Work Text:
It was supposed to be a quiet day.
However, considering the work location, it was quite the opposite of ‘quiet’. It was loud, with many conversations between beings and shouts across platforms to get one’s attention. It could be crowded on a busy hour or completely deserted on another. It was currently building up to a crowded hour.
It could be unbearably warm or unbearably cold, but today was not one of those days. It was a nice day. It had stopped raining the night before, so while the ground was still damp, no one was complaining about getting wet from a downpour.
So, yes. What was considered “quiet” to others was a bit of a stretch, but no one had to know if no one asked for such opinions.
It was supposed to be quiet to the staff upon the high-speed transportation system, which were known as “trains” to those in the city and “large mechanical death traps” to those who were new and frightened. Of course, those who called the trains such a disrespectful name often didn’t board the car where AT-1225 worked. That was okay to them, and while it robbed them of possibly hearing about the experiences of those who traveled from afar, it saved them from some rather rude nicknames and distasteful looks.
The warforged didn’t need to remember those.
It was about midway to the next station when things started going sideways.
It had started out pleasantly enough. It was close to mid-day, with nice weather to hint at a coat, but could absolutely be unnecessary depending on if one chose to stand in the warm sun that was peeking from behind a spotty cloud cover. The passenger train was running smoothly and on schedule, each conductor of the car assigned to them operating with trained class and efficiency.
AT-1225 had been punching the ticket of every passenger who chose to ride their particular passenger car. It wasn’t any different than other passenger cars aboard the train, save that they were the only warforged upon this particular train. Therefore, most of the faces they saw were familiar ones.
“Hello miss, good day to you as well. And before you ask, my answer is still no.”
“Keep up on your studies, and I am sure to see you make spectacular potions one day!”
“May your gods grant benevolence upon your journey to your temple.”
Out of the 30 passengers seated, there were only two that were new. AT-1225 could tell not only from how the leg of the elder of the pair kept bouncing, but from how the gaze of the younger of the pair was trained directly onto him as he walked down the clear aisle to punch their tickets.
“You’re new. I’ve never seen someone like you,” the younger said. They appeared to be a child as their face was slightly cherubic. Their skin was a light blue with eyes that were a dark color, yet bright with curiosity. Their hair could’ve been loosely defined as “curls”, but it was more accurate to call it a cloud that pinched and puffed with each movement.
The older of the two, presumably a relative, tried to shush the younger one. “Zephyr, that might be rude.”
“But it’s true!” the younger — Zephyr — countered. “You told me to be honest but when I’m honest I’m rude?”
AT-1225’s speakers crackled softly as he chuckled. He covered his mouth, both to muffle the speakers located there and to mimic a hopefully familiar action to the presumed newcomers of the city. “My apologies for my outburst,” he said, “but I am here to punch your tickets.”
“Tickets!” Zephyr exclaimed as they wiggled in their seat, hands going into the pockets of their overalls before pulling out a slightly wrinkled train ticket. They leaned over their guardian’s personal space and thrust it towards the warforged, hand pressed against their guardian’s thigh to maintain balance. “Ticket,” they reiterated.
As AT-1225 took the ticket from the child, the presumed guardian handed over their own ticket without so much as a prolonged look towards the warforged, after which they turned their attention to Zephyr as they pressed on the child’s shoulders. “Can you sit back down?” they gently asked, and visibly relaxed when the child was comfortably situated again.
AT-1225 punched the tickets and handed them back. “If you have any questions at all, please do not hesitate to alert me.”
The guardian’s head whipped up at the offer, a small portion of their ponytail to follow through inertia and lightly smack the side of their face. Their skin was a slightly darker blue than that of the child’s, but their eyes were the same black color and something about their facial structure was similar enough to confirm some sort of blood relation. They fixed their glasses and asked, “Uh, how many stations until we reach, uh, Silvery Moon?”
“The college?”
“Yes?”
“You do not sound certain of your question.”
“It’s a question for a reason?”
AT-1225 pulled back on the jesting attitude when she saw the ponytailed being start to curl in on themself. “My apologies,” she said with a small bow. “At the rate at which we are running, you should be able to reach Silvery Moon in fifteen minutes. That is around ten stations.” She stood up straight again and added, “If I may ask, could I have a name to give a proper apology?”
The being fiddled with the end of their red scarf as they said, “Whynn.”
“I’m Zephyr,” said the child.
No surname was shared, but AT-1225 expected that. Due to the city being close to an established gate to the Feywild, beings kept their names close. Granted, there was a treaty signed in the past fifty years that prevented any name stealing and malevolent usage of one’s name, but there were still the more chaotic fey that others kept wary of.
“Well, I apologize for any ill tone that you may have interpreted, Whynn. I do not mean it, and I hope that you will forgive me for such.” It dipped into another slight bow, though this one was lower than their previous one. It raised itself back to full height once it felt its hat start to slip off its head, to which it readjusted the hat so it would sit snug on its head again. “I will be around if you have any more questions.”
It felt two pairs of eyes linger on the back of its head, one longer than the other. It had a pretty good guess as to which one was the lingerer.
AT-1225 was in the middle of doing safety checks on the passenger car it was assigned to — emergency exits are in shape, the emergency hammer to break the windows was still available — when the train suddenly screeched to a halt. The warforged leaned against an empty seat lest it fell to the ground and immediately looked out the windows for any signs of what may have caused the disturbance. Between the combination of the smoke from being near the engine and the hum of whispers that was starting to grow, it didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary at first.
They internally told themself to get their sensory material fixed when the door burst open and a being walked in with the sort of confidence that only comes about when lives and infrastructure were at stake. Which, unfortunately, was starting to become a common occurrence on some of the train lines.
One of AT-1225’s eyelights flickered. If he could let out a sharp sigh, he would. However, that was next to impossible given his anatomy, so instead he did the next best thing. “I would encourage you to leave this train and my passengers unharmed,” he called out. It was best to draw attention away from the passengers and towards himself. After all, this was an unsaid but well known part of the job description: to keep the passengers safe, one might find oneself in danger. Which was why the conductors were all trained in simple weaponry for the “just in case” scenarios.
This was a “just in case” scenario.
The intruder whipped out a necklace and shook it around, occasionally thrusting it close to the passengers’ faces. “Nobody move!” they ordered. “Or else this is blowing up!”
AT-1225’s eyes adjusted as she tracked the moving threat. Necklace, and a threat of an explosion. Several orange beads dangled from the golden chain, so this ornate piece of jewelry could very well be one that can cast fireballs. How one managed to get their hands on such a rare magical item was indeed a question that AT-1225 would love to know, but there were bigger problems at the moment. In the enclosed space of the train car, not only will a fireball damage itself and its passengers, but the threat of the fireball igniting other cars and possibly the engine will be disastrous.
If there was something that AT-1225 loved, it was trains and reliable transportation. She unsheathed her rapier from its scabbard and pointed it towards the intruder. “Must I repeat myself?” Her voice grew louder and sterner. She would never use this against an average passenger — maybe a rowdy one — but against one who threatened to harm? She shifted her body into a more relaxed position, eyes occasionally glancing between the intruder, who hasn’t moved yet, and the passengers.
Most of the passengers were looking down and away, so as not to draw attention to themselves. The only one who dared to even look at the intruder for split seconds was Zephyr, but even then, the child shrunk down into their seat as Whynn placed a protective arm around their shoulders.
“I don’t know,” mocked the intruder. “Maybe you should head back to the factory lines.”
AT-1225’s fans whirred louder. “Perhaps you should head there instead,” it calmly stated as it took a step forwards, its words laced with subtle enchantments. “They could teach you about manners there.”
The intruder’s face wrinkled, then they held their head as realization dawned on them. They pulled out a dagger with their free hand and lunged at the first passenger that happened to capture their attention.
It happened to be the pair heading to Silvery Moon college.
Despite the hint that the spell had taken effect, there was no guarantee that the intruder would miss either passenger. AT-1225 quickly spun on the heel of his foot to try to give a warning or shove the intruder out of the way, her free gloved hand extended towards the passengers.
The bespeckled one — Whynn was their name — startled at the sudden shift in attention towards them. They flinched, raised both of their hands up, and squeaked a few short words out. A faint pulse of magic caused the dagger to bounce off harmlessly, opening up room for Zephyr to wriggle in between Whynn’s outstretched arms.
Between AT-1225 rushing in to grab at the wrist holding the necklace of fireballs and whispering a spell, Zephyr somehow managed to touch the intruder and send a small shock of lightning through it. Thankfully, whatever spell the child cast didn’t spread to the warforged, who would rather not have to deal with the electric sparks possibly frying its limbs and power source.
The intruder’s eyes shut and their body fell limp. The dagger fell out of their hands and harmlessly clattered onto the floor. AT-1225 gently placed the intruder onto the ground, picked up the necklace, made sure all the orange beads it bore were accounted for, then pocketed it.
“Are they dead?” asked Zephyr.
“No,” AT-1225 said as they twisted around to sheath their rapier again. “They are just asleep for a minute. If you will excuse me — ” They crouched down to pick up the dagger and intruder and started to swiftly walk to one of the exits of the train car. “I must properly take care of them before they wake up.”
Yes, it was supposed to be a quiet day. For everything this city was, may it be influenced by extraplanar activity or not, its quiet days somehow always managed to be the slightest bit exciting.
Today was supposed to be an uneventful day.
Instead, Whynn and their little cousin had to be questioned by law enforcement. On their first day in Miron City, no less!
By the time everyone on the train had gotten adequately questioned (some more than others), as well as get each and every bit of magic and weapon checked (who knew that Miron City was developing ways to track if a spell was cast?), it was well past the assigned appointment slot for Whynn’s meeting at Silvery Moon. So not only had the air genasi stumbled into the large college building completely lost, they had stumbled into the meeting room feeling as if they were flustered on several layers. There had been no time to find the place where the childcare center was — not while running late — so they also had Zephyr close behind.
All in all, they wanted to curl up in a room and wish this was a bad dream.
Of course, they didn’t wish that everything was a bad dream. They had managed to secure a place in the college to study and stay, along with education and childcare for Zephyr during the working hours. They could make a decent amount of money by selling spell scrolls and helping identify magical items.
There was also the matter of fact that the transportation system here was efficient for the city that it inhabited. They estimated that they could comfortably fit their town’s population in the city at least three times over, but then they considered exactly who their town consisted of and reduced their estimate to only two times, maybe 2.5 times over. There was a difference in extraplanar activity between their old and new home, and while the fae were tricky to parse out due to how they liked twisting their words, elementals consisted of their respective element except they were more likely to attack something that wronged it. Elementals needed more space due to how wild they were in general.
Now, that wasn’t to say that Whynn had any negative feelings towards their hometown, or leaving it for that matter. They didn’t have many positive feelings either, but that was another problem to unearth when they were done unpacking their delivered things. There weren’t a lot of things that Whynn had decided to pack from home, seeing how most accommodations were provided. If anything, they would’ve preferred to omit the delivery overall and haul everything here themself, but it was also better to travel light in a new place. That, and Silvery Moon had paid for the delivery fee.
“The manta needs to be on its stomach!” Zephyr complained as they flipped their manta ray plushie onto what Whynn assumed was its stomach. The plushie was identical on both ends, with golden edges and fuzzy cream fur. There was only one indicator of which side was the stomach, and it was a thin thread curved upwards in a little smile. “If it’s upside down, then it gets dizzy and I don’t wanna make it dizzy.”
“Can you tell your manta ray that I said sorry?” Whynn asked as they stacked some of their notebooks on the work desk, away from the closed jar of ink and quill but inwards just enough so it wouldn’t topple over onto the floor. They were organized based on which school of magic they were mostly filled with, resulting in a row of eight stacks of varying height. Illusion magic was the tallest stack by far, with abjuration being next and conjuration being slightly higher than the remaining stacks. They were biased, so what? Most wizards ended up biased towards a particular school of magic in the end. They fixed a few spell scrolls so they wouldn’t roll off the desktop, placing them between some paperweights.
The older air genasi stifled a laugh when they heard Zephyr loudly whisper, “Whynn’s super busy right now, so they told me to tell you that they’re sorry.” From the corner of their eye, just before the edge of their glasses, Whynn saw their little cousin sitting on the large bed. Their plushie was close to their face as they held a curved hand up to their mouth as if sharing secrets with the manta ray.
As soon as Zephyr’s eyes met Whynn’s, the little air genasi let out a little squeal and leapt off the bed. “Abort mission Panakekke! We’ve been caught!” Their white curls puffed and pinched with each movement, and it was especially noticeable as they tried to make a beeline for the door.
Whynn picked up an illusionary spell scroll and recited the arcane words they wrote on it, directing it just in front of the door. The words swirled into nothingness — they’d rewrite that later — as clouds quickly billowed into a little dragon that silently shook out its wings and huffed harmless smoke towards the child.
Zephyr hopped to a stop and held out one of their hands to pretend to stroke the dragon’s snout. “Good dragon,” they cooed. “Can I pass? Panakekke and I wanna explore.”
Whynn moved closer to their little cousin and placed a hand on Zephyr’s shoulder before dismissing the spell, causing the dragon to billow outwards in a puff of mist. “Not without me, okay?”
“I’m old enough,” Zephyr pouted.
“You’re not old enough until you’re taller than me, baby breeze.”
“ Whynn! M’not a baby anymore!”
Whynn chuckled and wrapped their arms around their cousin as Zephyr quietly whined and pressed their face into their manta ray plushie. “To me, you’ll always be. Forever and ever, until you decide to become the lord of a forest somewhere. And when that happens, I only ask that you allow me safe passage through.”
“I’m gonna give you the hardest riddles. And…and treants will guard the forest! And they’ll be asking you the riddles!”
“Oh no,” Whynn playfully sighed. “Whatever will I do?”
A loud croak interrupted whatever Zephyr was going to say, causing Whynn to startle and let go of their cousin. They spun the child around and narrowed their eyes. Zephyr only gave the wizard a sheepish grin before they looked over to the open window and let out a soft whistle of a single note.
A little frog jumped inside and across the floor before Zephyr crouched down and held out a hand. Up close, it was a plain dark brown color and was big enough to comfortably nestle in Zephyr’s palm. Its skin was shiny with a layer of mucus and Whynn leaned away from the amphibian as if it might leap onto them. “Zephyr, where did you pick that up?”
“Back home before we left. I didn’t tell you because you would tell me to put him back — ”
“ Him? ”
“ — and we were already on the way out so I couldn’t just leave Jeremy in the middle of nowhere — ”
“Oh gods, you named it already.”
“ — so I brought him with me. Jeremy’s very loud and doesn’t make a ‘ribbit’ or a ‘croak’ like other frogs do. He kinda goes ‘waa’ and you can feel it deep in your throat.”
Whynn slowly breathed in through their nose. They closed their eyes and exhaled through their mouth. “Jeremy is not jumping on my work.”
“Told him that.”
“He’s not sleeping in the bed.”
“I’m gonna find a box and fill it with moss and other froggy things.”
“He’s your responsibility. You’re feeding and cleaning him.”
“I know.”
Whynn clicked their tongue and opened their eyes to look Zephyr directly in the eye. “Do you promise?”
Zephyr shuffled in their spot and slowly nodded. “You’re not mad, right?”
Whynn shook their head. “No. I’m just…I have a lot on my mind and I need to process.” They spun on their heel and dug through their closet before returning to their cousin. They draped an old light blue shawl on Zephyr’s shoulders before they gestured to the frog. “Put Jeremy here, so your clothes don’t get dirty.”
Zephyr’s little bouncy dance around Whynn brightened their mood, and reduced the fact that they might be casting prestidigitation more often than they’d like to. At least it was a cantrip, so there was little to no magical energy wasted on the spell to effortlessly clean frog slime from the shawl.
“Can we go explore now? ” Zephyr asked as they leaned their back against their older cousin, head tilted upwards to look at Whynn. Their manta ray plushie was still tightly snug in their arms, and if Whynn’s horribly nearsighted eyes didn’t deceive them, Jeremy looked up as well. “Your stuff is out and my stuff is put away and you promised. ”
“ Now we can explore,” Whynn confirmed, “but only if you would stop leaning against me.”
It took a few more last-minute checks that everything in the rented room was in order, then a reminder to Zephyr to stay close to them and hold onto their arm. As much as they wished that Zephyr would leave their manta ray plushie safe in the room, the child insisted that Panakekke should see the new city where they were going to live for the time being.
Leaving the college was easier than trying to get in, much to the chagrin of Whynn as a few of the professors waved at the two air genasi as they walked off the campus.
“Be sure to pick up a map if you need one!” one of the professors called.
“We won’t!” Zephyr replied.
Whynn walked faster and let the crowd carry the two away.
As the pair crossed a busy street, Whynn started to remind Zephyr, “If you lose Panakekke — ”
“I won’t.” Zephyr’s arms were tightly wrapped around the toy, and they gave it another squeeze. “I’m not gonna lose Panakekke.”
The wizard swallowed a sigh (for what emotion it was for, they couldn’t tell) and kept one hand on the beige overalls strap of their cousin. Their gaze flickered from building to building, each with their own advertisement of goods or other services offered. From the mundane (textiles and groceries) to the adventurous (potions and magical items), Miron City seemed to do its best to offer whatever someone might need.
There were also a large mix of lineages who mingled here. Whynn noticed pointed ears, a variation of heights, different skin colors, and the languages thrown across streets or overheard from normal conversations were enough to cause their head to start formulating things. Stories. Spells. What would beings here want? What did Silvery Moon provide that they could add to? Spell scrolls were a certain thing, but maybe a few higher levels? Altering the enchantment akin to a sorcerer perhaps?
“Look Whynn!” Zephyr exclaimed, pulling them out of their thoughts. “It’s the…the train that took us here!” The child thrust a finger in the direction of the large machine as it pulled into a station just below the bridge the two were crossing, a billow of hot steam bursting into the air a safe distance away. “Do you think we’d get trains back home?”
“I doubt it,” Whynn replied. “We run on elemental magics for transportation. At the most, we’d use that for energy instead of…whatever this runs on. I think it runs on steam, maybe aided by magic.”
The two air genasi watched in relative silence as a group of uniformed beings stepped off the train and another group stepped in. Things lingered for a bit as beings made quick conversation, but then the train was back to loading passengers again. Whynn assumed it was something akin to a shift change.
Before they could gently tug Zephyr back in the direction they were supposed to go, their eyes snagged onto something silver. They leaned over the edge of the bridge just a little bit as they squinted. Silver amongst the sea of navy and white, and other colors…
Bright yellow amongst the silver.
How Zephyr managed to spot the source of the blip in color before Whynn did, they couldn’t tell. They didn’t know either, but when their little cousin gasped and started tugging on the sleeve of their long coat, they listened. It took only a few more seconds before they managed to see a familiar being looking back up at them from the busy station.
Zephyr raised their hand and wildly waved. “Hello!” they shouted, despite the fact that they most likely couldn’t be heard from where they were.
Still, the wizard watched as the conductor raised a hand and waved back.
The action of being seen, not just the idea, caused Whynn’s face to heat up. They swore that their face contorted into something distastefully embarrassing before they looked away and pulled their red scarf up to cover the lower half of their face. They counted to five before giving another look down at the warforged conductor. Thankfully, the conductor’s attention was averted towards its coworkers.
They let out a small breath of relief, but not before the conductor finished its conversion, made eye contact again, and gestured towards the base of the bridge.
Oh, by the gods, don’t tell them that it wanted to meet up.
“C’mon Whynn!” Zephyr cried. “I wanna talk to the conductor!” They were bouncing in place now, cloud-like hair puffed out noticeably so as well. They alternated between looking up at their guardian and down to where the conductor was. “Was” because it was moving out towards the presumed meeting place now.
“Maybe another day– Zephyr!” Adrenaline coursed through Whynn as the child wriggled out of their grasp and started to run across the rest of the bridge. Their mind, usually chaotic with thoughts all tumbling over each other for a chance to be heard, was clear with only one thought in mind: chase after their little cousin before they lose sight of them.
They bumped into a few other beings, with barely a chance to properly apologize beyond a hurried “Sorry!” as they kept their gaze trained on the excitable ball of energy. When it came to the stairs, they hoped that Zephyr would’ve slowed down to properly traverse down the steps without tripping. However, they managed to reach the top of the staircase and saw that the child was already several steps down, arms outstretched to the side for balance while they held their manta ray plushie by its tail with a tight grip.
“Zephyr! Get back here!” they shouted. Their face was hot from the attention that they drew to themself, but they continued to do their best to quickly make their way down the stairs without tripping. A glance up from their feet revealed that the conductor was waiting patiently at the base of the staircase, though from how it was standing, it hadn’t seen any of them yet.
When Zephyr was close to the bottom of the stairs, they shouted “Catch me!” before launching themself towards the conductor. Whether that was a warning or an order, Whynn couldn’t discern.
The conductor, on the other hand, snapped towards the sound of the child’s voice. Its arms reached out and it managed to catch the little air genasi before they fell onto the ground.
Zephyr, being seven and seemingly very pleased with themself, celebrated for a moment before wriggling as a silent way to be asked to be put down.
Whynn, being twenty-five and awkward with their limbs, tripped over their own feet before they were able to end up on flat ground. Now, as an air genasi, they could easily float. Zephyr could do the action as easily as breathing. However, in the panic of the moment, the only thing that Whynn was thinking of was how they were going to smash their face against the hard ground and end up hyperbolically blind due to their glasses breaking. Their arms flailed out and they squeezed their eyes shut. They’ve already accepted their fate, yet they tilted their head back as if that might save their glasses.
They fell into something. Fell onto something. Humanoid. Very solid. That something stumbled backwards a few steps before Whynn felt gravity continue to do its work and pull things towards the ground. Through their scrambled thoughts, they managed to float (knees bent similar to fetal position usually helped jumpstart the process when all else failed). Their eyes opened and they saw silver and a quick spot of yellow.
Oh no.
Don’t tell them…
The wizard panicked and their hands grabbed onto whatever thing they could to prevent the conductor from falling. They weren’t fast enough, so the conductor still ended up on the ground, its hat tumbled off its head.
Whynn winced, slowly stretching their legs out so their feet were on solid ground once again. They opened their mouth to apologize, but no words came out, so they closed it to avoid looking like an idiot. They felt Zephyr latch onto one of their arms, the younger air genasi positioned slightly behind them.
The conductor steadily sat up. A gloved hand rubbed at the back its head before grabbing the cap that had fallen off and placing it back on. Its other hand gently tapped at the sides of its face, near what one could assume to be its eyes. Whynn saw the aperture adjust, the lights brightening and dimming.
Finally, the warforged stood up and dusted itself off, fixing silvery strands of artificial hair. It looked at the air genasi and tapped its throat before it said, “I am alright. I was built to be stable.”
If anyone asked, then Whynn did not find that funny and they did not snort. They simply started lightly hitting the side of their cheek for no good reason.
Oh, who were they kidding? Why was that funny to them?
Zephyr ignored the moment of humor and stepped in front of Whynn, hand still on the sleeve of their older cousin. “You’re the one that punched our tickets earlier.”
“That I did.”
“And the one that stood up to the bad guy.”
“In a way, yes.”
“You were so cool!” Zephyr jumped up and started floating, one of their hands waving around as they started to ramble about the incident on the train. The other hand was thankfully still latched onto the manta ray plushie.
Whynn kept their thoughts about how terrifying the entire incident was to themself. There was no need to burst their cousin’s bubble about how close they were to being hurt, and while they already gave them a long talk about how dangerous the action of reaching over and giving a small shocking touch to the intruder was dangerous, they felt like it needed restating. However, there was a certain point to how far they could reiterate it before it sounded like they were scolding Zephyr. It wasn’t their intention to do so, but there was no hiding that Zephyr’s actions could’ve led the way to a very different outcome.
A tug pulled them out of their thoughts, along with Zephyr saying, “We’re here ‘cause Whynn’s magic college is here.”
“Silvery Moon, if I remember correctly,” said the conductor.
Whynn panicked at being pulled into this conversation. “Yes?”
The conductor — there was a name mentioned several hours ago, what was it? — crackled softly. “Is that a question or a statement?”
“A…statement.” The wizard shrunk a little into their scarf and looked at their feet. “Why did you call us down here?”
“Because I was afraid that our introduction earlier was cut off by the intruder. You see, I enjoy meeting new people and showing them around our city of Miron. So, if you will allow me, shall we begin again?” It allowed its eyes to close and took a bow with one foot stepped out. One hand was behind its back while the other was in front of it in an arc.
As much as Whynn hated to admit it, it was very elegant. They pressed their lips together in an attempt to not give some sort of smile, because that might imply things and what it implied made their stomach churn. They were not going to be charmed this easily.
“I will reintroduce myself. I am AT-1225, and I was your conductor today.” Despite presumably being made of metal, AT-1225’s face emoted akin to someone who was made of flesh and blood. There were multiple plates of metal held together with bolts and screws, yet there was enough leeway to feasibly create discernible emotions. Perhaps it was due to the magic that aided the construction of all warforged that allowed for such a thing to happen.
“I’m Zephyr!” The child held up their plushie and pointed at the frog that miraculously was still on their shoulder. “This is Panakekke, and this is Jeremy! They’re my bestest friends.”
“Your friends are very nice.” AT-1225 held out a gloved hand. “May I touch Panakekke?”
Whynn watched as Zephyr allowed the warforged to lightly stroke their manta ray plushie. It did the action with a gentleness that it could only lead towards the conclusion that it had done something like this before. Perhaps a long time ago, but nonetheless it was similar to other beings in which it learned. It made the name ‘warforged’ seem a bit cruel to the wizard now, but perhaps that was their personal bias.
Whynn’s tongue took a moment to work, but they managed to say their name. “Whynn.” They tried to not curl in on themself, but they did nonetheless when the conductor’s attention turned towards them. “We’ve met again, and introduced once again. Now what?”
“It is late afternoon currently,” AT-1225 said. “I assume you two have a place to stay.”
“Yeah! We spent forrrrever unpacking. I wanted to leave sooo badly and explore with Panakekke and Jeremy but I gotta help.” Zephyr leaned against Whynn and shamelessly added, “Whynn’s very neat with their stuff.”
“I need to know where things are lest I start to grab the wrong things.” Whynn held up their hands and waved them a bit as they tried to defend themself, adding, “Magic can be dangerous if utilized incorrectly. There are inks and sigils and orders, along with pronunciations and hand gestures that you need to get down to perfection or else — ”
“That’s your magic, school magic,” Zephyr interrupted. “ My magic is with Panakekke and Jeremy.” To demonstrate, they pulled out a crumpled and wilted flower that they had probably stuffed into their pockets a while ago. They balanced it atop their manta ray plushie’s head and whispered something to it in a low, indiscernible tone while waving their hand around the flower in a slow circular motion. The flower’s colors started to brighten and the petals grew plump once again, until it was as healthy and vibrant as it might’ve been when it was first picked.
“Ah, nature magic.” AT-1225 placed a hand to its chest and said, “I believe that my magic comes from within, from what you might consider the heart and soul. Although, if we are talking literally, you might say that it could come from the crystal that powers me.”
“Can I see?” Zephyr asked, clasping their hands together while they hugged their plushie close to them.
For the first time in that conversation, for a flicker of a second, Whynn saw AT-1225 hesitate. Its eyelights flickered for a second and the only thing that they could hear was soft static.
“No,” AT-1225 finally said. “You are not allowed to.”
It was only a brief pause, but it was noticeable.
If there was something that Whynn enjoyed, it was digging through stories untold and unheard. This pause hinted at something, and that could be spun into a story of truth. They wanted to reach out and dig their fingers through layers of metal and magic to seek the reason behind that hesitation, even if it was only a simple thing.
“I’m hungry,” Zephyr said. They looked up at Whynn. “Can we get dinner soon?”
“Dinner! Uh, right! Dinner is uh…” Whynn looked around them, rubbing at their red scarf as they did so. “Dinner is…”
“If I may interject,” AT-1225 interrupted, “but would any of you mind if dinner was on me? As the saying goes.” It tilted its head towards a street in a quick gesture as it stated, “I have a list of recommendations from coworkers that I have yet to share with others.”
Zephyr tugged at Whynn’s sleeve, feet tapping the ground as they cried, “Whynn! Please please please? You can save money and time, even though I like your cooking.”
Whynn’s words jumbled in their head. Their separate sentences of “Thank you for the offer” and “I fail to see how you might benefit from this” collided together and what came out was, “Thank you might benefit.” They shrunk inwards and pulled their scarf further up their face, swearing that both the piece of fabric and their face were the same warm shade now. “Ignore me,” they murmured, which was either thankfully or horribly covered up by Zephyr’s giggles over their lexical stumble.
The conductor covered its mouth as a soft crackly sound came from it. It tapped its throat before it said, “Apologies. I know that laughter when one is embarrassed might add to the emotion instead of diffusing it, so I shall stop. But my offer still stands, and you seem to have one supporter already.”
“I’m the supporter!” Zephyr exclaimed. “And I wanna have dinner outside!”
“Fine,” Whynn mumbled. “We can, but I pay half.”
“I have offered to pay it in full,” AT-1225 reminded the wizard.
“I’d feel bad. The food that we’ll order probably won’t help you in any way.” Whynn shut their mouth before they could mess up any more. They held out their hand for Zephyr to take, and when the child’s fingers were comfortably grasping their palm, they said, “Lead the way.”
AT-1225 turned on its heel and took precisely two steps towards the street before a shrill sound akin to a whistle sounded through the air. The conductor turned around and extended an arm out. On the inside of its elbow were thick cables and thin wires, exposed for all of the city to see.
A silver pseudodragon gracefully landed on the outstretched arm, claws digging into the rolled-up sleeve of the white button-down that the conductor wore. The pseudodragon slinked up the rest of the arm, around the back, then draped itself around AT-1225’s neck. Its eyes were a bright color, close to white yet carrying a sharpness that promised keen senses.
“Ironhorse, what are you doing here?” AT-1225 asked.
“Ironhorse?” Zephyr let go of Whynn’s hand and stepped closer to the conductor. Their free hand reached out towards the pseudodragon before quickly retreating when the little dragon snapped its teeth at the child. “Rude!”
“Zephyr, you know better than to try to immediately befriend creatures that don’t know you,” Whynn said as they rushed forwards and gently pulled Zephyr back.
“But it’s a little dragon, Whynn! A dragon!” Zephyr’s hair puffed out as they looked at the dragon and stuck their tongue out at it. “I like dragons. Not rude ones though.”
“I apologize on behalf of Ironhorse,” AT-1225 said as it gently tapped the back of the pseudodragon. “It’s a bit irritable due to the incident today. It doesn’t appreciate the trains being handled so roughly like that.”
“Ironhorse is your’s?” Whynn tentatively met the pseudodragon’s eyes, then averted their gaze when the little dragon snapped its jaws at them. “It’s…nice.”
“I assure you, Ironhorse is normally very friendly.” AT-1225 stroked Ironhorse’s spine and crackled a little when the pseudodragon arched its back into the touch. The conductor gestured back towards the street with a small movement of its head. “Shall we get going?”
Today was supposed to be an uneventful day. However, the world liked to surprise them, so Whynn could do nothing but go along with it. At least they’d have a guide around the city.
Today was supposed to be a fun day.
Of course, like days that were supposed to be fun, the fun only came in bursts of surprise when no one expected it.
Like today! Today was supposed to be fun, with an adventure far away from an old home, but instead, it got a bit boring with a lot of waiting. That waiting involved lots of traveling, so it wasn’t completely boring. But it was boring to sit around and wait for what felt like forever. Zephyr already had to hide Jeremy from Whynn for most of the travel time — no one ask how they managed to do it, they don’t know either! — but the moment they entered Miron City, everything got very fun, very fast!
First, there was the train! The train was very big and very loud when it first arrived. It blew out hot steam that Zephyr had wanted to float up and touch, but Whynn had said that it was hot and would probably burn them. From how birds avoided the white billowing cloud, Zephyr had decided to listen. But also because it had been Whynn telling them so, and Zephyr knew that Whynn was plenty smart since their older cousin was a wizard.
“Studying magic seems hard,” they had told Whynn after their tickets had been punched by a new creature. It was all metal and magic, with bright eyes and a nice smile that told them everything would be alright. It was different from Whynn’s “everything’s gonna be alright” smile, which made their eyes curve softly downwards as they patted Zephyr on the back; this being’s “everything’s gonna be alright” smile was bright and for everyone, not just for one being.
“It is,” Whynn had told them.
“Why do you do it?”
That caused a sigh, long and deep. It had taken until the count of twenty-nine in varying lengths before Whynn had said, “Because I find it interesting. It settles my mind.”
“Oh. Okay,” Zephyr had said, but only to end the conversation because sometimes Whynn got a little too quiet and thought a little too much when talking about their mind. It must be very busy up there.
It wasn’t fun having to talk to the law enforcers in Miron City when the train had pulled into the station. The law enforcers had listened to Zephyr, but the child didn’t think that they had taken the story — as embellished as it was, because magic was cast and magic was immediately very enchanting — very seriously. It didn’t help that they had pouted over the feeling of not being listened to, but then everything was fixed for a moment when Whynn had taken them away to Silvery Moon college.
“I don’t like them,” Zephyr had said. “They don’t listen to me, but they listen to you.”
“Do you think they should listen to you?” Whynn had said, though they weren’t entirely listening to Zephyr either because they had been busy trying to figure out the names and turns.
“Obviously! We have stories and voices and we should be listened to. We have wisdom for ages about stunning bees into sleepiness and using them as weapons inside rooms full of people we don’t like.”
That had caused Whynn to pause and look at them with a horrified expression. “I’m sorry?”
“That’s what some kids back in our old town said they did once. For a month.” Zephyr had looked up from their hops across the different tile colors in the hallway to the room where the two would be sleeping in and added, “I wouldn’t do that. Bees are for honey and helping plants grow.”
When Whynn’s shoulders had relaxed and they had let out a sigh, Zephyr had giggled. Now, if anyone who ever looked like them told their older cousin that they’d be using bees as weapons, then Whynn would know that it wasn’t them. Foolproof plan.
Things had gotten a bit boring after that, but now!
Now it was fun again!
It was fun because they had met up with the conductor from earlier (who had a pseudodragon who was a bit rude but still cool; maybe it was cranky because it was currently taking a nap), who was taking both their older cousin and themself someplace nice to eat. Zephyr didn’t worry too much about how the conductor was going to enjoy watching them eat if it couldn’t eat itself, but obviously Whynn did.
“The conductor’s paying, and I dunno what it spends money on anyways. Definitely not tasty food.”
“That’s insensitive,” Whynn whispered to Zephyr, ushering them towards a round table and seating them in the chair furthest from the crowd and from the conductor.
“You’re nervous,” Zephyr retaliated after pushing Whynn a bit so they’d have enough space.
“I’m not. ”
“You are! You are!”
“Zephyr, would you please — ” Whynn let out a sigh, then removed their glasses, closed their eyes, and rubbed them. “Would you please pick something to eat?”
It was busy in the tavern, but it made sense. It was dinnertime, so there were lots of beings around. There were also plenty of beings that looked to be Zephyr’s age, so there was the potential to make friends. Zephyr could’ve shimmied down under the table to escape and talk to others, but they had Jeremy and Panakekke with them, and they didn’t want either of them to get lost.
Further in the back, there was a skinny table with tall stools, but there was also a fence made of wood. There were only grownups there, and they mostly drank things while eating small plates of food. Zephyr’s face wrinkled up at the small glasses, but then they were captivated by the different colors of drinks being poured into said glasses. They wondered if that place served juice with a little umbrella in a tall glass. They could ask later, but only with Whynn’s help. There must be no one their age back there for a reason. Maybe it was because the drinks the adults drank tasted horrible.
Food arrived after a bit. Zephyr squealed at the hot plate that was placed in front of them, and brought up Panakekke from their lap. “Look, it looks yummy. Smells yummy too. I think it’ll sound yummy, Panakekke.”
“How does something sound tasty?” AT-1225 asked. It — no, they? “He” and “she” were also good according to the conductor — leaned forwards a bit. There was nothing plated in front of it except for a small candle sitting in melted wax, something that Whynn had hastily pushed towards the conductor before their food had arrived. “I thought that hearing the sound of others chewing was normally a disliked noise.”
“Not chewing!” Zephyr giggled. “It’s this.” They picked up their utensils and tried to lightly hit them against the white ceramic plate. They overestimated it and instead of the light clinking sound they were aiming for, they banged the metal utensils against the side. Their hair puffed out over the loud noise and their cheeks followed suit. “Not that, ” they muttered. “But something similar. It sounds quieter and nicer.” To forget their failed attempt, they ate a bite of their food. The sound of the soft clink of utensils against the plate caused them to wordlessly point at their plate. Like that! Like that, except they couldn’t say it because they were chewing!
Oh. The food was good here!
Whynn was in the middle of chewing their own food when their eyes widened and they scrambled to grab something in their coat pockets. With barely enough dexterity to not let the objects fly onto the table, they opened their notebook and a borrowed quill that had ink within it. They wrote something down in a frantic scrawl, murmuring something that sounded like “Sound of good food…could match with sound of the night…condensed in a certain area but distinctly still so…”
Zephyr giggled to themself as Whynn started to float out of their seat, lost in their thoughts over sounds of night and good food. They silently watched as AT-1225 reached up and gently pulled them back down. Whynn didn’t notice until they were done scribbling in their notebook. They shut it, then looked at the gloved hand that was still on their shoulder.
Zephyr wondered what their older cousin was thinking when Whynn brushed the hand off their shoulder and didn’t look up from their food for the next while. The older air genasi ate, but they didn’t look anyone in the eye. Zephyr knew that it was said a lot, but there wasn’t any harm in saying it again: grown-ups were so confusing.
Up on the stage, near what Zephyr assumed was the front of the tavern, there was something happening. It looked like a band, or something with music because of the instruments that were being pulled and summoned. There was a piano, a lute, a big string bass instrument that was definitely taller than Zephyr, and some drums. The child pushed aside their cooling food and placed Panakekke down on the table. “What do you think they’re gonna play?” they asked the manta.
Panakekke didn’t respond, but they nodded as if it did. “I see. I think it’ll be nice.”
A hush fell over the crowd as the members stepped forth. Zephyr could clearly see one of them was a calico cat-being, who stretched and took his place comfortably behind the drums. There was a human who stood up next to the…bass! That’s what it was called! She made a face at the tabaxi, who returned the gesture with jest. Zephyr wondered if they knew each other.
Someone sat at the piano, someone who looked very elegant. And there was someone else, someone who picked up the lute and seemed to command everyone’s attention in a certain way. He was a satyr, and Zephyr wondered if he grew up here or in the Feywild.
The satyr loudly walked across the stage, before clicking his hooves on the wooden floor. “Clippity cloppity, this stage is now my property,” he announced. He strummed the lute with a flourish before adding, “And all of your attention is mine.”
Zephyr didn’t know if it was a spell that the satyr cast or if it was from the familiarity that the four musicians had in the tavern, but the music made them very happy. It was bouncy in the right way, with just the right amount of changes to make it interesting. They looked away a few times only to eat their food or to point at the band and say something to Whynn, but otherwise all of their attention was the satyr’s. Hopefully the satyr shared it with his bandmates.
Between the song changes, a girl managed to sneak onto the stage. She had black hair that looked very short and stuck up on all ends, along with a pair of antlers atop her head that seemed very soft. They weren’t the hard pointy antlers that Zephyr always associated antlers with, but they were also very small and not majestic yet.
The younger air genasi watched as the band slowly dissolved a little. The girl skipped between each member, and each time she asked for attention from any one of them, their instruments slowed to a halt. It looked like a common occurrence though, since whenever one instrument dropped out for a bit, the others picked up.
Eventually, the band called for an early end. The girl got picked up by a tall elven woman with flowers in her hair, and the satyr clopped beside the two on the way out.
Zephyr wondered if they were the girl’s parents.
They wondered what it was like to have that.
But then they looked at Whynn, who was arguably the best and who was also writing something in their notebook, and they banished those thoughts. “Whynn, I love you.”
Whynn paused, then gave something that sounded like a laugh and a snort. “Where is this coming from all of a sudden?”
“Because it’s true!” Zephyr smashed their cheek against Whynn’s upper arm and wrapped their arms around their guardian’s midsection. “I love you! And you love me too, right?”
Whynn laughed. It wasn’t one in cruelty towards Zephyr’s statement, but it was still laughter towards it in general. When Whynn laughed, it was always a good thing. “Of course I do. Of course I love you.” And they squeezed Zephyr back as they put their notebook away.
AT-1225 was silent for a long, long time. Zephyr thought that he had fallen asleep, or shut down? They didn’t know, but when the child looked at the conductor again, they found a soft look on her face. The pseudodragon, Ironhorse, opened its eyes and bumped its head against AT-1225’s cheek, to which the conductor ran a finger down its spine.
Zephyr wriggled out of the hug and placed Panakekke down on their chair. They shuffled around the table before standing next to the still-seated conductor. They eyed Ironhorse and said “Don’t bite me” before they hugged the conductor. Hugging AT-1225 wasn’t that much different from hugging Whynn: both were adults who were taller than them, and both felt a bit hard to hug. Whynn had pointy shoulders, and AT-1225 was mostly metal and other hard stuff.
They heard static, then silence.
“You’re supposed to hug me back,” they whispered.
A hesitant tap on their back, then soft rubs. AT-1225 murmured back, “Thank you for this.”
Zephyr chuckled and pressed their cheek extra hard into the conductor’s shoulder for a bit. Their hair tickled and they felt a snout tap at their forehead. They adjusted their position and managed to see Ironhorse biting at some of the separated puffs of cloud from their hair. The pseudodragon comically paused when it met Zephyr’s eyes, then let out a small noise.
White puffs. Hot but familiar. It’s water but it’s water with lots of energy. It’s smokey but familiar.
Zephyr blinked, then tilted their head at the pseudodragon. What they saw wasn’t their own thoughts. They held out one of their hands towards Ironhorse and hummed as it rubbed its head against their fingers. “You get a free pass, but only because steam and clouds are cousins.”
They heard Whynn ask AT-1225, “What just happened?”
“Maybe they came to an understanding.”
Yes. Yes they did.
All was right again in the world.
Today was supposed to be a fun day. And it surely was. Zephyr made friends, had a full stomach, and managed to take their handheld, familiar friends out to see new sights. They think that Whynn also made a new friend, but if not, then AT-1225 was definitely a new friend to Zephyr.
Yeah. Today was a good day.