Tangled Threads Scene A - Page01

For more information on the entire series, read the "'Demon's Due' Defined" journal entry here faile35.deviantart.com/journal… or the "'Demon's Due' Plus" journal entry here faile35.deviantart.com/journal… .

The next page is here.

The cool morning air is heavy with the sounds and smells of a city waking up, though muted by the tall barrier of Dernhem’s exterior wall. Here, on the city’s northwest flank, where the Skirting Path leaves the Belfry Road to wind its oft treacherous way between the wall and the Ringrill River, the washerwomen gather for their unending pursuit of cleanliness. Like industrious ants, the women labor beneath bundles of their charges hauled by cart and basket from within Dernhem and brought down in file to the water’s edge. For in spite of the frequent culverts that dump the city’s refuse into the Ringrill, the water here is always clear, blessed by the will of the Lady, and always refreshingly cool to the touch, even in deepest winter.

Descending to the river’s bank, the women step out into the rippling water with little hesitation, standing hip deep in the Ringrill and immersing their cloth burdens one at a time. After working troublesome stains from soiled weave and fabric, the women squeeze the excess water back into the river and deposit each item in their woven baskets of floatreed, to be hauled back up to the carts and thence back into the city to be air dried, pressed, and folded as required. For most of them, this task is repeated many times each day, several days each week, and, though a necessary task, it is also one of drudgery.

So, not long after their work begins, the women sing.

Milady lead me by the Hand,
Milady guide me with Your Eye,
Milady pass me through this Land,
‘Til in peace with You I Lie.
Born I was by Lady’s Love,
Carried with my Sister, Brother,
Milady’s Wisdom, Light and Love,
Take me to Your Great Hereother.

Today, the work is observed with interest, and though the sung melody is a familiar one, the listener is confused at the words.

While this is the first page of the Tangled Threads chapter to be posted here, I don't think it'll be the first page of the publication. The whole reason behind putting this Tangled Threads chapter here is because there are a bunch of expansion scenes that are swelling up Fair Harvest and Vision Impaired to bursting. I don't have the order down right for all of them, yet, so I'm going to just draw and post the scenes with the narratives I intend and then order them and publish them in hardcopy. Technically, these are part of what I considered to be Fair Harvest, and a lot of the scenes involve Deirdre, Callista, Albert, Luther, and Drea, but we'll also get some Anna and Elina and Ordiel and Theonius and Zirena as well.

This scene, as will be apparent on the next page, involves Deirdre. I put some thought into her totems and revamped them when I was drawing Twisted Plot, Part 1. Instead of an eagle totem, we got an owl. And here, instead of a fish, we get... well, I'll let you see that over the next few pages.

Regarding this picture in particular, it took me quite a while. I recall my first impression for this image occurred when I was drawing Elina's study session in Bookbinding, now about three years ago. I knew as I crafted that explanation of the plot underlying the whole story that I would need to include with the expansions some measure of what the common folk of Dernhem are dealing with these days--what was Maladyne trying to rescue these poor folks from, after all? So, I'm going to be drawing some rather daunting cityscapes and scenes that have this kind of a mass-populace approach. They're fun once in a while, but I must admit I'm quite happy that I can focus on a character through whose eyes the scenes are being viewed. Totem-shifted Deirdre is a LOT of fun to draw, especially compared to a mob of humans milling around washing clothes...

Enjoy!

Note: Twisted Plot and Demon's Due are a work of fantasy and fiction. The artist/creator in no way condones this kind of treatment toward any woman or man, by living person, gremlin, plant, assassin, ratman, viscous fluid, programmed device, animated home furnishings, or otherworldly spiritual beings. Furthermore, the artist opposes the marginalizing and restriction of women in general by any institution, political and/or religious, including those which have individual women amongst their membership touting/promoting their own happiness within that institution as evidence that ALL women should feel the same way. This includes the religion I was raised in and which I have utterly discarded from my life over this and other issues.