Not Quite Finished

Writers: Emma, Jane
Date Posted: 17th March 2008

Characters: Thanja, Declu
Description: Master Thanja finds one of her journeymen working on the restday.
Location: Harper Hall
Date: month 9, day 7 of Turn 4

It was another sunny restday at Dolphin Cove Weyr but the journeyman didn't notice in one of the Harper Hall workrooms far inside the cliffs.
If he had been asked, Declu wouldn't even have identified the room as part of the Harper Hall; to him it was a printers' room, and the politics of merging the two Halls was of little interest to him. Master Thanja was still the Printercraft Master he reported to - when he had to report at all.

And that was a problem. Soon he would have to report on his personal project. Get approval for the costs involved in taking his new typeface from drawings to a trial form in cast metal moveable type.

Many of the Hall's residents were taking advantage of the weather.
shouts of glee came from the beach where some of the younger apprentices seemed to be engaged in a vigorous ball game. One side seemed at least to be winning. Others were sat outside simply talking, sharing some food, perhaps a drink or two, it was a nice summer's day.

Thanja decided that it would be a good day to sit outside and catch up on some reading, like she'd been promising herself for days. She went into the corridor leading past the hall's workrooms only to hear sounds of one of them being occupied. Peering through the door, she saw the figure of a Journeyman, hard at work.

"Declu?"

"Hmm?" The young man looked up, then reached up to pull his reading lenses down his nose so that he could see. "Master Thanja. What are you doing here on a restday?"

"More to the point, what are you doing here?" she turned the question back on him. Come to think of it she'd not seen him outside with the others on a rest day before.

"Just - er - working on something." He glanced down at the papers and wondered if they were ready to show the master printer - and if he was ready to share his project with anybody, even another printer. What if she said no? What would he do then?

"On a rest day? When everyone else is outside?"

"It's my own project," he assured her, completely missing the point.
"And I only use a few of the Hall's things. Some paper ... ink."

"I'm sure it is, but there are times and places for this kind of thing, and today is a nice day. Perhaps you could look at it later."

"But what would I do in the meantime?"

"Enjoy the weather, take in some sun. Swim maybe. Talk to your friends."

"But it's always hot here," Declu protested, ignoring the other suggestions. "And I'm so nearly finished."

"What had you so busy?" asked Thanja curiously. Perhaps it was possible that the journeyman just wanted to finish this up before spending the rest of his time enjoying himself.

"It's -" the journeyman hesitated, feeling his cheeks heat with an unexpected blush, "- a font," he mumbled. "A new one." Suddenly it seemed a foolish thing to think he could design a whole new font, though all printcrafters were taught the basics of such design.

"Really," professional curiosity was rising to the surface now. "You based it on an existing one?"

"I - I didn't sit down with an existing one and make changes," Declu said slowly, "but it has been developed based on things I liked and disliked about all the fonts I've worked with."

"May I see?" He had the papers on his desk, and she didn't want to just take them.

"They're not _quite_ finished," Declu said, going back to the desk and shuffling through his papers until he found the ones he wanted. One was the latest draft of the 'showcase' page, where there was examples of the typeface in almost every use, and the others were detailed drawings of letters and pairs of letters. "I was going to show you, Master Thanja, when I had the final copies done."

"If I take a quick look now, then I can let you know what I think so far."

"I'd appreciate that," Declu said formally.

She held out a hand waiting for him to show her the papers.

The journeyman handed the papers over, still feeling a little reluctant to part with them. "Not _quite_ ..." he began, before remembering that he had already said that.

Thanja took them, casting an experienced eye over the drawings and explanations. "Hmmm... There's potential here. It does look interesting."

"It's wider than most," Declu said, sidling around so he could look at the pages too, in case there was anything he needed to explain. "Which allows it to be more ornate and yet not sacrifice its readability. At least - that's what I hope it's doing."

"Do you see it being used for more formal documentation then? Rather than textbooks for example?"

"Yes, yes. Where an ornate look is required. Nobody should have to struggle to read a font, should they?" Declu glanced at the master prints but couldn't gauge her expression.

"Perhaps for marriage contracts and the like?"

"Ohhh. Yes. Formal but decorative contract work." Declu nodded and smiled, pleased with the idea. "The pairs ..." He waved a hand, wanting Master Thanja to look through the pages.

The Master Printer did so. "This is good, very good. I think that you should get this finished, and submit a formal description of this to us.
But," and she paused, "Not today. Get out and enjoy what's left of the restday."

Declu's smile was so wide it felt like it was trying to get off his face. "Oh, thank you. I _will_." Even the injunction to leave the work for the rest for the day didn't seem so awful after the master printer's encouragement. "I'll start the submission right away.
Tomorrow. Right away, tomorrow."

"Tomorrow."

Last updated on the March 19th 2008

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Not Quite Finished