So, I Finished NaNo

I did. I hit 50,000 on Sunday, and threw a small party. I'm sorry that I didn't invite you. It was, literally, just me and a few girls on that I chat with on google hangouts.

It was necessarily small because, while NaNo is finished, I still have at least 50,000-60,000 words left to write. Yes, the book is now sitting at 73,000 words (I need to update the thingie on my sidebar), but it seems that LDTD isn't content in being shorter than its prequel (WPFP is about 136,000). Which is something that I'm fine with.

Now, I'm going to share some snippets with you guys and go get ready for work. I'll be back tomorrow with my post for Ilyon Day (which is, technically today, but I had Rizkaland stuff planned today, so I'll post tomorrow.) I'll also be editing the party post tomorrow, because now that I have a better idea of what sort of time I'll have this month, I need to cut back on some of the plans. It'll still be great, though!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dust coated everything. Petra half-expected to find spiderwebs clinging to the corners, but either Rizkaland didn’t have spiders, the spiders they did have weren’t the sort that spun webs, or they were somehow banished from castles.

To be fair, she didn’t see any bugs, be they insect or spider, at all, so she really didn’t know what to think.

With each echoing step they took away from the library, Petra’s approval of Reuben’s rash decision diminished even more. But she knew from long experience that he wasn’t going to listen to any protests of “you’re going the wrong way,” so all she could do was try to draw a mental map of the place and hope she could help them find their way back when he tired of exploring.

A door creaked as he pushed it open, sounding like a painful moan in the still air.

“What are you doing?” she hissed.

“Exploring,” he answered, peering inside. “I thought I told you that. Just a bedroom. Nice bedroom, though. I wonder if one of the kings or queens slept here.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He said nothing in defense of his actions. He stood, and then sat down cross-legged in front of her and held out a hand.

“I’d like to know our limits.”

“Reuben!”

“Look, I’m not afraid to let you know me,” Reuben continued. “I get that you’re protective of your thoughts, and I’m not going to pry, but I’m not that way. There’s no one in all the world that I trust as much as I trust you. I want you to test our limits with me.”

“Reuben, I’m not sure…”

“Look, Alphego gave us these powers, and I don’t think He’d give us the ability to do something He doesn’t want us to do. Petra, you’re my best friend, I love you, and now we’re Tied to each other. I’m not afraid to let you know any part of me.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He glanced up at her, pulling down his glasses as he did so – he was far-sighted, and only wore his glasses to read, something she envied. “There you are. Did it take Rintaya that long to convince you that the Doormat was safe?”

“I see you’ve made yourself comfortable,” she answered, reluctant to tell him the exact nature of the conversation she had had with Rintaya. “Is that a good book?”

“Don’t know yet, the spelling’s making it hard to read,” he answered. “Come now, step off the mat, so Rintaya can follow.”

“Yeah,” said Petra. She stepped off of the mat, hugging her arms against her chest. “Reuben…”

“Yes?” He pushed his glasses back onto his nose and returned to reading. Which meant she probably didn’t have his full attention.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Robert, are we the only two in this house?” Summer asked, entering the kitchen.

“Well,” said Robert, glancing up from the newspaper comics he was reading, “Reuben was here for a few minutes, about an hour ago, but other than that, Dad’s at the shop, and the other two are across the street.”

“There is a strange energy about today,” said Summer, cutting to the chase as she perched herself on a bar stool.

“Reuben said something similar to me this morning,” said Robert. “He said he had the strangest feeling that something great was about to happen, that feeling you get when you’re on the verge some decision, the result so much larger than you are, yet you frustratingly have no idea what that decision will be.”

Summer frowned and shook her head. “Not quite like that.”

“Well, that was Reuben, and we all know that Reuben reads too many adventure novels.” Robert leaned against the counter. “So what do you make of today?”

“I don’t know,” said Summer, shrugging. “I just know it isn’t quite that.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He found Rintaya and Petra already awake and fixing breakfast.

“Morning, sleepyhead,” said Petra, as he set his staff against the wall where hers already stood. “I was wondering when you’d smell the bacon and come running.”

“Bacon? They have bacon here?”

“Well, it’s similar,” she admitted, shrugging. “It certainly smells good, and it is meat. And there are eggs that came from birds, so we’ll call it close enough.”

“Sounds good to me,” said Reuben nodding.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“I’m glad you’re here with me for this adventure,” she said, finally, sitting down next to him.

“Yep.”

She leaned her head against his shoulder. “And I happen to know you’re glad too, even if you aren’t paying attention.”

“Yep.”

“After all, you’re the one who was always hanging out in closets and inventing your own adventures into new worlds,” she continued. “It would have been dreadfully awkward had I come here without you, and then go back and have to confess, ‘hey, Reuben, you know how you’ve always wanted to travel to another world? Well, I just went to one without you.’ It would have been terribly awkward.

“Yep.”

Done with that confession, she peered closer at the book he was reading and wrinkled her nose. “You’re right, the spelling is atrocious.”