Chapter One Hundred and Thirty-Six - Relationship of Fools

Rosaline put a stop to our practice after an hour or so. She said that it wouldn’t do for us to be all sweaty and tired and mana-drained on the same night that we arrived, and that we had the rest of our lives to practice with magic.

It sounded like a fair point to me. And we still had a bunch of the estates to explore.

“This way!” Rosaline said as she pointed to a gathering of buildings off near the far end of the estate. She slipped a wing under my arm, then did the same to Awen and dragged us both towards the buildings.

Unlike all the others in the estate, these had steel walls and tin roofs. The few windows they had were long and narrow and too high to see into from the ground floor.

“These are the workshops,” Rosaline said. “They don’t get as much use as they once did, but they’re kept clean and ready, just in case.”

She moved us over to the front of one of the workshops where a pair of heavy doors on rails waited. Rosaline finally let go of us to tug the door open.

“Oh, wow,” Awen said as she took in the interior of the first workshop.

Racks of tools and machinery lined the walls of the cavernous building. Chains dangled from mounts on the ceiling and, with a touch to a rune from Rosaline, a row of glowing stones lit up to reveal even more machines lurking in the dark. “This is workshop one,” Rosaline said. “This is the one for smaller things. The other two are a bit less generalized. One is entirely dedicated to working on gravitic engines for airships.”

Awen stepped up behind Rosaline and carefully laid a hand against the side of what I suspected was a drill-press. “Wow,” she said again.

Rosaline laughed. “I’m glad you like it! Amaryllis said that you were a Wyrmgineer in her letters, so I was looking forward to showing you all of this.”

“Awa, are you a mechanic too?” Awen asked.

Rosaline shook her head. “Nope. But I dabble. Most of the hoity-toity types think that it’s too crass for a lady to play with big machines, but I think that they’re all quite silly. Plus I run the biggest airshipyard in the kingdom. If I couldn’t tell a spanner apart from a wrench I’d be in a heap of trouble.”

Awen laughed, but I think I missed the joke. “You’re that important?” Awen asked. She slapped her hands over her mouth with a gasp. “And we’re taking so much of your time. I’m sorry!”

Rosaline snorted and waved the comment off. “Nah. It’s fine. You’re my sister’s friends, aren’t you? That makes you my friends too! Plus some of my work is really boring, and if I put it off long enough, someone else usually gets it done for me! Making new friends is much more fun.”

I nodded sagely.

“I guess that someone as pretty and talented as Miss Rose must have a lot of friends already,” Awen said.

I held back a giggle as a scarlet blush raced across Rosaline’s face. Awen could be so earnest sometimes. It was cute!

Awen rushed ahead and over to another rack of tools. She ran her fingers over all of them, then turned towards Rosaline and I with an ear-splitting grin on. "Can I really use all of these?" she asked.

Rosaline nodded. "Sure thing! I'd ask that you try to keep things clean, but otherwise have fun. There are some bins with stuff in the back if you need materials. Or you can ask Gen-Gen. He can scrounge up stuff in no time."

I think that if I were Awen at the moment, I'd be dancing a happy little jig. But Awen was a lot more reserved. She only clasped her hands together and smiled even harder. "Thank you. I've always dreamed of working in a place like this. There are so many things that I’ve wanted to try making. I... I’ll have to work as hard as I can while I can. Is... is there anything you need?"

"Well," Rosaline said, her voice turning a little strange. "I could use a bedwarmer."

"Okay!"

Rosaline's face flushed again. "I was joking!"

Awen blinked. "Oh. I thought you wanted me to build you something to sleep with? I could make something with a warming rune and some water maybe?" She turned to eye all the tools, almost as if she was planning to start already.

Rosaline wiggled her wings in denial. “No, no it’s... urgh, how are you this innocent?”

It was Awen’s turn to flush. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t let out much until Broccoli saved me. If I didn’t understand something, it’s entirely my fault. I’d appreciate it if you could teach me. Awa, but you’re so busy. I’m sorry again!”

Rosaline sighed. “I’m going to hug you now, okay?”

“Awa?” Awen said a moment before Rosaline pulled her into a big feathery hug. “Miss Rose?” Awen asked. She didn’t seem averse to the hug though.

“You’re just too much. Both of you.” She shook her head as she pulled back out of the embrace. “But you most of all. You remind me way too much of myself. For a long time the family didn’t approve of me doing things the way I wanted to. It got better though. And I’m sure it’ll get better for you too.”

“Oh, it has!” Awen said. “Ever since I joined Broccoli and Amaryllis, I’ve had adventures, and I’ve flown with dragons, I went in dungeons and I went up a few levels too. I couldn’t be happier unless...” She glanced my way, blushed up a bit, then turned her attention back to Rosaline. “Awa. I just c-couldn’t be happier.”

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I grinned back at her. I was about to hug her too, and then maybe I’d hug Rosaline for good measure, when something scuffed the ground behind me.

I turned to find Amaryllis standing by the entrance. She looked around the workshop curiously before focusing on Rosaline. “I do hope you’re doing more than flirting with my friends.”

“Flirting?” Awen asked.

Amaryllis raised a brow. “Courting, wooing, teasing?” she said.

Awen shook her head. “N-no, she wasn’t doing anything like that. We’re all girls. Girls can’t.” she paused to take a breath. “Girls can’t do that with girls.”

Amaryllis let out an amused huff. “Tell that to my degenerate sister.”

“Hey! It’s perfectly okay,” Rosaline said. She turned towards Awen with a reassuring smile. “It’s uncommon, but not unheard of here for two women to marry. After all, the only thing you need to fertilize an egg is some random man off the street.”

“Humans are a bit more uptight, Rose,” Amaryllis said.

Rosaline shrugged. “I know. I have to deal with them all the time. Did you come here to show these two to their rooms?”

Amaryllis nodded. “Something like that. You can keep flirting with Awen if you want, it’s mostly Broccoli that I need.”

“Don’t mind if I do!” Rosaline said as she pulled Awen closer. “So, tell me about all these great ideas you have. You must have picked up all sorts while out adventuring.”

I hesitated for a bit. But Rosaline didn’t strike me as the sort that would do anything to hurt someone, and if she was, Amaryllis wouldn’t leave her alone with Awen. I followed Amaryllis out of the workshop while waving Awen goodbye.

“So, what’s up?” I asked.

She looked at me strangely, then looked to the sky. “I presume you’re not talking about the sky.”

I shook my head. “Nope. I mean, what’s going on?”

“Ah. I had a... discussion with Clementine and... it was productive. We’re still going to be here for a week or more before things are ready. I heard you were training with Rosaline?”

“We did! Your sister seems nice.”

Amaryllis nodded. “She is. Rosaline has a lot of, as crass as it may sound, love to give. She’s always been the sort to chafe at the way we’re supposed to act. Somehow, she won out. No one bats an eye anymore when she disregards propriety. I suspect that you’d be the same.”

“I like her,” I said. “If we do more practice stuff, will you be there? It wouldn’t be fun with just one of my best friends.”

Amaryllis huffed. “Moron. Of course I’ll be there. My own skills are growing dull with disuse. And besides, Rosaline has work. She should be there now, but as usual she ran away from her responsibilities.”

“Didn’t someone say that your family’s airship company is doing really well?” I asked.

She nodded. “It is. My sister can convince the stingiest man to empty his coffers with little more than a smile and a pat on the cheek. She’s sold entire air fleets at a mark-up and the clients left in a good mood.”

We reached the main building in the middle of the estate and were greeted by a harpy in a maid’s outfit. She bowed to us and led us through the building. “Did you grow up with staff like this?” I asked.

“Of course,” Amaryllis said.

“It must have been hard to remember all of those names and such. I couldn’t imagine it.”

She rolled her eyes, then gestured down a corridor. “That’s the guest wing. Pick one of the rooms. I think they’re all ready.”

I nodded, then pulled Amaryllis after me. The maid ahead of us didn’t seem to know what to do, so I smiled at her and gave her a thumbs up. “We just need to talk,” I said.

When we were in the privacy of one of the rooms, a very pretty room, with a big four-poster bed, lots of wooden furniture, and a nice view of the city to one side, I pushed the door closed and then sigh.

“I’m sorry? I want to talk.”

“That’s... fine?” Amaryllis said.

I asked the question that was on the tip of my tongue. “Will your sister be nice to Awen?”

Amaryllis huffed. “Of course she will. If anything it might help Awen a little. The girl’s been getting better, but it’s slow-going.”

I nodded. “It would be nice if it works out. I... haven’t known what to do.”

“What to do about what?” Amaryllis asked. She looked like someone walking on the other side of the fence from a rabid dog, not sure if she should keep moving forwards.

I shrugged and crossed my arms against the cold. “About Awen.”

“You noticed?” she asked.

“I’m an idiot about some things, Amaryllis, but I’m pretty good with social stuff. It’s just that... I couldn’t think of a way to make everyone happy, so I kept putting it off. Was that wrong?”

Amaryllis worked her jaw. “Probably not. You let her stew though.”

“If I’d pressed the issue, she might have wanted to run away or something. I don’t want to lose a friend, and I don’t know how well she would do all on her own.” I shivered. “It was making me feel like a bit of a bad person.”

Amaryllis eyed me for a moment, then, carefully, pulled me under one of her wings. “You’re an idiot, Broccoli Bunch.”

I snorted. “Thanks Amaryllis. You’re the best.”

“I am,” she said. “Don’t worry about Awen. We’ll figure it out, all three of us. That’s how you like things done, isn’t it?”

I grinned. I had the best best friends.

***