A Blacksmith's Word Part 1
Under the blue remnants of light left behind, Rubin lands between a cluster of stone buildings collected at the very edge of the Northville Dome.
Trickling away, the final fragments of brightness disappear. In this darkness, windows rounded out from sepia cobblestone walls glow with the light of flame. Spherical houses, like igloos made of smooth stones, compactly lie side by side. One above another, along a small circumference of the dome, the houses create a tapestry befitting blacksmiths.
Smoke stuffs itself into their noses.
"Can't we get away from fire for just one day? I am getting so tired of it," Rosalind rolls her eyes. Stupefied, Jinn stares at her; he has not witnessed Rosalind's snarkiness until this moment.
Filing off of Rubin, the group drops their invisibility. Daniel leads their procession.
When a man smoking a cigarette cuts off their path towards one of the houses, Jinn startles in Feng Mian's arms. Rosalind silently slinks to the back of the group.
"Where did you even find a cigarette in this era, Eris?" Daniel asks the unruly looking man with messy hair, darkened skin, and black eyes.
"I didn't invite you over," Eris blows a puff of smoke towards Daniel's face but Noe puts a barrier of oxygen between the smoke and Daniel. The smoke hits the invisible barrier and disperses like crashing waves against rock formations.
Daniel questions with a hint of a smile on his face, "Where's that Korean hospitality your dad taught you?"
"Tsk. He's your step-father, not my dad."
Daniel sighs.
Pointing to Noe, Eris states, "He's that Noe guy you asked me to look after when I was still in school. Why's he with you? Are you two an..." Eris draws from his cigarette long and hard; friction.
"Are we a what?" Noe asks Eris. Daniel reflexively snakes a hand around Noe's waist and warns Eris with his eyes.
"Whatever, I don't care," Eris tells Daniel.
Daniel informs him, "We have an unwell person with us and need somewhere to stay for some time. You know there's nowhere in Northville where we can go."
Eris averts his eyes. "No."
"You know I wouldn't be asking you if I had another choice."
Eris' eye twitches, "You always come to me asking for favors. Why would you come to Northville without sorting out a place to crash first? This screams exploitation."
Jinn waves at him from Feng Mian's arms, "Eris!"
"Is that the sick guy?" Eris quizzes.
"Yes," Daniel affirms.
"He looks pretty alive to me. Find somewhere else. Go back to the hospital, where sick people stay. I'm not lending you my house. Leave. I'm getting tired of repeating myself," Eris turns around and heavily strolls back down the narrow cobblestone pathway, opens the door to his cozy looking him, and shuts it as hard as he can behind him.
A pang of dejection taps Noe and Daniel's hearts. Sighing, Daniel looks forlorn but Noe catches him in time. Noe places himself in front of Daniel and connects their gazes.
"That didn't feel that good, I know," Noe touches a hand to his heart to comfort Daniel's rising feeling of rejection, "I can feel exactly how you are. It's okay to linger in the bad feeling, acknowledge it, and then let it fly away."
"I don't want any of you to be outside all night," Daniel pushes his glasses up and taps his fingers against his arms.
"I know, I know," Noe grasps his shoulders and they both sit in the discomfort of the moment. As they are about to move on and plot their 'Plan B', a voice calls to them.
"I hear you're looking for a place to sleep," spindly and withered like willow, an old woman with a smile that stretches from ear to ear wobbles open her door.
To their left, Jinn melts at the heat that radiates from the old woman's doorframe but Rosalind is indifferent to it.
"I'm Sofie," the old woman says. Her dilapidated lock clinks against the doorframe as she uses it to stabilize herself. "If you're not too bothered, I have a spare bedroom and living room to offer?" her syllables come out around the dentures lining her gums.
Daniel lights up, "Would you be willing to take us in?"
~
"How can they be so trusting?" Rosalind condescends as she watches Noe and Daniel wash the dinner plates they used. They had delicious, juicy chicken in broth.
A huge fireplace provides enough light to set every surface in the room alight and breeds a pleasant timbre to digest their food in.
"Just be grateful that they let us relax here with Jinn," Feng Mian cradles the sleeping boy.
"He's not a baby. You don't have to treat him like that."
"If he didn't like it, he'd tell me."
Rolling the huge mattress across the living room floor, Rosalind settles Feng Mian and Jinn upon it as she profusely thanks the old woman for her kindness. Daniel can hardly believe his ears.
Daniel and Noe disappear into the small spare room - they chose it simply because the three soulmates would not all be able to fit on the bed. The old woman follows them in to show them where the blankets are. After the fire extinguishes, the night can be numbingly cold.
Noe almost tells her not to bother and that he will keep Daniel warm himself but hesitates. He does not want to pressure Daniel into cuddling with him the whole night. In the end, he conceded and looks around the room.
It is very small with one wall and the next only Noe's outstretched arms apart. A bed covers three quarters of the dorm with a wardrobe and shelf occupying the rest. They have to wiggle in order to get around. Noe wonders why the old woman felt she needed to give them a room tour.
Suddenly, Noe's breath hitches in his throat. Curiously glancing at him in concern, the picture frame on the shelf catches Daniel's attention as well.
The old woman goes silent and pinches her lips together.
"This is my grandson's room," the boy of six in the picture frame staring back at Noe and Daniel is in the middle of throwing a temper tantrum at being photographed.
She whispers to them, "He is such a sweet boy," her smile deepens in bittersweetness. "He always finishes the food on his plate, tends to the fire when my knees are too weak, and plays and plays and plays with the machines at the forgery. All he asked was for me to buy him a comfortable bed to sleep in.
"This is a mining district. We use fire to brand and shape the materials needed to build all the big buildings you see in Northville. I've been here since the dome was built and only the lucky people made it while the rest... As a young girl, I used to wipe the sweat from my eyes in victory. Now, I can hardly see with my eyes as clear as crystals.
"I cannot see why, when we could no longer mine any higher into the ground, we sent children into the mines. They could reach the minerals buried in tiny holes that we could not salvage from ourselves. We had all the machinery we needed in order to design robotics that could do it but the government did not wish to fund us and instructed we send children instead. The infrastructure in those holes is risky and collapses when pressurized. Only I objected.
"Now I have bought the bed but my grandson is not here to lie in it.
"Today, children can no longer survive in the world. Staying alive is a practice in survival where those with power kill those without. Our children are dying while we grow old," she looks down at her frowning arms, "and needlessly waste away."
Daniel places a hand on her shoulder. The old woman gently pulls away from him and walks out of the room in a daze. "Please, stay warm, children," she asks of Noe and Daniel before closing the door.
A hammer strikes down on Daniel's heart. The feeling of being overwhelmed taking Daniel hostage is not his own. Looking at Noe, the Ephrene's eyes are gilded in sympathy and sorrow.
Walking over, Daniel opens his arms to Noe and they combine their limbs like vines do, instantly tightening them up. Laying their heads in the crooks of each other's warm necks, their breaths chase away any discomfort. Their eyes close of their own accord as the world disappears around them and they focus on the rise and fall of their chests. When Daniel inhales, Noe exhales. Like the tide, their chests move against each other with love as their moon.