Salvage ~ V1: Nuts and Bolts (Steampunk/ Gaslamp Romantasy ~ FxM, MxM)

Chapter 11: Magic Can't Solve Everything

Neiphi stood at a long table with a box of small machine parts, sorting them into like piles and sighing intermittently. Kazia tried to ignore her, but the girl's frustration was beginning to wear on her patience.

"This is so boring!" Neiphi finally exclaimed.

"Alchemy is not all a wave of the hand," Kazia told her. "Often the grandest results are achieved only after one has endured much tedium."

Kazia turned back to the Artifact she was working on, peering at its tiny mechanism through a magnifying glass to weld a small part back into place.

They had been at the castle for almost two months now, and in that time Kazia had completed almost a dozen Artifacts from the storeroom, and that after a week of arranging the laboratory.

Most of them had simply required a change of materials to more accurately direct the magic. A few had required minor redesign to balance the principles. There was a chance that Kazia had deliberately chosen the easiest projects first to impress the eyes upon her. It seemed to have worked.

When a knock came on the hallway door, Neiphi eagerly abandoned her task to answer and Amelys entered, a bit winded.

"Mistress, did you walk all the way up?" Kazia asked, laying aside her work. "You should have cast a portal. Neiphi, please bring Mistress Amelys a chair."

Amelys shook her head, still catching her breath.

"Never cast magic for anything you can do with your own hands and feet," she said. "Miss Gewalt, take a note of that."

"Is that why we had to ride in the carriage all night to come here?" Neiphi asked. "That was so boring!"

"Neiphi, don't be rude," Kazia admonished.

"No, no it's fine," Amelys said with a smile. "Exactly, Miss Gewalt. Portals require a great deal of energy, carrying others even more so. And since an Alchemist must have been to a place before to cast a portal there, I'd have to carry both Madame Brandra and Lord Meratha along with our luggage to Essyl, then Lord Meratha and I would have to carry all the lot of you back. So you see, magic can't solve everything."

"Ahh..." Neiphi mused. "Mistress, when will I learn how to cast a portal? I can't wait!"

"That will take some time," Amelys answered. "You must learn your fundamentals first. Often the grandest results are achieved only after one has-"

"-endured much tedium," Neiphi finished along with her.

Amelys showed a satisfied smile and winked at Kazia.

"You still needn't have come all the way up," Kazia said. "You can always send for me."

"Nonsense," Amelys replied. "I wanted to come see how you are situated. The laboratory looks to be in fine shape."

"You're welcome!" Neiphi interjected as she dragged a small chair over to place it opposite Kazia across her worktable. "I've been sorting and sorting, nothing but sorting for weeks."

Amelys raised her eyebrows toward Kazia, who smiled in return.

"Good then," Amelys said, taking her seat. "You've been doing excellent work, but if you are all settled now and have established your routine, we will soon enter requests that you prioritize certain Artifacts."

"Of course," Kazia said.

"There is one in particular, of Kelvaran's making."

"He didn't send you here to ask after it, did he?"

There had been several visitors to the laboratory in the first weeks, Alchemists asking after their artifacts, including several Makers of weaponry demanding to know why she had refused their Artifacts. Tamyn had finally posted a page at the end of the hall to turn them away.