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Once she’d taught her mother how to finish her own treatment and left more than enough of the medicine to do so, Nita went about making some preparations. She fetched two more changes of work clothes and a few more suitable outfits for those rare moments when she would not be working. Next came a quick jaunt back to the steamworks, where she replaced those tools that had been lost from her tool sash and grabbed a few she’d wished she’d had during her repairs. She traded in a few favors for a mound of replacement piping, gaskets, and valves, and said her good-byes to her friends and coworkers. Finally she fetched a few items she knew her crewmates would appreciate, including a few fine dresses of the proper size for Lil, a bottle of brandy for Coop, and some Calderan cigars for the captain.
When all was in readiness, she wished her family a tearful good-bye. She promised to come home and visit with each monthly stop from the Wind Breaker until she was finished teaching them what they needed to know about its upkeep. Her father promised to do his best to open discussions about reopening the borders, at least for the Wind Breaker and her crew. Far too soon, the night was ending and it was time to return to the ship. Linus and Drew took her back to Moor Spires, where Coop and Lil were just closing a deal with one of the other Calderans eagerly seeking exotic goods.
“Oh, you’re back! And right on time,” Lil said. “We had a good night!”
“Glad to hear it. Did the boiler give you any trouble while I was gone?”
“Believe it or not, we did get along without you for quite a few years,” Gunner called from above. “Now step into the gig. We’ve only just got the last planks replaced. I don’t want those guns of yours ruining all of that hard work.”
“Not so fast. Coop, make sure these two get what they came for. They were a tremendous help to me today.”
“Will do, Nita.”
“Lil, can you give me a hand with this stuff?”
“Did you get all of the stuff the cap’n asked for?”
“And plenty more.”
The women got to work filling the gig with all of the goods Nita had been able to secure, while Coop helped Drew and Linus find what they were after. When everything was loaded and all trades had been made, Nita smiled and hopped into the gig.
“So long, Drew, Linus,” she called out. “See you in a month! Oh! Any special requests?”
“I, er… well, I’m looking for a bit more inspiration for my photographs. Perhaps if I could see a few more examples?” he stammered.
“I’ll take care of you, Drew,” Cooper assured him. “We’re heading east this time. You ain’t seen a woman until you’ve seen the women they got over there.”
The gig, with its haul of traded goods, rose up to the ship’s belly. Lil and Nita made their way to the deck and went to work unmooring from the spires.
“So, did the medicine work?” Lil asked.
“It did,” Nita said.
“Was it worth coming out here into this mess?”
“Absolutely.”
“How was your visit?”
“It was nice to see the familiar faces again, but it’s also nice to be back on the Wind Breaker.”
“Don’t tell me you missed this rickety old wreck.”
“Well, Caldera is beautiful, and it will always be my home… but what can I say? Once you’ve had a taste of the sky, the land just seems so small.”
“Couldn’t have said it better myself. Say, I recognized most of that stuff we loaded up from Caldera, but there were some funny lookin’ casks and tools. What were those about?”
“Well, Lil, I am a Calderan. In my homeland they say we are all born with at least one great masterpiece inside us, and we owe it to the world to let it out before our days are done. If I’m going to be aboard the Wind Breaker, let her be my masterpiece. Just wait until you see what I’ve got in mind…”
With that, they hauled in the ropes, set their course, and were once again on their way.
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From The Author
Thank you for reading this fun little experiment. Free-Wrench was a National Novel Writing Month project. It went from concept to completion in less than three months. As my first foray into Steampunk, it was a lot of fun to write, and if you enjoyed it, please consider reading the sequel, Skykeep, or some of my other books. If you liked this story, or perhaps if you found it lacking, I’d love to hear from you. Below are links to some of the places you can find me online, and if you’d like to be kept in the loop with important new developments and releases, consider joining my newsletter.
Official Website, Facebook Fan Page, Twitter, Tumblr, Wattpad, and good old email.
Discover other titles by Joseph R. Lallo:
The Book of Deacon Series:
Book 1: The Book of Deacon
Book 2: The Great Convergence
Book 3: The Battle of Verril
Book 4: The D’Karon Apprentice (Coming Nov. 10th, 2015)
Other stories in the same setting:
Jade
The Rise of the Red Shadow
The Big Sigma Series:
Book 1: Bypass Gemini
Book 2: Unstable Prototypes
Book 3: Artificial Evolution
The Free-Wrench Series:
Book 1: Free-Wrench
Book 2: Skykeep
Collections:
The Book of Deacon Anthology
NaNoWriMo Projects:
The Other Eight
Free-Wrench Page 34