THIRD BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES OF FANTASILIA SERIES
𝘈 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘬𝘦𝘯 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴. 𝘈 𝘥𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘥𝘺𝘯𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘺. 𝘈 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳. 𝘈 𝘥𝘦𝘧𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘨𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘴.
Two sides of the same coin are brought to the light...
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2412 Iclis 7, Daleth
"Are you finished with these?" Elred asked as Reeca filed the tube into a growing pile on the table. Reeca glared at Elred and blew a hot breath. Was this always this hot in the room? Was it because of the forge? She grunted as she swept the arm-length pile of hollow tubes of metal across the long wooden table to give room for a cooling mold she held with her other hand.
"Don't you have anything better to do?" Reeca dumped the mold into the table so hard the melted metal inside the cast bounced. The sound reverberated across the room's four walls like a loud explosion.
Elred, as if not sensing Reeca's deliberate move to look annoyed, shook her head. "The men reported nothing for the past week," she edged closer to the edge of the table. "The Entobern families refused to help us. Mother and Father are throwing yet another party. Savel is with them, learning how to open a wine bottle with less foam. Reza's with the nannies."
The shard fairy propped herself on the empty portion of the table and inclined her head at Reeca. "So, no," she grinned. "I don't have anything 'better' to do," she clawed two fingers in the air at the word.
Reeca sighed and removed her thick work gloves. The last week had been hectic for the both of them. Elred had been keeping up her public appearances like everything was fine—attending parties, interacting with her relatives, and taking care of her son. Then, at night, after a long day, the shard fairy spent the rest of her time annoying the afterlife out of Reeca.
As if that's not torture enough, Reeca had spent the last week cooped up in the "guest room" which was now modified to a mini-workshop. Reeca and Elred melded weaving magic and glass to build a makeshift forge. Reeca enchanted the fire so that it never needs more fuel. The bed was gone. The bookshelves were what composed the table and the cushioned chair was skinned clean so that only the wood skeleton was left.
Reeca coughed as ash from the forge invaded her nose. What day was it? Which hour was she in now and what sphere? Reeca shook her head. She's been here for too long. But, whatever. She needed to make as many hollow tubes as she could.
Reeca glanced at the cooling metal in the molds she wove the other day. Ephrite. Or at least that's what Elred called it when she presented it to Reeca a week ago. The purple sheen of the metal ores matched Reeca's eye. With a little tinkering with its trail, Reeca discovered it could expand to larger sizes when processed.
Soon, Elred had brought Reeca enough to complete enough hollow tubes to fill the perimeter of the plateau.
Reeca could feel Elred's gaze at the back of her neck so she whirled to the shard fairy. "See those arrowheads?" she pointed to a pile of sticks she and Elred had gathered from the forest a week ago now shoved against a corner, gathering dust. "Take the twine and attach it to the sticks. Make sure they're tight."
Elred nodded and slid off the table. Good riddance. At least, for now.
Reeca sighed and braced her hands against the table's edge, waiting for the metal to cool off. The contraption she was trying to build was simple. It only required twine, a bunch of sticks, and a case of ilkai, Helinfirth's delectable sweets that were as hard as bone. The latter was more for Reeca than for the contraption. She popped a metal canister and popped one in her mouth. It helped her think.
