“Constant Ivan and Clever Natalya”

Of three parts is every story woven: the warp, the weft, and the fabric they make together.

The warp is Constant Ivan, strong and steady. The weft is Clever Natalya, darting here and there. As for the fabric they make, listen and you shall hear.

Every so often, Marie likes to go Full Metal Folklore.

This is a straight-up folktale from Vraszan, about the trickster heroine Clever Natalya and her good-hearted counterpart, Constant Ivan, featuring a challenge set for a year and a day, horses of the dawn and the dusk and the mountains and the sea, and some prophetic turtles. It was published in Beneath Ceaseless Skies #373, and you can either read it online, or listen to Marie narrate it!