Stories

Letters to Lelia - Chapter 6 - Status and Rhetoric

“Places, please!" Lily spoke, a little sharper than she wished. She had shouted directions to staff, friends and caterers all day, and her voice was giving out a little. "Sister Joseph, you will lead the procession, followed by sister Novis and Sarah, then Seth will bring the rest of the group from the left side of the podium. Sys, queue music," she instructed. A soothing melody poured on the beach, making Purple hum, delighted. "Stop!" Lily interrupted the immortal bliss. "Where is Humon? He is supposed to stand right behind Lelia, according to tradition." "And the approved list," Seth couldn't help herself.”

Letters to Lelia - Chapter 5 - Out There

"We are going to wear our ceremonial robes, I assume?" Seth entered Sarah's apothecary. Sarah was mixing perfumes, she and Sys had come up with the idea of creating a scent to match the lavender gauze and flower arrangements, even though the plant decorations were still in question on account of the dragons' appetite. The small shed was saturated with a clamor of floral scents, which shouted at each other so loudly one could no longer tell them apart. They all ended up in a overpowering blend, screeching in sharp tunes of lavender and hyacinth. Lilac tried too assert itself as a top note too, but it was trounced by the other two scents, and whimpered helplessly at the end of the lab table where its open vial resided. "Good Heavens! Open the louvers, you can cut the smell with a knife. Whatever it is you are working on right now, throw it away it and never consider it again!" Seth protested, stifled by the heavy fragrance. "How can you even breathe in here? I'll never get this smell out of my clothes!" "It is a process," Sarah defended the obnoxious perfume.

Letters to Lelia - Chapter 4 - Living in Context

“Who is waiting for Jimmy and Jenna?" sister Novis poked her head through the door that sister Roberta had left ajar. The sister was revising a last minute idea for the festivities, secretly offended that Lily was so adamant about not having anything happen that wasn't already approved. What a bore! "I thought you were," she stopped from her work to look intently at sister Novis. "Nobody told me anything, you worked with Jimmy a lot during the last three months, I thought you already arranged something, we all assumed..." the sister defended herself. "All of you always assume, what a punishment for the scientific mind!" sister Roberta philosophized. "When are they supposed to arrive?" "They already have, if you'd check the solenoid room..." sister Novis gently suggested. "Oh, dear, they're locked in. How long have they been there?" sister Roberta started panicking.”

Letters to Lelia - Chapter 3 - Who Are You?

“Did you see my notes?" Humon asked, shuffling the pads on Lily's desk. Lily lifted her eyes from the mound of packages, reminders, and party decorations that had been slowly accumulating around her ever since they got the blessed news the Bonding Ceremony was going to be celebrated on Terra Two. Her maternal desire to be of assistance to her eldest daughter was fighting an older, more personality specific urge to dump everything at once and take a trip to a region of space she hadn't visited before. She realized, while thinking this, that there were no regions she'd never seen, and strained her overwhelmed mind to figure out if and where she saw Humon's work. She jerked, aggravated.”

Letters to Lelia - Chapter 2 - The Gates of Perception

“Who is in charge of the hors d'oeuvres?" Seth asked. "Sister Abigail," Roberta replied, focused on a delicate piece of machinery that needed soldering under the microscope. "You're not serious!" Seth yelled, making Roberta's hand shake for a second. The pen slid over the board, covering it with a slobber of molten metal. "Thanks!" Roberta snapped, snatched the slide from the microscope and threw it on the growing pile of similar slides in the trash can, proof that the sister had kept very busy the whole morning. "Who in their right mind would put sister Abigail in charge of cooking anything?" Seth continued, like a slow growing storm, ready to strike at any moment. "Do you realize that I've been working on that board for the last six hours and I finally got it right?" sister Roberta growled at Seth. "That means your next one will be even better. Who put sister Abigail in charge of the hors d'oeuvres?" Seth asked, deadly calm.”