Disclaimer: Surprisingly rights and money for characters, ideas, plot parts and other recognizable stuff from Lord of the Rings as well as Firefly Serenity belongs to those which would never post anything on this site... ergo not me.
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It seems that this story hasn't yet found many people who wants to read it so I guess its one of those things that I write because I can't stop. Let's see how long my motivation holds...
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Part4
Shock. Mairon couldn't really think about anything to say or to think. How was it that this small human being was able to see straight through him? He couldn't really think of an answer or how everything in this place was so disturbingly odd. Nothing he saw fit together it was like a really big joke. By Morgoth nothing made sense.
"Could we speak of something different?"
Kaylee noticed his shock, the hoarse voice and his serious look and there she knew she had been right. He needed her help but how and what exactly should she do... it wasn't like she could even solve her own problems. She sighed.
"I don't think I'm good at conversations. The only topic I could talk about are machines. Most people think I'm boring. It's probably better if you look for someone else as company. I'm sorry for disturbing you."
With that she turned around but before she could leave she felt a strong grip on her arm. She glanced back over her shoulder at him and listened to his next sentence which was spoken with force and something convincing included in it.
"I don't mind to speak about our craft, contrary even it would really enlighten me to speak more about those star ships. I would also really wish for your company so please stay."
She was a bit nervous at his demanding tone but on the other hand if he wanted to talk about space ships... he also had said our craft... does that mean he is engineer too? She turned back to him and nodded. With that Mairon got up from where he had sat and walked a few steps to the backside of the building, both looked for a secluded shadowy place to sit down and talk.
"You are engineer too?"
He had guessed that she would ask about it. It had been the bait he had put into his last words to bind her attention. He thought some time about how he could phrase the answer in a way that she would trust him. It probably would be the best to go with the truth at least a general overview of it. How else would he explain his deep knowledge while being completely ignorant to their technology?
"Not entirely. My craft is to design, create, forge and shape different objects. I have a deep understanding for everything that has to do with machines but its more general and not specific for just one kind of machine."
Kaylee thought about his answer for some time. He seemed odd to her. How could he know how to forge things and design them but not having an official education? Not that anyone would learn how to forge things on the central planets they had giant construction halls were machines created most of the components needed. So he would have needed to spend some time at the outer worlds, there people needed smiths for their horses and tools as trade with the central worlds was scarce and corrupt. Mairon didn't look the part though. How could this being that looked like he hadn't worked even one day in hard labor be a smith of all things...
"Mairon you don't look like you have lived in the hard environment of the outer worlds and I'm not going to believe you for a second that you have done anything like working in a forge."
He laughed. Of all things she would have expected him to do or say it wasn't laughing.
"I'm sorry Kaylee I know why it looks that way to you and in some aspects you are right but that is a story for another time. Maybe we should focus on your problems? I have seen your struggle across the street, what is it that bothers you?"
She was confused at his switching of topics but didn't really mind someone who would actually listen to her sorrows. None of her friends did. They only expected her to have Serenity ready when they wanted to depart.
"I told you that I'm in charge of caring for a space ship?"
He nodded, expecting her to continue but she didn't. Instead of speaking she took his hand and started to walk back to the market. He carefully followed her. She didn't stop to look at the people but marched straight through, passing by alleys, buildings and more people as well as animals. Then they reached an open field like place. Except that all of the plants were dried and dead. It was used as parking space for the space ships to land and allow trading with the locals of the city. As they walked across the place Mairon saw that all of the ships were more or less shabby. Probably not the best ships that were out there in the solar system but obviously all the people here could afford. They walked further back around some of the larger ships and then he saw a small crate were a pile of metal had crashed into the ground. He swallowed. Kaylee couldn't be serious, could she?
"Mairon that is the serenity and she is the most beautiful ship but at the moment she is in a pretty bad state."
That was the understatement of the millennia. He closed his eyes and opened it again but he still stood in front of a pile of smoking demolished metal. Oh Morgoth, he had totally cut his work out for him. The Maia had wanted wanted to help her with her troubles to proof himself to her and gain her trust but that was hilarious.
"You and how many others will work on repairing this ship?"
"Just me and I should finish it tonight."
His eye twitched in irritation.
"And you agreed to such ridiculous conditions?"
"It looks worse than it is. Yes the ship is deformed but if I can replace the crushed elements it at least could fly again."
"You would manage to repair this?"
He had spoken out of surprise and couldn't help but being awed at her talent.
"As I said I can hear what Serenity needs from me, so its easier."
One glance at her told him that she had absolutely no idea how brilliant she was. A jewel if he had ever seen one. Wasted at a task like that...
"Why are you doing this?"
"What do you mean Mairon?"
"Why are you living like that? You should be rich, everyone would want you to work for them... Even I want to work with you."
He didn't know why he had said the last part but it was the truth. He would find it highly inspiring to see exactly how deep her talent reached and if he would be able to kindle that fire inside her even more. A delicate task. One that send a thrill through his spine.
Kaylee was nervous again. What did he mean? Why did he speak to her as if she was something special and not just and oddball. It also made her feel a burning desire inside her. To proof herself worthy of being an real engineer. Then she thought about Mal and the others, how they always had their back, how they all stood together and managed their life. So she answered him honestly.
"I love to be on board of the Serenity. She is my beautiful ship and I'm able to care for her. I also love to be with my crew, they are my family."
He was surprised with her answer but couldn't find a lie in her eyes. How could she believe in such a nonsense?
"Your family? Like leaving you alone with such an enormous task, never seeing how amazing you are and how talented... you live as a poor woman when you shouldn't. How can you tell me you like those people and like your life?"
She turned to him and he could see a fire burning in her eyes. It was fierce and unforgiving. Would she join him? Had he swayed her to leave those ridiculous people?
"Mairon you may not understand this but we are what we are. Yes we are criminals and Mal will always shoot first and ask questions later, yes Inara is a courtesan and we are smugglers but we are also decent people. We only have us and we have our backs. Belonging to Mal's crew means to be family and yes our life is hard. People shooting at me more often than I would like, we go days without food and I could cry at the state Serenity is in but we have one thing. One that no one else has."
"What should that be? What would be worth it to live like that?"
"Freedom."
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Mairon still stood in front of the remains of the ship called "Serenity". The one word that Kaylee had thrown at him still rang in his ears as he was caught up in dark memories. Freedom. The one thing he had always had longed for but never had been able to achieve. How dared this mortal being to speak to him about freedom? What did she know about such things? He would have loved to scream that she knew nothing but knew that it was a lie. She knew exactly what it meant and was even ready to sacrifice everything for it. Everything she could have had, glory, prosperity, power. She had thrown it away for a rusty ship, lost people and a life at gun point and for what? For freedom.
"Why Kaylee?"
"What do you mean with why... Mairon?"
"Why does freedom means so much to you?"
"I don't know. The only thing I know is that if you are once on board of this ship you won't go back."
Carefully he reached out for her and hoped she would take his hand. Kaylee was confused by his words and actions but took the offered hand and stared at him. Then she saw him smiling.
"Let's go and repair your ship. Shall we?"
Kaylee stared at him in disbelief, he would help her? It seemed that way because he had started to draw her back to the market place. Mairon asked her how much money she had and what the currency was, what she needed to get for at least the most basic repairs and what would be needed to achieve everything before nightfall. It took a while of listening to her whispered explanations until he finally grasped why she had been so depressed. The money wouldn't even long for the most basic repairs and he refused to even consider of taking some of the defective materials which were sold at that place. It would be a challenge but he had achieved much more difficult tasks already and he didn't fear of confronting those humans. Kaylee walked next to Mairon and saw him switching to a brooding mood he would probably soon give up on the task. She had already tried to approach the problem from every different angle possible and hadn't found a solution. Just her luck that she didn't know who she had next to her because there was no way that Mairon would give up on anything that he wanted to achieve.
It took him three hours but in the end he was very satisfied with his deceiving abilities. He could still bring people to fall to his charms and turn them even against each others to fight over the right who was allowed to please him. Kaylee didn't know what to say but she knew that not even Inara was able to play people like that. She watched how the two merchants screamed at each other trying to make the more attractive offer for the filter. She swallowed the scene was going on for about half an hour and they were already at a third of what it was worth. She wanted to tell Mairon that he should stop now, that they could already achieve it but he had asked her to not interfere before he had started his shopping trip.
Seeing her distress he decided to give her another task to occupy her thoughts until he was ready.
"Kaylee do you know if they have some kind of forge around here? I will craft some of the needed parts myself."
She stared at him in disbelief but started to think. The stable masters would need to have a smith around because the horses needed new shoes regularly. So... possibly the owner of the pub would know where to find one? She decided to go and ask around. Mairon gave her an approving nod but told her to be careful with the old men. Then he turned back to the arguing men in front of him and accepted the filter for free as gift. With the most grateful smile he could muster for those idiots he wished them fare well and moved on to purchase those ship parts that he couldn't forge because they would be too complex to do in a small forge with second hand material or required what he had learned was called plastic. Some of the wire and electronic parts were too difficult for him to create without more time and deeper thought but he would find some plans and construction drawings.
Meanwhile Kaylee had been able to find a kind of forge. It was small and mainly used to repair tools than to really create something but she had the feeling that it was all they could hope for. Mairon wouldn't be happy. As she thought about Mairon she had a bad feeling again. How would she ever be able to pay for his help? She had nothing to offer to him. She also didn't want him to leave them but she knew that he probably had no interest to set foot on board of the Serenity. Also only Mal could allow anyone to join them and he didn't like new people. Somehow she understood her captain, the last guests had contained a bounty hunter and some refugees and even if it had turned out alright in the end... they were now hunted by the government and Mal hated to draw attention. He only wanted to live in peace. She shook herself out of her thoughts and went to find Mairon and show him what she had discovered.
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Mal wasn't happy. As they came back to the serenity the ship still looked the same. He wasn't even sure if they should even call it a ship anymore. His Serenity looked awful. He felt some remorse that he had ignored Kaylee's lost look but they had been late to the meeting and after the last month he couldn't afford to loose another client. With the help of all of his crew they had sealed the deal but now needed to be back at the central planets in a week and it didn't look like they would be able to make it. While he gave the others some free time under the restriction of not getting involved in any more danger than they already were in, he took Zoe and went to find his engineer.
The market was empty. No it wasn't what Mal meant was that even with all the criminals and the tourists it lacked one special person. A woman that normally should radiate joy and happiness and run around in her work cloth and a light blue blouse.
"That's bad"
"I agree captain"
Both of them knew that Kaylee wouldn't just leave the market without telling them. She could have been kidnapped. Carefully without drawing too much attention they started to ask around what had happened and both were fascinated that learn that she had been seen with a stranger. The merchants told them about the couple and how they had bought some of the more valuable parts of the entire market. Mal was confused he knew that Kaylee couldn't have been able to pay for any of those parts mentioned. Had the stranger paid for them and what would he ask in return. His mood was already bad but now turned to worse.
Zoe had been able to talk to the owner of the local pub and gained knowledge on were Kaylee would be. She had asked him not long ago where they had a forge. At first the old man wasn't very forthcoming with information but Zoe could be very convincing if her friends were at stake. It didn't take them long to find the place were the forge was stationed but what they found there was surprising.
Kaylee's face was dirty and sweaty but she didn't complain. She was glad that she could assist Mairon with his work. The forge was a mess but somehow he was able to keep the temperature on a constant level. Next to the complex components Mairon had also gained some metal parts. They were simply left overs of crashed ships and differed highly in quality but he had already worked with worse. He would melt it together and try to create the parts for the ship they still needed. Kaylee gave him specifics about what kind of pressure and temperature differences those components had to withstand. He agreed that the landing and starting of the ships while passing through a planet's atmosphere tore most on the metal structure and that the heat panels needed to be of best quality or as good as he could manage. As Mairon fell back into the kind of trance which always claimed him when he was at work he noticed that he still had a connection to his former powers. It was dull and not as strong as it had been once but he was more powerful and alive as he had been in the last centuries in his wraith state. It filled him with glee to be able to do his craft again. He was so lost and focused in his work that he didn't noticed as Mal and Zoe approached them.
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:)) number 4...
