Kaia the Argent Wing Chapter 78 (Patreon)

The morning after returning from our trip, I headed to the workshop. Snow covered everything, and only thin paths had been shovelled out. April's forge, at least, appeared to be free of snow… until I realised it was covered in ice.

April saw me as I approached and waved a tired greeting in my direction while she hammered away at something with a wooden mallet.

“Kaia.” She said, groaning and standing up so she could stretch her back out.

Holy hell. Everything in the forge was iced over. Why… oh, the tent roof had partially collapsed.

“Why is everything covered in ice?” I asked tentatively.

Through teeth gritted with renewed frustration she gestured to the tent roof. “I've been stocking the forge so that it burns overnight, that way it doesn't freeze. Looks like the roof folded and dumped all that snow we had last night, covering everything. Then, the heat from the forge and residual heat in my tools and the floor melted the snow… until there was no more heat to give, then it all froze solid.”

“Fuuuck,” I said, shaking my head in vaguely depressed awe. “Here, let me help.”

Getting stuck in with a hammer of my own, I helped her chip away at the ice. While we worked, she asked about the trip.

“So yeah. We found a bunch of stone and metal golems locked in some kind of eternal battle. We just need a way to move any loot back here. It's all pretty heavy, after all.” I told her.

“True,” she nodded, absently tossing a chunk of ice out of the forge area.

We watched it shatter satisfyingly against the thin strip of concrete path for half a second, back to our task.

Things had been tough before we left for our scouting trip, but people had been bearing it with determination and good humour. Now, everywhere you looked, you saw grim expressions. The cold was getting worse. Way worse.

Just as we were getting the forge door free, Charles popped his head out of the workshop entrance.

“Kaia!” He exclaimed with an almost offensive level of cheer, given the general mood of things lately. “My favourite problem! How'd it go? Find us a source o’ stone?”

Laughing despite my sombre mood, I filled him in on the broad strokes of the situation at the quarry. He nodded as I explained, asking one or two questions, and when he was done he also gained a thoughtful, far away look.

“Two days walk, no truck, not even a horse drawn carriage,” he mused. “May as well be over in California, given how nasty the local wildlife and the cold has gotten.”

“I don't know what to do,” I said, shrugging. “We could try to make some kind of steam powered truck, assuming the snow were gone, but that's a lot of design and prototyping to do without a proper smithy. Rollers and sleds are plausible but functionally out of the question, because they need so many people and I'm not sure they could make the dangerous journey with—”

Charles cleared his throat. “Ay, hold on, now. If’n ya build plenty of camping spots along the route, give people small hand carts with modern bearings and a bit of suspension, and it'd be doable. Wouldn't be fast, mind you, but it'd work.”

“We could ask the Captain… I guess,” I said dubiously. That man had more than enough on his plate right now.

He gave me a confident grin. “I'll ask him. You got a new task, startin’ now.”

I raised an eyebrow and placed a hand on one hip. “Oh?”

His eyes widened at my stance, and he gave April a look. “Ya know, I can't say I've always bought into that changin’ gender stuff, but that look right there? That seals the deal. That pose, that expression, that tone, it ain't ever been used by someone who wasn't meant to be a woman, I tell you what.”

I lost control of the pose—and my melancholy mood—and giggled, because… wow, I liked that. It made me feel all warm and fuzzy, even if his words were perhaps a bit sexist. Being accepted by my friends was great and stuff, but having a grumpy old man like him accept me, that was special.

“I know a few dudes who could pull it off,” April said with a little chuckle. She could see that I liked the strange compliment.

“Bisexual men,” Charles dismissed. “Besides, let's get back on—”

“Hold on!” April said, stalling him with a raised hand. “Bisexual men? Not gay men?”

“The sort o’ gay man who would try to pull that there combo off would also pop the hip more—It’d be a performance.” Our ageing, only recently mellowed workshop master explained. 

April and I just stared at him. A month ago he'd been homophobic and generally anti-queer, now he was saying… whatever that was? Had someone been selling our secrets?

“Right…” April said, confused.

“Anyway,” Charles said, continuing like he hadn't just dropped all of that. “Kaia, I reckon we need a proper steam engine cart. Something to do real hauling, ya know?”

“I was thinking that,” I agreed, but my tone lacked confidence. “Problem is, I'm not sure we can even make something like that yet, not properly. Making big parts and stuff…”

He began to nod along as I spoke, then considered me for a moment. “Alright, how about you get started on at least designing the Storm infused steam engine, and we'll go from there.”

“The compact engine?” I asked.

He nodded.

“Okay. I can do that.”

We chatted a while longer, but in the end I wanted to go and get started, now that I finally had permission for the engine. It was going to be so cool if it worked.

I spent a couple hours getting started on steam engine research, but we had barely any books that described them, and those that did, did so only at a most basic level. At least the school library was beginning to look like it had life again.

At any given time, there might be fifteen or more people browsing, and every available nook had been filled with bean bags, sofas, and even a couple of armchairs. I was impressed they'd managed to get them through the main building and up all the stairs, actually. The library was located on the second floor, around where the main school block connected with the gymnasium block, which is to say there was a very winding, tight path up here.

What I also noticed about the people here, was how tightly some were bundled up in their clothes, while their expressions lacked any of the warmth they were trying to capture. Damn, but morale was low.

I'd managed to snag a small double desk in a corner and I was just sitting down with another stack of promising books to work through during the afternoon, when I saw someone enter. My eyes were drawn over to her the moment she entered my peripheral vision. Chloe.

My chest tightened around a tiny knot of emotion, and I grimaced, attempting to push it away. It was just Chloe, no need to get all weird and wobbly. She looked sorta grumpy too, with a reserved little frown knitting her brows together.

Then, her eyes caught on mine, and her expression blossomed. The frown vanished, replaced by a cute, genuine little smile that crinkled the skin at the corners of her eyes.

Oh. Oh no. My heart was bumping strangely, and the return smile I gave her was entirely genuine and involuntary. She was wearing tight skinny jeans today, and a graphic tee with the logo of some metal band on it. Marring the otherwise casual brooding teen aesthetic was her black leather alchemist's harness, which strapped around her chest under her breasts, making them look much more defined. She had all sorts of pouches, and bottles attached to the supporting leather straps, which combined with her dark eyeliner wings to give her an intense witchy aesthetic.

I drank the sight of her in, knowing full well that I was checking her out while she approached. I thought for sure that she'd make some comment about it when she arrived, but…

“Kaia!” She said with another happy smile. “What are you reading?”

She pulled another chair up and watched me, waiting for a response like I hadn't just eaten her up while she walked over.

“U-hm… steam engines. We need a good way to move—” she shifted slightly in her seat, and her knees brushed mine under the table. I lost my train of thought immediately.

I could only stare into her eyes for a couple of heartbeats, desperate to regain any thoughts at all. Wow, her eyes were pretty. They were mostly dark brown, but in the centre they sort of faded to a hazel or green colour.

“Kaia?” She asked tentatively.

I quivered and fought hard to claw back some of my poise. “Uh… sorry. Train of thought died for a moment. Um… steam engines! We need them to make a truck for the food from Bandon and the stone from the quarry.”

“That's fucking cool,” she said, looking down at the books in front of me. “Man, you're so smart. It's crazy that you just, like, made that crossbow, and now you're making a steam engine?”

Blushing, I shrugged self consciously. “I enjoy it—designing and making things. Tinkering.”

“I guess that's why you got the class, huh?” She giggled softly. “Not as cool as my alchemy stuff, ‘course, but still great.”

I rolled my eyes and bumped her knee with mine. “You're biased.”

“Uh huh,” she grinned, eyes twinkling. “So? What're you going to do about it?”

Why… why did it feel our roles had reversed since she found out my secret? I was supposed to be the one who teased her.

When I didn't immediately reply, her expression fell slightly. “I'm sorry, was that weird? That was definitely weird.”

All of a sudden, with her confidence suddenly faltering like that, I found my voice and a little of my goofy attitude again.

Touching her hand across the table, I squeezed her fingers between mine, “Chloe, you're fine. Plus, you're always a bit weird. It's endearing and it suits you.”

Her cheeks flushed pink, and she looked down at our hands. “Right.”

My thumb shifted to trace across her knuckles. Gosh, her hands were soft. “Is it okay if I call you weird, if I mean it as a compliment?”

She let out a tiny chuckle. “Yup. I'm a witchy goth girl in eastern Kentucky. Being called weird is normal. It's nice to hear someone mean it positively.”

“I mean it very positively,” I said, matching her gentle tone.

My heart was so… fluffy right then, and I was struggling to keep calm. This damn… this damn… crush, it was making my whole body feel off-balance.

Plus, seeing the shy, adorable little smile she flashed when I gave her compliments like that, ugh, my heart. It was like now that she knew I would be genuine and honest with her, she finally believed the kind words. I wanted to reassure her over and over that yes, she was amazing. She was gorgeous beyond all sense, and just so… so fun, so interesting, and so wonderful.

“I um—” she rasped, then cleared her throat. “I actually came here because I wanted to research some wind stuff, because I made a breakthrough with the ritual chant. Want to come and see?”

“Absolutely,” I said, because currently I'd do whatever the hell she wanted me to do.