Monday Writings - 9th September

 

9^th September

 

Excerpt from: The Nation of Eternal Dawn

Early Sixth Century

The dialect of Vulgar Latin that is on its way to becoming Old Auroran and Christianity spread into Western Aurora and also receive official status.

 

 

811

Viking raids begin along the northeastern Auroran coast.

 

 

812

The ancient capital, now called Urbs Aeterna, comes under attack by Vikings for the first time.

 

 

856

Eastern Aurora falls to the Norse.

 

 

Late 9^th Century

The northeastern coast of Aurora is occupied by Norse.

 

 

Excerpt from: 2002 in Armidale

It was lunchtime when Leigh Steinhardt arrived at Mary White College. She was about to start her third year at the University of New England. “This is going to be a very good year,” she said to herself as she walked into the College.

 

 

“Leigh?” Sara Dixon asked as the resident approached the bench.

 

 

Excerpt from: Spider Quinn

 

Back at the Historia, they saw that Kevin was already there. “There you are, Babe! I was beginning to worry.”

 

“No problem, Kevie. Daria and I were looking into something.”

 

“What was that?” Kevin asked.

 

“Blackouts,” Daria answered as she went towards the office.

 

“Oh,” Kevin responded as Brittany looked at the menu.

 

 

“So, Zammits and Takhata’s Dojo,” Elisabeth said. “They’re both on the map.”

 

“I’m sorry, I haven’t been able to get more information,” Daria said as the lights in the office went off for a few seconds.”

 

“That you tried is enough.”

 

“I’ll go up on the roof again and try to guess where the problem might be.”

 

 

Five minutes later, Daria was up on roof with a flashlight and a photocopy of the map. “Flickering streetlights…” she considered as she looked around. She could see that most of the streetlights in the downtown area were flickering, but the rest of Lawndale seemed unaffected. ‘But how long would that last if the problem doesn’t go away?’ she wondered. She looked at the map again. The area of flickering street lights was only slightly larger than the reported outages. ‘That doesn’t tell me much.’ She then went back down to have dinner herself.

 

 

“Power problems in downtown Lawndale continue this evening…” Sandi switched off the radio and took out her yearbook again. After Cindy Brolsma was Melinda Brosnan, who had a brown pixie cut. ‘She still has that,’ Sandi thought as she grabbed the energy drink.

 

“Findu mann sem heiter: Melinda Brosnan!”

 

She found that Melinda was at the Historia, and looked annoyed at the brownout that was happening.

 

 

Quinn noticed yet another tingle as she brought out some fries. “Here you are!” she said to Melinda Brosnan. “At least the gas is unaffected.”

 

“Thanks, Quinn,” Melinda said. “it’s one thing after another isn’t it?”

 

“Yes,” Quinn said quietly.

 

“Like, everything that’s been happening the past few months. Now these power problems.”

 

“I’m sure the problem will be found soon.”

 

“I hope so.”

 

 

Daria headed home after having dinner. She placed the map of the outages on her wall. ‘It is going to be overwhelmed, isn’t it?’ she wondered as she looked at the articles on SpiderGirl from late November.

 

 

“You’re staying here?” Kevin asked Brittany after he had finished desert.

 

“Yes. I’m talking to Quinn and Joey about something when they finish.”

 

“OK.”

 

 

Later, SpiderGirl joined Ninja Talon on the roof. “So, you were with Daria earlier?” the former asked.

 

“Yes,” Ninja Talon answered and explained about their trips to the boutique and the dojo.

 

SpiderGirl took that in. “It is still not much to go on.”

 

“But maybe she can find something we can’t?”

 

“Probably,” SpiderGirl considered. She then took out a copy of the map Mrs. Rowe had made. “This doesn’t say much about where it’s coming from, other than it’s somewhere in this area.”

 

“Maybe look for a place that does have power, but isn’t blacking out?” Ninja Talon suggested.

 

“I can’t think of anything else at the moment.”

 

 

An hour later, they returned to the rooftop. “There’s too many,” Ninja Talon said.

 

“True. It will take hours, and we need to get home,” SpiderGirl agreed. “Maybe we can meet back here in the early hours.”

 

Ninja Talon agreed before climbing down the southern side of the Historia. SpiderGirl then swung off to the west.

 

 

Quinn emerged from her closet and clapped her hands, switching on her desk lamp. ‘Still needs work,’ she thought, referring to the hatch from the attic she had just used. That and the pully mechanism in the chute was still making noise. She went over to her desk and took out the map of the outages. ‘This is probably something that SpiderGirl and Ninja Talon can’t solve, but we have to try.’

 

 

Daria was writing when Quinn knocked on the door. “No, I still have no idea bout the brownouts,” she said.

 

“I was about to suggest that you and the fourth vigilante could investigate tonight.”

 

Daria thought about telling Quinn the name said fourth vigilante used (not realising she already knew it), but thought better of it. “I was out with her last night.”

 

“Oh,” Quinn said, disappointed

 

“But I’ll look into it in the morning before school. Or maybe it’ll be Sandi.”

 

“Or Tania Ashworth?”

 

“I doubt it,” Daria said. “She hasn’t said, or done anything since Friday night.”

 

“It was a long shot,” Quinn said before heading back to her room.

 

‘Maybe, either Sandi comes, or Dafoanairi goes to High Hills Park and implies she’s the fourth vigilante rather than the fifth,’ Daria considered. She shook her head. Tania already knew what the fourth vigilante and the Shadow looked like.

 

 

After midnight, Dafoanairi climbed out the hall window and down the ivy covered trellis. She then left the Morgendorffers place into the laneway behind and headed towards High Hills Park that way. She was wearing dark clothes and a cloak that effectively hid her long auburn hair which she had tied in a simple ponytail and the fact that she was squinting without her glasses.

 

 

Sandi arrived a few minutes later and saw that Daria’s light was out. “Oh. Looks like she’s asleep,” she commented. She then changed to the Enigma and headed downtown.

 

 

Dafoanairi arrived at High Hills Park and heard the Wiccans chanting as they started their nightly worship. ‘But how can I find Tania without my glasses?’ she wondered. She didn’t really think that through. It was even worse with it being around New Moon. She decided to wait until the Wiccans had finished and then call Tania.

 

 

Tania Ashworth was about to go home when she heard her name being called from nearby, within the Park. “Who’s there?” she asked. “Is it the Shadow trying to accuse me again?”

 

“No,” said a feminine voice said. A cloaked figure appeared. “I’m Dafoanairi, Lawndale’s snarky fifth vigilante.”

 

Tania raised an eyebrow. That was certainly new. “A snarky fifth?” she asked rhetorically. “Why are you here?”

 

“I’m investigating the brownouts that have been plaguing downtown Lawndale since the early afternoon.”

 

“I heard about them,” Tania said.