A Question of Comfort

After two weeks of constant sparring Chestin announced Trick was ready to think about what he wanted to do next. That came as a surprise to Trick, who still hadn’t won against his instructor in a freeform spar. Even when they began sparring with small ceramic shields, which simulated the warding gloves Chestin and Norin had used in the field, the more experienced fighter still overwhelmed Trick easily.

However, as Chestin pointed out, they were two people fighting each other. The Steel Perilous didn’t have anything remotely human shaped down in its depths so it wasn’t necessary to master the art of fighting other people. It was more to get him used to striking decisively under pressure. Once Trick got the hang of that Chestin wanted him to start getting used to using a wide variety of lumicraft tools.

They started by drilling with an actual warding glove then Trick experimented with a light spear. At the end of that watch Trick mentioned he’d like to experiment with a lens and bolas, as adding a more conventional ranged weapon to his armory seemed like a good idea. However, as things turned out, he wouldn’t get the chance.

When he returned to the dormitory that evening chief armillimancer Brossius was waiting there for him with a woman in elder’s garb in tow. The new elder looked about Brossius’ age, somewhere in her late thirties or early forties. Trick also noted that she had a bunch of small hand tools in her apron, much like Brossius did, which suggested to him he was seeing the chief lumicrafter.

“Hello, Patrick Gallagher,” the armillimancer said. “It seems you’re adapting to life here in Harbek well.”

“I am, thank you,” he said, slowing to a stop in the breezeway connecting Bertran and Gemma’s house to the dorm. “Have you had a chance to review the book of star charts I gave to Raster a few watches ago?”

“I looked through a few of the charts, though I fear there isn’t much I can do with them. From what I’ve seen there’s no shared point of reference between your charts and ours, which makes them meaningless, I’m afraid.” Brossius gestured to the black haired woman beside him. “This is chief lumicrafter Nel. There are a few things we’d like to discuss with you this watch, if you have the time.”

“Sure. Do you want to come inside? Gemma let me have a chair but I’m the only one in the dorm right now so there’s only enough for one of you.”

“We should move inside, though we won’t take your chair from you,” Brossius said.

Once they were out of the breezeway Brossius began walking through the dorms, examining things critically. “Do you find this place comfortable, Trick?”

“Well, it’s not as comfortable as home but I can’t complain.”

“Perhaps we can find something more comfortable for you soon. We don’t have a lot of space to build new houses right now but there are a few one room buildings standing vacant.” The armillamancer stopped in the middle of the room, facing Trick. “I understand you intend to brave the Steel Perilous once more.”

“Yes,” Trick said, stretching the word out. He suspected Brossius was working some kind of angle but he couldn’t see what it was yet. “Chestin has unfinished business there and I’m going to help him sort it out. Is there something in the deeps that interests you? I’m sure we could work it in on our way. Or even bring you along, if that’s what you want, although if it is I’d suggest talking to Chestin, not me.”

“We’re more interested in what you will do when you return,” Nel said. “You’ve already accomplished a great deal here and your name is being mentioned by more and more in Harbek. Your contributions to the harvest guard and braving the Steel are no small things. However the kinds of risks you’ve undertaken aren’t good for your longevity and if such things were to catch up to you before your time it would be a real loss.”

“Did I…” Trick hesitated, certain he’d already told the elders he planned to go looking for Stanley at some point. This had to be some kind of attempt to talk him out of doing just that. “Did you have something in mind?”

Nel sat down in his chair, prompting a small twitch of annoyance from Brossius. Clearly they hadn’t compared notes on their strategy before coming to talk to him. Or she enjoyed annoying him. It was important to keep pettiness in mind when dealing with politicians. “You’ve done more than earn a good reputation here, Trick.” She produced a small ceramic disk with a hole through it, which was the Casparian equivalent of money, and casually walked it through her fingers. “The rewards for killing starsight and bottomless shadows are quite good. But you’ll find such creatures are much rarer as the Weyland constellation moves away from zenith. The work of a harvester is not nearly as rewarding in retrogade. However, I hear you have shown promise in my own area of expertise.”

“Lumicraft?” Trick raised his eyebrows, surprised it was even suggested. “I’ve tried it a little bit with Sari but I don’t know that I’ve managed to do much. I’ve formulated some verdant lumi and assembled the bracelet and grounding line of a channeling glove but that’s about it.”

“That’s just it,” Nel said, pulling a heat pen from her apron. The tool was apparently the foundation of Casparian lumicraft but, to Trick, it was basically a soldering iron powered by crimson lumi rather than electricity. “This is not an easy tool to master. Many in Harbek study for full arcs to master the heat pen and fail, where you already have a strong understanding after half of one. If you applied yourself you could be building your own masterwork before Weyland leaves retrograde.”

“Well, we have a similar tool in the tenth sphere,” Trick hastened to say. “The fact I have the skill to use it doesn’t mean I have the knowledge to come up with my own masterwork.”

“Come now,” Brossius said. “You’re clearly an intelligent man, Trick. Both Warden Dart and First Recorder Raster have seen a great deal of you in the last dozen watches and they say you can quickly learn whatever is needed to do what you want. Gathering the knowledge to master lumicraft shouldn’t take a man like you long.”

“You flatter me.” Trick said it without a hint of irony, although he managed to keep it from lapsing into outright accusation. These two elders wanted something from him. There had to be more to it than Nel looking for a new apprentice craftsman. “Unfortunately I’m afraid I just don’t see what I could contribute. What kind of work could I possibly offer to the field of lumicraft when I am already so far behind my peers?”

“Craftsmanship is rarely about new ideas,” Nel said, tucking away the heat pen. “Often all that is needed is to understand what already exists and master the art of recreating it. If you can do that much you will be worthy to stand among Harbek’s greatest craftsmen.” As she raised her gaze from her apron her eyes flicked towards the dorm’s wall for just a moment.

Trick resisted the urge to follow her gaze. He already knew what was there. Nel had been looking at the sword he’d found in the Steel Perilous which finally explained what this was all about. Brossius and Nel were trying to keep him in Harbek so that the secrets of Imperial lumi remained within their reach. Frankly, given how useful the stuff had proven to be so far, he couldn’t blame them. If he was in their shoes he wouldn’t want to give up on the chance to learn its secrets either.

He wasn’t in their shoes, though, and that meant he was going to have to handle the matter very, very carefully. “In that case I might be able to become a great craftsman after all. It will have to wait for a while, though. At the very least I feel I should finish learning to read Casparian before I move on to any deeper technical skills. Between that and training with Chestin my watches are quite full right now. And I want to win at least one bout against Chestin before I give up on sparring with him.”

“Of course!” Nel brightened up quite a bit when he began talking as if he intended to remain in town. “By all means, keep working with Chestin. Many lumicraftsmen find their work improving as they develop a hands-on familiarity with how the tools are used.”

“You’ll also find the rewards for mastering the art far greater if you apply yourself to craftsmanship than you’ve seen from working with the warden,” Brossius added. “It will take longer to see them, true, but all the best things take time.”

“What sort of rewards do you mean?” Trick asked, getting the feeling he was hinting at something more than just coins.

Nel’s gaze narrowed and she shifted in the chair just enough to catch the armillamancer in the corner of her eye. He had a feeling it was Brossius’ turn to do something they hadn’t discussed beforehand.

“It’s widely known our brightest has caught your eye.” A bolt of tension shot through Trick, balling his hands into fists. He quickly, forcefully opened them and pressed his palms against his legs, doing his best to breathe evenly in spite of his sudden irritation. Brossius continued, oblivious. “It takes a special person to continue the line of the brightest in any settlement and Harbek is no different. A successful lumicraftsman is far more likely to earn that right than a mere braver, no matter how accomplished.”

Trick pasted a brittle smile onto his face. “I see. Then such a union requires the approval of the town’s elders?”

“Not always,” Nel hastened to put in. “But for a stranger such as yourself… Well, it’s a different matter.”

“All the more reason for me to give good thought to my approach, then.”

“Precisely.” The lumicrafter got to her feet, giving each of the men a bright smile that dripped with insincerity. “Thinking on it is the best thing to do right now. We’ll leave you to it, won’t we, Brossius?”

The chief looked like he wanted to keep talking about it but he didn’t press the matter. The two elders excused themselves and Trick walked them to the door, watching them walk off down the road before he sat down in his chair and did exactly what he’d said he would. He thought on what they’d said. The more he thought the clearer it was he needed to leave Harbek and he needed to do it before Brossius figured out he never intended to stay.