Morning all and welcome to the Fifteen Minute Novel. Here I take the start of a story idea and work on it for fifteen minutes a day. I started with an old writing prompt that interested me, cleaned it up a bit to fit the basic outline of the story I want to write and then set aside fifteen minutes each week day to see it grow. Each morning’s writing starts with the last sentence of the day before. And so now we have the story of Kasca…
Day 24: Mostly Kasca studied the books that were left on the shelf.
Mostly Kasca studied the books that were left on the shelf. At first it was strange. She was not accustomed to such quiet. At home she was always tasked with something. It often felt as though there was not a moment to herself. She ran her own daily life but then as one of the Touched she had a place within the community. She cast preservation spells on grain storage and meat reserves. She helped create healing poultices for injuries and helped dull the pain when the surgeons needed to reset broken bones.
She was called to tend the sick and to open and close the secret caches of food and supplies so more could be added. This year, the blacksmith and other craftsmen added weapons to the store as well. These needed to be hidden as soon as they were produced and Kasca and the other Touched were kept running.
At first, the quiet of the cottage bothered her. She felt there was something she needed to be doing. Something she was forgetting. Always she reminded herself that this was all that needed doing. She needed to feed and clean herself and occupy her time until the release.
‘The rest is nice,’ she thought. She was tired before she was sent to the Southlands and the trip itself just pushed her further to exhaustion. The first few days, Kasca slept later than usual and retired to bed as soon as the sun began to set. Gradually she felt rested, her time awake extended. She woke early and after eating went for a brisk walk around the enclosure before returning to a day of study. She did another circuit of the area, more to move her legs than because she expected anything to change. At the cottage she then prepared a small supper and lit the lantern as she worked her way through the books.
She mastered the spells provided in the books, adding them to her collection and thought of what a great gift they would be to bring home with her. She did her best not to worry about what was going on beyond the gates. She tried not to worry over the sickness, whatever it was reaching her home. Whenever worry started to rise, she dove into the books. She practiced the spells so they became fixed in her mind and read through the other books. They were history and books on the natural world for the most part. Included were a couple of herbalism books and Kasca was pleased to expand her knowledge there as well.
On her fifth day snow started to fall. It was light at first. A dusting of tiny flakes that barely deserved to be called flakes. She stayed inside and when she woke the next morning the ground was crispy but there was little coverage.
Three days later thunder rumbled and the clouds went gray and heavy. Instead of rain, thick fat flakes came. They looked like damp feathers torn from an enormous feather bed. She was accustomed to snow and knew in her home it was likely already there. It was a different sort of snow than this. Drier. The moisture for the flakes stole it from the air. Here the air was saturated, the flakes were wet. The first of them melted to water as they touched the ground. Soon Kasca could see the melted snow icing over, later flakes sticking to the top. There would be ice under the snow.
The wind was bitter cold, but it was the dampness that made her bones ache. Kasca stayed inside and kept the fire burning. The storm lasted two full days.
Ten til Midnight 