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 255: Anya frowned, her thoughts shifting even as she continued her work.
Anya frowned, her thoughts shifting even as she continued her work. It seemed strange that all of the interior hidden spaces were untouched, the supplies were well stocked and yet the mountain still fell to the invaders. “At least it seems well stocked from my perspective.”
To the newly filled bins Anya began adding seed, matching the appropriate item with the appropriate blend of growing medium. When Anya was finished it didn’t look much different than the long troughs did be for except that now the troughs were filled with dirt and she could hear the pipes his as hot water ran through them, heating the dirt and warming it to convince the planta to grow even though spring was a long way away.
“And As long As I keep my fire going they should be fine,” Anya thought, pleased to have ye another excuse to keep her fire burning throughout the dy. She looked over to the heavy blankets she would need to lay over the troughs before she put the fire out for the night. They were in reality heavy canvas cloth filled with several layers of woven wool. While they could be placed directly over the troughs to keep the beds from losing heat in the night, locking in the residual warmth from the pipes, once the plants started to grow thee were metal frames she would have to put up to keep the weight of the warming blankets off the fragile plants.
“But for now this is fine,” Anya watered the newly planted seeds and tidied up the room from her efforts. Not all of the troughs were in use. For the moment she only planted a few rows of varying plants. Part of the reason for planting so few was to see if the seeds were even still viable or if she would need to source new ones from Marta. The second reason was because she didn’t want to take too much from places where it might be needed and the final reason was that the space provided was far too large. If she were to plant all of it out, she was certain she could provide for the needs of all of Tyrin and still have some left over for emergencies.
She simply didn’t need that much food. Anya stared out over the rows of still empty troughs and wondered if the mountain once contained enough people for this food to all be needed. “I’m sure not all of the seeds grew so they planted extra to be certain of a harvest, ‘ she thought. ‘But that is still a lot.’
As Anya looked it over she recalled that Deran claimed those that lived in the mountain moved away from the deeper interior portions well before the fall of the mountain.
‘Did they just leave the supplies then?’ she asked herself. ‘Did they not know they were there or did they use some other system and not have the time to get this one back in motion to help them during the siege?”
Anya shook her head. So many questions crowded her brain that she didn’t have the space for me. “I still need to find out more about the orb although if the orb could help me find out about these supplies I am sure it could help me find out about everything else as well. “
Even though she was finished with setting up the garden area and there was still daylight, Anya didn’t feel like asking any more questions.
Ten til Midnight 