BOOK 5: CHAPTER 24: BURNING DAYLIGHT

Heretical Fishing

The following morning, as with all days I got to wake up in Tropica, was a wonderful affair. I woke to the beautiful aroma of coffee and croissants, carried by an even more beautiful female.

Sergeant Snips.

“Has there ever been a more enticing sight?” I asked, rubbing my eyes. “If I was a crab, Snips, I’d challenge Rocky to a tussle for the slightest chance of earning your affec—Ow! Ow! It was a joke!”

Maria shook her raised hand, threatening another whack on my upper arm.

“Master courts death,” hissed Snips, deftly hopping up onto the bed, not spilling a single drop.

I rubbed the top of her carapace, kissed my wife on the cheek in apology, and took a moment to stretch my arms skyward. “What do you say we take brekkie down to the shore and watch what’s left of the sunrise?”

Less than a minute later, I sipped from my coffee as we crested a dune, and couldn’t help but smile as I caught sight of the spot Barry’s family often greeted the coming day from. There were even more pals than I’d hoped to find.

The newly renamed Dodge and his kids were also there, Toby and Theresa standing in the shallows with Paul. Teddy and Borks lounged on the far side, the former sitting up, the latter closing the distance, all wagging tail and scrambling legs.

“Mornin’, buddy,” I said, grabbing Maria’s brekkie so she could give him a good scritching for both of us.

As we sat down to the right of Barry and Helen, I took another bite of croissant, letting its buttery layers melt in my mouth before chasing it with a swig of Sue’s wondrous coffee, its nutty and slightly bitter profile flawlessly offsetting the pastry’s savory notes. “I’m guessing the kids were out late?” I asked. “Doing what they do best?”

Barry gave me some side-eye. “Yes, Fischer.”

Helen smiled over his shoulder. “Not that you’d know it by how much energy they have.”

They were twisting their feet in the wet sand, seeing who could dig themselves deeper. Paul was winning, of course, but he was showing just enough restraint to keep his adversaries interested.

“So,” Maria said, the morning sun highlighting the emerald notes of her irises, “what’s on the agenda for us today?”

“Sorry, can you repeat the question? I was a little distracted by the prettiest woman I’ve ever seen.”

“You’ve already wooed me, Fischer. Now you’re just being a suck-up.” The curve of her lips betrayed the joy I could feel through our connection. “Or are you going to pretend you were talking about Snips again?”

“Don’t be silly. Snips is the prettiest being I’ve ever seen. You’re absolutely the prettiest woman, though.”

“Aaaand there it is. If you’re gonna insult me, can you at least answer my question?”

“Hmmmm. They do say the secret to a happy marriage is compromise. I guess I can meet you in the middle. But what are you bringing? What do I get out of it?”

“You’re a better wife than I am, Maria,” Helen said, eyes closed, head leaning against Barry’s dummy-thick arms. “If I had your strength and my husband had half Fischer’s cheek, I would have thrown him at the sun.”

“I’ve never even considered it. I’m definitely not just waiting for the perfect opportunity to catch him off guard and fling him from the face of Kallis—not that I’d ever admit as much if that were my plan, of course.”

Sharon nodded along. “Of course.”

I cleared my throat. “Now that I think about it, I would absolutely love to share today’s plans with my patient and beautiful and wise wife, who’s definitely not planning to yeet me into the sun.”

“Go on, then.”

Theresa lunged forward suddenly and attempted to tackle Toby into the ocean. Her impromptu battle-cry cut off as he sidestepped, and she plunged face-first into a low wave.

The girl that reemerged looked half-drowned, her curls flat and plastered to her head, neck, and shoulders. “Ugh! Not fair! You’re too fast!”

“Unfair? You attacked me!”

Torn between entertained and mildly disappointed, Dodge—still a cool name—shook his head, giving us a look that screamed, ‘what are you gonna do?’

“At least she has her health,” Helen offered. “She’s clearly feeling better.”

“She was always like this. Her returned health just lets her do it more often.”

Barry snorted. “Not surprising, considering her actions when she found a bear in the forest.”

Teddy, who was sitting on the other side of Dodge, beamed with adoration, not tearing his gaze from the playing children for one moment. The sun’s rays were nothing compared to the brilliance of his feelings for them.

It was a wonderful vision to end on, so I stood, rolled my shoulders, and lowered a hand to Maria. “Coming?”

Her answered stare was limper than Theresa’s waterlogged ringlets. “That’s all you have to say?”

“Uh-huh. I don’t have to tell you what we’re doing. I’m gonna show you. Come on. We’re burning daylight.”

“Really? You’re not even gonna tell me where we’re going?”

“Nope. I’m—”

“I’m gonna show you,” Maria mocked, voicing the words before I could.

I glanced to the left. “I don’t sound like that, do I, Barry?”

“Not at all.”

“Thank the go—”

“You’re worse,” he interrupted. “Much worse.”

“Oh, ha-ha, you muscly idiot.”

Maria accepted my help to her feet, and she looped an arm through mine. “Let’s get this over with.”

Snips, who had shrunk down to sit in my pocket, apparently had places to be. She leaped down to the sand, blew parting bubbles, and scuttled off into the water, pausing only to wave goodbye to the children before slipping beneath the waves and out of sight. Off to rejoin her familiars in the depths, no doubt.

“What are we waiting for, dear?” Maria patted my bicep with her free hand and threw my words back at me. “We’re burning daylight.”

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

***

A half hour later, the scents of lacquer and sawdust were all around. The workshop fell silent as those within noticed our arrival. Maria had led the charge, having worked out what my plan was the second she saw the building.

“Greaaaat,” Brad drawled, elbowing Greg to get his attention. “Look who’s back. Come to distract our apprentices again?”

Greg, whose mind was still clearly on the wood he’d been in the middle of measuring, gave us a wide grin. “Welcome!” He bent and resumed marking periodically along his tape. “Make yourself at home!”

Brad frowned down, and by the set of his jaw, I guessed he was considering bumping Greg’s elbow in retaliation. Instead, he chose peace. “Can we pretend my brother and I both riffed back and forth for a minute or two at your expense?”

“Done and done, mate. How cutting were the remarks?”

“Oh, very. One of us took it too far, saying something so

terrible you considered smiting him.”

I nodded seriously. “That must have been cutting. I’m usually so calm and composed. Which of you was it?”

“Greg, of course.”

“Huh?” Greg’s head shot up. “You-say-summin’?”

Brad sighed and spread his arms. “See what I mean? He means well, he just can’t read the room.”

Greg snorted, still measuring and marking. “Throwing stones from a glass house there, brother. You didn’t learn to read until you were almost a teen. Ma was worried you—Hey!” He shot a withering glare up at Brad, who’d chosen violence after all.

They stared at each other for a long moment, neither making the first move, then both surging forward at once. Brad threw a haymaker. Greg unleashed an uppercut. I’d seen it coming and gathered my chi in advance. Light exploded as I repositioned them outside, where twin thumps landed, followed by pulses of chi, good-natured laughs, and the off-tempo smacks of a daylight brawl.

Maria looked at a young woman on my other side, who appeared to be in the early stages of shaping a reel. “Is this a common occurrence?”

“They used to do it on the hour, but they’ve been a little more conservative lately.”

An older gentleman, who I recognized as one of Gormona’s former cultivators, laughed. “Which means they only do a few times a day.”

I smiled along with him. “Poor Greg just wanted to do some measuring.”

“Don’t feel bad for him. He starts it as often as Brad does.”

“More often, actually,” the young woman corrected. “Don’t let them trick you into thinking your presence is a detriment. Your crafting might be a little distracting, but it’s at least instructive—something that can’t be said for our, uhhh…”

“Energetic?” I offered, earning a smirk.

“Exactly. Our energetic teachers aren’t always so informative with their diversions.”

That comment made a flicker of pride flare to life in my chest, joined by a twin flame of gratitude. With those conjoined sources of heat warming me, I moved around the room, selecting materials. It didn’t take long. I set the single block of wood and a few bearings down on a workbench. The rest I’d brought with me, and I unloaded them all from a shoulder bag.

Maria perused my collection. “So, the eyelets, handle, and brackets make complete sense…”

“But?”

“Do I really need to say it?”

“Indulge me.”

She sighed and faced me. “What’s up with the sand? The other powders? The glob of… is that tree sap?”

“Secret.”

“Right, you shit, I’m gonna—”

“Woah, woah!” I held my hands up in placation. “Don’t hit me! It’s for the rod!”

Glass, I said in her mind, not wanting to ruin the surprise for the many apprentices pretending not to watch us closely.

Glass…?

You’ll see in a moment, but first…

I’d not done any woodworking since earning the god-king mark. I’d worried it would be a slow process now that most of my power was being absorbed by the tunnels below—I was wrong.

Even to my enhanced awareness, it seemed too swift, the notoriously difficult ironbark wood peeling off like fruit rind beneath the endless carving of my chisel. I had only intended to carve out concave indents on either side of the block before swapping to a jigsaw and cutting out the circular shape. Instead, I covered the tool’s edge with a thin layer of chi and sculpted away. So precise and measured were my movements that I didn’t bother with a file. Using my second partition of will, I infused the wooden fibres with intention. My brow creased as I used every available strand of essence. The beginning of a headache pulsed behind my right eye.

Suddenly, he universe’s essence began bubbling up from the ground.

No, I thought. Not yet.

Before I could issue the command and force it away, Maria did it for me. Her core was more than up to the task. She didn’t even sever her connection to the network below. No one in the room had noticed, but Slimes let out an awed burble in the back of her mind.

After I’d popped a bearing into the finished reel, attached its bracket and set it down, I paused, smiling to myself. I hadn’t even realized I’d not used a vise. It’d just felt more natural to chip away at my creation while holding it in one hand.

In that bare moment of stillness, whispers erupted in the room, each word washing over me. The best were from Brad and Greg, who swore with distinct-yet-equally-offensive words, neither bearing repeating and both related to a different god’s mother.

I didn’t let my amusement linger too long.

It was time.

“Back on Earth,” I said aloud for the benefit of all present, “we had something called fibreglass. Before you question it, yes, it’s exactly what it sounds like—glass made so thin as to be thinner than most wooden fibers.”

“That…” Greg trailed off, pouting.

“Sounds useless,” finished Brad. “What good is a material so fragile? Wouldn’t it—”

“There you are, you bastard!” screamed the crazed woman charging into the workshop. Bonnie’s eyes were wild as they fixed on me. Her hair wasn’t much better, tangled from her rushed journey. “How dare you?”

“... How dare I what?”

“Do this without me!”

“Uhhh, do what?”

She took a deep breath, did her best to smooth her hair—which wasn’t all that effective, if I was being honest—and peered into my soul. “I don’t know. Whatever it is you’re doing here. I could feel it all the way from the smithy.”

“That’s only next doo—”

“I could feel it!” she repeated. “Stop playing coy and stop changing the subject!”

“I would have shown you if it works, which I don’t know it will. Pick a workstation to wat—”

She blurred forward, evidently choosing my station to watch from.

“Uhhh, perhaps another one? I need a bit of space to—”

She blurred again, moving to the next one over, which was already occupied. Bonnie showed a little restraint, at least, going behind the young woman instead of before her. But that was as far as her consideration for others extended. She peered over my neighbor’s shoulder, quite literally breathing down her neck.

“Anyway… as I was saying, we have fibreglass back on Earth—yes, Bonnie, it’s exactly what it sounds like. I’d be lying if I said I knew how it worked, but I have a general idea. You asked how something so fragile was useful, Brad, and the answer is that it is combined with another compound. Some kind of resin, I imagine, which results is an incredibly strong and flexible material. It’s what many modern fishing rods were made of. Or I think so, at least.”

“Bastard,” Bonnie hissed. “Keeping such secrets.”

I laughed quietly, shaking my head. “I wasn’t sure it would work. I’m still not. I know a lot, but even with a mostly perfect memory, I never learned how the fibers were formed, nor what compound to use. That said, I think it’s now possible because of the title my adorable yet dastardly followers gifted me, along with a lesson Ruby gave me on our trip out to sea.”

I knew countless questions would stem from that statement. Especially from Bonnie, whose only reason for not voicing them was that they all appeared to be trying to leave her mouth at once. Before any made it out, I raised my hands to either side of the sand and sent my pure essence flowing out.

I’d been slowly getting used to the delay imposed by the tunnels below. I still missed the control I had before, but having to wait a few seconds before reshaping existence itself was about as first-world as problems got. This time, it took far more than a few seconds. Slowly, effortfully, I scooped up every last grain of sand. By the time I added the comparatively small mounds of soda ash and lime, stopping only when my instincts told me to, minutes had passed. I estimated there to be a good three or four kilograms of material in the translucent bowl before me.

I ran a hand over my brow, actually wiping away drops of sweat.

Haven’t experienced that in a while…

“I’m guessing most of you know how glass is made.” No verbal responses came, but heads nodded, Bonnie’s most vigorously of all. “And I’m also guessing you’ve noticed my lack of a furnace. If you assumed I was going to transport one here… well, you were wrong. Please watch the door for any non-cultivators, Brad and Greg.”

I started gathering power in my second partition.

“Wouldn’t want to blind anyone once this gets going…”