"L. E. Modesitt - Recluce 10 - The Magic of Recluce" - читать интересную книгу автора (Modesitt L E)

"How are you going to use tools properly, boy, if you don't know anything about the woods
you're working with?"
With that, he sat me down with his old apprentice notes on woods. Each day, either after work
or before we opened the shop in the morning, I had to show him my own hand-copied notes on at
least two kinds of trees, the recommended uses, curing times, and general observations on the best
uses of the wood. Not only that, but each card went into a file box, the one thing he had let me
make, with some advice from him, and I was expected to update the cards if I learned something of
value in a day's work on a wood.
"What did you write down on the black oak? Here, let me see." He scratched his head. "You spent
all day helping me smooth that piece, and the wood told you nothing?"
Once in a while, I saw Koldar grinning sympathetically from whatever project he was handling.
But we didn't talk much because Uncle Sardit kept me busy, and because Koldar mostly worked alone,
just checking with Uncle Sardit from time to time.
After a while, Uncle Sardit even nodded once or twice when reviewing my cards. But the frowns
and questions were always more frequent. And as soon as I thought I understood something well
enough to avoid his questions, he would task me with learning some other obscure discipline of
woodworking. If it weren't the trees, it was their bark. If it weren't their bark, it was the
recommended cutting times and sawmill techniques. If it weren't one type of wood, it was what
types you could match in inlays, what differences in grain widths meant. Some of it made sense,
but a lot seemed designed to make woodworking as complicated as possible.
"Complicated? Of course it's complicated. Perfection is always complicated. Do you want your
work to last? Or do you want it to fall apart at the first touch of chaos?"
"But we don't even have any white magicians in Recluce."
"We don't? Are you sure about that?"
There wasn't much I could say to that. Practicing magicians, at least the white ones who used
chaos, were strongly discouraged by the masters. And what the masters discouraged generally stayed
discouraged, although there seemed to be only a few masters for all the towns in Recluce.
I guess my old teacher, Magister Kerwin, actually was a master, although we didn't usually
think of magisters as masters. They were both part of the same order. Magisters were those who
actually taught.


file:///F|/rah/L.%20E.%20Modesitt/Modesitt,%20...luse%2010%20-%20The%20Magic%20Of%20Recluse.txt (2 of 216) [5/22/03 12:48:16 AM]
 file:///F|/rah/L.%20E.%20Modesitt/Modesitt,%20L%20E%20-%20Recluse%2010%20-%20The%20Magic%20Of%20Recluse.txt

So ... I kept studying woods, trees, and tools, and after nearly a year began to make a few
simple items.
"Breadboards?"
"Someone has to make them. And they should be made right. You can do it well enough to keep
chaos at bay, and you can select from any of my designs or try one of your own. If you do your
own, let's go over it together before you begin cutting."
I did one of my own-simple, but with an octagonal shape.
"Simple, but nice, Lerris. You may actually have a future as a wood crafter."
From breadboards, I went to other simple items-outdoor benches for a cafe, a set of plain
bookcases for the school. Nothing with carving, although I had begun to do carving for my own
furniture, and Uncle Sardit had even admitted that the wooden armchair I had built for my quarters
would not have been out of place in most homes.
"Most homes. Not quite clean enough, and a few rough spots with the spoke-joining angles, but,
on the whole, a credible effort."
That was about the most I ever got in praise from Uncle Sardit.