Chapter 16: A Few Slow Days (Also Brand New Cheat – GET!)

Chapter 16: A Few Slow Days (Also Brand New Cheat – GET!)

After this remarkable morning, things calm down. King's commission presents no trouble - I have already devised the structure once, now I just reproduce it a number of times and set it into the wooden planks, which are then polished and coated. I'm cheating on coating, just like anywhere else, it's just a layer of tar with finely ground lapis lasuli as the filler being flash-dried on the surface like a varnish. The result, however, is pretty remarkable - the combination of yellow pine with blue lapis lasuli brings out a vibrant green on the surface. Which is very unusual of a color for wood, but matches pretty well the green of copper. To make things easier, I etch a number into each pair of receivers, from zero to nine. Yes, I used to be a programmer, among other things.

Sending them back to king goes off without hitch. And... that's where things get really slow for several days. Ed continues to avoid me studiously. Alistair is being his gallant self, dispensing pleasantries as he goes but never letting anything worthwhile slip. Honestly, he's ridiculously good with keeping secrets, when he wants to. Hiram is a no-show. He poked in once, inspected his room and vanished somewhere. A manservant of his is in occupation, so I'm guessing Hiram is stuck in the castle doing diplomatic overtures and token appearances. Selene had gone quiet. When we meet in the halls, she looks wary, but hasn't tried speaking to me again. The idle gossip I've collected indicates she's keeping low. In part because after the unsuccessful demarches earlier people started asking uncomfortable questions about her hostility, questions she had no good answers for. In other part because I'm nowhere near how she expected me to behave, which apparently included the stereotypical "evil noblewoman laugh" and attempts at petty sabotage. No idea why she thinks I'd target her so early, she hasn't even spoken with Ed so far.

What worries me the most, however, is that Moon Unit decided to maintain some distance. Oh, we still meet and exchange pleasantries in the hall, but she professes to be busy whenever I venture any suggestions of spending time together. I did attempt to clarify the situation, but all I got back was a plea to give her a few days to "deal with it". I'm not sure what IT is, but if IT persists much longer, I might start entertaining concepticidal notions towards IT. Whatever IT is.

I'm in a foul mood because of it. Thankfully, I have a distraction - the king had sent a second commission. He wants four of eight-point systems and eight of six-point, four-point and three-point ones. And twenty more of point-to-point connector pairs. And a separate six-point system which, if I am reading the hints right, is actually intended to be used by the royal family as their personal family line to each other, because the wood I'm provided for that one is abonos. Aka, the top grade bogwood, which is stupidly complicated to obtain. I'm in the process of cutting copper, using a conjured piece of carbide-edged osmium. Extravagant, but bad mood in shoggoth equals magical outbursts, so conjuring rare metals was actually pretty therapeutic. Fusing enough of carbon into it was even more satisfying. Combine with me having the strength on demand, well... Bridgit took one look at me slicing up a slab of copper like a butter stick, went pale and departed to the far side of the room. I guess the accompanying effects were a little too much - there's been sparking, the odor of vaporized copper and an occasional microblast from copper steam build up.

And... I fumble the last sliver and instead of it, the blade chops into my hand. Ow. Pretty solid hit, actually, I seem to have severed all the fingers except for the thumb. Aaand that's when I hear quick thumping of steps behind my back. Shit shit shit shit shit! I push the new fingers out frantically, giving my newly reconstructed hand a flex. Looks normal, works normal... Taking a stock of Bridgit's expression, she saw it. Damn.

"Mistress...." - she begins worriedly.

"I'm fine. Everything's fine. Nothing to worry about." - I reply quickly. I'd smile, but I have a gut feeling that the resulting expression would be... less than reassuring.

"So you didn't cut off your fingers just now?" - she asks suspiciously.

"Nope. No. What fingers? No missing fingers. See?" - flex my hand in front of her.

"Yes. Why, do you want to come with? I intend to stroll in the garden for a while, clear out my thoughts and lungs before dinner." - I offer back, and she nods excitedly.

Normally, I'd offer my elbow, but I'm feeling a little bit possessive right now. so instead, I wrap my arm around her waist and pull her close. She gasps softly but goes along with it, her hand shyly coming to rest on my hip. Better. Much better. Gardens suddenly seem that much more brighter.

"...I'm sorry I wasn't available much the last few days, Alyssa. I wasn't feeling well." - she opens the conversation.

I have to chuckle. "I understand where you're coming from, but next time, consider that having someone to rub your belly while you're reading something on the couch will make feeling unwell that much more pleasant." - I offer.

"...Ngh." - is her answer to that. And a looooot of blushing. Well, here's hoping you will consider my words at least. She scrambles to change topic. "Alyssa, I was wondering something." - she ventures - "What exactly did you mean when you said TEKELI-LI!"

She goes wide-eyed and clamps both of her hands over her mouth, surprised at the eldritch sound she just uttered. Thankfully, the garden is empty, barring the two of us. Turning to face her properly, I put my hands on her shoulders and kiss her forehead. "It's not a word." - I explain with a bashful smile - "It's mating call." Aaand she beats all of her previous records at blushing once she comprehends.

"Oh gods, you mean I... you... I..." - she trails off and bites her lip, looking at me.

"Made me want to tear your clothes off and have my wicked ways with you right on the flowerbed here? Yes." - I finish for her - "Kindly don't do that in public places, I probably won't be able to restrain myself if you keep giving the call like this."

It would be probably more reassuring if her look was not quite so calculating right now.