Chapter one: Mercury

[Kiedera]

Chapter One: Mercury

If not for her mother's unavoidable rebuke, Maewen would have sworn it had been getting colder. Instead, the 16 year old girl merely observed the dropping temperature, year after year. It had always been like that, so Maewen was used to it. That didn't mean she liked it though. Even though the present was as bleak as the bountiful snow clouds over head, the future of a healer raised in Suimilitara, or just Imil as the locals called it, has historically been a successful one out in the world.

Imil didn't need healers itself. The Mercury Lighthouse's Fountain of Hermes cured any illness and healed any wound short of bringing back the dead. But Mercury Adepts who were born, raised and trained in Imil, in proximity of the mighty old Lighthouse, were world renown for being some of the best healers.

Maewen's childhood dream of being a princess guarded by her shining knight died long ago, upon the realization that she wasn't and likely never would be a princess, but for an Suimilitaran healer, living in a castle in Gaallo or Fliit, or even Berun was far from impossible.

Still, getting there involved surviving here, in the cold, chilly, freezing and getting-colder-all-the-time north.

Maewen shivered involuntarily, just thinking about it, a motion that whipped her back to reality, just in time to duck out of the path of a hefty brass pipe swinging her way head-level. The Steam Technician carrying the pipe blinked in surprise and grunted an apology that might have been discernible if not for the thick fur lined collar that protected his neck and mouth from the cold. His dark, well tanned skin contrasted harshly with the white, snow-laden landscape. It hadn't been the first time that week Maewen had had a close encounter with a less than friendly pipe.

The Imil town council recently scrapped together enough money to hire a steam company from Gaallo to install steam piping in the town and for all the inhabitants who pitched in. Maewen's mother was not one such beneficiary. That meant, no steam heating to look forward to. No steam gadgets or other modern conveniences to make living in Weyward's icebox more bearable. All the more reason to get out...

Maewen bowed around several other Steam Technicians before finally reaching her destination: the town hall. She scowled unhappily at the lacquered finish on the hall's double doors before smoothing her face and actually wrestling the heavy insulated panels open and slipping inside.

Her mother had volunteered Maewen to help with the pipe testing in the town hall, the first building to have completed Steam pipe installation. The technicians needed a water adept to help control and monitor the steam for the initial tests. In other countries, a water adept might even supply the water for the steam, but with snow on the ground almost year around, water was not hard to come by in Imil; Consequently the pipe testing procedure was simple enough that even a trainee like Maewen would suffice for the job.

Inside the hall, the stone walls and floors had been carved up by earth adepts to make way for the pipes to run. The pipes ran in concentric circles around the circular council meeting area, connected at key locations to funnel the hot steam from the reservoir in the basement centered below the meeting area up and out to the rings under tiered townspeople seating area.

Dark-skinned Steam Technicians spotted the hall, making last minute checks on important pipe joints. As busy as they seemed, most spared some time to glance at Maewen as she stood awkwardly eyeing the broken floor wondering how best to get to the central area without breaking pipes or ankles.

At the center was the town mayor, as expected, arguing with a steam technician. It seemed as if someone had made a major mistake and there would 'unfortunately' be some set backs...