'Halkegenia Online v2 - Refactored - Prologue'
"Thar ain't no justess." The slurred declaration was punctuated by the -slam- of a tankard striking hardwood. "Thar just ain't no justess!"
If the Salamander behind the bar was startled, it didn't show. He hadn't picked the bartending life, more like it had picked him, but more and more it was seeming agreeable. Other than working out the vagaries of the still. Cultivating a sympathetic demeanor, he had quickly learned, was essential.
A sympathetic demeanor. And an open ear, currently trained on the patron perched precariously on a narrow barstool. It was mid-morning, so there was only the one. At this time of day, there was only ever this one.
She was of about average height and average build, which for a female Faerie meant slim, except where the slimness strategically curved out. Her brown hair possessed a metallic sheen that betrayed her as a Leprechaun, and her shoulder length hairstyle was fighting a valiant holding action against neglect.
It was amazing what people would tell you, had to tell you, if you just listened. He supposed that in another life he'd have been the one on that stool, pouring his heart out to a stranger. He'd probably be there now, if he hadn't stumbled into being on the opposite side of the counter.
So the bartender nodded his head, eyes closed with a knowing expression, and kept on cleaning beer steins, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
"I don't belong here y'know," she drawled.
Nod.
"I have a job y'know," she asserted.
Nod.
"An important one."
"They must be lost without you," the bartender said sincerely. He was learning fast, but he was still a little fuzzy on when to say 'You've had enough' or quite what to do when the patron retorted 'I'll tell you when I've had enough!'. He had a sneaking feeling that it would involve his Unarmed Combat and Binding skills.
The stein -slammed- again. "Damn right!" The patron blinked blearily and shifted her weight onto a steadying elbow. "Lost without me . . ."
The bartender slowly stopped polishing and cracked one eye.
The patron slammed her stein down again, squinting seriously across the rim. There was an asymmetry to her expression that was at odds with her 'perfect' Faerie face. Her left eyebrow was arched a little higher than her right. A bartender noticed these things.
"Right!" she burst out, suddenly standing. "I'm going back!"
"Excuse me?" The bartender had stopped completely now and was beginning to think that this was where he told his patron she'd had enough.
"Back. I'm going back now!" She squeezed her eyes shut tightly and seemed to concentrate so hard that she trembled.
Before the bartender could put his intuition to the test, a tinkling filled the tavern's air as the door opened. A hooded shadow occupied the threshold, outlined in the chillycold mid-morning light. It was a silhouette both mysterious and ominous, for the half moment it took to recognize that it was barely taller than a child, before it made way for a second figure, taller in stature, dressed in slim, lined Sylphic garb.
They stood surveying the dark stained wood interior as the door swung shut behind them, the bell chiming again, almost an afterthought. Eventually the smaller of the pair turned its attention to the two Faeries at the bar and elbowed its partner, pointing quickly.
The bartender took this in too. "'Fraid the kitchen's closed right now, friends. If you're looking for a late breakfast or an early lunch, you're going to have to content yourself with soft cheese and hard bread."
The taller fae, a Sylph, and a handsome one at that, with a hawkish windswept look that wouldn't have been out of place on a swashbuckling hero, slapped a pair of copper Yurudo down on the table. "We'll take the cheese and bread, and a pale ale for me if you have one. But truth be told, we're here for the company."
The Salamander and Sylph exchanged meaningful looks and then glanced at the Leprechaun who was back to sullenly nursing her stein.
"I wish you luck," the bartender advised. "You're going to need it."
The Sylph nodded, taking a stool and then casting his attention to the first patron in the sort of way that couldn't be ignored for very long. The Leprechaun squinted at him skeptically.
"Can I help you?"
"Depends on if you are Hyuuga of the Leprechauns. You are Hyuuga of the Leprechauns, right?" the Sylph said. "My friend here says this is where she's been renting a room." He hooked a thumb over his shoulder.
The hooded one had drawn back her cloak, revealing feline ears and a head of messy wheat colored hair. She held out her arm, allowing a miniscule figure to scamper from her shoulder down onto the table, where it immediately went to work tearing at crumbs of cheese and gnawing at a crust.
"Who wants to know?" the Leprechaun asked. There it was, that squint again. "And what if I am?"
"Well, this young lady for one." The Sylph nodded to the Cait who seemed to have her attention split between listening and feeding her pixie. "Talent hunting is one of her skills. So she understandably wants to get it right. We're looking for an Engineer."
Her piqued interest drained away, she lowered her head back to the table. "You mean you're looking for a smith. I'm flattered, but I'm not interested in taking up a hammer and forge. That's not really my thing . . ." She went to take a another swig from her stein.
"You have a problem with blacksmiths sa?" The Cait asked. Her voice had a nasally inflection that left a vague impression of contempt. "Some of my best friends are blacksmiths, you know."
"Well whoop dee do." Hyuga twirled a finger in the air. "I'm sure they enjoy beating metal into pointy things. Why not ask them to fix your sword, or make you a shield, or whatever . . ."
The pair exchanged looks. The Pixie munched on a bit of cheese. "You heard what we said right?" The Cait asked.
"Hard not to, everyone's starting a business, or monetizing their amazing Faerie skills." The last bit was dripping with contempt. "All part of Rute-sama's economic initiative. I've heard it all before."
"Somehow I doubt that." The Sylph opened his jacket and retrieved a folded letter. He handed it to Hyuga who squinted hard as she tried to make the lettering stop swimming. At last, she pulled a delicate silver monocle from her pocket and held it over her left eye.
"You actually need that?" The Sylph questioned.
"Miscorrected vision," Hyuga murmured,"Little known fact about the Transition. What is this?"
The Sylph looked at the Cait. The Cait shrugged. "What do I look like? I found her for you. This is your show now, Novair."
"That is an official summons of the Faerie Lords," Novair explained. "It means that Lady Sakuya of the Sylphs begs your attendance. I think you might want to hear what she has to say."
As games went, ALfheim Online had been billed as something ambitious on a scale which had not been conceived, ostensibly, even by the creator of Full Dive technology, Kayaba Akihiko, himself.
In terms of absolute area rendered, the technical specifications calling for a fully detailed game world one hundred kilometers in diameter did not significantly exceed the map area created for Sword Art Online's Aincrad. But refinements in back end infrastructure prior to ALO's roll out had permitted the entire map area to be modeled as a truly seamless and persistent over-world.
With RETCO Progress implementing its proprietary AI to help populate thousands of square kilometers, the the landscape had been dotted with a seemingly endless quilt of developer curated but computer generated content of a breadth and sophistication never before seen.
One of those locations, situated not far from the outskirts of Arrun was a popular destination known as the Philosopher's Tower, home to the Sorcerer's Stone quest-line. At least, it had been popular.
The realization of ALfheim had stripped the site of its Quest Givers and their associated Quests. And with the migration of most of ALfheim's Faerie denizens to the main cities it had fallen unceremoniously into neglect.
That was what Hyuga had gathered from the conversations that had happened around her in any case. She'd been fuzzy about the details. Well, actually, just fuzzy.
What she saw now made her question those second hand stories.
Far from being abandoned, the ivy covered tower was overflowing with activity. So much of it in fact, that it had spilled out from the immaculate white walls of the tower grounds into a growing assemblage of new brick construction that clashed with the Fairy Tale motif.
And it seemed to be growing still. Fast.
A small air-yacht, built like a wooden dart, was moored overhead, seemingly pressed into commission as a flying crane. Cargo was being lifted and lowered on lines driven by the ship's capstan.
"Just what . . . Is all of this?" Hyuga wondered out loud.
Curiosity had coaxed her from her barstool and out of the safety of Arrun for the first time in however long it had been since this body had become her flesh and blood and she'd started trying to kill it with alcohol. But it had been waning steadily during the journey. Now, it was piqued again with an urgency that cut through the fog in her brain.
The Cait walking with her, she had learned the girl's name was Argo, snickered. "If I told you, t'would spoil the surprise sa."
"I, ah, see . . ." The Leprechaun fell silent.
After the buildings, and the sounds of work, the next thing she noticed were the humans mingling with Faeries. 'Humans' were just the worst. They were always coming and going in Arrun. Always gawking at the 'Fae'. But these men didn't gawk at the winged people who moved among them.
As she got closer, Hyuga could isolate the sound of metal striking metal. Leprechaun ears picked out the the sharp -ring- of steel underlined by the graphite dulled -clank- of pig iron.
One building dominated the new construction. A pair of brick towers, almost four stories tall, rose from a stone first floor. An adjoining barn, tile roofed, stood with its doors wide open, radiating a furious heat.
Hyuga peeked in while her guides waited for her. The interior was too dim to make anything out until her eyes adjusted to the sullen glow.
The barn, she thought of it as a barn, was dominated by pair of monstrous ovens fed charcoal by a line of heat tanned human laborers. The mouths of the hearths roared as more workers standing on the second level did something with a pair of iron funnels.
It was several moments before Hyuga worked out that they were mages, and that the rods which they moved in an endless series of practiced gestures were their foci. From the doorway she could a feel a draft pulling air in into the funnels serving in place of bellows.
A whistle blew, and the men working one oven and its attendant funnel retreated to make room for a rail mounted cart bearing a solid stone crucible.
A salamander woman, clad in so many layers of protective clothing that she was almost as broad as a gnomish man, took hold of a massive iron lever. Working with the greatest of care, she opened a thick stone plug above the hearth. Molten metal spilled into the waiting crucible in a shower of orange sparks and yellow flame.
The whistle sounded again and the Salamander replugged the furnace.
"Alright! Flame color is looking good!" A Leprechaun serving as foreman shouted. "Let's get this load to the converters and prep the next charge!"
The idle crew swung back into action with shouts of "Aye aye!" Hyuga felt a hand on her shoulder as her Sylph minder guided her away.
"Blast furnace. This is some sort of foundry." Hyuga reasoned.
"Among other things." The Sylph replied. "Those are one quarter scale prototypes of the designs that are being proposed to expand Tristain's iron production. We're using them to learn the process, and the iron they smelt is used for other projects"
"Other projects?"
There were more barns with their bay doors open to the brick paved street. As she continued walking, Hyuga was treated to glimpses of glass blowing and carpentry shops, brick yards and potters kilns. And everywhere at once, people moved with a purpose that filled her with a familiar ache.
Novair nodded. "When ALfheim was brought to this world, we inadvertently brought a great deal of knowledge with us."
"Our skills and magic." Hyuga clarified, muttering a few lines of chant under her breath to conjure a cloud of faint runes in her right hand. They faded away just as quickly.
"Indeed." Novair nodded. "There was also a great deal of Earth knowledge in ALO's archives. We've been putting that practical knowledge to good use so far to earn a living. But there are . . . how to put this . . . gaps."
"Gaps"?"
"Between what we know how to do and what we have to learn to do." Her Cait escort put in. "Reading a book doesn't make you an expert nya."
"That doesn't seem to apply to our bequeathed skills." Novair added back. "It's hard to describe but . . ."
"You just know." Hyuga finished for him a little bit lamely. There was no other way to describe it. "Your body knows the motions, and all the details are there when you think about them. You just know. Just like anything you ever learned the hard way." Hyuga knew the sensation of executing an expertly practiced motion for the first time like it was the millionth time. She doubted there was a Faerie who didn't.
"Right. But there are gaps." Novair said. "Our practical knowledge doesn't always overlap with our book knowledge. And when it doesn't, we're making a lot of expensive mistakes."
"Right." Argo said. "Like how to make blast furnaces that won't melt themselves."
"Un." Hyuga nodded thoughtfully. "Too bad we don't have any bauxite deposits. Reduced Alumina is an outstanding refractory lining. I suppose ceramic works well enough though, depending on the contaminants in the ore and flux."
Novair and Argo traded looks. The Cait surreptitiously removed a small notebook from her cloak and began writing things down.
"You know, it's funny. I thought everyone in this world was only interested in magic." Hyuga said.
It was all she ever heard in Arrun. The novelty never seemed to wear off. The problem being, she wasn't good at it. Not High Level enough. And the skills she did have would leave her sweating away as a smith. Or so she'd thought.
But here... As she observed, she saw the pieces coming together. Blast furnaces to produce bulk iron and from there, steel. Steel to make better tools to make better machines to refine better steel and then tool steel. From tool steel came tools to cut steel, lathes, and gears, and gear reductions to produce more precise lathes and gears leading to machine parts. Interchangeable components.
Technology and industry.
She had to slow herself down. None of those steps was simply. They had each been a lifetime's work in their world. It would be kike trying follow a recipe without first learning how to cook, and they'd have to build the kitchen as they went. There would be mistakes and setbacks, limits to their knowledge and their experience. But still, the promise drew her in.
How had she not known about this? Why hadn't she thought of it herself? Had she simply been too in shock? Or, having been torn away from the prestige and certainty she'd built for herself, had she not wanted to try again?
"You'd think that." Novair agreed. "But mages are about as interested in our mundane techniques as we are in magical ones."
"Explain." The fog of depression was lifting and old habits were asserting themselves. Old habits honed to cut to the point.
"Some of our people have been hanging around the Academia. They're Tristain's big brains trying to explain how we all wound up here without blaming it on magic." The Cait flipped pages in her notebook, carefully reviewing each page. "They've taken to calling it Stochastic Magic."
"In order to do magic, mages have to hold a clear grasp of what they are trying to do in their mind. So when a mage uses magic to conjure bronze, they're using their willpower to make matter act in a way that is bronze-like."
"Hold on a second." Hyuga pinched the bridge of her nose. "When you say that. You mean like atomic level interactions?" That . . . didn't sound possible to Hyuga's scientific mind. But then, none of this was possible by the conventions of modern science.
"We don't think that's exactly right. Mages don't have that sort of fine control, but what they have is good enough. Mostly." Argo shrugged. "For the level of technology this world has a very advanced understanding of the composition of matter. They've inferred the existence of atoms and molecules even though they barely have microscopes. But they're primitive in some ways too."
"Modern chemistry is beyond them entirely." Novair picked up again. "Mages know of the existence of different chemical compounds. But synthesizing them in an industrial fashion is entirely unknown. They use magic instead. Which has its own problems."
"Such as?"
"It's the limit of their powers of visualization." Argo explained. "The Academia describes it as impurities in the magically crafted materials. That's why mages still put a premium on manufactured goods." She snickered at an inner joke. "And why even a thirsty mage isn't going to try to turn grapes straight into wine . . . We're here."
Here turned out to be a brick building near the middle of the growing complex. If she had to call it anything, it would have been a city hall. It was three stories tall, the copper roof lined with dormer windows, eight to each wing. She wondered who had decided on the architecture before she was lead up the steps and taken inside.
As formal as the exterior had been, the interior gave away the facade. While the foyer was done in newly furnished wood and brass fixtures, with a polished tile floor, they passed room after room that was little more than unadorned brick and bare wood planking. Someone had big plans for this place, but they were clearly only just beginning.
The hall ended in a wide pair of double doors which opened into a plushly appointed meeting room already filled with a motley assortment of Faeries and Mages. They didn't seem to be waiting for her, nor would she have expected them to be. It seemed to be some sort reception for an official ceremony.
A line of tables bore platters of sandwiches and finger foods beneath the shadow of a massive ice sculpture depicting a pair of interlocked spur gears.
The Leprechaun ignored the food, she was still feeling mildly queasy from a liquid breakfast. Instead, she let her eyes gravitate to the center of attention.
Hyuga had never been in the presence of one of the Faerie Lords before. She just hadn't been that kind of dedicated player. She knew Lady Sakuya only by reputation. But it was hard to overlook the Lady of the Sylphs in person. People always said she was beautiful. And she was. And that she looked the part of a noblewoman. And she did.
But it was the way activity orbited around her that really gave her away. Turning to the door and moving across the meeting room, she could always be spotted by a trail of attendants. Here was a person that everyone could tell was important, because everyone else already iknew/i she was important.
The Sylph Lord had foregone her traditional yukata and was instead dressed in comparatively practical tea colored and dark blouse and trousers tucked into calf high leather boots. Her trademark hairstyle, a mane of dark green hair that spilled to her ankles, had been meticulously folded into a tight bun held in place by a single graceful silver pin.
It looked extremely practical, and while touring the forges and workshops full of sharp edges and moving tools, it almost certainly was. But if Hyuga's appraisal skill was anything to go by, the hairpin alone was worth as much as a small house in Arrun's upper district.
Accompanying the Sylph Lord was a collection of humans and Faeries in varying degrees of pomp, some civilians, some clearly military. If Hyuga had trouble recognizing the Sylph Lord, she had no idea who any of these people were . . . scratch that. A dreamy faced and steel haired Leprechaun came up to greet her.
"Senpai!"
"Hegent." Hyuga greeted curtly. In another world she'd known her by another name, and been all too happy to be rid of her, so of course fate would bring them together in this nightmare.
"It's so good to see you again Hyuga-senpai." The shorter Leprechaun gave a sort of half bow. Her loose jacket and many colorful scarves swayed with her hair, making her look a bit like a metallic fern drooping over. "I'd heard you'd fallen on hard times, but you're looking well. I'm so glad the rumours you'd fallen into disgrace and alcoholism were exaggerated."
Hyuga gritted her teeth. "So, I heard this is supposed to be a gathering of engineers."
"Oh yes." Hegent nodded agreeably. "I was headhunted right out of Rute-sama's forges just last week. Can you believe that?"
"Your degree." Hyuga wracked her brain. She usually didn't remember much about people she fired with prejudice. But this one was hard to forget. "It's in electrical power systems isn't it?"
"General electrical engineering." Hegent confirmed. "With a specialty in predictive load balancing."
Hyuga wasn't entirely sure what use Hegent would be then. But she suspected it was part of the plan. And now she urgently wanted to meet the planner.
"You must be Hyuga-sensei." Lady Sakuya approached with a smile and small nod. "I must say I haven't heard much, but what I have is very favorable."
"Really?" Hyuga felt a little heat rising to her cheeks, without the aid of a stein of beer. "I . . . Can't imagine what I could have done to impress you."
"Don't be so modest Hyuga-senpai." Hegent chided. "Sakuya-sama, Hyuga-senpai taught me everything that I know. I know that she can be a valuable member of TRIST."
"Eh . . . T-Trist?"
"The Tristain Royal Institute of Science and Technology." Sakuya explained fully. "It's something of a mouthful I'm afraid. And perhaps too ostentatious, but her Majesty insisted on a properly grand name when she signed the mandate.
"We're getting this whole place to do whatever we want!" Hegent said. "Isn't that amazing Senpai?"
"Hold it!" Hyuga tried to cut in and catch her bearings.
"Well . . . Not exactly whatever you want." A heavy Osaka drawl preceded the appearance of that rarest of all things, a middle aged Faerie.
He was a Gnomish man, thick limbed and barrel chested, though not quite so thick limbed and barrel chested as some, with hands that looked carved from granite. His hair and mustache were both silver white, the former combed back sharply to reveal a high and furrowed brow. About the only soft thing about him were two large and dark brown eyes that shown with an appraising light.
"Rute-sama's vault isn't infinite, even if everyone thinks it is. And her Majesty and her Highness will look the right fools if they vouch for us and we don't deliver." The man noticed Hyuga staring at him. Instead of offering a bow, he extended a massive hand. "The name's Rucks, I'm chairman of the Tau Tona City Council. Pleasures all mine Hyuga-san."
"So, you're the Gnome Lord." Hyuga accepted the hand and shook firmly. He had a strong handshake, not crushing, but unyielding. "I've heard about you." The Gnomes were supposed to be a bit strange. Maybe because Tau Tona was almost entirely below ground they had a different relationship with Tristain than most of the Faerie cities.
Rucks chuckled softly. It was a pleasant sound that somehow made Hyuga think of hickory smoke. "That's the title, but I wouldn't go that far. We Gnomes have been getting by right fine without calling anyone Lord This or Lady That. Mister Chairman is fine but just Rucks would be perfect too."
"Okay then . . . Rucks . . ."
"I'd think it would be mighty fine hearing what you think about our operation. Not that it probably holds a candle to what you're used to."
"Excuse me . . . Rucks . . . " Hyuga massaged her temples. "This all wonderful. It really is. But I'm getting little tired asking everyone what they mean. So you could you maybe explain how you could possibly know what I'm used to?"
"That is very simple." Lady Sakuya said. "Hegent told us all about you."
"Hegent?" Hyuga lapsed.
"Oh yes." The Leprechaun nodded eagerly. "Your name was the first to come to mind when I was tapped by Rute-sama. We would have looked for you sooner but there was so much to do and so many people to recruit." She added a little chiding. "You weren't making yourself easy to find, Senpai."
Hyuga's gaze moved out of focus, boring through the wall, and the one beyond it, and ending someplace out by the horizon at the revelation of the identity of her savior.
. . .
Best not to dwell on that.
"Normally it is not the Faerie Court's policy to pry in people's lives. But it is also one of our highest priorities to seek out individuals with valuable skills. So you are a nuclear engineer?" Lady Sakuya asked gingerly. "I wouldn't think you'd have had much time to game."
"Full dive was an efficient passtime." Hyuga answered the question automatically. She just heard the words and her lips moved with the answer. She shook her head. "Uh, technically my degree is in atomic energy. I was a systems engineer by training. But I spent the last five years as a section chief at Kashiwazaki-Kariwa. And actually, I'm very impressed with what's happening here, it's . . ."
"Amazing?" Hegent asked.
"Yeah, that'll have to do." Hyuga agreed. "This has all been built up in just a month?" Magic and preternatural Faeries strength had probably moved things along quickly. And, niggling at the back of her mind, a certain laissez-faire view on building regulations.
"Almost two." Rucks corrected. "Some enterprising youngsters started doing things on their own and Mortimer-sama wrangled them up the tower."
"That sounds very generous of the old lizard." Hyuga observed.
"Well, they did nearly burn Gaddan down. Once they started work, we kept sending them like minded individuals. We filled the tower right up. But things really exploded about a month ago."
"The war declaration." Hyuga realized. There was an exchange of looks between the Faerie Lords and Hyuga felt the beginnings of a chill. "So . . . This place is going to be making weapons. Guns and cannons." It was a guess, but a good one. Something in Hyuga rebelled at the thought even as her rational side convinced itself of the necessity.
And somehow it wasn't all weapons. The thought of forging a sword or a spear did not upset her in the same way as the thought of manufacturing a gun. Or many of the other more violent devices that she could easily imagine.
Lady Sakuya frowned. "Also shields and armor. I cannot say I am fond of the idea. We have no right to bring war on others. But you must agree that we have a responsibility to defend ourselves."
"And that won't be all we're doing here, Senpai. This is going to be a home for all sorts of science and engineering." Hegent insisted. "Please consider. You have skills that could do real good here . . . Don't you want to make a difference?"
A difference? It cut to the heart in a way that Hyuga couldn't expect.
Lady Sakuya was making a difference. She'd negotiated a place for them all. She sheltered Sylvain and Arrun. Rucks was making a difference, he was Chairman of the Gnomes, and he had to prove himself every day for that position. iHegent/i was making a difference, oblivious all the while.
Hyuga wondered. What difference was she making pining away on a barstool for a life she couldn't have back? What good had that done her as others had started what she should have done?
They waited on her answer. The feeling of tension broke as Hyuga reached into her pocket and took a good look through her monocle. She bowed deeply.
"Thank you for your consideration, Sakuya-sama, Rucks. I humbly place myself at your service." Then tried not to fall over as Hegent grabbed her in a hug.
But that was fine too.
Hegent was fine.
The weapons were fine.
No matter the cost.
She had to be a part of this.
Backed by the setting sun, two Faerie walked the highway, an ivory tower sinking beneath the treeline at their backs.
One was a Sylph, tall, lean and graceful. The other was a Cait Syth, short, ragged haired, and with something of the look of rangy stray about her.
"You said she wasn't going to join." Novair said. "Pay up."
Argo stuck out her tongue. "I said no such thing sa!"
"I believe you did. Suisen? What was it your master said? I bet twenty yurudo she'll run right back to the bottle?"
"It was forty ba!" Argo tried to muffle the pixie's voice. Too little too late.
"Traitor!" The Cait hissed at the miniscule Faerie who seemed heedless of any reprisal. Sighting she gave the Sylph a hooded look. "Do you want that in Silver or Bronze?"
"Either or." Novair shrugged. "Know what? You keep it. I shouldn't be taking money from a kid."
"And who do you think you're calling a kid?" Argo snapped, the anger drained away and was replaced by sobriety. She stopped in her tracks, Novair stopping a little bit further ahead. "Who's a kid anymore anyways?"
Not Kii-bou and Not Aa-chan. Definitely not herself. Childhood had given them all a firm boot in the rear. How many more were like that?
There were thousands of Faeries, the very youngest of which who were too young to fend for themselves. For now, they got to live as kids with guardians to protect and watch over them and be sure they were not taken advantage of. There were thousands more, some just a little older or a little better at pretending to be older, trying to grow up overnight. Trying to be what they needed to be.
They fought in the mob clearing operations and worked the same long shifts as other craftsmen. They ran inns and shops and cared for the sick and wounded. They were doing everything the 'adults' were doing, some while coping with adult bodies which were just as alien to them as becoming a Faerie in the first place.
Argo knew there were more Faeries living that way than anyone cared to admit. Not the least of which because coping alone, hiding their real age, was something that many young Faeries who were Out of Time did. Anything to avoid being dismissed as a 'child'.
"I didn't mean anything by it." The Sylph said. "You're one of the top ten people Alicia-sama turns to for advice. I don't think anybody really thinks of you as a kid."
"But?" There was a but there.
The Sylph crossed his arms. "But, you shouldn't have to be anything but a kid. Don't take it personally, but it makes adults like me feel kind of like failures that you have step up to the plate at your age."
"Yeah? Well then maybe the adults in the room should stop dropping the ball." Not all of the adults. Most of the Lords were pretty alright. But too many were too inflexible. And too proud to admit a mistake.
"That attitude is going to burn more bridges than it builds." Novair warned her. "One day it's going to leave you all alone."
"I've got Suisen." She poked the Nav Pixie hanging off her shoulder tenderly on her head.
"That's not what I meant."
"Then what do you mean?"
"That you could stand to humour us old timers once in a while. You're a smart . . . young woman . . . with a good head on your shoulders. You have a future ahead of you if you can reign in that abrasive attitude."
"I get along with Alicia-sama just fine."
"Alicia-sama gets along with everybody." Novair said plainly. "And Alicia-sama won't always be who you have to answer to. More importantly, it's not just the people above you. One day you may have subordinates of your own. Or colleagues. Your young now, and still think you can do it all. But you'll need others some day. Don't build needless barriers."
"Is that all?" Argo asked shortly.
"That's all." Novair nodded. "Well, I don't expect you to agree or do anything with my advice right now. Patience is also something you learn while becoming an adult. But keep it in mind. I think it will help you." He started walking again. "Are you flying back to Arrun?"
Argo shook her head. "I have a few more contacts I want to chase down for TRIST. We'll split up at the next courier tower. How about you?"
The Sylph shrugged. "The paperworks piling up so much I'm not even sure where we're getting all of it from. There's this big gala coming up to drum up support from the nobility. Sakuya-sama has me organizing her security and . . ." He frowned.
"Yurudo for your thought?"
"It's nothing. Nothing important anyways. Just a lot personnel getting moved around. I was just wondering . . . Sakuya-sama was really on form today."
"Sa-chan's always on form." Argo said. "Every day. She's going to burn herself out if she doesn't rest."
"Say. You're a . . . young woman . . ." Novair ran a hand through hair as he spoke a little faster. "You don't think a guy like me . . ."
"Has a chance with Sakuya?"
"Yeah."
Argo sized him up. He was right, she was a young woman. And she wasn't completely oblivious to all the eye candy. She snickered and grinned. "She's so far out of your league you'd need to climb Yggdrasil to even get close. I've only seen one guy with a luck stat that high."
The appraisal seemed to leave Novair visibly deflated. "I . . . see."
"But if you really want to humiliate yourself." Argo started walking again. "She likes the extra dark chocolate they make in Muisca. It's so bitter I don't know how she stands it. But it's just about her only vice." She would have said wine, but Alicia had her covered.
"Is that a fact?" Novair perked up, and remained chipper all the way to the tower.