July 28th, 2815

It was yet another ordinary day, graced with a dreary orange horizon that promised dry weather. The shimmering of the early sun flitted beneath low-hanging clouds and gave a gentle pink hue to the distant land.

The makeshift camp had not yet begun bustling. The animals, asleep or pretending to be, lay strewn about. Elliot snored on his bedroll. Tim, quietly retreated to the privacy of his caravan, worked alone on an unknown experiment.

Alyn, head rested on Master Hughes' knee, gradually came to. Hughes' eyes were closed, his hands set in the sand behind his back.

Alyn yawned, and the blacksmith roused, opening one eye, and then the other.

The girl rubbed her eyes and blinked away the film of sleep. She sat up and looked back at Hughes, jaw hanging open.

"Finally," her pillow muttered. His hands shifted in the dirt as he pushed himself up to his feet in one laborious burst of effort. He pressed his thumbs against his spine and produced a loud crack. "Never again." He shook his head and glared pointedly down at Alyn. "You had better have enjoyed your sleep, because I, for one, did not."

Alyn broke into a grin. She laughed. "You're a doll, Master Hughes! Honest, I've never slept better. Thank you, sir!"

Hughes scowled. "You shouldn't have fallen asleep on me, stupid girl. Now, get up. The day is starting."

"Pfft." Alyn began to rise, but collapsed. She winced and frowned up at the blacksmith. "Master Hughes, I'm mighty sore, sir..."

"Oh, please." He flicked his hands. "Get up."

Elliot, on the other side of the fire pit, opened an eye.

"I ain't kidding, sir." The girl rose with the struggle of one much older, and glumly looked to her master.

"Couldn't care less, child," Hughes dismissed. "You will find your dinner from last night in the caravan. That will be your breakfast. Cold, unless you build a fire."

"I'll eat it cold," Alyn grumbled.

"No, you will build a fire regardless for my coffee. Then, if you really want to, you can eat it cold. The coal for the fire is also in the caravan. Hop to it."

Alyn moaned and started to limp away. "When I die from being worked too hard, the guilt's going to be on your plate."

"I'll take my chances. Less talk, more walk," Hughes barked. He clapped his hands. "Pick up the pace."

Elliot snickered and rolled over. He waved a hand in the air for Hughes to see, drawing over the man's attention. "Cut her some slack, eh, Drew? I'll build the fire. And perhaps we can give her a day off of that training you ordered? Tim can have a look at the nanotech instead. We're both happy to stay and help you out another day, if you aren't in a hurry."

"If she can't take it, she won't make it," Hughes scowled.

"Oh, not this again. Drew, please. Take my advice: give her a break. Instead of making her rigorously train for multiple days, let her have some recovery time. It won't slow you down." Elliot sat up and casually fixed his blonde curls with one hand. "As I said, Tim can look at her nanotech. And, you know, maybe I can show her some alchemy as well."

"Bah. She's already an apprentice of alchemy."

"Journeyman!" Alyn called.

"Ah!" Elliot grinned. "And you are teaching her blacksmithing?"

"Yeah?" The blacksmith grunted.

"And Tim's a nanotechnology scientist."

Hughes ran a hand over his whiskers. "I see where you're going."

Elliot raised his brows. "Well, what do you think?"

Master Hughes scratched at his whiskers and squinted at Alyn calculatingly. Unaware, she lugged the coal from the caravan. "I am curious."

Alyn started to open the sack. Elliot shooed her away and insisted that she go and rest, and received no protest. The blonde got to his knees and started to shovel handfuls of coal into the firepit.

Alyn tiredly retrieved her plate of food from the caravan and collapsed on the ground across from Hughes. She glared at the man, but was soon distracted by Harry, the coyote, who had taken interest in her meal.

Hughes considered the brat, rubbing at his whiskers in thought. After the fire was lit, he pulled Elliot aside for a chat. Alyn picked at her cold slab of meat. She took no heed of the adults until Hughes barked at her to make his coffee, and, with a sour frown, she limped off to do so.

An hour later, Elliot gently coaxed her into his and Tim's caravan. The scientist greeted her with a needle in the crook of her elbow and she cried out in surprise. She clenched a hand over her arm and huffed at Tim as he took the filled syringe to a desk. Elliot profusely apologized and pulled a medical kit from a shelf.

Tim neatly ejected her blood into a petri dish. He placed a drop on a thin glass slide and peered at it through a microscope.

"He does his own thing," Elliot explained, exasperated as he taped a piece of cotton to Alyn's forearm.

"Well, gee," she mumbled crossly.

Oblivious to them, Tim began a series of investigative tasks, which ultimately brought him to a large and clunky computer. He cranked a lever on a generator and powered up the device. The fast-paced tapping of fingers on a keyboard followed Elliot and Alyn to the back of the caravan.

A cluttered bulletin board covered the far left wall, a set of drawers beneath it. Elliot took a pencil and paper from a drawer. He started to write, but hesitated.

He rolled the pencil between his fingertips. "You can't read."

"I know reagents," Alyn replied. He had mentioned that he would be showing her some alchemy.

Elliot nodded and lowered the pencil once again. He scribbled a list, checked it over, and showed it to Alyn. "Understand?"

Alyn scanned the list. She'd learned the ingredients with Master Octienne. "I've never mixed anything like it before. What does it make?"

"Some black slop that conducts electricity," Elliot shrugged. "But, when it's mixed with some of Tim's technological wizardry, it adds new traits to objects. We think. We call it enchanting! In all the times we've tested it, like with your Master's great-sword, the objects conduct heat and feel a little lighter."

Alyn's eyes widened. "Really?"

"It's genius!" Elliot enthused. "Drew and I theorized, because Tim has never explained, that it has something to do with the tech in his blood, because the enchanted objects never work for me. Only him. Actually, now that I'm thinking of it, perhaps you should try his sword before we..."

"Come," interrupted Tim. He sat behind them at his desk, fingers at rest on his keyboard. On a black screen, green text glowed. The generator hummed.

Elliot took the list of ingredients from Alyn and quickly scrawled instructions on the plain side of the paper. He pressed the paper back into Alyn's hand. "Keep that. Drew can read it for you if you need it. It isn't too strict a recipe."

She stuffed it into her jacket pocket and Elliot ushered her nearer Tim. Tim swiftly rose.

Before she had time to process, a suction cup was fixed to her forehead with wires that ran to Tim's battered computer. Then, two more suction cups were pressed to her palms. She ogled them, startled.

"Wh..."

Before she could speak, Tim pressed a key, and Alyn involuntarily stood erect. Coded electricity sent vibrations throughout her body, triggering technology that had always been dormant inside of her.

After an excruciating few seconds, Tim pressed the key again, and Alyn went limp. Elliot quickly pushed a chair beneath her. He frowned at Tim as the girl slouched and gasped for breath.

Tim waved a hand at the Englishman. "Drew. Now."

Elliot sighed and left the caravan.

Tim gently prodded Alyn upright and carefully pried open her right eye. He studied it and moved to the left eye. He then checked her hands. A faint green glow emitted from beneath her skin.

Satisfied, he smiled and pulled the suction cups off of her. He knelt by her hooves and silently consoled her with soft eyes and soft hands as he waited for his traveling companion to return with the blacksmith.

Alyn passed out before they came.

"Drew," said Tim, when the bulky figure ducked into his little lab.

"What's going on?" Drew eyed the dozing faun.

Elliot dragged a palm over his face. He squeezed past Drew, who awkwardly hunched in the cramped caravan.

"Remember when he triggered you? He's done it to her, as you wanted. You see? You didn't even have to ask." Elliot said. He patted the girl's head. "Poor thing, though. She didn't expect it."

Drew grunted. "Has it done anything? Has it made her nanotech work as it should?" He paused, a glum look appearing briefly. "Is there even nanotech?"

"Well, don't ask me. I'm not the scientist," Elliot drawled.

Tim snapped his fingers for attention. Drew, frowning, looked over.

The scientist held up Alyn's faintly glowing palm.

Drew smacked a hand over his jaw. It was what he had dreamed of seeing all his life. A real faun, with the real restorative nanotechnology. His eyes grew wet, his nose grew red. "D-Does it work?"

"Seed?" Tim held out his free hand. Drew scrambled to pluck a seed from the pouch in his pocket. Inadvertently spilling them over the floor. He fumbled with one and pressed it at Tim, who then held it to Alyn's palm.

It all passed very slowly for Drew. He stared at the seed with his knuckles anxiously fixed at his lips.

A second of hope, a second of uncertainty. An eternity of disappointment. A tear rolled down his cheek and he dropped his hand away. He pursed his lips, squeezed his eyes shut, and covered his brow. Elliot watched him rather than the seed, searching for his eyes behind his fingers.

"Oh, poor fellow..." Elliot began. He reached for the blacksmith's shoulder. "I'm sorry that it..."

Tim shushed him sharply. He snapped his fingers in front of Alyn's face. "Up," he said. He looked expectantly to Elliot.

"Ah!" Elliot gave Hughes a pat and scurried to the back of the caravan. "Up, up!" He rifled through a drawer. Glass rolled and clinked inside. He drew out an inch-tall bottle and stumbled back to the others, uncorking it as he went. With a wave of the bottle beneath Alyn's nose, the girl jolted awake. Distressed after being stabbed with a needle and electrocuted, she instinctively kicked Elliot away, landing a hoof squarely on his chest. He yelped and fell back, taking Tim down with him. Tim reacted swiftly and dropped the sunflower seed into Alyn's palm.

The seed instantly burst, and the girl hollered in surprise. She fell over in her chair as a sunflower shot upwards from her hand, its roots ensnaring her fingers. She clawed at the plant at first, but stopped at a cry of delight from above. She stared, stunned, up at Master Hughes. With a stupid, uncharacteristic ear-to-ear grin plastered over his face, he pried the flower from her grasp and pranced from the caravan before the girl could register what had happened.

Elliot hooted and jumped in the air. He clicked his heels together and dashed out after his friend. "Well done, Tim!" He squealed as he went.

Alyn ogled her glowing palms. She had, somehow, grown that flower. She couldn't comprehend it.

Tim grunted as he rose, using his desk to pull himself up. He shook her hand vigorously and gave her a smile. "Good. Drew is... happy. It is good."

He, too, strolled from the caravan.

Alyn rolled over and pushed her chair out of the way. She got to her knees and looked again to her hands. Master Hughes had told her about fauns, and explained their abilities and their purpose, but she had passed it off as nonsense. She had thought that it was something that he had made up, or read in some stupid book. It could even have been a drunken fantasy. But, never had she imagined.. never once had she imagined that she would be able to sprout a seed in seconds. Never once did she believe it could be possible.

She took a deep breath and let it out. Then, she grinned. She laughed aloud. Her inner voice was crowing. Those bastards back at the orphanage would never be able to tease her again. She could become the greatest alchemist that the world had ever seen! Plants in seconds!

She was a marvel, not a mutant!

She reacted to the discovery as any child would; smugly, and with too much pride. Her chest swelled. She always knew that she was special, and she thought that it was about time that the universe finally got around to noticing.

She squinted at the sunflower seeds scattered over the floor and listened to the laughter and exclamations of the men outside. After thought, she reached out. A few more flowers, she thought, could only do good.

***

Minutes later, Alyn bounded out of the caravan, waving five towering flowers over her head. Hughes square-danced with Patriot, the horse doing his best. Elliot twirled with Harry the coyote in his arms. Tim swayed shyly, smiling his pleasure from a comfortable place. His animals congregated around him, ears and tails and eyes perking with the mood of the camp.

"By Joe, Drew!" Elliot laughed. "You won't be so hard on the girl now, will you?"

"Yes!" Tim agreed, understanding Elliot's agreeable tone, and not his words.

Master Hughes held Patriot's hooves in his hands, with the first sunflower, and skipped to one side. Patriot struggled to keep up. "I've never seen a real sunflower, Elliot! The environment's never been right to grow one, in all of my travels! I've been carrying these seeds for years! Decades!"

"Brilliant, Drew! Brilliant!"

The chimps started to waltz, which inspired the coyote to cross-step and the circus horses to grapevine. The sloth-bear sat on his rump beside Tim and lazily clapped his paws together, the meerkat on his belly.

Alyn sprung to Hughes with her bouquet and proudly presented it. Patriot reared and tripped backwards to avoid trampling her. The blacksmith, utterly overwhelmed with delight, wrapped the girl in his arms, and lifted her and her flowers to his chest. He spun around with her and lifted her into the air. When he placed her down, he tousled her hair, and lifted her chin, and beamed at her wide enough to reveal two bronze teeth on his lower jaw. He took the sunflowers and blissfully dropped to the dirt, pressing them to his face. He inhaled them.

Outside of the pages of his books, they were even better than he had imagined.

Tim leaned over the blacksmith. "Good?"

Drew exhaled and lowered the bouquet to his chest. "Great," he grinned.

Alyn leaned over him, glowing. "Are we gonna make a vase for 'em?"

Drew closed his eyes and sighed, adrenaline fading. "'We' are not. I will. You will focus on training with your sword."

The girl's face fell. Her ears drooped, and her shoulders sagged. Elliot frowned at Hughes in disapproval, scratching behind Harry's ears. Alyn raised a finger to argue. "But, I thought..."

"You thought..." Hughes was mildly amused. His smile lingered from seeing the flowers and the faun, though it was not so amiable or kind as it had been. He sat up and shook his head at her superciliously. "...that growing a few flowers was going to let you off the hook, stupid girl?"

"You said... I didn't need to train today," Alyn reminded, disappointed and dismayed.

"Ah, but, then your technology was triggered, and it is now—or perhaps it has stopped now—functioning at a high frequency, which means that it is—or was—working at its best to do all that it was programmed to do. And one of its main functions is to heal organic life forms, and you," Hughes jabbed his finger at her chest, "my dear urchin, are an organic life form. So, my question for you is, how are you feeling?"

Alyn paused. She looked over her arms, puzzled. "All better, actually."

"Ah, the miracle of technology. Now, I'm sure you can lift a few fencing foils." Hughes flicked a hand at her and pushed himself up. "Go and fetch them."

Alyn huffed. Her fingers curled to fists and she turned in the direction of Tim and Elliot's caravan, throwing her reply over her shoulder. "Fine."

"Watch your tone," Hughes returned. He wagged a finger at Elliot. "And you, remember what I told you yesterday."

Elliot moaned and dragged a palm down his face. "Oh, come on, Drew."

"Don't go easy on her."

"Bastard! What about enchanting?"

Master Hughes idly shuffled through the six flowers in his grasp. "You know I cherish time. One way to save time is to work on enchanting on the move. That way, I get to where I need to be faster, and the girl's poorly crafted twig gets enchanted as a bonus. Win, win."

Elliot sighed and shook his head. "Whatever you say, boss. That means we'll be on the road tomorrow?"

Hughes traced his fingers over the bright yellow petals. "No," he answered, "that means we'll be on the road tonight."

Every day that he dawdled, people died in the city. Master Hughes was intent on reaching Ban-Ken as soon as possible, overwhelmed by the thought.

"Right." Elliot nodded. "Well. Drew?"

Hughes blinked expectantly.

"I'd like to check a few things with you. Have a talk. I was thinking Alyn and Tim could take our caravan, and you and I can take yours?"

The blacksmith squinted. "What's this about?"

"Could be absolutely nothing!" The alchemist waved his hands. "I just need to check, alright?"

Master Hughes shrugged. "All right."