The Beaded Tapestry

My dear Analis,

This letter must be fully dedicated to my meeting with Katryna and the amazing outcome.  She arrived four days ago riding on the back of a Roan no less, with no prior warning or message to herald her coming.  She informed me that it was best this way as a spontaneous meeting always produced the best results. My instincts were correct and she definitely has seen a mutual benefit in seeking a friendship between us. Not only has she agreed to be a subject for my research but she also has informed me of what I can do for her.  The relationship she has with the Equine has been progressively changing over the last few months and she feels I am an influence on this alteration somehow.  From what she describes the change is not necessarily a bad thing but some type of metamorphosis occurring that needs my involvement to progress to the next level. I am only at the tip of discovering how this will be propagated between myself and Katryna but I will keep an accurate record for all interactions as they unfold. The first task at hand is for me to achieve a thorough understanding of exactly what Katryna’s abilities are. We spent our first day together discussing the extent of her relationship with the Equine.  Her gift has always been an internal process that materialized just after her tenth naming day. The Equine began to send her visions of places she had never been  and people she did not recognize.  At first she pushed them away as echos of nightly dreams but that quickly changed as she neared her sixteenth year.  A man came to visit her family at their farm and she recognized him from one of her visions.  He was a grain merchant from Delphi who had come to negotiate a new contract with Katryna’s grandfather.  Although she had never met him she knew that he had three sons near her age and that the youngest was gravely ill. During the meeting between the two men, katryna barged into the room and informed the man that his son needed to be taken to a doctor connected to the Flynn foundation.. Her grandfather looked at her intuitively and asked her how she knew this.  He did not question the validity of her words but only the source.  Katryna quickly related the increasing visions and where they came from. Her grandfather only acknowledged her explanation with a nod of his head and motioned for her to leave the two men to their business. Katryna left in total confusion and sought out the solace of her room.  The next day her grandfather called her to his study.  She sat in his big armchair next to the hearth as he paced back and forth across the hardwood floors. After several minutes he pulled up a chair and quietly explained what was occurring between  the Equine and Katryna. During the first years of colonization,  among a select few of the  first New-britannians, there manifested an  ability to  converse with the denizen floating above their planet. Her grandmother had been one of the first to encounter this wondrous gift and it seemed Katryna had also been blessed with this ability.  Her grandmother had died before she was born but her grandfather had retained all of her journals recording the Equine encounters she had experienced.  He handed her a box and informed her the records  now belonged to her. That was the beginning of Katrynas path to understanding the relationship she learned to cherish during the last few years.  Over the past few months that relationship has changed.  She has been receiving communication from the Equine that includes things she is again unfamiliar with. Where normally she has alway received images of people and places she now receives visions of inanimate objects as well.  I gather from her short description of some of these items that they are technology not present on New London, but from Earth.  This is one of the reasons she believes I am best suited to assist her with this transition.  Because her gift has always been an internal process she recorded her visions as her grandmother did, in a journal as written word.  She believes that at this progression of the conversations a visionary record must be started and she requires me to assist her with this.  In other words she wants to become my apprentice and learn to paint.  Teaching is not one of my strong points and I hesitated at first to her request. Unfortunately this is the only way she would agree to my research involving her so I have conceded to her request. I will need to clear this agreement with the Louvre representative but I will portray her as closer to a test subject than as an assistant.  I do not want to delay my work waiting for the long drawn out clearance process needed for her to be an official member of our project.  It is slightly deceptive on my part but I do not want to lose this opportunity.

The Equine has also begun to show Katryna visions that include so many visual symbols that there is now a necessity for her to interpret these into pictorial form.  During her last few session with clients she claims to have missed many of the hidden information given by the Equine because she could not record in enough detail without including some type of sketch. In the past her written record was enough to give a true meaning to her clients of the Equine message but now the details and subject matter are beyond the ability of a written description and she now needs a supplement to her recording methods. She believes I am the answer to her dilemma. I realize this might also propagate delays to our final work but I know it will also bring more benefits in exchange,  

I still have not discovered what became of my journal which I used while ill.  The doctor did not know anything about it and as I suspected Katryna did not either.  She did remember it in my room on her previous visit but adamantly states it was still on the bed table when she left. I grapple with how it could have disappeared but I have not given up hope yet. I still have no recollection of those dark conversations but I do feel the emotional echoes left by the experience. I have planned a mountain excursion at the end of this week and once I return I will see if meditating on the subject will recover some of these recordings.  

After staying for three days Katryna has now returned to her home to make preparation for a two month stay at my studio.  I will first train her to use the distillation equipment since the first step for any apprentice is the production and care of painting materials. I have restarted the sustainability test on the copper and sage and fired two new clay holding containers to supplement the large gourd use for the distillation unit. The finished clay product  has turned out to be a perfect alternative to the rare river gourds and the raw material is readily available. They are also convenient to store the final mixed colors in since they do not distort the final tint and can easily be created in any form. I only need now find the correct canvas base material and I hope the mountain region will deliver as I hoped.  Since I will need additional supplies to accommodate Katryna and her upcoming apprenticeship, I will keep this in mind a I look ahead.

My planned return to Delphi for the repaired equipment is also quickly approaching and I can arrange for additional supplies there. I am amazed at how quickly the time is passing and also aware of how much there still is to accomplish before I am prepared for our joint part of the project to begin. I am not sure how I will adjust to Katryna’s  constant presence but if it will allow me to study her and her abilities I think it is well worth the sacrifice on my part. We will see what effect it has on my relationship with the Equine. I have had no further memorable dreams over the last week but I still hope for a return of what occurred during my illness. At the least a message from you.  It need not be fish this time. Any creature will do.

Love

Victoria