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 177: Because of the timing Anya felt justified in a little lounging by the fire for the moment.
Because of the timing Anya felt justified in a little lounging by the fire for the moment. As she relaxed and let the head sink into her bones, Anya found thoughts of her dreams resurfacing. After Deran’s comments about gods and dreams Anya wondered what the Star said to the Matron to get her to change her opinion of Anya. She also wondered if her dream was more than she thought it might have been.
‘It could have just been because Deran called both of us Children of the Moon,’ She thought. ‘Maybe the words sunk in and just stayed in my mind.’ It was plausible as were the thoughts of being chased. She had felt as though she was being chased since she left the tower. It was nothing new.
‘I’m surprised I don’t dream of it more,’ Anya thought. The thoughts of pursuit had faded as she settled into the hidden spaces in the House of the Star but thinking about Lord Mathis sending his men out to track her as she saw with the orb might have reignited those worries. The part that bothered her the most was that the statue seems slightly familiar.
Anya was certain the statue wasn’t wearing the face of anyone she had ever seen, so she didn’t know why the statue felt familiar but as she thought about it the more Anya felt that it was true. She had seen the statue somewhere else before. She just couldn’t figure out where that might be.
‘Where have I seen statues at all,” Anya thought. Tyrin may not have been the smallest town in Dovish but it wasn’t large enough to boast public statues. ‘Even the fountain in the center of town is just a basin placed around the natural spring. It was only called a fountain as there was a center post that was hollow. It was carved of white stone and guided the spring water up into the air. The water then ran down the stone to fill the basin. There were channels carved in the side so that the basin would never over flow. The water didn’t so much fountain up as it did spill out of the top of the center post and run down the sides of the stone column. It wasn’t designed to be a show piece but to keep the water moving so there was no stagnation in the basin and the water remained fresh.
While there was a clean beauty in the design, there was no statuary to speak of. ‘And it couldn’t be confused with the woman on the throne.’
She knew their church had statues. They were small as far as such things went. Each statue stood only a foot tall. Each was carves into the likeness of a saint and they were placed at intervals in carved wall niches around the room. As Tyrin did not have its own patron saint, the inhabitants chose to represent all fifty one of the recognized saints equally. Anya remembered her lessons in church and being walked around the room. She and the other children all learned the proper names for the saints and their basic addresses. All of the saints had entire litanies that the priests could recite on the appropriate occasion but as none of them were taking vows, they just had to learn the basics.
Anya closed her eyes and allowed herself to walk through the memory.
Ten til Midnight 