Volcatia moved to the main floor of the workshop.

Today was a weird day.

"Oh hey, Vol," Carl said. He yawned. "About to go to sleep. How'd it go?"

How did it go?

It…

It went weirdly.

She frowned as she fell into her chair beside his.

She'd missed her chair.

More than that, she'd wanted to show it to Sylmare.

Or had she?

She still didn't know what he was thinking.

They hadn't talked much.

Which reminded her…

She reached into her inventory. "I saved this for you," she said, holding up the head of Tomas.

Obviously she'd scorched the bottom of it so blood wouldn't drip everywhere in Carl's workshop-dungeon.

That was a thing friends did, wasn't it?

"What is it with people and carrying heads around," Carl grumbled.

"You want it, or—"

"Not really. Uh, Mina might enjoy seeing it from her reaction earlier?"

"You talked to her?"

"Yup, she was up and about earlier. Think she's upstairs working on her car designs some more before we start building tomorrow."

"Huh. Well that's good, right?"

"You look pretty pleased with yourself."

"What? No I don't."

"Heard you had a good chat. Whatever you said, thanks, I think it helped a lot."

"Uh… Yeah, we talked, and it went okay."

"Can you…maybe…stop throwing the head up and down to yourself?"

"Okay."

"Thanks. So where'd you go before?"

"I… Went to visit…an acquaintance."

"Uh-huh."

"He's Delsanra's brother. The elf."

"Oh. Well… Um… How was that?"

"Weird. Really weird."

"You wanna talk about it?"

"You really wanna hear it?"

"Sure. That's what friends are for, isn't it?"

"Is it?"

"Yes?"

"Okay then. Where to even… Fuck, it's too long. The short version is he really wanted his sister back, and now they're together again."

"Sounds like a good thing."

"It is. I stayed with him until now, but we didn't really talk. We were just…hanging out. His sister isn't healthy. Her mind is damaged."

"Ugh, that's always tough. She getting any kind of treatment, or—Wait, you mean that fucking kid was abusing a woman with a brain injury?!"

"Yeah."

"What the fuck…"

"Calm down, Carl. I told you I'd deal with it. He was really fucking miserable."

"You use conflict resolution?"

"The conflict is fucking resolved, Carl."

"Alright, that's good at least. Was it an easy process?"

"Yeah, really easy. Hardly took any time at all."

"Huh. Well, thanks, Vol. Sorry I interrupted though; what were you saying?"

"Uh… Well, Sylmare and I were hanging out—"

"Cool name."

"—and his sister was… She's really fucking broken. Depressing. So I sat with him. And the last time we saw each other, he asked me to… He asked me to do something that was gonna make us both really fucking unhappy, and I don't wanna talk about it. I left instead of doing it. I kept waiting for him to ask me again today because I know he still wants me to do it, but he didn't ask."

"That's really awful about his sister. Can't imagine…"

"Yeah…"

"And this other thing… When's the last time you saw him?"

"Sylmare? Couple years ago?"

"Well, people change, Vol. Two years can be a long time. Maybe he realized it was gonna make you unhappy."

"Maybe…" Volcatia sighed.

But probably not.

The more she thought about it, the more she remembered.

She'd watched for years that time while she scoured the lands—and even those across the seas—for Sylmare's missing kin, but with each broken elf she recovered, the man only grew more sad and bitter.

Then he'd killed himself.

It was one of the memories Volcatia had tried her hardest to forget.

It was also one of the few that remained no matter how hard she tried to do things to distract herself.

His coarse, green hair hanging lifeless just as he was from the branch of a tree, with one of those pink leashes tied around his fucking neck when she'd come back with another broken elf she'd found across an ocean.

Depressing.

Really fucking depressing.

He'd asked Volcatia to return later tonight, but…

Maybe she wouldn't.

It would be easier on both of them.

She couldn't bear to watch it again, real or not.

"You don't sound like you believe it," Carl said, distracting her.

Carl was such a great friend.

"Huh?"

He yawned. "You don't sound like you believe he might've changed."

"Hard to imagine."

"Well, I wasn't always like I am now either."

She turned her head to look over at him.

Carl was laying in his chair with his eyes closed.

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She couldn't imagine him being any other way.

He was just so…Carl.

"Back twenty years or so ago," he continued, his voice drowsy, "I mostly just cared about myself. My wife and I were together at the time, but I wasn't ever really thinking beyond the next week or two of stuff that didn't really matter. It was kinda fun at the time, but not… I never thought about having kids, or having a house, or being someone. Just coasted along. If I hadn't changed, I never would've become who I am now. Never would've been a father, never would've been a husband, never would've been much of anything, probably."

Volcatia wasn't sure what to think.

Carl?

Not acting like the father of the whole fucking world?

It seemed impossible.

"All I'm saying," he said while yawning, "is maybe give him a chance. You said he's an acquaintance, but you care enough about him to talk about him this much, so maybe he's…more important…than…"

She looked over again, but Carl seemed like he'd fallen asleep while talking somehow.

She grinned.

It was such a Carl thing to do.

Fine.

Carl maybe had a point.

He'd had a lot of good ideas so far at least.

She could go and see.

Soon.

She moved herself and her chair to the second level of the workshop. "You've been busy," she said.

The girl with golden hair was sitting barefoot and cross-legged on the floor, with a glowing ball of flame hovering over her near the ceiling and a dozen or so pieces of paper scattered around, one of which was under a small rock.

"Ah, good, you've come exactly when I'd been hoping you would," Mina said while continuing to draw on one of the papers.

Volcatia weighed whether to watch the conversation a few times before really having it.

She hated spending time like that when she didn't have to now.

She already had enough memories of shit that had never happened.

She'd just feel for lies this time.

"You'd roused my ire last night," Mina continued, "but I'm certain you're aware of that. You'd planned to have that effect, hadn't you."

She seemed to be having fun talking to herself, so Volcatia let her.

Her chair was comfortable enough that she could sit in it and listen to anyone talk for a while before she started to get annoyed.

Especially today.

"Though it rankles me to admit, you've done well in forcing me to consider my actions. You have my thanks."

Surprising.

"After spending much of my time today in further consideration, I've decided to accept the bargain you offered." Mina looked up. "Unless you've had a change of heart?"

Volcatia shrugged. "Nah, why would I do that? What's the thing you want the most in the world, Mina?"

"To win the Hero's Cup two days hence."

"Okay."

Easy enough.

"Am I correct in assuming you've the capability to nullify whatever manner of magic-draining device is in use at the racing track?"

Volcatia frowned. "Device?"

"Yes, I've concluded there must be some method by which magic is drawn from objects on the track," Mina said as she went back to her drawing. "I've some experience with this, and machines can be crafted to achieve such results. My conjecture is there's some form of very thin metal running beneath the length of the tracks, and it must connect to such devices to suffuse the tracks with their magic-draining ability. My question is whether you've some means of disabling a machine of this nature, ideally in the moments just prior to the race's start in order to retain some manner of subtlety."

Volcatia thought about it.

Metal under the tracks?

Why would someone bother?

She continued to sit in her chair while she moved to the upper track.

She couldn't imagine the girl being right about this.

Wouldn't it take a lot of fucking work to do something like that?

The Char hero had all those annoying drones to do the work, she supposed, but it just seemed like a waste of time.

What was the point of specifically blocking magic anyway?

Wouldn't magic make the races more fun?

It wasn't allowed in the arena, but there was an obvious difference in using magic as fuel for a car and using it in cowardly ways while fighting.

She shook her head and sighed.

The Char hero was still a Char, so he was still a fucking idiot, whoever he was.

The only people allowed at the upper track at this time of night were the workers who repaired and cleaned the spectator areas, but that didn't matter.

She walked up to the track and deconstructed a wide section of it.

What the fuck.

There was all kinds of metal shit under here!

It was metal though, so…

She extended current through it.

The metal circled around the whole track?

Maybe Mina was Smarter than even she'd thought…

And this must be the device, she supposed as she followed the current to a spot under the center of the track that had a small tower rising up out of it.

Weird.

How had nobody noticed this before?

She hadn't, but she'd also only been here a few days.

Also she didn't care.

She still didn't.

It would make Carl happy and fun to hang out with—great feeling using it here—if this annoying girl stayed happy, so she'd help that along.

As long as it didn't take too much fucking time, anyway.

She was too tired.

Volcatia grabbed the metal tower and tugged.

Weird.

Why was it this heavy?

She tugged a little harder, and a giant block of metal tore through the ground, flying up in the air before she set it to hovering.

Magnet shit.

What the fuck even was a magnet?

This had to be the thing that annoying girl was talking about.

The device.

She tapped a finger against it.

Weird.

She wasn't sure she'd ever felt a metal this solid.

Eh.

She deconstructed it just fine.

Yeah, she could take care of it.

But Mina said she wanted to be subtle.

Ripping up the track and pulling this giant fucking thing out of the ground probably wasn't going to work, was it.

So annoying.

Volcatia stopped watching.

She again kept sitting comfortably in her chair while she returned to the upper track and stood next to the weird little metal tower.

Subtle…

She started to tap her foot.

Okay, so maybe if she did this other magnet shit…

What the fuck was a solenoid coil?

Fuck, all this shit was awful.

She was never going to be able to find one of these things, and having one made was…

Alright, magnet shit could go fuck itself.

So fucking annoying.

What about…

Oh.

Obviously.

This device sucked all the magic out of the track.

She'd just suck all the charge out of the device.

She put a hand on the tower.

Yeah, there was a current there.

And now there wasn't.

She smirked.

Now that was fucking subtle.

Maybe she was becoming smart after all.

Volcatia stopped watching.

"Yeah, I can," she said.

Mina looked up at her with a suspicious expression. "You're certain?"

Volcatia shrugged. "Yeah."

Not some great feat.

She could punch a hole in the fucking thing if she wanted, but that also wasn't very subtle.

The annoying girl started rubbing her chin. "How can you be certain if you were entirely unaware of the device's existence until I proposed the idea?"

Volcatia groaned.

Smart people were so fucking annoying sometimes.

Like everything was some big mystery only they could solve.

Yeah, everyone else was always less smart than Smart people, and they always wanted to show it off.

"I do believe I'm on to something," Mina said with a smirk.

Yeah, it was a real fucking mystery all right.

Maybe she was more annoyed than usual since she'd already watched this happen so many times.

That was part of why spending so much time watching was tiring.

The other part was just that it was tiring.

Volcatia decided not to say anything.

She still hadn't forgiven the annoying girl for being so annoying.

Or for making Carl so boring the past few days.

He'd been so much more fun today!

She couldn't imagine anyone else she'd ever met coming close to defeating her in a contest like he had.

And he didn't even seem to care!

Anyone else would have protested and fought until their last for a chance at victory, but he shrugged and didn't even fucking care when she'd claimed the contest as a draw.

She wished she could have met him sooner.

Imagining all the fun things they'd have been doing…

It didn't matter.

There were still so many fun things they could do.

"So I'm able to count on your assistance at the race," Mina said. "That's quite reassuring. What will you do until then?"

What would she do until the race?

Mm.

Good question.

She hadn't really thought about it.

She'd figured she would just hang out with Carl, but didn't he just say he was building something tomorrow?

Eh.

The race was only two days away.

She could just sit on a roof and wait if she had to.

She'd done it before.

"Don't know," she decided to say.

Mina held a piece of metal as a guide to draw more lines on her paper. "Well," she said slowly, "if you've no alternative plan, I…" She took a breath and tapped her pencil on the paper. "I'm certain Carl would enjoy having you present while we construct my next chariot of steam tomorrow. Since you've become such fast friends."

"Mm."

She'd think about it.

What the fuck was a 'chariot of steam' though?

The girl's mastery of the Stadalite tongue was impressive, she supposed.

Especially considering she was a Char, who were by their nature idiots.

Huh.

It was amazing to think about how Mina had overcome that amount of idiocy to become Smart.

Inspirational, even.

Volcatia thought about it more deeply.

Maybe even she could become Smart someday?

Nah, that was too ambitious.

She'd be happy to just be smart.

That alone would save so much fucking time it was hard to imagine.