All Bound Up

Writers: AL, Chelle
Date Posted: 26th October 2012

Characters: Asley, Meledei
Description: Meledei asks Asley to bind a book for her.
Location: Harper Hall
Date: month 10, day 9 of Turn 6

Meledei strode into the Hall and made her way to the area where the
printers were, a bundle of parchment in her arms. She stuck her head in
one room only to find it empty. The next one had a class in progress so
she didn't even try to get anyone's attention. In the third one, she
found a familiar face. "Hey Asley!"

Turning around, she almost dropped the tray she was holding, especially
when she realized who it was standing there. Meledei had come to see her!?!
The goldrider was wearing a nice dress that flattered her eyes and the printer
appreciated it. "Well hello. Ugh..." She was a mess. There were ink stains on
her smock and she was sure her hair probably had escaped.

"Did I come at a bad time?" Meledei moved further into the room and
hooked the parchment pile under one arm. "I don't want to be a bother."

"Oh no no no....I was just...making a mess." She gave a lopsided smile
as she found a place to set her tray with its tiles lined up neatly.
"What are you doing here? I didn't think I'd ever seen you in here
before.." Trying to remember and somehow straighten her smock without
making more of a mess, Asley turned off the press.

"I've been here before, just haven't seen you." Meledei laughed and
then motioned to the pile she held in her arms. "I was looking for
someone to bind this for me. Do you happen to do that sort of thing?"

She bit her lip then nodded. As a senior apprentice, she was allowed to
operate the binder without permission. Asley looked at the pile curiously.
"What is it exactly?" She moved to clean up, at least to wash her hands.

"Just a collection of songs I've gathered over the last few turns. Just
for my personal pleasure." Meledei liked to sing and sometimes she went
over the songs just for fun. It was nice to have. "I can pick out a
tune well enough on a gitar to hear the melody."

"You can? Wow. I can't play anything. Surrounded by harpers but
I'm afraid I'm tone deaf or whatever they call it. Music..notes and stuff-not
me. Give me words and letters any day." She finished cleaning and came to
get the sheaf from Meledei, inspecting it before setting up the binder.

"Trust me, I'm nowhere near as good as a harper, but I know a little."
Meledei moved a little closer to watch her work. "You're doing it now?
I didn't expect it to be done for a day or more."

"Well basically all I have to do is make holes here, here, and here. Then I put
string through them to hold the paper together. Then, we use paste along
the spine and add the binding. The paste has to dry and if I don't have a
binding of the right size, well that will take some time but...I can do the holes
and the string at least so the papers will stay together." She hunted around for her
tool and then started measuring.

"I can come back if you'd rather do it later." Meledei suggested. "I
don't want to take you away from something more important."

"No it's fine." She was sure if she told anyone who asked that a
goldrider had asked her to do it, there would be no other questions.
Asley sometimes wondered why Meledei didn't realize that too. The
girl seemed to be unaware of her own power. "Have you ever sung any
of these?" she asked curiously as she worked.

"Oh yes, all of them. Not publicly, of course, but among friends and
privately." Meledei just enjoyed singing though she had never thought
to make it a craft back before she had Impressed. No, there had been
something else that she had wanted to do even more. "Do you sing at all?"

"Not really no. I stick to the written word, not written music. Didn't get that
talent." Her hands worked fluidly enough, though, and it didn't take long before
she had made the holes she needed and then began to tie the string carefully,
wrapping the holes with it.

"But you certainly have a different talent." Meledei indicated the
work that Asley was doing. "I don't have that sort of talent. What do
you plan on specializing in?"

"Mmmm I don't know...I mean paper making is a dirty business, though
running and repairing the presses are too. Binding is easy enough. I'm not an
artist so I can't design new type easily... Maybe ink production. Messy but fun."
Asley liked to experiment to a point and ink had many properties.

"Hey, sometimes getting messy _is_ the fun part." Meledei plopped in a
seat as she waited for Asley to finish. "You still have time to decide,
right? When do you think you'll walk the tables?"

"I don't know...I was hoping soon so I wouldn't have to move but I don't
think it'll happen really," she gave a slightly unsure look that hinted
at her concerns.

"Could always ask?" Meledei suggested. "I would have walked soon if I
hadn't Impressed."

"I don't know. I'm afraid if I do ask, it'll make me seem overeager and then
what if they say I'm a long ways from walking anyway?" That seemed to be
her real fear, that they would find fault with her work.

"There's nothing wrong with seeming over eager. As for the other, it
would still at least give you an idea as to when you would walk."
Meledei turned the chair around then folded her arms over the back.
"That would be worth asking, wouldn't it?"

"I guess. I just don't want to give anyone an excuse to think
something bad about me. I need everything to be okay right now since it's all
sort of riding on this." If she had to go back to the Hold, it was going to
be misery until she could leave. That much she was sure of.

"I'm sure it will be okay. I doubt asking would shed a bad light on
you." Meledei knew that the move of the Hall could cause trouble for
the female crafters. She hoped Asley could walk before the move happened.

Finishing with the easy part of her job, Asley put Meledei's book aside.
"That's all I can do for now. I'll have to mix the paste and then glue it
together and let it dry and such after cutting the binding. I can have it
delivered to you, though."

"That's fine. I should get back to work anyway. Thanks for taking care
of this for me." Meledei stood and put the chair back where she had
gotten it. "I appreciate it."

Last updated on the November 17th 2012

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All Bound Up