Star Silk

"Kararya, what is that?" The Orb Weaver was livid as she pointed to Kararya's dress--a deep blue silk covered in tiny yellow stars.

Kararya looked down as if she had entirely forgotten what she was wearing--as if she hadn't known the Orb Weaver would consider it a means of undermining her authority. "Star silk," she said calmly. "You get the effect by weaving star stalks into the silk. It's all the rage in the Lake Province. My designer thought it would look particularly stunning with a darker background color."

"I know how it's made," the Orb Weaver said."

Kararya flapped her lower wings lazily. "Well, you asked..."

"Why are you wearing it?!"

"As I said, it's all the rage in the Lake Province. You don't expect the province governor to appear in something... ordinary... do you? It might undermine my authority."

Kararya tried to still her own features as the Orb Weaver's face cycled through emotions--anger, shock, worry.... malice. The Orb Weaver's vibrating wings stopped twitching. "Designer, you say?" She asked smoothly, "Am I to understand you're no longer weaving your own clothing?"

"I'm sure even you don't weave all your own clothing."

"If you are no longer weaving, how are we to know that you still have a place in our guild?"

Kararya looked down at the dress she wore. "You're right," she said, "I didn't weave this. But I did weave this." She took off the bag she wore over her shoulder and opened it into a single sheet of silk--thanks to a trick she'd learned from a Jumper. The other guild members gasped as she did so. The parts of the document which had shown when folded were white. But the rest was a deep blue--as blue as Kivika Lake itself--and like her dress, was dotted with the tiny yellow flowers that proved she had woven star stalks into them. But the intricately woven pattern--one that was no doubt created by someone in the guild--was also a declaration of independence of the Lake Province from the Weavers Guild.

Once again, the Orb Weaver's face cycled through emotions, and once again, it settled into cool malice. "Seeing as you are a member of the Weavers Guild, independence would require me to remove you from your current position of governance."

"I'm well aware," Kararya replied, just as smoothly, "I wouldn't have woven it, otherwise." This time, she indulged in the smallest of smiles as a look of understanding finally crossed the Orb Weaver's face. Whether kicked out or reassigned, Kararya would still undermine her authority. Kararya had won.