Mira Fen's Arc

Chapter 4 of 6

Morning light fell across the workshop floor. The twelve lanterns from the night before still stood on the shelf outside, each one finished, each one wrong in some small way. The girl sat at her bench beside Mira's chair, waiting. Mira looked at the brass valve, then at the row of crooked stars through the open door. She would have to find a way to teach without taking the pride away. Mira stood and dragged a second bench beside the girl's. It was longer, with iron scrollwork and small hooks for tools. She lit the standing flame fixture at its end — a curling bronze stand that held a steady tongue of fire. The girl flinched, then settled. The fire stayed where it was told. Mira set a wooden box on the new bench and opened the lid. Inside lay a jumble of brass valves, each with tiny glass bulbs and worn metal collars. "These go in the next ones," Mira said. She did not point at the shelf outside. She pointed at the empty space on the new bench. "Yours stay where they are. We build from here." The girl looked at the shelf, then at the box, then at the steady flame. She picked up one valve and turned it in her fingers. She set it down on the new bench, in front of her own seat. Mira breathed out. The old work was kept. The next work had a place. They began.