The Tinkerer's Angel

Chapter 16: Lynx

We end up walking down a peaceful walkway lined with single story homes giving an unobscured view of what Lux called the 'Upper Ring.' All the houses are different colors giving each one a different personality even though the structure of the houses were uniform. Slowing to a stop in front of a pale green house, Lux let go of my hand as she pulls the key on a string around her neck. She must have had it tucked into her shirt since I haven't noticed it yet. The loss of warmth around my hand brings me back to the walk here. I'm not sure what happened in the alley way, but I couldn't deny my disappoint when she pulled away. 'We just got caught in the moment. By the end of the week, we are going to be sailing away from each other, me with my friends and Lux on her journey with Dermare.' I'm pulled from my thoughts as Lux opens the door and calls into the house. "Lenny! I'm home."

We hear a crashing sound followed by rushing footsteps from the back of the house. A girl with umber skin and startling light hazel eyes rounds the corner, almost tripping over the rug on the floor. Next thing I know Lux is thrown back by an aggressive embrace and must take several steps back to keep them upright. The girl looks to be in her early 20s and is about my height. Her dense mane of tightly spiraled coppery hair was pulled away from her face by clear glasses I've seen other carpenters use. A familiar hourglass pendant caught my attention. The matching earring to Lux's hung from her left ear lobe. She was in a set of navy-blue overalls with a light gray tank on under and black boots that ended right above her ankles. A black canvas tool belt was around her waist weighed down by many tools stuffed in the pockets. She must have been working on a project when we arrived as she still had thin sand colored canvas gloves covered dried stain and speckles of wood shavings stuck to them.

"What happened?! You were supposed to be back days ago and I couldn't help thinking something happened to you. We need to invest in some sending stones 'cause this is getting ridiculous." Who I assume is Elena rushes out, still holding Lux in a vise grip.

"I know. I know. Things got complicated," Lux spares me a small smile, "but like always, I come back. How are you other than being a worry wart?" She tries to joke to calm Elena's nerves and pulls away from the hug to evaluate her appearance.

The house is a lot roomier than I initially thought from the outside. We are currently in a sitting room and directly to my right is a doorway that appears to lead to small cooking area. If I were to walk across the room, there is a hall with two doorways. The door on the left was closed and the right is where Elena had appeared from. The smell of woodworking permeated through the house. The room we were in had a well-used couch in the center with a knee-high coffee table in front of the couch. Numerous carpenter tools laid across the surface. All in different stages of wearing and designs, giving the appearance that they are from different carpenter tool sets. The walls of the room are covered in bookshelves. From what I can tell, the books cover a wide variety of topics from carpentry to languages to traversing planes. As I looked at all the furnishing in the room, there seemed to be a commonality to the appearance and handwork. I stepped closer to one of the bookshelves and ran my finger over the 'Tasse' carved in an intricate design of flowing curved letters.

"Elena made all the furniture in the room. It would've been a pretty empty house without her." Lux pulls my attention as she lets out a chuckle and gives Elena an appreciative smile.

"It is obvious you are very talented. The craftsmanship is beautiful." I hold out my hand as I walk closer to the two, "I'm Lynx."

Elena matches the energy I've encountered many times from those from Cloudside. She gives me a bright, welcoming smile as she pulls off her gloves, placing them on the coffee table and reaches for my outstretched hand. "Thank you! I'm Elena Tasse but feel free to call me Lenny, Lynx." I catch her eyes jump from my welding goggles to my tool belt and lands on the part of Koda that is visible from above my jacket collar. Her smile widens and my tinkering mind started to get excited to talk shop with another person with a similar mind as me.