Ah Tantamount-Newly-On-Sea! Such a wonderful place! Full of whim and whimsy and bears! Here we continue to document the correspondence between Tantamount-Newly-On-Sea (a town, definitely not sentient in its own right) and the Airballoon (still unnamed, which Mila thinks is somewhat unlucky).
The following is an extract from the spell journal of Mila of the Well, from one of the Lost Journals which sadly fell overboard while the airballoon was being cleaned, and became the basis of a religion observed only by small fish. Luckily, Mila of the Well is used to losing journals to water and has extensive copying spells.
Today we narrowly avoided a large lightning storm. It was a near thing, but we were given enough warning to be safe. I’m considering that we could have another windsock. It’s always good to have a lot of windsocks. If nothing else, the sylphs like them and that is an advantage to have.
You’d think after all this time I’d be getting better at water magic, but shapeshifting has always been my strong point (and how funny that outside of Tantamount-Newly-On-Sea, when I say that it is true for all the time and not an always truth that might change with history!). Laura, at least, seems to enjoy that fact…
Notes on a spell for the love of stars (not sure what use this spell has!)
- I’ve used pentagrams before, so I do know what I’m doing there.
- The dragonfly wings can be substituted with damselfly wings or the legs of waterboatmen. However the toenail of a mole really can’t be substituted for anything else at all. NOT AT ALL!!
- The rhythm of the chant really is more important than the words.
- Expect fireflies.
The following message was delivered by Very Persistent Albatross.
TO: Laura Lovelace, The Woman In The Well AKA Mila of the Well
FROM: The Tatamount Gazelle
RE: Your monthly update of highlights from Tantamount-Newly-On-Sea, March edition
Dear Laura Lovelace and The Woman in the Well AKA Mila of the Well,
We’re overjoyed that you’ve continued your completely voluntary subscription with us, the Tantamount Gazelle. Bringer of news and entertainment! Your subscription fee of T5.00 has been taken from your wallet by a small yet mostly harmless curse. Side effects may include losing your wallet, losing the hand you had in the wallet when the curse activated, sneezing, itching, rashes, mucus, and a specific longing for a house in Wales with yellow lintels that wasn’t actually your childhood home.
ON TO THE MONTHLY HIGHLIGHTS!
Lyrics to When Will the Daffodil Beast Run Free Once More? definitively decided by the Tantamount Lyrical Association, who were immediately attacked by a mob wielding pitchforks, folding chairs, and several illegal trombones. This only goes to show that folk music is dangerous business.
A jellyfish claiming to be a member of the Tantamount-Newly-On-Sea Shadow Council has been proven to be a normal jellyfish. The jellyfish in question, who was called Andrew, was using a disguised jetpack to float. The Shadow Council were asked for comment, but did not respond.
Dewdrop the goat, most popular member of at least one of the town’s councils, caused a complete scandal when she performed a Morris dance despite having no formal training!
“Flamingoes are definitely not building a volcano,” says flamingo spokesflamingo.
And finally, for your enjoyment, a selection of the best looking gazelles. Rated on majesty, beauty, running speed, and leaping. Looking at the gazelle gallery is MANDATORY and will be enforced by your local large ungulate.
All the best,
Tantamount Gazelle
Attachments: antiviral blessing.20.7.201212.translunary-washing-machine
Gazelle gallery link (contains 35 071 images)
The following note was pinned to the corkboard over the kitchen in the airballoon. It is most definitely reasonable to have a kitchen on an airballoon, and we don’t know why you’d think otherwise.
Laura,
About stopping for childhood dreams – we’re currently over land that appears to be populated. The Dream Tuning Fork resonated pretty strongly when I tested it, so we can probably hover in the cloud cover for a few hours and siphon some childhood dreams into the engine. Can you switch the filtering system on so we don’t accidentally get adolescent daydreams as well? Those really gummed up the gears last time…
M ❤