a bit of backstory…
I couldn’t decide which was more stare-worthy–my brother Lann or the jewel he’d casually placed in my hand. The jewel won. I’d seen Lann before, though this might well have been the first thing he’d ever given me.
“Father wanted you to have it,” Lann said, and I realized he’d said other things, too, that I hadn’t paid attention to.
The deep purple stone glowed from its depths, every facet gleaming as I turned it. I’d always thought a jewel would feel cold to the touch–if I should ever have the opportunity to touch one, which had seemed unlikely, poor as we were. But not only was it not cold, but a pure warmth emanated from it, spreading down my fingers and up towards my elbow.
“Kaesa. Are you listening to a word I’ve said?”
I should be, I knew. I had no memories of my father, who had died when I was but a babe. But it was difficult to tear my attention from the jewel. I leaned closer, fancying I could smell the fragrance of a heady wine.
Lann’s fingers closed over mine, blocking the gem from my sight. “Kaesa.”
Hahaha – I LOVE that first short paragraph. Kaesa has a nice strong voice here too. Um, which one is this from?
Interesting you think her voice is strong, as this little exercise was simply to try to find it, find her personality. I think this bit–I wrote more than this, but this whole scene–is pre-story. Stuff I need to know, but which will likely get dribbled out over the course of the novel. Maybe. I really don’t know! I’m still trying to actually find the story. 😛
(Oh, new project that I’ve been thinking about on and off for a couple years, loosely called Matchmaker)
Mesmerizing. I know gems are cold… LOL so, of course, I wonder what’s special about this one. And… I wonder what she should be hearing from her brother that she’ll wish she knew later on. I want to turn the page!
LOL, thanks, Karen! 🙂
I suppose I’m not *really* entitled to ask for more until I’ve gotten some progress on critting Quest, right? Okay, fair trade–you write more of this to read, and I’ll work on Quest. *tries to ignore indexes, copyediting, and short story*
Heh. There really isn’t any more, not yet. So you just go on and crit the last one, dearie, and we’ll talk later!