Clare-Dragonfly

Title: Cold Date
Word count: 1,208
Rating: PG-13
Prompt: aldersprig's: Creepy: as per Lion, Witch, Wardrobe, being turned into a statue
Notes: Apparently the secondary theme of this Garden of Prose is "meeting faerie lovers at Chatoyant College in the winter with disastrous consequences," though I suppose if I hadn't already established that Vertiline meets Marlin in the winter I would have done this one differently. This felt a bit like cheating because I have already established the presence of people turned into statues at Chatoyant College, but I hadn't written this part of the story before!

This is a direct sequel to Fire, Earth, and Water, a bonus story that shows more of the magical system used at Chatoyant College.


Vertiline swung on her cloak and walked out into the cold air. She shivered instantly, despite the warmth of her fur-lined cloak. It must have been too cold for snow—the sky was full of glittering stars, and other than that, it was deeply dark. The moon was either dark or not up. She wished she’d borrowed a candle from Professor Lal to light her way, but before she could change her mind and go back in, her date appeared.( Read more... )

Title: Lady Margareta's Faucet
Word count: 410
Rating: G
Prompt: pippin's: when the fortune teller's pump stops
Notes: I have no idea whether Lady Margareta is a real fortune teller or not.


“Come one, come all!” cried the woman in the hundreds of multi-colored scarves. They even covered part of her face. Ryan couldn’t even tell how old she was. “Lady Margareta can see all, will tell all, so you will know all!”

Ryan turned to Jose and grinned. “Should I?”

Jose laughed and slapped him on the shoulder, pushing him forward. “Absolutely, dude. Go for it.”( Read more... )

Title: Seeking Shelter
Word count: 303 (total: 3,210)
Rating: PG-13
Prompt: smeddley's: The storm's path
Notes: Hey, look! I wrote a Wasteland story with an actual sorceress in it! Considering how important a part magic is to my conception of this world, I haven't done much with it.

This got a lot creepier than I expected as I continued it...


The trees were whipping around them. The wind was coming faster and faster. Piri knew she had to get her family—her friends, but her family of choice—to safety. But which way? Where was safety? She wanted to climb a tree, but it wasn’t safe. The children were all crying. Her friends were trying to calm them down, but not having much luck.( Read more... )

Title: Through the Snow
Word count: 419 (incomplete total: 610)
Rating: G
Prompt: aldersprig's: Shoveling a path to the world.
Notes: This takes place two or three years after Harvest Day, and further into the winter.


Mama was sick. She said she wasn’t, but Tarnik knew better than that. Her belly and her feet were all swollen up, and she didn’t want to get out of bed. She kept making Papa bring her cups of tea and bowls of soup. Tarnik remembered how Papa had brought him lots of tea (even though he didn’t like tea) and soup the last time he had a cold.( Read more... )

Title: East
Word count: 305 (total: 705)
Rating: G
Prompt: kayim's: Crossroads
Notes: I ended this at what felt like a natural point (er, not that you can tell) but Sirna and Ayol's story is definitely not over, so I hope I'll write a sequel to it at some point. I hope nothing horrible happens to them.


It was hot. And Sirna was exhausted, even though she’d only woken up two hours ago. They weren’t sleeping well, because there was nowhere to sleep. And she couldn’t sleep too soundly, because she had to take care of her little sister, and there was no one else to help with that. There was only them.( Read more... )

Title: Air Traffic
Word count: 425
Rating: PG-13 for language
Prompt: anke's: paths in the sky; also inspired by this ballet performance prompt
Notes: I have absolutely no idea where this is going, if anywhere--but I like Captain Agnes!


There was an air barge coming right at them. Captain Agnes Leach hauled hard on the controls and pulled her own airship out of the way. The barge swept past them, without even any kind of acknowledgement. “Fucking asshole!” she shouted after him, even though there was no possible way the air barge’s steersman could have heard her. Then she cursed more as she realized her crutch had slipped out from under her shoulder, she was in serious danger of losing her balance, and she wasn’t going to get her airship back into her lane in time to avoid the next oncoming ship. “Hillary!” she called desperately. “Somebody, I need an assist!”( Read more... )

Title: A New World
Word count: 307 (total: 1,004)
Rating: G
Prompt: kay_brooke's: Gateways separating parts of our lives.
Notes: The long-awaited (at least by me) beginning to the story of the prison planet!


Carla woke up. Her head throbbed and her mouth was dry, like it had been stuffed with cotton. Was she hung over? She’d never experienced this sensation before. But that didn’t make sense, she realized as her head cleared further. She’d never had a chance to get drunk. Yesterday, she’d been in prison.( Read more... )

Title: The Sheep
Word count: 852
Rating: PG
Prompt: lynnoconnacht's: Enclosure
Notes: It's been ages since I've written in this setting! But the idea of enclosing for private use what once was public land seemed perfect for this conquered-and-conquerors world.


Chetai walked out to the sheep pen. She tried to walk without shaking, but it was difficult. Thankfully, the sheep did just as they always did: clustered by the gate, baaing and snorting eagerly in their desire to get outside and graze. She smiled at them, not that they knew the difference. Sheep never knew the difference. And that, today, was why she loved them.( Read more... )

Title: The Interdimensional Antique Shop
Word count: 326 (total: 2,361)
Rating: PG
Prompt: ysabetwordsmith's: A fence who sells stolen goods across the dimensions by use of a portable gate.
Notes: This is interdimensional, so it's actually set in two of my worlds!


“You can sell it, right?” asked the small thief, not entirely without hope. Kerry wasn’t sure whether the grubby child was a boy or a girl, not that it mattered. In Garthier they taught all their children to steal.( Read more... )

Title: Gathering Herbs
Word count: 333
Rating: G
Prompt: moonwolf's: The use of herbs in magic - either fantasy magic or pagan magic(k).
Notes: This isn't quite the use of herbs, but it is the gathering of them. Also, look! A new (to readers, not me) world!


Palua felt she had just drifted off to sleep when she felt her shoulder being touched. Her training held; she woke instantly, memory returning without a pause, and knew it was Usian, the elder priestess assigned as her mentor. She rose silently to keep from waking the fellow novices with whom she shared a room, slipped her shoes on, and pulled a coarse brown cloak on over the simple shift she wore to sleep in—deliberately identical to the clothing all priestesses wore night and day. Usian was dressed almost identically, though her cloak was more finely woven and pure white, the sign that she was a full-fledged healer.( Read more... )