A Lumen Ripple | An Elemental Story

Chapter 14 - Within Your Hands

Clutching her own bag on another side of town completely, Ember arrived, hood on, and meekly made her way up to the Aquatecture building for her third day of work. Wade's abrupt departure from home left a small flicker of unease in her stomach. What's been the deal with him? Was it because of her? Intrusive thoughts ran out of the cage and rampant within her mind as she approached the entrance, a friendly Blob standing afront.

"Morning, Ms. Lumen." he wished.

Clearly in her own world at that moment, she stopped her trance and looked over at him blankly.

"M-- morning." she stammered.

Feeling embarrassed for her unawareness, she looked down and covered her face with her hood slightly as she walked through to Gladys at the front desk.

"Ms. Lumen!" she called out.

Ember approached the desk with hesitation, looking about as she leaned her hands on it. She gently took her hood off, masquerading with a fake smile.

"Morning, Gladys." she wished.

Gladys leaned forward to her with a big, bright smile.

"I hope you're excited for today," she said.

Replacing her unease with curiosity, Ember lost her fake smile, instead shooting a look of confusion.

"Today? What's on today?" she queried.

Gladys slinkily pointed down the left corridor toward the Glassitect department. Lo and behold...

"It's our internship open day today!" she notified me.

Ember's eyes widened to frisbee diameter as she looked, her mouth as though she sucked on the most sour Kol-nut.

"Open day?" she queried.

She took her hands off the desk and gently looked down the hallway, weak in the knees. Leaning to one side, she stared at a bit of a crowd filtering into the Glassitecture department.

"Oh no." she worried to herself.

She slung her back onto her back and began to run toward it.

"Have a great day!" Gladys wished with a wave.

-----

With a heaving push, Ember arrived at the Glassitect department and stood in the doorway in shock. There was a large crew of faces she'd never seen from various sites. As she made her grand arrival, most if not all eyes slowly looked toward her in intrigue.

She shrunk a few inches in discomfort, bowing her head and holding her bag close. She slowly became one with the crowd - though thoroughly disconnected from them in a social sense. She stood at the back of the pack, causing a couple of by-standing water folk to begin boiling. She put her hands on her heart and hunched in discomfort.

"Good morning, everybody!" a microphoned voice announced.

Ember slowly stood back straight as attention shifted from her to a podium where Lin stood.

"Welcome to Aquatecture's mid-year internship open day. It's excellent to see so many faces bright and early." Lin excitedly recognized.

Ember raised an eyelid in intrigue, listening in and tilting her head.

"You're all present today as a result of your fine skills in working Glassitecture, and we at Aquatecture are here to help realizes those dreams." Lin continued.

Curious, Ember stuck her neck up, a sign of her becoming drawn in.

"For nearly 20 years, we've hosted mid and end-of-year examinations in solidarity with our sibling companies to provide the best certification, and get you all out there living your dreams!" Lin elaborated.