Early to Sleep, by Charles Matthias

Story name: Early to Sleep
Author: Charles Matthias
Publication date: March 13, 1998 (on TSA-List)

Date: Easter Sunday, 706 CR
Location: Metamor Keep

Overview

Matthias recites the winning story of the festival, and shares a dance with Kimberly.

+ Story info (Spoilers!)

Summary

The crowd is already gathering for the reading of the first-place story. Matthias seats Kimberly with his friends on the bleachers, and heads backstage. After the platform is set up, the performance begins. Matthias lets himself be taken up in the story he recites, while its author Tallis sits dumb-struck. The crowd cheers as Matthias presents him with the award.

As the storm finally hits and the rain falls, Matthias leads Kimberly to his room. From the very back of his drawer, he pulls out the music box and presents it to her. She weeps with joy as she beholds its dancing figures as the music plays. Matthias takes her in his paw, and together they dance.

When the music winds down, Matthias takes her back to her room, where she places the music box beside the wooden bust of her. Although it is early, he heads back to his room for some sleep, overjoyed by the near-perfect festival, looking forward to his many duties to attend to tomorrow.

Tallis's Story

Tallis's story is about an old woman who witnesses the sinking of the Dralanian navy's flagship in the Marakata seas. Among its cargo is a magical scepter that is coveted by the forces of darkness. Although the crown prince of Drala and his page survive this sinking, the prince is tortured to death for the scepter, while the page escapes and enlists the old woman's help.

They seek the aid of the water sprites to breathe underwater, and take a small ship to the site of the sinking as a fierce storm arises. (This is where Matthias notices the storm approaching.) When at last the darkness is conquered, and the old woman finally recovers the scepter, peace returns to the land once again.

Characters

Main Characters:

• Charles Matthias: Chief headmaster of the Writer's Guild. He delivers the winning story from memory, and presents Tallis with his award. Later that evening, he gives Kimberly a music box and shares a dance with her.
• Kimberly: Matthias's beloved. She attends the first-place story reading, and later dances with Matthias in his room.

Supporting:

• Tallis: A rat morph and member of the Writer's Guild. He wins the writing contest, to his great surprise.

Minor characters:

• Magus: A powerful court magician at the Keep. He insisted on being Master of Ceremonies, to ensure that the sound-projection spell works properly.

Cameo:

• Habakkuk, Nahum: Matthias's friends, and very good friends with Tallis.
• Brian Coe: The Keep doctor. He is healing a pony with gashes along his leg.
• Saulius, Julian, Goldmark, Elliot, Hector: The other rat morphs, who all attend the first-place story reading.
• Thalberg: The Keep Steward, who also attends the story reading.

Important Mention:

• Dr Channing: A headmaster of the Writer's Guild. Matthias thinks him slightly better at public performance than he is.
• Misha: An axe-wielding scout who is also an amateur mechanic. His reputation as a maniac had kept Matthias away before now, but after repairing his music box for Kimberly, Matthias now considers him a friend.

Referenced:

• Father Hough: An Ecclesian priest who has visited them for the Easter celebration.
• Michael: A friend of Matthias's, who left the Mule with Habakkuk's trio, but did not attend the reading.
• Copernicus: A friend of Matthias's, who stayed behind at the Mule when Matthias left.
• Phil: A headmaster of the Writer's Guild, who gave Matthias a very fine chewing stick.
• Saroth: The Keep weather mage.
• Thomas: Ruler of Metamor Keep.
• Loriod: The lord who belittled Matthias and Kimberly at dinner with the Duke.

Locations

• The Ivy Causeway connects two ends of the Keep — one end having Kimberly's room, and the other with Matthias's — and has a covered roof.

Story Connections

• Misha fixed Matthias's music box in A Small Repair.
• At various points, Matthias reflects on earlier events of the Equinox festival: the Eucharist in Entertaining Thoughts of Eucharist, dinner with the Duke in Eating At The Duke's Table, and toasting Hough in Easter Endeth.

Points of Interest

• In addition to everyone named, the whole Writer's Guild attends the winning story recital.
• Hunting parties are always getting food, typically by carnivore morphs.
• The Lutin patrols are more active in the winter, which makes hunting near the Keep dangerous.
• As the story goes on, a thunderstorm approaches the Keep, but ultimately does not hit. Matthias wishes it had hit, so as to have made this recital an unforgettable experience.

	Matthias's First Cycle	Second Cycle >
Stories	Stories in yellow are not part of the cycle proper, but give important context for other stories.
	Metamor Keep · Writer's Guild · The Fight That Never Happened · Support Group · Facing Knight · Confession · Evening Stroll · Especially Disappointed · Escaping · Escalation · Errands and Editors · The Secrets in Truth · A Small Repair · Equinox Arriveth · Entertaining Thoughts of Eucharist · The Effects of Rising Too Early · Eating at the Duke's Table · Easter Endeth · Early to Sleep
Characters	Charles Matthias · Kimberly · Channing · Elliot · Goldmark · Hector · Father Hough · Julian · Loriod · Michael · Nahum · Phil · Saulius · Tallis · Thalberg · Duke Thomas · Zhypar Habakkuk