Chapter 64: Just Another Day in Sigil Lake, Pt. 2

  “What do you mean ‘uh-oh’? I’d think, after all this time, Arcana’s influence would be a good thing?” Grace made her disagreement known by retracting her hand. She placed it on her hip—not moving an inch away, Theo noticed—and tapped her feet into the ground in an expectant show.

  “Because last time she interfered, she made that—” Theo said, pointing at the effigy of her image. “—and now the queen of Aera is sending an army to, I don’t know, wipe us out?”

  “It’s barely an army. A regiment, most likely. You shouldn’t be worried about how many she’s sending, but the strength of the one leading them.”

  “Thanks, that makes me feel so much better. I wonder if they’ll know who to target from my divine lustre.”

  “Careful, your sarcasm is seeping from your radiant pores.”

  Theo couldn’t resist Grace’s devious smile and lost all the tension in his body. He crumbled, his height reaching Grace’s, almost a head lower than normal. “I just want this to be over with. I have this feeling creeping up inside me that something bad is going to happen, and it just builds with every moment I know the Ice Princess and her legion are approaching.”

  “I feel the same, you know,” said Grace in an unexpected showing of her genuine emotions. “But you and I are the last ones who should show it. For everyone else living in your town, you need to show strength. Courage.” Her hand returned to him, but this time as an open palm sticking to his chest. “We’ll get through it somehow. Arcana wouldn’t let anything happen, would she?”

  “I somehow doubt she can do anything major. If she could, why wouldn’t she have done it already?”

  “A fair question,” answered Grace. Her face twitched in discomfort at the thought, and her eyes locked onto her hand placed firmly on Theo’s chest. “I think you’re glowing less brightly now.”

  Theo looked at his hands, the skin glowing dimmer now than before. Grace’s gaze locked onto his eyes once more, then she nodded in confirmation.

  “Fading?” he asked.

  “Still captivating.”

  “I know what you mean.”

  Grace’s breath caught. The moment had returned.

  “Yeah?”

  Theo nodded, swallowing. His lips went dry, but he fought the urge to wet them. “Enticing, right? Like a radiant nebula swimming in umber.”

  She smiled. Closer. “Tantalising, even, like an unfathomable depth.”

  Their breaths collided. Theo’s hands inched forward, reaching for her waist slowly as if afraid to scare her. Grace’s hand, still lingering on his chest, discharged heat like a flame.

  “Is this…because I’m tied to Arcana?”

  The thought, a recurring one, slipped from his lips the moment before landfall. Several things happened, and without having his stats raised so high, Theo would’ve thought they happened all at once. He could see the fractions of time splitting the following events into separate actions.

  Grace froze at the somewhat accidental accusation, parsing through his worries laid bare before he did something he might regret later. Then, her eyes widened, the words clicking into place and their meaning revealing themselves to her. The endless wonders that were her irises turned harsh and cold, then shrunk as Grace pulled away from him. The last action was a frown, one so filled with feeling it was like Theo had been sent out in the cold, naked in a freezing downpour.

  “Ahem.”

  A voice feigning the clearing of one’s throat. Theo turned to the side, his skin still aglow, his eyes white. Grace mimicked his actions, though her expression was more revealing without her own layer of brilliance covering it up.

  “Excuse me for the intrusion, but I saw the light from the road. Figure this is my stop. I’m Tinkerbold.”

  Theo, unable to find anyone, turned his gaze lower. There he was, a minute man in height, though burly in width. His eyes were dark and his hair the same. In the upper back of his skull, his hair was so thin Theo could count the longer-than-average strands trying to cover up the moon of his scalp. He wore a dark grey shirt with a bowtie and a nice black jacket over it, though his trousers were ragged and worn, not from travelling but from constantly working.

  “Tinkerbold?” Theo asked. The name was familiar.

  “Crafter extraordinaire. I’d like to think so, anyway.” Tinkerbold’s voice creaked a little at the faux confidence he rushed away from.

  “Pleasure to meet you, Tinkerbold,” Grace said, her expression shifting in an instant. She took his proffered hand first. “And you should be more confident. Sigil Lake has its fill of cowards.”

  Then, with a distant look at Theo, she released the minute man’s hand and walked away.

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  Theo remained fixed on her until she rounded the Barge and went out of view.

  “I interrupted something, didn’t I?”

  Theo sighed. “If anything, you might’ve paused something bad from happening. Let’s try this again. I’m Theo of the founding council. That was Grace, also of the council. She’s usually in a better mood, so don’t hold this against her.”

  Tinkerbold said he wouldn’t. After a short introductory conversation, Theo took the time to show him the sights, of which there were rather few. There was the effigy and the Barge, of course, and though still a ghostly blue, the layout of the town’s planned buildings told him what he needed to. One house seemed to be getting its finishing touches; the blue replaced by warm brown wood.

  “Hank, over there by the lumberyard, is our architect and builder, and is taking on the designs of our buildings. There’s a crafting hall in the Barge for now, but down the line I’m sure you’ll want the quiet of your own workshop. Whether as a module of your future home or as a standalone workshop, any input you might have on design, you can give to him. For now, we can only guarantee one building to each villager—if you’d like a workshop, it should be built with a bedroom at the minimum.”

  “Of course. Even my own workshop is more than I expected from a Fresh Start. This place is coming along nicely! I see you have at least one builder with a Level Three construction skill. Along with a double-Level Three crafter, what else does this place have in store for us? Who built that effigy?”

  The curiosity was understandable, so Theo answered the latter first. His explanation lacked any gusto, but Theo attempted to tip-toe around the issue of Arcana, wanting to ease the new villager into it. Then, without going too far into the often sensitive issue of other people’s skills, he explained they had been lucky to have recruited several people with high-level skills. His people seemed open to sharing the information, but he’d rather they decided for themselves.

  “No wonder you got so many good people out here in the wilds. If this is where you’re doing the recruiting from, I mean.”

  “Do you mind explaining?” Theo asked.

  “Of course. So far away from Ercheat, where most recruitments for Fresh Starts take place, you have what can only be seen as an exclusive right to any and all people in the area who accept starting from scratch, no matter their skill levels. Many of them, like me, are outside of Ercheat’s recruitment range. I never expected to be recruited to a Fresh Start, mind you, but I wouldn’t have posted it unless I’d agreed to it.”

  “Oh, I’ve heard that before. Makes me wonder why no one else does it. Besides, the Fresh Start seems to be over. You’re part of the second group of people we could hire with that filter. Now, we need to make money before anything else.”

  “Which is why I’m here, I assume?”

  Theo looked down at the suddenly confident man. “Eventually, I guess. Right now, each new house will require furniture, as does the Barge. Our builders have made the basics, but—”

  “Oh, I see. Yes, builders’ crafts are…let’s just say they should keep to raising buildings. I’ll need to have access to good wood and the wanted dimensions of the beds. I’ll get right to it once you show me the crafting hall. Do you mind if…”

  The man’s confidence, once more having built itself up, shattered and fell flat again.

  “If?” Theo prodded.

  “If I can sleep on the first bed? Not that I’m selfish, but…I’m rather accustomed to…non-builder beds, if you know what I mean?”

  With a laugh, Theo responded, “Sure thing. Find Julie Woodrow in the lumberyard; she’ll sort your wood out. I mean, for crafting. As for the dimensions, check with either Hank or Lady, the latter of whom should be somewhere in the Barge right now. She’s the keeper and seems meticulous. She’ll know the dimensions down to the millimetre already.”

  Tinkerbold nodded his approval with a wide smile, thankful for the chance to sleep in a proper bed. Theo didn’t think they were bad at all, but now he was wondering how good they could be.

  Next, he showed the crafter the crafting hall, heading through the tavern in the same building. The crafter aired his grievances already, seeing no way of bringing a large amount of material inside the crafting hall without disturbing anyone. Even the opposite direction would take him through the administrative section.

  Theo agreed with the design flaw, and after showing him around, Tinkerbold offered a solution that wouldn’t be too difficult to implement.

  “This section of wall is the exterior wall, right? Turn one part of it into an entrance, wide enough for carts, and this shouldn’t be a problem.”

  The crafter gestured to the wall between the tavern and Wen’s brewing room, an otherwise empty wall that could serve another purpose. It would reduce the workshop area, but would ease material delivery. Except…

  “My garden’s behind there,” Theo said. He tried approximating where he’d already planted his seeds, remembering they should be planted along the tavern wall. If they removed a row or two, of which he had twenty in a 5x4 grid, there should be enough room for wagon-traffic. He’d have to ask Wen if he could move the plots more towards the tavern, though that would ruin the view from the windows. “But I think we can manage something like that. I’ll let Hank know.”

  “Sorry to be a bother already,” Tinkerbold said, shrinking into himself again.

  “Don’t worry, we knew we couldn’t think of everything. This is why everyone’s opinions are important.”

  The small man nodded, accepting the wisdom as truth. Theo left him to settle into his new place of work as various worktables popped out of thin air. The crafter placed them all in a neat, but tight space in a corner. Considering the wide open space available and only one crafter, Theo mentioned he could take more space if he wished, but the crafter wanted it that way, he said. Then Theo was on his way. He’d just made it out of the Barge’s main entrance when he heard his name ringing through the air like the chime of a bell.

  “Theo!”

  It was Wen’s voice, as clear as the skies.

  “Second trader’s come in! Want to help set up the brewery?”

  Theo turned towards the shouting, finding Wen and Lady standing amongst two new faces; one stood tall as Willam, his face and head bare as a baby, while the second looked to be an averagely built woman with a large hairband tucking her gold hair away from her face and shoulders.

  Just like Wen to be more eager about brewing than welcoming new people, he thought with a smile. He waved to signal that he heard her, but pointed towards the Barge after checking his stats. “One minute!” he shouted.

  To Wen and the newcomers, the council member they had already heard so much about seemed about as eager to welcome them as the brewer had been as he darted off away from them even after waving to them. As they were approaching the circular multi-purpose building, the sunlight seemed to fade from the building’s vicinity alone, a darkness taking hold like a sickness. It seemed to pulse at first, but it must’ve been a trick of the eye, as soon enough it became nothing but a sinister void—the building had vanished, leaving nothing but the emptiness of space where it had once stood. Eyeing the brewer and seeing her worried fascination, it seemed this was an unknown phenomenon, even to her. They stopped their approach.

  Away from the pitch nothingness came the council member from before with a cheerful smile and a welcoming wave.

  “Hi there, I’m Theo! Welcome to Sigil Lake.”