A Tainted Story

1: A Preface

Despite the early hour, the Lodestone was filled with movement. A young woman strode across the room, a towering stack of cartons in her hands. The floor beneath her feet was dark polished wood, and shelves latched to every available opening were the same chestnut-brown. It wasn't haphazard storage, however. Every inch of the space, from the meticulously organized dry foods, to the gleam of the service counter, were clean and orderly. The air itself almost seemed affronted when the girl casually dumped the contents of the boxes on a shelf, motes of dust stirring amidst the jars that had spilled out, toppled over and unsorted. Every time she moved, she left a blemish in the room.

Behind the counter, a much older woman glared at her through a curtain of graying hair. Her eyes drifted from the merchandise, to the girl's bored expression, then followed the path of her arm as she casually swung the now-empty carton around.

"Usually," the old lady began, a smiling grimace beginning to form, "When I ask an aide to help stock the shelves, that usually entails putting things in the right place."

"Usually," the response was a mocking echo, "When you refer to someone as an aide, they're usually getting paid."

"You eat my food and sleep under my roof. I think that's enough payment for now." She got up from her chair, a book in her lap slipping to the floor, forgotten. "Hannah, stop ruining my store and go help your sister out back. She could use an extra hand with the repairs."

Hannah stepped around the corner, placing the cartons under the countertop. She looked up, raising an eyebrow.

'Fela and Basil have been gone for hours, you know. And they took the strider with them. He probably asked her to work on it overnight, so they could go for a joyride before the client comes to pick it up."

Her adoptive mother smirked, looking down at Hannah. Even now, she stood above most people half her age. "I know dear. But when they come back with the thing a damn smoking mess, it'll take more than one person to fix it up again before he comes around."

Hannah bent to pick up the book, turning it over in her hands.

"I still don't get how he's able to string her along with his stunts. Fela's..."

"Responsible, capable, able to complete simple tasks without your constant confusion?"

Hannah rolled her eyes as she followed her mother through the front doors of the Lodestone, leaving the storefront behind.

"I was gonna say that she's always got a stick up her-"

She was cut off with a smack in the back of the head. Hissing through her teeth, Hannah slammed the doors behind them harder than necessary, turning to glare at the other woman. Her mother simply looked back, arranging herself with the demure posture of an aging lady. She even started fanning herself delicately, any hint of aggressiveness buried under layers of act. Hannah could only shake her head at the woman.

"You know I'm right!" Hannah suddenly rallied back, determined to make her point. If Fela could do something like this and still get praised, she would make sure justice was inflicted herself.

"It may be true that she's always been a little too lawful, so I think it's good that some of Basil is rubbing off." Silva's eyes went hard. "But that's no excuse for mishandling our patron's merchandise. I'm going to have a chat with your sister and our little apprentice when they get back." The old woman nodded to herself, the issue closed and done with, as far as she was concerned, Thoroughly satisfied with the response, if a bit chastised, Hannah pulled over a chair on the deck and sat down to wait.

Basil and Fela both ducked at the same time, barely avoiding a wickedly-pointed tree branch. Lifting his arms to shield his face, Basil let go of the tiller, and the strider immediately started to veer off-course. They were crashing down a small trail through the woods, barely larger than a footpath, and Basil's joyful shouts quickly turned into panicky screams as the moments dragged on. Before the machine could smash itself against one of the trees, Fela reached over and yanked the tiller hard to the right. They drifted back toward the middle of the trail, narrowly missing the thick wall of foliage. Collecting himself, Basil found his grip once again, and smiled gratefully at the girl next to him. With sweat dripping down his face and shaking legs, Basil struck a sharp contrast to the quietly smirking Fela.

"That wasn't like you, ace pilot."

"Cut me some slack here," Basil shot back, his face turning red nonetheless. "This is some of the most dangerous driving I've ever done in my life-" He yanked them away from a tangled spread of vines, the momentum tilting the strider in the process. For a split-second, they hung on the edge of a mechanical heel, before crashing back down to Earth. Thumping the dashboard, he let their current near-miss finish the point.

If the strider was just slightly wider, or the trail a little smaller, the two of them would have smashed themselves to pieces a hundred times over, But instead, they raced through the trees, scattering peaceful rays of sun and dappled shadows. Every twist and turn was a split-second decision, a product of reflex that kept them in one piece. Hurtling down the mountain, Fela's scope of focus was limited to the next immediate boulder or fallen log in their path. The blind rush of adrenaline was exactly what she wanted. For a reserved, responsible person like her, every aspect of this moment felt unreal. She wanted to soak up the danger here, hold it within her. She wanted to kindle it, use it for fuel. Find some source of strength that would let her shout to the world how she felt. The only thing audible right now though, was the incessant shrieking of her pilot.

Piloting the craft with a white-knuckled fear, all the fun had gone out of it for Basil. Now, all he could see was the many different ways this would be his last morning on two feet. And yet despite his fear and rattling head, his body knew what to do. He slowed the strider just enough to step over a trench in the ground, then carved a hard right, using a nearby boulder as support to avoid tipping over. Over and over, pure instinct helped them avoid collision, his eyes scanning the path in front of them at a furious pace.

As the trees finally thinned, Basil sighed in relief, while Fela looked slightly disappointed.

He turned, a sheepish grin on his face.

"That. Was. Insane." He allowed himself to relax his death gaze on the road, fully looking at Fela.

"I mean, we've done some crazy rides before, but this was barely a trail! I don't even know how you found this path, but-"

Fela was screaming, staring straight ahead. Basil twisted around just as the strider lunged over a sudden cliff that had been hidden by forest, and out into open air.