Things moved quickly after their meeting with Jacoby. The trio reconvened with Royce, and handed off a fraction of their bounty from the robbery. Then they were brought out of the mansion and flown to a series of apartments, mid-way up Scithio's pillar.
They each received their own room in adjacent units, with a single shared restroom - though having indoor plumbing at all was a luxury new to the three of them. Shaela unloaded their things from her pocketspace before they went to sleep, allowing everyone to handle their own items.
When tomorrow arrived, they began to work.
----------------------------------------
Kael didn't have to travel far. It turned out the facilities were just a short jaunt down the pillar from his new residence.
When he arrived, he found that the purported alchemist labs were actually an extension of a hospital. Broad streets and flat roofs surrounded the compound, allowing for rapid deployment of vehicles by land and air.
Kael avoided blocking any traffic on his approach, making his way toward a back entrance, in a wing Royce had informed him he should report to this morning.
After a brief check with security at the entrance, merely verifying his identity, as well as the lack of any nefarious liquids, powders, explosive devices, enchanted gear, or toothpaste, for some reason - he was allowed through, where he was then accosted by an excitable pixie.
Much like the one he had spotted in Jacoby's mansion yesterday, her specific features were blurred behind a faintly glowing silhouette, gradually fading between pinks and blues. Her wings, however, were far more extravagant than those he had seen before, emulating the patterns of a butterfly, and extending out as far behind her as she was tall. Which was to say that for her to hover at eye-level with Kael, her feet would hang down to his belly, while her spread wings matched the span of his arms.
She had zipped up to Kael and grabbed his hand before he realized what was happening, shaking it up and down as part of her greeting.
Her words, meanwhile, poured out as fast as she could deliver them. "Hi there! You're the Aspect of Rain, right? I'm Tob'lede'rin, but that's a mouthful so you can just call me Rin! We'll be working together a lot! Or, haha, I guess you'll be working for me, since I'm in charge of the hospital and I manage the alchemists when things go wrong which is pretty much all the time!"
Kael wondered if pixies had to breathe.
"I'm pretty good at fixing things, which you'll find out while you're here but I'm just letting you know ahead of time so you can come get me if something breaks, like a tool or a vat of corrosive chemicals or an arm or even someone's heart! Just a joke - mending a heart is a lot harder. But watch this!"
She snatched a paper out of a passing orderly's hands, tore it in half, tore the halves into scraps, and flung the pieces out in front of her. The orderly merely watched with a dead expression.
Rin's wings briefly ceased their vibrations and gave a great flap, sending forth a small cascade of dust which drifted through the air to form a circle around the fluttering pieces of paper.
Once the circle was complete, encompassing all of the pieces, a brief glow emerged, matching her silhouette's current shade of orangeish-pink, and the paper fell out, whole once again.
"As long as I can form the dust into a circle, I can probably fix whatever's inside." Rin truly paused for the first time since arriving, holding a pose with her arm extended toward the now-mended sheet of paper as it drifted toward the ground.
Before it landed, Rin snatched the page back up and passed it back to her victim, whose expression hadn't changed throughout the demonstration. They took the paper and resumed their walk - to wherever it was they were going.
Rin continued to look toward Kael, expectantly. When he took more than a second to respond, however, she picked back up where she left off.
"It's a facet of Mending. I use it to help the rougher cases that arrive at the hospital, to repair the things the alchemists break - which is everything that's been in the building for more than an hour - tick tock, hahaha. And on reagents for the more advanced things we make here - it helps the ingredients play nice together and makes sure everything gives their best effort toward the final product."
He blinked, signaling that he had finished processing the rapid series of events. His eyebrows raised. "Wow. Sounds almost like you're an Aspect."
"Hahaha, you're a flatterer, really." She waved him off, but the loop-de-loop she made through the air betrayed her appreciation. The inadvertent circle formed by her trailing dust also caused a faint swish of air, fresher than the rest of the atmosphere within the facility, despite the ventilation present throughout.
They began walking - or flying, in Rin's case - down the halls, passing beneath several pipes that crossed the way above their heads.
"But yeah, I'm not that powerful, even if I like to think I'm pretty close." Her hands went to her hips as she puffed out her chest, continuing her flight with her eyes closed.
As they progressed through the halls, they also passed by several people in white labcoats, going about their own business with a brief nod to Rin and glance at Kael.
Rin spoke up once again after another had passed them by. "Oh, right!" She snapped her fingers and swung her wing at Kael, fanning him with its passing and surrounding him with dust, which then glowed a pale blue - matching Rin's current coloration once again.
When it cleared, Kael felt refreshed, similar to the rain's caress on his skin, especially after a difficult day of training. Before he could consider the comparison more, he noticed an additional weight on his shoulders.
Looking down at his hands, Kael spotted long white sleeves trailing up his arms, and a full coat flaring behind him. He was now dressed in the proper laboratory attire.
"There we go, now you're fixed! Missing the lab coat is a health code violation. No one here is fully dressed without it!"
Okay, that's a bit more than I was expecting. Kael was spooked by just how broad her interpretation of "Mending" was, though he tried not to show it.
She listed off various other health regulations, which Kael did his best to absorb. As they continued, though, Kael noticed they had crossed through several doorways which had runes lining the frames. He didn't feel much different with each pass, but he slowed down to get a second look at one.
Rin noticed his hesitation. "Oh, yeah! A big part of why the facility sees such success is because of my runes!"
Kael looked back to her. "You're an enchanter, too?"
"Huh? No. And what do you mean, too? You're not one or you wouldn't be asking that."
"I meant on top of all your other talents." He elaborated.
"Oh." Her coloring shifted to red as her hands flew to her cheeks. She wiggled in embarrassment at the misunderstanding, and at the continued praise. "Well of course I'm talented. Hmph. That's why I'm in charge."
"So when you said your runes..."
"Oh. Oooh. Oh noooo," Her hands left her cheeks just so she could slap them again. "You don't have any education in enchantment..."
While Kael acknowledged the truth of that statement, Rin pinched her chin in thought. "...and I can't just mend it into your brain, either. Knowledge is pretty fierce with his authority..."
Choosing to ignore the implication of his brain being a valid target for "mending," Kael cleared his throat. "The... dragon, you mean?"
"Yeah... he doesn't like people using their facets to directly impart information like that. Communication is generally okay, but education has to be a little less direct. And he can tell the difference."
"...he can enforce that from the other side of the continent?"
"He's a dragon." Rin shrugged, as if that was the end of it. Which, Kael supposed, it was.
She perked back up, resuming her flight forward. "Oh well, we'll find someone to teach you. I'm pretty busy, ya know?"
Kael nodded, seeing no reason to dispute that.
"So, let's go over what you can do." Her finger went to her chin.
"You were responsible for the rain yesterday, right?"
Kael internally grimaced, wondering just how many times that would get brought up. Externally, he just nodded. "Yep."
She nodded in turn. "So you're able to dissipate your cloud cover? And encourage their formation in the first place?"
"Yes..."
"Good, good. Okay..." Rin looked back and forth, glancing up at the nearest intersection and its signage, detailing the contents of the nearest rooms.
She then paused her flight and forcefully swung her wings once more, resuming their rapid fluttering before she could fall. A batch of dust flew toward the wall to their right, forming a half-sphere over a chunk of the wall. When it flashed pink, that section of wall had become a short tunnel, allowing her to fly through, and return after a moment.
She emerged with a jar in her hands, and let another blast of dust shoot from the back-swing of her wings behind her. The dust formed a slightly larger sphere than before, and when it cleared in a pale blue flash, the wall was fully repaired.
Kael was deeply impressed, once again. "Mending" seemed to mean whatever Rin wanted it to mean. "You must've been working on your facet for a long time."
Rin blinked. While one hand held a jar half-filled with what seemed to be water, her other palm raised to cover her mouth. "Hmhahaha. You're calling me old, now?"
Kael rapidly sputtered denials. She continued over his protests, "Just kidding. You should never ask a lady her age, young man."
She wagged her finger his way. "Buuut, I suppose I can tell you something..." Her finger went to her chin before it shot out Kael's way again. "You're at least a century too young to date me." Kael blushed, not having considered that interpretation of his compliments.
She laughed at his expression, though before he could clarify, she thrust the jar in his direction. "Here. You should be able to vaporize this liquid."
Kael gingerly took the container. He held it up to his face, giving it a slight shake. "Umm, okay. I think I can do that." He squinted at the jar. "But... I might need the sun, I think?"
Rin nodded enthusiastically. "Great. And that's fine, no worries at all. We have several facets in this facility who require specific environments or props to do their jobs."
Her hover became flight once more, and she turned the corner up ahead as Kael followed behind. "Right over here," she pointed to a nearby door, "miss Susan requires an enclosed room with a thick coat of fur all over every surface in order to do her work."
Kael found the idea bizarre, though he understood the point Rin was making. "What does she do?"
"Similar to what you'll be doing, actually. She isolates components, separating specific reagents and conceptual essence from those ingredients. Though her implement of choice is a comb..."
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Shaela began her day by entering the metaphorical highway of Scithio.
A bit beneath the outer surface of the pillar, there were several broad tubes that stretched from the base of the city up to near the very top.
These were the "highways" of the city, buried underneath the surface streets. They were essentially giant elevators where gravity was vertical once again, though it was, of course, reversed for those heading up. Specific enchantments slowed one's fall when you approached the level your ticket was keyed to. If you lost your ticket, or had presented a fraudulent one, your stop would be much more abrupt, and your remains likely requisitioned by tax collectors.
Other protections were in place to prevent malfeasance, but Shaela trusted it was safe enough, considering it functioned as the commute for a significant portion of the city's populace.
She herself was heading down from their mid-level apartment to a level near the bottom of the city, so she'd likely grow quite familiar with the city's most convenient mode of public transport.
As soon as Shaela disembarked, she was met with a fit woman, whose blonde hair was drawn into a ponytail, and face drawn into a scowl. She wore rough-spun clothes, dirtied - in contrast to Shaela, who had finally been able to wear something that was cleaned with more than river and rain water.
"You're the new blood then?" The woman spoke up from her position leaned against a wall, then clicked her tongue at Shaela's apparel.
"And you're Rachel?" Shaela eyed her up and down, then fired back, "They couldn't send anyone more... competent-looking?"
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Rachel rolled her eyes, ignoring the amateur jab as she stood up. "You've never been in a city before. That makes this harder."
"I know what I'm doing."
"Then why are you already standing out so much?" Rachel gestured to their surroundings as she walked ahead of the younger girl.
Shaela took in the environment more than she had bothered to at the start, having been distracted by Rachel's presence. She noticed that the air here seemed to be filtered through a haze of grey, different from the rest of the city above. It tasted faintly of soot and piss, and dimmed the sunlight that reached the area at this time of day.
The streets were less cobblestone and more grime, while the structures were more wide than tall - when they weren't packed tightly enough that you could barely squeeze through the alleys in single file.
The people possessed the same bustle as they did in the mid-levels, but the feeling was less driven, and more begrudging. There weren't so many suits and coats - instead, more tabards and cloaks, of quality closer to Shaela's usual fare.
She acknowledged the point, pulling out a tattered cloak, from her journey through the wilderness.
Rachel grunted, having glanced back at Shaela's action. "And you know how to hunt?"
"I do, actually." Shaela's brow furrowed. "But what does that have to do with making deliveries? That's what I'm here to do, you realize?"
"You-" Rachel pressed the base of her palm to her forehead. "Okay. You were sent to me for a reason. Let's take a walk." Her pace accelerated as she turned into an alley.
Shaela kept up as she walked behind her. "That's what we were already doing, though?" She snarked.
Rachel suppressed a sigh, knowing the girl was her responsibility until she got her up to snuff.
They continued their trek through the streets and alleys, passing beneath bridges and overhangs sticking out from the tenements and smaller businesses.
In each alley, Shaela could see several of the more destitute residents of the area, crouched under makeshift shelter, or the more desperate out on the sidewalks, hawking their facets - either in products or services.
Rachel's confident stride deterred any from approaching them, so Shaela endeavored to mimic it.
As they went, however, Shaela did spot several vagrants whose eyes were less hopeless or angry, and more sharp. Rachel barely gave them a glance, and yet they'd perk up slightly when she approached, and she would consistently turn in the direction they seemed to signal.
The pair of them walked through a particularly bad patch of smog, which Shaela coughed her way out of. She looked for the source and saw an apparent factory next door, whose spout of black air somehow directed it down onto the sidewalk instead of anywhere else.
Rachel noticed Shaela's attention, and began to explain. "Malfunctioning enchantment." Shaela peered up at the vent, trying to spot the runes, though she couldn't see through the waste.
The older woman continued, "The ones you can see crap rising out of have skimped out. There are enchantments they can get to purify - or to hold onto - the pollution. Sometimes they break," her hand unfurled in demonstration, "other times they never bother. Given how bad the air is here already, and the rarity of any suits who won't empty your pockets for trying to report something, nobody bothers fixing it."
Shaela really didn't like the picture being painted of this side of the city.
As she was about to ask further questions, however, Rachel slowed until she was walking parallel to Shaela. She muttered just loud enough for Shaela to hear, "We're going to tail this guy."
Shaela glanced at Rachel, seeing her eyes were pointed across the street, toward a man in a suit - though it lacked the look of higher quality material - who was flanked by two larger gentlemen appearing to escort him. His suit's cheapness was accentuated by the overly shiny buttons running up its front, and gaudy jewelry decorating his fingers.
"Why?" Shaela hoped Rachel would continue feeling generous with her explanations.
Rachel sighed, "Are you here to ask questions, or are you here to work? Just watch," effectively shattering those hopes.
They followed the man from a distance for several blocks, not allowing themselves to be spotted. They frequently broke line of sight, or turned onto alternate routes, and never overtly directed their attention toward the man. Rachel even had Shaela switch them into new cloaks midway through the pursuit.
Eventually, the stopped outside of a warehouse, in front of a large roll-up door serving as an entryway. Narrow windows, blocked by metal bars, looked down on the interior from up high.
The man unlocked the large door, and allowed his escort to open it for him, before closing it once they had all gone through. During the glimpse they had of the inside, Shaela spotted several people chained up, along with a wispy man standing there with his arms crossed, looking impatient.
Rachel hummed and walked toward the side of the warehouse, stopping underneath one of the windows.
Before the woman could say anything dismissive, Shaela unloaded several boxes - not the same ones from yesterday's incident - in a stack, then also unpocketed a makeshift wooden ladder on top of the pile, bridging the distance to the windows.
Rachel shrugged. "Alright, that works." Then she motioned for Shaela to go first.
By the time she reached the top, leaning away from the window for now, she turned and saw Rachel already seated at the next window over, hovering in the air. Rachel raised a brow at Shaela's staring, before ignoring her to peer through the window.
Shaela huffed, then did the same.
Inside, they could see the tail-end of a rather brief deal. A table separated the two supposed business men, while the man in the cheap suit stood flanked by his two guards. A stairwell led to an elevated office in the corner to Shaela and Rachel's left. The slaves stood on the far side of the warehouse, linked by a series of cuffs.
The wispy man appeared ready to leave, having placed a sack of money on the table between the two men.
He turned to the group of slaves and began approaching, leaving his back toward the man they had tailed. The cheap man stood with his hands clasped, and gave a nod to one of the slaves, who returned it subtly.
When the wispy man came within reaching distance, the aforementioned slave burst out of his cuffs, lunging at the new owner with his fingers extended like claws.
Before he reached the man, however, a singular coin shot out of the bag on the table, zipping past the wispy man's head, and into the slave's, knocking him unconscious.
Everybody paused but Shaela, who shifted to pull out her bow. Before she could, however, she felt her arm held in a sudden lock, and looked to Rachel, who was staring daggers at her head, still sitting in the air with her arms and legs crossed.
Rachel pursed her lips and shook her head, then whispered to Shaela. "You said you've been hunting before." She flung an arm out in a dismissive wave, out of view of the windows. "Do you just mindlessly charge in, the first time something exciting happens?"
The wispy man spoke up through the warehouse's silence, and the pair at the window paused to listen. "Hmm. An escaped slave, was it?"
The cheap man and his guards seemed unusually stiff, even accounting for the situation. He rasped out an, "I suppose so... How... unfortunate."
"Quite. Given we're still on your property, I believe I will deduct that man's worth from your pay, for failure to deliver. It seems I came into possession of him through my own merit." Nearly a fifth of the coins within the bag flew toward the wispy man, who opened his vest to allow them to land against his covered torso.
He directed the remaining slaves to carry the unconscious man as he turned toward the entrance, which opened on its own before he passed through. He turned away from Rachel and Shaela's side of the warehouse, thankfully.
Once the group had left, the three remaining men relaxed, seeming as if they had just been released from chains of their own. The cheap man grabbed the bags, and carried them up to his office, while Shaela and Rachel drifted down to ground level to reconvene.
"Once these three leave, I'm going to lift you up there. Then you're going to nab everything in that office that looks valuable."
Shaela harshly whispered in reply, "Shouldn't we go after that guy who has the slaves? We could free them!" She extended her hand in the direction the man had walked off in, with his new group of slaves.
Rachel shook her head slowly. "Freeing them is not in the cards today. That's one of the few things that guards will get on your ass for." She pointed down in emphasis, then began ticking points off on her fingers. "And we'd have to provide housing in a place they won't be seen by any who might recognize them. Food, jobs, clothes, and they'd need to get new identities set up."
Shaela's brows furrowed, unable to dispute most of those points. "I didn't set anything up, though?"
Rachel deadpanned. "You took the elevator this morning."
"So?"
"You're registered. It was handled for you, or you'd never have been able to get a ticket."
"Oh," she pursed her lips, "Alright..."
They moved to a more distant alley after Shaela re-pocketed the equipment she had unloaded. Their new vantage still had a view of the warehouse's entrance, and from there they waited nearly an hour for the man and his guards to leave.
Rachel and Shaela then returned to the initial alleyway, where Rachel closed both hands into fists, but extended her pointer finger from one. Shaela felt something grab her by the back of her collar, carrying her through the air up to the window. The bars on the window were unscrewed one by one by an invisible force. Once they were detached by Rachel, Shaela was able to pocket them, then crawl through the window, and drop down onto the stairway below.
Thankfully, the warehouse was truly empty, as the sound of her feet colliding with the stairs could probably be heard across the street.
She walked up to the office door, which was locked, and pulled out a makeshift set of lock picks. When she still hadn't succeeded at breaking open the door for five minutes, Rachel fell down beside her, having come up herself to look - if she hadn't been watching Shaela fail at her task through the window the whole time.
She crouched down and took the tool from Shaela, carefully showing her how to actually pick locks.
Once the door was open, Shaela began swiping everything on the desk and around the walls, including a small safe which likely contained the money from the recent deal.
She stood up, nodded to Rachel, and they fled the scene, locking the door as they went, then rising out the way they came. They replaced the bars on the window, at least well enough to hold up to a visual inspection.
Once they were several streets away, Shaela spoke up. "Are we bringing this stuff anywhere in particular? Maybe to the ones who pointed us to the target?"
"Noticed them, did you? But no, not quite. Follow me." Rachel picked up her stride, turning down several streets without direction from the people around them, this time.
They eventually arrived at a soup kitchen. Rachel exchanged nods with a man leaning by the entrance as the pair made their way inside.
Shaela was familiar with the concept of an almshouse, their village having received several wanderers over the years who stayed for an extended period, though most of them ended up staying with specific people. This place appeared to serve a similar purpose, but was clearly intended for higher turnover, given the massive population of the city.
They passed through a few wide rooms, in which Shaela observed numerous sets of bunk beds - filled near to capacity, though it was the middle of the day - and grids of tables where people ate. As they walked through, she noticed several people give subtle acknowledgement to Rachel, mirroring the previous looks outside.
When they had reached a hallway and were more isolated, Rachel spoke up, "Our agents on the street do receive wages, but giving them too much at once, or in the windfall of a... re-allocation of wealth, is generally not a good idea. Makes them too much of a target."
Rachel paused before a door, turning to Shaela to emphasize her point, "And you have to remember - for as much as we're running a charitable operation, and as much as you'd like to help people, it's still a business. Nothing is free."
Once the pair arrived in a backroom, Rachel had Shaela deposit the goods on a desk, while she received several boxes from a man in the establishment's uniform.
She placed the new boxes on another table, beckoning Shaela over. Rachel then opened them, revealing sandwiches, cartons of soup and beans, smaller denominations of coins, and vials of various liquids, some reminiscent of the healing potion Shaela had received from the centurion a while back.
"This is what we'll be distributing, while you make your introductions to the community."
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Gus, meanwhile, had his own mentor for the day.
"Ever merge with metal?" The giant rumbled out, as he led Gus through the forges.
Gus replied, his head on a swivel. "Sometimes. The stuff we had back home wasn't usually that good, and metal was sparse enough that I didn't want to take any from the village."
The nine-foot behemoth sighed, his chest like a bellows of its own, sending the apron of an apprentice just ahead of them flapping in the air.
"Too much to ask if you can hold a hammer, then?" His tone was resigned.
Gus defended himself. "I've worked with hammers, before. I know how to swing one, and my arm is good. I should be able to help with something."
The man grunted, his words emerging languidly, as if they had to travel through rocks to exit his mouth. "The biggest help you'll be is through your facet." He shook his head, though one could barely tell past his shoulders.
He continued, as they reached the giant's personal forge - built taller than the others in the area. "The good news is, your facet's prob'ly got more to it than you realize. And we'll beat the use out of ya, if we have to."
Gus could see a ceramic pillar in the corner of the room, with runic scribbles lining the top and bottom, and the sound of faint bubbling coming from the probable crucible.
Nearer to the center of the room was a large anvil and forge, with an actual bellows to its side, rather than the one in the giant's chest.
The man lit a fire in the forge, and placed a hunk of iron in to heat up while he spoke to Gus. "Before we get to your facet, we'll try lettin' you work a hammer. Put your claims to the test."
He pointed to a rack of hammers to the side of the room. "Go ahead and pick one out while this heats up."
Gus walked over and began taking turns with a few of the tools, testing the weight in his hand as he swung or hefted the hammers. He returned to the anvil shortly before the giant pulled the heated iron out with tongs that looked like tweezers in his hands. He placed the iron on the anvil, holding it in place for Gus to begin.
"Go ahead, boy. Let's see it."
Gus allowed the hammer he had selected to crash down on the iron, yanking it down from above his head toward the anvil.
On impact, the hammer left a small divot in the rock.
Rather than be disheartened, Gus repeated the process twice more, yielding similar results each time.
The giant spoke up, interrupting Gus' next swing. "That's enough for now. A decent effort, but..." He shook his head, walking toward the rack of hammers as he resumed the avalanche he called a voice, "when you're forging metal, you don't give it love taps and ask it politely if it could please reshape itself."
He picked up a mallet the size of a war hammer from the nearby rack, though it looked normal in his hands. Gus could see the tool had the word 'incentive' engraved on the handle.
The giant walked back to the anvil, hefting the hammer. "You smack that little shit into place." His hammer rung out in emphasis, denting the bar on the receiving end of the blow.
"Give it a little 'incentive,' heh. Same as raisin' a kid." He chuckled.
"You... smack your kids?"
The man stood up straight, taken aback. "No! Facets below, boy. Who do you take me for?" He bellowed.
The giant then raised a hand and cleared his throat. After a moment, he began in a lighter tone - his words coming out with more deliberation, "I incentivize my children to find productive uses of their time, primarily through positive reinforcement and encouragement, while limiting their exposure to negative influences through the few means available to me - few," his hand pinched in emphasis, "because I generally try to minimize the type of totalitarian-" Gus didn't know how the man's vocal cords could produce that word "-control over their lives that my own father inflicted on me."
His hand lowered, and his voice with it. "Now get back to work, before I smack the shit outta you." He turned back to the current victim of his hammer.
Before he could resume his forging, Gus piped up, "What should I be doing?"
"Pump the bellows! And while yer doin' that, absorb those metals, boy! From the scrap o'er there." He waved the hammer in the direction of a pile of failed projects. Presumably they were mostly steel and iron, though Gus supposed the alloy didn't matter much right now.
The giant continued forging, while Gus began pulling metals into his skin. It was a slow process, though once he had hooked a tool onto his limb, partially absorbed through his facet, he could mostly ignore it, allowing the process to continue while he operated the bellows, as needed.
By the time he was mostly metal, the giant spoke up once more, "Got some sheen to ya? Good." He walked over to the bubbling crucible in the corner and pumped a lever, causing a river of molten iron to pour out into a nearby basin. "Now let's see if you can handle molten metal!"