Kat #1 - Part B

[Author's Notes] Okay, I've been spending a lot of time creating some background for Kat. We'll see what goes on here since most of what I've been working on takes place a little while from where I started. I've come up with many ways to tie Kat to Tristan. Oh, and an admission here. I watched a documentary on the Carpenters last night. For some reason, I felt I had to write, to finish what I've started here, partially in tribute to Karen Carpenter. It's hard to explain.

Rorga was a military town. It was known throughout the realm as the place that produced the fiercest, most organized and most feared soldiers. Rorgans, male and female, were proud of their reputation, and did their utmost to upkeep the traditions that gave them the reputation. This, however, precluded training of females. In the past, if females wanted to learn to fight, they usually left Rorga for the wild tribes of Ibinia and Oliver had been expecting Kat to run off any day. Yet, Kat, though truly unhappy with the future Rorga held for her, showed little sign of wanting to run off. He wondered if he should broach the subject.

Arriving home, Oliver lifted Kat off his broad shoulders and set her down in the kitchen where his wife had been muttering over a cauldron of hot soup. Pecking Pertha's cheek, he dipped a finger into the soup only to have a spoon sharply rap his knuckles.

"I thought officers were supposed to display discipline and patience?" chided Pertha. "Alexandrios hasn't come home yet from his training. I suspect that he and his buddies found out about Lanka's new acquisition and they've gone to investigate. You two want to go find him?"

Shrugs were the responses so out came the broom and Pertha chased them out. Laughing, father and daughter raced to Lanka's dwelling and sure enough, a passle of boys stood around a miserable creature, all poking it with sticks.

"What's going on here boys?" Oliver's voice boomed out and three of the five boys jumped back, trying to hide their sticks behind their backs. "Nothing" was the chorus echoed about.

One tiny boy stood up slowly, beaming at them. "Papa, come look! It's real slimy! Kat, grab a stick."

Kat looked at the creature and glaring at her brother, she stormed over and snatched the stick out of his hands. "Alex! This is a living creature! How dare you and your friends...." Kat sputtered. She broke the stick in half then knelt down to peer into the creature's eyes. What she saw surprised her; there was intelligence behind those eyes - for a moment. A blink, and blankness shuttered the window into the creature's soul.

[Author's Notes] Okay, that was a nice turn of a phrase. When I come up with these, I can't help it, I'm proud. Too bad, these little gems of phrases only show up once in a while. I am not focused on the language right now. This first draft is meant to deliver plot and character development. I'll work on the language and pacing on the second draft but that is so different from what I usually do. Reason why I can rarely finish a story is because I try and get these kinds of phrasing in on the first draft. Makes it really hard to finish when you keep reworking and reworking the same part. Oh, and usually to get into the mood for writing phrases like this, I read Truman Capote's Music for Chameleons. In that collection of short stories, Capote really tries to pack as much description, emotion, movement, plot and character development into as few words as possible. And that's what I strive for.

The creature was a thin, wispy thing, green and yes, her brother's description was apt, slimy. It seemed to be neither male nor female, and not a hair graced the body anywhere, not on the head, nor torso nor limbs. It blinked its huge eyes about, throwing each person a blank look, but the stiffness of the body indicated it was braced for more pokes.

Riveted, Kat tried a small smile but there was no reaction. She threw a look that pleaded with her father, and Oliver snapped out of his astonishment to sweep the boys out of the room. "But Papa..." Alex resisted, but Oliver was insistant. "Come on, son. Let's go find Lanka to see where he got this creature." Howls of agreement greeted this.

Alone with the creature, Kat sat down before it in silence, just smiling a little and trying to show that she meant no harm. The creature's eyes darted about still, as if expecting the others to return. She shook her head. "Papa understood that you didn't like what they were doing. They won't be back today."

The creature's eyes betrayed a hint of relief, showing Kat that it understood her words. "I'm Kat. I'm sorry my brother and his friends are such melonheads. If you don't mind, I'd like to come back to visit you." The creature seemed to realize that it had betrayed its comprehension and dropped the facade, nodding. With a quick grin, Kat stood up and left.