Hauntingly Beautiful Girls

"Propitious Joys and Regretful Reflections"

The former archivist enters 'Civilization's Edge' through an empty building. Raiders and Fire Spirits are not the only problem here. There are also fast forming strong storms. They build most buildings to have adjoining walls with supporting solid support.

Given the all things, there are many vacant spaces in 'Civilization's Edge'. The former archivist finds his way into the archive building.

He finds some clean portion of robe to clean the case and puts it where it belongs.

He wipes the knives and puts those in the display area.

The question "Where do I sleep?" crosses his mind. The closet here was so often the place. The door had inner locking braces.

When he gets to the main doorway he is confronted by tallish and thickly built young man.

The young man is a good friend. The way the archivist looks wet, tired and covered in sand and mud. He fears the very worst for the archivist. Taken by women and abused. He is sure the archivist would never have started or provoked it.

"What did you do?" The young man regrets his choice of words at once.

The archivist has an easy smile with the explanation. The bond to the deity is gone and paid. It was days of terrible ordeals.

The impact on the young man was immediate. He backs away in an expression of numb horror.

The archivist is quick to take his hands. The cause is well known. This large young man got smacks and spankings from the girls at school. Scoldings for not letting the girls have a chance to give the correct answer. He would have been smart enough to be an archivist, but was too fearful to become one. A tall man in authority invites small reprisals.

The former archivist had been smaller and thinner. The archivist lifts his head and beams "Your Sister? How is she doing?"

The young man pauses for some seconds and then drags the archivist away in a run.

If the archivist marries his sister (which they had discussed), the sister would be become a head of household. As house head, she could deny him the role of archivist. This sounds like a perfect solution.

They live far away from the center of town. It means the brother and sister get fewer visits by older people to offer advice proper living.

The young man pushes the archivist toward his bedroom. He looks to the main room to confirm that his sister sits on the floor. She makes small items in wood and string. Building and rebuilding as she has for years.

He moves quickly to his bedroom and aggressively pulls the wet clothes of the archivist. After throwing towels and robes to the archivist, he opens the clothes hanger.

At the far end, there are fine hand-me-down clothes. Far too small for him, but possibly perfect for the archivist. Clothes saved for just this occasion.

He gets fitted in some nice slacks and matching shirt coat. They add a very nice robe. The young man brushes the archivist hair and position the collar of the robe to show the neck. The neck that no longer has marks.

The archivist is seated with his legs folded under.

The sister greets the archivist, but is clearly preoccupied with the small items.

Silence stays in the room for many seconds.

When she looks up, her brother has his eyes wide open and holds a hand up pointing to the neck.

The effect is immediate. She draws close and smiles while looking at the neck. She is far too close and pulls back looking directly at the archivist.

She mimics the seating pose of the archivist and asks her brother to go collect the paperwork. They could close the office soon.

The brother runs out and speeds down the street.

Many people look down the street as he passes.

The forms are quick to get. Back out of the street, he sees the crowd looking his way.

He wants things to go quickly, so he climbs to a main wall and 'roof runs'.

The people on the street look up and see the form in his hand. Plenty of people will gossip for hours.

He gets back home and shows the form to his sister.

The two slowly stand up and archivist turns out his left hand. The sister takes the hand with both of hers.

She smiles but immediately sits down. As a married woman, there are responsibilities. She makes a deity pact. Warfare resource planning and reconnaissance. Casual roof running and building small replica siege weapons has been her full time devotion since finding the archivist.

Her brother laid out food on the counter.

In some minutes the newly married smiling couple goes the bedroom.

The brother cleans up the food and eventually goes to his own bedroom.

He brings pillows over to his bed. Expecting a noisy night in the adjoining bedroom.

There were some sounds like shared tickling, but then a stillness.

The brother remembers the archivist's words. "terrible ordeal for two days"

He thinks that his sister is a good kind person. Letting the archivist get some sleep.

The brother realizes that his position in the house is now secondary.

Secure from an unwanted career, but very slim chances of nice marriage. He is just too big. He ate too much in the teen years during the growth spurt.