Kaia the Argent Wing

The shrine was doing well. A few people were still out in the field beside it practising with their spells, while two women and a child were praying in the shrine itself.

One of the folks in the field was standing there with a bow, shooting at a target made from gym mats. I don’t entirely know why, but I veered off in her direction. She was a younger girl judging by her looks, and right on the cutoff age where younger people didn’t get a class.

Her bow was odd. Of the five or so people who could actually use a bow in Edgewood, all of them were using modified pre-storm bows. This girl, though, had one that was very roughly carved from bone and laminated with hide.

Due to the TikTok algorithms and a passing fascination a few years back, I had some vague understanding of how archery worked, and her form looked good. Unfortunately, her arrows were flying wide regardless, and every time one did, she grew more frustrated.

“Hey, having trouble?” I asked as I got within a couple yards.

“Leave me alone,” she growled without looking. “I'm going to make it work!”

I chose not to reply and just watch—specifically the bow itself. Chloe joined me, shooting a bemused glance my way, although she kept silent.

The girl's bow was actually fascinating, even if the build quality was pretty sub-par. She'd very obviously struggled to carve it into a usable shape, and I could see the results of that in the way the limbs flexed. When she drew back, the lower limb was actually rotating slightly, which gave the arrow an unpredictable lateral force when it was released.

It wasn't a bad idea, though. The squiron bones weren't full iron, but rather bone with strands of iron woven into the grain. This made them much stronger, but also far better at flexing than bone usually is. However… It was also extremely difficult to work with and bone, even reinforced, was still far from an ideal material to build a full bow out of. I mean, the way it was creaking didn’t sound healthy, and I half expected it to snap every time she drew it.

Usually, bone was cut into strips and laminated… Oh, I should totally make crossbows with squiron, sinew, and wood from the new forest! If I could make a standardised process we could churn them out and arm everyone. I'd been wondering if there was a suitable material for crossbow arms other than squiron, and today provided the answer. It'd be a hell of a lot easier to find good bones too, since crossbow arms were far shorter than bow limbs.

An alarming high pitched groan snapped me out of my ideation spree, just in time to see the girl overdraw her bow. It snapped with a hideous series of rapidfire cracks. The upper limb suffered a greenstick fracture and while still attached by the barest shred of bone, spun backwards to gouge the girl right near her eye. Blood was immediately welling up as she let out a pained high-pitched grunt and dropped the remains of the bow.

I was beside her in a moment, placing my hand over her bleeding eyebrow. “Hey, I got you, I got you.”

“I’m bleeding,” she said, dazed.

“Yup, but I can fix that,” I said with a smile, and dipped into my store of energy to cast my healing spell.

The wound quickly healed over, and when I removed my hand and wiped some of the blood off, I saw her eye had been unscathed. It was crazy how much blood could come out of a scalp wound.

“Thanks,” she said, then her eyes blew wide. “Oh my god, you're Silver!”

“I am,” I smiled. “You know, I just helped the Captain scout out a magical forest down south. There's wood there you could use for bows. The workshop folks might lend you some help and tools too.”

It took her a heartbeat to shake off the star-struck look in her eyes. “Wha— wait, really?”

“Yup, and actually now that I think about it, the weird grass there would be perfect for string, assuming anyone here knows how to get raw fibre to become string.”

“I'm surprised you don't know, considering how perfect you seem to be,” Chloe muttered under her breath behind me.

The girl didn't hear, thankfully. She was thinking so hard I was worried I might be hit by a sudden runaway flywheel.

“Yeah,” she murmured. “Yeah… I think the book… ugh, what was it?”

“A book, huh?” I mused, remembering my vague ideas of going to see the library.

The girl nodded. “Yeah. I borrowed this book on archery from the library one time. It was really cool. I tried to find it in the little school library here but that one is just full of boring stuff.”

“It definitely is,” I agreed, remembering how inferior the school’s one was. “Okay, I was going to check out the library at some point, so perhaps I'll keep an eye out for the archery book.”

“Really?” She asked, brightening up.

“Yup!” I agreed. “Now, I've got some stuff to do, but look into that wood, okay?”

“I will!” She agreed excitedly.

Once I'd finally extricated myself from a now excited and grateful teenage girl, I headed back towards the shrine while a few curious folks watched.

Chloe followed, and when we were out of earshot of the girl she said, “That was pretty impressive. You're good with people.”

I sighed and shrugged. “Yeah, I guess. It's exhausting, though. You want to know the biggest reason I avoid this place? It's because so many people want my help, my attention, or my head on a stake. It's exhausting.”

“I definitely get that,” she said with a slight smile. “Not the attention part, but having your battery drained by other people.”

Stepping onto the sand of the shrine, I shot her a thoughtful look. She was very introverted. I guess I was too, although she also had a huge dose of social cluelessness. I could see how that combination of traits had resulted in the woman beside me.

We didn't say another word while I approached the now unoccupied altar space and… stood there awkwardly. Something about the whole kneeling and praying thing that so many organised religions did was unsettling. I decided to just let my eyes close while I pretended to commune with Cynath.

Kaia, can you try something for me?

My goddess’ voice in my head startled me, and I opened my eyes to stare at the shrine. “Uh, what?”

Chloe gave me a sharp look, but I smiled and waved her off.

A goodly number of people have been coming to the shrine to ask me what that amber currency is. I am unsure as to its nature, but if you would indulge a theory of mine, we may gain some clarity.

“Alright, sure thing, Cynath,” I nodded, continuing to speak aloud. May as well make a little religious show out of whatever was happening.

Go and get some sort of bowl. A fireproof one— and actually, make it three bowls. When you have them, bring them back here.

I looked over at Chloe, who was watching with bemused interest again. “Okay,” I said, and nodded for us to leave.

As I left, Chloe followed again. “What was that about?”

“I don’t know. Cynath wants me to get three bowls? Ceramic would be best, I think,” I said.

“There’s some in the kitchen,” said Chloe as she took the lead. “I had a question for you, by the way.”

I glanced at her and hummed in question.

“How do you know Kaia?” She asked. It seemed like an innocent enough question, but I could see an odd look in her eyes.

I paused, and probably for too long before I asked, “Who?”

“Kaia. The girl who magically swapped gender a week ago after she was in a coma,” she replied, still giving me that piercing look.

“I… haven't… uh…” I stammered, then shrugged awkwardly. “I mean, I haven't really spoken to anyone from here since that bird shot me down.”

“Uh huh…” she said slowly, unconvinced.

Regaining my mental footing, I snapped my fingers and lied, “Wait, April has a friend called Kai. Is that who you're talking about?”

“Her name is Kaia, but yes,” she nodded.

“I know of her,” I said, cringing internally. This was so weird and uncomfortable. Going public about my identity might be an awful idea because of how people treated me as Silver, but maybe I should think about telling my friends. I just had to hope that they didn't all hate me for lying and that they'd be able to keep my secret. Oh goddess… what a mess.