Possessing a Large Library: Day 10, and Past the 20,000 Word Mark

As you all know, I was feeling pretty "meh" about writing today and tired of coming up with reasons for various Darcys and Elizabeths to get into verbal sparring matches. Luckily, I expressed this frustration to the group in WhatsApp and Jill gave me some advice that made writing the last 800 words of the day very easy.

I got tired of just writing parallel stories of Pride and Prejudice, so here is where the two start to join.

For instance, there was disagreement as to what makes for an accomplished witch. Wandstein felt that an accomplished witch would be well-read, an expert in potions and elixirs, know all of the modern magical languages including trollspeak and unicorn tongue, and be skilled in the wizardly arts such as singing dragons to sleep, drawing toadstools, and dancing around a cauldron. He also stated that she must possess a certain something in her air and manner of walking, the tone of her voice, her address and expressions, or the word will be but half deserved. In fact, he could not boast of more than half a dozen witches that had met his acquaintance who were truly deserving of the label.

Eliza, in contrast, marvelled that he even knew any accomplished witches, let alone six. She upbraided him for his sexist worldview and charged that an accomplished wizard was a warm body in the right social caste. Wandstein was of course ignorant of how his assessment of witches illustrated his blinkered and classed vision, and Eliza was more than happy to alert him to this. Eliza’s wit was continually catching the attention of Wandstein as they debated numerous topics while in search of the orbs.

Nora’s hands were floating above her keyboard, motionless. Every word that she typed gave her a strange feeling that she was writing her own story, but with magic.

This was not the first time that the similarities had come to her attention. She had sensed it weeks before, after her first and second consecutive encounters with Oliver Goldstein wherein he had insulted her—luckily her novel, not her appearance—and then his good-natured friend had developed an attachment to her lovely and kind friend. Since then, they had all been forced together a handful of times that had led to Nora confronting Oliver about various deficiencies he possessed, namely his white male privilege and ignorance about life outside of his bubble.

Why were they meeting each other so frequently? Toronto is the fourth largest city in North America, yet it appeared there were only a handful of eating and drinking establishments based on the frequency with which the four of them were running into each other.

This story obviously does not take place in a world without Pride and Prejudice. After all, the author has referenced the famous novelist and the novel itself numerous times. Is it possible that after spending so many years living in Austen’s world, it would simply slip her mind that she was engaging in repeated verbal sparring matches with a handsome, rich, and proud man, while her kind and beautiful friend was falling for his friend who was handsome, also rich, and genial?

I don’t think so.

Nora found herself wondering what was at work here, and how far the similarities would go between Pride and Prejudice, Pride and Prejuwitch, and Pride and Patriarchy (the title of the biopic that she hoped someone would make about her). Would Nora or Shalini’s family show up and humiliate them, leading Oliver to break them up somehow? Would a roguish and handsome scoundrel show up and have premarital sex with her sister Hannah, threatening a lifetime of shame to her and her family until the intervention of Oliver to force them to marry? She didn’t suspect that her sister was in danger of falling for the charms of a man in the militia, but she made a mental note to call her sister later that day and cut off any trips to Brighton that might be in the offing at the knees.

Most importantly, were her pride and prejudice preventing her from seeing the true person that Oliver was? Would he turn out to be the aloof romantic hero that she had always wanted? Indeed, had she always wanted an aloof romantic hero?

She vowed that the next time she ran into Oliver—and surely, it would be soon—she would try to see if there was something about him that she was missing, that was hiding underneath all of his pride.

Maybe she needed to visit his large estate to assess his marriage potential. She had heard that he possessed a large library.