The Second Carpenter

XVIII

XVIII_I_Butterfly_[Effect]

A full moon shone blue in the face of the starry night.

It's time.

She took multiple deep breaths, having become accustomed to the monthly metamorphosis, and closed her eyes and prepared for a change. It did not happen gradually-it never did-but a beam of light was omitted, her dress fell on the floor, and a blue butterfly exited the chamber through the casement.

XVIII_II_One_for_the_Lord

The first lecture was about to begin by Master Maleka Radhyr. Bluemoon had been entranced by one of the students since before she had entered the room. A plump black-haired tomboy dressed in black trousers and a black waistcoat over nothing, who was now sitting to Bluemoon's right. Scarlet had her eyes on another: Violet, who was sitting to the left of Bluemoon, apparently having failed this course several times.

The master took of where Norhan had left off in his 'inductive' session with Scarlet, starting everything with further explanation. She walked proudly with her right hand in her shirt's pocket and spoke with a charismatic tone and expression which was by no means diminished by the sight of her breasts puching her shirt's top buttons to the breaking point. Part of her short hair was dyed green at the front, and the rest was black. Bluemoon liked everything about her. Scarlet still had not decided. Violet liked nothing about her.

". . . If you are to become proper Kiyls, you must start with knowing what the 'magic' you use is, where it comes from, and whay where it comes from is. The World of Ideas is a spiritual world that is the source of elemental power and, as some believe, artistic inspiration, and even creation. But only the first matters to us. Our utilization of this energy is dependant on what we call Tast. It is an ancient Elven word that translates to something like 'divine effect' or 'ideal revelation'. It is only one word without a perfect equivalent in any human language, and translating it as a phrase woud not be perfect either, so it is best if you just let it enter your hearts as a new word of your own speech. What this Tast is in practice, is basically a potential connection to The World of Ideas, or a thread that connects the Kiyla to a specific Idea, and in the active level, the connection itself, which most commonly is manifested with the color blue . . ."

Either the tomboy Bluemoon had become interested in was also interested in her or that Bluemoon had stared at her so much that she finally had noticed. "Hi, my name is Selene." She whispered in her ear, "The Master entered right away, so I had no time to introduce myself, but now she is looking away." It seemed to Bluemoon as though she was resisting against smiling. "I'm Violet's cousin. You're Bluemoon, right? I'm glad I've finally met you." She finally smiled, and then quickly flinched back to her previous expression. Bluemoon was smiling as widely as she physically could. "Nice to meet you, Selene! Yes, I'm Bluemoon. Your eyes . . . they're my favorite color."

"And the bottom of your hair is mine. Matched your dress with it as well, I see. Fashionable. I'm sorry, I don't have a blue apple now, but please take this red one. It's also the delicious."

"Is this the kind that doesn't rob you?" Bluemoon blindly at conveying what she had thought to be a cultural joke. And failed.

"Ro . . . what . . . what do you mean?"

"N . . . nothing; I'm sorry. Thank you very much." She took the apple and immediately bit it like a child. Selene giggled for a secong, and then, again, immediately forced herself to stop.

Scarlet had been listening to Maleka Radhyr the whoe time, despite part of her attention being stolen by the sight of Violet. What caught Scarlet's attention in the lecture the most was the the master made no mention of The Lonely Star.