Fiction: Let Go Too Soon

[clare_dragonfly]

Title: Let Go Too Soon
World: other
Word count: 19,685
Rating: PG-13 for sexuality
Prompt: bigbang_mixup. Based on the mix shut up, i hate the way you love by unavoidedcrisis/sunspot.
Summary: Valath and Nidan are very happy at college, despite the supposed incompatibility of their courses of study--her magic and his science. But when their career paths take them in very different directions, things start to fall apart.



Valath lay in the sun with her eyes closed. She knew Nidan was there next to her, his breathing just as slow and comfortable as hers, the warmth of his skin the barest addition to the sun’s warmth. This was contentment, she thought. This was how life should be.

Then he rolled over on top of her, caught her shoulders in his hands, and kissed her. She kissed him back and laughed, opening her eyes. “We’re in public,” she whispered to him.

“I don’t care,” he whispered back, kissing her again. “It’s not like anyone doesn’t know about us.”

She shook her head. “I hope not. But there are still some things that should be kept private!”

He rolled off her but didn’t take his hands away. “I suppose you’re right.”

Unfortunately, now that her contented drowse had been interrupted, thoughts came crowding back into her head. Thoughts like the fact that despite the beautiful, sunny, warm day that had brought half the campus out here to the side of the hill, she was actually supposed to be studying. She reached above her for her satchel, fumbling with the clasp without looking at it.

“Are you really going to study now?” Nidan asked her.

“I have to,” she said. “You don’t want me to fail my exams, do you?”

“We could both fail,” he said. “Then we could just stay here together. Wouldn’t that be wonderful?”

“Yes.” Her fingers found her spellbook and she sat up with it in her hands. “But my parents would kill me. They already think I’m wasting my life by studying instead of just getting married. If I don’t actually get a job, they’ll cut me off and then what will I do?”

“I could support you.” He sat up, though, and turned to his own satchel.

“Yes, because newly-graduated airship engineers make so much money.” She leaned over to give him a kiss on the cheek. “If it comes to that, I could support you. Natural witches are much more in demand, or so I hear.”

“I wonder why anyone without the natural ability even bothers to study the spells.” He opened a notebook onto his knees and took out a graphite pencil, making marks that looked almost as arcane to her as her magic sigils probably looked to him.

“Because there are only so many of us, darling, and there are far more airships.” She opened her book to the page she’d marked, where lay a diagram she needed to study. In her exam for this class, she would be asked to correct several diagrams like these; if she didn’t know exactly what they were supposed to look like, she wouldn’t know what was wrong. And a witch who didn’t know what was wrong with the diagram would never get hired—or if she did, she wouldn’t last long, because if something went wrong with one of them and she couldn’t fix it, everyone on the ship would be dead.

Of course, she could always buy her own copy of this book and carry it around with her on the ship. But everything would be much easier if she could memorize it. And if she did well enough, she could make her way up through the ranks of an airship company and become a shipwright’s witch—and then she would be set for life. But first she had to pass her exams.

She leaned her head on Nidan’s shoulder, adjusted her book so the sun didn’t glare off it, and proceeded to study.

♥︎

Nidan returned reluctantly to his dorm room after dinner. He’d spent all day with Valath, and wonderful as that was, they both had to agree that they didn’t get as much done together as they did if they weren’t distracting each other. And he might be confident that Valath would pass her exams without any trouble, he couldn’t say the same for himself.

Unfortunately, his roommate was already waiting there for him. Josether looked up and smirked. “Long day?”

Nidan shook his head and turned away to start pulling his books out of his bag and pile them on his desk. The school stuck you with the same roommate for all four years, unless you were rich enough to get a whole apartment all to yourself. Maybe it was their way of making sure people graduated on time. Of course, if Josether graduated and Nidan didn’t, Nidan’s final year would be a lot more pleasant…

Despite Nidan’s obvious desire to study, Josether continued to nettle him. “You’re not still with that witch girl, are you?”

“Yes,” said Nidan shortly, adding more oil to his lamp so he could spend several hours studying.

“You know it’s never going to work,” said Josether. “Witches and engineers are fundamentally incompatible. Have you ever known a mixed couple who stayed together for a long time?”

Nidan didn’t, of course, but he continued to ignore his roommate as best he could. It was true that most people thought witches and engineers couldn’t be together, but that had never seemed to matter for him and Valath. He hadn’t known she was a witch when they met at a friend’s party, and she hadn’t known he was an engineer—they’d just hit it off right away. Her studies might be completely opaque to him and vice versa, but they had plenty of other things to talk about and do together.

“Just as long as she knows you’re just playing with her,” said Josether. “You’ll need something more serious pretty soon.”

Nidan wanted to make a retort about Josether’s boyfriend, who might have been a fellow engineer but was also the most silly, empty-headed person Nidan knew, but he gritted his teeth and kept silent. There was no point in getting into an argument about relationships. Just a few more weeks, he reminded himself. A few more weeks and he would either have a job or not, and either way he wouldn’t have a roommate anymore.

Thankfully, the lack of response eventually made Josether shut up. Unfortunately, it didn’t do the same for Nidan’s brain. He couldn’t concentrate on his book; he kept thinking about Valath. This was a fairly common occurrence, but instead of thinking about her curly hair or her perfect body, he was imagining future scenarios in which they broke up horribly—breaking each other’s hearts, creating drama for everyone around them, causing disaster on the airships where they worked.

He squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head, trying to rid it of the imagery. It wouldn’t be that awful even if they did break up. He and Valath were both sensible people, and they neither caused drama nor got drawn into it as a rule. If it became clear they weren’t compatible, they would agree on the facts and go their separate ways.

The future was uncertain, he told himself, and that was a fact of life. The only thing he could do about it was to study and make sure that in the future, he passed his exams well and earned a good job. He couldn’t affect the future with Valath by anything he did now. So he had to put it out of his mind and put the books in there instead.

♥︎

Valath had spent the night with Nidan the day the exam results came in—it hadn’t been their plan, just an effect of the roommate shuffle that meant Nidan’s roommate was out with his boyfriend that night and Valath’s roommate was in with hers, but they’d appreciated it all the same. So they were both awakened by the sound of the scroll emerging from the pneumatic tube and rattling to a stop on his desk.

Valath knew that sound. She’d been anticipating it for days—ever since the exams had officially ended and the third-year students had been released to spend their time as they would until the results came. She sat upright in the bed and shook Nidan’s shoulder, since he didn’t seem to be inclined to wake up. “Get up!”

“Don’t wanna read it,” he mumbled, turning his head into his pillow.

She shook his shoulder again. “It’s your exam results! I want to see what kind of offers you got!”

“Exam results?” He sat up suddenly, his hair tousled in a hundred different directions, and looked around wildly. Then he leapt out of the bed, going completely over her, and dashed for the desk. She giggled as she watched him, completely naked, tear open the tube and feverishly open the papers rolled up inside.

“I got tens in everything,” he said as he scanned it and she got more slowly out of the bed to join him. “Except… sailing. That’s just an eight.” He wrinkled his nose. “At least it’s not a fail.”

She put a hand on his shoulder to comfort him—not that he needed much comforting after getting tens in almost everything. “Well, it’s not like they expect the engineers to do the actual sailing anyway. You just won’t be able to get licensed to operate your own ship.”

“I didn’t want that anyway.” He shrugged, still looking up and down at that near-perfect row of tens, a grin spreading across his face.

“Well, let’s see the offers!” she urged him. He nodded quickly and tossed the first paper aside.

They read the offers together. There were four of them, all told—not a bad number. The companies generally only made offers to the top few students they wanted, since no student could accept all of his or her offers. Two offers were from medium-sized companies looking for head engineers for tourist ships. One was from a brand-new company looking for an assistant to the company’s head engineer. One was from Skyline Enterprises, the biggest and most prestigious company around, looking for assistants to ship engineers.

“Wow,” Valath said, shaking her head. “Which one are you going to take?”

“I have no idea.” Nedan stared at the list with no expression on his face, which Valath knew meant he was confused and thinking hard. “Either Skyline or that new one—Iris. Wow, this is a tough choice. There are so many possibilities…”

“The role isn’t as good at Skyline, but there’s a lot more space for upward mobility there,” observed Valath. “And there’s definitely going to be stability—they’re not going out of business anytime soon. Honestly, I think I’d look at that one if I were you.”

He looked at her and raised his eyebrows. “You?”

She grinned. “Well, not me, necessarily. But you. You’d like the structure, and you’d find a way to bend the bureaucracy to your wishes. Whatever position you want in the company, I know you’d get it by the time you’re forty.”

He grinned back. “The thing with Iris is that I would have a lot more responsibility. I would actually be hands-on working with their ships!”

“But you might not be flying. With the position at Skyline, you definitely would.”

“Huh.” He looked at the paper again. “You’re right. But let’s look at what you got.”

“Of course. Inya should have had time to get dressed by now.” She looked around the room. “Now where are my bloomers?”

♥︎

Once they were fully dressed and looking somewhat presentable (Nidan had found Valath’s bloomers under his bed), they headed across campus to Valath’s dorm. The men’s and women’s dorms were separate, though heaven only knew why. All the students were legal adults and the distance between dorms only made things more inconvenient when they wanted to spend time together or just had to work together for class.

It was a nice day, though, and Nidan felt the warm summer air clear his mind—though that didn’t actually help him make his decision. Both the small company and the large had a lot to recommend them. And it wasn’t as though he was making the decision for the rest of his life, either, was he? He found himself hoping that Valath had gotten an offer from one of the same companies as he had to make his decision easier. And he didn’t even know if that was a good idea.

When they reached Valath’s dorm room, her roommate, Inya, and her boyfriend were still sitting on Inya’s bed. Inya waved excitedly to see Valath. “Exam results are in!”

“I know,” said Valath, smiling at her and heading toward her own desk, where a pneumatic tube awaited her. “That’s why we’re here.” Nidan followed her to her desk, his own results still clenched tightly in his hand. He watched over her shoulder as she unrolled hers.

No surprise, she’d done nearly as well as him—or better, depending on your perspective. She’d gotten tens in most of her courses and nines in a few. He didn’t even understand the names of most of her classes, so he had no idea what it might mean for her career that she had lower marks in some of them. Still, she was likely to have her pick of jobs just like he did.

She gaped at the paper as though she didn’t believe it for a few moments. Eventually Nidan got tired of waiting and gently took the top paper out of her hands so they could read the next page.

His heart dropped into his stomach immediately. She actually had five offers, but none of them were for the same companies that had made him offers—not a single one. Not even Skyline had offered for her.

He hadn’t expected to feel so bad about the situation. Was he just being selfish, since his decision hadn’t been made any easier for him? Or did he really want to spend the rest of his life with Valath? If he did, maybe he should just go with her wherever she went. She had been right the other day—if one of them was going to support the other, she would be in a much better position to do it. And if he wanted it, he wouldn’t have any trouble getting a less important position in a shipyard. His marks were high enough that none of them had bothered making offers, but shipyards were always hiring.

He swallowed and took a deep breath to calm himself. It wasn’t time to be making any decisions yet. They still had plenty of time to discuss. He pointed at a name in the middle of the paper. “I’m not familiar with that company. What is it?” The two names he did recognize were much like the offers he’d gotten; one large and one mid-size company wanted witches’ assistants, and two small startups wanted chief witches for their ships.

“That one isn’t an airship company at all,” said Valath. She was frowning slightly now. “I’ve heard of it… it’s a chemical company, I think. Inya?” She looked over her shoulder at her roommate. “Are you familiar with the Tistinne Company?”

“Oh, yeah, I’ve heard of them, I think,” said Inya. “They produce fuels, don’t they?”

“Huh.” Valath looked at the paper again. “That would explain why they’re recruiting here. But why would they want a witch? It doesn’t say what I would be doing, just says ‘spellwork support.’”

“You should find out about that,” said Nidan, interested despite himself. “See if they have a leaflet and, if they don’t, write to them to find out.”

“Yeah… maybe I’ll head over to admin today and check out the leaflets. I should look into some of these other companies, too. I mean, I’m familiar with them, I just don’t know details.” She rerolled her offer paper and thrust it into a belt pouch. “Breakfast first, though. Inya, you coming?”

“No, you go along,” said Inya. Nidan glanced at her as he and Valath left; she was once again focused on her boyfriend.

“I have to admit,” said Nidan quietly as they made their way out of the building, “I was kind of hoping that we would both get an offer from the same company and we could go there together.”

Valath gave a short, breathless laugh. “I don’t know that that would make things much easier. I doubt I would like working for the same company as you.”

“Maybe. I wonder why Skyline isn’t hiring witches.”

“They probably are, but they only made offers for the people with all tens.” Valath shrugged.

Nidan glanced sideways at her. She was striding along with as much bounce in her step as usual, but she wasn’t looking at him or smiling. “You aren’t feeling bad about your exam results, are you? Because you did amazing.” He put his arm around her shoulders and hugged her briefly to himself.

She smiled a little and shook her head. “No, I know I did well. I guess it’s just that things are really real now. You know? We’re done with the world of school. Now we have to navigate the real world.”

Nidan blew out a laugh. “Don’t remind me.” They’d reached their destination, one of several small cafes that primarily served the college students; he held the door open for her.

They found a table and she took his hand across it, squeezing for a moment before letting go. “Well, even if it is the real world, we’ll still do just fine. Both of us. We’re brilliant at our jobs; what could go wrong?”

♥︎

Valath found the information she needed on the companies that wanted to hire her. It did help make her decision easier; she could discard the largest company and one of the startups, which didn’t sound as though it was going to last very long—being partially in charge of a failing company would not be good for her career by any stretch of the imagination.

But the other two airship companies and the fuel company continued to intrigue her. She’d always thought she would work on an airship, but the Tistinne Company sounded like it was doing some really interesting, different things. And she could be part of that. She could help innovate new, cheaper, more efficient, safer fuel. She would be doing good things for the world.

But with the Tistinne Company she wouldn’t be on airships—or at least not unless she got more seniority and they did flight tests. That was likely, but it wouldn’t be for a few years. The other companies would put her on ships right away. She’d be constantly flying from one place to another, not enough time to make a serious study of any one place, but at least she would see some of the world.

She finally decided to ask Nidan. He knew her better than anyone else, after all. She explained her dilemma to him. ”Which do you think I would like better?” she asked.

He shook his head slowly. “I’m really not sure. And I don’t think I’m the best person to ask.”

“Why not? You know me better than anyone, don’t you?”

He shrugged. “I would have thought so, but, well… your advice on which company I should go with isn’t right for me.”

She stared at him for a moment, taken aback and rather nettled. She knew him. She wasn’t wrong about his need for the stability of a larger company. He’d always been the one to make sure the classes he was signing up for matched up with the official recommendations for engineers, that he wasn’t getting too far ahead of himself or falling behind his peers. He’d practically taken a poll before asking her out. And now he was saying he wasn’t going to prioritize stability in his career?

She took a deep breath. Maybe she was thinking of it wrong. Maybe he had other priorities. “Really? Which one do you think you’re going to go with?”

“I think I like Iris Flights. It’s such a new company that I would have the ability to not only work directly with the ships, but maybe even help choose the direction the company goes in. I could have a lot of power there.”

“But they could go under any day,” she pointed out. “They don’t have the infrastructure of Skyline or the stable investments.”

He shook his head. “I like the uncertainty.” He gave her a half smile. “And now you understand why I was saying that I’m not sure I’m the best person to advise you. I might be just as wrong about what you want as you are about me.”

Valath gritted her teeth and didn’t make a retort. She wasn’t wrong about him. And if he went with Iris, he was going to be unhappy. But she couldn’t force him to do anything, and she wouldn’t want to.

She still wanted his advice. She was pretty sure she knew herself better than he knew himself, and she wouldn’t fool herself into thinking the wrong thing would make her happy. She just wasn’t sure which of the companies were the thing that would make her happy. “If you have any thoughts for me, I want to hear them anyway. Maybe they’ll spark something for me.”

He nodded. “I do think you’ll do more traveling than you think with the Tistinne Company—don’t they source fuel ingredients from all over the world? Surely they’ll want a witch to check on the components before they ship them all the way back.”

“That might be true.” If she could do that, she might get everything she wanted in one company—new and exciting innovation plus the travel. She smiled at him. “Do you think that’s what would make me happy?”

“Of course.” He grinned back at her, looking relieved. “You want to see the world. See it and get what you can out of it.”

She felt the smile melt off her face. “Get what I can out of it? That makes me sound like a money-hungry yahoo. I don’t think the world owes me anything.”

Nidan’s eyebrows drew together. “I didn’t say that. I just mean that if you have to do something, you should do something that benefits you.” He obviously didn’t understand why what he’d just said was so offensive.

“And what about the rest of the world?”

“Well, if you can help them too, that’s just a bonus, right? Anything you do for the world will help you as well.”

She shook her head. “Do you really think I’m that self-centered?”

“Do you really think I’m that boring?” he countered, pointing to the offer paper on his desk.

“I never said you were boring. Sure, I mean, it could sound like you’re boring, but you’re not, you just work better with structure around you…”

“And you work better when you can see how it’s going to benefit you!”

She jumped up. “You know, you were right about one thing. You don’t know me well enough to give me career advice. Maybe you don’t know me at all!” Her blood was roaring in her ears. She couldn’t believe she’d spent so much time with this man and he would say such things about her.

He stood up as well. “And maybe you don’t know me either! Maybe we should just stop pretending to know each other!”

“If that’s what you want, fine!” She marched toward the door, not acknowledging the break in her voice.

“Fine!” he shouted after her. She slammed the door and immediately regretted it, but there was nothing to do about it now. She started running for her own dorm.

The tears started before she was even out of the building. She’d probably just made the biggest mistake of her life. But damned if she was going to go back and apologize. She didn’t have anything to apologize for—he was the one who needed to apologize. She turned around in the middle of the lawn between the buildings and looked at the building, but the curtains over his window didn’t so much as twitch, and he didn’t come out after her.

Well, if that was the way it was going to be, she could live with that. If he didn’t care enough to come after her, she wouldn’t go after him either. It was probably best this way, anyway. Whatever they did, they weren’t going to be working at the same place; their paths might never cross again. She was better off.

When Inya came home late that night and asked what Valath was crying about, Valath didn’t tell her.

♥︎

Nidan waited for hours, even missing dinner for fear that Valath would show up in his room while he was out and think he’d abandoned her. But she didn’t come back. And the longer he waited, the more he seethed, the more he thought her leaving was good riddance. They weren’t going to see each other ever again anyway. And why would he want to be with someone who thought so little of him?

He did not speak to his roommate when he came home, not even to acknowledge his greeting. They only had two more days to be on campus before everyone went to their new jobs. He was not going to take the risk of having to admit that Josether had been right.

He decided to take the job with Iris Flights. That was what he wanted. He wanted the fun and excitement. After three years of dreary engineering school, that was what he needed! Besides, he had some cool ideas for how to improve the guts of the airships—he could make them more efficient. If he went with Skyline, his ideas might not be implemented for years, if ever. Assuming his ideas turned out right, Iris could grow to be as big as Skyline one day. And then what would Valath say? He would have all the power and all the stability—not to mention a big fat paycheck.

Yes, he was sure that Iris was the place where he could make himself a success. At a big company like Skyline, he wouldn’t have a chance to shine; at Iris, everyone would know who he was.

He sent his acceptance to Iris and his polite letter of “thanks, but no thanks” to Skyline. Then he waited for two days.

When the day came that trains and airships would take the graduates to different parts of the country or overseas, he was packed and ready. He’d spent most of his time that he wasn’t eating in his own room and had managed to completely avoid Valath. He saw her across the lawn when everyone was getting themselves organized. He turned his face away.

The group waiting for the airship from Skyline was by far the largest, with nearly a dozen young men and women; Josether and his boyfriend were part of that group, making Nidan more glad than ever that he hadn’t taken that offer. He would not want to have to work with Josether for the rest of his life.

For a moment he wondered if there was a sign up for where Valath was headed, and he started to turn to look, then made himself look away. It didn’t matter where she was going. Maybe his advice had been wrong for her and maybe it hadn’t. If he’d been right and she’d listened, then good for her. If not, then she might not to be happy where she was going, but what difference did that make to him?

There was a group of them waiting for a train to the north, but only one other person going to Iris Flights—Garta, another engineer he’d had a few classes with. She hadn’t done as well as he had and was just going to be working as a technician, but she was as excited about working for a brand-new company as he was, and she was a good traveling companion as they boarded the train and traveled north… and further north… and as far away from his home as he’d ever been.

♥︎

A special airship came to pick Valath up to take her to the Tistinne Company. She was the only one from the school who was headed there; she wondered if no one else had gotten offers, or if they’d just decided to take different ones. And if the first, what was so special about her? Well, she would find out.

A middle-aged man, silver hair waving in the breeze the small ship created, descended the ladder and jumped down toward her, already extending his hand. “Ms. Tewaine? I’m Brenn Tistinne. It’s my pleasure to have you on board.” He chuckled at his own pun.

She shook his hand automatically, even as her eyes grew wide with awe. “The Brenn Tistinne? The founder? You came all this way just to meet me at school?”

“Of course!” He clapped her on the back. “You’re the first witch to accept our offer. I wanted to personally greet you and make sure you get settled into the company comfortably and quickly. Is this all you have? Here, let me help you with that.” He lifted her trunk by one handle. She quickly grabbed the other handle and followed him up the ladder. It was rolled up after her by a young man in full flying leathers turning a hand crank.

This was strange treatment from such a wealthy, important man, but she wasn’t going to complain. She just hoped he was treating her as a valuable employee rather than as an attractive young woman. He was married, wasn’t he?

The airship was bigger on the inside than it had looked on the outside; there was plenty of room for a passenger compartment that was separate from the pilot’s compartment and the engine. Mr. Tistinne put her trunk in one corner and gestured for her to put her other things with it while they sat down on extremely comfortable couches. The young man looked in on them to make sure they were settled, then nodded and pulled his goggles on. A moment later, Valath felt the engines start.

“So you have been trying to recruit a witch, sir?” Valath asked Mr. Tistinne.

“Please, call me Brenn,” he said, waving his hand. “We’re a very tight-knit company. Very informal. I hope you’re all right with that, Ms. Tewaine.”

She grinned. “I’m getting more and more excited about this job with everything you say, Brenn. And call me Valath.”

He nodded, satisfaction sparkling in his dark eyes. “And to answer your question, yes, I have. The airship companies keep telling me that the fuel works separately from the magical part of the engines and that they don’t need something more powerful than what they already have, but I’m not content with that and I hope I never will be—nor will anyone else at my company. I truly believe that there are some amazing new fuels just waiting to be discovered that can only be found by a witch’s trained eye.”

“And why me, sir—Brenn? If you don’t mind my asking.”

“I hope to never mind when an employee asks me a question. First and foremost, of course, you’re a natural witch. You have the enhanced senses from birth that a trained witch might be missing. And as I’m sure you’re aware, you got some of the best marks in your year.”

“But not the best marks,” she couldn’t resist putting in. “I believe those witches all got snapped up by Skyline.”

“And I’m quite all right with that,” he said. “Are you aware that you had the best grade in your year for the blindfold test?”

“No, I wasn’t. Really? They give you that information?” That did make her a little uncomfortable. She’d thought that the only things the companies who were recruiting saw was the same as she saw—the marks out of ten for each course.

He nodded. “Your school has given Tistinne special privileges—very minor ones, and I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the other companies had other, similar dispensations. We’ve only asked to see the students in each year who score tops on the blindfold test.”

She shook her head. “Why?” The blindfold test was considered one of the less important tests they took in their sigils class—no one ever did very well, as it involved identifying sigils traced in sand, milk, or fuel oil while blindfolded. Valath had known she’d done well, but not that she’d beaten everyone else.

“Because I believe that the blindfold test shows certain aptitudes. I’m looking for someone who doesn’t necessarily have all of the information memorized and in her head. I’m looking for someone who can work on instinct and let her hunches guide her. If you’re in the field and you think a certain rock is better than all the other rocks even if you can’t see anything different, I want you to make sure you use that rock, understand?”

Valath nodded slowly. “I think I do. You want me to use my subconscious senses—and you think I have the best subconscious senses in my year.”

“Exactly. So, Valath, what made you choose Tistinne over the many other companies I am certain must have offered for you?”

“I’m not completely sure,” she admitted. She didn’t think she wanted to tell him yet that the decision had been partly made due to the argument she’d had with her boyfriend just before breaking up with him. “But it sounded different. Like it might be doing something that could change the world, not just take people from one place to another or ship things quickly. I thought maybe working for Tistinne I would have an opportunity to help a lot of people and have a grand time doing it.”

“Change the world,” Brenn repeated softly, his eyes far away for a moment. Then he focused on her again and grinned. “I think you’re going to fit in very well, Valath.”

♥︎

Six months into his job at Iris Flights, Nidan was having a wonderful time. He really did get to work hands-on with the ships, after about a month’s trial period in which the head engineer (who had apparently not been personally consulted about the hiring of a new assistant) didn’t let him do anything except for hand over tools. But now he was really working—even on his own some of the time, when the head engineer was busy with something else.

Unfortunately, all that time that the head engineer was busy with something else was, for the most part, after usual working hours. Nidan was working nearly twice the time he was supposed to, and worse, his salary was less than it was supposed to be. He’d been promised a starting salary with an increase after that one-month trial period, but so far, the increase was long in coming. They kept saying he would get the back pay when they had the funds, but so far, they didn’t have the funds.

He really wanted to be spending his evenings out in the town, meeting local girls, taking in some culture; they were in the far and frozen north, true, but there wasn’t much call for an airship company far from centers of civilization, and Iris Flights was located just two train stops away from Nidan’s new flat in the middle of a major city. He loved the apartment and its location. It was just too bad all he saw of the flat was darkness when he arrived there in the middle of the night.

Still, the job was amazing. And he thought he’d made some improvements. Soon he would make more.

He hadn’t forgotten Valath, much as he’d tried. He hadn’t forgotten what she’d said about his career aspirations. She was wrong. He was happy at Iris.

But he could get out all of his frustrations and distract himself from the things that upset him by working. So right now he was making his improvements to an engine on one of their small crafts; it had been brought in for repairs after being struck by a goose and the head engineer had allowed him to try out his new, more efficient engine since it was grounded for the time being anyway.

When he rolled himself out from under the engine, the head engineer, Mr. Islach, was standing over him, hands on hips and smiling. “How are those improvements going, Nidan? Finished yet?”

“Almost, Mr. Islach.” Nidan almost asked him to bring the wrench he needed, but caught himself just in time. Mr. Islach was his superior and an excellent mentor. He’d been ramping up his encouragement the longer Nidan worked with him. He did not want to treat him like a mere assistant.

So he got up and got the wrench himself, then rolled back under the engine and used that wrench to make one last connection. He tested the other connections to make sure they were all right, then rolled himself back out and bounced to his feet. He put away the wrenches and brushed off his hands on his coveralls—not that it made much difference, since he was mostly covered with oil anyway. “I’m finished, sir. I think this will use less oil.”

Cynetta, one of the assistants, snorted. “It’ll take a lot of flights to make up the difference in oil over what’s already on your coveralls.”

Mr. Islach shook his head at her. “I’ll just take a look at that, Nidan. Hand me that wrench you were just using.”

Nidan did, and Mr. Islach rolled himself under the engine. Nidan stood nervously, listening to the quiet clinks of the wrench and Mr. Islach’s occasional grunts and murmurs. He couldn’t pick out any words except for when the head engineer asked to be handed another tool. He hoped he wasn’t about to get his entire engine design criticized. Mr. Islach had thought they looked good when Nidan showed him the sketches, but Nidan had made a few small changes since then, because sketches never worked the exact same way that the actual engine did.

Finally Mr. Islach stood up and put his hands on his hips, staring at the airship. He didn’t look directly at Nidan. “It doesn’t look quite like the design,” he said.

“I had to add a joint to one of the pipes,” Nidan said. “It wouldn’t have flowed right otherwise. Other than that, I think the only changes are exactly what joint I used.”

“Well, I think it’ll fly,” Mr. Islach said, turning to give Nidan a nod. “Let’s just see what the bosses say. Maybe we can take it on its test flight today.”

Nidan smiled and waited for Mr. Islach to walk away before pumping his fist in triumph. He turned and gave the assistants working a grin. Cynetta shook her head at him, but he just winked at her. This was going to work. It was going to be brilliant!

It took a few more hours for everything necessary to be rounded up, but finally they found a pair of pilots and got permission for the test flight. The company’s witch checked the sigils and pronounced them intact. The ship was inflated, rolled outdoors, and then started up.

It soared away from the ground, light as a feather. Nidan’s breath caught in his throat as he watched it go up. He’d just thought airships were cool before, but this—this was beautiful. This was his own work, about to be proven. This was perfection.

Then something sparked. The airship shuddered. Nidan’s heart replaced his breath in his throat. The magic hadn’t gone wrong, had it? Was the spark about to hit the flammable gases?

There was no explosion. But there was a very loud crack, and the airship shuddered again before tumbling to the ground in an ungainly mess. Nidan started running before the ship even hit the ground, barely registering the nurses keeping pace with him to check for injuries on the pilots.

Nidan didn’t even look to see if the pilots made it out the doors. He fell to his knees beside the crashed airship. What had gone wrong? His design was perfect! He’d checked all the joints, and so had Mr. Islach! Had he used the wrong thing somewhere?

Mr. Islach was barking orders. Cynetta ran up to join Nidan, handing him a pair of thick gloves. “We’ll find what went wrong,” she told him. “Don’t worry. I’m sure it’s not your fault.”

He pulled the gloves on so he could start sifting through the rubble. He didn’t even listen to her. She didn’t understand. She couldn’t possibly care the same way he did.

The engine wasn’t entirely a wreck; there was just a section that had broken away. They were able to reconstruct most of it—it was obvious that some of it had burnt nearly to a finer. Nidan, Mr. Islach, and Cynetta looked it over, trying to figure out what exactly had broken. It seemed to be a weak joint near a fire point.

Cynetta made a detailed sketch and showed it to Nidan. “We can compare this to the plans you made to get a better picture of where exactly it went wrong. I don’t think you’re going to learn anything by looking at the actual parts.”

Nidan frowned and reached out for the sketch. “This isn’t right.”

“If there’s one thing I can do—“ started Cynetta indignantly.

He shook his head without looking at her. “No, your sketch is good. This is exactly what the engine configuration must have been. But that’s not how it should have been.”

“Well, let’s get it back into the plant and compare it to your plans,” said Mr. Islach, taking the drawing out of Nidan’s hand. “At least we don’t have to walk far.”

Nidan’s blood boiled at that comment, but he held his tongue. Mr. Islach was saying that his design was so bad that the airship had barely even gotten off the ground before it crashed. It was better to find an error sooner rather than later, but couldn’t he have been a little more polite about it?

He didn’t want to get fired, though, so he said nothing. He just followed his boss back into the airship factory and to the table where his sketches lay.

Mr. Islach laid down Cynetta’s sketch next to Nidan’s, and the three of them, joined by another assistant, stared down at the two drawings. Nidan nodded and pointed to two places in the intact part of the engine, comparing it to his drawing. “This part and this one I changed on purpose. That’s why it doesn’t match the drawing. But this… no, this is wrong.”

“It just looks like it’s bending one way instead of the other,” said Cynetta. “I don’t see why that would have caused a problem. We weren’t using a new fuel additive, were we? Maybe it had a problem with one of the joints?”

“No,” said Nidan. “Bending the wrong way is exactly the problem. See?” He pointed to a spark point—tiny and inconsequential on both drawings, since it wasn’t technically part of the engine, just a way to get it started. “I wanted the joint to be turned away from the spark point because of the risk of fire. But it looks like in the actual engine, it was turned toward it. That’s what caused the fire.” His stomach sank into the heels of his boots. It was his fault. He’d turned the joint the wrong way, and he’d destroyed his engine. He didn’t remember doing it, but he must have done it all the same.

“It’s all right,” said the other assistant—Nidan couldn’t remember his name at the moment. “All that was lost were a few parts and an already-damaged airship shell. The pilots are both fine—nothing but minor burns and scrapes.”

Nidan was glad to hear it, but that wasn’t his concern at all. His design had been in error. Maybe he wasn’t the engineer he thought he was.

“It was just an experiment,” said Mr. Islach in a cheery voice. “And one that turned out well enough. You know what you did wrong, and no one was hurt. Next time you’ll do better.” He clapped Nidan on the shoulder. “But maybe I’ll have you work in the good engines a little longer before I allow you to try again. Make sure you get a better sense of how exactly everything should be turning.”

Nidan slowly turned his head to look at his superior. Before Mr. Islach had spoken just now he hadn’t thought anything of it, but… Nidan hadn’t been the last person to look at his engine, had he? Mr. Islach had done that. Had the head engineer changed the directionality of the joint and deliberately sabotaged Nidan’s engine?

He certainly could have done it. It would have been an easy enough thing to change with the tools he had in the time he had. But why would he want to sabotage an Iris Flights engine when better efficiency could only raise all their ships?

Unless he was afraid of Nidan usurping his place. Unless he thought Nidan’s success would reflect poorly on him.

It was only a suspicion, and Nidan didn’t say anything. But he made himself a new sketch that he took back to his flat one dreary night to keep among his personal belongings, and he kept his eye on Mr. Islach.

♥︎

“Blow on my coin for luck, sweet lady?” asked the red-whiskered man, holding the large brass coin out toward Valath with a smirk.

She tipped back in her chair and laughed, pulling herself as far away from the coin as she could without getting up from the table. “Give you luck? I don’t think so. My streak’s running long, and I don’t intend to help anyone else defeat me!”

The rest of the table, all men, roared with laughter. The redhead drew back his coin shamefacedly, then laughed with the others and flipped it, adding it to the long line in front of him. “Another face! What say you, lady? I’ll defeat you yet.”

“We’ll just see about that.” Valath pulled her last game coin out of her pouch, gave it an exaggerated polish with her sleeve, and flipped it. She gave it just the tiniest push with her magic—nothing that anyone could sense unless a fellow natural witch were watching her closely, and as far as she knew there were no other witches of any kind in this dirty little pub.

The coin landed backside up. Valath added it to her own line and groaned theatrically, draping her torso over the table. “I’ve lost! Alas, sweet luck, why do you desert me now?”

“Ah, you’ll have another chance, I don’t doubt,” said the redhead, pulling the pile of actual money toward him and poking through it gleefully. “Time to fleece us all raw.”

“I think not,” said Valath, pushing her game coins back into her pouch. “I’m for bed. We have some interesting things to learn in the morning, do we not?”

“Here,” said the redhead. He pulled a bill out of his pile and held it out to her in two fingers. “I can’t bear to deprive a lady of all she has in the world.”

“Thank you, but I’ll be all right,” she laughed, standing up. “Good night, gentlemen, and I’ll be seeing some of you in the morning.”

She headed out the door and to the boarding house where she’d taken lodging for the next few nights, in a cheerful mood that belied her loss. She’d finally lost on purpose, of course; she could just as easily have won without anyone the wiser, but she didn’t like to use her abilities to cheat, and what’s more, she wanted these men in a good mood. The redhead wouldn’t be involved, but tomorrow some of the other locals would be taking her to a mine abandoned for the discovery of a mysterious river, running with some strange poison. Tistinne had sent her here to the small nation of Isere to investigate that river, thinking there might be something of use for fuels in there, and she wanted to make sure she could get a decent price out of them if it was worth setting up a stake. Making friends with the men who owned it helped; not beating them at coins and winning all their money helped more.

She slept well, and in the morning made the trek out to the old mine with the men. It was one of several mines in the area, and once the poison had been discovered any structures along the road leading to it had been abandoned, so the mine itself was a ways out of town. Valath didn’t mind, though; that was probably a good idea for the safety of the town, and she liked walking.

Once they showed her where the mine was, she asked that they wait outside while she went in alone to investigate it. There were no objections. None of them wanted to be any closer to the poison than they had to be. One of the men, whose facial features had nearly disappeared underneath a bushy black beard, handed her a piece of stiffened fabric with a clasp. “Breathing mask,” he told her. “Just in case.”

She accepted it, but didn’t put it on quite yet. “I was under the impression that it was touching the river or ingesting it that was poisonous, not breathing the air.”

“Better safe than sorry,” the black-bearded man said. “We haven’t had any injuries just from breathing reported, but it might have gotten thicker in there.”

She nodded. “Thank you.” She clasped the mask around her face. She might have to take it off once she was inside, but she didn’t want to insult their hospitality by mentioning that. Besides, the mine had been closed off; it was possible that a miasma from the river had been too light to be of any danger before, but was now much worse.

There didn’t seem to be anything in the air as she entered, though. It was dark and eerie, so she created a light that floated just alongside her head while she went inside. Lanterns and even electric lights had been deemed too dangerous to be in the same place as the poison river.

She walked slowly and carefully, making sure she knew where she was putting her feet even though she didn’t expect to find the river for a while. She couldn’t smell anything through the breathing mask, but she could hear the soft drip of water. There was nothing else alive in here.

Valath found the river before the men had told her to expect it, and it was bigger than she’d understood from their descriptions. It was obviously growing bigger, bubbling up from somewhere. Did that mean it was a renewable resource, or would they find the end of it somewhere? No way to tell until they took some out.

She pulled a glass vial out of her pack and, using her magic so she could be sure not to touch the poison, brought some of the river into it. She created a few more white lights so she could see what was in the vial more clearly. It looked like ordinary water; the only odd things were that it was oddly clear of sediment, and it seemed to have a slight green tinge. Or was that just the darkness down here? When she sent her lights over the river itself, they simply reflected off a black surface.

The poison water certainly had her interest, but she couldn’t tell yet whether there would be anything useful in it. She lowered her breathing mask briefly to sniff the air. Either the mask didn’t actually make any difference or there wasn’t anything in the air to smell. When she tried wafting fumes from the vial, she caught a tangy smell that might have been something, but she wasn’t sure.

Kneeling down, she brought more vials and other instruments out of her pack and arranged them on the flat shale. Into one vial she poured some distilled water, then added an equal amount of poison water. It didn’t appear to do anything different, except that the green color might have been a little fainter. There was no smell on this one.

She poured a tiny amount of the poison water into a small vessel situated over a burner, then paused, trying to remember what the men had said about using lights in here. Obviously, whatever had damaged the other lights they’d brought in did not affect her magical lights, but they worked without fuel or heat. She wanted to heat this vessel, so whether she used fire or magic, she might be in danger. Had the other lights simply stopped working, or had the heat triggered something worse?

Eventually she decided to try the heating test outside of the mine. There wasn’t much else she could do without a strong magical feeling to bring back to Tistinne, but she did try freezing some of the river water. It expanded and turned solid in much the same manner as water did. Perhaps there wasn’t really anything special about it at all; it just made people sick.

She repacked what could be packed and carried the rest of it carefully outside, extinguishing her magic lights as she stepped through the doorway. She had to stop briefly to let her eyes adjust to the sun, then joined the men waiting outside for her. “Well, have you made your decision?” asked the black-bearded man.

“I’d like to run a few more tests,” she said. “Is there somewhere that I can safely heat this?”

One of the other men, clean-shaven and wiry, drew back from her, shaking his head. “There’s no heat that’s safe around the poison water, miss. Don’t you remember what we told you about the lanterns exploding?”

“I’ll be careful,” she said. “That’s why I need somewhere safe—somewhere enclosed, preferably, so I can be sure the outside air isn’t affecting what happens.”

“I suppose you can use one of the abandoned outbuildings,” said the black-bearded man. “It hasn’t been so long that they’re falling apart. Here, let me show you.”

She followed him to a small building that looked as though it had been an office. There were a few sticks of furniture, no windows, and a door that closed firmly. “Thank you, this will be perfect,” she said. “If any of you wishes to observe my experiments, you can feel free to join me.”

Predictably, they all drew away. She smiled as she set her burner down on the still-solid table and shut the door. Then her smile faded as she turned toward her work. She was going to have to use magic to heat this; any real fire would be too unpredictable. She needed to take this slowly and carefully.

Valath thrust two fingers under the vial, concentrated, and raised heat in and around her fingertips. They glowed red, but as a natural witch, she felt nothing. A taught witch could raise heat with a simple sigil, but this was even faster. She watched the liquid as she patiently raised the temperature a degree at a time. As she reached the boiling point of water, the liquid began to boil without making any other notable changes in its state. She stopped there to see what would happen as it boiled.

The level went down a tiny bit in the vial, but there were no other apparent changes. She brought a glass plate above the vial to catch whatever boiled off. It appeared to be pure water. She raised the temperature a tiny bit more to make it boil faster, and after several minutes of waiting, she had the results she was looking for. The green color of the liquid was growing more pronounced. The water was boiling off; whatever was left inside was the poisonous agent, and possibly something useful to be used in fuel—if it could be made safe.

She took away the heat, capped the vial, and sealed it carefully with wax. She would like to heat it further, but it would have to be under better controlled conditions, and in a better protected place. Then they could really start experimenting.

She packed everything away and stepped back out into the light. The black-bearded man seemed surprised to see her. “Did you find anything interesting?”

“I believe I did,” she said with a smile. “I’d like to talk to you and your fellows about purchasing about a gallon of water from that river, as well as first right of refusal for future stake in the poison water there.”

“I’d just like to ask you one question first,” he said. “Are you planning to use that poison to kill people?”

She wasn’t surprised by the question, and could answer firmly and honestly. “No. Not at all. We won’t use it if it can’t be made safe, and I hope that it will be useful in making airships safer—saving lives, if possible. The last thing we want is to hurt anyone.”

He seemed satisfied. He led her back to his compatriots, and they walked back to town to begin their discussions.

♥︎

Things never improved for Nidan at Iris Flights. It might have just been his suspicions making it hard to work with Mr. Islach—but somehow, he didn’t think so. Mr. Islach was giving him less responsibility, too, and many of the assistants started to avoid him. Four months after the incident with the exploding engine, the owners called him into an office and told him he was dismissed.

At first he seethed, especially when he was told he couldn’t bring any of his designs or pieces he’d been working on with him—he had to vacate the premises immediately. But he still had his sketch of what he was convinced was an engine improvement, and he still had his own mind, didn’t he? He also had all the information he’d looked up on the companies that had sent him offers after graduation. Being fired after less than a year wasn’t going to look very good, but he could spin it.

And spin it he did, until he had a new job offer in hand, one that he immediately accepted: Skyline Enterprises was still willing to take him on as a ship engineer’s assistant. He wouldn’t have the responsibility he’d had at Iris or the opportunity to implement his new engine design, but it was far better than nothing at all. So he quickly packed up his things and took the flight back down to the south, where Skyline was headquartered.

The new job turned out to be even more fun than he’d anticipated: they assigned him to a large tourist cruise ship that toured the clouds and the oceans. He was the only assistant to the head engineer, which in practice seemed to mean that the head engineer diagnosed problems and Nidan did the actual dirty work of crawling around in the engine making sure the diagnosis was correct and fixing what needed to be fixed (along with the ship’s witch, a taciturn older man), but he didn’t mind at all. The engine didn’t have a lot of problems, even on such a long flight, and there was nothing preventing him from fraternizing with the rest of the crew in his copious free time—or with the passengers. He discovered that a cruise was considered an excellent way for young single ladies and widows to spend their time.

When he returned to Skyline from his first cruise, he had another pleasant surprise: Cynetta, the assistant who’d been the most help to him back at Iris, had changed companies as well. She was working with the landed airships—he found her on the refuel line when he went to check on it. He immediately asked her out for a drink, and they had a very enjoyable evening.

“I always thought the way Islach treated you was unfair,” she told him. “Just because you’re smarter than him. Well, I guess he felt threatened. Afraid of losing his job to you.”

“So you think it was Islach too? It wasn’t just me screwing up?” He was flattered that not only was she saying he was smarter than Islach, she had also seen the same unfairness that he had.

She nodded and drained her glass. “You almost never screwed up that I could see. It was him doing it all.”

He leaned forward. “I never told anyone this because there was absolutely no proof, but… I think he sabotaged my engine. The new design, remember? You helped sketch out the damage.”

Her eyes widened. “Of course I remember. That could be—it really could. And even if you’d accused him, it would be your word against his, and who wouldn’t take the more experienced head engineer over the new guy? So maybe your design was more efficient after all!”

He nodded, but slumped back in his seat as the waiter brought Cynetta a new drink. “But it’s not as though I have the chance to implement it here, either. I’m just an assistant, and I’m on cruises—I’m hardly going to do any engine experimentation when there’s such a huge crew and so many passengers on the line.”

“You’ll get your chance.” She smiled and punched him lightly on the shoulder. “You mark my words. Before ten years are up you’ll be revolutionizing Skyline’s engines, and this company will be leaving Iris Flights in its dust.”

♥︎

After two years at the Tistinne Company, Valath had been given even more responsibility and greater powers to execute the decisions she made. She hired a small team of witches to do most of the work she’d been doing traveling and negotiating with people for new ingredients (and sometimes the witches or engineers to work with them). She still enjoyed traveling, and whenever she missed it she could take on a trip for herself, but what really drew her now was the experimentation and discovery. She never for a moment regretted taking the job with Tistinne.

She was still working with the strange green poison she’d found in the river in the mine. Used as a fuel additive, it produced an extremely efficient but highly dangerous fuel. She’d been working on magic to contain it, but so far it was still too dangerous for use in actual ships—it would be fine if it would just stay contained in the fuel tanks, but if the steam produced from it even went in the direction of the crew, people got sick.

The company had grown somewhat while she was there, but it was still a small one, and she still had almost daily contact with the members of the Tistinne family: Brenn, who oversaw everything; Arvis, his wife, who was head of communications; and Carrin, his son, who was trained as an engineer and sometimes worked with Valath on experimental fuels, but whose main area was participating in the actual test flights. So she was surprised, but not shocked, to see Carrin approaching her in the company’s small cafeteria.

As he came closer, she saw that he had a bag strapped over his chest, and she sat up straighter with interest. Was he bringing her some new ingredient? She’d never known him—or indeed any of the Tistinnes—to go traveling themselves in search of new items for the fuel, but that didn’t mean it couldn’t happen.

He sat down across from her with a grin, shifting his bag to his lap. “Hi there, Valath. How’s it going?”

She swallowed her mouthful of beef sandwich and tried to return his grin, keeping her voice nonchalant as they made brief small talk. Carrin certainly knew what he looked like—she’d seen him flirting with quite a few employees, both men and women. But it would be inappropriate for her to flirt back, especially at this high level of the company. And that was assuming he was even flirting with her right now, which he probably wasn’t. But then again, why would he approach her with that grin on his face if he didn’t want something?

As if on cue, he said, “I’m sure you’re wondering what brings me here today.”

“Oh no, I’m sure you approach hapless employees all the time looking like a man with a snake in a cup, ready to spring it out at the most opportune moment,” she retorted, taking a swallow of her lemonade.

He laughed. Her insides squirmed. “Are you still working on that green poison stuff? What are you calling it?”

“Iserion,” she said. “After the place where it was discovered. And yes, I’m working on it when I can, though I’m at such a dead end that it isn’t my main project by a long shot. Why do you ask?”

Instead of speaking, Carrin opened his bag, still grinning at her, and put both hands into it. He pulled his hands out with a flourish, and in each of them was a large, heavy, old-looking book. He laid them both down on the table with a thump. “Take a look at those.”

Curious, Valath leaned closer, and discovered to her surprise that they were both books on magic sigils—at least, they appeared to be. The one on the right was written in a script she couldn’t decipher, but the sigil for protection, one that anyone who worked on airships might recognized, was inscribed clearly in the center of the cover. “Books of magic?” she asked, looking up at him.

“Old ones,” he said. “I was in Zimiran on a trip and I happened into a bookstore. These books didn’t look familiar at all, and I’ve tried to keep up with your work, so I thought I’d pick them up in case you could use them. Maybe there will be something in one of them that will help you turn that poison—Iserion stuff into something we can use.”

“Wow.” She opened the cover of the one she could read and scanned the contents. Yes, these were definitely older than anything she had used at school, and she could see just at a glance that there were sigils in it she’d never studied. The books must have cost a fortune—but there wasn’t any reason to draw attention to that fact. Carrin was a Tistinne, after all, and the company had never skimped on costs for its experiments before.

Reluctantly, she turned her attention to the other one. “I’m sure this first one will be very helpful. But this other—I can’t even read that script.”

“Oh, that’s Old Zimirian.” He leaned closer, running his fingers over the brief title. “It says… flanor filun sartys margil, which translates to, if I have it correctly, ‘An Overview of Sigils of Use in the Sea.’ I figure sigils that were used for sailing could be useful in airships as well.”

“You read Old Zimirian?”

“No.” He laughed and shook his head. “I read modern Zimirian, and I’m just guessing at the grammar in the title, to be honest. But as I read Zimirian and you’re a witch, we ought to be able to puzzle our way through the book enough to find something that might be useful, and then we can call in an expert on Old Zimirian to get us the exact translation.”

She looked up at him and firmly told her stomach to stay where it was. “You’ll be working with me?”

“If you’ll have me.”

“Of course. I just didn’t think this was your usual area.”

He winked. “That’s the benefit of having your father own the company. Whatever you want to be your area can be your area. And I look forward to working with you.” He held out his hand across the table.

She shook it firmly. “I look forward to working with you, too.”

♥︎

True to Cynetta’s prediction, Nidan moved up the ranks quickly. Before two years at Skyline were up, he was promoted to head ship’s engineer—it was a smaller cruise ship than the one he’d been working on, but still a much more prestigious job, and it came with higher pay. He requested and received a promotion for Cynetta to his assistant. He didn’t work her the way his former supervisor had worked him (she wouldn’t have let him), but they worked together keeping that ship’s engine in perfect running order.

Once he was sure he was well-established as competent or more than competent—and, as a head engineer, he’d gotten to know the company’s higher-ups a little better—he began working on his engines again. He secured a sideways promotion to the experimental engineering sector, leaving Cynetta to take on the head engineering job at the ship where they’d been working. There were a lot more witches working with them in experimental engineering, but thankfully, none of them reminded him of Valath.

That was where he finally got to create his new engine. This time he didn’t let anyone touch it between his last check and the first experimental flight—and this time it was a success. Tests over a few months revealed that the new configuration did save on oil, and he received a bonus. The extra cash was well-timed, because Cynetta was pregnant and wanted to take some time off. Nidan’s bonus helped pay for a new house for the three of them to live in and offset the loss of Cynetta’s income.

He was happy for a time, especially when he met his son, but he couldn’t be satisfied. The new engine he’d designed had only made one little change. Cynetta had been right before—while it saved oil, he’d probably used just as much extra oil designing it as it would save in a ship over a year. He needed to find a way to be more efficient. He knew there were more improvements he could make.

He obtained some satisfaction when he recognized one of the assistants he’d worked with at Iris Flights and spoke to the man only to discover that Iris had gone under after three years in a row losing money. If they’d only let his engine work, they could have been much closer to Skyline by now, but instead they were nowhere at all.

He began to work on designs for a new engine. He drew his now-standard engine over and over again, showing it from many different angles. He built a three-dimensional double-sized copy of an engine out of a sort of sturdy paper that one of the Skyline witches had created. He looked for ways an engine could be made more efficient, places where the oil pipes could be shortened or where more surface area could be created for sigils.

He found some, and he worked many long hours at the plant trying to incorporate all of his new designs. One of the assistant witches found a way to create small working models of airships, so that he could test out his designs in miniature, and his testing grew even more frantic.

Cynetta supported him, but he could tell she was growing frustrated with his unavailability. He was frustrated, too. Every time he came home and saw his son, he was reminded of why he had to make the engines the best he could. He had to be someone his son could be proud of. He had to give his son all of the advantages he’d had in life and more.

Several of Nidan’s engines failed, and he came close to tearing up his designs in a rage. But the memory of Iris Flights and Mr. Islach sustained him. He was a brilliant engineer—he knew he was. He just had to stick to his own ideas and he would find success. He would make Skyline Enterprises the best, the only, airship company in the world.

♥︎

It took months to decipher enough of the books to find the right sigils—but Valath and Carrin did find the sigils they were looking for. In fact, there was a specific sigil that appeared to have been designed specifically for the Iserion. The book called it something different, but from the description, Valath believed it was the same thing.

And when they tested it, it worked perfectly. It was a complex sigil, and it had to be inscribed on the pipes and the walls in many places, so using it was a time-consuming endeavor, but it worked. And the fuel with the Iserion additive was more than twice as efficient as ordinary fuel.

The problem was, it wasn’t cost-effective. Even with the deal Valath had negotiated, the price of the Iserion was out of proportion to the fuel it replaced. Stumped, they put that project aside for the time being.

By this time, they’d become lovers, and also found that they worked together very well, so they kept on working together. Now that they’d studied so many sigils—on a trip out of the country, they’d found another book of magic that they’d hardly begun to look through yet—they decided to go about improving the sigils that were standard on most ships, if possible.

Their support staff reacted badly when they first suggested changing a sigil for a flight test. Valath understood. They’d all studied the sigils in school, memorized them. They knew exactly how it was supposed to look.

But after studying all those ancient sigils, she was sure there were ways the current ones could be improved. They would become less likely to fail and less likely to shift out of place as the ship moved. And they could make a lot of money for the Tistinne Company—they could hire out Valath and her witches to both inscribe the new sigils on airship companies’ ships and to teach their witches how to recognize the new sigils.

Explaining those thoughts to Carrin over dinner, Valath hit upon the solution. She just had to teach the others exactly how it worked and why it was better.

It took her a few weeks to put together her materials; she had to carefully draw the old and new sigils, smaller versions to hand out and larger versions to hold up. She had to triple-check the rationale for the changes, having already double-checked it before deciding to make the tests. And then she called a special meeting, backed by Carrin, for all the witches and all the staff who worked on the actual airships.

It was a grueling session, and in the end she didn’t think she’d gotten them all to understand. But enough of them understood that they could actually start the flight tests. They all agreed to go very slowly and carefully, testing only one new sigil at a time—with three test ships available, they could test a different one on each, but they had to be watching to be sure that each sigil worked the way it was supposed to.

Of the first three tests, one was a failure, one didn’t seem to be an improvement over the popular incarnation, and one was a complete success. Valath felt like cheering. Brenn Tistinne told her she was now a Vice President of the company (Arvis and Carrin were the others) and gave her a salary raise. She felt the world was at her fingertips.

♥︎

Long hours turned into longer; longer hours turned into overnights, at times, at the Skyline Enterprises headquarters. Nidan couldn’t bear to take the time to travel home just to sleep, when he could work more efficiently if he just slept on a couch in the office. Plus, that way, if he woke in the middle of the night with a brilliant idea, he could sketch it out right away without annoying Cynetta with clutter all over the bedroom.

Cynetta was back to work, but she was still on airships, traveling almost all the time that she was at work. She was never at headquarters, and on the occasions when Nidan did go home, the house seemed empty of her presence. His son was always asleep when he arrived. So he went home less and less.

He didn’t even notice the loneliness until he found himself sleeping with his assistant after a night when he’d returned from home where his son was asleep and his mother was gone. Then he tried to tell himself it wasn’t loneliness, it was just that they’d grown so fond of each other, working so hard together. And she was an excellent witch and assistant. He wouldn’t have been able to make half the progress he had without her.

Her red hair and her quick fingers reminded him of Valath, and he tried to tell himself that wasn’t so, either. He’d been with Valath when he was young and before his career got started; of course any woman would remind him of her when she’d been there at just the right time to make a strong impression on him. It wasn’t that he really missed her.

He made more improvements to the engines of Skyline airships—he and his assistant. They both received promotions and raises. Nidan opened a special bank account to pay for his son’s education. His son would have everything—not just everything Nidan didn’t, but everything there was to have.

Then one day he came home after a party at work to find his house truly empty. That Cynetta wasn’t there didn’t surprise him; he’d thought she was home between assignments at the moment, but he didn’t keep perfect track of her schedule. That the nanny wasn’t there did surprise him, but didn’t worry him. His son was probably asleep.

The fact that the boy’s room was empty did worry him. It wasn’t just that his son wasn’t there—none of his things, none of his clothes or toys, were. The room had an unkempt, dusty air to it.

He checked every room. The one he’d shared, theoretically, with Cynetta was half-empty. All of her clothes and most of her things were gone. The only items she’d left behind were some of the pieces of jewelry he’d bought her.

He sat down on the bed and stared at the empty room. At first he’d felt a flash of anger, that she would dare leave him, that she would take his son away. Then he realized that she must have heard about his affair. It wasn’t exactly kept quiet around the office, but he’d never thought that she would come into headquarters enough to hear anything. All the anger drained out of him, all of the fear, and he just sat there feeling numb.

When he arrived at work the next day, he asked around, trying to find out whether Cynetta had left an address. Where could she have gone? Could he contact her? But she seemed to have separated herself from the company entirely. They’d had no legal connection, nothing that he could use to pull her back to him.

At least he still had the savings account for his son. Cynetta knew about it and would be able to draw on it until the boy was of age—both she and Nidan could withdraw or add to it, the way he’d set it up. So they would be taken care of.

He tried to throw himself into his work, forget the destruction of his home life, but all his creativity seemed to have been drained out of him. He and his assistant tested his new designs, but none of them were perfect. He had to tweak them, then tweak them again, but he never had a flash of insight, no new thought that was the opposite of what everyone else would have come up with.

He didn’t need it, though. He was in the highest echelon of Skyline Enterprises; his job no longer required him to work constantly and be creative. He had people to do that for him. He could do nothing all day but read proposals and sign off on them, and he would still make money, still be an asset to the company. He could be content with that.

♥︎

It took Valath two more years to finish testing the new and improved sigils. Some of them needed tweaking, and some of them interacted with one another in unexpected ways—which was occasionally good and occasionally bad. But she documented everything, and she wrote out clear, concise explanations as to why the changes had been made, what the magical logic was behind them, and how they worked. Carrin had her explanations bound into a slim book and many copies made, so that she could distribute them while she taught classes.

Then the hard part came—pitching the classes and the new sigils to other companies. She and Carrin wrote up a very brief advertisement (his mother helped) that they sent to the biggest airship companies, but the response was discouraging.

That was the cause of her first fight with Carrin. He thought they should advertise again and wait for responses, maybe focusing on newer, smaller firms this time; she thought there was nothing for it but to actually visit the other companies in person. In the end, he won because his father stepped in, and they tweaked the advertisement and sent it out to a larger assortment of airship companies. They made up, but she wasn’t sure whether or not she meant it.

They had a few bites. She and Carrin traveled together to teach their classes. Being in close quarters with him seemed much harder than the last time they’d traveled together. She blamed it first on the fact that they were traveling for work, then wondered if she was still resenting him for winning the argument about how to advertise. She still thought he was wrong—they would have a much better response if they were able to explain how these things worked in person.

The classes, she thought, proved her point. Teaching them made her very anxious, but the witches she was teaching were receptive for the most part, and they asked good questions. By the ends of the sessions, they seemed completely convinced and excited, talking to her and each other about how they would set things up with the engineers so that they could apply the new sigils to all of the companies’ airships.

On the trip home from the second teaching session, she broke up with Carrin and moved into the next cabin. She felt an enormous sense of relief to be lying down by herself in a single bed, though she ordinarily slept on her own at home, and she knew she’d done the right thing. She just hoped it wouldn’t do damage to the company. If it did, she was the one who would have to leave (being the one without the Tistinne name), and she loved her job.

Thankfully, though Carrin was cool to her and moved on to another project as soon as he could, leaving her to keep pitching the sigils on her own, they were able to be civil enough to each other that they didn’t bother anyone else they worked with. Brenn and Arvis, oddly, both privately told Valath that they thought she’d made the right choice, and they supported her.

She was able to make a few more trips out to pitch the improved sigils to other companies, but she was only marginally successful. A few of the witches pointed out that neither of the companies that had adopted the new sigils had made any great strides ahead, which Valath had noted with disappointment. She tried to explain that they probably hadn’t had the opportunity to update the sigils on all the ships yet, and that like any new innovation, it took time and effort to apply at first, so the improvements wouldn’t show for another year or two, but they didn’t seem to buy it. She wasn’t sure she believed it herself. Maybe the improvements just weren’t as helpful for actual airship companies as they had seemed during testing at Tistinne, which was, after all, primarily a fuel company.

So she threw herself back into the Iserion project. She had the leeway now, and she thought that perhaps without Carrin (who was now seeing a fellow engineer, causing her only mild twinges of jealousy), she would be able to see things differently. She had a tiny lab set up for herself, somewhere she could not possibly work with another person even if she wanted to, and spent hours in there at a time, testing new things on the Iserion and Iserion on the new things.

After weeks of work with nothing to show for it, she gave up and opened up her lab to other collaborators. Perhaps one of them would be able to help. For some reason, this made her think of Nidan, her lover from school. Why had he popped into her mind? Perhaps because this might have been a project he would enjoy, she realized. He liked finding out how and why things worked, and how and why to make them work if they didn’t. He would have been a good collaborator.

At least, she thought he would have been. He had told her that she was wrong about his personality, and maybe he was right. Her memories still told her that he was the sort of person to benefit from structure and a clear hierarchy, but her memories also told her definitively that she had not known much about other people when she was young.

And maybe she was thinking of him because she was lonely. She’d never had anything serious between him and Carrin. She wondered what Nidan was even up to these days. Perhaps he’d made a big splash at the company where he’d ended up working, whichever company that might be—presumably, not Skyline Enterprises.

The collaboration went slowly. Many people came and watched what she was doing and gave her their thoughts and even worked with her, but nothing seemed to come to fruition. In the end, it was a man in the marketing department who gave her the breakthrough. “What if you heated it to a gas?” he asked. “I suppose it would need a lot of heat…”

She stared at him, not really seeing him, but seeing through him. “That’s worth a try,” she finally said, even though inside she was cheering. “Thank you. That’s very helpful.”

She worked all night. The next day she had her solution. An Iserion fuel combination that was gaseous. It required a much higher-heat furnace, but it was easier to contain and, more importantly, it was so efficient that it would save a significant amount of money. It would also last a very long time, so that no ship would need refueling even on the longest journeys.

Now all she had to do was sell it.

♥︎

Nidan could not be content. His creativity was gone, completely drained out of him. His favorite assistant had first stopped sleeping with him, then started to work with another engineer, and finally left the company entirely.

He missed Valath, he realized. He hadn’t let himself admit it before, but wasn’t that why none of his relationships had worked out since school? He shouldn’t have let Josether get into his head like that. Relationships between engineers and witches could work out. If only he hadn’t been so nasty to Valath, accusing her of trying to manipulate him, of not knowing him at all. And the really ridiculous thing was, she’d been right. She’d known him better than he did himself. Things hadn’t worked out at Iris at all; he’d had far more success than he’d ever expected since coming to Skyline. He did need the structure. He wished he could tell her that, but he had no way of contacting her anymore.

And then, somehow, there she was. He stepped out of his office to see her striding purposefully down the hall. He froze momentarily, then, when it became clear to him that she wasn’t heading toward his office, slipped back inside and shut the door gently. He watched her out of his office window. She had a bulging bag over her shoulder and a determined smile on her lips.

She looked older but still wonderful—her red hair was a little more tamed than it had been at school, and there were fine lines around her eyes, but she was shapely in her corset and practical trousers, and she didn’t disdain the flounces now that she was a professional. Nidan was certain that he looked older and more worn-down than she did. In fact, she looked pretty amazing considering it had been nearly ten years since they’d seen each other.

He pushed down the surge of interest and attraction, shaking his head at himself. He was just lonely. And she probably had something solid by now, might even be married. She had surely done better in the realm of romance than he did. Almost anyone would.

He watched as she went to the very end office, the office of the president of the company. She knocked briefly and opened the door almost immediately to go inside. That made her disappear from his view, and reluctantly, he opened the office door again and returned to his errand, hunting down a ship’s engineer to ask him about some discrepancies in the repair log.

He caught another glimpse of Valath as he was out. She walked through the manufacturing area and into a little-used conference room. He tried to look inside without being too obvious about it, but it was hard to tell what was going on in there. She seemed to be alone and setting up chairs as though for a lecture. Was she a teacher now? What did the people of Skyline Enterprises still have to learn?

He went to the cafeteria for lunch—a little early for him, but he couldn’t concentrate on anything else. It was ridiculous, he knew, but it wasn’t as though his job was terribly crucial at the moment—he was mostly just supervising the airship engineers and the few experimental engineers, and they rarely needed it. And he had been thinking about Valath before she showed up. It wasn’t as though he was just getting excited about her because she was here.

In the cafeteria, he did his best to ask around without making it obvious that he knew who she was. After all, he didn’t know where she worked now, or why she was here—was she a new hire? “Who’s that redheaded woman?” he asked people. “What is she doing here?”

“Oh, the witch?” someone finally replied. “She’s from the Tistinne Company. She’s here to teach some kind of class for the witches. Didn’t they tell you about it?”

“Not my department,” he said, and refrained from asking whether she was single. They probably assumed that was why he was asking.

He hurried back to his office after lunch—it hadn’t occurred to him that anyone would want to tell him why she was there. But there on his desk was a memo waiting for him. It confirmed that Valath was working for the Tistinne Company (he felt a slight surge of pride there, since he’d recommended it, and it had obviously been a good fit if she was still there) and stated that she was teaching a class on sigils to the Skyline witches, the experimental division and whoever was not currently out on a ship. It also said that following the class there would be a meeting of executives where she would demonstrate a new fuel that the Tistinne Company was selling, and that his presence was requested.

He sat down hard. He didn’t have to go hunting after her. He was going to see her this afternoon whether he wanted to or not. He was going to have to speak to her.

Now he wasn’t sure if he wanted to.

♥︎

Valath wasn’t sure what had taken Skyline Enterprises so long to accept the idea of the new sigils. Perhaps it was just the slow-moving nature of large companies, but they hadn’t gotten where they were without embracing new technologies when they were available. Still, they’d finally agreed to have her come in, and the timing couldn’t be better; now that she’d perfected the Iserion, she could sell it to them while she was there.

She thought she saw Nidan shortly after she entered the building, but he wasn’t there when she looked again, and she thought she couldn’t have been right. The man she saw was so old—well, she was older too, but not that much older, or so she hoped. He probably just had a passing resemblance to the man she’d known in school. She must have thought it was him because he was already on her mind, and she had, after all, thought he’d do well at Skyline.

But then, after the sigils class (which went well), there was the meeting with the executives—and there he was. Vice president of engineering. And he recognized her, too, she could tell by the way he stared. But he tried not to show it in front of the other executives, and she tried not to show it, too. She didn’t need a personal connection to sell her Iserion.

She made her presentation, and the executives told her they would consider it, and she left them a sample of Iserion fuel for testing, then went to the employee cafeteria, where she’d been told she could eat for free. It had been hours since she’d had a meal, and she was starving. The food was good, so it took a while for her to pay attention to anything else and realize that Nidan had sat down across from her.

She looked up slowly and took a swallow of her drink to clear the food from her mouth. He had a full tray of dinner, but he wasn’t even looking at it. “Hello,” she managed. “Fancy seeing you here.”

“I was certainly surprised,” he said. “How have you been? Looks like you’ve had some success.” He still looked nervous, but his hands were calm. And he looked good. Surprisingly good, considering the amount of grey in his hair and the little weight he’d put on.

She nodded. It felt awkward for a moment, but there was nothing else to say: “You were right about the Tistinne Company. I’ve had everything I wanted there. Plenty of travel opportunities and the chance to discover something new.”

“A lot of new things, it looks like,” he said. “Those sigils and that Iserin.”

“Iserion,” she corrected automatically. “That isn’t really new. I just figured out what to do with it.”

“Still,” he said, lifting his glass. “Some success.”

He sounded a lot more… well, he sounded different than he had been the last time she’d seen him. More serious, maybe. More pompous. But that made sense. He was older, just like she was, and he was obviously a high executive in the company where he worked. He had to be more serious and more important.

She was surprised at how clearly the memories came through from the time they’d been together. Softened by time, certainly, but some things appeared vividly in her mind—studying together on the warm lawn of the campus, the way they’d met at a friend’s party… Had he really changed? She didn’t think she had. Maybe he hadn’t either.

“And I have to say, you were right too.” He put down his glass. “I’ve been wanting to say that to you for a while. To say—“

“Sir,” said a young man in oily clothes, rushing up to Nidan. He had barely a glance for Valath. “I’m sorry for interrupting, but you did say to tell you the moment that the Second Wind arrived. It seems to have had some engine trouble.”

“Damn.” Nidan drained his glass and stood up. “Hayle, carry my dinner, I’ll eat on the go.” He made as if to follow after the hurrying young man, then turned abruptly and looked back at Valath. “I’m sorry, I do have to attend to this. Can we meet up later? Say, two hours at the front entrance? We can get a drink—I know the best pubs.”

“I’d like that,” said Valath, and summoned up a smile for him. He smiled briefly back and rushed after his assistant.

Valath went back to her meal, eating more slowly and meditatively now—she had time to kill. She’d planned to make this at least a three-day trip anyway, hoping to close the deal on the Iserion fuel before leaving, so this didn’t throw a wrench into her plans. And she was really hoping, now, to get together with Nidan again. She really wanted to know if he’d changed. And would that be a good thing or a bad thing?

♥︎

Nidan’s mind was only half on his inspection of the Second Wind, even though this was clearly the most important part of his job and it did need a repair. He was distracted by Valath’s presence, and by the fact that she’d said yes to getting a drink with him. She hadn’t even just agreed—she’d said she would like it.

And why shouldn’t she? Old friends, old lovers, going to play catch-up. And she looked very good still. More importantly, she wasn’t rushing off to get home for a husband or lover. She was a free agent much like he was. For the first time, he thanked Cynetta for leaving.

The two hours flew by. He’d started the repairs to the ship’s engine himself, but called in assistants to finish it. That was his prerogative. He didn’t need to do the actual work—that was why he’d been promoted so high up the chain, because he’d trained his assistants to be able to take over for him if he wanted to. Besides, it was late, and even if Valath hadn’t been waiting for him, he would have wanted a drink by this point.

She was waiting for him where he’d suggested they meet, wearing the same clothes but having exchanged her large bag for a tooled leather belt-pouch and changed her hair, so that it was closer to being the wild mane he remembered from their school days. He was glad he’d worn an apron to work on the engine, but was disappointed to note that there were a few spots of oil on his cuffs and trousers. Well, no help for it. He gave her his arm and escorted her off the grounds.

He took her to one of his favorite pubs—at least, his favorite since he’d gotten the latest promotion. It was a beautiful place, all done up in brass and polished oak, and full of the beautiful and wealthy. Normally he would have opted for a more modest place for a drink when he was lightly spotted with oil like this, but he was important enough that they would have to serve him anyway. None of the pubs in the area could afford to alienate anyone important in Skyline Enterprises.

They ordered drinks, he paid, and then he brought her to a quieter table in a corner, out of the sparkling lights and the sparkling people. He wanted to be able to talk to her. And yet they sipped their drinks (his frozen, hers smoking) in silence for a moment before anyone spoke.

“You seem to have done well for yourself,” she finally said. “And people respect you. As they should. That’s wonderful.”

“Thank you,” he said. “I wish I could say it’s all thanks to you. In fact, I might be even higher in the company if I’d listened to you in the first place.” Or would he? He might not be as driven, had he not had to deal with Mr. Islach first, if he hadn’t had Cynetta behind him…

“How do you mean?” She smiled at him over the thick blue mist over her drink.

“Well, you told me to go with Skyline Enterprises,” he said. “Instead of Iris Flights. You were right. I didn’t fit in at Iris, and I do much better at Skyline. I’ve been much happier here.”

“I’m glad to hear it,” she said. “That you’re happy, not that I was right. I know I was right.” She winked at him, and they both laughed. This was definitely going well.

They talked about how their lives had been since they left school. She told him about traveling the world, about studying deeply, about discovering things to change. He told her about working at Iris and how the company had folded, about Cynetta and his son—he made it sound like it was his idea to end the relationship—and about making changes to the engines.

“So we’ve both made improvements to airships,” she said.

He nodded, on his third drink. “Imagine if we’d worked together.”

“We might not have discovered the same thing,” she said. “Maybe the time apart was good for us. We both grew in different ways. I’m sure I would never have found the changes to make in the sigils if I hadn’t been working with Carrin.”

“That’s true, that’s true.” He regarded her in the dim light. She really was beautiful. “And I suppose we couldn’t have gone to the same company anyway. So it was a blessing in disguise.”

She smiled. “I’m sorry about that fight, though. That was unnecessary. I shouldn’t have yelled at you.”

“And I shouldn’t have yelled at you. I should have spoken to you before we left, too.” He shook his head. “I guess it’s too late for regrets.”

“It’s never too late.” She reached briefly across the table, then drew her hand back without touching him. He found himself disappointed. “Tell me about your work. You seem to have a high position now. Are you still working on engines?”

“Not directly very often, no. Part of my job is fixing things that go wrong with my changes, but the rest of it is supervising, signing off on expenses, filing reports.” He shrugged. “It’s good money.”

“And your son?”

“What about him?”

“Do you take care of him?”

He nodded. “I have a savings account set up just for him. I add money to it every month. Cynetta can access it, and he’ll be able to when he’s sixteen. I think I have him well provided for.”

“That’s good.” She ordered another drink.

They continued talking and drinking for an hour longer, the talk drifting from personal to professional topics, never staying in any one place for long. When the evening was pleasantly blurred they wandered outside and he found them a cab.

The cab dropped her off at her lodgings before it took him home, and he found himself staring after her, even after she was settled inside and the horses had started going again. He couldn’t stop thinking about her. Valath. His first love. Perhaps his only love.

Had he ever really cared for Cynetta? He wasn’t sure any longer. He had enjoyed having her around; she was beautiful and competent and a balm to his ego. But maybe the reason he hadn’t gone after her when she left was because somewhere in his heart, he’d always been waiting for Valath. She was beautiful and competent and the opposite of a balm to his ego—which was perhaps exactly what he needed.

He needed her. He wanted her. And now he had the perfect opportunity to make sure she stayed his.

♥︎

Nidan had changed, Valath decided as she climbed the stairs to the lodgings she’d taken not far from Skyline Enterprises. He was older and more cynical—but so was she. He was definitely more settled, which should have been a good thing. She looked out the window when she reached her room, but the cab that had conveyed her here had already conveyed him away.

Something was bothering her about Nidan, and she couldn’t decide what. Maybe it wasn’t that he had changed. She tugged down the curtain that covered her window and turned to get undressed for bed. Maybe he hadn’t changed enough; maybe he was still the same stubborn man she hadn’t been able to stand in school.

Well, she still had a few days to get to know him again. And it wasn’t as though she was in any rush; she didn’t particularly miss being in a relationship. It was nice to have one, especially if it was with someone she could work well with, but she was fine being on her own, too.

It took her some time to fall asleep that night, but when she did sleep, it was solid and undisturbed by dreams.

In the morning she took herself out for a nice breakfast, enjoying her well-brewed coffee and the people who walked into and around the restaurant. Then she spent a couple of hours clothes shopping in the fine city where Skyline Enterprises was located—there were shops here she would never see near the Tistinne Company or in any of the places she had traveled to. When she returned to her lodgings, there was a note waiting for her, summoning her back to Skyline that afternoon.

She spruced herself up, setting aside her new boots—they would need to be broken in—but donning her new hat, a smart little black top hat trimmed with green velvet. Such hats seemed to be the fashion now, and she had grown extremely fond of them during her time in the city. If the deal with Skyline went well, she promised herself she would buy several in colors that would match more of her outfits.

Valath’s presence wasn’t strictly required at the Skyline meeting, as it turned out. She made a comment from time to time, but she was mostly there just to listen as the executives debated the merits of investing in her fuel. Nidan was on her side, she was pleased to see. Apparently he had been one of the few to supervise the test flight, and it had gone very well.

The main objections were to the price, which was understandable. She explained to them again and again how it would actually save money in the long run, but she didn’t really expect them to take her at face value; she was trying to sell something to them, after all.

More samples were requested. She said she thought she could make some available by the next day. They were back at her lodgings, but she didn’t mention that she’d brought plenty of extras. She wanted to make it sound as though she was going out of her way to accommodate them.

It was just one of the many bargaining techniques she’d learned over her years at Tistinne. It didn’t always work, of course, but then none of them did. She hoped that these were people who might be swayed by her appearing go go above and beyond.

The meeting broke up at the end of the workday with little resolved, except that Nidan and a few other executives offered to take Valath out to dinner. She accepted, of course, glad she’d worn the pretty new hat. If the overbearingly beautiful, stuffy pub that Nidan had taken her to was any indication of the caliber of restaurant they were bringing her to, she would want to look her best.

Thankfully, she didn’t feel as intimidated by the restaurant as by the pub, since it was a smaller place, full of people dressed nicely but not at the height of fashion; clearly, this was the sort of place where company executives routinely brought clients they wanted to woo. She thought that boded well, and, as she was seated, wondered if her poor impression of Nidan had not been overly influenced by the pub he’d brought her to—which he probably chose only to impress her. That ought to count in his favor.

The dinner was a little more enjoyable than the meeting had been, but only a little. Nidan didn’t say much, though he spent most of the night looking at her. In fact, he didn’t speak at all until one of the other men made a scurrilous comment about Valath’s position at the Tistinne Company, at which point he bristled, snarled, and all but challenged the other man to a duel.

Valath picked at her seafood and couldn’t decide whether to be pleased or annoyed with Nidan. Surely he didn’t think she couldn’t take on her own battles? She could have done much better with a well-placed word, but if she used it now, it would be overkill.

The other man went quiet for the rest of the meal, so at least he felt properly shamed about his insult. That might not help her chances of selling them the fuel, though. She tried to be as witty, charming, and attractive as she could throughout the dinner, and when it was over and the men suggested going to a pub, she excused herself as gracefully as possible.

It was harder to sleep that night, wondering whether things were going wrong or right for her. And whether they were going wrong or right for Nidan. When he had spoken, he had alternately lavished attention and chivalry on her and been overly formal with his fellow executives. Or was that overly formal? They certainly seemed to accept the politeness they offered each other.

The next morning she dropped off the Iserion samples at Skyline Enterprises, then went out shopping again. She acquired a lovely new floral perfume and applied just a touch of it, anticipating another meeting that afternoon. She wrote a telegram back to Brenn, telling him that she expected to be closing the deal either that day or the next. Then she waited.

She didn’t receive a summons until much later that afternoon, but she did receive a summons. The meeting was brief. They told her that the tests they’d made were successful and that the Iserion fuel did appear to be much more efficient than ordinary fuel. They placed an order for enough fuel to equip at least half of their ships once. She told them, hiding her jubilation, that they would be welcome to place another order at any time, and that the Tistinne Company was ready to serve all of their needs. Then the meeting ended.

Nidan caught up with her as she was walking out of the building, a spring in her step despite her heeled boots. “Congratulations, Valath,” he told her.

She smiled at him. He was sweet. “You’re the one who should be congratulated. You’ve made a very excellent decision for your company.”

He nodded. “I know. I don’t think you would try to sell it to us if it weren’t a great improvement. Would you like to go out again?”

She hesitated, then gave him a nod. “But let’s go somewhere you can be comfortable tonight. Perhaps a smaller, family-owned restaurant? Somewhere you don’t need to worry about people overhearing you?”

His eyebrows rose and he frowned. “All right,” he said after a moment. “I think I can come up with a place.”

A young woman scurried up, her hair tied back in a sweaty kerchief. “Sir,” she said. “I’m sorry to bother you, but the Second Wind is ready for your inspection.”

“Of course.” He glanced at her, then back at Valath. “I really ought to do this tonight so the ship will be ready to leave in the morning. You don’t mind, do you?”

“Not at all,” she said. “This is important.” Nidan nodded and strode off. The young woman gave Valath a nervous glance, her eyes flicking back and forth between Valath and Nidan, before dashing after him. Curious, Valath followed them out to the airship docks.

The ship being inspected was beautiful; narrow and sleek with a dark reddish wood for the body and a balloon painted to match. Valath smiled at the thought of that ship sailing through the air powered by her efficient fuel. She kept back so she could better see it, and to keep out of Nidan’s way.

He didn’t seem to appreciate its beauty, simply striding over to where the engine stood open, waiting for him. The two men working on it jumped back to clear the way, standing stiffly with their hands behind their backs; the kerchiefed woman joined them in the same posture. Valath felt the smile fade from her lips. Was discipline so strict at Skyline Enterprises? She hadn’t had that impression when she was teaching the witches. But maybe they thought that witches just didn’t benefit from discipline.

She was far enough away that she couldn’t tell what Nidan was shouting at the engineers from inside the engine, but her body tensed in sympathetic response as she saw the engineers’ shoulders rising toward their ears and their expressions turning grimmer and grimmer. When he finally came out of the engine, his shouts turned explosive, and they cringed away. Their mouths moved once or twice in response to what seemed to be questions from him, but she couldn’t tell if they were speaking quietly or just trying to speak without making any sound. Certainly they weren’t given the chance to explain themselves.

Finally Nidan made a dismissing gesture and stalked away from the engineers. As soon as his back was turned they sprang into action, rushing back into the engine to fix whatever it was that he was unhappy about. Nidan was still fuming when he reached the door she was waiting outside of, and his shoulders jerked, his eyes widening with surprise when he saw her. “I thought you were waiting inside,” he said. “I’m sorry you had to see that.”

She shook her head. She was sorry, too. It certainly hadn’t been pleasant to witness. “Was all that really necessary? They seemed to respect you.”

He sighed loudly. “If only. The idiots screwed up the placement of the jump valve. That could cause a fire—the whole ship could be lost. I was very clear about where that needs to go.” He shook his head and took her arm. “But there’s no need to bring work stress into this. They’ll get it fixed tonight.”

She let him lead her back through the doorway and shut the door, then pulled her arm away and took a step back. “I’m not sure it’s a good idea to go out tonight, Nidan. Maybe when you’re calmer.”

“What?” He looked at her, eyebrows raised. “No, I’m fine. Let’s go out. I want to see you.”

“You’re not fine,” she said. “Your face is red. You’re all tense.”

“I just need a drink.”

“Drinking won’t solve everything.”

His laugh was unexpectedly harsh. “You’d say that?” Before she could get over her shock enough to react, he reached out and grabbed her arm again. “Let’s go out, Valath. We have to go out together.”

“We don’t have to do anything,” she said sharply, pulling her arm away from him and taking another step back. “I’m not comfortable with it tonight. Maybe I’ll accompany the shipment of Iserion and we can see each other when—“

“No,” he said, taking a heavy step toward her. “No, you’re not allowed to leave!”

“Allowed?” She raised her eyebrows at him. “Since when does anyone else tell me what I’m allowed to do?”

He laughed again, but this time it was with pleasure. He took another step toward her and took both of her hands in his. “See, that’s what I love about you. You’re so independent, and you know exactly what you want. And you’re good at getting it. The same as me.” He pulled her close and crushed his mouth against hers. She tried to pull her face away, but he kept kissing her until he whispered, “I want you, Valath. And I love you.”

She leaned back as far as she could and stared at him. She couldn’t free her hands from his grip, but she wasn’t afraid of him; she felt anger and a touch of pity. Did he think this was the only way to woo a woman, or did he just think that she had never gotten over him, the way he had apparently never gotten over her. “I don’t think so,” she said.

“What? Of course you do.” He tried to kiss her again, but she had better leverage now, and she kept her face away.

“See, you’re not even listening to me. Let me go, Nidan, or I will make you.” She shifted her feet for a better balance.

He shook his head. “Valath, you have to stay here with me. I love you.”

“You have a funny way of showing it.” She didn’t wait for a response this time; she just kicked out with one of her steel-toed boots, catching him with a satisfying crack right in the center of the kneecap. He let go of her with a cry and stumbled back. She punched him in the solar plexus, just to make sure he couldn’t follow her, then stared at him for a moment as he lay on the floor in pain.

“Quit being such an asshole to your employees,” she told him. “And maybe you should actually get in touch with your son. He needs you more than he needs your money. But I don’t need you, and I never will.”

And she walked away.