{"id":342,"date":"2017-03-27T11:48:54","date_gmt":"2017-03-27T16:48:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/elizabethmoon.com\/blog\/?p=342"},"modified":"2017-03-27T15:39:40","modified_gmt":"2017-03-27T20:39:40","slug":"two-for-the-show","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/elizabethmoon.com\/blog\/index.php\/2017\/03\/27\/two-for-the-show\/","title":{"rendered":"Two for the Show"},"content":{"rendered":"

“It looks crowded,” Justin said as they came in sight of the Universes entrance.\u00a0 Streams of Vattas, including the stream in which they moved, flowed in, directed by Waystation staff and four Universes staff in their somewhat different uniform.\u00a0 He jumped a little as Shar’s elbow found his ribs.\u00a0 “Look ahead,” she muttered.\u00a0 “Those<\/em> aren’t Vatta.”\u00a0 Justin looked and saw a large clump–almost filling the wide passage–of people in clothes like those in ancient history vids.\u00a0 Very ancient history vids.\u00a0\u00a0 They weren’t all human. Tall ones, short ones, all kinds of strange outfits…he glanced back at the Universes entrance.\u00a0 His desire for an illicit fizzy drink with ice cream and a slab of cake evaporated.\u00a0\u00a0 Treats with relatives were all right, better than schoolwork, but adventure was better than either.\u00a0 He saw children mixed in that crowd too.\u00a0\u00a0 He glanced at Shar.\u00a0 She had already edged to the margin of the Vatta stream.<\/p>\n

When he caught up with her, she was using the benches on the far side of the passage as cover to evade the staff herding Vattas into Universes.\u00a0 The noise level from the restaurant and bar easily covered any noise they might make.\u00a0 “Give me your tie,” Shar said, “and take off that stupid jacket.”\u00a0\u00a0 Justin was glad to comply; Shar snatched the tie from him and made a headband for herself, then picked open the ornament on her necklace and took out the tiny knife.\u00a0 Before he knew what she intended, she had started cutting the seam between his jacket sleeves and the rest.<\/p>\n

“What are you doing?\u00a0 Grandmother will kill me!\u00a0 Great Aunt–”<\/p>\n

“They’ll never know.\u00a0 You were going to lose it, and you’ve almost outgrown it.\u00a0 Look at them<\/em>.\u00a0\u00a0 Some of them are wearing trousers and sleeveless jackets over their shirts.”\u00a0 One sleeve was out; she slit it down its other seam, then did the same with the other.\u00a0 “Here–put this back on.”\u00a0\u00a0 She took off the headband, put one of the opened sleeves on her head, then made the tie into a headband again and pulled up the sleeve fabric until it made a sort of floppy cap.\u00a0 “Those girls, some of them, wear scarves or caps.\u00a0 Now–”\u00a0 She put the little knife back in the locket and snapped it closed.\u00a0\u00a0 “If only you had a knife or sword for that belt.”<\/p>\n

They worked along behind the benches until they came to the next bulkhead.\u00a0 The noise across the way was even louder, joined by voices from the strangers in costume.\u00a0 Suddenly they heard “What are you<\/em> hiding for?”\u00a0 Three children were looking over the backs of the benches at them.<\/p>\n

“Shhhh,” Justin said.\u00a0 “We didn’t want to go to the other party with our grandmother–you looked much more interesting.”<\/p>\n

“Really?”\u00a0 The boy in the middle looked at them, brows raised.\u00a0 “We think you<\/em> look more interesting.\u00a0 Where are you from?”<\/p>\n

“Never mind that,” Shar said.\u00a0 “Stand back up and let us sneak behind you down that way.”\u00a0 She pointed.<\/p>\n

“Won’t you get in trouble?”<\/p>\n

“Probably,” Justin said. “But not for awhile, until they find us. And meantime we’ll be free and having fun. ”<\/p>\n

“Are you principals or extras?” the girl with a long yellow braid asked.<\/p>\n

“Why?”<\/p>\n

“They’ll search harder for principals.”<\/p>\n

“Then we’re extras,” Shar said.\u00a0 “Help us?”<\/p>\n

“Right.” The boy who’d spoken first stood up and without a word gestured to the others, plus two more from their motley crowd.\u00a0\u00a0 And very shortly they were edging along the bulkhead of the other passage.\u00a0\u00a0 “You’re out of costume–we need to see–if there’s–someplace you can change–”<\/p>\n

“I tried,” Shar said.<\/p>\n

“Good start, but the threads hanging loose are way out of period for our universe.”\u00a0 He was looking at the others they passed, and finally called out “Tia!”\u00a0 A tall teenage girl in what seemed a typical costume for about two thirds of the women turned toward them.\u00a0 As she came nearer, she scowled at the twins.<\/p>\n

“What have you done?” she asked, and went on without waiting.\u00a0 “You know perfectly well those aren’t from the costume shop.\u00a0 How’d you get past Mrs. Terganian?\u00a0 You’ll have to go back.\u00a0 Nobody in Paksworld has that kind of cloth–and those shoes–”<\/p>\n

“Can’t you fix them up, Tia?”<\/p>\n

“I shouldn’t, but–we do seem to be stuck here just waiting for some reason.\u00a0 Come on, you two.\u00a0 Good thing you’re just extras–”\u00a0 She led them past the rest of that crowd, all wearing what Justin thought of as historical clothes from Old Earth.\u00a0 They smelled different, too, a curious mix of wool and spice and flowers.\u00a0 Finally Tia tapped an intricate pattern on a bulkhead with the outline of a door on it, and they walked through to find themselves in some kind of shop with racks of clothes in that same archaic style, all kinds of clothes.\u00a0 A stout woman came toward them.<\/p>\n

“What’s wrong?\u00a0 Oh…you two.”\u00a0 She scowled.<\/p>\n

“I don’t know which they are,” Tia said.\u00a0 “All those books, you know.\u00a0 Jamis here says they’re extras.”<\/p>\n

“Well, that’s easily handled.\u00a0 There’s the changing stalls–hurry up.\u00a0 I’ll bring you what you need.”<\/p>\n

In short order, Justin wore a plain shirt that felt too big, and dark trousers tucked into low boots.\u00a0 Over the shirt a long sleeveless vest, and over that a belt with a knife hanging from it. \u00a0 “Whatever your station was before, these are merchanter class.\u00a0 Forget your assigned role; you’re supposed to have good manners in this outfit.\u00a0 Your father’s a wool merchant in Valdaire.”\u00a0 Shar found herself in a similar shirt, blue instead of cream, embroidered heavily on the yoke and cuffs, worn with an almost ankle-length striped skirt in red and blue.\u00a0 The gray piece of sleeve had been replaced with a kerchief.\u00a0 “You’re from Fintha; your mother is a weaver.\u00a0 Got that?”\u00a0 Shar nodded.\u00a0 “Then get out of here, the pair of you, and catch up.\u00a0 I’ll mend this mess of the jacket you made; you can pick it up later.”<\/p>\n

“She was in a good mood,” the boy named Jamis said, grinning.\u00a0\u00a0 They took off running back up the passage, only to be stopped by a man in a Waystation Security uniform.<\/p>\n

“See two kids named Vatta anywhere about?\u00a0 Boy in gray suit with a tie, girl in a fuschia dress? ”<\/p>\n

“No, sir,” Justin said.\u00a0 It was sort of true.\u00a0 He hadn’t seen himself in the gray suit, and Shar wasn’t wearing the fuschia dress now<\/em>.<\/p>\n

“Damn. They must have gone out the other way somehow.”\u00a0 The man spoke into a communicator then hurried off down a side corridor.<\/p>\n

“Your name’s Vatta?\u00a0 I’m Jamis Arcolin.”<\/p>\n

“Justin and Shar,” Shar said.<\/p>\n

“You might want some less distinctive names,” Jamis said.\u00a0 “Sharra’s easy enough for you, Shar, but Justin–”<\/p>\n

“My middle name’s Danos.”<\/p>\n

“Perfect.”<\/p>\n

“I can use my middle name,” Shar said.\u00a0 “Elia.”<\/p>\n

“And there’s our crowd.\u00a0 Ten books’ worth.”\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Jamis looked a bit smug at that.\u00a0 Justin wondered how many of them Jamis had been in, and if he’d had any outtake story lines.\u00a0 “And some short fiction collections.\u00a0 I got lead in ‘A Bad Day at Duke’s East’ but it’s not out yet.”<\/p>\n

“Seven for us,” Shar said.\u00a0 “So far.\u00a0 Author just finished one.”<\/p>\n

“We’re here for the 30th Anniversary celebration; they’re re-issuing the first three books with new covers.\u00a0 We were going to have a cast party in Universes, but if you Vattas–”<\/p>\n

“Let the grownups sort it out,” Justin said in a different accent, picked up from Jamis.\u00a0 Danos, he had already figured, would be a practical, serious boy.\u00a0 All right for a few hours, but he really preferred the roles he got in his own series.\u00a0 Except that it always paired him with Shar, and maybe if she was being Elia they wouldn’t have to stick together so tightly.<\/p>\n

(to be continued.)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“It looks crowded,” Justin said as they came in sight of the Universes entrance.\u00a0 Streams of Vattas, including the stream in which they moved, flowed in, directed by Waystation staff and four Universes staff in their somewhat different uniform.\u00a0 He jumped a little as Shar’s elbow found his ribs.\u00a0 “Look ahead,” she muttered.\u00a0 “Those aren’t Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[20,31,3],"class_list":["post-342","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-interlude","tag-characters","tag-snippet","tag-waystation-huygens"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/elizabethmoon.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/elizabethmoon.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/elizabethmoon.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/elizabethmoon.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/elizabethmoon.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=342"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/elizabethmoon.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":346,"href":"http:\/\/elizabethmoon.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342\/revisions\/346"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/elizabethmoon.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/elizabethmoon.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/elizabethmoon.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}