Val awoke to the sound of movement in the kitchen.
She was still sitting in the inn's dining room, her book laid out the table in front of her. Somebody had draped a wool blanket around her shoulders. Her scattered array of notes were stacked into a neat pile.
It was still dark outside. The streets were mostly empty, save for a few sailors headed back to their ship after a late night.
"Ouch," Val thought as she tried to move her neck. Her muscles were stiff, the few hours of sleep bent over a table had not done her any favors.
She tightly pulled the blanket around her and stood. A few embers still glowed in the hearth from last night's fire, but it was still early spring and the cold fingers of winter had yet to fully release their grasp. It would be a few weeks yet until the nights could be considered warm.
She made her way over to the entrance to the kitchen and pushed through the swinging door.
Carl loomed over the counter with a large knife, cutting away strips of meat from a larger hunk.
"Good morning," he said as he continued to work. Val didn't expect him to stop on her account, he had to get things ready for the breakfast rush that would come in a few short hours.
"Good morning," she yawned. She wondered how the man survived on so little sleep. He always seemed to be the last person to go to bed, as well the first one up in the morning. The sisters had asked Claire about it once, and she had told them that he often joked that he grew in his sleep, and if he grew any more, even the Right Rudder Inn wouldn't contain him.
Val removed the blanket, folded it, and set if off to the side. Carl had already started the kitchen fires for the morning, so the room was already warm.
She massaged her stiff neck as she walked over to a bowl of eggs. Picking out a dozen, she cracked them into another large bowl, careful not to let any shells fall in. From a rack on the wall, she removed a mechanical egg beater and set it down.
She held out a hand and concentrated on the beater. Like the beater that she first controlled when she was a child, it lifted into the air, and began to whirl on its own.
She lowered her hand slightly, and guided the whisk shaped end of the beater into the eggs. As the eggs began to mix, she would focus on speeding up and then slowing down the rhythm of the gears.
Faster, then slower. Faster, then slower. Faster, then slower.
"You seem to be getting better at that," Carl's voice said suddenly.
Her focused slipped for a moment, causing the beating to stop momentarily, but she brought it back.
"It's amazing how little control I actually have," admitted Val. "Before, I would just let the gears do their thing, there was no tempo - just on and off. I'm surprised more stuff didn't shake apart on us."
She thought back to the dragon and paled. Mand had been doing most of the work for that one, operating the wings with smooth precision. Val may had gotten her powers first, but she was no match for what her sister could do. Moving all those gears had to have been super taxing, no wonder her sister had passed out.
Carl looked at the eggs and held up a hand for Val to stop. He pulled the beater out of the bowl and set it on the table.
"I'll start cooking these up," he said. "The staff will be coming in soon and they'll be hungry. If you want to whip up another dozen, that would be great."
She nodded and set about preparing another dozen eggs. As she did so, she tried to keep a conversation going with Carl. She needed to be able to do this, even if distracted, so she had to practice as much as possible.
"Do you think people will listen?"
"How's that?" Carl asked as he greased a skillet.
"The people that we sent to warn about the invasion. Will they actually be able to convince others to get ready?"
"I honestly don't know lass. Let Terry worry about that part. The only thing you and I need to concern ourselves with is getting Claire and Mand back in once piece."
The beater under Val's control stopped for a moment, and then quickly restarted.
Carl poured the now liquified eggs into a the hot skillet. "When did Terry say the other metalmancers would arrive?" He asked, using a wooden spoon to further scramble the mixture.
"Another week at least, he's even pulling the tutor that he has for his son into this."
Carl plated the now cooked eggs. Val brought over the new bowl that she just finished. She placed the yolk covered beater into a sink full of warm soapy water and began washing.
"Are you ready for this lass? I know it's a lot to ask of you," Carl said as he started cooking the new batch of eggs.
"I hope so," she said. "I'm a little scared."
"Of what?"
"Until now, my whole identity has just been Mand's little sister. When they took her, it felt like they cut out a chunk from me and stole that as well. I don't know if I can operated as one whole person."
Carl brought a plate of scrambled eggs over to Val.
"From what I've seen from you, you're doing fine so far. Even without your sister, you've come up with a plan and stuck to it. That's all you."
"I've had your help." Val started digging into the eggs.
"Help yes, but we all need help from time to time. Remember, you're helping me find my daughter."
"I know you though," Val said pointing an egg covered fork at Carl. "I honestly don't know how I'll act around this group of metalmancers."
"Just be you."
"And what they need more than just me?" Val thought as she chewed a mouthful of eggs. "What then?"