#Cadi Fel

[llyfrenfys]

LHDTC+ : Acronym heb Q / LHDTC+ : Acronym without Q

P'nawn da pawb, Mae'r post hwn yw'r post cyntaf yn fy system ddwyeithog newydd. Mae'r Cymraeg sy'n dod yn gyntaf a Saesneg yn ail. Afternoon pawb, This post is the first post using my new bilingual system. Welsh is first and English is second.

[Fersiwn pinc o'r ddraig yn y faner hon/Pink version of the dragon on this flag]

Mae'r acronym Saesneg LGBT fel arfer yn cael ei sgwennu fel LHDT yn Gymraeg. Ond beth am y Q+?

Fi'n gweld 'LHDTQ+' yn aml - ond does dim llythren Q yn yr alffabet Gymraeg. Felly beth am C+?

Mae'n amhosib siarad am yr acronym heb sôn am yr hanes yr acronym yn Gymraeg. Ar hyn o bryd, mae'r sôn cyntaf am yr acronym yn Gymraeg yn "Storïau sy'n rhoi siâp ar fywyd" gan West Rhyl Young People’s Project yn 1994. Ar dudalen 4 mae'n dweud "LHD" ar gyfer LGB. Ar ôl LHD, mae LHDT yn cyrraedd yn "Canllaw Cryno i Gymunedau LHDT: Ar Herio Adroddiadau Negyddol Yn Y Cyfryngau" gan y Comisiynydd Plant Cymru yn 2015.

Hefyd, mae'n amhosib siarad am yr acronym heb sôn am Q am 'Queer' neu Q am 'questioning'. Mae'r ddau, y ddau yn dda iawn. Ond yn y Gymraeg mae trydedd ongl: C am 'Cwiar' neu Cadi'?

Siaradodd Mihangel Morgan ar 'theori Cadi' yn Queer Wales (2016). Mae Morgan yn hoffi gwell Cadi na Cwiar fel term cymunedol ac mae yna rai sy'n cytuno ag e. Ar y llaw arall, mae rhai pobl yn hoffi Cwiar. Ac mae rhai pobl yn hoffi'r ddau. Fi'n hoffi'r ddau yn bersonol. Ond fi'n meddwl ei fod yn bwysig dangos y sgwrs o gwmpas y pethau 'ma.

Beth yw eich barn chi? Atebwch isod neu mewn neges neu drwy fy mocs gofyn!

/

The English acronym LGBT is usually written as LHDT in Welsh. But what about the Q+?

I see 'LHDTQ+' often - but there is no letter Q in the Welsh alphabet. So what about C+?

It is impossible to talk about the acronym without also mentioning the history of the acronym in Welsh. Currently, the first (known) mention of the acronym in Welsh is in "Stories which give shape to lives" by West Rhyl Young People's Project in 1994. On page 4 it has "LHD" for LGB. After LGB makes a debut, the acronym LGBT arrives in "A Brief Guide for LGBT Communities: Challenging Negative Media Reports" (tr.) by the Children's Commissioner for Wales in 2015.

It is also impossible to talk about the acronym without mentioning whether it is Q for 'Queer' or Q for 'questioning'. Both, both are good. But in Welsh there exists a third angle: Q for 'Cwiar' or Cadi'?

Mihangel Morgan has spoken about 'Cadi theory' in Queer Wales (2016). Morgan has established that he prefers Cadi to Cwiar as a community term and there are some who agree with him. On the other hand, other people prefer Cwiar. And some people just like both. I like both personally. But I do think it is important to show the conversation around these things on here.

What do you think? Reply below or in a message or an ask!

[planetary]

can we all love and drink juice? i kisss stwling juic from school. i lut it in my hoodie packettes. i played rome o in my class romeo and julief. and my friends said i would look hot if i was a boy. rhey didnt even jnow! i think i smoked the boy weed that makes you a boy because im havinf kind of a boy momet. im Man Cadi now manly cadi. masculine cadi. cado. arcadio angelo. devil!!! one million devilsupon the earth! lest we trip and fall we jave to STOP THEM 🛑 RAAAAAHHRRRR (Tiger scream.)

So can you he/him me now for a little while and my boy name is Jupiter or Steak (joke dor steak its not my name but i do love to eat it) or william howard taft joined weeser or i can’t remember other names i like ill get my Goo Goo Dock You Mint (goole documant)

Okay I can be Callisto too and briar if thats for boys. Jupiter/Callisto or nickolas unless thats weird to doa d isador i would say but it makes me sound like a french man who wouldn’t be your friend and i would ve your friend and i am not french but i went there and fell aslele on a fench wnd w guy fvaped jn my face (strabwrry scented ) and cars didnt stop if you were walkinf and the lourve got hot becayse the goass roof and theres garbage cand everyrhwee! and i had a bad time in the hotel one night because of some problems with behavuor. and the instant messagimg app. Oh dhit i forgot i havw to do something slimy and sludgey like gloop and oonk slop bongo 🥁 the drums and drumsticks for playing itwait its not a bomko drum at all thats so fucking stupid i can make a carot thougk olllllllllll

🥕

Big one

carerot 🥕 now a littl eone

🥕 i can make it smaller

, ok its smaller

and now it left forever so whatever it was limited edition and if you missed it youre shit out of luck lol sorry meow yeah

Inforgot yeah im boy cadi im boy mode im man guy mode im gonna kiss all of my gay man followers before my gender changes back into a pumpkin at midnight. sorry unless you didnt get mad af me

Ooo mm going to .. BLUE Slop! Llaaaa in my sleesp now. OkAYYYY OKAY OKAY YAAAAAAAAYYYYYY LLKLLALALALLALLLLLALALA 🥕 OU MY GOD IT CAME BACK MMMMCRUNKH ch i want ghe line even Zno it even has to be even ok yay lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll oklllllll i love to hit the l button right now like yeah really

mmmaaaaaaamammfmskllla ait fels too good to tap it all I haveI MM HAVE TO GOU OK OK YAAAA

[ladyofrosefire]

What is Owed

Elves take debts seriously.

Or: the story of how Cadi Fel and Galliard became partners.

T, English, 2331 words

[helliette-delacroix]

Character Names / Nicknames: Girls

Acadia - NN: Cadi, Dia

Adaira - NN: Adi, Ada, Dair, Daira, Aira

Aira - NN: Air

Afternoon - NN: Noon

Alabama - NN: Ala, Bama, Ama

Albany - NN: Aly, Alby

Alouette - NN: Al, Lou, Ette, Ettie, Louie

Amaryllis - Ama, Mary, Lis

Amethys - NN: Ama, Myth

Amity - NN: Ami

Amoret - NN: Am, Ama, Ami

Andora - NN: Andi, Dora, Dori

Araminta - NN: Ara, Minta

Arbor - NN: Arby

Aurelia - NN: Aur, Auri, Elia, Lia, Reli

Anaphora - NN: Ana, Phor, Phori, Phora

Cambria - NN: Cam, Bria

Canarsie - NN: Arsie, Can, Cana

Canarise - NN: Can, Cana, Rise, Risa

Canary - NN: Can, Cana, Ry

Caroun - NN: Car, Cara, Roun, Rouna, Rouni

Cerelia - NN: Cera, Eli, Elia, Lia, Relia, Reli

Cella - NN: Cel, Ell

Celia - NN: Cel, Lia, Elia

Chrysalis - NN: Chrys, Alis, Rys, Rysa, Ali

Delphi - NN: Del, Phi, Phia, Dela

Delta - NN: Del, El

Dulcet - NN: Dulcie, Cet

Dandelion - NN: Dande, Lion

Elba - NN: El, Ela, Elbi

Eliora - NN: Eli, Ora, Lora, Lia

Ember - NN: Em

Epiphany - NN: Any, Piph, Epi

Eulalia - NN: Eu, Lali, Lia, Ali

Evening - NN: Eve, Evi

Everette - NN: Ev, Eve, Ever, Evi, Ette, Ret

Effervescent - NN: Effe, Ves

Ephemeral - NN: Ephe, Mera, Era, Eme, Em

Felicity - NN: Fel, Feli, City, Lia, Li, Eli

Finola - NN: Fin, Ola, Nola

Galilee - NN: Gal, Lil, Lee, Ali, Lilee

Halcyon - NN: Hal, Halcy, Halce, Cyon, Hali

Hyacinth - NN: Hy, Hya, Cin

Indiana - NN: Indi, Dia, Ana

Indigo - NN: Indi

Idylla - NN: Ida, Idy

Judith - NN: Judi, Jude

July - NN: Jul

Juniper - NN: June, Juni, Per, Nip

Kisma - NN: Kis

Leitha - NN: Lei

Lorenza - NN: Enza, Lore

Louisiana - NN: Lou, Isi, Ana, Liana, Loui

Lucida - NN: Luce, Luci, Ida, Cida, Lu

Lilit - NN: Lil, Lili

[queerwelsh]

Kate Roberts (1891-1985) was born on this day, 13th February, 1891 in Rhosgadfan, Caernarfonshire.

Known as ‘Brenhines ein Llên’ (Queen of our Literature), Kate published novels such as Traed Mewn Cyffion (Feet in Chains) in 1936, which depicted poverty and the hardships of women in the slate quarries in North Wales. She was also known for short stories such as in the collection ‘Ffair Gaeaf a storïau eraill’ (’Winter Fair and other stories’), published in 1937.

Through her political activism with Plaid Cymru, she met Morris T. Williams, who she married in 1928. They bought the Gwasg Gee publishing house in Denbigh by 1935, which published books, pamphlets and Y Faner (The Banner). Kate and Morris both were close to the editor of Y Faner, E. Prosser Rhys, a poet who broke ground in 1924 by winning in the Eisteddfod with ‘Atgof’, which depicted heterosexual sex, masturbation and gay sex. Morris and Prosser’s relationship was particularly close, and they are thought to have had an affair.

Morris died in 1946 (Prosser Rhys in 1945) but Kate continued at the press for another decade. Her later short stories reflected her isolation and her autobiography was published in 1960. Kate is also known for her politics, carrying on a correspondence with the Welsh Nationalist Saunders Lewis for 40 years and herself contributing to Y Faner. Kate retired to Denbigh and died in 1985, at the age of 94.

The image of Kate Roberts is that of a powerhouse of a Welsh novelist, writer and political campaigner, but also of a lonely and childless widow later in life. This image is sadder if her husband was gay, had an affair, and died from his alcoholism in his 40s. The traditional images of Kate Roberts can be challenged, however. Morris’s sudden death was devastating - in an interview with Lewis Valentine, Kate told him how her world had fell to pieces, leading to write of ‘the struggle of a woman’s soul’ in Stryd y Glep (Gossip Row). The affair, however, she understood.

Kate’s own literature has more recently been analysed as itself having examples of homoerotic writing between women. Relationships between women can be intense, erotic, such as in the 1929 short story ‘Nadolig’ (’Christmas’), which explores a relationship between two teachers with coded queer subtext, and the 1972 short story ‘Y Trysor’ (’The Treasure’). Not only did lesbian relationships seem to appear in her short stories (similarly to the writer Margiad Evans, who is thought to be bisexual, who Kate also corresponded with) but in Alan Llwyd’s biography, he writes that her letters to Morris hint at her own feelings for women:

“Yr oedd gwraig y cigydd lle’r arhoswn yn un o’r merched harddaf y disgynnodd fy llygaid arni erioed. Dynes lled dal, heb fod yn rhy dew nac yn rhy denau, gwellt gwineu - real chestnut a thuedd at donnau ynddo. Croen fel alabaster a’r gwddf harddaf a welais erioed - llygaid heb fod yn rhy brydferth ond yn garedig. Yr oedd yn hynod gartrefol ei ffordd - Cymraes iawn. Bore trannoeth, hebryngai’r mab fi mewn cerbyd i Gastellnedd - cychwyn tua 7.15a.m. a hithau’n oer. Mynnodd y wraig roi clustog o’r ty odanaf, a lapiodd rug am fy nhraed, rug arall am fy nghorff, a rhoes glamp o gusan ar fy ngwefus. Nid oedd dim a roes fwy o bleser imi. Os byth ysgrifennaf fy atgofion, bydd y weithred hon yno, a’r noson ar lan afon Ddyfi.”

“The butcher’s wife where we stayed was one of the most beautiful girls I have ever laid eyes on. A broad, tall woman, not too fat or too thin, brown(?) hair - real chestnut, with a tendency to waves. Skin like alabaster and the most beautiful neck I’ve ever seen - eyes not too beautiful but kind. She was very homely - a real Welshwoman. The next morning, the son escorted me in a vehicle to Neath - starting at 7a.m. and it cold. The wife insisted on putting a cushion from the house under me, wrapped a rug around my feet, and another on my body, and put a clamp of a kiss on my lips. There was nothing that gave me more pleasure. If I ever write my memoir, this deed will be there, and that night on the banks of river Dyfi.”

The implication is she was aware of Morris’s homosexuality before they married and felt comfortable her own sexuality to him, and, as she was in love with Morris, was bisexual. This interpretation of her writing, both personal and published, was treated as controversial however - the ‘sensational’ ‘claim’ of the biography, rather just one part of Llwyd’s portrayal of Kate’s life. The queer readings of her writing already existed and certainly are not so far-fetched or shocking. Kate’s history does not generally include her queerness, so have these interpretations been entirely dismissed as unbelievable?

Through her writing and her personal life, if not through her own sexuality, Kate Roberts certainly is a part of the LGBT+ history of Wales - she already is a part of the LGBT+ literature of Wales. So what makes a historically queer view of Kate Roberts so far unacceptable? For some, it’s still to unbelievable that figures in Welsh history may be queer - for others, too disrespectful to repeat that ‘Brenhines Ein Llên’ was attracted to women. The image of her is respectable, does same-sex attraction not fit in with that? Or does same-sex attraction not fit in with her Welshness even?

It is however not a slur on her legacy to believe her to be queer. When it’s treated as such, by ignoring the queer interpretation, by not speaking of it (like we for so long did not speak about queer people in our society, through shame) - it sends the message to LGBT+ people in Welsh society today that a Welsh identity and LGBT+ identity are still mutually exclusive. This puts Welsh LGBT+ people in the position of needing to choose between the two identities, needing to compartmentalize these two parts of themselves. That Welsh historical figures, Welsh heroes even, could have been queer validates our identities  - when even the possibility is dismissed, Welsh LGBT+ people are dismissed. When LGBT+ people do exist in our history, when Kate Roberts (such a Welsh figure) is a part of a Welsh LGBT+ history, this needs to be recognised, to recognise that Welsh LGBT+ people are a permanent part of Wales, and even of Welsh-speaking Wales.

Sources: -‘“A queer kind of fancy”: Women, Same-sex Desire and Nation in Welsh Literature’ by Kirsti Bohata in Huw Osborne ed. Queer Wales. - ‘Coded Sexualities and Outside Views’ by Gwen Davies. - Kate Roberts (Writers of Wales) by Katie Gramich. - Kate: Cofiant Kate by Alan Llwyd. - ‘From Huw Arwystli to Siôn Eirian: Representative Examples of Cadi/Queer Life from Medieval to Twentieth-Century Welsh Literature,’ by Mihangel Morgan in Queer Wales. - ‘Cultural Translations: A Comparative Political Study of Kate Roberts and Virginia Woolf,’ PhD thesis by Francesca Rhydderch.

[cinema-tv-etc]

Sex in the Gilded Age

Love, Sex, and Women's Rights in the Gilded Age

November 28, 2012 by Tara Block

Loosen your girdles and get ready for a little Downton Abbey here in the States! The creator of the popular British drama series, Julian Fellowes, is developing a new NBC show called The Gilded Age, set in 1880s New York.Known as the American Renaissance, this period following the Civil War (from 1877 to 1893) was a time of economic growth and industrialization, but it wasn't without its problems and setbacks. In fact, the era's moniker was coined by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner in their 1873 satirical novel The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today, which called out our country's greed and political corruption hidden beneath a thin layer of gold.For women, the Gilded Age was a transitional mixed bag of Victorian morality, loveless marriages, the birth of the women's rights movement, and the invention of the vibrator. Find out more about the important women of this period, mostly centered in New York, as well as the rules of love, sex, and marriage in the Gilded Age.

Women's Rights

Susan B. Anthony - In 1868, Susan B. Anthony launched her women's rights weekly publication The Revolution in New York City. The journal's motto was "The true republic — men, their rights and nothing more; women, their rights and nothing less." It discussed revolutionary ideas at the time about women's roles, including the right to vote, equal pay, divorce laws, and the church's treatment of women. Susan was the publisher while Elizabeth Cady Stanton served as editor, and the two would work together again to found the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA) in 1869.When asked if women would ever have the right to vote, Susan had said, "It will come, but I shall not see it . . . It is inevitable. We can no more deny forever the right of self-government to one-half our people than we could keep the Negro forever in bondage. It will not be wrought by the same disrupting forces that freed the slave, but come it will, and I believe within a generation." It was 14 years after she passed away that women were given the right to vote with the 19th Amendment in 1920.

Women's Rights

Victoria Woodhull - Victoria Woodhull was a leading 19th century suffragette, a symbol for women's rights, and an advocate of free love — the freedom to marry, divorce, and bear children without government interference. In 1872, she became the first female candidate for president of the United States, nominated by the Equal Rights Party. She was also the first woman, along with her sister, to run a Wall Street brokerage firm.

https://www.popsugar.com/love/Sex-Gilded-Age-26101523

[pontiobangor]

Theatr Iolo yn dychwelyd i Pontio gyda sioe deuluol ‘Pen-blwydd Poenus Pete’

Mae gwledd ar ei ffordd i deuluoedd ar ddechrau gwyliau’r hanner tymor wrth i Theatr Iolo ddod â Pen-blwydd Poenus Pete, comedi frathog a hwyliog gan y dramodydd adnabyddus Gary Owen, i Pontio Dydd Sadwrn 23 Chwefror.

Mae Pen-blwydd Poenus Pete yn gyfle perffaith i deuluoedd Cymraeg eu haiath neu rai sy’n dysgu i fwynhau trip llawn hwyl i'r theatr i fwynhau comedi am helyntion bywyd teuluol.

Mae yna deulu - Mam, Dad, dau o blant a Chadi'r gath. Mae Dad yn dweud nad yw eisiau dim ffws ar ei benblwydd. Felly mae Mam yn ei gymeryd ar ei air: nid yw hi na'r plant yn gwneud DIM ar gyfer pen-blwydd Dad. Ond fe aiff Dad yn flin a phan mae ei rwystredigethau yn cyfuno a phŵer drygionus y gath, mae'r canlyniadau yn llanast llawn chwerthin.

Mae Dad yn dysgu Cymraeg (fel yn wir y mae'r actor sydd yn chwarae y rhan) ac mae'n amserol i ddod â'r gomedi boblogaidd hon yn ôl er mwyn i deuluoedd newydd ei mwynhau ynghanol y bwrlwm presennol o frwdfrydedd dros ddwyieithrwydd a chelf a diwylliant Gymraeg eu hiaith.

Yn ôl  Gary Owen: “Dwi wastad wedi sgwennu dramau ‘swn i ishe gweld ‘n hunan.  Ac ers cael plant, mwy nag unrhywbeth dwi ishe gweld dramau gall dal sylw fy mhlant.  Gyda Pen-blwydd Poenus Pete, o’n i ishe sgwennu rhywbeth bydde’n cyfleu hwyl, egni a mwynhad teulu hapus, ond pell o berffaith. Hefyd, o’n i ishe adlewyrchu sefyllfa lot o deuluoedd sy’n hala eu plant i ysgolion Cymraeg, lle bydd (o leia) un rhiant lot fwy cyfforddus yn siarad Cymraeg, a’r rhiant arall falle yn stryglo i fynegi ei hunan. I fi y mae rhai o'r comediau gorau, er enghraifft Only Fools and Horses, yn y bôn yn trafod sefyllfaoedd cymdeithasol caled ac mae'n rhaid i  chi adael i'r gynulleidfa fwynhau y rhyddhad o wherthin (a mwynhau ambell slepjan wrth gwrs!)”

Mae'r tîm tu ôl i'r cynhyrchiad yn gymysgedd cyffrous o dalent cyfarwydd a newydd. Yn chwarae y Tad annibynol sydd â'i ben yn styc yn ei ffôn mae Richard Nichols sydd newydd orffen diddanu cynulleidfaoedd Sleeping Beauty yn Nghanolfan Celfydydau Glan yr Afon. Yn chwarae y Fam flinedig ond siarp ei hiwmor mae Crisian Emanuel fydd yn gyfarwydd i ddilynwyr cyfresi teledu Parch a Belonging. Yn goruchwylio y cyfan bydd Sion Pritchard. Hwn yw cynhyrchiad mawr cyntaf Sion fel cyfarwyddwr er ei fod yn gyfarwydd fel actor  - yn fwyaf diweddar yng ngyfres gomedi y BBC Tourist Trap - cyfres oedd hefyd yn cynnwys yr actores ifanc wych Mali Ann Rees sydd yn chwarae rhan Cadi y gath ddrygionus IAWN. Yn ymuno â nhw bydd yr hynod dalentog Elin Phillips yn chwarae rhan Sian, un o'r efeilliad, ochr yn ochr ac Iwan Garmon, actor ifanc arall hynod ddawnus fydd yn chwarae rhan Twm ei hefaill.

I sicrhau bod croeso i bawb, mae pecynnau cynorthwyol i ddysgwyr ar gael i'w lawrwytho am ddim o wefan Theatr Iolo yn ogystal a bod ar gael yn y ganolfan ar dddiwrnod y perfformiadau. Mae Theatr Iolo hefyd yn gwahodd teuluoedd  i ymuno â nhw am hanner awr cyn y perfformiadau yn Pontio am sesiwn hwyliog i helpu dysgwyr o bob safon ddeall y ddrama yn llawn ac ymuno yn yr hwyl.

Pen-blwydd Poenus Pete, Stiwdio Pontio

Canllaw oed: 6+

Dydd Sadwrn Chwefror 23, 11.30am + 2.30pm gyda sesiwn i ddysgwyr am 10.30am a 1.30pm cyn y sioe

Bydd gweithdy creadigol am ddim yn dilyn pob sioe i greu 'Penblwydd Poenus Pete' gyda'r artist Llŷr Alun

Archebwch arlein: 

https://tocynnau.pontio.co.uk/Online/19Poenus

www.theatriolo.com 

[cwmnipluen-blog]

Blog - Cyfarwyddwr / Director, Gethin Evans

Mae cyfarwyddwr Mags Gethin Evans yn nôl yng Nghaerdydd wedi iddo dreulio amser yn y National Theatre, yn gweithio ar yr anhygoel Pericles.

Dyma rai geiriau ganddo am Mags: Y bobl, y broses, y llawenydd, y bisgedi a beth y gall y gynulleidfa ddisgwyl ei weld.

Mags director Gethin Evans is back in Cardiff after his time at the National Theatre, working on the incredible Pericles.

Here are some of his words about Mags: The people, the process, the joy, the biscuits and what our audiences can expect to see.

*************************

Gydag ymarferion ein sioe newydd Mags yn dechrau ar ddydd Llun (!), rydyn ni wedi bod yn brysur yn paratoi hefo’n tîm anhygoel – Elgan Rhys (Cyd-Gyfarwyddwr Artistig Pluen) yn ddramatwrg, Cadi Lane yn dylunio, cerddoriaeth wreiddiol a sain gan CASI ac Eddy Bailhache a Ceri James yn goleuo…yn ogystal â chwestiynnu a datblygu stori a ffurf gyda’n mentoriaid hynod fedrus Cai Tomos a Hannah McPake.

Yn ystod yr ymarferion byddwn yn dod nôl ynghyd â’n perfformwyr - Anna ap Robert, Matteo Marfoglia a Seren Vickers i rannu stori menyw o’r enw Mags a’i pherthynas hefo’i chymuned a’i theulu.

Mae’r tîm yn ysbrydoledig ac yn ddeinamig, a bu ein cyfnod datblygu yn 2017 ymlith un o’r ystafelloedd ymarfer mwyaf brwdfrydig, egniol ac ymrwymedig y bum i’n ffodus i gael bod ynddi. Fedra i ddim aros i gael bod nol yn yr ystafell honno!

Yn ogystal â gyda’r tîm hwn, mae Mags wedi cael ei datblygu gyda chymuned gyfan o artistiaid ysbrydoledig – unigolion a wnaeth ymateb i’n galwad agored ar gyfer trafodaethau a thrwy weithio gyda’n partneriaid DadsCan, CAIN a Traws*Newid Cymru.

Mae’r sgyrsiau wedi bod yn llon, yn lleddf, yn ysbrydoledig, yn onest ac ar y cyd rydym wedi archwilio cwestiynnau ynglyn â chymdeithas – beth yw hi i fod yn ran o gymuned? O deulu? I fod yn ran o rywbeth mwy na ni ein hunain? Ym mha lwythi y canfyddwn ni ein hunain ynddynt – boed i ni fod eisiau bod ynddynt ai peidio? Sut mae hyn yn effeithio ar pwy ydyn ni a’r penderfyniadau a wnawn?

Bydd y sioe y caiff ein cynulleidfaoedd ei weld yn blethiad o symudiad, testun dwyieithog a cherddoriaeth fyw wrth i ni ddilyn stori Mags – ei gorffennol, ei phresennol a’i dyfodol yn y pentref bach Cymreig y mae hi’n ei garu a’i gasau ill dau. Ysbrydolwyd ei stori gan y bobl y bu i ni eu cyfarfod.

Nid yw byd Mags yn bodoli heb bob paned o dê, bisged, peint, cyfweliad a gweithdy (yn ogystal ag amal i ginio gwych – o gaffi yn Cathays gyda Trans*Form i bicnic ar lanau’r Fenai gyda CAIN). Mae hi’n gynnyrch o’r Byd y cafodd ei ffurfio ynddi, fel y mae pob un ohonom. Felly, wrth i ni ymlwybro tuag at y cam nesaf yn y broses hon, hoffwn estyn diolch anferthol i’r gymuned sydd wedi creu Mags hyd yn hyn. Rwy’n gobeithio y gwnewch chi ymuno â ni yn y Sherman 25ain – 28ain Medi ac yn Galeri 3ydd & 4ydd Hydref.

Theatr Sherman -  25-28 Medi 

Galeri Caernarfon - 3-4 Hydref

***

With rehearsals for our new show Mags starting on Monday (!), we have been busy preparing with our amazing team – Elgan Rhys (Pluen co-Artistic Director) as dramaturg, Cadi Lane designing, original music & sound by CASI and Eddy Bailhache and Ceri James lighting… as well as questioning and developing story and form with our incredibly skilled mentors Cai Tomos and Hannah McPake.

Rehearsals will bring us back together with our performers – Anna ap Robert, Matteo Marfoglia and Seren Vickers to share the story of a woman called Mags and her relationship to her community and family.

The team are inspiring and dynamic, our development period in 2017 was one of the most vibrant, energized and committed rehearsal rooms I have been lucky enough to be in. I cannot wait to be back in that room!

As well as this team, Mags has been developed with a whole community of inspiring artists – individuals who responded to an open call out for discussion and through working with our partners DadsCan, CAIN & TransForm Cymru.

The exchanges have been joyful, harrowing, inspiring, truthful and we have collectively explored questions on society - what is it to be part of a community? A family? To be part of something greater than ourselves? Which tribes do we find ourselves a part of – whether we want to be or not? How does this affect who we are and the choices we make?

The show our audiences will see is a fusion of movement, bilingual text and live music as we follow Mags’ story - her past, present and future in the small Welsh village she both loves and loathes. Her story is inspired by the people we have met.

Mags and her world does not exist without every cup of tea, biscuit, pint, interview and workshop (including many an amazing lunch – from a café in Cathays with Trans*Form to a picnic on the Menai Strait with CAIN). She is a product of the World she was formed in, like any one of us is.  So, as we head into the next phase of this process, I would like to extend an enormous thank you to the community who has made Mags so far. I hope you come and join us at Sherman and Galeri:

Sherman Theatre - 25-28 September

Galeri Caernarfon -  3-4 October 

***

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[izraelinfo]

Mi köze a Dávid-csillagnak a héber ABC-hez? Nem túl sok, de ami van, az is éppen elég érdekes.

Alef. Pl: ahava (szeretet) אהבה

Bet. Pl: bájt (ház) בית

Gimel. Pl: gamal (teve) גמל

A mai héber ABC a második szentély idejéből származik. A korabeli Izrael földjén általánosan használt arámi nyelvből fejlődött ki, és az előtte használatos óhéber írásmódot váltotta fel.

Dalet. Pl: delet (ajtó) דלת

He. Pl: hadasz (mirtusz) הדס

Vav. Pl: vered (rózsa) ורד

A Dávid-csillag eredete homályba vész. Az egyik zsidó hagyomány szerint Dávid király katonáinak volt pajzsára vésve a szimbólum. Ez összefügg a héber nevével is: Magen David, azaz Dávid pajzsa (védelme).

Zajin. Pl: zer (csokor) זר

Chet. Pl: chala (kalács) חלה

Tet. Pl: tov (jó) טוב

A középkori Wormsban élő Eleazar rabbi viszont tudni vélte, hogy azokra a pajzsokra bizony a Menora volt ráveretve.

Jod. Pl: Jerusalaim ירושלים

Khaf. Pl: ken (igen) כן

Szóvégi khaf.

Akárhogy is van, származási helye bizonytalan: a Dávid-csillag motívumot az ókori Távol-Keleten és a Közel-Keleten egyaránt használták. Nem utolsó sorban pedig a korai muszlim kultúrában is megtalálható volt.

Lamed. Pl: lo (nem) לא

Mem. Pl: menora מנורה

Szóvégi mem.

A második szentély fennállása alatt sok korabeli zsinagógát díszítettek vele, de úgy tűnik, hogy minden különösebb zsidó jelentéstartalom nélkül: egyéb népszerű “nemzetközi” motívumokkal keverve, nem pedig a hellenisztikus kor kifejezetten zsidóként számon tartott szimbólumai közt.

Nun. Pl: nevel (hárfa) נבל

Szóvégi nun.

Szamech. Pl: szefer (könyv) ספר

Az utóbbi néhány évszázad alatt viszont a Magen David egyértelműen zsidó jelképpé vált.

Ajin. Pl: Ajin (szem) עין

Pé. Pl: pe (száj) פה

Szóvégi pé

Izrael újjászületésével létrejött a teljes szintézis: mára a Dávid-csillag és az Alef-bet végérvényesen egybeforrt a zsidósággal.

Cadi. Pl: cadik (igaz ember) צדיק

Szóvégi cadi.

Kuf. Pl: kof (majom) קוף

A feltámadt ország zászlaján ott lobog a Magen David, s Izraelben az egykor már csak liturgikus funkciót betöltő héber nyelv antik betűi is új életre keltek.

Res. Pl: ros (fej) ראש

Sin. Pl: salom (béke) שלום

Tav. Pl: toda (köszönöm) תודה

Alef-bet es Magen David (illusztráció: a szerző)

A Dávid-csillag és a héber ABC Mi köze a Dávid-csillagnak a héber ABC-hez? Nem túl sok, de ami van, az is éppen elég érdekes.

[drudwen]

Ruth Herbert Lewis - G. Ruth

Yn 1941, aeth Alan Lomax ar daith o Lyfrgell y Gyngres yn Washington at wastatiroedd y Mississippi Delta er mwyn recordio hanes y blues. Gyda dros 500 pwys o offer recordio wedi eu stwffio i’r sedd gefn, a phob peiriant wedi’i bweru gan fatri'r car, aeth ymaith i grombil America i gofnodi rhai o’r caneuon fwyaf iasol a phwerus yn hanes y wlad. I nifer o bobl, Lomax sy’n cynrychioli’r ethnogerddoregwr delfrydol - un dyn a’i gar, yn trafeilio hyd lonydd anhysbys America i ganfod y perlau cerddorol fyddai’n tanio’r adfywiad gwerin a ddaeth i’w anterth yng nghaffis Pentref Greenwich, Efrog Newydd yn y 1960au. Mae’r ddelwedd yn un hynod ramantaidd.

 Yng Nghymru, rydym yn ystyried teithiau Roy Saer a Dr Meredydd Evans (oedd yn rhan o deulu Folkways y Smithsonian, fel Lomax) gyda pharch tebyg - ac am reswm da. Mae’r caneuon a nodwyd ganddynt hwy ar eu teithiau ledled Cymru yn hollbwysig i’n dealltwriaeth o’r traddodiad Cymraeg heddiw; mae’n amhosib dychmygu pethau heb eu cyfraniad amhrisiadwy. Ond tan yn ddiweddar iawn (ar ôl cael y cyfle i fod yn rhan o gyfres newydd ‘Hen Ferchetan’ ar BBC Radio Cymru) doeddwn i ddim mor ymwybodol o’r merched arbennig a wnaeth fraenaru’r tir ar eu cyfer nhw, ryw hanner canrif yn gynharach. Ac un yn arbennig: y person cyntaf yng Nghymru (dyn neu ddynes) i ddefnyddio peiriant ffonograff Edison er mwyn recordio caneuon gwerin, Ruth Herbert Lewis.  

Efallai mai’r peth mwyaf annisgwyl amdani oedd ei bod hi’n Saesnes. Yr ail beth syfrdanol amdani oedd nad oedd hi’n gerddorol! Ganed hi’n Ruth Caine, yn Lerpwl, i deulu’r AS Rhyddfrydol W.S. Caine. Yn ferch alluog, aeth ymlaen i astudio ym Mhrifysgol Caergrawnt cyn cwrdd â’i gwr, John Herbert Lewis, AS Rhyddfrydol i Sir y Fflint ac aelod blaenllaw o Gymru Fydd. A dyma ddechrau’r broses o ‘Gymreigio’ a fyddai, maes o law, yn arwain Ruth hyd lonydd gogledd ddwyrain Cymru efo’r ffonograff.

  Yn wahanol i Lomax, cart, nid car, oedd dull Ruth o deithio. Cart wedi’i dynnu gan ei merlen, Seren. Byddai hi’n aml i’w gweld yn teithio o gwmpas Sir y Fflint a bryniau Sir Ddinbych efo’i phlant - Kitty a Mostyn - yn swatio’n glud ar y sedd wrth ei hymyl. Cafodd y ffonograff gludadwy yn haf 1910 (fel anrheg gan ei ffrind, y gantores glasurol Mary Davies, casglwr pwysig arall fu’n gyfrifol am nodi ‘Dacw ‘Nghariad Lawr yn y Berllan’). Ei thestun cyntaf, heblaw am ambell arbrawf efo lleisiau ei phlant, oedd gwr ei golchwraig, Lucy. Roedd Robert Jones yn gyfarwydd â hen garol traddodiadol (‘O deued pob Cristion’) ac yn ddigon hapus i’w ganu i ddyfnderau’r corn alwminiwm a roddodd Ruth ar fwrdd yn ei fwthyn.

  Fel cenhedlaeth sy’n sownd wrth smartphones, mae’n anodd amgyffred mor chwyldroadol oedd technoleg Edison ar y pryd. Ond roedd y ‘Gem’ (Model D) ar flaen y gad! http://edisontinfoil.com/gemd.htm

  Yn ail bennod ‘Hen Ferchetan’ mae Sara Huws, o’r East End Women’s Museum, yn disgrifio Ruth fel arloeswraig dechnolegol - yn enwedig, meddai Sara, oherwydd I’r ffonograff gael ei marchnata at ddynion yn unig, gyda’r syniad eu bod nhw’n anodd I’w defnyddio, ac felly bod angen sgil gwrywaidd arbennig! Cofiwch nad oedd hi’n gwbl rugl ei Chymraeg, na chwaith yn gerddorol (yn methu canu, na darllen cerddoriaeth) ac felly roedd technoleg yr ‘Edison Gem’ yn hanfodol i’w gwaith. Ar ôl recordio, byddai ei ffrind Morfudd Llwyn Owen yn nodi’r caneuon ar bapur.

  Ymysg y caneuon a gasglwyd gan Ruth mae ‘Cadi Ha’, ‘Angau’, ‘Cariad Cyntaf’ a ‘Deio i Dywyn’. Heb ei gwaith hi, byddai’r rhain wedi gallu diflannu am byth. Mae nifer fawr o’i silindrau ffonograff i’w canfod heddiw yn Amgueddfa Sain Ffagan, ac eraill yng nghasgliad yr EFDSS (English Folk Dance and Song Society) sy’n rhan o archif sain y Llyfrgell Brydeinig.

  Mae cwestiwn diddorol i’w holi am statws Ruth fel rhywun ar gyrion diwylliant. Er yn Saesnes (gyda gwreiddiau Manawaidd), ymdrochodd ei hun yn nhraddodiadau Cymru. Roedd hi a John ymhlith aelodau cyntaf Cymdeithas Alawon Gwerin, sydd yn dal I fod yn weithredol heddiw. Oedd y ffaith ei bod hi’n ddieithryn, rhywun oedd yn dod o’r tu allan i’r traddodiad, yn caniatáu iddi gael rhyw bersbectif newydd arno oedd yn ei galluogi I wneud gwaith mor drylwyr? Beth bynnag yw’r ateb, mae ei gwaith hi fel cofnodwr yn ysbrydoli, ac yn gwneud i fi deimlo’n euog am beidio gwneud y mwyaf o’r holl dechnoleg sydd bellach ar flaenau’n bysedd heddiw!

  Darllen Pellach

*Mae erthygl yr Athro E. Wyn James - An English Lady among the Welsh Folk: Ruth Herbert Lewis and the Welsh Folk Song Society - yn hanfodol http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/special-collections/subject-guides/welsh-ballads/ruth-herbert-lewis

Bydd hanes Ruth i’w glywed yn yr ail bennod o ‘Hen Ferchetan’ - 12.30pm ar ddydd Llun, Awst 21. Gyda chyfraniadau gan Dr Siwan Rosser, Wyn Thomas, Sara Huws, Sioned Webb a Rhiannon Ifans, mae’r bennod hwn yn rhoi sylw penodol i’r merched fu’n cofnodi ac yn casglu caneuon gwerin. Mae Georgia Ruth yn gerddor ac yn gyflwynwr ar BBC Radio Cymru.

[llyfrenfys]

Hab ddarllen i mewn i'r hanes o gwbl, mae'r syniad o ddefnyddio'r term "Cadi" am "queer" yn ddoniol iawn i fi, am y rheswm syml: enw fi 'di Catrin.)

Daw'r term 'Cadi' ar gyfer pobl LHDT+ o'r enw Catrin. Fel 'Nancy' yn Saesneg- enw merch a hefyd term cas, yn anffodus.

Mae 'na sioe newydd ar S4C i blant- 'Dreigiau Cadi' ('Cadi's Dragons' yn Saesneg). Mae'n mynd i ddangos bod 'na lawer o bobl gyda'r enw Cadi!

The term 'Cadi' for LGBTQ+ people comes from the name Catrin. Like 'Nancy' in English- a girl's name and a term of hate, unfortunately.

There's a new show on S4C for kids - 'Cadi's Dragons'. It just goes to show that there's still plenty of people with the name Cadi!

[gwenllian11]

Chwarae Cuddio – Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Bro Myrddin- Agweddau y set a dylunio

Roedd y perfformiad hon yn un gwbl wefreiddiol. Syniadau llwyfannu gwych a oedd yn wahanol iawn.  Perfformiwyd y sioe gerdd ar yr 24ain – 25ain o Dachwedd 2016 am 7yh yn Theatr y Lyric, Caerfyrddin.  Cyfarwyddwyr y sioe oedd Lowri Rhys Davies a cyfarwyddwr cerdd oedd  Meinir Richards.

Sioe gan Sara Lewis a cerddoriaeth gan Steffan Rhys Williams yn ymdrin a sut mae pobl ifanc ein cymdeithasau ni heddiw yn ‘chwarae cuddio’ ar gwefannau cymdeithasol.

Stori ydyw am ddwy chwaer sydd wedi colli ei Mam trwy farwolaeth ac mae y Tad yn y carchar. Maent wedi gorffod symud i ardal hollol newydd oherwydd dianc oddi wrth gelynion ei Tad. Yr oedd yn gyfnod anodd ir ddwy chwaer sef Mali a Beca oherwydd roedd yn digon anodd symud i ysgol newydd heb gorfod delio gyda ‘Bwli’ pennaf yr Ysgol sef Cadi. Beth oedd y gynulleidfa ddim yn ymwybodol ohono oedd fod Cadi hefyd yn dioddef adref gan fod ei rhieni wedi gwahanu a’i Mam wedi symud allan o’r cartref teuluol. Hoffais y syniadau set yn fawr iawn.

Roedd yr awyrgylch ar y set yn hyfryd, roedd y defnydd o oleuadau yn effeithiol iawn sef defnydd o gels glas a gwyrdd, hyn yn ychwanegu at yr elfen o ddirgelwch ymysg yr holl gymeriadau. Roedd y defnydd o set y perfformiad hwn hefyd yn un aml bwrpas oherwydd yn ystod gwahanol olygfeydd y sioe roedd y llwyfan yn troi yn effeithiol.

Hoffais yn fawr y defnydd o lefelau yn ystod perfformiadau gwahanol. Yr oedd yn effeithiol dros ben gael defnydd o lefelau uchel oherwydd yr oedd yn gosod gwahanol lefelau i aelodau o’r cast. Delwedd hynod o effeithiol hefyd yn ystod y perfformiad oedd y defnydd o sgrin fel cefnlen yn enwedig pan oedd yr olygfa lle'r oedd gwahanol negeseuon cas yn cael ei datgelu ar y sgrin megis negeseuon ar ‘Twitter’.

Cafwyd coreograffi grêt i'r caneuon yn ystod y perfformiad ac yr oedd yn ychwanegu naws gwahanol i’r holl berfformiad.

Mae Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Bro Myrddin yn gwneud Sioe Gerdd unwaith bob tair blynedd ac yn flaenorol wedi cynhyrchu sioe draddodiadol er enghraifft ‘Dic Penderyn’ a ‘Garreg ar y Clos’. Ond roedd ‘Chwarae Cuddio’ yn rhywbeth hollol newydd i’r ysgol gyda chynnwys sgript a chaneuon modern a oedd yn llwyddiant ysgubol.

[ladyofrosefire]

an NPC playlist

(song list below)

Jackseye’s Tale, Daneil Pembert

Fuck Os Kvelya, actually

Slip, Elliot Moss

I don't believe in safety nets/ Strung below that make it alright/ To let go

Beatrix Runs, Elizaveta

Beatrix runs because she knows/ That her heart beats like a vagabond's/ Breathing hard and looking back/ Her past is breathing down her neck.

Let Go, Frou Frou

so let go/ And jump in/ Oh well whatcha waiting for

Ship to Wreck, Florence + the Machine

What's with the long face, do you want more?/ Thousands of red-eyed mice, scratching at the door/ Don't let the curtain catch you, cause you've been here before/ The chair is an island darling, you can't touch the floor

Kill of the Night, Gin Wigmore

The danger is I'm dangerous/ And I might just tear you apart

Wonder Woman Main Theme, Tina Guo

12 knives, and up 90 feet of movement a round!

To Be Alone, Hozier

All I've ever done is hide/ From our times when you're near me/ Honey, when you kill the lights and kiss my eyes/ I feel like a person for a moment of my life

Chandelier, Sia

Sun is up, I'm a mess/ Gotta get out now, gotta run from this/ Here comes the shame, here comes the shame

Devil Devil, MILCK

Under the water I'll be sharpening my knife

Bones, MS MR

Dig up her bones but leave the soul alone/ Lost in the pages of self made cages

Dog Days Are Over, Florence + the Machine

Run fast for your mother run fast for your father/ Run for your children for your sisters and brothers/ Leave all your love and your longing behind you/ Can't carry it with you if you want to survive

Fear and Loathing, Marina

Don't wanna live in fear and loathing/ I wanna feel like I am floating/ Instead of constantly exploding/ In fear and loathing

Shake it Out, Florence + the Machine

And I am done with my graceless heart/ So tonight I'm gonna cut it out and then restart/ Cause I like to keep my issues drawn/ It's always darkest before the dawn

Headlock, Imogen Heap

You say too late to start/ With your heart in a headlock/ You know you're better than this

I Am Not a Robot, Marina

Can you teach me how to feel real

Dancing’s Not a Crime, Panic! At The Disco 

Dancing is not a crime, 'less you do it without me

Girls Chase Boys, Ingrid Michaelson

All the broken hearts in the world still beat/ Lets not make it harder than it has to be/ Ooooooh it's all the same thing/ Girls chase boys chase girls

Mostly, Vian Izak

I'm mostly scared I am mostly unprepared I'm a mess/ I've lost most of my self as the waves came crashing down I'm a wreck

[ladyofrosefire]

wild card!!!!

wild card: talk about any OC! anything you want!

I’ve been thinking a lot about Cadi recently, and I’m feeling…

psyche: what’s their head space like? Do they have any mental illnesses? How do they process difficult or emotional situations? What are their coping mechanisms?

Cadi does not get sad. She gets angry. Honestly, anything that process as a threat or an attack of some kind she just— she gets really fuckin mad. Before she started traveling with Galliard, she didn’t have anyone to stop her. She had very few healthy coping skills and a decent load of trauma, and it was… ugly. She did a lot of stabbing. 

She’s Eladrin. Her moods affect both her appearance and her magic. And she was living in Summer for a very long time. All temper. Being around this enthusiastic, if slightly irritating, person all the time has given her outlets. So she’s slid to Spring. She’s a much happier person than she used to be. 

Spring is also the season that gives her the most collaborative abilities. 

Basically, she’s in “I love my friend” mode. She still jokes about stabbing him occasionally, but they both know it’s a joke. Mostly now she’ll go for a run or take some time practicing dance if she gets too mad. She could very much slide back to Summer if things started going wrong, but I don’t see that happening. 

[ladyofrosefire]

The first time Cadi saw the tiefling, he was backed into a corner with two of Utkin’s goons looming over him— one half-orc, one human, both scarred and mean looking. Ordinarily, she gave them as wide a berth as she could. They were the kind of trouble that held neither interest nor profit for her. And Utkin was a slimy, grabby bastard who had an unfortunate habit of taking everything personally. But the thing was that she recognized these two. She’d seen Liza and Dotya sitting together at a table in the Royal Pockets, looking scared, and when she’d asked, they’d named these two.

So.

Cadi steeled herself and crept to the edge of the roof. She braced her boots against the slate tiles. Her rapier made a soft shushing sound as she drew it from its sheath. None of the men looked up.

“Listen,” the tiefling said, reaching out to rest a hand on the human’s shoulder, “I know  we got off on the wrong foot, here—”

Steel glinted in the half-orc’s hand.

Cadi lept from the roof.

She came down on top of the man, her rapier sliding just behind his collarbone, through one lung and his heart, and out between two ribs on the other side of his chest. She was on the ground and rolling away, blade still clutched in her blood-slick hand, almost before anyone had noticed what had happened. The half-orc dropped. The human whirled on her.

Cadi looked past him to the tiefling. “Run.”

He found her again two alleys over, holding a deep gash in her side and swearing at the dead man who had cut her. She whipped out a dagger when he approached. He was a darker red than the blood that spilled between her fingers. His eyes and the jewelry on his curling horns were gold. In the darkness, he looked like a demon.

“Hey.”

She kept her knife drawn.

“You’re going to be alright.”

There was a strange reverberation in his voice. Cadi hissed as she felt her skin move. The cut sealed, and the blood ceased to flow.

“Bard, then?” she asked, getting to her feet.

“Galliard,” he swept a bow, pointed teeth flashing in the dying light, “pleased to meet you.”

“Cadi,” she replied. For a moment, she considered telling him to piss off. Then she held out her bloody hand. “Likewise.”

He bought her a meal and a drink, which she accepted. While he was busy flirting with the woman who brought them over, she switched the bowls of stew. If he had tried to give her something, she would know soon enough. Cadi kept her back to the wall and drank her water and ate a hot meal. The last of the tremors left her limbs, and her new companion did not seem to be in any way harmed by his food.

“Why’d you do it?” he asked finally.

They’d been chatting about nothing, words bouncing back and forth between them, but it had all been coming to this, of course.

She shrugged. “I didn’t like them. And you didn’t seem like you deserved what they were going to do to you.”

“Too pretty to die?”

She stole his bread roll.

“So, what,” he snatched about half of it back, “do you just run around saving people?”

Cadi swallowed the mouthful she’d already taken out of it. “If I ran around saving every idiot in the Lower Docks who didn’t deserve to get stabbed, I’d never have time to sleep.”

She came to one of his performances out in the market square. Which was a fancy way of saying she perched on a roof with her cloak wrapped around herself and watched while he danced and sang and people tossed coins to him. She could not count them from where she sat, but it looked like decent coin, and he got to keep his clothes on. He didn’t have to kill anyone, either.

She made sure to catch his attention as she stood. It meant a few others saw her, but that was fine. Cadi curtseyed, turned, ran three paces, and did a flip onto the next roof. Then she took off running, ignoring the angry shouts of guards from below.

Galliard found her at the Royal again, sitting at the same table they had occupied the last time. Without a word, she pushed a cup of ale across to his seat. He joined her but did not sit. She could see the point of his tail flicking back and forth.

“What’d you think of the show?”

“Flashy. Missing something. But very flashy.”

He laughed. It showed the points of his fangs, and the light of the fire flashed off of the jewelry on his horns. Then he held out a hand to her.

Cadi looked at it.

Galliard sighed and beckoned. “C’mon. You’ve danced before, right?”

“A few times.”

She got to her feet and took his hand. The music was shit, but he was the Bard; he didn’t need her to tell him that. And shit music or not, he was an excellent dancer. She just kept her feet moving. It was more complicated than any of the country dances she’d done before, but it made sense. At the end, he spun her out, and she curtseyed. He bowed back. Both of them were grinning.

“Partners?” he asked.

She did not bother pretending to consider first.

Cadi did not have much to pack up. She had a shortbow and arrows, her rapier, two daggers, string, ball bearings, a tarnished silver bell, beeswax candles, a crowbar, a hammer, ten pitons accumulated piecemeal over the last few years, a hooded lantern that had cost her five gold, two flasks of oil, a tinderbox, a waterskin, and her lockpicks. She bought enough food for the next five days, counting out the two gold and five silver with less trepidation than she had expected. A new blanket, one that was warm enough to bother with on the road, was another five pieces of silver. The tent and the coil of heavy rope she stole while Galliard kept the owner of the shop busy.

They stopped for a meal before they left the city. She twirled and smiled and was as charming as she could be until the inn’s patrons let her close enough to slip her hands into their pockets. And all the while, Galliard played. And true, it was less honest than half of her work before, but it felt better.

At least it did until the doors burst open.

She turned, expecting Utkin’s goons, and almost froze at the sight of black coats emblazoned with a symbol that, at this distance, looked like an X. It was a halberd and baton crossed, the symbol of house Sobol.

She grabbed the nearest pitcher and threw it into the center of a knot of particularly rowdy looking travelers. Then she dashed toward Galliard.

“We have to—” he called

“Run!”

“Right behind you.”

Galliard brought his hand down hard on a drum. A ripple rolled out from the point of contact. When it struck the nearest tables, they went flying into the path of the oncoming guards.

They stopped in a small cluster of trees for the night. Their packhorse grazed a yard or two off. Cadi knelt over a tiny flame, carefully feeding it twigs until it grew large enough to start adding branches.

“So, I know why they were after me, but why’d they chase you?” Galliard asked.

She carefully did not glance up. “Who says they were?”

“The guard yelling ‘there she is’.”

Cadi shot him a look. “Smug looks awful on you.” It wasn’t true, exactly, but it was close enough for now. She sat back on her heels with a sigh. “I… may have stabbed Yevgeni Sobol through the hand. He earned it.”

“I took about two hundred gold off of him pretending to sell him magic.” He tapped a horn.

She nodded. That was fair. She’d played the faery princess more than once to get a few extra coins. If he wanted to play demon sorcerer, that was his business. And if The Dishonorable Dickhead wanted to believe that, well. She would just enjoy hearing about it.

Cadi jabbed the fire with a stick and then settled cross-legged by the fire. “I’ll take first watch.”

They fell into a pattern after that. She slept while he was on watch, and vise versa. They traveled during the mornings. In the afternoons and evenings, they practiced dance steps. A week into traveling together, bandits ambushed them at a crossroads. She found their archer before he could put an arrow in Galliard’s throat.

In the next town, they found a seamstress who had bolts of silk on display and left with one more costume and a handful fewer coins than they had arrived with. Cadi counted what remained over and over. It was odd to think that gold could come back in without a body falling.

“Ready when you are!” Galliard called.

Cadi stood and shook out the flowing skirt of her new costume. “Let’s go.”

They made it to Y’ren at the start of summer and took rooms at The Wayward Traveller. The bar was sticky and the tables scarred, but the beds were clean and reasonably comfortable. Cadi went wandering through the streets after they’d had a chance to eat, her knives hidden around her person and her rapier on her hip. She wandered until she found the broader streets of the craftsmen’s district. There were people here, apprentices walking home after work or going to get a drink with a group of friends. This was a brighter city than Os Kvelya, more open.

She should have known the people would be the same.

Cadi saw the group of soldiers coming her way. There were three of them, all human, two men and a young woman hanging off of each other’s shoulders. They weren’t moving like they were on duty, and the way they looked at her said they were not going to just pass by. Cadi ducked down an alley, climbed up onto a crate, and made for the roof. But the rooves here had clay tiles. They broke under her boots. She managed to save herself from crashing to the cobblestones, but not quietly. She rolled sideways as one of the tiles came down after her and smashed to pieces.

“What’s this?” one of the soldiers started, “street rat?”

“Pretty one.” That was the woman’s voice.

Cadi pushed herself to her feet. She wanted to reach for her knives, but these were soldiers. Killing them would get her marked in more cities than this one. And Galliard. She took a slow step back.

“What are you doing out here? I thought all the elves stayed up by the castle?”

“She’s with me.”

Two of the guards whirled around.

Cadi almost sagged with relief. Instead, she made herself pull her hand away from her knife and went up on tiptoes, shifting until she could catch sight of him. He was armed and armored, his crossbow hanging lazily from one hand. She caught his gaze and gave a minute shake of her head. He winked. Then he shifted his weight onto his back heel, almost posing, and tilted his head to one side.

“What do you call three guards who corner one person down an alley?” Galliard brought up the crossbow, a bolt loaded and trained on the man in the center. His voice echoed off the stone walls. “Target practice.”

The guard who had not turned snorted. Then his face screwed up. A rough guffaw forced its way out of his mouth. He collapsed to the ground a moment later, convulsing with hysterical laughter. He swiped at Cadi as she stepped over him, but missed. She darted around his friends before they realized where she was going. Then she was out of the alley and by Galliard’s side.

“That was horrible.”

“Hey!” he leaned the crossbow on his shoulder, “it worked, didn’t it?”

Together, they started running back toward the inn. Cadi could have slipped off into the shadows. She could have quickened her pace and left him far behind her. She did neither.

In the inn that night, Cadi stared at the ceiling and thought. The best way in Elvish to say ‘you’re welcome’ was aon dyled ie-dyledai-ve. No debt is owed.

She had saved his life two times she could point to with confidence. Every other fight was less sure. Less clear-cut. A bolt shot at the exact right moment for them to never know, a dagger thrown, or a spell spoken. And he’d saved her life one time she knew about.

Those guards would have gutted her for sport and left her in the alley, she had no doubt.

So she was one up on lives saved. That should put her ahead, right? But there are all those little fights where she did not know which one of them saved who and— and how could she measure the rest of it? How did she measure not worrying about getting enough to feed herself and not having to let people any closer than she chooses? What value could she place on not getting paid to kill anymore?

Cadi got to her feet and silently padded across the floor to the tiny mirror on the wall. The hollows were gone. And so was the purple-red that had stained both cheeks like the shadows of bruises that refused to fade. She was left with a glimmer of pink and a lighter step. Every day since she got the costume, she had checked, waiting for it to fade back to violet. It hadn’t yet.

No debt is owed.

She returned to the narrow bed and curled up, slipping her hand beneath the pillow to touch the hilt of the knife she kept there.

Maybe not, Cadi allowed, but she had better reasons to stay.

[ladyofrosefire]

Cadi Fel, Eladrin Elf, Urchin, Rogue, Swashbuckler

and

Stefanu Lis (Galliard), Tiefling, Charlitan, Bard, College of Glamour