Astra of Gana

"Astra?" said Fred. "Never heard that name before. Where do you come from and how'd you get in here?" He again placed his hands on her shoulders and attempted to step back, but her grip was strong.

"I... I come from Gana. My father is a clocker, he thought it would be cute to call his little girl after the sky spirits. I was on a picnic three weeks ago when a band of squirrels attacked us and took me prisoner."

Fred stared into the large green eyes of this woman. "Ah," he said. "That explains everything."

For those of you who are not well versed in the cosmological applications of the human societies of Havnheim, you must know that it is universally held that the sky (also called the "heavens", "heaven", the "great blue ether", and "up there" (not to be confused with "out there" which is a reference to the nether regions of the farthest night) is home to the sky spirits called the Astranomicae an ancient word derived from the ancient language of the Great Empire from which most of the human societies in Havnheim are descended. It is highly believed, though not universally, that the Astranomicae are responsible for the seasons of the year, the tides of the sea, and the occurances of spontaneous feline combustion (one reason why few in Havnheim keep cats, bobcats, or lynxs as pets). In order to understand these phenomena, and benefit from better harvests, larger fishing catches, and financially viable cat-fights, the Guild of the Clockers came to be developed over the last three hundred sixty-two years. Clockers are men and women who watch the skies, monitoring the movements of all celestial objects - the moon, the littler stars and the bigger stars, shooting snots, meteoroids, hemmoroids, ethereal boonwags, fireflysuckers, and black holes. These clockers are known far and wide as good observors, as decent rock movers (even lowly serfs have heard of the RockHenge of Gala, for example), and as great party-planners (lowly serfs have also heard of the Rolling Stone Pajama Party, the Mile High Stone'd Guild, and the infamous 'He's not Heavy, He's my Stone Pet' Project).

As for squirrels, suffice it to say that the squirrels of Havnheim are nothing like the squirrels of other places.

.

1. Fred takes Astra of Gana and they begin to wind their way back to the CaveMouth, to the surface, and to freedom (at least for Astra who really did not want to stay another moment in the caves, Fred would have to return of course)
2. Fred tries to take Astra out of this prison of hers, but she still refuses to let Fred go - she does, however, plant a few more wet kisses on his mouth!

Add New Option

Go Back

View Forward Story Tree
View Back Story Tree