Awakening, Quickening

The Wall House pt 1

The four sheets of parchment did not have much information on them. A finely drawn picture of the front of each house, and a brief description of what was offered, were all that appeared there. As the walked towards the first house, Harmony thought she recalled something like this being done before; a page, with a picture....the technique seemed familiar to her, but she didn't know why. Something her own world, from before she came here– before the tomb, before waking up here. What was that? She wished it wasn't all so difficult to remember. She knew there was more, from before she came to this world, and she did have memories from her childhood and life before the tomb. She remembered a college of magic, and working as a researcher, and many things about spells; but after a few years of work, the memories began to be blurred, and she knew a lot had been lost. Harmony knew she was 33, yet her most recent memory before arriving here was the night of her 32nd birthday; and many things from before that time were also missing, like holes in her mind which she knew were there, but couldn't yet fill. Some kind of magic was definitely involved with her loss of memory. In spite of knowing that, Harmony still only had the name "Grebefal" to cling to. Many of the names of her past world, her past adult friends, the town, her own home...all of them eluded her.

Muse tugged on her arm, bringing her back to the present; they had reached the first property. A huge, three story stone building with a slate roof, and shuttered windows; the shutters were flung wide, though, and two children peeked from upper windows. It was apparent that there were already a few families living here. Harmony approached the woman standing at the doorway with a smile.

"Hello, I am here to inquire about the residence? I was given this page as one of four prospective places to live here in Grebefal?" She offered the page to the woman to see.
The woman looked at it briefly. "First I heerd of it." She looked Harmony, Kyir and Muse up and down. "We don't got th' room for more than two more, in here. We gots three families in this house as it is." She waved them inside. "Ye can see fer yerself, though. No harm in lookin'."
Harmony followed her in, through a large, heavy wooden door which also stood wide open and looked like it hadn't been closed in a while. "Thank you. My name is Harmony, and this is Muse; the little one here is Kyir. It's nice to meet you."
The woman smiled at Kyir, whose chubby face was taking it all in, with a calm, serious look, as if he too understood this was serious business. "I'm Myra and that there" (she waved at a thin, dark-haired youngster eating an apple on the steps) "That's my son, Benly."

Harmony smiled, remembering seeing the boy sitting on the inn's back step. Myra continued. "His Da works at guardin' the gate. Benly's a wild mite, but he's a goodun'. We don't get many new folks here in Grebefal, so he's curious about ya. What are ye here fer?"
Muse poked at the straw flooring with her foot, and something small and black scuttled away. Harmony repressed a shudder.
"I'm a Mage. We got lost while looking for information and are looking for a place to settle for a while, and we wanted to study Grebefal to see if there was any history of the area. I will be offering my services while we live here."
Myra's face lit up. "Can ye do magic then? I've never seen anyone do magic. I'd love to see that. It sounds amazin'!" Benly ignored them, gnawing on his apple studiously.
Harmony nodded. "Yes, I do some healing spells, and I know a few herbs and other sorts of spells. I don't do very much, but I'm of the opinion that magic can be helpful, at times. I hope I can help anyone who needs it."
She focused, gathered a little swirl of mana into the palm of her hand, and formed it into an illusion, then let it fall from her fingertips, like tiny glittering raindrops, sparkling with a soft light. The drops fell to the floor, then vanished. Myra's face was a picture of wonder. "WHaaaa....well I never!" she whispered. She reached out to the sparkles, and Harmony poured a few of the harmless illusion-drops into her hand. They wavered for a moment, and then vanished. " Benly had started up from his seat and was staring, frozen with the apple half in his mouth, his eyes round.

Muse grinned at him."It's ok. It's just an illusion. It doesn't do anything, just looks pretty." She scooped a few drops from Harmony's hand and dripped them to the floor too, to show him. He looked interested. Harmony held her palm out to him. "Would you like to see too?" Benly nodded wordlessly and walked towards her, the apple in his teeth, and stretched out a hand too. Harmony dripped a few of the sparkles into his hand. He held his hand still and gazed at them, transfixed. The drops held the light for a few seconds, then flickered, and Benly looked up at Harmony; he offered them back. Harmony noted that the illusion didn't go out, while it rested in his hand. "Benly....are you doing that? Keeping the drops all bright?"

Benly used his other hand to take the apple from his teeth, chewed and swallowed. He shrugged; then tipped his palm over, the way Harmony had done, and let the illusion drop from his hand to the floor, where it vanished. Harmony glanced meaningfully at Muse, then at Myra, who looked confused. Harmony dropped the illusion. "Well. Shall we see the place to live?"

Myra nodded. "It's on the top floor. It's real hot right now but it'll cool off at night it ye open the shutters." She led them down a short hallway and through a kitchen, to a staircase at the back of the main floor. A back door was flung wide too, letting in the breeze, and a faint smell of earth.

The second floor had a short landing, then continued up to the third floor; then further up, to the fourth. Once again, it was obvious to Harmony that whoever had built these structures, they must have used either magic, or some type of technology these people definitely no longer possessed. She added it to the growing list of mysteries. The top floor, as Myra called it, was a large, tall attic room, undivided and mostly bare. Bags of wool, a spinning wheel, a rack of spools and a large loom took up one side; the rest was empty except for a single high window. Myra waved her arm at the space. "Ye kin see. I've used this side for my loom, and weaving. I'm a weaver by trade. I don't sell much but it helps I'm th' only weaver in Grebefal. I made th' fabric yer wearin' now, matter of fact. There's room fer a small bed or two, ower there, but it'll be noisy place, and dark, an' no room fer a growin' one to stay in."
Harmony glanced at Muse, and nodded. Yes, this place felt cramped and uncomfortable. It would be better to find somewhere else. Harmony smiled at Myra. "It's not a bad spot for one person, maybe. But you're right, three would be difficult. I'll take a look at the other places before we decide."