We laughed. Our chuckles rang out into the sky without restriction or constraint. From noon to early evening, we plotted and traded ideas of transforming Zaun into a city of commerce and security.
"And we'll have to drill in the ground below to build a tall wall around Zaun." Powder slowly spins in a circle, stretching her body as she draws an imaginary wall with her arms. "Not tall enough to touch the sky, but tall enough to lock the world out."
I lay back in the dirt, marveling at her mad effort to protect or trap the city. "Gotta protect Zaun from everyone and everything in the world, right? The wall can't be tall enough." I sarcastically state.
Powder looked down at me and spread her arms out. I watch her circle me and make swooshing sounds. "We can make airships too. I've been thinking about it. To make the airships faster, we can install engines in the wings," she explains as if I could follow her thoughts.
I twist my face in speculation as I sit up on my elbows. "Powder, these ships are going to look like bloated fish with wings." I explain as I tried to imagine how her ship was going to handle wings with engines.
Powder drew in a sharp breath and ran in front of me. "Owen! That's it!" She exclaimed with wide eyes and an even wider smile.
I followed her excited hands, struggling to contain her building energy. "What's it exactly? The the bloated fish airship design?" That's going to take a lot of material.
She nods, messing up her bangs. "There's going to be enough room in the ship for the wings to fold inside!" she articulates, and it sounds frighteningly possible.
I sat up even more. "That is going to take a lot of special people to teach and trust to put it all together." I watch her plop down next to me.
Powder scoots closer and pulls me into her. "You can make it all happen too," she softly spoke, as if we were being overheard. But no one is dumb enough to come here again, uninvited.
I huff out a breath. "You want me to do something bad to get you a personal airship to play with?" I suspected.
She shrugged, appearing as if she's clueless in her insinuations. "I'm not suggesting anything...buuuut we did kinda...sorta...you know..." she winks at me.
I couldn't help but glance around me. "Powder, let's not talk about that; it's a bad omen." I hissed as if we definitely are being spied on.
Powder laughed enough not to salivate, mostly. "Omens? Really? You believe in that stuff?" she asked as she wiped her mouth with her sleeve. My face grew serious, and Powder tried to meet my solemn expression with her upbeat attitude. "Hey, come on." She nudges me, and I force a smile, making it move my eyes, but it isn't genuine. Couldn't get it past the powder inspection. "I didn't mean it." She still kept that playful face that's fading fast.
I dropped the act, wanting to be honest with her. "I'm sure you remember, before you went off to school. It was in the alley when we kissed." Powder's eyes narrow as her mind tries to remember that moment. "That crow cawed."
"Wait..." she leans closer to me. I smelled her before she spoke again. Jericho's charming morning delights in a bowl. She presses her lips against mine and leans her head to the right upon separation. Holding a hand to her ear, she listens around for a sound. I sighed and opened my mouth to complain, but Powder held a finger up, rude. "Nothing," she declares by spreading her arms wide, nearly smacking me in the face if I hadn't reacted in time to evade back to the ground.
The sky isn't as smoggy as usual. I hope that's all Claggor's doing. Still have to decide on what to do with him and his mentor. Powder rolls next to me and starts drumming my chest. "I just want things to go my way for a change." Feeling Powder's rapid drumming rattling my chest doesn't feel half bad. "You hear me telling you to stop drumming? Hmm? Nope, because I appreciate your skills." I said as I dug my index finger into her thigh muscle.
She shrieked into a giggling fit and rolled backwards. "And you had to ruin it!" she complains as she shook her hair of dust.
I leap up to my feet. And dust myself off as well. Powder saw this and grew worried. "Nooo. We don't have to go back yet?" She whined as she approached me with pleading hands.
I raise a brow. "You have designs to draw, remember? Or did your airship idea fly out of your head already?" I joked as Powder's pleading face dropped to a neutral expression. "Oh boy."
She lunged at me, and this time, I managed to slip to the side and got her in a body lock. Lifting her off the ground, she wailed in defeat as I dangled her from side to side.
Tapping my arms, she screams. "Down, down, down, down, down!"
But she needs to learn how to take a joke, so I ran in circles. "Up, up, up, up, up!" Increasing my speed as I run, getting awfully tired as I go on.
Powder couldn't hide her joy as we fooled around. Seeing her face finally expressing true happiness, rather than manic energy, made this all the more exciting. Too bad I can't keep this up forever.
She grunts and growls as she tries to break my hold. "When you stop, and you will, you're in trouble," she promised as she continued to try breaking free.
At that point, I slowed down and lowered her feet to the ground. "You don't have to hurt me." I pat her back.
She snickers and turns towards me as my grip weakens. "But I'm going to," she promised with a devious smile on her face.
I drum her back, matching her smile. "But you shouldn't." I replied as I adjust against her effort to sweep my leg by intertwining her leg with mine and pushing me back.
Her face is closer to mine now, almost nose to nose. "You don't learn," she points out, and our struggle grew nonexistent. Slowly, we released each other, keeping our eyes locked. I lift my hand to her jaw. Powder's lip curls into a small smile as I turn her head and slowly kiss her cheek.
I embraced her head to my chest. "I'm trying." Knowing what she meant, I have nothing else to say, no other excuses.
Powder's hands scratch my back. "And I'll help you try harder. Whatever major project you do, we do together," she enforces. Even though I don't like being told what to do, I think this is the best thing for me.
I loosened my grip and tried to pull back, but Powder's grip held me in place. "Let's go back now; we can't keep away from them forever." Strangely, I feel rather calm about this.
Powder finally pulled back and looked me in my eyes. Her glistening eyes searching for the source of my confidence. "Yeah, but...what do we say?" she asks in a soft whisper.
A smirk stretched my lips. "We were playing all day, right? They can't suspect us of anything." I explain in a soft voice. My hands grab her arms, and I pull them from my back. We laced fingers and touched foreheads. Powder closed her eyes. "Just play dumb, like we always do."
She snickered and kissed my forehead. "Sure you can pull that off?" she asks as she backs away, extending our arms until I had to lean back to support her weight.
"I'm a professional; I'm more worried about you and Vi. She can detect lies." The mention of her sister's near-flawless truth-seeking skills didn't change Powder's carefree expression.
"Let's face the music then," she said as she walked backwards. So we walk side by side, with each step towards the Last Drop making the journey seem longer than it should be.
Looking over to Powder, she's putting on a brave face. "It feels like we've been in this situation before."
She glances back with a raised brow. "She got mad because I took you outside without telling anyone. This is a bit bigger than that."
Her humor is getting so good, she's almost as funny as me. "We'll face this together, no matter what happens." I decide as I kick a pebble on the ground.
Powder's face broke into a smile of gratitude. Every time I looked at her, she would hide it from me with a neutral expression. Then she would turn her head to hide her failed attempts to conceal that smile. She settled for just hiding her mouth with a hand. I kiss her hand when we reach the city. The aftermath of the demolition seems to not have affected people as I thought it would. They seem to have gotten over it, taking it as just another day. Then I noticed something. Along every crack between the dirt and concrete, there was budding grass. Nature has made its way to Zaun. Pulling Powder to a patch of green in the foundation of a building, I point to it.
"See that? Zaun is healing!" I exclaim with wonder that I haven't felt in a long time.
Powder knelt down to touch it. "It feels real, not synthetic," she observes, rubbing a blade of grass between her fingers.
Kneeling next to her, I rub her back. "Grass brings oxygen, right? Zaun can finally breathe!" My voice carries over to observers who might have noticed before but are now taking notice of the slow changes being made.
We stood to our feet and continued walking towards the Last Drop.
Keeping her eyes forward Powder brushed her shoulder against mine. "This is changing the future...right? We're actually doing this?" Her voice is riddled with a budding hope that begs to be nurtured.
Being serious, without being too serious, I replied. "What we're doing is healing Zaun. If that's not changing the future, I don't know what will." I squeeze her hand, giving her confidence in our decisions.
The Last Drop comes into view. Only a few more meters before we face whatever awaits us. On this block, it's as busy as usual. No one bothered to enter the Drop. Great, paperwork day. We finally arrived, deciding to stay out of their sight for now. I look at Powder, who returns an expression of apt readiness.
Cupping her cheek, I run over the plan. "Goofing off all day, right?"
Powder nods slightly, nuzzling my hand. "Right."
"And we never went inside that place, right?" I insist with confidence.
She affirms the story. "Right," but falters. "We were around. Even though people didn't pay attention to us, they still know what we were there for."
She began to shrink and push her bottom lip out, but I moved my hands to rub her shoulders. "But we didn't go inside." I look around to see if anyone is snooping on us, then return my attention back to Powder. "That's the important thing."
Powder regains some of her confidence and nods her head. "Yeah. Right. Okay," she confirms as she returns her gaze to me.
"Alright." We held each other's gaze a bit longer, the wind gently blowing between us. Who are we kidding? Kids can't outsmart adults who have done it better than us. I can't fool Powder any longer. Her eyes are being flooded with unshed tears as we speak. She's entertaining my delusions. We embraced each other again, Powder sniffing and drying her tears on my shoulder. After she was done, she released me and continued drying her eyes.
She chuckled. "Don't know how you do it, Owen," she sniffs with an exhausted smile.
I pat her shoulder. "I believe in what we're doing. And you believe in me too, right?"
She fidgets with her fingers. "Yes." She shifts her eyes from mine to her hands, then back to mine. "I do." She nods towards the front door. "Let's go."
So we approached the doors of the bar and stepped through, prepared for anything. Within the bar, Silco sits in a booth, third from the door to the right. Papers are in front of him. A tall glass sits on a coaster, half filled with something. He looks right at home. The bar is spotless, the cleanest I've seen it in a long time. He reads over the papers before sighing and crossing out details. His movements are the same as they were in the factory: fluent, direct, and final. All it took was a single step of our feet for him to call us out.
"You two have been quite busy today," he commented with his cool, gruff voice.
Keeping the air of innocence, I respond. "Too busy having fun." I stated with an upbeat tone. I nudged Powder in her back as I walked towards him.
He didn't move at all to acknowledge our approach. The majority of his attention is dedicated to his financial reports. As I stood closer, I saw a familiar name on the form of property ownership. In summary, Yenir Energy is now only a 5% share partner of the company. Yours truly owns 95%. Powder walks along, with feet as careful and gentle as a feline.
"Oh, and Powder." Silco calls out. Upon hearing her name, Powder reacted as if she had been struck in the back of the head by a rock.
She turns her head, fearing being hit again. "Yes!"
Silco, keeping his unbothered manners, set the property deed aside in favor of a simple inventory report. The atmosphere chills with his calm demeanor. "Vander wishes to speak with you later on today." He flashed a glance my way. "After his visit with the council."
I'm sure she felt the growing ice block in her gut as well as I did. Powder shrinks in place again, bringing her head down to her shoulders. "O-okay." She then walks to the basement door and opens it. Before she descends down, she turns to me and gives a weak smile. I nod to her, and she disappears downstairs.
It's now just me and him again, this time completely alone.
"Have a seat, Owen," he offers with an even tone, almost completely distracted by whatever he's straining his eyes on. I slip onto the seat across from him. The papers would be a nice distraction from whatever he has to say, as I truly don't want to hear any of it.
"The recent event at Yenir Energy has opened a door for us." Silco reports without a hint of disapproval in his voice.
This is not what I expected at all. Given what I saw last time I was here, he seemed...normal, changed. But sitting in front of him now, he looks the same as he always had: detached and laser-focused on micromanagement.
"They were the ones trying to muscle in on the power market." I vouched for myself.
A small smile curled the end of his lip. "And now, they work for us." He finally placed the paper down and bore his eyes onto me. "And they are grateful for the opportunity." He laced his hands on the table.
His gaze is too much for me to stand. There's no point in denying it any longer. I dropped my gaze. "No one knows?" I asked in a hushed tone.
Silco huffed. "Not a trace of foul play," he informs.
I slowly made contact with his eyes again. "Seriously?" I asked, in disbelief, if we actually got away with it.
Silco nods his head, confirming my hopes. "Yenir Energy was a failing building with an impressive coat of paint. Its equipment was also questionable. It was only a matter of time till their engines overheated and exploded. Also, that generator in the basement." He shook his head. "It was bound to fail eventually."
Every word he spoke strangely gave me relief. "Faulty equipment?" I guessed, as I still can't believe our luck.
He rotates his shoulders. "Along those lines. The Yenir family accepted my sympathetic offer to repair the factory and take most of it off their hands. I have 55% and..." He pulls back the property agreement form. "...you will have 40%."
Looking down at the form, my hand twitches. "Vander...he wants me to still be a child." I retort.
Silco raised a brow. "Your actions today are a clear sign that you refused. Don't waste time being a child; it is beneath you." Silco grows animated with every spoken word. "You have the potential to raise a generation of a proud new Zaun." There it is, the real Silco that never left. I knew he never changed.
Mirroring his callousness, I found power in it. Don't know if that's a good thing. "You were waiting for me this entire time?"
Silco's face is unchanging as he slides the contract and the pen towards me. "It takes time for a business to flourish, even longer to mold a proper heir to inherit the throne of Zaun."
Looking down at the contract, the date is current, and Silco's signature is above. Below are two empty lines, awaiting my approval. My fingers now hold the pen. The air is steady and gentle as the sound of the ballpoint pen rolls across the parchment. My signature and the date are signed; my role in this is truly sealed. I pushed the contract and the pen back to him, not wanting to look at them any longer.
Silco undoubtedly caught on to my repulsion. "Why don't you retreat to the basement and recover? I'll speak to Vander on your behalf." He offers as if he's doing me a favor.
Knowing how screwed I am, I just nod and stand to my feet. Silco offered not another word of assurance, returning to his papers, as if we'd never spoken. My legs carried me towards the stairs, and I uncharacteristically descended to the bottom. Each step added to the weight of my decision. Yenir disrespected me. Stole from my business, sabotaged the growth of my business, and those damn kids—no, they had it coming. I'd go as far as to personally make an example out of the squeaker, only because his voice annoys me. When I reached the bottom, I saw the place empty aside from Powder. She sits on my bed, hugging her legs, with her eyes peeking over her knees. Those eyes of hers remained steadily forward. Her form didn't budge as I climbed on the bed and sat next to her. I lean my head over and nudge her shoulder. Powder's lips curl upwards slightly until she forces her face to remain neutral. Next I dove my head against her arm and shook my head vigorously, like a fish fighting bait. Powder was pushed over and had to push herself back up with her arm. She contorted her face, fighting her amusement to remain neutral. When she recovered and centered herself, her lips were sucked into her mouth. The edges of her eyes were trying to fight against her smile. Honestly, it looks like she's fighting off a sneeze and a smile at once. Finally, for my last but not least trick, I attack her sides with my fingers. It is then that I'm not only impressed with how inefficient she is with her grappling defense but also with how she manage to hold her laughs in her mouth. Instead of laughing out loud, she'd rather grunt and growl like a ground animal.
"Powder." I call to her, who is now writhing in my arms, snickering through her teeth. "Stop being so grumpy."
Her arms shift to shield her ribs, and her legs pin my legs down. I let up and embrace her. "Let's get to work on that airship design of yours." I recommended in an effort to distract her.
Her face lights up, and she immediately shoots off the bed and bolts to her room. If anything, she can move when she wants to. Powder returns with a stack of paper and charcoal sticks. Handing me a stick and a sheet of paper, she immediately begins sketching. For a few seconds, she is sketching on her feet, then she lowers to her knees. It was an odd way to sketch, using my bed as a desk, but whatever suits her.
"Thanks for trying to keep me busy," she says as the sounds of her rapid sketching nearly lull me to sleep. The longer she abuses the paper with the stick, the deeper her face twists in concentration. You would have to be there to see it. Thankfully, I'm fortunate enough to witness it myself. Slowly, I lay across my bed and observe Powder work away, making powerful strokes of the charcoal, seeming confident in every move she makes.
"No problem, whatever you need." I said as I lowered my head on the pillow provided.
Her eyes shift to me as her hands remain busy. "Going to sleep? already?"
I blink hard to keep myself awake. "Can you blame me? Watching your face while you work is candy to my brain."
Powder sighed, shielded her face with her hand, and continued working.
"And now I'm sad." I solemnly delivered.
Powder turned her head to spray a torrent of saliva away from us, thank Janna. Then she turns to me with a slightly redden face. "You need to stop making me do that when I'm working." She points a finger of admonishment at me.
I wrinkled my nose. "I ought to bite that finger off." I snarled as I bared my teeth.
Powder pulled her finger back protectively, with a shocked look on her face. "Then, you would have to make a prosthetic for me!" She whines.
Although morbid, it got me thinking. "I'll have to make a new one for you every year." I pulled a paper and a charcoal stick my way and began sketching a prosthetic hand.
Powder smirked and continued drawing. "Got tired of my pretty little face?" she cooed.
My hands flew over the paper, growing frustrated of not pushing my vision onto the paper. "I'll never get tired of you." I switched the paper out for a clean one and started again.
Silence passed before she spoke again. "Another promise," she acknowledged as she brought up her drawing, seemingly satisfied with herself.
Knowing what I wanted to put down, I cleared my mind and focused. "One of many that I will keep." I sternly declare as I persist to make my vision a reality, at least on paper.
It took a while for me to notice that Powder stopped drawing. She's now laying her head down on both of her hands, crossed together. "Now I see what you mean," she says in an absentminded tone.
It's coming together, filling me with pride. "Really? How majestic do I look?" I ask as I am nearly at the end of realizing my prototype.
Taking in a deep breath, she pushes her arms in and lays her head on her forearms. "You looked so angry, but now you're happy, right?" she asked quizitivly.
Upon laying down the stick, I look over my paper with even grander ideas forming in my head. "Yes, Powder. I'm more than happy, actually. I've got so much in mind." I start shifting my eyes around as thoughts of walking armor flood my mind. "Zaun will be unstoppable." That's when I felt Powder's hand grip mine. I'm standing on my knees, huh? How did I get here?
"No more, Owen. Let's relax," she implores, convincing me to lay down again. "Didn't we have enough fun already?"
Before I could open my mouth to speak, the basement door opened. Our hands separated in a flash. A series of heavy-footed stomps descends down the steps. Our eyes shoot towards each other and down to the papers. I tapped the papers, and Powder nods, understanding my plan. When Vander finally reveals himself, we look up to see his sly grin.
There's something different about him; he seems rested and full of energy. "There you two are." He warmly bathes us in his refreshed and positive energy. His eyes drop on the papers in front of us. "Don't tell me, you two are working on ways to keep me busy."
With a smirk on my face, I lift our papers for Vander to see. "Since you're the boss man, you get all the big projects." He takes them and looks between them both. I look at Powder, and she silently moves her lips in agitation.
"You'll have to explain all of this later to me." He returns the papers to me and ruffles my hair while sitting on my bed. "It's scary how smart the two of you are." His eyes land on Powder. "And you," he wags a finger at Powder, whose eyes light up at the mention of her. "I've got a bone to pick with you," he claims as he winks at her as he stands to his feet.
"With me?" She gave a nervous smile. "What do you mean?"
Vander gestures to the stairs. "Head on upstairs and you'll see what I mean." He offered his hand, and Powder took it. She's motivated to keep taking careful steps towards the stairs with Vander's giant hands pushing her along. "Come along, Owen, you're invited too."
What is he up to? Curious of what he's planning, I pushed myself off the bed and followed them up the stairs. Each step gave way to anticipation of what might await us up there. When Powder opened the door, the combined word 'Surprise!' echoed against my head. Powder covered her mouth in shock and disappeared around the corner. When I finally reached the top, I an greeted by familiar faces and a giant cake. It has soft blue frosting, with swirl designs that looks like clouds. My siblings are here, and a few friends of mine as well. Decorations are hanging everywhere and a lot of other stuff that seems a bit much for my liking. If they had done this to me...well, I don't want to sour my mood any further. Sudden noises like this put me on edge as it is. Powder didn't know what to say; what's coming out of her mouth right now sounds like a different language.
Vi approached Powder with a funny-looking coned hat. Where's my cone hat? "There's the birthday girl!" She extended the string and placed it on her head.
Vander ushered us around the towering cake, which looks way out of place. Looks like something that should only exist topside. Two wax numbers burn on top of the cake, 11. Mylo stood beside me and placed the coned hat on my head. I was going to throw a fit if I didn't get my hat. Ekko stood beside Powder and Vi as they sang a birthday song that I've never heard before. After they were done singing, they clapped as Powder closed her eyes and blew out the candles. This is all so...different.
Ekko turns to me as he holds two small plates of cake. "Come on!" He nods his head over to a booth and sits across from Powder.
I sat next to Ekko as he dug in the cake. The batter smells sweet. Then I felt a tap against my leg. "You are allowed to eat cake." Vi states as she held an amused, disbelieving visage.
I must look too confused for my own good. "Sorry, but what was all of that?" I asked as I ate the cake with my bare hands. My mouth is blasted with flavors that are too intense for my liking. After a few chews, I've gotten used to it. "Don't think they put enough sugar in this."
Vi laughed as she was halfway finished with her slice. "It's called a birthday party." She wipes frosting from her lip, only to unknowingly leave a speck on her cheek. "It's not something we used to do every year, but things are different now."
I could just have Vi leave that speck of frosting on her cheek, but I'm not feeling as malicious as usual. I motioned at my cheek, and Vi picked up on it, wiping her cheek clean. "When is yours?" I asked as I finished the cake and thought about licking the frosting from my hand, but even I know that's going too far.
Vi drops a cloth over my hand. "It's next month; when is yours?" She asked but then paused as if to physically say, 'Oh shit.'
I shrug as I wipe my hand clean. "Don't know." I honestly replied.
Ekko and Powder paused their conversation as they overheard me. "Really? Your mom didn't tell you?" Ekko asked, wide-eyed.
I shook my head. "Never came up." I replied as I laid the cloth down.
Vi looked between the three of us in irritation. "Wait, wait, wait." She points at me. "You met your mother?"
I leaned back and lowered Vi's judgmental finger. "Earlier today, yeah. I thought word got around fast in Zaun." I justified.
Vi chuckled incredulously. "You aren't getting out of this one, mister. We're going to meet your mother tomorrow morning, period." She made no room for refusal.
I nod expectedly in frustration. "Okay...fine. You'll get to see my mother. Her name is Onisegun, by the way. So please remember that and keep your manners in check." I informed.
Vi's playful, irritated face clacked into a neutral expression. "Me? Behave? Seriously, Owen?" she frustratingly asks. "You are the last person that should be asking anyone to behave."
I shook my head. "There is a certain someone who might match your energy on that." Right then, I began thinking of a way to save Vi from herself.