I meant to have this posted on the 12th, and now it’s the 18th… Here’s the next portion of my NaNoWriMo tale.
Toys and Books
After practice, Adelina went to the library to see Meri. Since Meri didn’t show up at practice, Adelina decided she would take Prince with her to the library. It would give Meri a chance to get to know Prince a little.
“There are a lot of books here,” Adelina said as she sat down across from Meri. She motioned for Prince to sit beside her.
“It’s a library,” Meri said without looking up from the book. “Libraries have lots of books.”
“Yeah, I guess so. I’m just not used to seeing so many in one place.” She picked up one of the books stacked beside Meri. She opened it, and turned a few pages. “You must have seen more books than you could read in your whole life. How do you know which ones to read?”
“I don’t,” Meri said. She looked up from the book. “Every library has a very different collection. I don’t care about books on local history. I look for books on science. There are so many competing beliefs out there. It’s difficult to know which ones are right and which ones are wrong.” She closed the book, setting it aside. “One day, I’ll be the one conducting experiments, proposing theories, and writing books. I’ll take everything I’ve learned, apply it to the real world, and compile a book of scientific truths.
“Take Prince here for example,” Meri said. “Only the royal family of the toy kingdom knows how he works. They say it’s family magic that gives life to toys, but I don’t believe that. They have a way to simulate life, to make it seem like wood and cloth are the same as you and me. At its core, Prince is lifeless wood with the ability to move.”
“That’s not true,” Adelina said. “Prince has his own mind, and his own thoughts.”
“You may think it does, but that’s just your imagination. It’s always staring blankly into space.”
“So does Limlim, but I wouldn’t say she’s lifeless.”
“Limlim has a creative imagination. Prince doesn’t have an imagination. It can’t. That’s probably why it can’t form words. I’m curious how it even understands us, if it does.”
“He just doesn’t talk with words,” Adelina said. “That doesn’t mean he doesn’t use words. He speaks through his dancing. It’s his way of communicating.”
“That’s your own imagination. You’re imagining it’s telling you things when really it can’t.”
“If you were at practice today, you would have seen him in action. He was full of character.”
“Yeah, a character from Limlim’s story. Did the lack of expression on its face change even once during the performance? No? I didn’t think so. Because it can’t change its expression. You need to understand the difference between someone showing expression and something appearing to show expression.”
Adelina looked at Prince at her side. His blank expression continued to stare at nothing. Adelina took one of the books in her hands. She held it up. “Maybe Prince is like this book. You can read what’s in here, and you can write about it. I can’t do either. I can’t communicate through letters like you and Limlim can. What does this say about me, just because we can’t communicate with ink and paper? Should I say this book doesn’t hold any information just because I can’t get anything out of it?”
“That doesn’t even make sense. It doesn’t apply to the situation.” She thought for a moment, then sighed. “I’ll think about it. If Prince is like a book, then its play performance is like Limlim reading the book aloud. Everyone can hear what’s in the book, but they don’t know if Limlim’s really reading from the book, or making it all up as she goes. It’ll take more than a performance to convince me that there’s more to Prince than the sum of his parts, but I can’t remain open to the possibility. My scientific future can’t start out with blindly following my pre-existing beliefs.
“I should be able to learn a lot more when we reach the toy kingdom. I wonder if there are libraries in the toy kingdom. It’s a shame when a whole culture doesn’t care about preserving information about itself for future generations.”
Adelina slowly set the book back on the table. She wasn’t certain Meri was still talking about toys. It’s almost unheard of for faeries to learn to read and write, or to pursue arts such as painting and dancing. Part of what brought The Sylphides together was their desire to do more with their lives than just drift.
“You’re right. Prince didn’t show expression in his performance. He learned the dance steps right away, and I feel like he understands his part, but his face never changes. Do you think Prince can perform well in a ballet if he doesn’t have his own mind?”
“I’ll reserve my judgment until I’ve seen what if can do for myself. Remember that dragonfly of Noemi’s?”
“Shillelagh? I remember. Noemi had her trained to do all sorts of tricks.”
“Bugs have zero intelligence. Being able to train one is impossible. They don’t have emotions, they don’t have feelings, they don’t have loyalty, and they don’t have compassion. I can’t even begin to understand how Noemi trained her.” She looked over at Prince. “Maybe there are things I simply don’t understand. I want to be known as the faery who always kept an open mind. I’ll reserve further judgment until we’ve reached the toy kingdom, and experienced their culture.”
Adelina smiled. “Thanks.”
A Talk with Limlim
“What do you think of him?”
Limlim, sitting at a bench, looked up from her notepad. Payan stood before her. “You mean Prince? He shows potential. I think he should wear a hood, something to hide his face a little.” She went back to writing down notes. “It’s like his face can’t move, so he always shows the same blank expression.”
“I was just thinking, Adelina and Prince haven’t been apart since they came to town.”
“Prince is just the new guy.” She set her pencil down and looked up at Payan. “She probably knows you’re busy with costume designs, so she doesn’t want to get in your way. I’ve barely had contact with any of you outside of show preparation, and this goes back before Adelina invited Prince along. Soon everything will be finalized, we’ll do our final performance before the competition, then we’ll all be practicing the new show together.
“What about you? What do you think of him?”
Payan sat across from Limlim. “I don’t know. He’s been with my best friend the whole time he’s been here.”
“You feel left out, don’t you?”
Payan didn’t answer.
“First, Noemi takes your place collecting materials, and now Prince is here.”
“It’s not that I didn’t want to go. I enjoy spending time together, just me and Adelina. It’s like old times, before The Sylphides formed.”
“There was just too much work to be done working out costumes, right? You’re not alone. Meri and I have been busy, too. We’re almost done, so why don’t you take a break. Meri has. Find something fun to do here in town.”
Listings
Shannel and Lilia looked at the bulletin board where upcoming shows were listed. “At least,” Shannel said, “I think this is their show listing. Which one do you think is us?”
Lilia looked carefully at the markings on each paper on the board. “I should recognize our group name by now, but nothing looks familiar. We’ll never find out what the competition is doing this way. We should ask around and see what people know.”
“Sounds like a plan. Hey, you!” Shannel ran over to an older pixy. “Hey, wait up a minute,” she said to him. “Are you taking in any of the upcoming shows? Have you heard of The Sylphides? We’re one of the ballet groups. We’re the ones who’ll be performing with a toy among our ranks.”
“I’m not interested in shows,” the pixy said. He walked off.
“Okay, well, if you change your mind,” Shannel called after him, “be sure to catch the show!” She went back over to Lilia. “That went well, don’t you think? We might have a new viewer.”
“Maybe,” Lilia said with a giggle. “He didn’t seem too keen on it, though. We’ll have to look for him in the audience, just in case.”
“We’ll keep it up until the whole town knows about the show,” Shannel said. “When we get our biggest turnout ever, and I say it’s all because everyone learned Prince would be in the show, he’ll have to react. No more silence. If he’s going to be a Sylphide, even only temporarily, he’s going to have to open up a little, don’t you think?”
“He’ll only speak if he wants to, so don’t push him too hard, okay? I’m sure he has his reasons. Hey, isn’t that Adelina?” Lilia motioned to a wall at the edge of the marketplace. Adelina rested against the wall there. The two worked their way through the marketplace crowd of pixies, joining their friend at the wall. Adelina greeted them.
“Any idea where Prince is?” Adelina asked.
“I thought he’d be with you,” Lilia said.
“Never mind Prince, have you seen Meri or Limlim? I was hoping one of them would show up.” Shannel leaned against the wall beside Adelina. “I want to know more about the competition.”
“They posted it on a bulletin board,” Lilia told Adelina.
“All that information in one place,” Shannel slid down the wall a little, “and all our readers nowhere to be found!”
“Meri’s at the library. I don’t know about Limlim, but look all around us. The marketplace is full of people,” Adelina said. “Why don’t we ask one of them to read the competition list for us?”
“Ingenious!” Shannel said, standing up from the wall. She nudged an elbow against Lilia’s arm. “Why didn’t we think of that? Never mind, let’s go. We’ll find someone willing to read it near the bulletin board, for sure.”
The three flew over the busy marketplace and landed near the bulletin board on the other side. There they found a pixy with long, black hair posting a notice.
“Oh, are these last-minute entrants?” Shannel asked as she flew beside the dark-haired pixy.
“Can’t you read?” The pixy focused her hands on nailing the parchment to the board.
“We were hoping you could read it for us,” Adelina said.
The pixy let out a huff. She hit the nail one final time, then turned her head to see the trio. “No wonder you can’t read. You don’t see many faeries in competitions like this. And you won’t see any in this one, either. The competition’s been called off.”
“You can’t be serious,” Shannel said. She pushed her way in front of the notice, pushing the dark-haired pixy aside. “What’s it say, what’s is say?”
The pixy placed a hand on Shannel’s shoulder, pushing her back away from the board. “What part of ‘the competition’s been called off’ didn’t you understand?”
“You didn’t say that’s what’s on the paper,” Adelina said. “Does it say why the competition was canceled?”
The pixy pressed her fingers against the side of her forehand. “If you faeries are going to spend time among pixies and do pixy things, the least you can do is learn to read.” She put a finger against the paper. “Look, you see this part? It says it’s a royal decree from the king. Here it says the competition has been postponed indefinitely, until there’s a notice posted saying otherwise. No shows will be performed until that time.”
“What’s this funny-looking squiggle?” Shannel asked, pressing a finger against a marking at the bottom of the page.
The pixy smacked Shannel’s hand away. “That’s the king’s signature. Don’t touch it like that, you’ll smudge it.”
“Well, excuse me,” Shannel said, holding her hand.
“Let’s go,” Adelina said. “We need to find the others and tell them about this.”
The three lifted into the air.
“I’m not sure I trust her,” Shannel said. She stuck her tongue out toward the dark-haired pixy below. “She kept talking like we’re laid-back do-nothings who don’t respect the finer arts!”
“You mean like our parents?” Adelina asked. She quickly cupped a hand over her mouth. “Lilia, I’m sorry, I–”
“It’s all right,” Lilia said. She smiled. “I’m sure my parents were the same way. And you can’t blame her completely. She was right that we don’t know how to read.”
The trio passed over the marketplace.
“Limlim knows how to read,” Shannel said. “And so does Meri. And Noemi.”
“But Noemi’s a pixy,” Adelina said.
“Oh yeah,” Shannel said. “Two out of three, okay?”
“There they are,” Lilia said, pointing at a shop near the edge of the marketplace. She pointed to Noemi, Meri, Payan, Limlim, and Prince below. The three started to descend. “What’ll we tell the costume maker? He was so nice to make the costumes for advertising, and now there won’t be a show.”
“Won’t be a what?” Noemi asked as the faeries touched down.
“A notice was just posted,” Adelina said. “The king called off the competition.”
“Is that so?” An older pixy with a scruffy gray beard stepped out from the shop. “Where did you hear about this?”
“A girl read it to us from a bulletin she put up,” Lilia told him. “Just tell us how to pay you back for your work on the costumes.”
The bearded pixy shook his head. “Never mind about that. Canceling the competition is a bad deal for everybody, but if the king canceled it, it’s for good reason. They’ve been planning this competition for a long time. I’ll hang on to the costumes for now. There has to be a big competition eventually. You can come back for the costumes then. The important thing for now is to focus on your other show.”
“Actually, it’s more than just the competition,” Adelina said. “She told us all shows are called off until further notice.”
“It’s bigger than I thought,” the pixy said, scratching at his bearded chin. “What’ll you do now? It sounds like the perfect time to take a vacation.”
“We should keep going,” Adelina said. “We’ll take Prince back to the toy kingdom as planned. Maybe we can perform there once or twice before he finds his home.”
“I knew it.” Meri threw her arms into the air. “I knew we shouldn’t have re-written the competition show to include the toy.”
“We’ll just go back to what we had,” Limlim said. “It’s not a big deal.”
“You handle that,” Meri said. “I’m going back to the library.”
“I have some things do in another town,” Noemi said. “I’ll catch up with you in the toy town closest to the border.”
“The rest of us will head out today,” Adelina said.
The group headed into the forest. After a night’s sleep, they resumed their journey at first sunlight. Along the way, the smaller troupe worked out ideas on how to incorporate Prince into a routine they could perform in toy towns.
Tags: NaNoWriMo