Brightness Random

Just discovered this thread! It's certainly an interesting idea, but I'm not entirely sure who to vote for.... The pro's and con's seem to cancel each other out in most cases... (And Snoopy, were there just too many con's to fit in your little explanation spoiler box? I noticed that despite your attempts at improving your appearance, you only got one vote. )

Screams seemed to be echoing through the understreets, though Brightness Random tried not to let them bother her too much. She was on a mission: retrieve her book. She clutched a firemark for light as she made her way forward. It was more difficult now. The tunnels were beginning to flood, and though each surge of water drained before it could do any harm, she was growing very, very nervous. The duchess continued onward, wincing at the screams that seemed to be drawing closer. What was going on? She was almost to the court now, but here the water was ankle deep. Why wasn't it draining? The tunnels would have been eerie enough with the sounds of dripping water and lit by the red-ish light of her sphere, but those screams put her on edge. They sounded almost.... familiar, like something she had heard in a dream, then forgotten. As she continued forward warily, things started getting stranger and stranger. Shadows cast by the light of her sphere seemed to twist and distort when her eyes were away, but each time she turned back to them, they seemed unchanged. She shivered, hearing another scream. She decided to amend her earlier statement. These don't seem to be from a dream, but a nightmare! she thought, Maybe it would be best if I turned back around... I could always re-annotate another book. It could be a hard cover, maybe even signed! I just need to turn around and- Coming around the corner, Brightness Random realized that the water was now up to her thighs. How had she not noticed that? It was freezing cold. What is going on?! she wondered. About to abandon her quest for good, she noticed something up ahead, further into the labyrinth like passage. A... mound? Cursing herself for a fool, she drew closer, inspecting it. As she drew nearer however, she realized that it wasn't anything but water. A huge mound of water slowly gathering. Why is it gathering here? As she stepped closer and closer to it, however, she noticed something. She felt lighter. The sluggishness that she had been gaining in the thick water seemed to be dissipating. As if she had been pulling something heavy through the water and had now dropped it. The closer she got to the odd mound, it seemed to be nearly as tall as her and still growing, the more she understood. It's not the water that's acting strangely, but... gravity itself! The rules seem to be broken here...she thought, or at least bent. She carefully moved past the mound, a little sad when gravity re-asserted it's claim on her. Moving as harder now, but she managed it. Just as she was going to give up, she saw what she was looking for: a staircase in the side of the tunnel, leading up to the court. Running through the water to it, she sighed in relief. "Finally, the palace!" she whispered to herself. While the duchess started climbing it her sphere flickered, seeming dimmer than usual. Please no, she thought. The stormlight faded and the light disappeared.

In the understreets leading to the court, Brightness Random ran, careful not to slip on the puddles of icy cold water that were appearing on the floor around her. She could make it. She could still make it.

A few blocks away from Delightful, Brightness Random stood arguing with one of the Court's guards. "I don't think you understand," she said with exasperation, trying and failing for the ump-teenth time to step around him, "My copy of Way of Kings is in there! You evacuated us before I could pick it back up!" "I'm sorry ma'am," he said in the patient way of the Court's guards, "But everyone has been ordered out. The building is no longer structurally sound. It wouldn't be safe." Brightness Random huffed in annoyance. "It's my copy of Way of Kings!" she exclaimed, trying yet again to explain it all, "If it's still in there when the building collapses, I'll lose all my annotations! I'm a duchess of the Court! You have to let me through!" After another apology, the guard just began ignoring her, moving on to help calm down worried citizens. Brightness Random stamped her foot in annoyance. She'd tried everything - including root beer bribes - and none of the guards would let her through. This is not my day. she thought to herself, Nothing is going right! First all those cookies, then people start vanishing, and now my book has been abandoned! And worst of all, I can't do a thing about any of it! That's not true, a part of her whispered, You know there are other ways into the court. Secret ways. The duchess shook her head, trying to clear it. No, that would take too long. Who knew how long until the building came down on top of her book? And to make matters worse, she thought in despair, with the queen gone, all that ice will melt over my book! She wanted to scream in frustration. Those guards just needed to let her past! If her book was still in there when the court came down... The building groaned ominously, and someone shrieked in alarm. Ahh... Harmony take me for a fool! she thought, dashing away from the court. If she were quick, perhaps she could use the tunnels to enter the court and retrieve her book before it was too late. And so it was that Brightness Random rushed away from the scene, no idea what she was getting herself into.

Meanwhile, over at the refreshments table, Brightness Random was having a staring contest with a bucket of ice cream. "Really should branch out from vanilla," she was muttering to herself, still annoyed. The bucket before her read "graham canyon". She squatted down a little to inspect it more closely. After staring at the bucket for another minute, she closed her eyes in concentration, trying to imagine what graham crackers and root beer would taste like. Shrugging to herself, she began measuring out ice cream, careful to leave plenty of room in her cup for soda. I'll never know whether it's any good or not until I try it, She told herself. After pouring on the root beer, the duchess seated herself primly at an otherwise unoccupied table. Placing her book a safe distance from her treat, she began reading again, periodically shoveling spoonfuls into her mouth.

Welcome to the 17th Shard, Argent Solbright! Have an upvote and a warning against cookies. If you want to know a bit more about what these "cookies" entail, I'd suggest checking out this group in the Social Groups, Clans, and Guilds section of the forum. Specifically the 11th post.

Brightness Random inclined her head slightly to the side, meeting Snoopy's eyes. "I'm sure," she told him skeptically. After a moment longer of glaring at the panda, she gave a sigh. "Well, if no one else has anything to announce, I'm off to make a root beer float." the duchess said in a tired, irritated voice. With that, she turned and walked away briskly.

"No, no," the duchess said, her voice lacking a little of it's earlier warmth, "Please, do go on, Snoopy."

"Would you rather I be cross with you?" Brightness Random asked, turning Snoopy, "I'm sure that could be arranged." she said sweetly.

"I meant it in jest, your ladyship." Brightness Random explained, "Although I would be pleasantly surprised if it were true."

"Agreed, your majesty." "It's just occurred to me," Brightness Random said excitedly, "That there quite possibly is a Way of Queens in the Stormlight Archive. Think about it a moment: Men don't read, and women keep notes for each other in the undertext. So it's plausible that the book is named The Way of Queens, but there's a note in the undertext that tells the women to always read it aloud as The Way of Kings. Dalinar would never know, so long as the women always read it as instructed by the undertext. Like Siri's predicament with the storytellers in Warbreaker: anything they wanted to leave out, they could, and their listener would never know! Maybe it is ​really called The Way of Queens!"

"The best." Brightness Random agreed, "Better that chocolate pudding or root beer. By a long shot, actually."

Musing now, are you? Perhaps a Root Bear, standing, A mug in each paw. Yes, that seems to fit. Sometime, we should get a crest To grace our fair guild.

"Hey," the duchess said with a smirk, "If it's Cosmere, I'm buying it. This particular book does sound rather interesting, though."

Doesn't he recognize it? How many books are this large? she wondered. "Stone Unhallowed," Brightness Random told him after a moment. She let him chew on that for a little bit before correcting herself, taking the time to read another page. "No, this is Way of Kings. I wish it was Stones Unhallowed..." Turning to the queen, she said, "I know, right?! I'm sure that would make an even better book!" After a moment of thought she added, "if that's even possible..."

Oblivious to Snoopy's predicament, Brightness Random started a new chapter, licking her lips. That was really good pudding, she thought absently.

Glancing up from her book suspiciously, Brightness Random inspected the bowl of pudding. She turned back to her book. It looks so delicious... she thought, But, storm it, I said I wouldn't eat anything! With some difficulty, she returned her focus to the novel. She turned the page, then realized she hadn't absorbed any information on that last page. Sighing, the duchess flipped back, beginning the page a second time. Though she tried her best to ignore the bowl of chocolatey goodness beside her, her thoughts kept turning to it. I do trust Queen Elsa... she thought, So what's the harm in one bowl? ...No. NO. I have to stay strong. Even if her majesty didn't put anything in it, who knows what someone else might have put in there? Spikes, raisin cookies.... sugar free chocolate? She shuddered. Besides, you vowed not eat anything, remember? Nodding to herself, she once again returned to her book. As she turned the page a second time, however, she noticed the bowl in her peripheral vision, sitting alluringly. Ahgh! Why is this so hard?! I said I'm not eating anything, and that's final! With that, she stared reading again. But before she could fully return her focus to the story, a thought struck her. What about root beer? That thought was too much. Visiting Newcago or the Root Beer Bar without drinking a mug of the carbonated deliciousness was unthinkable. Of course root beer would be an exception. And if exceptions were being made... She dived for the bowl, quickly devouring all the pudding before glancing around the room. Her solemnly spoken "Not a word," was slightly ruined by the dab of pudding on her nose.

The duchess shook her head at the amount of cookie replacement going on and vowed not to eat anything she had not made with her own hands. After enjoying the court's beautiful Valentine's Day fireworks - iceworks? - for a few moments, she settled down for a re-read of The Way of Kings.

It's quite obvious, Roots belong on trees, which float. Bears also can float. Therefore, it makes sense That a Root Bear would float too. Thus, Root Bear Floats. A question, Snoopy: If we had a coat of arms, Would bears be on it?

I love the Words of Radiance cover! I actually did a project in my art class based on it.

Brightness Random absently wondered at the taste of her fourth bowl of pudding. She had eaten the past three so quickly she had hardly realized that something about the chocolatey treat seemed a little off. Suddenly suspicious, she licked a bit of pudding of the edge of her spoon and closed her eyes in thought. After a moment, she leapt to her feet. "Someone," she shouted, "Has sabotaged my pudding!"

*sigh* It seems so, Cheese. Though we should focus on root beer, Haikus make me smile.

I've been thinking recently about this, as there are a lot of beautiful covers on Brandon's books: Which is the best? Personally, I have a really hard time deciding. Too many good options, I say! The original covers for the Mistborn are beautiful, but the Stormlight Archive has fantastic covers. The original Warbreaker cover is intriguing, but I'm also fond of the cover picture for the audiobook. And Elantris has a lovely cover too... Not to mention every other Cosmere book... There were just too many beautiful covers for me to choose from. So I've decided to turn to you, the 17th Shard, and ask: Which is your favorite cover, and why? (Also, I would appreciate very much it if you would specify which cover you like, if that book has had more than one cover. Thanks! )

When the first act of any road trip is banning you from talking about anything even faintly Brandon Sanderson related. When, in your woodshop class, you consider making a life size model of a bridge from Stormlight Archive. When your friend is says something along the lines of "...but I'll survive," and you immediately respond with, "You'd get along well with Kelsier".

Side stepping any and all cookies, Brightness Random settled down with a mug of root beer in one hand and a bowl of chocolate pudding in the other, watching the rest of the court. "I love Newcago..." she said blissfully, devouring spoonfuls of pudding.