"This kind of looks like an elephant's trunk," Devvyn said to Maelis, pointing to a part of the drawing she placed in front of him. He wanted to burst into laughter, but Maelis glared at him.
"You got your skills from me, so don't get cheeky." She shoved a box across the table. It rattled as it slid toward Devvyn, filled with pencils, rulers, a compass, and other drawing tools. "Get to work," she said. "Redraw it. I need three copies."
Devvyn held up his hands. "Wait, wait, wait, okay. I'm sorry for laughing at your drawing. I completely understand it, see, that's the uh driller, and storage box, and irrigator—"
"It's not punishment, Devvyn," she said, already pulling out a different set of schematics. "I actually need that. I sketched it in a hurry. But I need an official version to send to Lord Pyrethorn. And two more copies, one for me and you. Make sure the one for Pyrethorn has labelled parts."
Devvyn sighed and picked up a pencil. "Alright. Three trunky mana harvesters coming right up."
"Thank you," Maelis said as she got up from the table, put on her work coat and began gathering parts for the machine. "I'll make a list later of parts we need to get for the machine. I need to see what we have available first. Also, we can't build it in here, so we'll have to clear out the workshop outside."
"All this work, and we're not even getting paid," Devvyn grumbled.
Maelis crouched and put her head in a lower cupboard, searching for something. "If you want your friends to be homeless, be my guest."
"Is that why you did it? You haven't taken on any jobs in years. You did it for my friends?"
"I did it because I have a heart, and I can't sit idly while at least a hundred people become homeless, including your friends." She came out of the cupboard with a box of large bolts. "Never thought I'd get to use these." She coughed, scratching her nose from the dust she'd inhaled.
Devvyn bent over the drawing, ruler in hand, but his mind wasn't on the lines he was tracing. He kept glancing at Maelis, watching the way her eyes lit up every time she found a part she thought could be useful. She moved with energy he hadn't seen in years, muttering measurements under her breath, scribbling quick notes, occasionally even humming.
It didn't make sense. What exactly had his grandmother been involved in before she became the cranky genius who raised him in the Lower City?
"If you're this happy building something for Lord Pyrethorn," he said slowly, "why'd you ever retire?"
Maelis grunted as she lowered herself to the ground, sat cross-legged and began sorting through wires and copper rods. "Because I got tired of working with people who cared more about profit than human lives."
"Yes, but… You agreed way too fast to work on this…"
Maelis paused with a wrench in her hand.
"And the way you talked to him," Devvyn added. "It wasn't just some formal thing. You two knew each other. You worked together before, didn't you?"
She set the wrench down. Her expression was unreadable as she looked over at him. "He called in a favour. I couldn't refuse because of that. And even if I wanted to, remember what I said about not wanting people to be homeless."
Devvyn stopped drawing. "That's not what I'm getting at, Grandmother. There's a lot I don't know about you. You never tell me anything about when you were younger, or your work, or your career. Sometimes, it feels like you're hiding something from me. You said you wanted me to trust you, tell you things, how do I do that if you're hiding stuff from me too?"
"Devvyn," she said, "there's not much to talk about. I grew up in Eternis. Learned my skills from my mother and father. Passed them on to your father. I did some contract work across the Holdings. Then that terrible fire happened one day and burned all of my work to the ground. It took your parents and my husband. I couldn't bear to be in Eternis anymore, so I packed up and came here, with you."
She bent her head down. Devvyn heard a hitch in her voice. "Me and Pyrethorn? We used to work together before he became a council member. That's all."
Devvyn set his pencil down and stood up quietly. He walked over to her without a word, then wrapped his arms around her shoulders from behind. Maelis tensed for a moment, then slowly relaxed.
"I'm sorry for pushing," he said softly. "And... I'm sorry about all of it. About the fire. About everything you lost. I didn't know."
"You weren't supposed to," she replied. "You were just a baby. You deserved better than to grow up with all that pain sitting on your shoulders too."
Devvyn tightened the hug for a moment, then stepped back. Maelis turned to face him, wiping her hands on a cloth.
"Now that I've told you all of that," she said, giving him a pointed look, "you're going to tell me everything. And I mean everything that's been going on the past few days."
Devvyn opened his mouth to protest, but she raised a hand.
"Don't even try. I know you've been sneaking around, getting into trouble. Do you think I can't tell when you're hiding something? You're practically twitching every time you come home. I've decided to be patient with you and trust that you're not doing anything stupid, but it does get to a point, you know."
Devvyn sat back down on the stool, fiddling with the pencil in his fingers, thinking of what he could tell her. If he told her about their Echo-stealing stint, she would kill him and probably ground him for life, so that was out of the question.
He wasn't sure just how much danger he was in with the Unbound, but the last thing he wanted to do was rope his grandmother into that mess. Finally, he decided to tell her about his minor disagreement with Aela.
He stared at the table as he spoke.
"So… Aela decided to sign up for the Gauntlet Trials."
Maelis looked up from the wrench she'd picked up again. "The Gauntlet? Absolutely not."
"Exactly! She told me and Jelric yesterday, and we kinda fought about it. I told her she didn't have to prove anything and that she and her siblings could stay with us if things got worse. She didn't take it well. She was angry. Like... furious. Said I was treating her like a charity case."
Maelis snorted. "Of course she didn't. Aela's got fire. She had to become a mother to her siblings at the age of ten. You should understand why she feels that sense of responsibility. But I'll speak to her about it. The Gauntlet, what is she thinking, deciding to risk her life that way."
"Just don't do it while I'm around. She'll kill me for telling you." Devvyn twiddled with the pencil more, "Also, she and Jelric have been looking for ways to get an Echo." He rushed the words out of his mouth.
Maelis's tone instantly changed. Her voice was sharp when she spoke. "What did I say about Echos?"
Devvyn looked up, blinking innocently. "I know, I know, I'm not…I'm not trying to get one for myself. I'm just helping them. Can't I at least do that? They're my friends."
Maelis narrowed her eyes at him, clearly unconvinced. "Helping how?"
"I dunno," he said with a shrug. "Just... support. Maybe helping them look for options. I'm not doing anything stupid, I swear."
She let out a long, tired breath and returned to organising her bolts. "Devvyn, you can help your friends. But don't lose your head in the process. You're not responsible for fixing the whole world."
"I know," he muttered.
Just then, the metallic creak of the front gate echoed through the house, followed by the distinct thump of the door opening and closing.
Devvyn looked up from the table. "That's probably Aela."
"Devvyn! Are you upstairs? I came to return the food bowls Maelis left for me."
Maelis laughed. "Speak of the devil." Then she raised her voice. "Aela! Come up to the workshop. We could use your help!"
Aela's footsteps thudded against the stairs until she appeared in the doorway, hair slightly windblown, face a little flushed. "What's up?"
Maelis set down a bolt and smiled at her. "You feel like helping me clear out the outside workshop today? Figured we could get a little girl time in. It's been a while."
Aela blinked in surprise, then gave a small, lopsided smile. "Sure. Why not?"
Maelis nodded and turned to Devvyn. "Good. That means you," she said, pointing at him with the pencil, "can run errands." She picked up a torn bit of paper, scribbled quickly, and then handed it to him. "Here's a list of what we need. Wires, clamps, those new converters from Silko's stall. Get them first before they run out. Be quick with it, alright? Take money from my box downstairs."
Devvyn groaned dramatically. "I do all the glamorous work."
"Get your glamorous legs moving then," Maelis said, waving him off.
As he headed toward the stairs, list in hand, he heard Maelis behind him, her voice softening just slightly. "Aela, come. We need to talk."
