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 243: “If it ever will be safe,” Anya said.
“If it ever will be safe,” Anya said. She personally had her doubts about Lord Mathis ever just giving up, but she knew others seemed to feel that they could arrange he safety.
‘And who am I to argue with the moon,’ she thought.
“True,” Arkaron said. Anya looked at him and shrugged. “It seems you have abilities few poses. Magic has been gone a long time. There are those with abilities, but not the true magic of the moon. Perhaps you are one of few, perhaps you are the first of many. Regardless, there will be many who see abilities you have or who have heard tales of magicians and think you may have some of their mythological abilities. They may seek to use you even if they don’t use a half tumbled tower to do so.”
“So it may not be just Lord Mathis,” Anya said. “I may have to hide in the mountain forever?”
“I don’t think you need to stay there forever,” he said. “But while you are learning interesting new things, you will need to hide the magical part of what you are learning as well as come up with a logical place for you to have learned what you did learn.”
Anya nodded. “The training papers,” she said.
Arkaron nodded. “I believe Dovish is somewhat stricter on such matters but even here there is a guild membership required for practice and you would need to cite who you learned from and have that verified.”
Anya slumped.
Arkaron smiled. “There are ways around that, but it will require some thought. Specifics would be nice. You are studying the texts used to train herbalists along with your magic?”
Anya nodded. She didn’t explain that Deran explained the herbalism as a precursor to the magic she would learn. Right now because there were no supplies for her to practice with he was just making sure she had the information about the flora and fauna of the world in her memory. Later there would be uses both mundane and magical.
“I think that it might be best if I consult with our herbalists and get a more detailed view on how they are trained and what they need to present Guild membership,” Arkaron said when Anya didn’t add anything. Lord Mathis will bear watching from both of us for the moment.”
“I didn’t mean to cause you so much trouble,” Anya said.
He waved away her concern. “The conversation with the herbalist or even the Guild is easily accomplished and Mathis is a problem I have already been thinking on so that adds nothing.” He looked at her. “You have been watching him?”
“When I can,” Anya said. “He never seems to be doing anything helpfully nefarious when I look in on him.”
Arkaron chuckled. ”Yes I have the same problem with him.”
Ten til Midnight 