Dehrai crossed through the mountain, leaving light in his wake.

At the lowest point of his circuit, under sea level, Dehrai’s fingers lingered over runes keeping the tunnels unflooded. Those did not need weekly renewal, and no-one would teach him their workings.

On his climb back he fed more light-spells in the communal workshops and dwellings too deep under the city even for lightwells, letting thanks warm him.

As a mote grew to a glow too bright to look into, he smiled. Air and light had called him, not stone and metal. He would follow that call again

Combining the prompts "vegetative" from Aldersprig, "viridian" from Becca Stareyes and "variable" from Tara Tyler. This follows the story Losing Colour

Dehrai crossed through the mountain, leaving light in his wake.

At the lowest point of his circuit, under sea level, Dehrai’s fingers lingered over runes keeping the tunnels unflooded. Those did not need weekly renewal, and no-one would teach him their workings.

On his climb back he fed more light-spells in the communal workshops and dwellings too deep under the city even for lightwells, letting thanks warm him.

As a mote grew to a glow too bright to look into, he smiled. Air and light had called him, not stone and metal. He would follow that call again

"under-" was another prompt by Aldersprig. :)

On the way from a far-flung field back to her home, a farmer met a young priest, and they exchanged greetings.

She said, “Looks like rain tomorrow.”

“Why do you say that?” asked the city-bred priest.

“Rain follows a red sunset quite often.”

“The Maker crafted the physical world in mystery. Faith in providence will easy your heart, not trying to understand.”

The farmer, unsurprised since she was used to the ways of young priests, paraphrased different scripture, “The Maker gave us eyes to see, and a mind to think.”

When they parted ways, the priest thought hard.

Aldersprig gave me the prompts "training" and "theocracy", which is where I started, though I wandered away a little.

Maddie closed the door to her flat and leaned against it, grateful it locked out the traffic noise.

Close deadlines stressed her, turned the music and chatter, clatter of keyboards and humming of fans into tiny buzzsaws cutting into her spine.

After a few minutes of trying to unwind surfing the web, she switched the computer. Too loud. She paced, pulling plugs to kill humming power sources, switching off the heating to mute its shell-to-your-ear swoosh.

Wrapped in a blanket and feet up on the sofa, she sighed.

No noise, no moving. Just for a while.

The prompt "Still" came from Lyn Thorne-Alder.

It had seemed a good idea, Maggie taking a trip, Henry staying home to tinker in his workshop. But then…

“What were you thinking?” Maggie’s voice and shoulders dropped as she took in the model train rails cutting through the hatch to the kitchen. “Does it even open still?”

“It doesn’t need to.” Henry pulled out a chair, twitching a smile. After she sagged on the offered seat, he turned a gauge, causing a train to enter. It stopped so the first wagon, with its load of triangular leaf packets was right in front of Maggie.

“Rice dumplings. Your favourite.”

Here we go starting on the rest of the alphabet. The prompt "railroad" came from Lyn Thorne-Alder, "rice dumplings" from Eliza Gebow

I'm still accepting prompts for letters after T, if you're so inclined. :)

The outlander had agreed to the precautions Haisa wanted for their meeting. Satisfied, she retrieved the carved box that held what he sought, and opened it with a flourish.

His eyes, so far shining with excitement, went dull, and his shoulders sagged.

“It’s what you seek. Hair of Qilin!"

“Oh, I don’t doubt that, pardon me. It’s just that I need much more. To stuff a quilt.”

“Whatever for?” Haisa knew many uses for the potent ingredient; why waste it?

“If you slept under it, you would never get sick.”

Haisa wrinkled her nose. “Well, you buy? It’s a start.”

I'm way behind schedule in the April A to Z challenge, but I'm not stopping now. The prompt "quest" came from Lyn Thorne-Alder, "quilt" from Nita, and "Qilin", "Quantity", and "Quack" from Herm Baskerville.

Drabbles up to S are written; if you have prompts for later in the alphabet, please give them to me. :)

All verses from the Book of Prophecies were debated, among those who cared about these things.

For example, “The black-eyed bear and the red-backed bear vie for supremacy, but the cat will beat them” had seen various warlords, kings, and politicians assigned to the animal roles. A relatively new reading cast President Elsa Winter as the cat, as she overshadowed her brother’s and husband’s political careers.

Those who considered prophecies Serious Business just turned up their noses at the reading, “there are more photos of cats on the internet than of great pandas and red pandas put together”.

I'm way behind schedule in the April A to Z challenge, but I'm not stopping now. The prompt "pandas" came from Lyn Thorne-Alder, "prediction" from Ellen Million.

If you have prompts for later in the alphabet, please give them to me. :)

When my hairdresser tries to talk me into a wave, a new hair colour, or using more styling products, at least she has the excuse of trying to improve her business, Miranda thought, unlike them. She took another forkful of her birthday cake and tried to ignore her mother’s and aunt’s comments. Again.

Soon, with half the family arguing if she had looked better with longer hair, or if she should cut her hair even shorter, Miranda excused herself.

Yes, the hair clippers were still there.

The whole room fell silent seeing her buzz-cut.

“Will you shut up now?”

Yes, I fell off the wagon. Better late than never. The prompt "Opinions" came from Ellen Million.

If you have prompts for later in the alphabet, please give them to me. :)