Illustration of a Map
Saun 717 in Ne'haer
Continues from here
It was evening but as it was in Saun it made no difference. The two suns were shining night and day and the weather was nearly annoyingly hot. Yrmellyn had been given the directions to the home (his wagon he had said) of the mapmaker she had met at the maker earlier same day, one mister Grant Chapman who had proven to be gifted with an exceptional ability to keep a conversation going. The other customer at the stall had seemed to find him suspect, but Yrmellyn found him interesting. Just like herself he had seemed to take interest in art and philosophy and she hardly ever met anybody to speak with about those interests of hers. It was best to take the opportunity to have a date with one of her few likeminded in this mundane and so down to earth world.
It had fascinated her when he had spoken about his maps and explained the relation between maps and reality and how the ever changing reality and the ever evolving knowledge about it made it necessary to continously edit the maps. The other customer had seemed to resent the editing, but Yrmellyn didn't. She liked the idea of floating reality, floating knowledge about it and floating pictures and maps. Well, some people might have felt confused by the word floating, but Yrmellyn didn't mean literally floating. To her it was a metaphor and floating meant that reality, knowledge and information wasn't fixed like written in stone once and forever, but in constant motion, like water. She thought of this while she searched for the wagon or whatever it was the mapmaker had meant.
The mead she had been drinking at the fair had been a bit stronger than expected and although the effect was slowly fading she was still not totally sober. It didn't matter. Yrmellyn didn't need to be sober in order to have an interesting conversation with a stranger who possessed the most attractive trait of them all, namely a brain. As always the spark part of her mind left her no rest. The painter couldn't even remember how she had been in the days before she had been initiated to attunement, approximately ten years ago, and the spark had made her become extremely curious and hyper-intellectual, always on the hunt for new knowlege.
Finally she found the surprisingly big wagon. It was more like a small cottage on wheels than a wagon. It looked modest, except for the big banner which announced that the owner had maps for sale. Two sturdy horses were grazing outside, one black and one grey. The animals were too busy with their food to even look at the painter when she passed by. Wiping the sweat from her brow she stopped and looked for the entrance, unsure of how she ought to do. She didn't see any door on this side of the wagon, so she started to walk around it slowly. The back end of it came into view. No door there. Yrmellyn continued to the other side of the wagon, but there was no door there either. Having investigated three sides of it she felt sure some kind of door or opening must be on the fourth side, the front which faced the two grazing horses. She had avoided to go there, she admitted as much to herself. The animals were big even for being horses and although they seemed peaceful she wasn't sure how they would react if she tried to get into the wagon.
The painter hesitated a bit and then she settled for a new plan.
"Mister Chapman! Hello! Are you at home? It's Yrmellyn Cole. From the fair, if you recall!"
Yrmellyn had always had a good voice and she was able to yell loudly without sounding like a screaming seagull. In the past she had often been told that she ought to school her voice and learn to sing in a professional manner, but she had never paid heed to it. Why school the voice when it was already very strong, good and clear just as it was? Besides, she preferred to speak in a low voice and was in general not a loud person.
The horses stopped grazing and stared at her. Yrmellyn found it best to not shout again, no matter that she didn't get any answer. She waited. Nothing happened. Perhaps the mapmaker was somewhere else and she was standing in front of an empty wagon waiting for him in vain? Se was on the verge of leaving when a door suddenly opened on the side of the wagon and Grant Chapman jumped out with a cheery greeting.
"Miss Cole. Well, Yrmellyn, let's not be too formal, you may call me Grant, no need to waste our time on meaningless pirouettes with titles. That's for people who care about that kind of thing, and I suspect that you are as uninterested in it as I am."
The man was just as wordy as he had seemed some breaks earlier. Yrmellyn smiled and obliged. "Sure Grant."
"I can't even describe how happy I am to see you here at my humble wagon my dear Yrmellyn. Back at the market stall I felt that for once I had found a kindred spirit who understood what I was speaking about and took true interest in the art of cartography ... both art and cartography, even. People are often so enormously blunt you see. They don't get the importance of professional cartography and maps and their ability to grasp the theory behind it is ... limited, Yrmellyn, seriously and sadly limited!"
He stood in the shadow of the wagon, but his eyes were gleaming like a pair of double suns and the whole man seemed to vibrate with the energy of a person who is passionately interested in their profession.
Yrmellyn felt inspired. She was also badly curious. The spark of attunement pushed her on and demanded that she must get more information about those advanced maps he had spoken about when he had invited her to the wagon. "Sure Grant ... I think you wanted to show me some of your maps? I'd really like to see them."
"Yes, yes, well, yes, the maps. I'm actually looking to get them improved with professional illustrations you see, and I think you mentioned that you are a painter."
"I am. But what do you mean Grant, illustrations of what? I don't know anything about drawing maps, alas."
"I draw the maps. You make the illustrations. There be dragons you see, outside the borders of what we know about the world."
Yrmellyn hadn't been prepared for this, but obviously it was a business meeting! She had her materials and tools in the backpack and brought them with her wherever she went, so she found it best to negotiate about a job and do those illustration or else she might miss out on the maps and the conversation with a man who understood the importance of art. "Well, of course, I can take on to do those illustrations, but as it's work I'll need to get paid for it. You know how it is. You wouldn't give away your maps for free and it's the same with my art. "
Grant Chapman laughed heartily like she had said something really fun. "What, Yrmellyn, are you implying that I would try to get them for free? No way! I'll pay decently." He mentioned an amazingly low price.
Yrmellyn shook her head and made her best to look hurt. "You make me feel sad Grant. Really, really sad. I put value on my artwork, but you seem to not understand the difference between a professional illustration and a child's drawing. I'll give you a good offer though. " She mentioned a price twice as high as she used to be able to get from random customers she stumbled over. People never used to understand how much she was prepared to lower it in order to get the deal, so hopefully Grant would answer with an offer she could take.
Chapman bent over, slapping his knees with his hands and nearly falling on the ground due to laughing so hard that he couldn't even answer. Yrmellyn waited for him to regain his balance. The man seemed to wipe tears from the corners of his eyes, but she suspected that it was just sweat. It was a terribly hot season, Saun. "Half of it will be enough if I'm not totally ignorant about the price on this kind of artwork" he said when he could speak again. "Half of it, and it's robbery, please don't make me cry by asking for more!"
Yrmellyn pounced on the offer. "I can't bear to make you cry Grant, so for this time you'll get illustrations for half of my normal price, just because it's you. Deal!" She grabbed his hand and shook it, giving him the brilliant smile of a former courtesan who still knew her old tricks.
Chapman stared at her, seeming to be speechless for once. Yrmellyn looked back.
All right" he said finally. "You win ... I suspect. I hope your art is as good as you say!"
"You will see. Where's the maps?"
"In the wagon. So, Yrmellyn, please follow me and I will show you some of the most interesting pieces of cartography I have ever made."
He pulled out a short ladder from the wagon and put it in place in the doorway.
The mage didn't have any second thoughts when she climbed up the ladder ana into the wagon. In contrast to the bright sunlight it was obscure in there. A lantern spread its light over a table full of ... maps, to no surprise. Yrmellyn glanced around, curious as always. The interior of Grant Chapman's home - if the wagon was his home - was compact to say the least, but it seemed smart and functional. It was also a place for one person. Two were too many. Yrmellyn found herself standing really close to Grant Chapman. The space was so limited that it was inevitable. Chapman had closed the door too.
"It's a bit too dark to work in here. Perhaps we ought to move the maps outdoors" she suggested.
"The maps are secret. I don't want any random bypassers to happen to see them. I can turn up the light of the lamp a bit if that helps. Just a moment, let me ... "
Grant Chapman reached out to fiddle with the lantern on the other side of Yrmellyn and had to rest his arm on her torso in the process. Yrmellyn leaned back a bit in order to not be in the way, and Chapman muttered something, probably and excuse but perhaps just a curse as the lantern seemed to not work as it should.
Eventually it worked and the light went better. "There! Now, let's have a look a the maps!"
It was stifling hot in the closed wagon and two were a crowd. The spark had sent her there. Yrmellyn cursed it silently and she really wished that she had asked more questions about the job before she had entered.
Chapman rolled up a big map and put it on the table. He put small weights on the corners, once again reaching out past her and bumping into her while he carried out the task. Yrmellyn had started to wonder if he really was looking for illustrations or if she was in trouble, but now when the map was on the table Chapman started to speak about it and explain his ideas.
Yrmellyn asked which place the map showed.
"I'm glad you asked that question Yrmellyn. Good question! It's not always possible to know which place a map shows! Not really. The map is merely a picture of the limited knowledge we have about reality, as I think I said before. Right? This means that a map never show a place, only the idea of a place. It's not really possible to tell if it shows reality or not. Things can already have changed since the map was drawn. The important question is actually what we can find outside of the place this map shows. You see the empty spaces there? It's the unknown! That's where people imagine that treasures, monsters, miracles and dragons dwell. That's what I need illustrations of."
Yrmellyn felt confused. The man was extremely wordy and she had forgotten what they had been speaking about. "Dragons and monsters ..." she said hesitantly.
"Treasures! Don't forget the treasures, because it's really nice to see a good big heap of gold and jewels and whatnot on a map. The treasures is the reason for the dragons and the monsters. They guard the treasures. Why else would they be there? So, that's what I want to show, outside the borders of the known idea of reality which this map perhaps is telling a certain degree of truth about, there's treasures to find, guarded by monsters and dragons and such."
"Treasures and fantasy animals?"
"Yes!"
Yrmellyn felt intrigued but she also felt like everything was slightly insane. The best seemed to be to get the work done and then leave this wagon. She shrugged out of the backpack, opened it and pulled out a set of color pens. It seemed like dry colors was the only option here. "I'm going to start and work at the illustrations now" she said in what she hoped was a very serious and professional tone.
The lower right corner of the map offered a relatively bigger blank space. The other corners didn't have room for much more than some small embellishments. She decided to paint some smaller motifs for a start and use them find out which style appealed most to Chapman. Ordinarily she would have asked a lot of questions in advance in order to pinpoint the requirements, but it didn't seem like a good idea to do that now. It would be much faster to just get a few small illustrations done and see how the mapmaker reacted to them. She started in the lower left corner which she quickly decorated with a small compass. The upper let corner was perfect for a small sailship. The upper right corner ... a decorative sword. It was a bit difficult to work because Chapman was looking over her shoulder all the time. He was also commenting on the pictures, which was a good thing as it helped her to understand what he liked or not liked and when she was ready to start at the bigger illustration in the lower right corner she had a quite clear idea about what to use it for.
"I suggest a big chest with an open lid, full of gold, gems, jewelry and other valuables in the center of the picture. It's guarded by a monster ... which kind of monster would you like it be? " Yrmellyn felt it was best to ask him.
"You are the artist. Paint something appropriate. I mean, there's a compass, a ship and a sword and those should mean something, they should be parts of a context, not just random pictures, so some kind of sea-monster would perhaps be best, especially as it's a map over a coastline ... nevermind, we don't nee to g into all the details Yrmellyn, just continue, keep up the good work and make a good monster ." Chapman leaned forward in order to see better. He had to hold his arm around her waist in order to do so.
The painter worked as fast as she could, and soon the treasure chest was in place, guarded by a many armed octopus-like monster with a really big mouth. It was a pretty good illustration, not a grand masterpiece of art, but good enough for a map. Or, at least Chapman seemed to find it sufficient. When he folded the map and moved out of her way for a moment Yrmellyn took the opportunity to dash to the door, push it up and jump out. The sunshine of the two suns blinded her at first. Behind her she heard Chapman say something about more maps to illustrate, more jobs he wanted to hire her for.
"Another time Grant. I must be on my way, so if you would kindly pay now ..."
Chapman jumped out too. He paid the agreed wages and they shook hands. Now when they were outdoors again she liked him better. Well, at least she found it good to have a chance to get more work. In addition her spark nudged her. She hadn't learnt nearly as much more about maps and cartography as she had hoped. Common sense told her to not take on more work for the map-maker, but the spark told her to do it.
"One more thing before you leave." The mapmaker's voice went totally serious. "Can you promise me to keep it totally secret that you illustrated this map for me and never mention the picture you made?"
Yrmellyn nodded, feeling a bit surprised, but not at all reluctant to oblige. If a customer wanted to keep their secrets she was all right with that. "I promise. I will keep it totally secret. I will never say a word about it."
"Good! Until we meet again then!" said Chapman cheerily and held on to her hand a bit longer than necessary.
The spark won out. Yrmellyn smiled at the man. "Yes, until we meet again. A pleasure to make business with you Grant. I'm already looking forward to seeing more of your fantastic maps!"
And so the parted as the best of friends, expecting to meet again in the near future.
It had fascinated her when he had spoken about his maps and explained the relation between maps and reality and how the ever changing reality and the ever evolving knowledge about it made it necessary to continously edit the maps. The other customer had seemed to resent the editing, but Yrmellyn didn't. She liked the idea of floating reality, floating knowledge about it and floating pictures and maps. Well, some people might have felt confused by the word floating, but Yrmellyn didn't mean literally floating. To her it was a metaphor and floating meant that reality, knowledge and information wasn't fixed like written in stone once and forever, but in constant motion, like water. She thought of this while she searched for the wagon or whatever it was the mapmaker had meant.
The mead she had been drinking at the fair had been a bit stronger than expected and although the effect was slowly fading she was still not totally sober. It didn't matter. Yrmellyn didn't need to be sober in order to have an interesting conversation with a stranger who possessed the most attractive trait of them all, namely a brain. As always the spark part of her mind left her no rest. The painter couldn't even remember how she had been in the days before she had been initiated to attunement, approximately ten years ago, and the spark had made her become extremely curious and hyper-intellectual, always on the hunt for new knowlege.
Finally she found the surprisingly big wagon. It was more like a small cottage on wheels than a wagon. It looked modest, except for the big banner which announced that the owner had maps for sale. Two sturdy horses were grazing outside, one black and one grey. The animals were too busy with their food to even look at the painter when she passed by. Wiping the sweat from her brow she stopped and looked for the entrance, unsure of how she ought to do. She didn't see any door on this side of the wagon, so she started to walk around it slowly. The back end of it came into view. No door there. Yrmellyn continued to the other side of the wagon, but there was no door there either. Having investigated three sides of it she felt sure some kind of door or opening must be on the fourth side, the front which faced the two grazing horses. She had avoided to go there, she admitted as much to herself. The animals were big even for being horses and although they seemed peaceful she wasn't sure how they would react if she tried to get into the wagon.
The painter hesitated a bit and then she settled for a new plan.
"Mister Chapman! Hello! Are you at home? It's Yrmellyn Cole. From the fair, if you recall!"
Yrmellyn had always had a good voice and she was able to yell loudly without sounding like a screaming seagull. In the past she had often been told that she ought to school her voice and learn to sing in a professional manner, but she had never paid heed to it. Why school the voice when it was already very strong, good and clear just as it was? Besides, she preferred to speak in a low voice and was in general not a loud person.
The horses stopped grazing and stared at her. Yrmellyn found it best to not shout again, no matter that she didn't get any answer. She waited. Nothing happened. Perhaps the mapmaker was somewhere else and she was standing in front of an empty wagon waiting for him in vain? Se was on the verge of leaving when a door suddenly opened on the side of the wagon and Grant Chapman jumped out with a cheery greeting.
"Miss Cole. Well, Yrmellyn, let's not be too formal, you may call me Grant, no need to waste our time on meaningless pirouettes with titles. That's for people who care about that kind of thing, and I suspect that you are as uninterested in it as I am."
The man was just as wordy as he had seemed some breaks earlier. Yrmellyn smiled and obliged. "Sure Grant."
"I can't even describe how happy I am to see you here at my humble wagon my dear Yrmellyn. Back at the market stall I felt that for once I had found a kindred spirit who understood what I was speaking about and took true interest in the art of cartography ... both art and cartography, even. People are often so enormously blunt you see. They don't get the importance of professional cartography and maps and their ability to grasp the theory behind it is ... limited, Yrmellyn, seriously and sadly limited!"
He stood in the shadow of the wagon, but his eyes were gleaming like a pair of double suns and the whole man seemed to vibrate with the energy of a person who is passionately interested in their profession.
Yrmellyn felt inspired. She was also badly curious. The spark of attunement pushed her on and demanded that she must get more information about those advanced maps he had spoken about when he had invited her to the wagon. "Sure Grant ... I think you wanted to show me some of your maps? I'd really like to see them."
"Yes, yes, well, yes, the maps. I'm actually looking to get them improved with professional illustrations you see, and I think you mentioned that you are a painter."
"I am. But what do you mean Grant, illustrations of what? I don't know anything about drawing maps, alas."
"I draw the maps. You make the illustrations. There be dragons you see, outside the borders of what we know about the world."
Yrmellyn hadn't been prepared for this, but obviously it was a business meeting! She had her materials and tools in the backpack and brought them with her wherever she went, so she found it best to negotiate about a job and do those illustration or else she might miss out on the maps and the conversation with a man who understood the importance of art. "Well, of course, I can take on to do those illustrations, but as it's work I'll need to get paid for it. You know how it is. You wouldn't give away your maps for free and it's the same with my art. "
Grant Chapman laughed heartily like she had said something really fun. "What, Yrmellyn, are you implying that I would try to get them for free? No way! I'll pay decently." He mentioned an amazingly low price.
Yrmellyn shook her head and made her best to look hurt. "You make me feel sad Grant. Really, really sad. I put value on my artwork, but you seem to not understand the difference between a professional illustration and a child's drawing. I'll give you a good offer though. " She mentioned a price twice as high as she used to be able to get from random customers she stumbled over. People never used to understand how much she was prepared to lower it in order to get the deal, so hopefully Grant would answer with an offer she could take.
Chapman bent over, slapping his knees with his hands and nearly falling on the ground due to laughing so hard that he couldn't even answer. Yrmellyn waited for him to regain his balance. The man seemed to wipe tears from the corners of his eyes, but she suspected that it was just sweat. It was a terribly hot season, Saun. "Half of it will be enough if I'm not totally ignorant about the price on this kind of artwork" he said when he could speak again. "Half of it, and it's robbery, please don't make me cry by asking for more!"
Yrmellyn pounced on the offer. "I can't bear to make you cry Grant, so for this time you'll get illustrations for half of my normal price, just because it's you. Deal!" She grabbed his hand and shook it, giving him the brilliant smile of a former courtesan who still knew her old tricks.
Chapman stared at her, seeming to be speechless for once. Yrmellyn looked back.
All right" he said finally. "You win ... I suspect. I hope your art is as good as you say!"
"You will see. Where's the maps?"
"In the wagon. So, Yrmellyn, please follow me and I will show you some of the most interesting pieces of cartography I have ever made."
He pulled out a short ladder from the wagon and put it in place in the doorway.
The mage didn't have any second thoughts when she climbed up the ladder ana into the wagon. In contrast to the bright sunlight it was obscure in there. A lantern spread its light over a table full of ... maps, to no surprise. Yrmellyn glanced around, curious as always. The interior of Grant Chapman's home - if the wagon was his home - was compact to say the least, but it seemed smart and functional. It was also a place for one person. Two were too many. Yrmellyn found herself standing really close to Grant Chapman. The space was so limited that it was inevitable. Chapman had closed the door too.
"It's a bit too dark to work in here. Perhaps we ought to move the maps outdoors" she suggested.
"The maps are secret. I don't want any random bypassers to happen to see them. I can turn up the light of the lamp a bit if that helps. Just a moment, let me ... "
Grant Chapman reached out to fiddle with the lantern on the other side of Yrmellyn and had to rest his arm on her torso in the process. Yrmellyn leaned back a bit in order to not be in the way, and Chapman muttered something, probably and excuse but perhaps just a curse as the lantern seemed to not work as it should.
Eventually it worked and the light went better. "There! Now, let's have a look a the maps!"
It was stifling hot in the closed wagon and two were a crowd. The spark had sent her there. Yrmellyn cursed it silently and she really wished that she had asked more questions about the job before she had entered.
Chapman rolled up a big map and put it on the table. He put small weights on the corners, once again reaching out past her and bumping into her while he carried out the task. Yrmellyn had started to wonder if he really was looking for illustrations or if she was in trouble, but now when the map was on the table Chapman started to speak about it and explain his ideas.
Yrmellyn asked which place the map showed.
"I'm glad you asked that question Yrmellyn. Good question! It's not always possible to know which place a map shows! Not really. The map is merely a picture of the limited knowledge we have about reality, as I think I said before. Right? This means that a map never show a place, only the idea of a place. It's not really possible to tell if it shows reality or not. Things can already have changed since the map was drawn. The important question is actually what we can find outside of the place this map shows. You see the empty spaces there? It's the unknown! That's where people imagine that treasures, monsters, miracles and dragons dwell. That's what I need illustrations of."
Yrmellyn felt confused. The man was extremely wordy and she had forgotten what they had been speaking about. "Dragons and monsters ..." she said hesitantly.
"Treasures! Don't forget the treasures, because it's really nice to see a good big heap of gold and jewels and whatnot on a map. The treasures is the reason for the dragons and the monsters. They guard the treasures. Why else would they be there? So, that's what I want to show, outside the borders of the known idea of reality which this map perhaps is telling a certain degree of truth about, there's treasures to find, guarded by monsters and dragons and such."
"Treasures and fantasy animals?"
"Yes!"
Yrmellyn felt intrigued but she also felt like everything was slightly insane. The best seemed to be to get the work done and then leave this wagon. She shrugged out of the backpack, opened it and pulled out a set of color pens. It seemed like dry colors was the only option here. "I'm going to start and work at the illustrations now" she said in what she hoped was a very serious and professional tone.
The lower right corner of the map offered a relatively bigger blank space. The other corners didn't have room for much more than some small embellishments. She decided to paint some smaller motifs for a start and use them find out which style appealed most to Chapman. Ordinarily she would have asked a lot of questions in advance in order to pinpoint the requirements, but it didn't seem like a good idea to do that now. It would be much faster to just get a few small illustrations done and see how the mapmaker reacted to them. She started in the lower left corner which she quickly decorated with a small compass. The upper let corner was perfect for a small sailship. The upper right corner ... a decorative sword. It was a bit difficult to work because Chapman was looking over her shoulder all the time. He was also commenting on the pictures, which was a good thing as it helped her to understand what he liked or not liked and when she was ready to start at the bigger illustration in the lower right corner she had a quite clear idea about what to use it for.
"I suggest a big chest with an open lid, full of gold, gems, jewelry and other valuables in the center of the picture. It's guarded by a monster ... which kind of monster would you like it be? " Yrmellyn felt it was best to ask him.
"You are the artist. Paint something appropriate. I mean, there's a compass, a ship and a sword and those should mean something, they should be parts of a context, not just random pictures, so some kind of sea-monster would perhaps be best, especially as it's a map over a coastline ... nevermind, we don't nee to g into all the details Yrmellyn, just continue, keep up the good work and make a good monster ." Chapman leaned forward in order to see better. He had to hold his arm around her waist in order to do so.
The painter worked as fast as she could, and soon the treasure chest was in place, guarded by a many armed octopus-like monster with a really big mouth. It was a pretty good illustration, not a grand masterpiece of art, but good enough for a map. Or, at least Chapman seemed to find it sufficient. When he folded the map and moved out of her way for a moment Yrmellyn took the opportunity to dash to the door, push it up and jump out. The sunshine of the two suns blinded her at first. Behind her she heard Chapman say something about more maps to illustrate, more jobs he wanted to hire her for.
"Another time Grant. I must be on my way, so if you would kindly pay now ..."
Chapman jumped out too. He paid the agreed wages and they shook hands. Now when they were outdoors again she liked him better. Well, at least she found it good to have a chance to get more work. In addition her spark nudged her. She hadn't learnt nearly as much more about maps and cartography as she had hoped. Common sense told her to not take on more work for the map-maker, but the spark told her to do it.
"One more thing before you leave." The mapmaker's voice went totally serious. "Can you promise me to keep it totally secret that you illustrated this map for me and never mention the picture you made?"
Yrmellyn nodded, feeling a bit surprised, but not at all reluctant to oblige. If a customer wanted to keep their secrets she was all right with that. "I promise. I will keep it totally secret. I will never say a word about it."
"Good! Until we meet again then!" said Chapman cheerily and held on to her hand a bit longer than necessary.
The spark won out. Yrmellyn smiled at the man. "Yes, until we meet again. A pleasure to make business with you Grant. I'm already looking forward to seeing more of your fantastic maps!"
And so the parted as the best of friends, expecting to meet again in the near future.
