"Cough! Anyways! You understand this is an amazing thing, right?"
Matt nodded his head. "Yeah but it doesn't work yet."
"Don't worry about that! Because I am here!", said Corvin with a narcissistic smile and a pretentious pose. "The one and only rising star of the Empire!"
Matt walked towards the table and grabbed a wrench. He threw it towards Corvin, who caught it with his right hand.
"Sigh~ Stop acting like that and help me make it work if you want me to work with you that badly."
"Right..."
"Also, you used magic to catch that."
"N-No..."
So the two young boys started tinkering with the engine. After every tweak, they started the engine once again and powered it until it failed. And it failed many times. Corvin watched as the steel flywheel as big as his torso turned with a loud noise and started to create sparks as the olive oil they used for lubrication started burning.
"Cough! Cough! Oy! Corvin! Stop that thing!"
"Hold on man!"
Corvin stopped the engine using his magic and started checking what happened.
"What's the problem?"
"Hmm... It looks like the pressure inside pushed the crank out slightly and the gas inside blew away the olive oil."
"What? The ignition is the problem again? I fucking hate that thing, it always breaks."
"Hey now, don't insult the machine. It's your fault for making one that doesn't work."
"You don't know how much time we spent designing that thing and how much it still fails..."
"Designing?" Corvin glanced at the combustion chamber. "Wait... Matt?"
"Yeah?"
"How do you do the ignition?"
"Using some firesteel..."
Corvin stood still for a second in shock.
"You mean... That old thing we use at home to light up the fireplace?"
"That was the easiest way I could find..."
"Sigh~ Come with me..."
"Where?"
"To the workshop."
They got out of the Matt's house and walked ran to the workshop. Corvin opened the big monotone door and started rummaging through the various drawers of the giant table at the side.
"Where is it.... Where is it..."
The drawers creaked each time Corvin opened them quickly and made a loud noise when he slammed them back after not finding the thing he was looking for.
"Aha! There it is! I knew this was going to be useful someday!"
Matt looked at the pebble sized black stone in Corvin's hand.
"What's that? Flint?"
"Yeah! But this one is different! See?"
Corvin turned the back of the Flint towards Matt. The backside of it had a different colour. A metallic gray that reflected light. From the streaks going across the surface that were left from when the piece of flint broke, it looked like a part of the flint had turned into steel.
"What?"
"This is one of the many small things Clair made while practicing her magic. Honestly, I don't even know how it works but-" Corvin pointed at the metallic end of the stone "-if you heat or hit it here, it makes a spark from the side. Probably has something to do with how the steel acts differently than the flint that is exaggerated by magic but I don't know."
"I see. How much of these do you have?"
"Like more than a dozen. Don't worry about it. She does practice a lot so we have a lot of supply. And, they get better every time!"
"Sounds like you found great friends."
"Yours are great too. That engine is something we were working for but I guess we don't need to anymore..."
"I didn't say I wasn't going to give that to the Margrave yet."
Corvin's face got serious and he looked straight into Matt's eyes.
"Matt. Actually, there is a reason I want you to not cooperate with the Margrave."
"What? Why did the atmosphere change so suddenly?"
"Because it is an important topic. I can not make light of it. Many lives are at play and the future will change depending on the choices we make here."
"I-I see..."
"Yes. Even though we may not realize it, we are still a part of history that is being written. That's why, will you listen to me?"
"Sure..."
Then, the giant door of the workshop opened and a woman with a small girl entered the building. The small girl ran towards the two as soon as she saw them with a smile.
"Brother! Look! Loo- Ugeh! You two are stinky! Go take a shower!"
"Huh? We do?"
"Yes! You smell like burnt food!"
"Then I am going to take a shower and then let's play a game, okay?"
"Yay!"
Corvin turned to Matt. "Let's talk about that tomorrow when working on the engine, okay? I will be here for another day so we have time."
"I guess we are taking a break for today then? Sure."
Matt greeted Corvin's mom, Sally, and both leaved the workshop to take a shower.
*****
The surface of the crystal clear lake rippled as a wind blew over the otherwise calm water as Amy watched it while sitting on the bench. A bit of her golden hair stuck to Amy's face and she fixed it with her hand. The sun was slowly getting lower from the top of the sky, the small clouds failed to hide it behind themselves. It was still hot outside, if it wasn't for the shade of the forest and the cooling of the lake, Amy thought the students exercising across the lake would have already passed out.
As the wind calmed down and the scent of the flowers it brought stopped reaching her nose, she held up a small glass jar with her right hand into the sun. The black liquid inside the jar didn't let the sun's rays pass through it.
"Amy!"
"Huh? Clair? Weren't you going to your home?"
"Oh, I didn't want to go"
"Why?"
"It takes too long. I will go back when I have more time. For now, I want to focus on my projects."
"I see... You will leave in the summer break then?"
"Probably. And, that way, I can attend the special chemistry classes as well."
"Oh, right... Your family did something like that, right?"
"Yes! And, you know? I am going there as a teacher!"
"Really?!"
"Yes! A lot of people are curious about the papers I published under the family name. I guess I didn't explain my research properly..."
"That's great."
"What are you going to do? You will be graduating this summer, right?"
"Yeah... Honestly, I don't know what I will do right after I graduate. I think I will stay at the capitol for a bit until I find a proper place to stay at."
"Are you going to the workshop at the Tarlen village?"
"Probably. Seeing how things are currently in the Empire, I think staying away from cities is safer for now."
"Yeah. The protests are spreading to the other cities as well..."
"And, the south is better since it will be easier to get more of this from the Butaldhi Kingdom.", said Amy, shaking the jar filled with stone oil in her hands.
"Oh, you got rid of the sand in it?"
"Yeah. It wasn't as hard as I imagined. Still annoying though."
"What will you do with it?"
"I think I need to figure out why my magic works on it much better than yours, but I guess that's a question that answers itself, isn't it?"
Clair nodded. "What are your plans with it?"
"What else? I have a purpose, I am going to follow it."
"Making medicines?"
"Yes."
"How noble."
Amy grinned.
"I was a princess, after all."