A Rewalian Winter or The Devil's Disciple, by calime33 (PG-13)

[unovis.livejournal.com]

Fandom: HIGHLANDER
Pairing: Amanda/OFC
Length: Short story
Author on LJ: calime33Author Website: Unknown
Why this must be read:

One of my favorite things about Highlander is the huge range of the universe and the extended lifetimes of most characters. For a fan of historicals, it's a peach orchard.

This story was written for me in the holiday gift exchange hlh_shortcuts. The setting is Rewal, in the duchy of Pomerania, opening in the year 1524. Amanda, dressed as a young man, encounters the curious and ambitious Ingel, who asks to be taken on as her apprentice. What follows is a lively, warm, and satisfying tale. This is a perfect Amanda story, with her puckish humor, thievish talent, humanity, and depth of experience all shining through. If you haven't read it, you're in for a treat.

"A year and a day is too long," said Amanda, automatically falling into a bargaining mode.

Ingel only smiled. "It is a customary term of apprenticeship. But then we could shorten it to last until St.George's day. Though then perhaps some of your gold, to pay for the lodgings, would not go amiss."

"You're a proper vixen already, without any schooling," said Amanda, yet she knew already that she'd agree to that bizarre bargain - out of curiosity, out of the sense of mischief, from the penchant for fun she'd never lacked. After all, it was a kind of honour to be considered the envoy of the Devil himself.

So it came to be that a young, dark-haired man who was said to be a distant relative of some sort moved in to lodge with the brewer Johann's widow Ingel, in the house near the St.Nicholas' church. The neighbours wagged their heads and could not seem to agree whether it was no doubt indicative of carnal sins, perpetrated under the very nose of the priest himself, too, and no surprise there if you remembered the widow's mother, you know what I'm talking about, or whether it was just that the widow had at last decided to remarry, of course she ought to, her being so young and all, and definitely able to bear children, though her first one had died, the poor thing, and it is good sense to keep the inheritance in the family. But all of them were smart enough to keep their whispers very quiet, so that they would not reach into the ears of the parish priest or, God forbid, Ingel herself, because, well, they very sensibly appreciated a good brew.

A Rewalian Winter or The Devil's Disciple (Note: This story was written for the holiday exchange hlh_shortcuts.)