Extract of an AU fanfiction in the works
Notes; After Myst IV Revelation
The Stranger is female
I realise that Achenar might be out of character, but this is just the impression I got from him in Revelation.
You…you…YOU GIANT GOAT!
Sitting on a dry log on the edge of the swamp in the Haven Age, the Stranger watched a pair of Zeftyr gracefully walking across the scattering of rocks, and the logs that connected them as they grazed on the marsh grasses. Behind her was the lake and Achenar’s hut where the oldest of Atrus’ sons was working on something or other, she could hear the faint hammering from here if she listened.
The Stranger turned back to her own project, tongue in cheek as she concentrated on the sheet of paper on her lap. On it, was the beginnings of a sketch of one of the Zeftyr, the pencil hovered over the page as she considered, then she carefully pressed the nib to the paper and continued to draw, glancing up now and then to look at the tall herbivores. Over the past few weeks, Achenar had been teaching her to sketch and now the Stranger was determined to come up with something that proved what she’d learnt.
However, things weren’t going exactly to plan as said the little pile of papers that were being weighted down with a rock, failed attempts… They weren’t particularly bad sketches, in fact some of them were very good, but to the Stranger, they lacked…something… Something that Achenar seemed to effortlessly – which was extremely annoying actually – capture in his own pieces. His sketches and paintings always had something in them that made them look alive and the Stranger’s attempts in comparison looked flat and dead.
Giving a growl of frustration the Stranger put yet another page of paper under the rock paperweight as it too lacked the life she was trying so hard weave into the pencil lines. In a rare show of temper, she threw the pencil down beside her and allowed the blank pages to scatter, she dropped her head into her hands and rubbed her temples as she sat in the explosion of paper…
“Having a hard time?” said a voice. The Stranger dropped one hand and looked over her shoulder, regarding the oldest of the two brothers with one eye.
“And you say that because…?” Achenar looked vaguely amused,
“There’s paper everywhere…” the Stranger looked around at the pages scattered on the floor,
“No kidding…” she muttered,
“Oo, moody.” Achenar came and squatted down on his haunches beside the Stranger. “Come on then, tell me what’s rotting your pages?”
“That saying is so daft.” The Stranger said mutinously, Achenar sighed and rolled his eyes, the Stranger was so obstinate some times, especially when she was in a mood. He found a clear, dry space and sat down beside the Stranger and looked at her, elbows on knees, hands dangling.
“So are you going to tell me what’s wrong?” there was a pause, and then the Stranger flapped an irritated hand at the paper under the rock,
“I just…just,” she made an annoyed sound, then burst out, “I just can’t do it!” Achenar meanwhile had picked up the rock paperweight and was looking at the discarded drawings. He looked up at her,
“These are good.” The Stranger gave him a Look,
“Don’t be cute, they’re terrible! They’re so lifeless!” she made an aggravated noise and sulked, leaning her cheek on her fist. Achenar came and sat beside her again, looking at her.
“You’ve never just given up on anything before…” he said quietly, “Even when it got hard.”
“Well I’m giving up on this!” Achenar sighed,
“You’re still learning, you can’t be good at everything straight away.” He watched her intently, the Stranger didn’t answer except for a grudging noise of agreement. “Look now, just try again,” when she didn’t move he gently caught her chin in one hand and made her look at him. “You’ll get it, just keep trying.” The Stranger heaved a sigh and nodded, she got up and gathered the scattered pages and the pencil, plonking back down beside Achenar when she’d retrieved all the paper. She glanced at him, he nodded his head slightly in encouragement and she began to draw. After a moment his hand gently closed over hers,
“Don’t be so tense, don’t force it…just let it flow out of you…” the Stranger looked at him for a moment, then nodded. Achenar took back his hand and watched the Stranger begin again, a visible difference in her body language. She wasn’t as tense and the pencil moved smoothly across the paper.
After a few minutes the pencil left the page and the Stranger studied the sketch. On it was a drawing of a Zeftyr, standing up straight while chewing on a mouthful of vegetation, it was well portioned and the animal was balanced correctly, but more then that, it had that living quality that she’d been trying so hard to achieve. She grinned at Achenar, eyes shining as she waved it triumphantly.
A little way away, the younger of the pair of Zeftyr looked up, chewing on his mouthful of marsh grass as he curiously watched the two people, the smaller female looking excited about something…and waving an rather tasty looking page of paper…
The Stranger set the paper down and gave Achenar a friendly hug, which he returned, smiling faintly at her childish glee. It was only a drawing after all, but it made her happy that she’d achieved something and that was really all that mattered. They were interrupted however when they heard a Zeftyr snort right next to them. The pair sprang apart and looked up quickly as the large animal regarded them curiously; it was chewing on something…something creamy coloured that looked just like…
“Well someone really liked it…” chuckled Achenar, the Stranger on the other hand gave a wordless yell of frustration and scrambled to her feet. Unfortunately the Zeftyr had already gone, along with the drawing it had eaten…
“You…you…YOU GIANT GOAT!” the Stranger yelled after it, lobbing a pebble, “I HOPE YOU CHOKE ON IT!” Achenar watched her as she stormed back to the log and plonked heavily down on it, muttering. He didn’t say anything for a long moment, then, trying to keep the humour from his voice said;
“It least one of us enjoyed it.” the Stranger glared at him,
“Oh be quiet.” She muttered, Achenar bit the inside of his cheek and tried to look sympathetic but couldn’t quite keep the amusement from his eyes. The Stranger sighed in a defeated sort of way and said miserably;
“Oh go on, just laugh…” The amusement left Achenar’s expression,
“Why would I laugh?” the Stranger looked at him squarely,
“You’re telling me you don’t want too?” she asked in a ‘yeah-like-I-believe-
that ’ tone. Achenar slung and arm around her shoulders and squeezed her gently,
“You’ll do another one, one that’s even better, promise.” The Stranger sighed and leaned her head on his shoulder,
“If you say so…” she muttered in a tired voice. There was a silence, then;
“You have to admit…it
was funny…”
“Put a sock in it…” but her voice held no venom, she couldn’t be bothered. Besides, she didn’t really mean it anyway.
Achenar chuckled.
~

Lobo Diablo