Miss Thornbrook led Captain Aurora and Finnegan through the corridors of the Aetherweave Institute. They arrived at a sturdy oak door adorned with engravings of airships in flight surrounded by manta rays, the carvings were done with such precision that the manta rays seemed on the verge of movement.

"This is Professor Garrick's workshop," Miss Thornbrook explained, her hand resting on the door handle. "He is an expert in Kinematic Aether. He will prove invaluable on your journey to First Trinity."

With a gentle push, Miss Thornbrook opened the door, revealing a spacious workshop bathed in a warm glow from an open window. The room was filled with metal scraps, some old and rusted, others shiny and new. Professor Garrick himself stood at a workbench, his hands covered in oil and soot, as he meticulously adjusted the gears of a small automaton.

"Professor Garrick," Miss Thornbrook called out, her voice carrying a note of respect. "I have brought two unforged who would like to reach First Trinity.”

Professor Garrick turned, his eyes glinting with curiosity as he wiped his hands on a greased rag. His gaze traveled from Aurora to Finnegan and back again, examining them from head to toe.

For her part, Aurora’s face was a study of determination, while Finnegan looked eager and excited.

“Wherever did you find two unforged of their ages?” He said, looking confused, “I haven’t ever heard of unforged adults.”

“I have three more on my ship.” Aurora said.

“Three more?” Professor Garrick asked, emphasising the three. “Where were five unforged adults living?”

“Six,” Miss Thornbrook said, “I just finished bringing Eliza here to First Trinity.”

Professor Garrick wiped his hands with a rag, and waved them over, “Both of you have an affinity for Kinematic Aether, yes?” He shook his head in apparent disbelief while looking Aurora and Finnegan over. “What do the two of you do for a living?”

“I’m an artisan,” Finnegan said.

“An artisan? An artisan? How? I presume you cannot even touch Aether.” Then he held up his hand and grunted, “It doesn’t matter. You must have a surprisingly firm grasp of how different Aethers interact for someone who cannot interact with them on their own.” He turned to Aurora, “And you?”

“I captain a ship.”

The Professor’s eyes widened, “You captain a ship, and you can’t supplement its Aether with your own?” Dellen could see the professor working to keep his voice level.

Aurora’s face could have been carved out of stone, “I don’t know any captains in Copperopolis who are Aetherforged.”

Dellen thought of Tristan, who was very much the exception, and probably depressed in a cell while they gathered, unchained, at the Aetherweave Institute.

“Copperopolis,” Professor Garrick said, “I had heard rumors, but I had always thought they were undiluted nonsense. How did you leave the city?” He shook his hand in the air, “You know, never mind, two unforged, here in my workshop.” He rubbed his hands together, you both want to remedy this sad lack, correct?” He didn’t wait for an answer, “Exciting.” He licked his lips and looked at both of them again, “Have either of you seen a proper Kinematic engine?”

Aurora rolled her eyes, “Yes, on my ship.”

Professor Garrick laughed, “Come with me,” he started walking toward the back of the room, and a section of the wall pushed back and rumbled aside before he reached it.

Dellen’s eyes darted across the ground, if it was a trick similar to how Ardentus had managed it, he didn’t see how.

The room beyond held what looked like a pair of chairs inside a gyroscope.

“What possible use does that have?” Dellen asked.

Gilgamesh laughed, “You’ll see.”

“Which of you will be first?”

“Me! I’ll be first,” Finnegan yelled, walking forward at a pace that straddled the line between walking a jog.

“Splendid, sit down.” Professor Garrick said, gesturing at the seats within.

Finnegan sat down, found straps, and secured them over his shoulders.

Miss Thornbrook handed a bag of ingots to the professor that Dellen hadn’t noticed she was carrying. “Go slow. They have no experience with Aether.”

The professor nodded and sat down next to Finnegan, he also strapped himself in. He beckoned to a handle set at the end of the arms of their chairs, “Hold that handle.”

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Finnegan wrapped his fingers around the handle.

The Professor then pointed his fingers at a large toggle outside of the gyroscope. It flipped with a satisfying and heavy thunk.

The gyroscope spun.

Finnegan and Professor Garrick were whirled in all directions.

“Do you feel the raw Kinematic Aether in that handle?” The Professor asked, his voice distorted by their unpredictable movement.

“Maybe a little,” Finnegan replied, his voice stretched out and warped.

“Good, now see if you can draw on any of it, the more we pull, the slower the gyroscope will go.”

Dellen’s eyebrows shot up, that sounded a lot less dangerous than his experiences with Electrical or Chronometric Aether. Both of them invaded the body and caused damage if uncontained, it sounded like Kinematic Aether almost waited for an invitation.

“I’m trying,” Finnegan said.

“If you look very carefully, you can see that Finnegan is completely inept at this,” Gilgamesh said.

Dellen restrained a snort.

“I think I liked our way better,” Eliza said to Miss Thornbrook.

“Pyro Aether can be quite violent. Forging higher Trinities is not for the faint of heart,” Miss Thornbrook said in a cheerful voice, eyes locked on the spinning seats.

“Why hasn’t Professor Garrick adopted the same method that you used?” Dellen asked.

Miss Thornbrook gave him a polite smile, “Professor Garrick isn’t at a high enough Trinity to provide the Aether required on his own.”

The gyroscope stopped, making it easy to make out the faces of both Finnegan and the professor. Finnegan looked green and queasy, while the professor looked unaffected.

“I did it,” Finnegan said, his voice weak.

Professor Garrick gave him a reassuring smile, “This is the last time motion this mild will ever make you feel this unwell.”

“Sure,” Finnegan said with a sickly grin.

The professor put a hand on Finnegan’s shoulder, and Finnegan’s head rocked back, and his eyes rolled up.

“Ahh,” Finnegan said, words escaping him.

“That’s what Kinematic Aether feels like.”

Finnegan replied with a drawn-out noise rather than words.

“I can’t believe you forged with a lightning bolt,” Eliza said to Dellen.

Dellen laughed and shrugged, “This does look more comfortable,” he rubbed at his scars, “Still, we made it out of the storm. Do you still feel like you live in a jar?”

“No, I don’t,” her brow furrowed, “How did you know I felt that way?”

“You must have mentioned it in passing,” Dellen said, realizing that Eliza had said it in a reset she no longer remembered.

“Hmm,” Eliza replied, looking at him suspiciously.

“What do you think they’ll say to you next time you’re in the Chronicle?”

Eliza’s eyes widened, and he could see her imagining it, “I… don’t know,” she curled her fingers, and a small ball of fire hovered above her hand, “I can’t even imagine what they might say.”

“The Chronicle?” Miss Thornbrook asked.

“The newspaper where I work, Dellen asked me to come to Evergale and report back on our trip.”

Miss Thornbrook looked at him in confusion, “Why?”

“Free publicity for my family business,” he smiled at Eliza, “Are you going to write about your experience forging?”

“I think I have to,” she said, “Though I don’t know if anyone will want to stay in Copperopolis if they realize how easy it is to forge out here.”

Miss Thornbrook shook her head, “Forging isn’t easy. It took me over a century of dedicated effort to get to where I am.”

“A century?” Eliza asked, peering at her face, “You’re a century old?”

Miss Thornbrook laughed, “No, just to get where I am, I’ve been Seventh Trinity for three centuries, I grew tired of the constant struggle, fighting over rare resources, finding strong enough sources to let me forge. To bring myself up to Seventh Trinity I had to harvest Pyro Aether from an active volcano. My clothes kept catching on fire.” She shook her head, I’m happy here, I don’t need to climb any higher.”

“But what about what you and I did?” Eliza asked, looking confused, her gaze darting to the hand that Miss Thornbrook had held.

“That? That was minor, you don’t need all that much Aether to forge to First Trinity, but it gets harder. I could pull you to Second without undue effort, but Third would be a challenge, even for me, that’s where the work begins. Most stop at Second Trinity and move on with their lives.”

Dellen did not envision a future where he stopped at Second Trinity.

“Amazing that you forged yourself with a lightning bolt to reach First Trinity.”

“Not all the way, I had already integrated iron and copper, I just needed the silver,” Dellen said.

“And now you want to reach Second Trinity?” Miss Thornbrook said to him.

“I do.”

“And do you know which metals you want to use?”

“Gold, palladium, and titanium.”

Miss Thornbrook nodded, “As I expected. When did you bring yourself to First Trinity?”

Dellen smiled, and rubbed the scars on his chin, “In the last few days.”

“And you already feel ready for your next step?”

“Yes.”

“Curious, if you are willing to demonstrate basic competency with Electrical Aether, we can assist you.”

Dellen felt confident that he could demonstrate basic competency.

“This may be a bit of an obstacle for you,” Gilgamesh said, “I know you were skilled for someone from your hamlet, but here they have higher expectations.”

“How would I demonstrate competency?”

The ingots of iron vanished into Finnegan’s body, punctuated by a groan from the young artisan.

Dellen noticed that Aurora was splitting her attention between his conversation and the forging that she was likely to undergo next.

“There are basic skills at your level, low-level magnetic manipulation, spark discharge, static field, that sort of thing.”

Dellen nodded, “Would this be suitable for a spark discharge?” He asked, Spark Core spinning faster, ball lightning forming in his hand. He held it there without releasing it.

Miss Thornbrook nodded, “It’s not my decision to make, but yes, I imagine that would be adequate for a spark discharge, though I would be rather more impressed if you could change its colour.”

Dellen blinked, Ardentus had not even mentioned that at the order, “Why?”

“If you burn traces of alloys with your lightning it can change the colour, just as we can with flames, though I understand it is rather harder for your affinity. Still balking at something just because it’s a little difficult is a poor precedent so early in a climb,” she said it with a smile, making Dellen feel like she was sharing an opinion rather than criticizing him.

“Different colors,” the idea sounded a little interesting, “Where would I get the alloys from for that?”

She tapped his chest, “You take traces from within, not enough to damage your forging, just enough to be useful. Of course, that takes a phenomenal amount of control.”

Dellen let his ball lightning collapse, “I think I can manage the rest of your tests.”

“Once we’re done here, I’ll take you to Isabella.”