Leuna’s fork paused, its load of blueberry pancakes falling off, syrup smattering across his plate as he looked at her, before a small smile spread across his face, its crookedness so like her own. ‘Of course sweetheart’ he said, before recovering his pancake, his smile lingering.

They piled into the hovertruck, the back full of chattering cousins, seeming to pick up on the upbeatness of Ceit’s father, his off-key whistle warbling happily as he helped them load up. ‘Shotgun!’ Xia yelled, strolling lankily over from the house, hands in his pockets, looking effortlessly cool. Ceit scowled at him. ‘What are you doing here?’ she asked suspiciously.

‘I happen to be headed to the tinkerers,’ he replied, cheekily, ‘why, you wouldn't be happen to be headed over there too?’ he asked with mock surprise. ‘Are you following me,’ Ceit accused grousingly. ‘I could ask the same, Ceiti-baby.’ He said in a sing-song voice, using Keris’ favorite nickname as he swung into the passenger seat, forcing Ceit to buckle up in the back with the kids.

‘Are you headed down with us?’ ‘Are you going to school?’ ‘What are you going to do in town?’ ‘Where are you going?’ ‘Why didn’t you pack a lunch?’ The last question did seem like a bit of an oversight on her part, she thought grumpily, as she was inundated with all the questions she had rather hoped to avoid from her flock of baby cousins. She stalled, checking her seat belt as she thought about her answer, mindful of the way the low voices of her father and Xia in the front seat seemed to pause.

‘I’m thinking of getting a hoverbike.’ She finally came up, avoiding the topics of Oongx, her potential acolyte-hood and everything that came with it.

‘Wow! You’re soooo cool!’ A chorus of voices exclaimed. ‘You’re going to be just like Xia!’ one voice piped up. Ceit scowled again. ‘What do you mean?’ She asked suspiciously, as Xia chuckled in the front seat.

‘I didn’t know you had a hoverbike,’ Leuna said mildly. ‘Well,’ Xia cleared his throat in a rather uncharacteristically self-conscious way, ‘It’s a bit of a work in progress. I sort of used to skip class, just occasionally, you know,’ he said with a sideways glance to gauge Leuna’s reaction, and apparently pacified by Leuna’s neutral expression, continued ‘to go over to Kov’s salvage yard. She would let me shadow her at the yard, and help in her tinkering projects. Eventually I got good enough to build things on my own. The bike was mostly working when I got it, even good enough for a test drive, which is how the little gremlins must have found me out. Way to out me.’ he turned around to give them an overly exaggerated glare. They giggled, ‘If you were trying to hide it why did you drive past the school yard and show it off.’ Ceit’s little brother asked. Xia humphed, ‘remind me never to show you anything cool ever again.’ A unison of aggrieved ‘awwws’ met his pronouncement.

The ride smoothed considerably as they got closer to the city, leaving behind the byway and joining more busy roads. The road side was peppered with the ancient machinery and deteriorated viaducts that had yet to be salvaged, remnants of a past age, an age of hubris and folly, before Oongx took her due.

Though many in the city weren’t as devout as Ceit’s family in worshiping Oongx, seeing her as a more niche religion, she was still venerated, mostly out of fear of another apocalypse. Cows were heavily revered. The meat, milk and related byproduct industry were heavily overseen, while the buying and selling of cow skin was only allowed for religious use and was otherwise heavily prosecuted with prison sentences decades long for the guilty and significant fines for anyone remotely involved. Occasionally some would come up to one of the farms to observe the religious rites, but many families dissuaded such practice, seeing them as private and sacred rather than a spectacle. Private practice in the city was often relegated to the careful and introspective practice of making personal mandalas featuring Oongx’s constellation, frequently stitched into clothing in both reverence and protection. Buildings were often made in alignment with night sky seasonal shifts, with smaller star motifs sprinkled in windows.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

They pulled up to an impressively well kept building, dusky gray stoned and imposing with a prominent constellation pattern in its circular front facing window, joining a long line of vehicles, mixed both hover and wheeled, all slowly entering a lot to unload. Children flowed around them, punctured with the occasional adult, often loudly projecting their voice, attempting to guide the children in a more orderly fashion into the buildings. The kids in the truck were bouncing in their seats, rolling down their windows to shout out to their friends, hardly waiting for the truck to come to a stop before piling out to join the throngs. Leuna chuckled quietly. ‘Shall I drive you both over to the salvage yard or would you like to walk.’ Xia groaned, ‘don’t even joke, it’s like a hour walk from here.’ Leuna hummed. ‘It’s amazing what kids will do to skip school.’ Xia blushed, his ear tips flushing a rosy pink.

Kov’s salvage yard specialized in automotive waste, stacks of vehicles arranged in neat rows with the less damaged towards the front of the entrance, all inventoried by parts and location in Kov’s office. ‘Were you thinking of building something yourself or getting something already drivable?’ Xia asked, turning in towards her from the front seat as they parked. ‘I’m not really sure, I think something that maybe only needs a little work? If… if you’d help?’ She asked, a bit shyly. Xia positively beamed.

‘So you definitely want something without too much structural damage,’ they were walking through the yard. Kov’s place was a hybrid full-service you-pull-it yard, so after they had checked in with the office, they went to take a look around. Leuna followed along, listening quietly.

‘About 75% of what you see is salvageable in some form, the unusables will be processed in the back, crushed down for scrap metal and sold to the junkyard down the street.’ He gestured to the back of the yard, heavy machinery just visible over the tops of the cars.

‘This place is really popular with rebuilders, they do a really good job gauging what is workable from the ancients’ tech, and they have one of the best inventory systems in the city. We probably won't find any of the smaller parts like plugs and sensors in the inventory, but we can likely find them if we look around enough. There are some parts we should get new, like brake pads and things that deteriorate with weather, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get there.’ Xia stopped by a rather roughed up looking car, its front entirely wrecked, its innards spilling out into their path to show them some of the pieces he was referencing, pointing them out. Ceit wasn’t sure exactly what she was looking at, but nodded along anyway.

‘Kov has a small garage shop too, mostly for friends and family where she does some custom tinkering work - she’s super into the rebuilding community. She lets me work on my bike there, and in return I do some of the dismantling when she gets new material. I’m sure she wouldn’t mind the extra help, if you’re up for it.’ Showing them around seemed to invigorate him. Ceit had always appreciated how Xia never treated her as incapable despite her prosthetic.

By the time they swung back around to Kov’s shop, Ceit was feeling a bit overwhelmed from the information overload. ‘And here it is!’ With a flourish he whipped a patched tarp off of a black and gold bike, the double set of wheeled fans responsible for keeping it aloft folded down in the dormant position. Even not knowing much about bikes, Ceit could tell a lot of care went into its construction. It was too different from the more standard bikes she had seen around the city, its shape smooth and sleek, almost serpine with a sloping seat and back angled handle bars.

‘That’s really something, Xia.’ Leuna said, circling the bike admiringly. ‘What exactly about it is a work in progress?’

A loud boisterous laugh came from behind. ‘Yeah Xia, exactly what more needs work?’ An incredibly tall and thick woman was walking over, wiping her hands on a dirty rag, before stuffing it in her back pocket and putting a hand on her hip to stand cockily.

‘There are a few things that need tweaking,’ Xia said, a tad defensively. The woman laughed again. ‘Aren't you going to introduce me?’ She gestured to Ceit and her father, eyes lingering only a moment on Ceit’s white hair, silvery in the shade of the shop. At least she didn’t ask to touch it.

‘Kov, this is my cousin Ceit and my uncle Leuna. Ceit, Leuna, meet Kov.’ Kov stepped forward, offering a meaty worn hand for them to shake. ‘Xi’s shown you around, right?’ Xia groaned, ‘don’t call me that, I don’t do nicknames.’ Kov chuckled. Ceit grinned wickedly at Xia, making him wince, knowing she would use it again. Kov was great.