Honey woke to a different chaos. She had slept like the dead when Yarrow had woken behind her. Honey had traded up so many of her supplies earlier in her life, and so Yarrow would have such a view to rush and race, leaving a binding beside the bed with Br1n still down. But that was Yarrow's to worry about.
With the slow smolder like a cooling camping fire, Honey would potter about as Br1n's functionality would slowly stabilise and Honey would discover her 15 minutes of fame.
"Honeysuckle, darling, please answer some of your messages so I can free my processing energy up for the disaster relief this city is experiencing." Br1n would politely but firmly ask, still strained enough that she was a disembodied voice.
Parts of the city were also 'growing without a stint', rolling brownouts or water not flowing right from communal tanks, the entire Br1n run infrastructure just blown for the moment. Still, even she has to pull out her glow leads and directly connect to the solar cell by her window to brew a pot of "Songs of Midnight" tea, she does as requested and brings up her messages.
207. Honeysuckle has 207 messages she has to read after last night. 14 of them are quick, are you OK messages sent during the morning with a group "Am fine, was nowhere near" reply scribed casually as she steeps water through leaves and spices. 3 can be left as reminders for notes Claypot has of some of her portfolio designs. Leaving 190 messages of sheer madness.
There is only one thing to do. And so an hour later and five minutes apart Honey gets two knocks on her door.
Honey has small plantain biscuits and a second pot of tea prepared as Mr Kaito and Professor Claypot enter her abode. She is still in her morning robe, her hair held together by a comb and the professor is not much better.
"You sounded frazzled, you look absolutely wild, what's going on child?" Claypot says, eyes dark with worry. Her voice is rich and smooth today, as if sleepy despite it being close to the peak of the first sun.
"They want my designs." She tells them both and Mr Kaito's face goes from confusion to a knowing and proud grin.
"How many people want your 'help'?" Mr Kaito asks, pouring three cups with a languid flow of his body.
"I have a hundred and ninety messages on just Thalia's dress. And that's only the ones that got to me before Br1n got hit with a disaster. There will be so much of the city for which that is just a horrific distraction." She motions to the silhouette of the smoking tower out her window.
"People will want to focus on something else once they know those they care about are safe." The professor agrees, reaching for the vibrant pink of the binding of Honey's designs from last year. "Have you seen many that aren't after something unique and custom?"
"A few. I was also hoping Mr Kaito and those he knew could do something in their own style but a similar vein" Honey is nervous as she implores someone she has been using as a second mentor - for while Susan Claypot has an amazing eye for form and beauty, she was not a tailor and so she had previously needed to find someone who could teach her that craft - the primary reason he was here in this city.
"You'll need to construct one for Deluna Vesperine, even if she is not on the list. Kay Yamoto and Miss Fooltree would be powerful clients to trade for - you would get a Fooltree tattoo of course as trade." The professor rattles off, as if working with three of the most gorgeous non-academic women in Natare was just a thing you did.
Mr Kaito gives a deep chuckle at all this. "Trade in favours, Miss Honeysuckle, with all this work you are going to have too much to to do more than hoard if you do otherwise. But yes, I know enough people that I can take a portion of these off your hands. If we delay this a few days, and don't kill ourselves for the endeavour we could even make this a bit of an event."
"Now all I have to do is decide on a tattoo."
The next week returned to a depressing side of normal. With Orion unconscious and Marcus in captivity; with Br1n only partially able to keep all the motors running and Honey dragged into an endless project, the only person who Needed her was Verdan.
Verdan who had promptly shuffled her into a team working on improving the arboretum circuits to deal with the extra light they were draining from their solar cells. It wasn't even circuitry or artefacts - her specialisations. They weren't even working with a mage-biologist, most of the effects trial and error on grown flowers so they would not damage the arboretum as is. Every suggestion she had given had been thrown against her previous accolades in a 'that would be a waste of time'.
It still stung, but the relic she has back at her flat, and the discovery of more rooms in the tower dulls that academic ache inside her and she is almost content with what she has here. Almost.
By the middle of the week she had gone through half her stash of the headache potions, and a end of week journey down to Agava is looking likely. At least she, of all the witches she has met, likes her - well means her well. She cannot work out if Wren liked her before the slap. Thalia doubts she likes her after she put her whole arm into that slap.
At least the walk down to the lower district was nice, especially with the world all soft and the pressures of the burned tower and the barred gates of the academy so far away. Cause that was another thing the attack had done; there were magic gates across the entrance to the Academy and guards who were Br1n guardians were now stationed to check passes as city council guards. So Thalia getting out of the top end was remarkably enjoyable. She had even kicked the ball with some of the children, teaching the younger ones how to use the side of their feet to guide the kick.
"The city heals as slowly as your human. My city, was barely touched by the chaos across the river." Agava had teased her lightly over the trade. Thalia had traded for a cooled drink sold just across the river from an old ice circuit that had been repurposed. Some sort of nut flavoured fruit, a couple of Starberry gems, and some spices from Saburra, mixed and frosted - and then gifted to Agava so they could talk longer.
She takes a sip, as she watches the witch carefully. "And what makes your city and my city so different, if they are truly two cities?"
"Your mages are so stuffy. Show me some life and vigour and maybe I might believe that there is something to the people we work to keep well."
Thalia had paused a moment to ask the question - "How many of the people of this area were caught up in the fire, or are now working to get it all back together?"
"A few, dear. It is not that we are sequestered down here, but you know yourself, you trade until you find community - and the farther from the mages we get, the more like minded souls we get. I'm surprised you never crossed the bridge the more I know you." Agava had said, sucking on her teeth.
"It's been a few weeks, I've always wanted to be a mage, circuits adorning my body, ancient relics under my fingers. It is all I've wanted since my mothers showed me their work. They were cave divers for the academy, and sourced all over the north of Levis, until they drowned in a sea cave that the city had sent them to explore. I was hooked on being important to the academy ever since, it is just of late that some of the friction I've held in check has bubbled to the surface."
"I still think getting out and doing practical magic would suit you more than whatever soul crushing assignment they have you on now, dear."
Thalia had been forced to pause on that, not that it was soul crushing yet, just that not all the information had filtered down to the witch before her. Valuing her council over her own secrecy, she had decided to educate Agava. "I've applied to work for Orion Valtor and VRPI."
"Oh you poor thing, you've chosen yet another yolk around your neck instead of walking your own path? Did the journey to Brambleberry really scramble your mind and path just enough to take you that direction. No mind, I will still be here to set you right."
"I appreciate the sentiment, but this was a choice I made, rather than the paths people keep insisting upon me. Even if your insistence sounds like a very nice freedom." Thalia chuckles, the laughter not quite reaching her eyes as she grips the cooled gourd tighter and taking a long sip.
The rest of the meeting had been tense, even if they did leave on good terms, even though Agava had mentioned again that she should check out the grove, and bring back the proof that had been asked for Mrs Vesperine.
Thalia was just about to give up the rest of the week, reading something fictional on her apartment's rooftop garden, when she gets the message - Syn was here.
Natare was loud, at least the sections Syn had explored after surprising Thalia on her arrival. Thalia had insisted Syn let her clean up if she was going to stay in the city long enough for them to explore dating. Especially since the rest of Thalia's community was busy and the shorter woman would have to be entertained by Thalia alone. Much like those first few wonderful days in Brambleberry, but in reverse.
She of course had visited all the landmarks, getting turned away at the academy gates, and someone trying to pull a fast one when she tried trading at the market. But she had gone outside the gates, ignoring the lower city to explore the river below the tongue of Natare, the bridge that linked the academy city and the town that looked much similar to home in culture.
Syn had dipped her aching toes into the river, closing her eyes and listening to the birds and the water run past lazily. She could hear a boat being steered towards her, taking trade from the city to the coastal towns run by trolls and nocturne, her mountains and valleys so far away, and the electric thrill of her romance with Thalia so close. It would be nice to see the other three as well, Yarrow especially as the other part of Thalia's life - they'd gotten so little time back in Brambleberry to explore that dynamic and yet with all the chaos winding those city streets, Syn wonders if circumstance will push the same situation on them again.
She hears a whistle and opens one eye, then the other.
It is a woman in a slim dress, layers of barely there silk layered atop, as a pair of hand drums lay under one arm. She smiles wide as she sees Syn. "Ah, someone is in my spot." The voice is light, with a chuckle laced throughout.
"It is a nice spot. Not as good as my waterfall, but not every place can have that nice a place to skinny dip." She gives her new friend a wide smile, teasing, but thinking of Thalia.
"The woman must have something special about her to make you glow like that", the bard says with a laugh as she lilts, "The nymph from the north with her eyes shining bright. Thighs clapping thunder as she dives out of sight. Her heart strung with life, and her soul strung for strife, and the words on her lips pluck pretty kisses.... out of sight? I'll work on that one." She taps the rhythm out on her drums, the last few notes faltering as the words fall out of sync for the beat.
"You might want to cover your eyes if you don't wish for an eyeful" Syn says back, beginning to shuck from her clothes, determined. She wades naked into a stream that tugs with a flow rate that does not move with the pace of the land, instead pulled along by the magic of the city and those smaller towns that would be drawn to build along it.
Staying in one spot in these cool, clear waters is an effort, yet she easily keeps her shoulders dry and the freckles that splatter them and the tops of her breasts in this light brown dusting are on display to the bard. "I'm Syn by the way. Just Syn, nothing else."
"That is a strange identity to hold onto. Which religion to you cleave-to to call yourself that concept of sin." Deluna says as she moves to follow the shorter Brambleberry lady.
Confused for a moment Syn laughs as she comprehends the misunderstanding. "My name is Syndata, like the plant, Miss Deluna, though I'm a touch basic with my patron being Izdione." She motions to herself with a defiant challenge, legs working double hard to keep position.
"It is a touch taboo to worship here. Especially the mother-of-monsters. We are a secular town, as the rest of Levis is supposed to be." Deluna says carefully, trying not to seem judgemental but failing slightly in her tone.
Syn laughs, even as Deluna steps into the flowing current, swimming to be hairs breath away from the woman. "I will never be ashamed of any part of me, especially to appease some city folk who have never met the deep wilds with anything but open hands. Your coins have no power there, as does your enlightenment."
Deluna's voice is low as she cups Syn's hips to keep them at the same pace. "Is that where you meet your gods?" Syn hopes that won't inspire Deluna, even as something seems to be unlocking behind her brilliant eyes.
"I meet my gods in all things, for the Mother brings the cold of winter, the dangers in the dark, and the will to fight those things that make you afraid. Are you afraid, bai-rd?" She emphasises her accent, letting the other feel the distance between them in all things.
"I'm not some small child. I've had my journeys and lost my losses. I persist to spite my fears and I turn that spite into song."
"Is the wonder in life gone then, with all your many grey hairs?" She swims into Deluna, wet bodies brushing skin to skin.
Deluna raises an eyebrow. "You are like a Dreflin, seducing poor maidens to a watery grave. The wonder is not gone though."
Syn just chuckles, as Glimmers form in the air around Deluna. "Are you seduced, city girl. Are you seduced?"
Much later Syn walks the shore in her shift, arms draped with her clothes and a growth of a river flower, humming a song about a country girl who came to the city to play with a city girl, who danced on water and who captured the hearts of all she met. Though she thinks her bard should play it faster.
