For months now, as Fela's abilities developed, Silva had considered outside guidance. She stood close to the girl, gazing at the fire that flared above Fela's head, then down at the smoke still curling off her fingers.

She needed someone that wasn't just a mother- someone able to show her how to understand and embrace these parts of her.

It was a world that Hannah and Silva just couldn't touch.

As the two women stood face-to-face, Fela's smoke hovered in a haze, like a physical manifestation of the tension between them. Silva took a step closer, and Hannah watched as Fela put her hands up between them. The gesture was harmless at a surface-level, but everyone recognized the implications of that action- and the threat.

Hannah was suddenly barraged by intrusive thoughts. She could picture Fela's control slipping- clothes smoking, skin burning away. But before she could call to her sister, a different pair of hands closed around Fela's wrists, lightning-quick, and twisted the girl's arms around.

Silva pressed Fela's palms tightly together, and Fela watched in shock as the smoke curling out from between her hands quickly dissipated, her own flesh snuffing it out.

Silva smiled ruefully. "No more air, no more fire."

"Ma, I wasn't thinking. I-I'm sorry." Fela slumped, the fight gone out of her.

Silva's smile was worn thin, but still, it wasn't unkind.

"We'll have this conversation later, Fela." She bent to pick up the package that had been momentarily forgotten.

"This package... It came from outside the city, but its initial recipient was also the sender of that letter. I need to go visit the one who arranged its delivery here. Especially after you toasted the letter it came with. Mail from Spirit Town isn't usually about the weather."

Fela looked down, but Silva had already turned away, gesturing to Basil and Hannah to get up and go. She did glance back at the sullen girl, however, as they all moved to follow except her.

"I think you'd be interested in this too, Fela. Some more exposure to Spirit Town might change your attitude a little," Silva said, heading down a wide alley between the Lodestone and the shop next door. "We're taking a trip. And I'm driving."

They hurried through the alley and past the wrought-iron gate, reaching a wide clearing behind the Lodestone. The ground below was a neat, packed-down dirt surface, flattened by years of striders.

Ringed by the Lodestone and its neighboring structures, the back of the yard was a direct contrast- a frontier of mountain wilderness. The flora fought against the border; weeds pushing their way out onto the dirt, thick and gnarled trees grasping out toward the open air.

The entire family, Basil included, worked to keep the forest contained. They needed the open space for mechanical work, but it was the land itself that held the most value. Nestled amidst the treeline itself was a nondescript well-  truly the most important possession Silva could claim as her own.

Without being asked to, Hannah walked over to the spring, and began to work the pulley system that would lift the bucket out into the open.

When the rope was coiled, Hannah pulled off the bucket, its contents far more volatile than cold mountain water. While she had been working, the rest of the group had been climbing into a massive four-legged strider: Silva's personal craft.

Upon returning, Hannah carried along the bucket, which she clutched in both hands. She had to fumble and shift her weight in order to open a latch on the side of the strider's frame, before slowly tipping the bucket over into the lip of the hatch. She watched as a thick, viscous fluid oozed out in a slow drip.

It was colored a deep emerald-green, with a viscosity closer to honey or tar than water. As the midday light reflected off the surface, Hannah was struck by the geoscopic patterns that danced and wavered. Maybe at some point in her life, Hannah had believed the it to be a liquid gemstone, like a fluid work of art commissioned by nature itself.

But that would have been a long time ago. Now, she simply saw it as a source of fuel, a mundane feature of the world in which she lived and breathed. She closed the hatch with a hollow bang, replaced the bucket, and followed the rest of her family into the cockpit.

When everyone was settled, Silva checked a gauge on the dashboard. Unlike the other vehicles they'd come across today, this one was much roomier, enough seating for the four of them- and more. A pane of curved glass wrapped halfway around the cockpit, leaving the back half open.

They waited in silence until Silva appeared satisfied with the strider's condition. She started the engine, the vehicle rumbling to life below them. Hannah could feel the vibrations below her feet spread throughout her body as they slowly rotated to face the entrance to the alley.