A window for the shed was going to be a pain. If I didn't want to buy one, or buy glass and make one, I'd need silex and natron for my existing recipe. Natron is effervescent water and rock salt; effervescent water comes from the Shroud, and rock salt and silex come from Southern Thanalan. Which in this world translated to another trip north of Tulsa plus finally getting out to the panhandle.

So it was a pleasant surprise to get to the Pit and find a framed window leaning against the shed. I went into the bar to ask Sam about it.

"Well, you talked about a window AC but I didn't see a window, so when Duke said he was doin' a home demolition over in Drumright I asked him to save you one. Paid off his tab."

"Aw hell, man, you didn't have to do that."

"My shed, 'member?"

I wondered if the shed was going to become the Wyatt stone soup project. At least it meant I could once more put off going to the panhandle.

Tsu'na seemed better the night before at the diner. I think it was a matter of facing her challenges head-on. Of course, the difference between Eorzea monsters and Earth people is that the monsters always behave the same way...just have to keep pounding on them until you learn the pattern. But the people in Wyatt have already changed their response to her, so she'll need to aim for a moving target.

Yesterday she was content to stay home and work on recipes, so I took a break from the shed and got on the eastbound bus. Hit some pawn shops and thrift stores to see what was there that we might try crafting. Stopped at a salvage yard to look around, get an idea of what might work with desynthesis. Visited a sporting goods store, because Amazon just doesn't deliver look and feel.

Found myself in an army surplus store on the edge of Tulsa. I'd only been in one once, years ago, out of curiosity; now I was looking more out of practicality. I needn't have bothered...the stuff I saw there was more armyesque than useful, for people who want military trappings more than they want to go live in a bunker. Though they did have an ammo box for cheap that had probably never contained a shell, but it was metal and sturdy-feeling and would probably make a good pattern.

It perplexed Tsu'na some when I showed it to her, though. "What is an 'ammo box'?"

"A box that holds ammunition for firearms. Keeps it dry, keeps things from hitting them so's they don't go off, contains a little of the blast if they do."

"Ammunition for firearms...so it would hold an aetherotransformer?"

"No, it...Okay. Earth-made projectile weapons use bullets, which are combinations of stuff like firesand and pieces of metal. The firesand burns, that makes pressure behind the metal, and that makes the metal shoot forward at whatever you're aiming the gun at."

"Like an imperial missile cannon."

"Yeah, but smaller. Hand-held."

"Oh...then those things people wear on their belts are guns?"

"Right, and they only carry so many bullets. When they run out, people have to put more in."

"And when they have no more to put in?"

"Then they can't use the gun."

Tsu'na considered this. "This does not sound practical. I would not want my gun to stop working because I did not bring enough of these bullets. Why not simply use a bow?"

"Um...Earth-made bows work the same way. When people run out of arrows, they can't shoot."

"I do not understand. Run out of arrows?"

I hesitated. We were treading on paradigm here. "Remember, this is Earth-made bows and has nothing to do with our Eorzean ones..."

"Yes...?"

"Earth-made quivers have a limited amount of arrows. People can run out of arrows here."

"But we do not."

"We never have."

She scowled at me a moment before switching to Bard. She peered over her shoulder at the arrows in the quiver. "I have never run out of arrows. There is always another arrow."

"Right. It's..." I scrambled for an anchor. "It's like our journals, and how they always have more pages."

"I think the journals are more complicated..." She drew an arrow and held it in her hand, studying it. Then she drew another, and another, and another. She fanned the four arrows in front of her. "Are we perhaps crystallizing aether?"

"That...makes sense. And it sort of parallels our guns." I was relieved. It was something to believe. I hadn't just killed an entire class for us. "So drawing an arrow and shooting it is actually an act of forming aether into a projectile and flinging it."

As she put the arrows away and shifted back to Earth normal I walked over and slipped my arms around her. "Have I told you you're fucking brilliant, my love?"

She nestled against me. "You may have mentioned it. I do not mind hearing it again." She was quiet for a moment, then asked, "Earth people run out of ammunition?"

"That's what I've observed."

"But we do not."

"That's what I've observed."

"So if we and Earth people are shooting at each other, we will eventually be doing all the shooting?"

I smiled. "That's what I believe."

"That is useful."

"Yes, my love."

She did good at the diner last night. I thought she'd try to keep her head down as she cleaned, but she didn't. When she got close to people while sweeping or mopping, she'd look up at them and smile. It took some time, but eventually they started smiling back. I think it's going to be okay.

And if they ever start shooting, I guess we'll have enough arrows.