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Well, I thought I'd write about something else for a while, than me. This "story segment" that Amber wrote really didn't capture much, and kind of missed the entire bleakness that I faced without any friends near-by. Amber and I really hit it off, when I wasn't with my hawk or doing homework, we spent time together after school, talking about what the city was like or what it was like to be a girl scout.  Made me look forward to that.

Anyway, Parakyle decided that he was going to remake Tindalasse, kind of a "dwarven eye for the elvish guy" (ok, it was a bad joke, but we liked it) and Indigo and Wolfie thought it would be a great way to make use of the extra silk we had and to redeem the favor we were owed. Wolfie said it was the sort of thing that if we didn't collect on it, it wouldn't get honored later and that would lead to bad feelings.

So, Indigo, Wolfie, Parakyle and Marie grabbed Tindalasse and took him through the gate to meet the weavers while Amber and I did homework and dealt with tutors.

Not that they hadn't had to make up classes, but Indigo had it easy (she is taking Greek -- how unfair is that!?) and Parakyle is still ahead of his professors (though he gets to do research with them, it means that as he takes classes and fills in differences between his background and theirs. He finds it easier than he should).  Wolfie's classes all worked out easy substitutions for him (it was just as much work for the professors to handle this as it was going to be for him). Must be nice having teachers who listen when an Elvish king drops by and asks for a favor.

The first part went well enough. There was silk to spare (though you should see the outfit that Indigo ended up with -- I'll have to write about that and how it led to a kiss), and lots of special things and Parakyle was there with some magic gifts.

Before you knew it, Tindalasse was wearing a king's ransom, so to speak, armor to make the fair shidhe of France jealous. But, of course, there was a catch. The end result was beyond the weaver's ability. They could do the inlays that allow one to embroider a sea silk shirt. They could work with dwarven magic to allow the dragonsnake wire to be worked into it, and dragon scale as well (as long as Parakyle held the names). But to bring the magic home in a way that would last, they couldn't do that.

Not that they would not have liked to have the secret, but they just couldn't weave it. But ... Parakyle had an idea. (You know, I suspect that boy knew this was going to happen). He had the scent of a star path to Starbrought Lightning, a lost star of the Sidhe. That shrine had the key to holding and sealing the lightning power that Tindalasse uses to his armor and making it all come together.

Just the "simple" matter of treading the path.

Which, as you might have guessed from the picture, is what they did, bringing home the shrine for the Bitter King's inner keep of his castle -- now he has a star warded inner keep and a deep source of power for his paladins, to go with their weapons -- and the snow dwarves are all claiming credit for it, making the King look stronger (after all, they wrought this great gift for him) and them look better too (after all, they were able to have wrought this great gift).

I'm going to tell that story some time, since it managed to turn what looked like a visit to the tailor into a harrowing life or death passage through a failed star path to a lost star, that they rekindled, but since I wasn't invited, I'm not going to tell the story now.

The little girl had been having trouble finding a good friend.  Her best friend had moved, she had to go since her dad had been transferred by his job, and the little girl had spent a lot of time with her hawk.  But, girl scouts were getting going again and she had been having a lot of fun hanging out after school with "J.R." (short for "Jane Roe"  -- they had all been told she was a refugee without a real name).  J.R. seemed to spend a lot of time as a babysitter with the people where she lived, and didn't have any other friends.  She was a natural to invite to join girl scouts when they started up again.

I've got to admit that I was really looking forward to doing more with Amber after I met her.  She seemed like just the person to be my partner with camping. Boy, was that a surprise. Almost as much a surprise as when she went out with Parakyle and I ended up with Tindalasse on a double date. Makes a girl wonder what is going to happen next when something like that comes up. 

But who would have expected the things that happened when they had the yearly camping trip ...

Camping Surprise

Anyway, guess I need to get back to what is happening here. 

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