I ended taking longer than I had anticipated to collect the artwork, not because of the artwork itself, but due to the volume of email in my inbox. Like so much of the time before I left 80% of it was junk mail. Most of the remainder related to the upcoming game launch, and despite my absence everything appeared to be on schedule. I made a note to try and get back for a day sometime in the next week.
Having transfered not only the applications, but the animated examples to my new laptop and printed out several pictures.I repacked adding additional clothes which necessitated locating a second holdall. Satisfied with my preparations and running a little late I trumped to the villa, expecting Llewella to already be there, but she wasn't. I lit the fire in the stove and set the kettle, before grinding a fresh batch of coffee. Llewella preferred herbal tea but coffee was my preference especially when made from freshly ground beans.
Having brewed the coffee and with no sign of Llewella's arrival I pulled the sketch pad from the pack. Up until a few days ago I'd done very little in the way of sketching, at least in the manner in which Fiona had done the trump sketch of the Militia HQ Hospital. I'd done some doodling whilst at University, sort of comic book sketches more than anything else, and a small amount or ink and water drawing whilst in Japan, but I'd never really tried to draw real objects, people, or perspectives. A lot of the concepts I'd become familiar with due to the 3D modeling, animation, and graphics work I'd done at Mizzurian but there was a big difference between using a mouse or tablet and actually using pencil and paper.
It was about an hour later, when Llewella arrived. At that point I was half way through my fifth attempt at sketching the terrace of the villa, as depicted on the trump Llewella had given me. It wasn't going particularly well. Llewella apologized for her lateness, and was a little surprised when I reappeared from the kitchen with tea and muffins after only a couple of minutes. She'd been leafing through the sketch pad. She then asked for the other pictures I'd gone to fetch. She spent several minutes studying them before asking how they were produced. It took a little while to explain.
The upshot of her appraisal is that I am now enrolled in Art School on, initially at least, a 6 week course dedicated solely to sketching in various media. I have 4 hour and a half classes each day and for the first week am limited to pencil only. As the course progress then Charcoal, Chalk and Pastel,and Pen and Ink will be covered. At the end of the course I'm to contact Llewella again and present my report card, and my final 4 pieces of work, one in each type of medium. Whilst here Llewella has loaned me a trump of the villa and a trump of the Art School.
After 2 days of school I'm glad today was a day off. Apart from anything else I've been able to find myself some lodgings rather than having to bunk in one of the dormitories. 10 years ago I wouldn't have minded but there are times when I prefer peace and quiet, and it also means I can escape the attentions of the older boys, something I'm sure will please the older girls. Most of the students here are between 13 and 18 years of age, although there are a few, myself included, over that age. Having had a chance for a brief look around I estimate the school has between 250 and 300 pupils all told and a teaching staff of 15 with another half dozen technicians who look after a lot of the practical aspects of classes. On top of this there are perhaps half a dozen admin staff and about 2 dozen ancillary staff, including cooks, cleaners, gardeners, maintenance staff, and 2 grooms. There is also a stables where they keep half a dozen riding horses, and 4 cobs for heavy work. The grooms are assisted by students who trade labour for the ability to ride the horses.
Apart from enabling me to get away from the school having lodgings means I can see more of the town, the downside being I'm a little over 3/4 of a mile from the school. One of the reason for selecting this particular establishment is that they have stabling for 2 horses, which means I can ride in daily rather than having to take a trap or walk. It does incur an additional fee at the school, since the grooms have extra work, but that's a small price to pay, and after a couple of hours of shadow walking this evening, primarily to acquire a horse, I'm no longer short of local currency.
I've forgotten exactly how much hard work school is. I may only attend 6 hours a day, but apart from an hours lunch break I'm having to concentrate all the time. After a weeks work I beginning to see an improvement in my pencil work and if I continue to show improvement I'll be allowed to try Charcoal towards the end of next week. Tomorrow is market day which occurs once a month. I'm told tomorrow's market will be something of an event it being the first major market of the year following the winter. Time here, whilst following a standard 24 hour day is accumulated differently. A week is 6 days consisting of 5 working days and 1 rest day. Every 3 weeks an additional 2 days are added, one of which is a market day and the second a Holy Day. Each group of 20 days is considered a month and a year is 18 months.
I have quite enjoyed myself today. The market is a big event for the town with people traveling in from several miles around, both to buy and sell. In addition to the normal traders from the locale there were a number of traders who'd traveled from towns several weeks travel away. Some of these will return before the end of the year, but for others this is the only time they visit in a year.
Apart from the cakes, pastries, preserves, and wine, there were a couple of traders who had bolts of cloth, from one of which I purchased enough assorted cloth for 5 dresses, 3 for myself and 2 for Llewella. He was quite surprised not only to be asked for this quality of cloth here but also to sell as much in one go. I shall have to ask around to find a seamstress whose capabilities match, or wait until I can get to Amber, Ashan, Tullbranich, or Port Hygria.
In addition to the cloth I purchased several cakes and pastries, two <Barrels smaller than kegs> of wine and one of a spirit akin to Brandy, which I don't normally drink, but they don't have either Saki or Jack Daniels here, and from the taster it's quite palatable and a reasonable substitute. There were also numerous other goods on offer but nothing I'm in the market for, although business with the locals appeared to be brisk. I suspect that were it not for the art school the town, whilst it would likely still exist, would be about 1/3 its current size.
Well I've now completed my second full week and whilst I am making progress things are not going as well as I'd hoped although my tutors seem satisfied with my progress. I had hoped to get onto Charcoal work but the last couple of days have been something of a disaster and I can't seem to get anything right. I know the theory regarding learning curves but that doesn't help.
Outside of school there's nothing much to report. I've managed to locate a seamstress, and whilst I shouldn't really be surprised, she's familiar with a lot of fashions both from Amber and elsewhere. Additionally she also has a set of measurements for Llewella and is familiar with the styles she prefers. That said I'm having her make one of the dresses for Llewella up in Chinese style, along with two of my own. Llewella's other dress will be typical of her Rebman outfits, whilst I've opted for, as Random would put it, "a strapless evening thong", of my own design for my third outfit. I think this definitely piqued her curiousity when I show her the sketches. It'll be interesting working with her to get the dress made, although it's likely to be a couple of weeks before she can start.
This leads me onto something else, whilst I've been here for 17 days now not quite a day and a half has passed in Amber. I have sort of been expecting a trump call from either Llewella or Fiona but given the time frame perhaps its a little early yet.
After last week's disasters this week has been significantly better, even to the point that as of yesterday I'm using a different medium in each of my four lessons. I'm still only doing simple drawings, vases, twigs, candles, boxes, tools, and simple furniture. Next week I'm supposed to be moving on to plants and animals, with humans, including faces and life models the week after.
Outside school things have been quiet again, although I now have one of my new dresses, and we're making progress on my evening dress. With the lengthening evenings I've taken to going riding more for something to do than anything else. In the course of my travels I've found a pool and glade about 5 miles out of town. It's taken me a couple of nights to scout out the vicinity an I'm now reasonably sure its secluded enough for me to return to my somewhat neglected Tai Chi and to enjoy a nice dip after wards. There are also a number of mountain ash there and I'm tempted to try a little tree walking although the last time I tried it was with bamboo and I failed miserably. It's an art that supposedly takes years to master and until now I've never had the opportunity to put in the time and practice necessary.
Progress this week has been mixed. The pen and ink work has gone from strength to strength, and is now better than my pencil work. I 'm just about getting to grips with pastel pencils but can't handle sticks and I'm not going to discuss charcoal. I can just about cope with simple plants and trees, and can draw simple animal outlines but can't get the hang of shading and infill.
As to my evening dress Kerily is about to start cutting, not one but two dresses that have come out of the work we've been doing. We think that by careful mixing of the cloth we have left over from the other 4 dresses we should be able to achieve both designs. She has also noticed that I've been out in the sun and is somewhat mortified over the extent of my tan. By a little hard riding I can leave school by 4, get to the grove by five, and spend a good 3 hours exercising, swimming, and sun bathing; although not necessarily in that order. I haven't yet plucked up the courage to try tree walking although I have managed to run along a section of the rock face at the side of the pool.Today was a day for surprises. The first came during this afternoon's pen and ink class when I received a trump call, and not from anyone I'd been expecting. I had thought the call would come from Llewella or Fiona or at the outside Benedict, but not from Vialle. It seems she's been privy to my disappearance all along and last night everything reached something of a head and Random hasn't officially been seen since, although he's known to be at Dave's whose stock of liquor is rapidly being depleted. The current betting is for Random to keel over sometime later this afternoon (Amber Time), and that when I get back I'm going to need to go shopping again.
The second surprise came during my afternoon swim when I realized I was being watched.I don't think they'd been there for very long, and by the time I'd retrieved my sword and returned to where I thought they'd been they'd gone. There presence had been enough to disturb my mood though and I returned to my lodgings early.
I have really struggled in class this week and at the current rate of progress I don't think I'm going to meet Llewella's criteria to start trump training by the end of next week. I'm seriously considering extending my stay by two weeks rather than attempting to rush things. If I take this course I'll have to call Llewella, but I'll leave things to the middle of the week before making any firm decisions. My watcher was back again both last night and tonight having taken a night off. Who ever it is, and I'm reasonably certain its a single individual, they don't arrive until about 2 hours after I do, and as soon as they realize I know they're there they leave. I'm also not sure how they're coming and going as I've found no sign of hoof prints other than possibly those of a deer.
I'm not sure what yet but I'm sure there is a connection between my watcher and the deer hoof prints, as I managed to catch a glimpse of a bolting deer tonight, and I've seen no other signs of deer in the area. I can't be sure but I think that I'm also being watched at school, not in the overt manner used by most of the teenage boys, and some of the girls but covertly. If I get the chance tomorrow night I'm going to try something and see if I can catch my watcher off guard. Who ever it is always watches from the same place which should allow me to catch them out with a little shadow manipulation.
I tried to call Llewella this evening but she wasn't answering. Assuming she's either in Amber or Rebma the time ratio could be a factor and thankfully she hasn't tried to call me back yet. I'll try again tomorrow evening. I also went to Kerily's this evening for a dress fitting. She had tacked both dresses together and needed to see how they looked before she committed to sewing them. Both need a few small adjustments, but otherwise they were a perfect fit, and should be finished by the middle of next week. When I get the opportunity to return home I'm going to see if I can locate a hand operated mechanical sewing machine for her. All this meant I arrived at the pool late. I was glad therefore when my watcher chose not to appear.
I managed to get hold of Llewella tonight. We discussed my progress and she said that if I'd recognised I needed more time then that wouldn't be a problem and would benefit me in the long run. She said to contact her at the same time tomorrow night, Amber Time, and we'd review things again. On the Random front, he'd passed out a little earlier that afternoon, yesterday my time, and was currently sleeping it off in Dave's backroom.
Well I now know my watcher is a shapeshifter, possibly a Chaosite, and definately a female student at the school. I'd arrived at the pool as usual and gone through my normal routine until their appearance, which as usual coincided with my swim. Tonight, however rather than getting out of the pool I'd continued to swim for sometime, taking longer and longer dives. During one of these I'd shifted shadows effectively disappearing from view. I'd then exited the pool, circled through the woods, and returned to my starting shadow from behind them. I'd then watched as the deer became first female, who'd dashed down to the side of the pool possibly fearing I may have drowned and then when I appeared behind her from the spot she'd just vacated, turned into some form of flying reptile which had left at a great rate of knots in the direction of the city. Having learnt all this I'm now not sure what to do about it, let alone what motive she may have for stalking me.
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