collectible rarities.  They've even worked outan exchange rate with the J.C. Penney manager:  Ruthie Foster, Randy's mom.  Randy rushes off to see her.  Joshua Wander and Fayubi (who still doesn't know he's really Fabian Stockwell) both express an interest in goingshopping at the mall,on the theory that they may never have another opportunity to buy 21st century goods from a high-tech society.   Before they go off to do that, however, Rani announces that all these stranded people, aside from the two sets or twins, aren't who they think they are.

Part Twenty-Four:  Rani explains to the others that despite all previous suppositions to the contrary, nobody is in anyone else's body after all.  Although the Mâvarinû remember bits of the Americans' lives, and even identify with them, they remain themselves in reality, body, mind, and spirit.  He offers to help Li and Lee to feel like themselves again, promising that while in Mâvarin, Lee will still be able to do magic.  Afterward, they will need to solve the problem of getting the Americans--and Shoppington Mall--back to DeWitt, New York.  Meanwhile, the others decide to go shopping anyway.

Part Twenty-Five:  Fayubi and Fabian go to a men's clothing store, accompanied by the four twins, Jamie and Jami.  Over the next few hours, the eight of them buy clothes, discuss brand consciousness, and eat pizza--until they all suddenly pass out, with the exception of Cathy and Cathma.

Part Twenty-Six: Why Them and Not Us?

Cathma frowned.  “What just happened?”

This hardly seemed like a fair question.  “You’re asking me?” Cathy protested.  “You’re the one from a world where magical things happen.  In my world, the only way something like this would happened would be if they were all drugged or poisoned or something.  Even then, it’s much more likely on TV or in a book than it is in the real world.”

“They couldn’t really have been poisoned, though, could they?” Cathma asked.  She seemed very nervous and upset, much more than Cathy was.  “We all shared the same pizza, and anyway, who would want to hurt them and not me?”

Cathy realized belatedly that Cathma’s brother had been poisoned the year before. She reached out to lay a reassuring hand on the young queen’s arm.  “I’m sure it’s not poison.  As you say, it doesn’t make sense.  It’s more likely to be something that Li and Lee are doing.”

“Then why did it affect the others, and not us?” Cathma asked.

“Because we’re already ourselves, maybe?” Cathy guessed.

Cathma pointed at her brother.  “So were Carli and Carl.”

“Because we’re female?”

“What has that to do with anything?”

“I don’t know!” Cathy practically shouted.  “I don’t know anything about this stuff!  It’s your world, not mine!”

“Well, don’t get mad at me!” Cathma said.  “I didn’t do any of this.”

Cathy forced herself to calm down.  “I’m sorry.  I know it’s not your fault.  But do you have any idea at all what happened to the guys?  Are they all right?”

Cathma reached out to touch her brother’s chest.  “Well, he’s breathing, anyway.”

Cathy examined her own brother.  “You’re right.  It’s as if Carl’s just asleep.  What about the others?”

They checked on Fabian and Fayubi, Jamie and Jami.  They all seemed to be sleeping, but in no distress.  Their breathing was normal, and their hearts beat steadily.

“Maybe the reversing spell Li was going to work on knocked them out somehow,” Cathma suggested.

“Maybe,” Cathy agreed.  “But why Carl and Carli, and not us?  And what about the other people here?”  She looked around.  People at the other tables – male and female, Mâvarinû and Americans – were also slumped in their chairs.

Cathma was looking around too.  “Looks like we’re the only ones still conscious.  What are we going to do about it?”

“Well, unless you want to take a nap, there’s only one thing we can do,” Cathy said.

Cathma looked at her and nodded.  “You think we should go find Li and Lee.”

“Well, don’t you?”

Queen Cathma stood up.  “Yes. Let’s go.”

Welcome to Mâvarin

Messages from Mâvarin (use sidebar to get to the individual installments)

Fiction: Mall of Mâvarin, Part Twenty-Five

I'm in the middle of a very busy weekend, so my online presence will be minimal for the next few days. But well, I told you I was obsessive about this journal!  So here's a minimal installment of Mall of Mâvarin to tide us over until next weekend.

The easiest way to catch up on past installments of this serial is on Messages from Mâvarin at http://mavarin.blogspot.com. Synopses to Parts One through Six can be found at the top of Part Seven. Synopses to Parts Eight through Thirteen can be found at the top of Part Fourteen. Synopses to Parts Fourteen through Eighteen are at the top of Part Nineteen.  The installments themselves can be read in order on Blogspot using the sidebar.

Part Nineteen:  Li Ramet, Lee Ramirez and Joshua Wander go off to try to reverse the effects of Li's modified portal spell, which, along with the appearance of Josh's magic castle, apparently caused all the trouble.  Meanwhile, Rani and Randy announce they have successfully returned their own minds and spirits to the right bodies.  Rani sets out to try to help Carl and Carli do the same.  Despite being only a bookish high school student in a strange and magical land, Randy Foster thinks he has acquired sufficient magic and knowledge to sort out Cathma and Cathy as well.  They sit down together to let him try.

Part Twenty: In mindtouch with Randy, the girl who thinks of herself as Cathma is told that she is really Cathy after all. According to Randy, Li's spell is more an accidental "mindpush" (magical brainwashing) than an actual transfer mind and spirit.  Randy takes Cathy on a whirlwind tour through the memories of her own life, until she feels like herself again rather than the Queen of Mâvarin.  At the same time, Randy helps the real Queen Cathma to reclaim her own identity.  The process leaves Randy exhausted—and there are still dozens of people from Dewitt and Mâvarin who need similar help.

Part Twenty-One: Since Rani and Randy are too tired to do mind magic with anyone else for the moment, Cathy suggests going back to "Plan A"--seeing that Li, Lee and Josh successfully reverse Li's spell, getting everyone home both mentally and physically.  Although leaving the castle once again floods Cathy's mind with Cathma's memories, this time it does not overwhelm her sense of who she is.  Shoppingtown Mall now looks intact again, albeit in Mâvarin instead of Dewitt.  Li and Lee are proud of this accomplisment, Josh less so.  Cathy points out that the point is to get the mall and the people back where they belong, not to reassemble the building in the wrong world.

Part Twenty-Two: Li and Lee propose to leave Shoppingtown in Mâvarin, at least temporarily, until the people are restored.  When Cathy and Cathma press them on how that part of the problem is coming along, they say that the people who actually traveled with the mall (as opposed to safely in the castle) are "feeling much better now."  They have mindpushed these people from a state of emotional shock to one of relative normalcy.  The mall employees have even started selling their goods and services to customers--including curious Mâvarinû, who have started coming in from outside.

Part Twenty-Three: Li and his counterpart have convinced the mall personnel to accept Mâvarin coins, on the theory that they will be valuable in the other world for their gold and silver content and as collectible rarities.  They've even worked outan exchange rate with the J.C. Penney manager:  Ruthie Foster, Randy's mom.  Randy rushes off to see her.  Joshua Wander and Fayubi (who still doesn't know he's really Fabian Stockwell) both express an interest in goingshopping at the mall,on the theory that they may never have another opportunity to buy 21st century goods from a high-tech society.   Before they go off to do that, however, Rani announces that all these stranded people, aside from the two sets or twins, aren't who they think they are.

Part Twenty-Four:  Rani explains to the others that despite all previous suppositions to the contrary, nobody is in anyone else's body after all.  Although the Mâvarinû remember bits of the Americans' lives, and even identify with them, they remain themselves in reality, body, mind, and spirit.  He offers to help Li and Lee to feel like themselves again, promising that while in Mâvarin, Lee will still be able to do magic.  Afterward, they will need to solve the problem of getting the Americans--and Shoppington Mall--back to DeWitt, New York.  Meanwhile, the others decide to go shopping anyway.

Part Twenty-Five: Shop 'Til You Drop

Fabian Stockwell shook his head.  “You know, this is still very strange for me.  I feel sure that I should know who Tommy Hilfiger is, but I really don’t.  Does he work in this marketplace?”

Fayubi chuckled.  “No, he doesn’t.  And it’s called a mall, remember?”

“Oh.  Right.  So if this Tommy person isn’t in the mall, then why did you ask how I felt about him?”

“Not him,” Carl said.  “It.  Or them, maybe.”

Fabian turned his puzzled frown on Carl, and then on Fayubi. Then he turned to Cathy.  “Can you tell me what they’re talking about?”

“Tommy is a brand name,” Cathy explained.

“Okay.  What’s a brand name?”

Hmm.  This wasn’t going to be easy to explain. Under normal circumstances Fabian Stockwell would have known as much about branding as she did, and probably more.  He’d even talked about brand consciousness in his psych class.  But for now, with Fayubi’s memories overshadowing his own, he seemed completely unfamiliar with the concept.  “Look, let’s just go into the Bon Ton, and I’ll show you what they’re talking about,” she said. 

So that’s what they did.  “A brand name,” Fayubi explained, sounding very much like Mr. Stockwell on a normal school day, “is a means of labeling or identifying a particular piece of merchandise, or more likely a series of related products, using a particular name that the potential buyer is expected to remember when making purchasing decisions.  Once a consumer associates that name with positive expectations about the related merchandise, brand loyalty is established.”

“Right,” Cathy said.  “Imagine that you’re really good at making pants.”

“Or shirts,” Carl put in.  “Really nice shirts that everyone likes.”

They had arrived at Bon Ton.  Carl led the way in.  Cathy and the others followed.  Fabian stared at the shirts as they went by—Ralph Lauren, mostly.  “Okay, shirts, then,” Cathy said. “And you put your name on all your shirts, just inside the collar.  After a while, people who like your shirts will look for shirts with your name on this, and choose them over other shirts.”

“Over here.  Look,” Carl said.  He led the way for a rack of Tommy sports shirts.  “See?  There’s the Tommy label.”

“So this Tommy person makes shirts?” Fabian asked.  He picked up a long-sleeved shirt with red and blue stripes, and stared at it dubiously. 

“He designs the shirts,” Fayubi said, “and his company makes them.  What do you think?  Will I enjoy having something like this when I’m fully myself again?”

“Well, it’s certainly a curiosity,” Fabian said.  “Maybe we can get just one shirt, as a tangible reminder of this day.”

Three shirts (two for Fayubi, one for Jami), a jacket, four pairs of jeans (one each for Jami and Carli, two for Fayubi), and two necklaces (identical ones for Cathma and Cathy) later, the four twins and their mentors had pushed together several tables and were eating pizza together.  The Americans-turned-Mâvarinû all seemed to enjoy this at first, but before they finished their slices, Jamie and Fabian started behaving as if they were suddenly very nervous.  Their movements became quick and jerky, and they blinked rapidly as they downed the last of their mushrooms and pepperoni.  Cathy glanced at Jami and Fayubi, and was startled to discover that they were behaving the same way.

“Are you four all right?” King Carli asked.

“Fine, fine,” said Jami and Jamie together.

“No, we’re not,” said Fayubi.

“Something’s happening,” said Fabian.

“I think…” Fayubi began, but he never finished the sentence.  He slumped over suddenly, apparently unconscious.  So did Fabian, Jami and Jamie.  Carli and Carl followed suit a moment later.  Cathy and Cathma were left staring at each other, across a double table full of sleeping men.

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