by Zen DiPietro
Sally’s fingers felt jittery as she rang the bell to Sujan’s shop. She’d manufactured a reason to make an appointment with him, and hoped it would be enough.
Enough to become his apprentice, at the very least.
The door unlocked and she took a deep breath before opening it.
“Oh, it’s you.” His bored, somewhat disapproving observation made her nervousness evaporate and reignited her cheekiness. Why did he make her want to annoy him?
“Yes,” she agreed in an overly sweet tone, “which makes sense, considering I’m the one who made the appointment.”
If he noticed her sarcasm, he didn’t show it. “Since you made an appointment, I assume you came here for more than sightseeing. Care to get to the point?”
He’d made that exact same remark about sightseeing last time. He was definitely going through one of his behavior loops.
“Be my mentor.” She hoped that somehow, he’d now find her worthy of his teaching.
He arched an eyebrow. “You have to prove yourself worthy of my teaching.”
She sighed. He’d said that before, too. She hadn’t expected him to make this easy. But then, she wasn’t planning to make it easy for him, either. “I’m staying here until you accept me.”
The eyebrow arched higher, making him look terribly arrogant. She wanted to force that look off his face.
“I don’t teach just anyone,” he said.
“Well, good,” she retorted. What was it about him that activated all her contrariness? “Because I’m not just anyone. I’m Sally Strong. I’m different than anyone else.”
“Is that right?” He crossed his arms over his chest.
“Yes! It is! Have you seriously not noticed anything different about me? You’re so smart, according to you. A master technie, right? So take a deeper look at me. Do I seem like other adventurers? Do you really not see how different I am?”
He assessed her. “Sally Strong. Mid-level technie. You look like you’d give me a good fight. You are not yet apprenticed to anyone.”
He gave her a pointed, yet somehow bored look to prove how unimpressed he was.
“Let’s start with that.” She crossed her arms over her chest, mimicking his posture, and took a step back, half-sitting on an empty worktable.
“That’s not a chair,” he said tersely.
“Nope, it sure isn’t.” Since it seemed to bother him, she scooted her behind further back and let her feet dangle off the floor. “But I don’t have to do what you say, since you aren’t my mentor.”
She smiled sweetly, then continued. “You said I’m Sally Strong. But that wasn’t my name when I last met you. Remember? You identified me as only Sally. I had only one name then, like an adventurer, but now I have two. How do you explain that?”
“Your personal affairs are not my concern.” His tone was cold, but the slight furrow in his brow showed uncertainty.
“You can’t explain it, right? Because it doesn’t fit Everternian mechanics. Doesn’t that bother you, Mr. Master Technie?”
He frowned at her, clearly displeased.
“And how about the part about me being a ‘mid-level technie?’” she pressed. “That’s awfully vague. When I assess people, I see their actual level. Don’t you usually see people’s exact levels?”
“Understanding my customer helps me understand my customer’s needs,” he answered.
“I’ll take that as a yes,” she said, pleased. “So why is it you think you can’t see my levels? Who else in this world can you not see levels for? What type of people?”
She waited for him to think about it. When CMs looked at other CMs, they didn’t see number ranks. Not for levels or skills or anything else. Because CMs didn’t have things like that. As a CM, neither did Sally. Not the kind that she or Sujan could see, anyway. But she did gain experience, which CMs weren’t supposed to do.
Could he see that in her, and if he did, could he reason out why that might be?
“Look at me,” she urged. “Really look at me. Think about what pieces fit, and which ones don’t.”
He hesitated and she enjoyed his indecision. He was struggling to find a reasonable explanation and failing.
“And what about that notification device you helped me with?” she continued. “It was for my store, right? If I’m an adventurer, how do I have a store? That’s not possible. Adventurers have to partner with a CM entrepreneur in order to put their goods in a store. It encourages competition among adventurers to be better, and keeps poor-quality goods out of the shops, right?” She raised her voice. “So how do I have a store, Sujan?”
He frowned, and she could see him trying to figure it out.
“Come on,” she cajoled. “It’s like a puzzle. Like a machine. Every piece is supposed to fit together, to work properly, right? So what does it mean if I have some parts of me that are CM, and some that are adventurer?”
She held her breath, hoping he’d put the facts together and figure it out.
His lips pressed into a thin line. “I have work to do.”
He crossed the room and opened a storage bin.
Sally jumped off the table and went to stand beside him. “And what about this?”
With her fingertip, she gently touched the flat, dark mole behind his ear. As before, she felt no connection. He didn’t become part of her group, nor could she initiate a private conversation bubble with him. But she could feel the warmth of his skin.
“Is there anyone else who can touch you?” she asked.
He stared at her, his expression unreadable.
She reached for his hand, hoping that she’d be able to grab it this time.
He pulled away. “I have work to do.”
Sally’s shoulders slumped. She straightened them. “Fine. You work. I’ll watch. And we’ll do this all over again when you’re done.”
He didn’t glance at her as he began taking tools from one of the storage bins.
Was she making a mistake?
Almost a day later, Sally was still haunting Sujan. He’d taken to ignoring her unless she got directly in his way. Her store had logged twelve customers ringing the doorbell, then going away when it wasn’t answered.
She felt really bad that her plan was impacting her store. She didn’t want to keep him from doing his job, either.
Maybe she’d made a bad decision.
But if she left, Sujan would have no reason to accept her as his apprentice, and if he didn’t do that, she had no reason to interact with him on a daily basis. And without seeing him, how was she supposed to get him to wake up?
The more time she spent with him, the more strongly she felt that she could wake him. That she needed to wake him.
He wasn’t like Ginny from Bracket or Mr. Barrowman from the bank or Sheriff Jayce. He wasn’t like any of the other CMs. He was more adaptable. The way he talked was more sophisticated. Not his tone or his actual words, but his engagement in the conversation and ability to understand things outside of his normal loops. There was something familiar about the way he behaved.
Plus, she could touch him. That had to mean something. Didn’t it?
Plus, he liked the puzzle of putting machines together and taking them apart to fix them. The fact that he and Sally both liked that kind of thing couldn’t be a coincidence. Could it?
Restlessly, she paced across the workshop. She’d already memorized the placement of the tools hanging on the wall and the storage bins’ content labels.
Unfortunately, Sujan’s tidiness meant that there was nothing out for her to poke about with, and she felt like taking anything out of its place without permission would be unforgivably rude.
She liked antagonizing Sujan, but she wasn’t a jerk. She observed him whenever he was working, but he seemed to have a habit of staring at his work for long intervals without actually doing anything, except for maybe thinking really hard.
She doubted he was engaged in deep thought, though. She suspected that sitting at a worktable with somethi
ng in front of him was his default activity when he was unneeded for anything else. Just as she had wiped her shop counter to pass the time, in the days before she’d woken up and started having her own thoughts and desires about things.
He was just sitting there. Staring at a communicator device. Probably not thinking a single thing.
It was creepy. She didn’t like it.
“Hey, Sujan!” she called impulsively.
He blinked and turned his head slowly to look at her, his eyes dull and unfocused.
Wow. Super creepy.
Then his eyes seemed to brighten and actually see her, making him seem normal again. “Yes?”
She hadn’t thought further than calling his name, and she’d barely even thought about that part. Sometimes her impulsiveness got her into sticky situations.
She went with the first thing that came to mind. “What do you call a fake noodle?”
He frowned slightly, then shrugged. “I don’t know. What do you call a fake noodle?”
Sally beamed at him. “An impasta!”
He eyed her warily. “Okay.”
“It’s a joke. A riddle. Riddles are like teeny little puzzles. Want to try another?”
“No.”
But she wanted to make him think outside his normal parameters, and try to get him to say things he wouldn’t normally say. “What do you call a crushed right angle?”
He put his hand to his chin. “Geometry?”
“Kind of. But not really.” She smiled sweetly.
“Is this a design problem you’re having?”
She grinned. “No. It’s another riddle.”
He squinted at her, then shrugged. “What’s the answer?”
“A wrecked angle. Get it? Rectangle?”
“You’re a very strange person,” he said.
His lips twitched.
“Hah! You do get it!” she crowed. Encouraged, she said, “How warm is a janitor’s closet?”
He quirked his shoulders questioningly.
“Broom temperature.”
He grimaced. “That’s just bad.”
Sally giggled. “Yeah, you’re right. Okay. How many passive-aggressive people does it take to screw in a lightbulb?”
Looking pained, he asked, “How many?”
“Just one,” she retorted. “But that’s fine. I’m sure the other person had much more important things to do.”
His lips twitched again.
“Your turn,” she said. “You tell me one.”
“I don’t know any.”
“You’re a maker, right? A master technie? Surely you can make a tiny little riddle. Can’t you?”
She widened her eyes, as if concerned. “I mean, if you can’t even do that…” She let her voice trail off.
He looked down at his hands. Was he going back into standby mode?
Then he smoothed his shirt front and took a breath. “I went to the doctor for surgery. He said he could put me to sleep with gas or a big rock. I said either ore.”
Sally waited him to finish the joke, but he didn’t. Well, it was only his first try. Maybe with some practi—
She caught onto his wordplay.
“Either ore,” she repeated, then burst into giggles. “That’s terrible. But funny because it’s terrible. Good job.”
He smiled. For the first time, it was a real smile with no condescension or sarcasm.
It was a such a nice smile that she couldn’t help but smile back. She willed him to wake up and be his own person. “Try. Please just try.”
He gazed at her, a calculating look in his eyes. “Very well.”
“What?” Sally blinked at him.
“I’ll give you a trial as my apprentice. But if you fail, you have to give up the idea. I don’t take on just anyone.”
Sally let out a slow breath. It was a success, although not exactly what she’d been hoping for.
But it was a step in the right direction.
“Okay,” she agreed. “When do we start?”
“Tomorrow. Noon. Be prepared.”
“Oh, I’ll be prepared,” she promised. “You be prepared.”
She flashed him a challenging expression.
He smiled. “See you tomorrow, Sally Strong.”
“Wow, two real smiles from you in one day,” she mused. “What will tomorrow bring?”
Happily, she hurried back to her store to deal with the customers who were waiting for her.
“What about that guy you told us about?” Darthrok asked. “The GM or whatever. Don’t you think spending so much time with Sujan, and spending so much time out of your store, might get his attention?”
“It could,” Sally admitted. She slowly put away the bundle of scrap parts she’d just purchased from an adventurer. She dawdled over the task to buy herself little more time to decide how she was going to answer Darthrok. “But I have to live, don’t I? If I don’t, then what’s the point of being awake?”
He cracked his knuckles nervously. “Yeah, I get it. And I don’t blame you. I’m just…worried. I don’t want anything to happen to you. It’s only been a few weeks, but you’ve become my favorite reason for being here.”
Sally leaned forward and patted his shoulder. “You’re one of my favorites, too.”
He laughed. “Right. Thanks. Anyway, Essley should be here anytime. She said she had a surprise.”
“I love surprises.” Sally always liked seeing Essley, but with a surprise promised, she looked forward to it even more.
“I know. So.” He ran a hand along the edge of the counter. “What do we do while we wait?”
She didn’t think he’d be interested in studying her books with her, which was what she normally did between customers. She looked at him slyly. “Do you, perhaps, have any puzzles to sell?”
“Of course not. I’d have mentioned that first. But are you suggesting I buy one?”
Sally smiled. He was getting smarter.
Taking her smile as his answer, he asked, “Okay. I’d like to buy a puzzle. What’s your best one?”
Sally shot him a look of approval before whirling to her cabinets and pulling out a large puzzle made of a variety of different colored metals. Carefully, she set it on the counter.
“Wow. I’ve never seen one this big. It’s almost as big as your cash register. Where did you get this?”
“A high-level enforcer mercenary.” She added, “Don’t really know him. But this is a special quest item.”
“Nice. How much?”
She felt around in her senses to determine the lowest price she could offer him. As a very rare item, she couldn’t give it away for a nominal coin or two. She had to legitimately sell it to him for at least a platinum for the transaction mechanics to work. This puzzle was something special, though, she was certain. If anyone but Essley or Darthrok wanted to purchase it, she wouldn’t accept less than twenty plat.
“For you, one plat.” She gave him a sly grin. “Don’t tell your friends.”
He smiled at her choice of familiar wording. “It’s a good deal, I’m sure. But even though I’ve been working hard to earn money, that would just about wipe me out. And I’ve been saving up for some armor…”
He trailed off, then shook his head. “Never mind. The armor will be there later. If you think I should do this puzzle, then let’s do it!”
Sally locked her gaze on him and did a deep assessment. She’d always been capable of studying an adventurer hard enough to know how much money they had in the bank, but since waking up she rarely did. Not only did money not concern her, but she also didn’t want to be intrusive.
She wanted to look out for her friend, though. If his funds ran too low, he wouldn’t be able to afford healing or necessary supplies.
Focusing carefully on him, she saw that his bank account had the plat but that was almost all. He’d be left with pocket change.
“I’ll run to the bank. Be right back,” he said. He could transfer the funds to her electronically, of course, but she’d h
ave to take an additional surcharge. With the bank so nearby, there was no reason for him not to get the coin in hand to save himself the extra cost.
She put a hand on his arm and gestured at his neck. “Wait. What’s that?”
“What?” His eyes widened, touching his jaw, then the side of his face.
She reached out toward his ear then pulled her arm back, revealing a platinum coin. “You have the money right here.”
She dropped the coin in his palm, and he stared at it dumbly for a long moment.
“You do sleight of hand coin tricks now?” he asked.
Sally shrugged modestly. “Training my fine motor skills. For when I work on machines with tiny parts.”
She’d begun practicing with her hands after seeing Sujan working on that pocket watch. She’d realized then she didn’t have the dexterity to begin something so complex. So far, concealing the coin under her thumb was all she could do, but she’d keep working on it.
His hand closed around the coin. “Thanks, Sally.”
If he suspected that money was nothing to her, he didn’t let on.
He held the coin out to her. “One puzzle, please!”
They grinned at each other, then she accepted the coin and gestured to the puzzle. “All yours.”
He studied the thing, leaning first one way then the other for a different view of it. “Okay, so it’s got all these rectangular pieces, and each one is painted one color on one side, and a different color on the other.” He muttered to himself as he poked a green-and-blue colored piece, turning it carefully on a horizontal axis. “And the colors aren’t all the same, or all different.”
The metal piece gave a tiny click with the blue side up.
“And they seem to move into place.” He turned the piece again, clicking it into place with the green side up. “Hmm.”
He glanced up at her. “Do you already know the answer?”
“No. I’ve never seen one like this.”
“That makes me feel a little better.” He returned his attention to the puzzle. “This might take a while.”
Sally watched him with interest as he moved around the thing, turning the rectangular bits this way and that, looking for a pattern.