“So… What do you think?” I asked nervously.

Koltrak, the Siren’s flight First Mate, was sitting in my new chair, in the storage room of Faros’ carpentry. My notes and designs were spread out on the desk in front of him. Flyssa was standing behind him and looking over his shoulder. She had not said a word for a solid ten minutes.

The Pterar sailor looked up at my question with a frustrating lack of expression.

“Let’s go over each of them one by one,” he said. “Tell me how they are supposed to work.”

“Very well,” I said. “There are basically two types of designs. The first is to transport the cargo from ship to quay and the second is to simply lessen the cargo’s weight.”

I pointed to the design I was the less confident about.

“This is basically a smaller, narrower cart that can carry one barrel or crate. You roll it onto the ship, load the cargo, roll it out and unload.”

Koltrak shook his head.

“It’s not practical. The wheels are too far apart for most planks. And even if you removed the ship’s railing and got a wide plank, it wouldn’t be easier than just rolling the barrels.”

“Yeah, I figured it was too unwieldy. So I thought of this,” I said and pointed to a second drawing I had made. I was not a very good drawer, but it seemed to at least convey my idea.

“This is a hand truck. It’s a narrow and robust frame, with a small ledge or platform close to the ground. You have two wheels just behind the ledge. You roll the barrel, still upright, onto the ledge, and pull on the handles to tilt the hand truck backward. With the lever effect, the weight is already lessened without any use of Aether magic. With it, it becomes even easier.”

The Pterar examined my drawing. He made a small whistling sound.

“It’s better,” he said. “But you have to realize that a packed barrel weighs a lot. You’re putting a lot of stress on the axle and the wheels. Especially with wheels small enough to work. What materials are those made up of anyway? Metal?”

I had asked myself that question a lot. I had not seen any evidence of rubber since coming to Sturron, so that was probably out. But I had seen something that had picked my curiosity.

“The wheels should be made of something resilient and the tyres should have a good adhesion to the ground and maybe some property that soften the shocks. I’m not familiar with all the materials available to us, but the best wheels I have seen were on a Bourok’s cart. I think we should ask one of their Crafter.”

Koltrat chuckled at that. Flyssa frowned and finally spoke.

“Bourok Crafters are expensive and secretive about their work. Are you sure there is no better way?”

“As I said, I don’t know which materials are available for that,” I shrugged. “But I know a Bourok. He’s actually one of my two customers. I think I mentioned him during our first meeting. Anyway, when I told him what I could do, he went to his family and they had one of their Crafter enchant his cart. So we could ask them through him. Not much to lose anyway. Oh! I forgot to mention this to you haven’t I? From what I’ve seen, they’re interested in Aether magic for their cart. We could probably do regular business with them, if we manage to show them what they have to gain.”

The Financier tried to glare at me, but she could not restrain the smile that crept on her face.

“Yes, Luc,” she sighed. “You did forget to mention that. But it is good to hear. I would like to talk to this Bourok customer you have and see if I can enter a negotiation with his kin.”

“No problem, I’ll arrange something next time I see him. So anyway, what do you guys think of the hand truck?”

“Perhaps it could work,” said Koltrak. “With Bourok wheels and a strong metal frame it should hold. Have to try it out to say for sure. It would be expensive though. High level work.”

“I agree,” added Flyssa. “But it is a good idea. We should create a few designs and test them out. It would indeed be expensive, but even two of those hand trucks could considerably hasten the work of loading and unloading. I’ll talk to some decent Smiths for the frames and perhaps a Wheelmaker while we wait to see if the Bourok lead pans out.”

I felt relieved that Flyssa would assist me with the crafters. Truth be told, I was winging it. I was not an engineer of any sort. The drawings I had made would have made an actual engineer cringe. My plan was to vaguely tell them what I wanted the final result to look like and let them worry about the details.

“Now, onto the weight lesseners,” I said with enthusiasm. “I have two. One is fun and probably much too impractical. The other is boring and dependable and likely the best idea. Let me start with the first! How to lessen the weight of a barrel, you ask? Slap a bigger, enchanted barrel on top of it!”

I gave them my best smile. I knew this was stupid, but the idea of using larger barrels to lessen the weight of a smaller one just cracked me up. It clearly did not have the same effect on them.

“What’s the second one?” asked Koltrak, ending the awkward silence.

“It’s boring,” I said. “But basically just a sheet you put around the container, like clothes for barrels. Oh that’s a great name! We can even sew handles on it for the crates and sacks that you can’t roll. We’d have to test the most durable materials to make the sheet out of and also figure out if it needs to be closed like a bag or not, but I think it is the easiest and cheapest solution. We could have a bunch of them and quickly replace any sheet whose enchantment breaks.”

“This would work?” asked Flyssa, leaning towards me with interest. “You are confident that simply putting the cloth around a container would instantly lessen their weight by four tenth?”

“Fairly certain, yes. We can experiment to make sure.”

The Financier turned to Koltrak. She had a glint in her eyes.

“What do you think, First Mate? Would this be practicable?”

“I’d have to try, but if does work like Luc says it does, then, with some experience, the time spent wrapping up the cargo would be more than made up. Even if it isn’t, I think any of my sailors would prefer a slower but easier loading process. Less workforce needed too.”

“Excellent!” Flyssa said and clapped. “In that case, we will order a few standard sheets made of different materials to test them out. We will improve on the design once we have the basis.”

“One advantage of the cloth option,” I added, “is that it can very simply develop a range of similar products. For example, we could make bags for farmers to use during harvest, or anybody that has to carry anything heavy, really. Even wilder, but this will also need testing, we could make something like a vest. I’m not sure about the effects on a person’s bodyweight, my books weren’t clear, but imagine if Messengers had the weight of their torso lessened. If would considerably improve their endurance, I think. Or people that jump regularly. Do they exist? Well, if they do, it would let them jump higher. Maybe it would help Pixes fly around more easily too, though I think their flight is already part magical. Their wings don’t seem big enough otherwise. Anyway. I’m sure there are possibilities I’m not even thinking of.”

The stunned silence that followed was extremely satisfying. I had spent a while pondering the uses of Aether magic. It seemed crazy to me that it was not used everywhere. The introduction of a similar technology on Earth would literally revolutionize the transportation and logistics industry and, by extension, nearly every other industry. It would be taught in schools and used daily by everyone. I guessed that the high barrier to entry of magic in this world had probably contributed to its noble image, above the mundane. Perhaps there was something with the Class system too. I hadn’t studied it enough to say.

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This time, it was Flyssa that broke the silence.

“What?!” she cried. “You can do all of that? Why in the name of all the Gods was this not a part of your initial pitch?!”

I shrugged.

“I would have probably mentioned it had you not been interested in my presentation. But, as I told you, I want to be discreet. I want to take this slow, step by step. If we start going around and using Aether magic everywhere, we’re going to get way too much attention, attention from powerful people. I don’t know this city. I don’t know who the players are and what they’re capable of. I want to see how people react to our products first before expanding. We need to be careful.”

“Wiser, I think,” added Koltrak, nodding. “No sense in going too fast and making mistakes.”

“Very well,” said Flyssa. “Your argument makes sense. But we should plan to discuss the possible uses of your magic once we have a more concrete idea of how your designs fare.”

“I agree. And thank you for hearing me on this.”

“Of course. This is a partnership and your concerns are sensible. Now, I will be visiting a few crafters to ask about materials and prices. Koltrak, how soon would your sailors be ready to try loading your ship with the help of a few enchanted sheets?”

“I’ll ask Louprak, but we’ll likely have some cargo soon. We’ll arrange something.”

“Excellent! Thank you, Mage Luc. I am excited for the future of our enterprise.”

They both left after a few courtesies. I sat on one of Faros’ chairs and sighed loudly. The Schalass Carpenter was measuring a plank with a knotted rope. He looked up at me.

“Why are you looking like that?” he asked. “From what I heard, it seemed to be going well.”

“It did. We’re making progress. Might start making some sales soon. But I feel like I’m paranoid, wanting to stay hidden so much. And at the same time, I feel like I’m not paranoid enough. I don’t know how to act or what place to take. It’s like I’m swimming in the middle of the ocean, with no land in sight and no fucking idea of whether sharks even exist in these waters.”

Faros put down his rope and faced me. He had a quizzical frown.

“What are sharks?”

“Uhh… Sea monsters with big teeth? You don’t have those?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never been on the sea myself. Never left Sturron. Don’t see the point really, the city’s big enough as it is. Now Amely, she was the explorer. Couldn't stay put for a week without looking for another quest. I had to raise Flyssa all by myself. I mean, I had help. But still. Damned woman hated it here. I think she would have left, if it weren’t for the girl. And maybe for me too. A bit. Anyway. I don’t know if she knew about those sharks of yours.”

“...What?”

I didn’t know what else to say. He continued without seeming to care.

“She must have known about them though. She knew every damned monster there was. Used to have nightmares about the ones she faced. She’d wake up, drenched in sweat and screaming, and I would hold her until her heart stopped racing and her breathing quieted. Perhaps that’s why she always came back. Couldn’t fight the monsters without a stable base to rest in. But every time she came back, she soon grew restless. She would meet with her Adventurer friends and at some point, one would talk about a new plant to harvest deep in the forest or a new monster guarding a shiny gem. And then she’d leave again. And that’s my point.” He held a clawed-finger in front of me. “Amely was terrified but she kept going back out there. Maybe she had a problem, maybe she wasn’t all right in her head. Who is, truly? She wanted it. She needed it to feel alive and so she would kick herself and face her fears. You have a choice, Luc. Nobody’s forcing you to do this. You can go back to your bookshop and study your magic in peace, maybe do some small jobs here and there. It’ll take longer to get what you want, but you won’t trouble anybody. Nobody will come looking for you. You can take your time. Is that what you want, Luc?”

I didn’t need to think about it. It wasn’t. Maybe a few years wouldn’t change much in the scheme of things. It would already take me years, decades perhaps, to reach my goal of going home. But it was the only thing that kept me from going insane. I couldn’t be lazy, or so prudent that I stagnated. I would not forgive myself.

“No, it’s not,” I answered with conviction.

“Good. Then get your ass out of my chair and go make my daughter some money.”

“Fuck yeah!” I yelled, standing up and brandishing a fist. “I mean, not right now. I need to wait for Flyssa to come back with some materials. But I’ll go work on my enchanting.”

The Schalass snorted. He took his knotted rope and turned back to his workbench.

I walked a few steps before stopping and glancing over my shoulder.

“Amely sounds like a great woman,” I said.

I thought he wouldn’t answer and started walking again. Then I heard his voice, quiet and sombre.

“She was.”

I piled a bunch of scraps on my desk and got to work. Trying to weave a rune had been a failure, and I probably wasn’t nearly good enough to manage it, but I had not said my last word. Weaving wasn’t the only way of leveling my Enchanter Class. Until now, I had mostly just enchanted runes over and over without much reflection. That was going to change.

I began by separating my scraps into piles of similar materials. I mostly did that by the feel of the texture. I was hoping that there weren’t too many types of wool. Then I arranged them by size, from small to large. I had to cut a few seams with a knife I borrowed from Faros to end up with mostly flat pieces with the least folds I could.

First, I was going to verify that any cloth of a similar size, no matter what it was made of, would have the same capacity once Aether enchanted. Second, I would measure an approximate ratio of added capacity and test whether it stayed the same if the size of the cloth varied or if there were diminishing or growing returns. Those were my main concerns. I would also need to experiment with the duration of the Aether link at some point and try to enchant non-cloth related things. I was surrounded by old and half-finished wooden projects. Perhaps I could try convincing Faros to let me use them. I could bribe him with ipio. But that was for later.

Since I had no measuring cup, I brought onto my desk the two jugs I had used for my first demonstration and a bunch of cups from Faros’ drawers. He made me promise twice that I would wash them.

As for what I would actually use to measure the capacity of each cloth once folded up, I didn’t have to look far. I couldn’t use water for obvious reasons, but I was in a Carpenter’s workshop. And there’s one thing that Carpenters have no lack of. Sawdust.

This time, Faros did not complain when I borrowed a bunch of it.

When I was finally done setting up, I began to science this magic.

*You have reached the level 8 of the Class Student.*

Coming back to Inrak’s at dusk felt a little like coming home after the first day of school.

“Luc!” she exclaimed as soon as I pushed open the door of her bookshop. She rushed out of behind her counter to greet me. “There you are! Did you have a nice day? Have you settled in nicely?”

Behind her, her daughter Miska boomed with laughter.

“Hey Inrak, I’m fine, thank you. All is going well. I’ll tell you everything at dinner. Hey Miska, it’s been a while. How are you?”

“I’m good. I leveled up a few days ago! I meant to come sooner, but I’ve been busy with the kids.”

“Congratulations! That’s great! And how are the kids?”

Miska ate with us that evening. Apart from Inrak, she was the only one I had told about Earth, back when I hadn’t yet developed a healthy amount of secrecy. It was nice to be able to talk openly with those two. Despite their feathers and the cooing and whistling sounds they made, it felt almost normal.