Candles flickered in the Lodestone as Wax hunched over a sheet of blue parchment, their fingertips stained with ink, their fins - still long, but now pierced with rings and, in one place, torn - shimmering in the warm light. Dark eyes squinted from behind round lenses. Wax sighed, then leaned back, stretching. Spending one’s time hunched over documents might well practically be a Luminymph tradition, but that didn’t mean it was any worse for their spines than for any other. Especially not in her state. Wax winced as she completed the stretch, feeling the old ache in her side. As it turned out, building a flying machine solo, almost entirely from scratch, was a lot harder than it looked. Who knew that metal did… interesting things… when it got hot?
Still, with all the aches and burns came progress. A skimmer first, then a ship that sailed beneath the waters, then land-ships. Not many, but enough to begin making a difference - enough to inspire bright-eyed young Volgeckos, Luminymphs, Mydlins, to come to the Lodestone and ask, kindly but repeatedly, for the chance to learn how to build these ships from the Raft’s newest wright. And yet, since all those years ago - how long had it truly been, now? - there had not yet been another flying machine.
Not until now.
Wax took a final look at the blueprints, then sighed and stood up. They could only check the numbers so many times. Besides, the more time they wasted checking the ship-maps, the less time they would have to find the others.
Her breath misted as Wax opened the Lodestone’s door and began walking down to the beach, where her creation was moored (for the moment, anyway). It was broad and elegant, with two sets of long cloth-and-iron wings and a fan on the front, guarding a glass chamber which Wax had adapted from her underwater ship’s design. There wasn’t much space inside the chamber, but it would be enough for the three of them. Of that, she was certain. Sand gave way beneath her boots as she approached the ship. Before Wax could climb the steps she had laid against the hull, however, she paused and looked up.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve done this,” they began. “I do not have the… fondest… memories of mine, but… perhaps it’ll be different. I would wait for the other two, but I’ve also heard that this ought to happen before the first journey, not after.”
Wax paused, thinking, looking up at the flying machine. So many ideas, so many hopes, so many people… people who had suffered, who had died, all in the hope that there was something else out there. Something more. Something new.
Blood, sweat, and tears, all made into this shining, half- (doubly?) alive creature. The morning breeze picked up, sending a shiver rippling down Wax’s spine, making the cloth of the sails whisper, just slightly.
Wax stepped closer and laid a hand on the flying craft’s chassis.
“If you’ll have it, I’ll give you a name to keep and wear with pride. Second is first, for those that came before you, for the split-second decisions and second looks and second chances. Wind follows, that which lets you fly. Second Wind, if you’ll have it, is the name I give to you.”
Perhaps it was Wax’s imagination, but as she stepped back and bowed to the newly-named flying machine and climbed up into its glass chamber, flicking the necessary switches to turn the engines on, she thought that the sun might’ve shone on it, just a fraction brighter.
Perhaps it did. The sun could do what it wished; Wax cared not. What mattered was that she had her creation, and she had her friends to find. One more adventure, one more chance, a second wind for the Adventurer’s Initiative.
Wax would find Pika first. That would be easy. Then, the pair of them could search for Mythhandler. He went unheard of for longer and longer times these days, but that was all right. It wouldn’t be much of a Mythhandler mission if he was ready to be found.
It would be a long adventure.
Wax was looking forward to it.
– Written by Molly M.