Catchism: Advent Lessons

[catch]

In the end, he had opened one lid on his own. It had been after speaking to the hawk-woman, when he had gone over his words, agonized over them. Felt the fear any man feels when he speaks ill of something, someone, of great power and importance. What if the sounds of a cane came tapping, tapping, from down the hall? Before he knew it, he had the box in his hands, and he had hesitated, his guts made of ice and his mind a wild scramble of why, why not, but why.

In the end, like the removal of a limb, a life, it had been quick. He opened the longest door.

Airy Ann,

Cherny writes this for me. You are so very busy and importent that I think writing would be better. When I open boxes. I opened this one all by myself and I found a very grand stone. It is smooth and cool and fits in my hand. It tastes like water.

Rhaena gave me a stone. It was black but when you sang or touched it it turned all kinds of colors. Ripples and colors. That was when she loved me. That was when she sang to me and came with me to see my flowers and told me I was beautiful and grand. I liked her very much and she gave me such a pretty stone. Glenn said that she loved me and he said I should do something Very Nice for her. He said it is what good friends do. He said I should Fix her hand. And he was so nice about it I thought that it was a very grand idea. He was right, wasn't he? He was right about friends and doing nice things.

I Fixed her hand by using the stone. I'm good at Fixing things. I Fixed other parts of her too parts that were deep and deep inside. I put all my Fixing into her.

She stopped coming to see my flowers. She stopped singing to me. She never had time to come and tell me I was beautiful and grand. Glenn said Thank You but then he never said anything else. He never said what I did wrong that made her hate me.

I learned that Stones can be used to build things. But you can use Stones to throw at things and make them break and shatter. I didn't know that when Glenn made everyone angry at Miss Renea. I told them she would come back and she did but no one listens to lunatiks me. I threw some Stones until I saw what was happening and then I got very angry.

Throwing Stones makes everyone afraid, but using them to Build Hands is worse.

I wish I had taken the hand back when I killed her

Ser Catch did not kill the Lady he only thinks he might have but he did not.

[Carnath-Emory]

Catch

More than anything, I am very glad that you and Cherny are dear friends. It is good of him to write that letter for you, and it was very good of you to wish it written. I like reading the things which you say. My friend writes this for me today, so that it might be easy for you both to read. We are fortunate, you and I, in the kindness of our friends.

The stone that you have found does not care if you sing or if you speak at all, I think: it is only what it seems to be. It is not enchanted in any manner; I do not give magical gifts. But it is special in certain ways, I think. For one, this stone was found upon the banks of the lake which is near my home; perhaps you taste of those waters when you hold it in your hand. For another, while there are stones of many colours to be found there, of different sizes and different shapes, and even pebbles too, none are so flatly made as this, and few so smooth of texture. While this stone is not for singing or dancing with colours - and certainly stones should not be thrown - such virtues as flatness suit it very well for a particular sort of game.

If - when the seasons have turned and summer has come upon us again - you feel that you should like to see this lake for yourself, or learn this unusual game, you need not even speak a word of it: you need only show me this stone and I will know, and there we shall go.

Sometimes - often - the people of Myrken grow very frightened when it seems that those who've fallen dead have come back. Once - years ago - there came to Myrken a creature named Ashfiend, who caused many, many Myrkeners who had died to come back in a different way. He did not Fix them: they were still dead. But he made them to move, and he swained them to do his bidding, and many were the Myrken families which they slew at this Ashfiend's command. It frightened. It saddened. It was not forgotten. When Renea came back - truly came back - it seemed to them that she was also one of the Ashfiend's swain. This is what fear does, sometimes: it makes people to move and to act in a way that they might not, if only they were able to hear their thoughts over all their fright.

Thank you for your letter, Catch. I am glad you were willing to open another box.

Ariane