The fifteen minute novel writing experiment is an 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 233: She found an empty spot in her quarters and let the orb down gently.
She found an empty spot in her quarters and let the orb down gently. The orb and it’s stand settled into place and Anya let her intent fade. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She stepped back and the orb remained in place. As Anya moved away she waited for the orb to shift or settle, but it didn’t. It was in its new place and looked just as much at home as it did in its previous location.
“Maybe more so,” Anya thought.
Here the orb was no longer isolated in a large and empty room. Here it was settled in a corner, the warm wood behind it and the book cases leading away from it. It was an object in a room rather than an object in isolation. Anya smiled.
While she would still need to go and rummage around in the various abandoned kitchens for gear for her own kitchen space at the moment it was less of a priority. Instead Anya set the fire to burning, delighting in the fact that she would not need to bank it until the evening when she went to bed. Her main task complete, Anya went to inspect the bathing chamber. Luxuriating in a warm bath sounded like a fantastic way to celebrate her official end of the relocation.
‘I may not stay forever,’ she thought. ‘but for now this is my home.’
Looking around, Anya felt less dismayed by that then she was before. She was still alone and this was still a lonely place, but she could look out on the wide world when she needed to and in the comfort of a warm room rather than a frigid space. She had access to a large stone bowl if she learned to create images in it. The bowl was close to the area where Marta left things for her and at some point there might be a message letting her know it was once again safe to emerge.
‘Not too bad,’ Anya thought. It made her feel more optimistic than the thought of relocating to a deep and hidden part of the mountain on her own.
“I will have to remember to thank the Lady,” Anya said.
Her steps took her to the tub and she studied the contraption. The bath was a large stone basin. It looked as though it was carved out of pone giant rock and then polished until it was slick and smooth, gleaming almost like metal. There was a stopper made of cork fitted into a hole on one end and Anya guessed that was what kept the water from running out. There was a large stone box fitted to the wall. It had pipes running from it. Underneath the stone basin and set back was a small fire place. To Anya it looked like the chimney for the fire box was pressed against the back of the stone basin containing the water.
‘I guess that is how the water heats,’ she thought. Anya retrieved her firelight and tinder and quickly got a few sparks to land on the bundle of fine shavings. She placed it in the small fire box and began slowly adding the smaller sticks to it, building up the fire gradually. Once it was burning at a steady pace. Anya let it go for a while. She didn’t know how long it would take to heat the water in the basin, but didn’t think it would be instantaneous.
She let the fire burn and gathered the cleanest of her clothes to put on once she had properly bathed. She kept an eye on the fire and added more fuel to it as she shifted her soap and towels into position. When she had all she needed, Anya tested the water by allowing as small portion to stream out of the tap.
Ten til Midnight 