Le WIPpet and le ROW80 (Pardon my French)

So. Where to begin? The last few weeks have been beyond hectic but now all my assignments are done and I’m two days away from the mid-semester break I feel I can begin to relax a little and refocus on writing and languages, both learning and constructing.

I did a general wrap up on the whole ROW80 thing last Sunday here’s a quick update:

Edit Queen of Hearts

As much progress as usual which is unfortunately none.

Write

Word count wise, aced it, thanks to a few huge essays all due in the past few days.

Blog

Successful! I also created a tumblr for my conlangs projects which you can check out if you want. I’m also in need of people to follow so if you want, post your link in the comments and I’ll go check it out. 🙂

Create

Successful! All the success! Worked out the case system for Farilien and created some new verbs and lexemes for it too.

Okay, moving on to WIPpet Wednesday. I feel that I’ve shown you all a lot from Queen of Hearts over the past two and a half years so with NaNoWriMo swiftly approaching I thought I’d share with you a scene from day 15 (24-9) of last years NaNoWriMo project.

Context: This is the story of Eriden who you may remember from snippets of Queen of Hearts. This is the story of her youth and past and it sort of relates to the events leading to QoH. Born in a brothel, Eri was fostered to a man known only as the Master after her mothers death. Growing up on the streets, she realises she needs to find a way to avoid her fate, the same fate that befell her mother. A chance encounter leads to her apprenticeship in the Assassins Guild. However, just as her future is about to be secured, she is betrayed by a friend, Kelt, and returned to the brothel she was born in to pay off her mother’s debt. This scene takes place about a year after, when Eri is around sixteen. Taking a rare opportunity, Eriden heads down to the docks to settle a debt of her own.

‘What d’ you want?’ Kelt said when he saw her.

‘That’s no way to greet a friend.’

‘No lackey of the Master ‘s my friend.’

‘I’m not his lackey. In fact, if he knew what I was about to ask you, he’d try to kill me.’

‘He’d succeed.’

Eri shrugged her shoulders, ‘He might. Might fail too but that is irrelevant. I need a favour.’

‘What is it.’ he wiped his hands on a rag and came to sit down beside her, facing out over the bay. She had not seen him since the night he left her at the brothel. He was fifteen now, tanned and muscled and Eri could not help admiring his physique. It was his fault, really, for neglecting to wear anything but his short breeches and boots. After all, what defence does a young girl have against that? None. So she let herself appreciate him.

‘I need you to run an errand for me. Out of the city.’

‘How far out?’

‘To Krenhill. A day north. My friend’s there but I don’t think he knows I am alive. And I made a mistake I need to fix.’

‘You want me to just leave work and go chasing some lover boy?’

‘He’s not my lover. And I can’t go myself.’

‘Why not?’

‘I am sworn to Rena, no thanks to you, and I can’t leave Tressa’s for more than a few hours or she’ll have me sold.’

‘Not my problem.’

‘Very much your problem,’ she argued, ‘If the Master had not had you wound so tightly around his little finger, you would not have drugged me, kidnapped me and enslaved me to the one thing I thought I had managed to finally escape from, just as it looked like I might have a chance at something outside of what the Fates decreed. You ruined my life, Kelt. The least you can do is try to help me fix it.’