CHAPTER 77: TRAINING WHEELS

Marcus woke to find his mother and aunt trying to feed Palwin like she was a baby. They held spoons of porridge while Palwin stared at them with her characteristic focused attention, apparently waiting for instructions. Tim and Tam were stuffing her hand with bread crumbs.

"Mom, why she is not eating?"

"Palwin, eating mode," Marcus said quickly. "Feed yourself."

Palwin immediately took the spoon and began eating with mechanical precision.

As they walked toward their business stall, Marcus struggled with what to say. "I don't know what to do with you. Palwin, talking mode." He paused, unsure if that was the right approach. "I don't know what to do."

"Yes Marcus, what do you want me to say?"

"Please don't mention anything weird. Seeds, Malachar, all that stuff with my friends, all right?" I cannot explain anything this crazy to them, he thought. But what was he going to tell them about Palwin?

They reached the stall where Aldric was taking notes about business orders.

"Good morning, Aldric. I need to set things here and rush to Lord Hammond's district. And she is Palwin. She's kind of stuck with me. She can work here while I do other business," Marcus said, trying to pass it off like a normal thing.

"Good morning to you, but what do you mean she's stuck with you? Of course she can work with us, but I don't understand."

Sara and her cousins were approaching, laughing and carrying precursor paper products.

"Sara, she is Palwin. She will be working with us for now. Show her and tell her, I repeat, tell her what to do. I'll be back this afternoon to look for blacksmiths for the projects."

"Wait! What?" But Marcus bolted toward Lord Hammond's newly shaping district without taking any questions. I hope she will be all right, but I had to show Lord Hammond's farmers how to make mushroom farms first, then I'll worry about her.

He stopped by the tent area, but the main officer, Lord Hammond's right hand man, paired him with the farmer. "He will do anything you say as long as it's logical," he said.

The farmer was short, well built, and gruff. Marcus noticed he had missing fingers. "Sir, I am Marcus of Millhaven. We couldn't properly meet at the Lord's tent."

"Call me Captain. I am Les Bush, but everyone calls me Captain. When I retired, I was a captain. That's why Lord Hammond trusts me with the agriculture stuff. I hope you can deliver, Marcus of Millhaven. If you do, I will call you Master Marcus."

They reached outside the walls where the King had ordered them to build their district. Almost everyone from Lord Hammond's people, including soldiers, were working together cutting trees and turning them into logs.

Marcus asked around for the coldest place they could build warehouses for the mushroom farm. He gave them a rough sketch of how it should be built and how it should take in fresh air.

"Now builders, does that work? We need straw and cloth bags, lots of them."

"What for, young Marcus?" Captain asked.

"We will seed them into straws."

"I really don't understand how all this is going to produce mushrooms, but Lord Hammond gave the order. I will ask my men to bring their straw, and my girls can tailor some cloth bags."

Marcus drew another plan for a pasteurizing setup where they would put straw filled bags in a clay pool with boiling water next to it, providing steam with iron pipes to increase heat and pasteurize the straw.

While the farmer and his crew looked on with questioning eyes, Marcus said, "You will understand tomorrow, I promise. Please build these, and I will be back tomorrow." He described what needs to be done.

"Young Marcus, wait. We need pipes for your steam contraption. Iron pipes shaped to your specifications."

"Can you get them made? With my specifactions?"

"Our blacksmith is sending his best apprentice. Don't worry, the kid's a genius."

Marcus's eyes lit up. A genius blacksmith apprentice could be exactly what he needed for his sewing machine designs.

When Marcus returned to his stall, he saw Sara and Palwin working in great harmony, printing ads. Sara's cousins Jenna and Pip were making the ink Marcus had formulated. Marcus sighed with relief.

"Welcome back, Marcus. Our new friend here is working perfectly. Where did you find her? She's not saying anything."

"You have to tell her. Palwin, answer Sarah's questions."

Palwin immediately stopped printing. Sara hit her hand on the raised machine. "Ugh!"

"My name is Palwin Shan. I was born in the invaded kingdom of Ratania, later became the province of Ratan under Malachar's kingdom." Palwin continued like she was on a mission.

"The woman named Celestine said I could be of use to her because of my specialty and smuggled me here, bribing many officials on the way. Officials' names are..." Marcus cut her off.

"Palwin, now sit and rest."

Palwin sat right on the floor and began watching clouds.

"She can sit in my chair," Sara offered, but Palwin wasn't looking at her.

"She is... she is... Did the Celestine woman put you up to this, Marcus?"

"Kids, you take over printing for now. Palwin, follow me and Sarah. We should again lookfor a good blacksmith."

While walking toward the blacksmith workshops, they were about to enter the workshop area of the town.

"Why would you take orders from the Celestine woman, Marcus?"

"It wasn't an order. It's complicated, all right? She can be key to defeating..." Marcus cut his words short. Palwin was following them with a blank stare.

"She is a woman in need, and as you can see, she's confused."

"No. You said defeating. What are you planning now, Marcus?"

"Okay, don't mention this to Aldric. The Celestine woman promised to protect me against Malachar if I steal something for her."

"She can protect you from Malachar but can't steal for herself? She's a con artist. Don't believe her, Marcus."

"Yeah, it's complicated."

"Complicated how?"

Marcus had an idea when they neared an alley to the workshop area. "Palwin, come here. Open a portal here and there." He pointed to different places.

Palwin looked at Marcus then tried to channel magic but nothing happened.

"Palwin, become a mage, magician, wizard. I don't know. Be capable enough to open a portal here and there."

Palwin walked toward the shaded place, and her demeanor changed. She started glowing, looking like a powerful mage. In that moment, two small portals opened up. Marcus and Sara were in awe, but Marcus recovered quickly and thought, I can't miss this chance. He threw a rock into one portal, and the rock came out of the other one. Marcus wanted to continue his experiment and rushed to throw another rock into the other portal, wanting to see if it worked both ways, but the portals closed.

Palwin was on her knees. "Marcus, run help her. This power drained her. But she was so powerful. I heard this type of magic was a myth."

Marcus ran toward them and picked up Palwin. "We'll continue searching for our blacksmith tomorrow. Let me take her home."

"Is she living with you in that cramped shed? No, no. Bring her to my house. We can stay together, me, Palwin, and mom."

Marcus looked at Palwin, who was slowly recovering her focus. Maybe Sara's house would be better for her. At least Sara understood how to give her direct commands.

"That might be a good idea, Sara. Thank you."

Whatever training Celestine expected him to do, it was going to be more complicated than he'd thought. But seeing those portals... maybe, just maybe, they had a real chance against Malachar after all.