Ch 21: Bridges

For the past hour, the scribbling of a pen writing down the musings of a floating librarian traveled through the chamber encased in walls made out ceiling touching bookcases. Bridget lifted her head from her notebook only when she had to focus closely on Feth’s every word.

The mist firg knew how to tell a tale, but got so lost into it that he always forgot about the transcribers. With time, though, the girl got accustomed to it and managed to put down everything he summarized from his collection of passed villages memoirs. Ever since he became the Head Librarian, he made his mission to make sure that the entire building be filled with his collection.

All of the sudden a beeping noise distracted the two. Goidel, who saw by everyone as the right hand man of the collector apologetically nodded, bending his neck and spine even further down.

Feth- “No worries Goidel, your job is more important after all” he remarked with honesty, though it came of very sarcastically.

Bridget- “ That’s the device we retrieved a few weeks ago, right?” The girl was surprised to see the black cube in the library’s possession, but was aware that Blitz handed over some of his projects to Goidel and Feth for help.

Goidel- “ Y-yeah. I’m trying to figure out the commands from it’s menu. It’s codded, so Blitz asked us to ‘translate this gibberish’, as he put it.”

Feth- “ And Goidel is a much better researcher than I am, so left it in his care.” Once more, his honesty was trumped by his smarmy tone. Fortunately for him, both Goidel and Bridget knew how to translate his coded speech as well.

The cowled girl then took a look at the clock and swiftly closed her notebook. She also picked up the memoir Feth prepared for her to study, waved him goodbye and knuckled bumped Goidel on the way out.

Goidel- “ I see that she’s catching up to Arim and Zinc. What do you think Feth?”, but the mist firg didn’t catch the question. Instead, he starred out the window, following the steps of a figure in a hood and a staff made out of bolts and rusty metal.

Feth- “Right, sure”, he replied absentmindedly.“ I’m needed somewhere else, you continue your work Goidel. Looks like the leader of our tech phobic zealots wants to have a chat.”

…

Though she managed to avoid his first kick, the sting of the second one made Bridget tumble backwards and once again feeling the tickle of the wild grass.

Perren- “ Third time by the end of the session. Good work Brigantia, your brothers are still at around five tumbles per day.” The duelist was chewing on a leaf while writing down his observations. He had a simple process of teaching- let them stew and boil their frustrations in self-analyses. That was the only thing he lectured his students about.

Ruminating on it for a minute or so, at the speed of a finger tap, Bridget sprang right up with a question in tow- “ I was too quick to spin around, wasn’t I?”

With his fingers wrapped around in a ‘bingo“ sign, he let his student take a break. ” But that’s not all“, he motioned to her sheathed sword. ” It could be of great use i-when you manage to control it.“

Bridget- “ True..but whatever wind-smith decided to put an entire tornado in it needs to be on a list. I’m still not- I can’t get past the keeping it steady for less than 15 seconds or so.”

Perren then put his treat down and picked up the weapon. It was never his plan to embarrass his student, but maybe having an example might help her out. He then grabbed the handle and felt how a whirlwind of devastation was brewing inside of it. The duelist pulled out only a fraction of the handle before a gust tried to suck all the air around him. Annoyed now by the sword’s antics, he crunched his teeth, hold on tight on the grapple, struggling to fight it.

Bridget- “ Teach, are sure that-”, but a sudden burst made her shoulders easier but her knees weaker. Perren hold tight of a straggling blade-shaped cutting wind, roaring like a defeated beast, placating it’s head down to its new master.

Perren- “ Fickle thing”, he said while lifting it into the air. “ But it can be done. So It’s a battle of both body and mind with it from what I see.”

The clenched her teeth and her shaking fingers gripped into a quivering fist. It took him just a few attempts to accomplish something Bridget spent her entire life mastering only a few seconds of it.

Bridget- “ H-how? How did you do it?”, like a wisp fleeing a grotto, so did her frustrated question escape her grasp.

Perren- “That”, he then sheathed the sword-“ Is part two of today’s lesson.”

…

Deep in the underground, Blitz and the giant Nizzio were playing a game of cards while mulling over the schematics for a new type of mirror the metalized firg brought.

Blitz-“ So, how’s the babysitting going? Anymore troubles with our liquid buddy?” Nizzio thought about giving him a long answer, but instead opted for a smile and a hand sign word- “growing.”

Blitz-“ Oh well, at least someone is-” but was stopped when a joyful screech drew their attention. The previously resting group of Ogda, Giol, Arim and Zinc were now confused by the sudden presence of a cheerful cloaked green firg. The two members of the Union followed as Bridget ran and yelled with joy, looking for her brothers.

Blitz and Nizzio followed intently as Bridget grabbed and lifted Arim and Zinc up into the air, spinning them around as she told them how she managed to keep it out for “40 seconds.” Zinc’s grin summed with his mocking tone then predictably brought the three into a squabble.

Arim tried to mediate, but he also got more and more frustrated with the two ‘talking’ (shouting) at the same, and was more than ready to tussle them for peace. “ I’m glad for you Bridge, that’s awesome. Isn’t it Zinc?”, but when the gauntlet firg made the same joke, a giggle escaped Arim, who jokingly and unfortunately fueled the fire. “ But you kinda served that one to Zinc, you know?”

Bridget- “ Tsz, always taking the gremlin’s side…Fine, though, I really phrased it wrong. BUT! I wanted to share this with my little bros, so I think you were a bit of a jerk”, to which the gauntlet firg started to get a bit redder in the cheeks, and finally apologized for his joke.

Instead of intervening, both Blitz and Nizzio stood idly by, being brought to a time way in which all of the Union’s members called the underground their home in their childhoods. The two then felt a rush of nostalgia when the three made up and even started to egg Bridget to show them her new skill.

Nizzio sighed and got up, counting how many seconds passed. Blitz shrugged and cracked his neck. “ I’ll put shields up, you can focus on the sword”, and the giant gave him a thumbs up.

…

With an order in tow, Bridget stopped by Victor’s kitchen and was surprised to find Krass, the captain with a feline mask, toiling over a bucket and peeling carrots and potatoes. His voice was usually loud and boisterous, but in this strange arena of boiling pots and frizzling pans, he barely stood out.

Krass-“ So, I’ve been keeping track of all of it, but nothing makes sense, you know. It’s like something is clouding my thoughts. What do you think Vic, can your meals help me with clearing my mind a bit?”

The herculean chef was musing both over his words and his cooking. Neither smelled right just yet. “Listen, Krass, these headaches- you’ve been working uhm-”

-“ Overtime?”, Bridget chimed in, striding in knowing exactly how to tip-toe around the busy kitchen and picking up an apple to bite into. Krass silently urged her to give it to him to peel it, while a boisterous “ Kiddo! He, he, he”, came from the fridge-sized cook.

Victor- “ Good to see ya, good to see ya. Overtime, yes. Now explain to this one why doing chores for Masso, keeping seminaries and helping out around town could explain why..uhm…his head is in the clouds?”

A bit worries, Bridget quickly asked- “ Have you been eating ?”, to which Krass chuckled.

Victor- “ And...to be fair, I’m guessing that you and Blitz are-”

Krass- “ Me and Blitz are just fine. We’re arguing from time to time, but nothing to be worried about”, he raised his voice, accidentally cutting the apple in two.

Bridget-“ Yeah, but-”

Victor-“ No kiddo, leave it be. Sorry Krass, it’s my bad, it’s just-”

Krass-“ Just what?”, he sighed a bit defeated. “It’s not my fault that he keeps insulting my credo. You, Victor, you’re also a follower of the Dia, aren’t you?”

Victor- “ Krass…yes, but-”

Krass-“ And do you like his constant dismissals and insults at our beliefs? Because, to be honest, I’m getting a bit tired of it.”

Knowing that this line of conversation wouldn’t go anywhere, Victor decided to drop it and instead focus on the list brought by Bridget and read it. “ You summoned a small tornado in the underground?”

…

With an headache that could split apart the sea, Masso groaned himself awake, surprised to see light hitting his grotto of an office. After a moment to get in touch with his senses, he could hear some shuffling and giggling around.

Bridget and a voice from a radio were whispering while the girl tried to tidy up the room

Bridget- “ Morning- evening dad”, the girl said stacking back papers that have fallen down. “ Brought you something to eat from Victor.”

Rubbing his eyes intensely, Masso picked up on the mentioned time and was relieved that he was still on schedule. “ Thought I might nap until the next day”, after which he munched down the sandwich in tiny, slow bites

The voice from the radio huffed- “ Honey, please. I understand that you’re busy, but try to take some more care of yourself. Bridgy, how are his eyes? Any bags?”
Masso- “Hi sweetie”, he groaned out to his wife on the other side of the receptor. “ I’m fine, I’m fine.”

Bridget-“ He looks…ok? He should go wash up though, I’m going to prepare some coffee.”

Only mumbling a reply, the leader of the Union went to the bathroom- “And don’t forget to du-” tried his wife to warn him, but Masso’s forehead already hit the edge of the door frame.

A bit freshen up, he asked about the town and the other members of the Union.

Bridget- “Fine. Victor is finishing the feast for his and Perren’s duel. Everyone is doing their jobs, like usual…except for complaints of headaches and fogginess. Krass was talking about it.”

Masso- “ Heard about it, but the health investigators are on it, so it’s not up to us. Ahhh, great layer, that fight might be end of me if it doesn’t go well…” He then took a deep sip of the coffee and turned towards his daughter. “ What about you, anything good happened to you?”

Radio voice- “ Oh, and how so. Tell him, tell him.”

Throwing off the prim and proper posture held during the first presentation, Bridget then started to tell her father about her lessons at the library and with Perren, her ‘catch-up’ with Arim and Zinc and, to Masso’s surprise, another of her crushes.

Masso-“ Bridgy, listen…you’ve got to ask them out already. Two past relationships in your teens doesn’t mean there’s something wrong you. Just- ”

Bridget-“ No dad, listen, this time is different.”

Masso- “ Why?”, he asked, tinged with a bit of annoyance.

Radio voice-“ I was a bit surprised too, to be honest”, the woman said through her receiver. “ But seriously, why?”

Bridget- “ She was like this cool lady…woman…close to my age anyway”
“Do you know or do you imagine that?” Masso thought to check, brows deeply furrowed.

Bridget- “ Yes. I could tell because I pretended to drop my sword-”

Radio voice- “ Your sword?!”

Bridget- “ YES. Yes, when I passed by her table. Anyway, I took a better look at her and dad…I think it’s love this time.”

Unconvinced, Masso took another sip and glared intently at his daughter. “ And did you ask her out?”

Bridget-“ No, she pretended not to notice and I skedaddled out of there.”

Masso- “ Yeesh. Tough luck, baby-girl. But there will be other occasions…Do you guys want to listen a recorded story to shoo those bad thoughts away?”

Bridget- “ Of course. And its going to be my pick because my heart..is in shambles.”

Masso- “ Fine, whatever.”

Radio voice-“ Anything for my girl.”