(Resumed) Solstice

[Emmett]

I hung a left, and darted toward the cage.

"Make way!" Jessica called.

Samael, guarding the cage, nodded. "Agreed; Emmett, get Grace out of here. And Patrick; what the hells was that."

I didn't pay attention to Patrick's reply. I just got in the cage, Jessica closing the gate after me.

The tavernmistress gripped the hand-crank. "Alright, first load going up!" She slammed her weight into the wheel, the cage touching off the ground little by little.

Clark tapped my empty shoulder to get my attention. "That was an excellent attempt, even if it didn't work in the end; you all are certainly talented. If I may, what Element of Magus are you?"

"I don't have one yet," I said, "I'm actually really bad at Magick."

"Maybe, but you have good instincts, and some decent bedside manner with a girlfriend like her."

That warmth in my cheeks flared up again. "She's not; I'm just the strongest of us physically and I'm the only one not tired from casting."

"You mind carrying me as well?" Jessica said, panting softly with each crank of the wheel.

"As soon as I get her where she needs to go," I replied, trying to ignore what was happening to my face, "It's a safety thing, and right now you're working the shaft."

My comment was met with an uproar from the miners and the siblings, I wasn't sure why, but I didn't care.

Jessica smiled, "Ah, that I am. Damn. Ah well. You certainly are a good lad."

There was that unsettling feeling again, of being called a lad or man. Why did it bother me so?

I took a soft breath. I didn't have time to debate with my insecurities. I had a teammate, a woman, to get back home.

Grace had trusted me with this part, by casting beyond her limits. I had to respect that. Everything else came second. "Thank you."

Jacob turned to me with a chuckle, "I'd support you dating my sister."

"Can we keep the Canary talk out of the mine, please?" Clark asked, "Also, let's rotate who's on the wheel."

As Jessica switched out and another man switched in, Clark turned to me. "Where are you from?"

"A ruined village called Charade Gin," I replied.

Clark scratched his chin. "Isn't that all the way in New Bezoun? I'm surprised there were any Magi there. Why is it in ruins though?"

"The Emissaries of Total Salvation razed it five years ago."

Clark looked down. "I'm sorry for your loss. Thank you for helping us regardless."

"You're welcome, Mayor."

The rest of the trip up was in relative silence, with the miners talking about family affairs, and collecting extra pay checks or something similar.

"Will your Squad be needing rooms at the inn?" Clark asked, "I imagine you would not have to pay."

Jessica uttered some sort of rumbling sound from her throat. "Oh he would, just... not money."

"Look Jess, he didn't bite the first time, so let him be," Jacob interjected.

"I'll do whatever," I said offhandedly, "It's going to be a while before Samael and Patrick can supply Æther to our carriage for the return trip, and I don't have coin on me."

"We'll arrange something," said Jacob, taking the wheel.

It was several more minutes but we eventually arrived at the top of the elevator shaft, and the workers funneled out at breakneck speed. I had kept back, waiting for the trampling foot traffic to lessen lest I get Grace killed on accident. When I was one of the last on board, I nodded to the Mayor, Jessica, and Jacob. "Thank you. There a room open?"

Jessica stepped out and brushed my shoulder. "Follow me," she said, and I did.

Many tens of minutes later, we had arrived back at the Dying Canary. Jessica waved the patrons aside as we snaked past round table after square table toward a staircase in the back. We climbed up, and Jessica approached a door, knocking on it thrice before opening it. "I'll give you some time to set her down."

"Thank you," I said, again, stepping into the room, the door closing after me. The inn was simple, just a mattress on the floor, and a plain table, supposedly to eat at when you're done dining with the public. I stepped toward the bed and knelt down. I heard some light stirring and placed by hands on her back and thighs before leaning forward, gently rolling her onto the bed.

She shrieked and kicked out toward me. "Unhand me!"

I swiveled to the side to avoid a lance of ice piercing my heart. It ran through the wall and exploded outward, carving out a good chunk.

Grace rolled back and hopped off the bed, bringing her hands up, preparing a follow-up before stopping suddenly. "E-Emmett? What the fuck did you do to me."

I held my hands up, palms toward her in a surrendering posture. "I didn't do anything!"

Grace flicked her hands back, conjuring two large knives of ice which she held in reverse grip. "Bullshit." She stepped away from the bed, switched one of the blades to forward and pointed it at me, "Why was your hand on my arse?"

"I was carrying you out of the mines," I intoned slowly, "and then I was supporting your weight as I rolled you off my shoulder so you didn't get hurt."

"Where's Patrick?" Grace barked, "He was supposed to watch you to make sure you didn't accost me."

"He's on his way," I said, "We had a large number of people we needed to evacuate, and we were in the first wave what with you being unconscious. And again: I didn't accost you. Were you never taught how to carry someone?!"

"Were you never taught respect?" Grace took another step forward, holding her blade steady.

"Look, if you really think I did anything to hurt you," I said, turning around, placing my hands at my sides, "Then kill me. Right here and now. Because I swear to whatever higher powers are out there that I did not take advantage of you."

"You're turning around?" Grace asked with a cool edge to her voice.

"Yeah, so I don't try to react." I froze in fear. I felt an unpleasant sensation between my legs and pushed the thought of it out of my mind.

I was not sure whether I was going to die. Maybe Grace would just maim me, as if to punish me for doing something untoward. Which I didn't do.

Hells, that bullshit statement Patrick made at the entrance exams would end me after all. "Just... make it quick."

I heard a sigh from Grace behind me. "No, Emmett," she said, "I'm not going to. If I hear you lied to me, though, you're dead in your sleep. But you did save me from Heavens know what."

I let out an awfully loud breath of relief. "Thank you. I don't think you know how much what you just said means to me. But thank you, honestly."

"You're welcome. Now get out of my room."

"Before I do," I said, taking a step toward the exit door, "May I ask a question?"

"No I won't go out with you."

"Seems like Patrick's little quip bled more into you than I thought, but no that wasn't it."

I heard an upward noise of what sounded like curiosity. "Oh? What is it?"

"When we were on the mission," I said, "I noticed your Magick was the most similar to my own-"

"You are a failure of a Magus and don't you dare place yourself as my equal in the field."

I nodded. "That wasn't what I meant. I mean, I look at your Magick, and you effortlessly in one breath succeeded where I would fail, using what looked like the perfected version of what I was going to try on the fly."

"Okay; your point?"

I took a breath. "I wanted to ask how. How do you pull Æther out of the air so effortlessly? How do you channel it all without fizzling?"

"Emmett," Grace said, hard, from behind me, "Don't turn around." Her command was fierce, and I froze in place. "I'm going to assume you have no idea what you just said, and how utterly offensive it was."

"Uh... what?"

"Keep quiet." my jaw slammed shut. "I don't have a fucking clue how you don't know this, but you just implied I wasn't a woman. I am very much one. Never accuse a woman of casting the way a man does."

My jaw dropped. "Huh?!"

"Oh Stars Almighty, do you not know?!"

"Know what?!"

"Women don't rape the air around us to fuel our spells!" Grace shouted, then dropped her voice to her normal loudness, "The reason why women overdraw instead of overburn is because we don't rip the Æther out like you men. We produce Æther, and store it in our vessels. When we cast, we shepherd our Æther out into the world, and watch it blossom into the Magick we desire. We overdraw when we run out of Æther in our bodies. What fucking excuse of a dickwad taught you anyway, before you came here?"

I sighed. "Her name was Jacqueline. And you're right: I am a failure of a Magus."

"I... don't believe you," Grace said coldly, "Get out."

"Yes ma'am." I started out the door. "I'm sorry."

"...Thank you for carrying me out. Never do it again."

Of course Jacqueline wouldn't have taught me that women cast differently. I was having too much trouble with the basics; I would have never gotten anywhere if I tried to experiment with a casting style that only the opposite gender used.

I closed the door behind me and looked to find Jessica waiting for me in a surprisingly thin dress.

"I take it she thought you a pervert?" She asked, "Us ladies don't get that pissy unless there's a reason."

"It was my mistake," I said, "I didn't know men and women cast Magick differently, and I accidentally implied she wasn't actually a woman."

"At least you apologized, I hope."

I nodded. "I did, ma'am."

That low-pitched guttural sound came again. "You sound like you could be fun. Come with me; let's get you relaxed."

I shivered. Something in my gut stirred, and my breathing intensified. What the fuck was wrong with me?

And much to my own confusion, I followed her into a room.