The fifteen minute novel writing experiment is a attempt to write a complete (and very rough) draft of a novel by writing for fifteen minutes each day. I have taken a timed writing from one of the daily prompts done in 2021, cleaned it up a little and used it as my jumping off point into a story. Each day I will take the last line of the story written the day before and use it as my sentence starter and write for fifteen minutes, growing the story as the year progresses.
Day 162: ‘If Deran can show me how to use whatever abilities I might have, then maybe I could use them to find a place elsewhere.’
‘If Deran can show me how to use whatever abilities I might have, then maybe I could use them to find a place elsewhere.’ Anya dusted off the crumbs of her meal into her hand, Gathering them together and emptying her hand into the fire. She did not want to invite mice and other vermin to share her space. While she wasn’t entirely happy about being so completely alone, she didn’t need them as roommates.
Deciding the tea steeped enough, Anya poured herself a mug and sat back in her reading chair. She thought about Deran as she sipped her tea and let the warmth flow down to her bones. She was glad to have someone to talk to and pleased to have to possibility of guidance. She trusted him, but as she always believed the children of the house were all treated equally, Anya found her belief in her judgement a bit shaky.
‘But he is a memory,’ Anya told herself. ‘Even if he has an ulterior motive, he is confined to the circles.’ Thinking of the circles, Anya wondered where she could move them to. The small room where she slept, read and ate seemed a little too small for both of the circles. She imagined putting them in the room would cause her and Deran to be standing only a few inches apart. While she was pleased to have the possibility of a friend, she wasn’t certain she wanted him that close to her while they spoke.
The room next door was where the books she was gathering were stashed. While she filled the cases in there to capacity, she found far more books than she had shelf space for and started piling them into stacks around the floor. The room wasn’t large and unless she managed to clear out some of the piles to create more floor space there would be just as little space in there as she had in her sleeping chamber.
‘There is another space on the other side,’ Anya thought. It was nearly an identical space to this one, but it did not have the same furnishings. In fact she had taken the chair she used her as her reading chair from that room so there were even less furnishings than it started with. Anya had been contemplating putting more books in there if there was a need but had yet to reach that stage in her collection.
‘With the lack of furnishings it should be roomy enough to meet with Deran,’ Anya decided. ‘And if I used the fire box there while meeting with him, the heat should keep this room from becoming too cold while I am gone.’
Well aware that she was the only one in the hidden spaces Anya banked the fire anytime she left the quarters. It made the rooms colder when she was gone a while, but it eliminated the fear of fire. She did not want to start an uncontrolled blaze in a part of the House that only she could access.
The solution seemed to be a good one and Anya leaned back in the chair feeling relieved. She sipped her tea. In the morning she would go to Deran and find out what was necessary to move the circles so that the lessons would be more comfortable.
‘And then maybe I’ll learn something that would help get me out of the hidden spaces.’
The thought was comforting and Anya decided to take the night off. She was tired from looking in on Lord Mathis and talking with Deran and soon after she finished her tea, Anya banked the fire and crawled into bed beneath her mound of blankets.
Sleep found her easily, but it was not dreamless. In her mind Anya found herself racing across a wide field covered with snow.
Ten til Midnight 