I wasn't wrong about being busy later; Adriana didn't get here before the guards like Apricot bet last night but right at the same time as them.

"Morning, Guys, Gals, Chief." I give everyone a nod. "Care to join us on the run today?"

"You run with the guards? I had hoped to get an early start on this." She brandishes a stack of papers that look like diagrams for the new hydrant system.

"I'll look over the plans during the run." She's the type of person you have to be firm with otherwise they'll just steamroll right over you. "And, I'll work on the upstream pipes on my way back."

"I'm coming with you then." She pulls a thick stream of water from the river and shapes it into a horse. "I want to talk about those sprinklers, that glassblower you sent me to had barely gotten started on them."

"Neat trick." I nod to the water horse as a confused Flicker looks at it funny. "I have a decent foundry spell now, so making the ampoules shouldn't be a problem. But, the only metal I have to make the heads out of is aluminum. I'd use stone, but I'm afraid someone might break one by accident."

"I'll get you some brass." She nods and mounts up by using a stream of water to lift her into the saddle. "What is that?" She startles when I start up my [Get Pumped - Hip-hop/Rap] playlist.

"Music." I reply with a smile and let Flicker set the pace. "Stronger by Kanye West to be precise. Sorry, I'm not translating, but getting the rhymes to work in Varecian is just not worth the headache right now. So, just enjoy the beat."

"I'll try." She looks at the speaker box funny. "I've never heard instruments quite like that before. And, how is the chorus doing that with their voice? That is a chorus, right?"

"Yes, and enchantments." I give my stock answer for anything electronic or computer related, and translate just one round of the chorus for her. "This song uses a voice modulator for the chorus and a device called a synthesizer for the piano-esque sounds. Now, come on people. Keep up. You act like one day off from running has atrophied all of your muscles."

"Why do we choose to run with you again?" Cobb groans when I pick up the pace now that Flicker has warmed up.

"Because I can push you harder than anyone else and leave you better off after the run than before." I say with a smirk and increase the size of everyone's parachutes marginally.

...

"Alright, jog in place for a minute and drink your smoothies while I go collect some bees." I drop my chute and disappear into the woods before anyone can react. Anyone, but the fire chief, that is. "Hahaha, I'm not running away on you." I laugh at Adriana when she shifts her horse into a small wave to follow me through the woods.

"I'm just interested in how you're going to collect bees." She replies calmly. She's been rather amused at everyone's exertions so far while she just sits back and lets her water carry her.

"I was just gonna shove them in storage." I've already practiced on other insects, and Apricot was right. They don't present all that much resistance, not for me at least. I definitely chose right with the whole Plantkin / nature magic combo. "Ah, here we are."

Struhl's eyes go wide as the bees disappear, first in ones and twos, and then dozens and scores. Their whole hive gets stored in just a moment, honeycombs and all.

"Coming?" I ask and head back the way I came. "And, if you're wondering. Plantkin are all skilled in nature magic. That's how I was able to heal so many people yesterday, keep everyone going on our run here, and send bees into storage."

"You can pull mana from plants, that's how you're able to do all of this." It's a statement, not a question. "I can do the same with running water, but it's not as efficient as what I've seen fire mages do."

"Try asking Apricot for tips." I offer. "She likes sweet stuff like candy and mana gems. No licorice though. Alright everyone, are we going to beat our time going back, or do I have to bring out the bees to motivate you?" A dozen buzzing bees appear above my outstretched hand, spooking all of the guards and earning a bark of laughter from Adriana.

"Oh, I like you." The fire chief reforms her horse and follows along with a smile as everyone takes off for home at double time.

...

"Alright, you can all set your own pace from here." I say after we reach the spot where I need to start the pipe. "There's no way I'm going to be able to do this at a run."

"Oh, thank the gods." They all drop to the side of the road and sag in relief. I just roll my eyes at their antics and hand out another round of smoothies. Flicker gets some too, but hers is mixed into some oats. She's still raring to go though, that horse just loves running.

While the guards recover, I first grow a potted tree on wheels. I'm not going to need as much mana as yesterday, so it doesn't need to be anywhere near as big, but I'm still going to need to recharge inside the city.

"I used to know a fire mage that would carry around charcoal and firewood to recharge." Adriana says with a laugh. "I think I like your version better."

"I should probably look into learning that version when we go to the Capital." I say while thinking about the foundry spell, it produces a crazy amount of heat.

"Most people have trouble absorbing mana outside their inborn affinity." She comments dryly. "But, then again, you're skilled enough that you will probably be able to learn it. I'm surprised you'd want to bother though, this might be a little inconvenient, but no more so than a bonfire."

"Oh, my new foundry spell would make it worthwhile." I explain. "I just use a little lightning magic to split water into flammable gasses. If I compress and store those gasses, I can then burn them for a mana boost when there are no plants around." I demonstrate for her and use the flame to melt a small chip of stone.

"What!?" Her shouted question causes all the guards to jump. "Do that again. Not the fire, just the bit where you turn water into air." I shrug and comply, and then soon feel her trying to replicate the feat with pure water magic.

"Try warming the water, that can improve the efficiency." It helps and I can feel that she's close, but still missing something. So, I add some lye to the water, it helps with the electrolysis, so it should help here. "There you go... try giving this bit here a twist, it feels off." I point out a bit of her spell that seems wrong to me.

"I see it." She grins and the water starts bubbling like mad.

"Stop!" I have to step in and break her fire spell apart with a blast of raw mana before it ignites. "Please don't blow us up." I disperse the concentration of hydrogen into the sky.

"Oops." She says with a giggle. "Nice move that, but there are better ways to destabilize someone else's spell." She rubs the back of her neck like she got whiplash from what I did.

"I don't know any of them, I just acted on instinct there." I say somewhat chagrined. "And, that was a nice bit of spellcraft yourself, but wouldn't it just be easier to learn the spark spell?" I add with a laugh while playing electricity across my fingers.

"Where's the fun in that." Her comment and the matching grins on our faces earn us a few mutters from the guard. Stuff like 'crazy fucking mages' being the most common.

"And, with that, I think we should take our leave." Bruce starts rounding up the guards. "But, before I forget again, here's the report on that mercenary you were asking about. His name is Cyril Crane, he started as a promising officer up north but was kicked out for conduct unbecoming an officer. -Slept with the wrong person.- He then started and ran a clean crew up until a couple of years ago when he got ousted by his lieutenant that got most of them killed just a month later by picking the wrong job."

The report he handed me has more detail than that, but he summarized the important parts. I was rather amused to find that instead of sleeping with the general's daughter as I had guessed. He instead slept with her fiance. The woman was not happy to find out that her husband to be preferred men and had both of them run out of the country as revenge.

"Thanks, guys." I tuck the report into storage, along with all of their used cups. "See you tomorrow?"

"Hells yeah." Cobb says with a wide grin shared by the rest of the guards. "You may be crazy, but I can feel myself getting stronger every time we run together."

I just shake my head with a smile and get back to work as they jog off. The plans that Adriana gave me call for the pipes to be run alongside the road, similar to what I set up for the workshop. Only with a lot more pipes carrying a lot more water, it looks like she wants to be able to drown the whole city at the same time if needed.

...

"Hey, Ed. What's up?" He was waiting at the farm and came over to join us when we got close enough for him to feel the earth magic.

"Oh, I've got those bicycle parts you asked for the other day." He brings out a length of roller chain with a bashful look on his face. "And, uh... I heard about all the aluminum you were showing off."

"You want to learn the foundry spell I used?" I ask with a chuckle. "Alright, just try not to blow us up like this one almost did. Now, the whole thing is based on a joke spell..." I reach out and give him a small zap and then explain how it all works. "...I use air and fire magics here, but you could easily pipe the gas into a proper furnace. In fact, I was trying to make an enchanted furnace since electromancy is somewhat rare, but I just can't seem to figure it out. So, I'll need to speak with Rozelle about that later."

"Please do, I can barely hold this spell together." Ed loses control of it just then. "Trying to forge while keeping that up is beyond me." He may be the top earth mage around here, but I've realized that he's not all that good. At least, not when compared to the other top mages in the city.

"Gladly, but I was hoping you could let me know how the search for alloys is going? I had to waste a bit of titanium yesterday just because I don't know how to make any good steel." He winces a bit at hearing that.

"You do know that titanium is worth even more than aluminum, right?" The man just hangs his head.

"Pain in the but to get too." I nod. "I was only able to pull two or three kilos out for every tonne of granite I processed. I got over twice as much magnesium and almost ten times as much iron. Aside from the aluminum, the only other elements of note were calcium, sodium, and potassium, but I didn't bother extracting more than a sample of those."

"Nnh, I need to make time for a dungeon trip." Edsel groans. "I try not to be envious of what you can do, but it's really hard sometimes. Especially when I think about how you just learned this stuff."

"Mhm. If it helps, I'm only this good with earth magic because the earth is so linked to nature in my mind." I offer in the hopes that it will help his mood. "There's no need to run off to a dungeon just because I'm a freak."

"He's right." Adriana chimes in. "Not about the freak part, I've known much stranger mages. But, there is always going to be somebody stronger or more skilled than you. The trick is to just do your best and not to worry about what they can or can't do."

"I know, I know." He huffs. "It's just a little galling that I had to do his plumbing last week, and now he's plumbing the whole city."

"Hey, if you want to take over..." I trail off and just grin when Adriana glares at me.

"That's quite alright." He shakes his head with a laugh. "I have enough work just coordinating with the smiths to make all of the faucets. Here's the first batch by the way." We're back at the farm now, and he points out a large wagon filled with primitive fire hydrants.

"Well, those can wait for a minute." I shake my head at all of the work ahead of me. "I'd like to go get changed now, if you don't mind." I flap my copper chainmaille to make it ring out.

"Try not to take forever." Adriana says with a grin. "I'd rather not have to sit out here while you have sex with your women."

"I'll try." I roll my eyes at her. "But, are you going to follow me all day?"

"Just for the main trunk, and up to the east gate." The water mage replies. "That area is most at risk from fires because it's so far from the river."

"That works for me." I want to see if Cyril is waiting at the warehouse for me, and this will give me the chance to do so without running off.

...

I head inside and rid myself of the jogging suit as soon as the door is closed behind me, replacing it with a pair of jeans and a T-shirt while walking towards the living room to check on the girls.

"Hey, babe." Amelia smiles up at me when I find her sits on the couch, reading the Iliad while stroking Apricot's hair with her free hand as the pixie lays in her lap.

"Hey. Are you two having fun?" I sit down on the other end of the couch so I can play with Apricot's feet. "I have to get back to work soon, but I just wanted to check on you. Are you still okay with what happened, now that you've had some time to think about it?" I ask Amelia

"I won't lie, it is a little weird." She closes her book but doesn't stop petting her pixie. "I think that who it was and the fact that everything happened in a dream helps, a lot. That, and how fucking hot it was." She adds with a giggle. "Just don't expect it to happen again. Not in the real world, and not anytime soon, at least."

"I'm fine with treating it like a dream." Apricot looks up at her with a loving smile. "Just consider the night as a gift from the Goddess. Temmie doesn't often show herself to her followers, even the Fae."

"Wait, does this mean I'm a follower now?" Amelia tilts her head to one side while trying to puzzle that one out.

"More like she was following your lead last night." I say with a smirk. "And, I think Apricot has the right idea. Just treat everything like a dream for now. At least until we can get Temmie to show herself in person. And, yes, I caught your little non-answer to that question last night." I blow a raspberry at the ceiling.

"When did you ask if she could do that?" Apricot asks first, but I could tell that Amelia was just about to say the same thing.

"She pulled me into the dream first to warn me that the stuff I'm introducing is going to cause discord." I explain while rubbing the pixie's feet. "Industrialization brings a lot of issues with it, but it can also greatly improve a lot of people's lives. I don't know if what I'm doing is right, but the ideas are out there now. So, I'm going to continue and hope I can help the people here avoid some of the pitfalls that might be waiting for them."

"You really are a big softie, aren't you?" Apricot rolls her eyes at me and then starts giggling when I kiss her toes. "Nnh, don't go getting me all worked up right before you leave. I can feel the fire chief pacing impatiently at the door for you."

"Ugh, fine." I sigh and get up. "But, before I go..." I show them how Adriana reverse-engineered the electrolysis of water. "Struhl figured that one out after I showed her how the spark spell works in water. Just be careful of fire when you try it out, she almost blew all of us up."

"Neat bit of spellwork." Apricot offers her begrudging respect. "Now, get out of here before she barges in."

"Yes, Dear. I love you. I love you." I blow them each a kiss and head back out, and I can just hear Amelia trying out the new spell while complaining about how annoying its inventor is.

"That was fast." Adriana says with a smirk when I open the door. "I would have thought it'd take a bit longer to please both of them."

"Not when you know what you're doing it doesn't." I say without missing a beat. "In this case, showing them your new spell."

"Hah!" The woman snorts out a laugh. "Not the first time I've had someone steal my moves to impress their sweetheart."

If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

I nod my head in her direction to concede the point and then start storing all of the hydrants, so we can get going.

...

"I know you'd rather be playing with your girls, but do you really miss them so much that you have to carve statues of them?" The fire chief comments when I start sculpting a life-size representation of Temmie while she's still fresh in my memory.

"Oh, she may have visited me for a night, but I doubt I can call this one mine." I smile when I feel the goddess stick her tongue out at me. "Amelia was right; the statue in the temple just doesn't do her justice. I thought I'd offer them a better likeness. It'll have to be wood for now, but I'll redo it once I get my hands on some prettier stone."

"Wait, is that Temmie?" Struhl looks up at the statue as I push it along on the tree cart. "She... visited you."

"All three of us." I reply with a smug smile. "She's beautiful, isn't she? Even more so while pinned under me and my girls, but I'm saving that sculpture for our home altar." I chuckle when Temmie blows a raspberry that makes Struhl jump.

"Well, damn! And, here I thought I had some decent conquests." She says with a laugh after recovering from her shock.

"Oh, that was no conquest." I shake my head while working on the dress; it clings to the Goddess' perfect form as though blown back by the wind, revealing more than it conceals. "Temmie offered us a gift and we accepted. This is the least I can offer in return."

"..." Adriana opens her mouth for a moment before closing it with a nod as I infuse the wood with oil, giving it a life-like luster. "Some gift." She finally says after an audible swallow.

"Hardly a patch on the real thing, but it's better than what is in the temple right now." I stop the wagon just outside said temple and carry the statue inside. "Hello, I've brought the replacement statue for Temmie's altar." I nod to the priest in passing and walk right in while carrying hundreds of kilos of wooden sculpture.

"S-she told us." For a priest, he looks rather surprised to have heard from a God. "You can go ahead and place it on the Altar." He adds unnecessarily.

The old statue is already gone. Whether the priest moved it, or Temmie herself doesn't matter to me. I set the sculpture in place reverently and then hop up to give it a kiss on the cheek.

"Thanks for the sweet dreams." I brush my hand along her arm before turning about to leave the temple and a shocked crowd behind when she replies with *You are very welcome.*

...

"Mister Crane, sorry if you had a long wait." The old mercenary jumps to attention when I approach him. "The fire chief had me doing a bit of work, or I would have been here sooner. Still does, technically." I grin over at the woman, she wants to see the caravanserai safe before she'll leave me alone.

"That was not a nice trick you pulled." He says while not even bothering to hide his smile. "Thank you. I would have done so last night, but you left before I took the eyepatch off."

"So, have you decided to work for me?" I ask and beckon him to follow along as I get back to work. "I was just designing the new building and could use someone with an eye for security to look it over. And, I'm afraid I'm already making your job difficult by insisting on a lot of glass."

Adriana was a bit nervous when I started sculpting again after leaving the temple, but soon relaxed when she saw that it was to be a building. The old warehouse is a boxy stone building with only a few small windows up near the offices, and just about the opposite of what I want.

I tried out a few different designs before getting inspired by the bees I collected earlier. The model I've built is a honeycomb structure, twice as wide as it is deep. The large hexagons at front and back are all offset from each other, and each with a different pattern inset on them. From simple triangles and orthogonal cubes to more complex and interesting geometric patterns.

"It's stunning." He examines the model from all sides. "And, yes. Of course, I'll work for you. The glass is an issue, but we can work around that. I recommend you start by moving the tighter patterns to the ground floor. That will at least deter crimes of opportunity."

"If you think that's pretty, you should see what else he can make." Adriana says with a laugh. "Now, if you promise to keep working on the pipes and not just stop to create your building, I'll leave you alone. Just don't forget to test each faucet like you have been."

"No worries there, for either thing. I still need to talk to my people to see what their needs will be." I say with a smile for the overbearing woman; she's kind of grown on me over the course of the morning. "I just didn't want to build another big box, you know."

She just nods and reforms her water horse before heading back into town. Cyril sticks with me as I trail after her with my tree in tow after setting up the hydrants for each side of the caravanserai. He's a bit startled to see the crowd waiting just inside the gate when we get there.

You'd think people would have better things to do than follow some weirdo as he pulls his tree around and shoots streams of water into the air every block or so, but apparently not. The fire chief and I have just been ignoring them, and I tell my new head of security to do the same.

The water pipe and hydrant layout Adriana chose is very robust, but that just means more work for me, so I'm glad to have someone to chat with. The topic is interesting too, and I learn a lot about security and how to protect a building from threats, both magical and mundane.

...

"Hello, Felicia." I greet the weaver with a smile when she approaches after we enter the clothing district.

The crowd following me has stayed around the same size, with new people joining in for a bit before getting bored and moving on, only for someone else to take their place. There's a couple of diehards though that refuse to leave, and the odd food cart that follows after until they run out of supplies, or just get too far from home.

"Sorrel." She nods and locks step with us as we continue down the road, but doesn't say anything else.

"How's your master doing?" Her eyes narrow a bit at that not-so-innocent question.

"Not so good." She says with a sigh. "Turns out that slinging mud about a man who goes on to heal half the city the very next day is a good way to get a lot of people mad at you. Especially when you throw in these rumors that he's also responsible for creating machines that can sew for you."

"Sinclair the clockmaker deserves all the credit there." I defer to their real creator. "I just showed him what I wanted, he figured out all the hard parts."

"I heard you were talking to Rem and Cecil too." She adds, the tiny light of hope in her eyes overshadowed by heaps of worry.

"Just talks. So far." I reply, doing my best not to smirk.

"You're not going to make this easy are you?" She exhales a deeper sigh. "Would you please consider taking me on? Wolfsfeld's ship is sinking even if she won't admit it yet."

"I never wanted that." Now it's my turn to sigh. "Well, okay, maybe a little. But, not really, and certainly not so much that I'd do anything more than ask Sinclair to name the sewing machine the wolfsbane." She snorts out a laugh at that. "And, yes, of course I'll take you on."

"Thank you. And, don't worry too much about Blanche." Felicia shakes her head. "She has more than enough money to live comfortably even if she never sells another stitch of clothing. Wolfsbane. Hah! Oh, that's perfect." Another laugh escapes from her.

"I thought so." My laugh isn't nearly as robust as hers. "Well, let me introduce you to my new head of security, Cyril Crane. And, this is what the new headquarters of Apricot Industries is going to look like." I gesture to the model sitting next to the tree. "Perhaps you can tell me what you'll need so I can start planning the interior layout."

"Nice to meet you, Sir." She nods her head at him. "And, wow!"

"Heheh, I had a similar reaction." He says with a smile. "And, nice to meet you as well."

"So, in addition to the weaving, I hope you don't mind taking on some more managerial type duties." I say as she plays with the model. "I can imagine that we're going to have quite a few employees and, well, I just don't want to deal with them."

"I performed a similar role for Blanche." She nods. "She always preferred dealing with the customers. And, speaking of workers. I'd like to try and bring some of my team on board."

"Of course." I nod. "Anyone you trust is fine by me." She catches the double meaning in my words. 'If you don't trust them, don't bring them.'

"Thank you." She smiles. "I know you wanted to talk about the layout of the building, but I should go speak with them before word gets back to Blanche about my speaking with you. I only came out now because she's out of the shop trying to soothe ruffled feathers."

"That's alright; Melanie should probably be here for that talk anyways. You go on and do what you have to." I say, understanding. "I'm hoping to be done with all of this by mid-afternoon, so you can stop by the farm later and we can all talk."

"I'll be there." She dips into a curtsey before slipping off.

"And, the company has been nice." I turn to my other new employee of the day. "But, don't feel that you need to stay with me all day either, Cyril."

"I'm rather enjoying the walk, actually." He replies with a smile. The man still has several deep scars in his legs muscles that I've been monitoring to see how best to heal them, so I know that's not entirely true. "That, and I am your new 'head of security' now; it's my job to protect you." He adds with a laugh for his title.

"If you say so." I just shrug and bring the conversation back around to what we were discussing before Felicia joined us. "So, are you sure you want to live on-site? I'd be happy to provide you housing nearby."

"I can't protect your interests if I'm not present." The stubborn old man counters.

"Fine, but I'll not have you working all the time." I waggle my finger at him in a reproving manner. "Consider finding some help to be your first official duty as head of security. I can offer the same health benefits to them as well; it may take a while, but I should be able to heal most anything short of a missing limb."

"Would you still be willing to hire them if they were missing one?" He asks cautiously. "Assuming they can still do the job, of course."

"That's fine by me." I shrug, not particularly caring. "This is your area of expertise, not mine. I'll trust you to know what you're doing."

"You don't even know me, yet you're willing to trust me this far?" The old mercenary asks, somewhat astounded.

"I'd be in the same place no matter who I hired, but I have a good feeling about you." I answer honestly. "That, and the report I got from the Guard showed that you ran a successful mercenary company for decades. If anything, you're overqualified for the job."

"Hah!" He barks out a laugh. "I was wondering how you knew my name earlier. Good to know that you didn't just jump in blind."

"Yes, well, it's good to go with your gut." I say with a smile. "But, better to have some solid reasoning behind that decision. Now, I suppose I should add another floor to this building. That'll give me enough room for your quarters and a dormitory for any other stubborn old men you hire." He just laughs at my words.

...

"Rozelle! I was hoping you'd be in." I greet my enchanting master with a wide smile after ducking into her shop. "How's the guild presidency treating you?"

"Oh, I'd be lost without Ferne." She replies with an equally wide smile. "I think you were right, and we should have just made her president. Are you just taking a break from re-plumbing the city, or did you need something?"

"A bit of both." I say with a sigh for all the work I still have to do. "I'm a bit stuck on an enchantment, but we can discuss that in a minute. First, let me introduce you to Cyril Crane, I just hired him to secure my new business."

"A pleasure to meet you, Ma'am." He offers her a shallow bow.

"Sir." She nods in return. "There have been some interesting rumors going on about that, and about you in general, Sorrel. Especially after yesterday."

"Only the flattering ones are true." I say with a grin. "But, I'm assuming you've heard about the new silk business. That's partly why we're here; the new building is going to need a few enchantments. And, since it's for my business and not me personally, I expect to pay a fair price." I add when she opens her mouth to give me the same one-hundred percent discount she has been.

"Heheh. Fine, I won't say no to good coin." She replies with a laugh. "So, do you know what you need already?"

"Mhm, Cyril has a list of defensive enchantments that he'd like, but I'll leave him to speak with you about that." I bring out the work I'm doing on the lightning runes for the hydrogen separator I want to build. "I'm having trouble getting this to work; I need to induce a steady flow of electricity into a small body of water, like so." I demonstrate with the spark spell.

"Hmm?" She tilts her head to one side and pores over my previous work. "I've never seen lightning runes used like this before, they're mostly just used to deliver a shock. Occasionally on weapons, but typically just as a deterrent on locks. Olivar even has a clever little bug killer that uses the rune, but I've never heard of a need for a steady current."

"Yeah, I couldn't find anything in the books you gave me, and my improvisations just didn't work." I explain. "I'm trying to build a high-temperature furnace using the gasses produced when you send electricity into water like this." A small, but very hot flame appears for just a moment.

""..."" Both of their mouths drop open.

"I also need the hydrogen for another project, but that can wait until I get this furnace working." And, boy am I looking forward to re-inventing the Haber process to make all of the ammonia we're going to need to produce silk in any usable quantity. "I know you must be busy, but I'd consider it a huge favor if you could look into the lightning runes for me. I wouldn't even know where to start, and I'm just wasting material at this point."

"I'm happy to help." She says with a nervous laugh. "But, you have to show me that spell again."

"Oh, it's just a modified joke spell..." I walked her through it, but she wasn't able to manage more than a few bubbles. Still, I warned her that Hydrogen is very explosive and to only work outside with it.

...

After leaving Ro and Cyril to discuss defensive enchantments, and crazy Plantkin, I continued on with my work. Ed caught up with me shortly after with another cart full of hydrants, but he didn't stay for very long.

Despite being surrounded by people, I didn't have anyone to talk to and quickly found myself bored. Not for the first time, I found myself being a little envious of Apricot and Amelia's bond. Being able to talk to each other is the least of what it can do, but I'd love to be able to hear their voices right now.

'If only we had phones.' I think to myself with a sigh, and then almost drench a bunch of people when I get distracted by that thought. 'I already have a speaker, and I made a microphone just yesterday. I have no idea where to even begin making a cellphone, but a landline should be doable, right?'

I rule out electricity right away, if I can't even make a steady current, there's no way I'll be able to modulate one well enough to produce sounds. Sure I could make a telegraph with what I know, but I want a telephone.

Fortunately, there are ways to make two runes share information. Unfortunately, the materials needed to do so are prohibitively expensive for any length beyond a few meters. So, I just need to find a way to make some myself. Not bloody likely.

Enchanting components may seem common at first, but they all undergo a slow and careful mana infusion that changes their nature at a fundamental level. I haven't even begun to study the theory behind that, but it's safe to assume that if there was a way to speed the process up, someone would have found it by now.

'So, I just need to find a different way.' I say to myself and wish I was already done with these pipes so I could devote myself fully to this new communication puzzle.

Given my nature, the first thing that comes to mind when I think about communication is how plants use a network of roots and mycorrhizal symbionts to 'talk' to each other. That won't work here, of course, but what if I could modify a plant to work with the enchantment? Then, I would only need to set up a clonal colony between points A and B.

...

"This is more difficult than I thought it would be." I grumble to myself after yet another failed experiment.

I'm getting close to the docks, so I decide to take a break and see how Sinclair is doing. Quite well, if the shit-eating grin on his face is anything to go by. The man's shop has been nearly emptied of clocks, and he couldn't be happier.

"Sorrel, my boy." The, previously, grumpy clockmaker greets me warmly. "Do you have any idea how many people have come in to buy clocks just in the hope of catching a glimpse of that sewing machine?" He has it set up behind him covered in a thin tarp that just hides the details. I also see a cylinder next to it that must be the knitting machine.

"Looks like quite a few." I reply with a wide grin, happy just to see him happy. "Have you given any thought into producing them? I'm already building a factory, it wouldn't be a problem to add a section for you. All I ask for is the odd bit of engineering advice in return."

"That... that is a very tempting offer." He stops to think about it for a moment. "I'd still be my own man and producing my own goods, just leasing the space in exchange for my expertise?"

"Exactly." I nod. "I already said that the sewing machine was yours to do with as you like, I'm not going to go back on that. I'm even willing to help outfit the workshop to your specifications. This 'little' business of mine is rapidly expanding, and I just know that I'm going to need more machines for it sooner rather than later."

"Alright, I'm in." He extends his hand and we shake on it. "Now, I think I'm going to close early and go celebrate." He pauses for a moment and looks at the tarp-covered sewing machine with a frown. "I should not leave that alone though."

"Want me to hold it for you?" I ask. "I've already hired security for the new building, so you'll be able to keep it there without worry. Not that you'll need to, the Baron has several guards discretely watching your store."

"Thank you for sending him over, by the way. That was my first time meeting the man." A wry grin plays on his face. "I'd still feel better if you held onto it though. I know it's silly, but it's the first of its kind, and I'd hate to lose it."

"Not silly at all." I pat him on the shoulder. "And, speaking of first of their kind. I haven't seen any wrist watches or any timepieces smaller than these clocks. So, I was wondering if you might be able to make one using something like this."

"What?..." His eyes go wide when I retrieve a small toothed gear made of titanium from storage, a gear that starts spinning all on its own.

"It's the same enchantment in my music player, and don't even ask how much of a pain it was to shrink it down this small." He gets right up next to my hand to examine the gear. "I don't know anything about clocks, so I gave it sixty teeth and enchanted it to spin once a minute. You should be able to do something with that. It can only handle a little torque though, so whatever you put it in will have to be very precise."

"..." Sinclair is just standing there with his mouth open right now, so I take his hand and put the gear in it.

"Yes, I thought you might react like that." I chuckle. "Take your time with it; I need to get back to work now." I shift the sewing machine into storage, tarp and all, and walk out while he just stares at his hand.

...

"Finally!" I crow as the last hydrant gets put into place on the last section of the pipe. "Sorry, everyone, but the show's over; that was the last of them." A series of disappointed sounds comes from the crowd. I just shake my head with a smile and envelope the tree I've been towing around all day in mana and shift the whole thing into storage, cart and all.

While they're marveling at that, I take the opportunity to slip around the corner. By the time the nearest of them thinks to follow me, I've already vanished. Running through the streets like a blur gets me home in record time.

I had hoped to just sit down and relax for a bit, but Felicia and Cyril are already here and chatting with Melanie about the new building.

"Hi. I'll join you all in a minute, I just need to see my girls first." I wave to them through the door to the workshop but don't even slow down.

Apricot and Amelia are much like I left them this morning, the pixie listening to music with her head in the bookworm's lap. Amelia looks to have long since finished the Iliad and is now most of the way through the Odyssey.

"It may not have taken ten years, but walking the city all day without you two sure felt like it." I collapse next to Amelia and bend over to give Apricot an upside-down kiss.

"Sorry, Sorrel." Apricot apologizes and then pulls me back down for another kiss. "And, here I thought what you were doing yesterday got boring. Just watching you from the couch nearly made me pass out."

"Hehehe." Amelia starts giggling at her words and the sour expression they put on my face. "I was just caught up in the books, if you want to blame anyone blame yourself for translating them." She laughs again and pulls me in for a kiss.

"Yes, well, while you two were lazing away, I got us a couple new employees, and even talked Sinclair into accepting a workshop in the new building in exchange for his technical expertise."

"That's smart." Amelia nods. "It gives him the independence he wants while also keeping him close. But, who did you hire? I'm guessing one is that mercenary you mentioned last night."

"Yes, Cyril Crane." I answer. "And, Felicia practically begged me to take her on. Apparently, the Big Bad Wolf's plan to bad mouth me backfired on her, and Felicia decided to get out while the getting was good."

"Hahahahaha!" My blonde starts cracking up. "Oh, that's perfect. And, you didn't even have to do anything, she did it all to herself."

"I thought you'd like that." I smile at her. "Now, I need to go speak with them about the building layout. Well, not Sinclair, he's building a miniature clock right now. That or cursing my name for giving him an enchanted gear. It was a pain to shrink down the turntable runes, but the expression on his face was so worth it."

"You didn't?!" Amelia looks shocked.

"He did." Now, it's Apricot's turn to laugh. "I saw him working on the runes yesterday. Now, give me another kiss before you go off to talk business." The pixie pulls me down to lock lips with me again. "Mmm, you taste like nature magic, have you been playing around with your plants?"

"Something like that." I say with a smirk. "I'm not finished yet, but I think I'm getting close to a breakthrough."

"Ooh, he's being vague. It must be good." Amelia teases an annoyed-looking Apricot.

"Feel free to come out to the workshop when you finish your book." I kiss Amelia again before heading out to talk business.

...