Kaia the Argent Wing

The kitchen staff were fine with us stealing some of their bowls… mostly. Two older women stared daggers at us the whole time, and judging by the way they kept poking at their crosses, I could guess why.

Anyway, when we rolled on back to the shrine, we placed the three bowls beneath the statue and stepped back.

This time, Cynath decided to speak out loud. “Do either of you have any monster parts on you?”

Beside me, Chloe twitched and spun her head for half a second before realising what was happening. I did my best not to giggle and shook my head in answer to my goddess’ question. Ah! Wait! When we were loading all of the parts for the steam engine—along with the vehicle corpses— someone gave me the largest chunk of my broken shield, which was still on my back. I took it off, pulled my makeshift handle out, then held it up. “Here, will this do?”

“Yes, I believe so,” Cynath said. “Place it in the bowl, please.”

“Which bowl?” I asked, losing the battle against the grin I’d held in. “There’s three of them.”

Cynath let out a long, long suffering sigh. Beside me, Chloe coughed out an aborted giggle but when I glanced at her, there was nothing but the strictest poker face. With a shake of my head, I laughed and stepped forward to place my broken shield in the central bowl.

As soon as I did so, the bowl wobbled in place like an egg hatching, and I quickly stepped back. Given space, the bowl rose into the air, also completely of its own accord, and I looked over at Chloe. Her eyebrows were rising along with it, and we shared a what the fuck look. That look became one of alarm when orange-gold fire suddenly erupted from the bowl. It calmed down an instant later, becoming a happy little crackling flame.

“Uh…” I said anxiously.

Chloe placed a hand on my arm. “Let her cook.”

I couldn’t help but give her a wry, amused smile at the very literal use of the phrase. Her gorgeous lips curved in response, and instinctively I traced their lines with my eyes. My heart did a little stutter, and I quickly began to look at everything except her lips, but that just led to her eyes, which were flicking to look all over the place too. Oh no, did she see me staring? Was I being weird? I was definitely being weird. Uh… oh yeah! Fire!

Mercifully, the fire was beginning to sputter out. The chunk of chitin had been entirely consumed, and when I peered into the bowl—which was still hovering in midair—I found a tiny blob of what looked like golden glass. Reaching in with a tentative hand, I plucked the quarter-inch vaguely spherical object out and held it up so Chloe could see.

“If that isn’t Amber, I don’t know what is,” my friend said quietly as she inspected it.

“My theory was correct, it would seem,” Cynath said with just the barest hint of a smug smile in her tone.

“So, what, we shove monster bits in the bowls and you melt them down into amber?” I asked, gesturing to the still floating bowl.

“You’ll have to do some testing, but I would say anything blessed by the storm would work, with more powerful objects giving more amber.”

Looking at the little bead, I realised something chilling. The most powerful objects of storm power around… were humans. I think, possibly, it would be a good idea to leave that realisation unvoiced.

“Can I hold it?” Chloe asked, opening her palm to me.

I popped the little piece of amber into her hand and watched as she picked it up between forefinger and thumb and squeezed it. “I can’t tell if it’s just a tiny bit squishy or if that’s just the… meat of my fingers squishing.”

I stared at her incredulously. “The meat of your fingers?”

She blushed and scowled simultaneously, and struck me with a glare. “You know what I mean.”

“I’m not sure I do,” I said bemusedly. “I mean, I do… but goddess…”

“It’s not that weird!” she huffed. “I’ve said way weirder things. Why are you getting hung up on this?”

“Meat,” I intoned dramatically.

Actually, meat was a good idea. There were certain cuts from the various forms of angry monster wildlife that weren't the most delightful to eat, even in a stew. We could totally chuck that crap into these bowls and fire them into amber.

“It’s pretty,” a third voice said, startling both Chloe and myself. Oh, the girl with the bow was watching from a respectful distance. “Is it like, raw storm magic?”

“It would seem so, young one,” Cynath said gently. “Tell me, what is your name?”

Suddenly, I was curious as well. Doubly so because Cynath had asked her.

“U-uh,” squeaked the girl who was barely sixteen. “I-I’m… I’m…”

“Take your time,” my goddess chuckled, her voice melodic and soothing.

“Tess!” The archer girl suddenly exclaimed. “M-my name is Tess!”

“Okay, Tess. I'd like you to come back later, say, an hour before dark.”

Tess’s eyes grew wide. “Why?”

“Because, dear one, I am not just a goddess of justice, beauty, and love—I am a goddess of war. One of my favourite weapons just so happens to be the bow, and since there does not appear to be anyone around to teach you, I will do so.”

Somehow, the girl’s eyes didn’t fall out of her head, but it was a close thing. “Really? You will?”

“Absolutely,” Cynath said. “I must conserve my energy, however, so until the moon rises I'll need to quiet down. See you soon, Tess.”

We were all left standing there when Cynath’s presence faded. Tess shot off a second after, rushing for the cafeteria, so it was just Chloe and I.

Suddenly, I had no idea what to say or do. I met her gaze for a moment but quickly looked away and cleared my throat. “Um… so…”

“That amber stuff is interesting,” she remarked, staring at the sand that surrounded the shrine.

I nodded dumbly. “Yup. It's pretty. Looks like a drop of honey.”

She drew an arc in the sand with the tip of her shoe. “I wonder if you could infuse it into something non-magical or whatever.”

“Maybe you can melt it,” I said, although my heart really wasn't in it. It, being the theorycrafting that we were doing, because my heart was definitely in my chest, hammering away like I was running from a pack of wolves.

Chloe nodded and hummed thoughtfully, ringlets bobbing around her face. I wonder if they tickled her cheek. They looked so soft—slightly round and dusted with pink. Probably flushed from the cold, even if it was a little warmer in Cynath's shrine. I wanted to touch her cheeks. Run my thumb over them, see if they were as soft as they looked.

Goddess, but she was beautiful. She had absolutely perfect eyeliner game, with these slight wings at the corners that were curved perfectly, despite the apocalypse. I'd always admired her, to be honest. She was just so insanely attractive to me, for some reason, even if maybe she didn't fit into the stereotypical beauty standards.

“Silver!” A voice said, breaking the spell that Chloe's perfect face had over me.

Turning, I found April jogging over to us. To my surprise, she continued right into my personal space and hugged me tightly. I returned it, and then stepped back. “Hey, April. How's the scrapping going?”

“That's what I'm here about actually, other than to see your blindingly gorgeous face,” she said with a wink. “Seriously.”

Abruptly, she turned her attention to Chloe. “Isn't she beautiful—like, in a tough way, and probably cut from a single block of marble?”

Chloe's mouth opened, then closed, then opened again. She looked at me, then down my body for a split second, then back up, then at April. “U-uh… yeah. She is very pretty.”

Agh! Poor Chloe! Why were you babbling about my looks, April?! This was so awkward!

“Anyway,” April said, as though she hadn't made things totally tense and embarrassing. “I'm coming to grab you because we want to use you as a mannequin to design some armour.”

Eager to distance the conversation from my looks, I groaned theatrically. “Oh no, I have to be the test pilot for your mad contraptions?”

“Exactly!” She grinned happily. “Sorry, Chloe. Gonna have to steal the girl for a bit.”

Chloe frowned and stared off to the side. “She’s not mine, you can take her if you want.”

“It's nice to be wanted,” I grumbled sarcastically. “Okay, April. Take me into your den of industry.”