Aoife Lorefield reads Charles de Lint’s 2002 short story
spin-off from his The Cats of Tanglewood series, and first published as a part
of The Green Man: Tales from the Mythic
Forest , edited by Ellen
Datlow & Terri Windling
In this tale, Lillian, the protagonist from Cats is now in
her mid-teens and hungry for her life to broaden; she longs to be an artists,
but has neither the money nor training to achieve her desire. Then, whilst
wandering in the forest one day, she discovers a paint box, long abandoned.
Examining it, she recognizes the name on one of the panels with the box as that
of an artist famed for his pieces
depicting the forest, but who disappeared years earlier, along with his
apprentice.
Later, Lillian encounters the artist’s apprentice, looking
not a day older than when he and the artists vanished. He tells her a tale of
their having crossed into another realm, and her past experiences with magic
allow her to accept the story. That world, the apprentice explains, is so
beautiful neither he nor the artist wanted to return – and Lillian finds
herself on the tip of a bittersweet voyage of discovery.
Aoife Lorefield, live in voice.
In Second Life at
hop://grid.kitely.com:8002/Seanchai/138/34/25
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