part 10

Alex sat at the work desk in the front of the shop working on a decorative binding. He wasn’t as much of a creative genuis as Master Damon’s daughter Hazel, who had a fine eye for colors and materials and fancy design. He had a surer touch with the actual crafting of the bindings and was more patient than she was when it came down to figuring out which techniques would work best for which bindings and cover decorations and clasps, or if the book would be well served by a time-intensive fussy cover at all. They worked it out between them – Hazel did a lot of the designing for special orders, and Alex built a lot of the books. Hazel also did a lot of restoration work, and Master Damon supervised. Master Damon’s cat Curt theoretically caught mice that might otherwise chew on the unbound pages and the leather they used for covers and the sinew they sewed the books together with, but in actuality all Curt did was lie around and get in the way. At least he didn’t scratch the press.

The front windows were open to the early afternoon breeze and in case anyone wanted to stick their head in the shop and say hello without having to actually step inside. Alex measured and cut variously colored and patterned leathers for the binding and listened to the noise of the street outside and the noise of Master Damon and Hazel talking about something in the back of the shop. “And this is supposed to make my life easier?” Master Damon was saying, and Hazel said yes, it was, and his answer was “Well, it doesn’t.” Alex grinned to himself. Master Damon was occasionally very resistant to change.

( Well hello there, someone said from the general vicinity of the open window. )

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total words: 17,321

part 11

Lunch turned out to be sausages and eggs and beer at a nearby pub, a nice cozy place called The Ravelled Sleave. They’d been there before – it was frequented by bookbinders, since it was smack in the middle of the bookbinders’ quarter – and every time Lowe pointed out that they’d spelled “sleeve” wrong, and every time Alex commented that it was from an old story poem and Lowe should know that, and did he have to point it out every time they went there to eat or have a beer? And Lowe would say yes, he did, and it was Alex’s turn to buy the drinks.

( They had to sit at the end of a long table, since all the small tables were occupied )

words: 581
total words: 17,902