[YANS] (aka Yet Another New Story!) NaNoWriMo 2017 (COMPLETE)

Day 12 P.S. - Something, Something, Plot!

"...Did you just split the day in half again?" The Muse looked around, startled.

"Shhhhh," said the Writer. "I'm going to be short chapters if I don't. Plus it's easier to read. And stuff." There was a pause. "Because reasons."

The Muse sighed and got back to the story.

~*~*~*~*~

In the myriad of futures the pool had presented, the stranger kept reappearing. They couldn't scry into the past and even with long lines of questioning they could only catch glimpses of him in the future. Where he came from or why was still unknown.

Reluctantly Khany headed out to town to bring the news of what they had found to the Magistrate. Most of what they had discovered was simply methods of escape for the townsfolk, there was very little about how to prevent the fire, but it was better than nothing.

They had even narrowed down the time range for the fire to a few days after the fair, although it was less concrete and answer than they would have liked. The more the questioned the pool, the more organized the evacuation, but there were still several possible options open... it would all depend on what the Council decided to to.

When she got to town Khany was greeted politely, but warily. Word of her self-exile to the dragon's caves and her role in the scrying had passed around town like wildfire. She had never been overly friendly with them to start with, still bound up in her losses to the flood, but it was still a bit unnerving to be treated like she might be dangerous.

She didn't waste time getting to the magistrate's house and passing along the information. He was calmer than he'd been at the pools, having had time to acclimate to the situation. She might now be able to offer him a solution to the disaster to come, not yet, but she could at least give him the information he needed to make plans.

She stayed overnight and waited for the Council meeting in the morning. She wasn't invited in, but they gave her a new list of questions to take back to the pools... and the dragon.

She kept her opinions to herself about how much help the dragon would be, there was no point in starting fights or making folks more worried about something they couldn't control. But nothing in the futures they had seen showed that the dragon played much of a role at all.

It would be down to her and the stranger.

And that was too frightening to share.

~*~*~*~*~

"I don't like playing messenger," Khany complained as she dumped her backpack against the wall of her room. The dragon lurked outside in the hallway, too big to fit into the tiny chamber. Which was one reason she had picked it.

"I could have sent a bird and summoned them here," the dragon pointed out, his voice the soft rustle of ivy in the wind.

"And then they would have argued with us and wasted time questioning the pools about things we already tried." Khany rolled her shoulders to ease the aches and then fished out the sheepskin list of new questions. "They've given me some silly things to ask as it is. Who cares if a specific building survives? Or how much it will rain."

"I'd assume the person who owns the building will care and rain, even if it's not heavy, will help to put out the smoldering fires, but it will also make things hard to clean up." The dragon followed her over to the scrying room. "Did you want to do this tomorrow? You've had a long walk."

"And plenty of time to think up more questions." She leaned over to tap the surface of the pool and it woke up with a happy starburst of golden dust and sediment eddies. She sat on the edge of the rock formation and leaned forward to get a better view.