As a city Gastielle had gotten its name from the vast reserves of natural gas trapped beneath its streets.
Since the days when it had been first tapped and the vast pumping arrays constructed, the residents had taken the resource into their hearts and minds in other ways.
In particular were the 'private pumps' created by enterprising Gastiellean's- or more accurately, poor student engineers working for enterprising Gastiellean's. People would sink boreholes into their back yards or cellars and setup their own improvised pumping rigs. Gastielleans often boasted that in their city, a light was always burning in every window.
Of course, as it stood, the two biggest organisations in the capitol were in fact, the Guild of Lamp-Lighters and Gasfitters... and the Fire Brigade.
Both Arlene and Harper were nursing minor hangovers from the previous night, when they'd switched from their card-game to some impromptu 'Drunk-Science'.
Specifically they started experimenting with the catalytic properties of the Dragon Stone.
From what they discovered, it effectively altered several properties of water in contact with it- it lowered it's surface tension and density, causing it to expand even when 'cold'. Most importantly though it lowered the boiling and vaporisation point of water.
Droplets hitting it would simply evaporate it if they were warm, and in the bathroom sink the water started boiling with the rock inside at what a drunken guesstimate said was about 25 degrees.
All in all, they concluded that Dragon Stones were some "Good Sh*t" and decided that yes, it was okay that Arlene used one to match the money that Harper had just bet while going all-in... A decision that led to one Dragon-stone changing hands as Arlene revealed a hand containing a two, four, five and queen against Harper's natural blackjack.
Before they touched down at eleven, they'd cleaned up the carriage and removed the impromptu siphon from the bike's water bag.
They also discussed their plan of attack. At least one of the operatives from yesterday would be able to get away and report the failure. Tether was a pretty fast method of travel, so by the time that the two of them got to Gastielle, it should be about two days before the message could reach whoever was pulling the strings- assuming they were outside the country. And even if the person giving the orders was closer, it didn't mean any higher ranked craftsmen they could call upon would necessarily be near.
After all, the whole reason why craftspeople were known as craftspeople was because ultimately, any country or organisation they belonged to got more mileage out of them in a production role.
While a craftsman could become supernaturally strong and tough, a normal person could get a lucky shot in with a rifle or heavier weapon and kill one outright. As it was, bullets still harmed anyone below silver, which was the majority of all craftspeople. All factors considered, it just was not worth risking the most talented craftspeople in open combat.
A craftsman above silver would generally be found in peacetime working alongside two or more engineers with doctorates, who would use their supernatural partners to help them produce and test new designs dozens of times more quickly than they could with conventional tools and facilities.
So even at a national level, the pool of high ranked craftspeople who would be called upon in situations like these was minuscule. Or rather, who 'could' even be called upon, since of those craftspeople, while they might be classified using the old ranks, some of them would have zero field experience. Nobody would take a liability like that on an important mission.
Under normal circumstances at least. The Dragon Stone was a commodity that made all of the above almost irrelevant due to it's sheer value.
With that in mind, it would take maybe three days at most for silver and gold rankers to arrive after being sent to acquire the stone, at which point, both Arlene and Harper were screwed.
So Harper insisted that Arlene make her a promise.
Two days.
If they couldn't find her father in that time, they would give up, pull out and hide while the Watch investigated things.
"And that's when you'll go back to Lumiere, since they don't have your name... yet at least."
Harper just stuck her tongue out at her.
"Stop trying to get rid of me. For that, I'm sticking with you until the end."
Arlene decided not to contest the issue.
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When the cleaning and restocking crew approached the tether-carriage that was touching down at Gastielle station, the ghostly rope connecting it to the rails pulling it into just the right position before dissipating entirely, they noticed something was off.
Firstly, instead of an older business-woman or dapper man, the passengers were two young women, one a well dressed red-head but the other was a tall, striking looking young lady in engineer's overalls. Secondly, there was the bike on top of the carriage.
And third was the way that the red-head was able to climb up and get the bike down singlehanded. A craftswoman- and she was above iron rank! And after closer inspection one of the Porters later confided in his colleagues that the bike they were riding was a high-end military good.
In summary, the pair of them made quite the impression before they handed over their tickets and sped off down the street.
One of the porters frowned and confided in his colleague.
"You know. I heard from my brother, that his wife's friend's husband, who is a hunter, had been having trouble with brigands on treadbikes recently."
"Is that so? That was a treadbike- but they didn't look like brigands."
"Yeah, but, they weren't old or nuffin, and those bikes are right expensive. And y'know, if I was a brigand and I was scouting out someplace, I wouldn't look like a brigand, would I now?" The first porter spoke the last few words in a sly tone, as if he was describing some cunning master plan.
The second porter couldn't help but nod at this sound logic and nodding in agreement said;
"I'll have one of the boys nip down and let the Watch know some suspicious ones just arrived then?"
"Yeah. Let the blues take care of it."