“Where were you?” is the question demanded of me upon my return to Gloria’s home.
“Out with Leal. You saw me go?” I say to Gloria as she stands above me at the front door. I have only just returned, Leal leaving before I rang the doorbell. Gloria gave me permission to come and go freely, but I can’t reach the doorknob.
“No, I didn’t.” Gloria looks at me, concerned. “You promised me you were going to help me out today, and I’ve been waiting,” she says.
I have no idea what she is talking about. “I did? With what?” I’m not opposed to help her out, especially as she opened her home to me. I will be happy to return the favour, but I don’t recall her ever asking for my help, nor my own agreement.
“You don’t remember? You were going to help me work the oven. Come, Solvei, I’m sure you’ll love it. It’s a noble job.” She Grabs my hand and leads me to the oven between Gloria’s building and the Continae. Gloria walks a bit too fast for me and I struggle to stagger along with one hand in her grasp and the other feebly trying to support my weight on my walking stick. I don’t complain. If she’s been waiting for me, she must be in a hurry to start now.
I’m brought to the stairway leading down to what I assume is the furnace. Rather than a simple hole in the ground like Raetamen’s oven, this stairway leads to a storage room constructed with stone floors, ceiling, and walls. There are massive piles of coal stored along the walls leading to a hatch in the far wall.
“Now I want you to keep this furnace going while I organise the cooking above. Adding coal to the fire will make this gauge go up. Keep the needle in the green zone for me, okay? Don’t let the gauge reach the red.” She points to a circular panel on the wall beside the furnace hatch. A needle etched with glowing lines I recognise as inscriptions. Three triangular zones paint the panel behind the needle: white, green and red.
“Oh, and you are welcome to as much coal as you want while you’re down here,” she says with a virtuous smile as she closes the furnace storage room door above me.
Okay? I guess this is fine. It’s dark in here with the door closed, but a simple thought sets my hair aflame, giving me light to see.
This entire situation is kinda sudden, but it’s not the worst. It might be pretty comfortable being able to nap in the furnace. How long am I supposed to keep the fire going for, anyway? I wish Gloria was more specific about my task, but I don’t want to interrupt her since she is in a rush. She must be late because I wasn’t there when she needed me.
I move towards the large stone door blocking the heat of the furnace. An ursu would have to crawl to fit inside, but it is the perfect height for me. It has the added benefit of having the handle low enough that I can actually open it. I grab the handle and pull.
Only to realise that I misjudged the weight of the door. The hatch doesn’t budge. I hold the handle and put my leg up against the wall beside the door for leverage. Pulling with all the strength I have, gives me only a sliver of movement accompanied by a deafening screech as the stone slides across stone. Once the hatch opens a bit, the resistance reduces. It is a lot easier to move when the stone isn’t grinding.
The heat of the already burning oven flows over me like a comfortable blanket. I ignore the inviting warmth and check the gauge. The needle is in the white zone, far from the green it should be. So, I need to add coal to the fire, right?
I try to lift the shovel left on a pile of coal. The unwieldy tool is twice my size and too heavy to lift, so I am quick to give up on using it. I settle with carrying armfuls of coal back and forth. It takes a considerable number of trips before the gauge reaches the middling point of the green area, where I am satisfied.
Trying to move that much coal has me exhausted, mainly because I have to hop around to move; I left my stick far enough away from the flames that it wouldn’t burn when I wasn’t paying attention. I also made it harder as I dropped most of the coal each trip, making it necessary to work longer than I should have. Eventually, I find it easier to just push coal along the floor and throw them in from the furnace door.
With the needle holding firm in the centre of the green region, it is time for a break. As I enter the furnace, I close the stone door to an ajar position; not wanting to lock myself in.
I sit upon a mass of coal within the small interior of the furnace. The cramped space makes me feel uneasy, reminding me of my time trapped underground. The fire is a cure to the tightening in my chest, making the enclosed space hotter and more welcoming with its cosy heat.
I don’t know how long I stay within the furnace. Any time I get comfortable, I worry that the gauge has changed and step out to check again. After the gauge drops to the white zone for the second time, I finally realise it is a measure of temperature. I don’t know why I didn’t figure that out straight away, but now that I know what it is for, I don’t bother checking it anymore. My natural sense for temperature is more accurate than the needle, so I can tell when the furnace needs to be fed. Not having to stress about keeping the temperature sensor within range, I relax into a comfortable nap in the flames.
The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
The insulation of the stone walls and the burning floor of coal allows the furnace to reach temperatures higher than I can achieve personally. It is a perfect temperature for me. I would benefit and grow while confined within this heat. It is a bit like Kindling in a way, albeit lonely.
I’m not sure how many hours I’m down here before Gloria descends the stairs to tell me my job is done and thanks me for helping. Excited, I hurry out of the pit into the dark night outside. The oven feels great and all, but I am uncomfortable being underground. I don’t like it at all. It prods too many thoughts of the chasm and that day’s events.
I don’t mention my worries to Gloria, though. I am glad to help. If I can’t even do this in return, would she shelter me for much longer?
Soon, I am once again on my bed in Gloria’s home, losing myself to a proper slumber.
❖❖❖
An update on the war comes a month after I began living in Fisross.
Every week, I spend a couple of days before the ursu’s Bratchina tending to the oven furnace for Gloria. Whenever both Leal and I are free, we meet in her hidden paradise — as she calls it — talking or playing in our time together. Gerben’s departure for the war has left her feeling depressed. I try to keep her spirits up, but sometimes nothing I do can keep her mind off her father.
I spend the day at Gloria’s waiting until Leal’s school finishes so I can have something to do. Usually, I go wandering, either looking at the city or angling out in the desert, where the city paving doesn’t reach, but I’m not allowed to do that anymore. After an incident where an ursu from the military conscription agency raised a fuss at the Continae about non-ursu wandering by themselves, Gloria hasn’t let me go out by myself anymore. It makes little sense to me. Regardless, I am confined to her house unless Leal accompanies me or I am working in the furnace.
While I haven’t seen any, Gloria mentioned other non-ursu in the city need to follow the new restrictions too.
In my free time, I try to practice my flame control, but when Gloria sees what I am doing, she flies into a panic. “Are you trying to burn my home down?” she says, raising her voice in anger. She comes up to me and grabs the satchel from around my neck.
“If you can’t behave, I’ll have to take away the things you enjoy,”
I feel distressed. I can’t lose it. The orb is the last thing I have left from my family.
“No, you can’t! Give it back! Give it back!” I demand, as panicked sobs build in my throat.
Suddenly, it is like Gloria’s face shifts. The anger flees her face and she raises an eyebrow at me. She looks at me as if I am odd. “Why are you so angry? I simply don’t want you burning my house,” she says, calm. She gives back my satchel with the marble inside, which I clasp to my chest. I am indignant, angry, and confused. Gloria’s temperament changes from moment to moment, and it always puts me off. I remain quiet, and she walks off like nothing happened.
Later, she jokes about my reaction, saying, “You overreact so much.” Laughing at my earlier outburst. It is embarrassing to listen to, but I can’t refute her.
I’m not sure what to think about Gloria at the moment and I just want to enjoy my time with Leal, so much so that I keep jumping when I think I hear her.
Only after my tenth time running to the front door, do I find her waiting for me.
“Let's go.” I say, grabbing her arm and walk out the front door, not giving her time to talk.
That’s right, walk. My leg has regrown. A good diet for the past few weeks has done wonders for my regeneration. I can walk again. I can run, skip and jump. It feels amazing. I want to spend all my time running around, but I was disallowed from roaming the city alone at the same time I stopped relying on my walking stick.
Once clear of the building, I tell her how happy I am to see her. “You’re finally here! You don’t know how bored I was without you.”
I’m going to keep my confusion about Gloria’s actions to myself. Leal is worried enough with her father at war. I don’t want to add concerns I’m not sure aren’t all in my head.
Leal smiles to me as we walk, “It’s good to see you too,” she says before picking me up and running towards our little spot. Indignant at being carried again after finally having the freedom to walk, I pound at her back. I can’t help but laugh with her as she giggles at my attempts.
We make it to our hidden space, squeezing through the gap once again. Leal drops me and I am quick to land on my feet. Happy I don’t trip and fall on my face, I flash a smile at Leal. She returns it for a moment, then drops it as she bites her lip in concern.
“Have you heard?” she asks.
Makes it kinda hard to guess when she doesn’t specify what she’s talking about.
“About what?”
“The war has moved far further south than expected. They weren’t particularly clear about this in the announcement yesterday, but I’ve heard in the academy that the enemy has taken Wrusten and is nearing Wrine.” I don’t know where Wrine is, so I just stare blankly at her.
At my dumb stare, she seems to get frustrated. “You know, it’s so stupid you’re not allowed to go to school. This stuff should be common knowledge,” she gripes. I watch her as she thinks for a moment, and I can tell the exact instant she has a horrible idea. Her face lights up and she grins at me. The last time she wore that smirk, we’d been stuck on a roof for hours. We were lucky that someone investigated the noise we were making.
“They announced yesterday that the New Vetus Council will withdraw maintenance support to cities and towns bordering the wasteland. We’ll all be moving to cities closer to the heart of the nation soon enough, so why don’t we get you a little look into the academy while we still have the chance?” Yep, a horrible idea indeed. I am interested in visiting the place Leal almost never stops talking about, but I can’t go against the will of my hosts. They have been nice enough to provide a place to live when I had nowhere else.
Also, I really don’t want to be the target of an ursu’s anger.
“Leal, I can’t. What would happen if they found me there? What would Gloria do if I was caught there?”
“Come on, Solvei. You’ll never get another chance. Plus, I really want to show you what the world looks like.” They know what the world looks like? Ugh, no. No, don’t be tempted.
“I can’t be back too late, okay? I don’t want Gloria mad at me.” Wait, why am I agreeing?
“Yes! You’re going to love it, I already know,” Leal cheers. Oh, that’s right, I just enjoy my time with her too much. This is gonna cause me issues in the future, isn’t it?
And so, I am dragged back out of our hidden paradise, and we are on our way to break into Leal’s mage academy.
Nothing would go wrong, right?
Right?