chapter 138 – goddess’ light

“hey, emily!” podrick calls out, knocking his fist against the wall above the crawlspace she’s tucked into to grab her attention. “ash says they think we’re done and wants you to come check.”

“okay,” emily calls back, her steady hand carving a rune into a structural beam of metal without pause. “i’ll be there in a moment.”

i’ve finished forty per cent of the runes needed now. it’s a shame i can’t finish it before we set off, but the modified engine will be enough to compensate for the armour''s added weight for now.

she finishes cutting the shape into the metal beam, taking a tiny pinch of powdered lesser wind crystal and smearing it across the rune before shimmying out of the confined space and standing up beside podrick. as she glances at him, emily notices his skin is a touch too pale, and there are obvious dark bags beneath his eyes.

“you haven’t slept?” she asks as they walk through the ship towards the exit.

“no,” podrick says, stifling a yawn. “i’ve been helping ash. whatever’s needed to get us in the air sooner, right?”

emily raises a brow and gives a small, impressed nod at his work ethic.

“have you spoken to your mum yet?”

podrick noticeably shivers at the question and slowly nods his head.

“yeah. she was expectedly unhappy about me going overseas, but she was thanking the goddess that i’ve made friends while she complained about it.”

“ha,” emily scoffs. “she isn’t trying to stop you leaving?”

“surprisingly, no. though she’s certainly worried for my safety,” he responds, flushing with embarrassment as they walk out onto the steps to descend from the ship.

emily immediately realises why when she looks to the front of the warehouse and sees a tall woman with flowing blonde hair standing with her back to the ship, talking to anton in a stern tone. anton looks resigned, but his eyes seem to light up when he spots emily. the moment she sees that, a foreboding feeling forms in her gut.

he wouldn’t.

“mrs rockworth, i understand your concerns, but i assure you the safety of my crew is my top priority,” anton says in a placating tone. “if you still feel concerned though, i can introduce you to the head of our ship’s security.”

he would.

emily freezes at the base of the ship’s steps as anton turns mrs rockworth around and guides her over. she turns her head to look at the boy cowering and shame-faced beside her.

“is the armour swap actually finished,” emily asks with an icy whisper. “or was i just brought out here to placate your mother?”

“it is,” podrick rushes to explain. “but mum came to help us as well, and going to get you was a good excuse to run from her nagging.”

emily sighs and glances around the room, spotting ash and several tired-looking workers gathered together on a few seats off to the side, sipping from steaming mugs while watching mrs rockworth from afar.

is everyone here scared of her?

emily’s irritation fades quickly, and she looks back to the woman as she arrives before her. they both silently take each other in.

mrs rockworth is taller than her husband, standing between podrick and emily in height. she wears a set of worn overalls with several neat patches sewn on and dozens of stained grease smears marking the faded fabric. her sleeves are rolled up to her biceps, showing off her muscular arms and calloused hands. her pretty face is set in a stern glare as her piercing blue eyes take emily in, and the crow''s feet beside them only add to the streaks of grey that she wears proudly in her hair to complete her fierce look.

after a few tense moments of silence, with anton and podrick both holding their breaths in anticipation, mrs rockworth finally speaks.

“gilly rockworth,” she says, offering her hand. “i take it you’re the emily my pod told me about.”

“that would be me,” emily replies, taking her hand and firmly shaking it. “emily coldstone, it’s a pleasure to meet you.”

gilly nods as their hands separate, her eyes narrowing further as she asks a question.

“so, what did you do to require being smuggled out of this blessed country?”

“i wiped out a noble family,” emily responds with a chilling smile that elicits a flinch from anton despite being used to her.

“i see,” gilly says, as unphased as her son. “i take it you aren’t a believer then?”

“no, i’m not. though, nor were the family i killed. i doubt you’ll find many faithful among the nobility.”

gilly quietly nods, gazing into emily’s eyes as if searching for the truth.

“i’m not anymore,” emily confirms with a nod. “but it’s not like i’m against respecting other’s faith. i just lost mine a long time ago.”

podrick nods silently, not pushing further.

“are you going to continue working?” he asks instead.

“yeah. you should go get some sleep though,” emily responds.

“i will. is your ability to go without sleep something i’ll get eventually?”

“as long as you reach a higher level, yes.”

podrick yawns in response and separates from emily at the next junction to head towards his quarters, leaving her to continue her work enchanting the ship alone.

***

two days of uneventful flying later, calypso approaches the bastion city of erenmoor, a city owned by the hibiscus family at the very edge of the continent, next to the narrowest crossing to dennari.

emily hears a loud creaking as the engine room door is pushed open and opens her eyes, pulling her mind from the spellweave as she looks up at the new entrant.

“hey, emily,” podrick says as he walks in, noticing her sitting cross-legged on the floor. “hope i’m not interrupting.”

“only a little,” emily says with a shrug, pushing herself off the floor and noticing the boy’s gaze drifting up to admire the pulsing engine behind her. “she’s beautiful, isn’t she?”

“yeah.” podrick nods with awe.

“you should try meditating in here,” emily says, gesturing for him to approach the engine beside her. “good meditation is the best way to increase your machina stores, and i’ve found this room a wonderful environment for it. look, place your hand beside mine.”

she raises her hand and places it against the cold metal of the engine on a smooth, unmoving section. podrick does as she says and copies her.

“now shut your eyes. feel inside yourself for your machina, like when i got you to draw it within your cortex when i was scanning you before, and this time slowly push a small stream of it into your hand.”

podrick follows her instructions, reaching into himself and trying to pull out the energy within. after a few minutes of nothing happening, emily continues to guide him.

“breathe steadily. take a long, deep breath in through your nose and hold it,” she says. “one, two, three. breathe out through your mouth and hold. one, two. in through your nose. good, now repeat that and focus.”

after a few cycles of breathing, a tiny spark of machina pushes its way out of podrick’s palm and into the engine. the moment it does, the boy opens his eyes in shock and breaks his breathing pattern, dispersing the gathered machina.

“whoa, that was weird!” he exclaims, looking down at his hand in wonder. “it’s like i could see the engine moving without looking!”

“well done,” emily says, patting him on the shoulder. “that’s the basics of a machina scan right there. that breathing pattern is my old meditation technique, so use that to practice gathering and controlling your machina from now on. now, i assume you came here because anton wanted to see me, correct?”

“yes.” podrick nods. “he asked for you on the bridge to discuss what to do next since you asked to stop near erenmoor.”

emily nods before leaving the engine room and making her way to the bridge with podrick hot on her heels. as she enters the ship’s command centre, anton turns his chair to face her.

“hey, emily. we’re approaching erenmoor, but since it’s on a flatland this is as close as we can get without being spotted. do you want us to set her down here?” he asks, gesturing over his shoulder to the window behind him where an open expanse of sand is visible.

“yes,” emily confirms before she proceeds to explain her reasoning. “i want to activate the enchantment i placed on the hull when we’re grounded to make sure it works and the change in weight doesn’t upset the ship’s balance too much, and i think it best we pass erenmoor and make a break for the border under the cover of night, so all of you should get some rest now.”

“i see,” anton says with a thoughtful nod as angela and tony begin bringing the ship down. “don’t you plan on resting too? i don’t think i’ve seen you sleep since ashdon.”

“maybe once i’m back,” emily says with a shrug. “i plan on making a quick trip to erenmoor to confirm something first. speaking of, is there anything we need to stock up on before we make our crossing?”

“no, we’re fully stocked,” anton says with a shake of his head and a satisfied tap against the spatial pouch hanging at his waist. “mrs rockworth helped us offload all the product we were carrying and fully stock up on food and fuel. i’m even carrying a fair amount extra in here to save on weight. we should easily be able to make it half-way across dennari before we run out.”

“understood. i’ll be back in a bit then.”

emily turns and walks out of the bridge, heading straight for the drone hatch, her favourite way to leave the ship.

“are you sneaking into a city again?” podrick asks, still following her.

“yes, but i’m going alone this time,” emily says to his disappointment, a small smile tugging at the corner of her lips. “i’m paying a friend’s family a visit.”