^^ Adamantite Sonic Dagger (mk.2) ^^

It took several days to repair all of my golem's, but I was thankful for it, in a way; I realized that the ones with multiple materials, such as wood and clay, were far weaker than the others, even the ones that were just wood. Some sort of issue with the resonance of several types of materials not transmitting neural commands well? Clark said it made sense to him, so I trusted the science behind it and just made them all one material. While I'd been working, however, Medea hadn't been slacking at all.

—

"Johann! Helen! Theo? Come check this out!!!" She ran into the Living room in just an oversized shirt and frazzled hair that needed a brushing, and grinned excitedly at us all. We all raised an eyebrow at her appearance, but we all shrugged and followed, curious as to why she was so excited.

Her room was just as much of a mess as last time I saw it, but now it was... organized? Organized chaos, I'd say, was the theme for her room, with piles of specific things in specific places, but there were still piles of random things lying around.

"If-no the clutta- ptuh-! Ignore the clutter! This is what I'm trying to show you!" She was apparently in the middle of her morning routine, rinsing her mouth out with some herbal tea that she and Cassidy had made once we'd run out of mouth-wash, (apparently it had the same effects,) and she picked up a metal dagger with a few crystals hanging off it along the handle.

I raised an eyebrow slowly, and hummed. "And this is... a...?"

"It's a Tuning Fork you dingus, what else would it be?!?" She snapped, and tapped it against the desk, causing a god-awful ringing sound to fill the room.

Johann grunted, clutching his ears, and then shivered as the sound ended. "You're lucky I got my Tinnitus fixed a few years back, Klienen..."

She grinned. "See!!! It works! Oh! Here!!!" She picked up a mason jar from her desk, and showed us the small puddle of liquid inside it proudly.

I frowned slowly, and then flinched when it formed into a stag beetle, a tiny fragment of a magic stone having been present and I hadn't noticed it. "Wait... did that sound turn it back into a slime? This is your Sonic Disruptor you've been working on!!!" I grinned, suddenly understanding the breakthrough she'd made.

She laughed and nodded happily. "Yep!!! A few tweaks to the audible portion, -maybe making it non-Audible would be best,- and then Johann can make the next one... a bit sleeker? The crystals inside the handle, obviously, and a piece of metal here to direct the sound down the blade, away from the user..." she began muttering again, setting the jar and dagger down and drawing a few sketches. She noticed us still standing there, and shooed us out casually. "That's all I wanted to show you, off you go!"

"Wait... you harnessed the powers of Adamantite in just a few days?!? The best mages in the world are still struggling with using that property to drive away monsters, and you just... how?!?" Luna smoothed her hair back slowly, looking confused.

"I'm smart, and it's basic physics and auditory resonance theory? Off you go, I'm busy!" She waved at us all irritatedly, and I began moving us all out of the room by virtue of my wide arms herding them all.

"Well done, lovely, I'm proud of you!" I called over my shoulder, and she raised a hand in acknowledgement, going back to work as I closed her door. "Interesting... and how's James doing with that rangefinder? I wonder if Medea shared with him?" I hummed, leading the way to James's worksite, at the caboose.

When I spotted James, he was up top, power-welding a thin rod of Adamantite to the roof of the water tank, to my confusion.

"How in the hell did you get a Power Welder working?!?" I barked up to him over the screeching sound. He didn't hear at all, and I noticed the Noise-Canceling headphones on his ears. "Damn... that noise doesn't travel far though... wonder why?"

"It's effect is only within a few dozen lengths, usually..." Luna sighed, covering her ears.

I nodded and pegged a small pebble at his shoulder, making him sit up swiftly. In his hands was the pistol I'd gotten from the bandits, but a steady supply of white fire was spewing from the end of it, and a large magic crystal was hanging where the Flash Pan should have. He slowly uncocked the gun, and just like turning down the dial on a welding torch, the fire slowly abated to blue and red and then gone.

He removed his headphones as the sound of the ringing ended, and grinned at us. "Hey guys!!! How's it hanging?"

"You mean how's it Ringing?" I wiggled a pinky in my left ear, and the ringing slowly stopped there as well.

"Ha! Sorry, almost finished! This Adamantite Stuff is really good for resonance!!! The vibrations of the ground cause ripples in the water, which normally wouldn't even be visible, but this stuff amplifies sound, so when the ripples hit it, they become visible! I'm working on a thing to map it automatically, but it's going pretty slow... how's your projects?" He asked, sitting on the edge of the reservoir.

"Pretty good... Medea managed her oscillation experiment... now, how in the fuck did you turn a gun into a Welding Torch?" I asked.

He glanced at it, then at Luna and Kindle. "Uhm..."

"They're fine, no offense to them but I doubt they'd catch what you're talking about." I shrugged at their disapproving glares, knowing I'd spoken the truth.

"Alright... I used some of that rust you gave me to mix some thermite, and then I placed it into the barrel, and the magic crystal here ignites it without a Magnesium Fuse, and keeps the reaction stable. Once ounce of thermite burns for about six hours, which is amazing! I've been working for three hours, and it's not even bothered the crystal more than a few pieces the size of sand losing their light and dissolving to stabilize the reaction and keep it constant! But when you cover the crystal, the fire dies instantly!" He grinned, and then cocked the gun slowly, watching as a flame jet exited the barrel and then slowly turned white.

"Huh... Alright, then! Does it work on the Long-Barrel?" I asked, curious.

"Nah, the barrel is too far from the heat, it works to maybe heat some metal real slow, but no welding." He shook his head sadly, and uncocked the gun, killing the flame.

"Still useful for molding, I suppose, but yeah, that sucks. Alright, well, I'll let you get back to it! Oh, and for the Mapping, why not try a Doppler Bell and some sand, inside the caboose, attached to the bottom of the Adamantite, maybe? Use as much as you need, this project is very important!" I grinned as he paused, and clambered down swiftly, scampering about and getting to work on building a sand table for the Bell, which would create patterns in the sand to match the sound waves that came off of it.

"And wear your damned armor!" I tossed over my shoulder at him as we returned down the slope, and he laughed, otherwise ignoring me.

"Can I ask... did Yeera teach you these things? Or are they from your old Realm? The studies of Sound, which are only just reaching a point that even your youngest member surpasses, and the command of Alchemy you all seem to possess..." Luna shook her head slowly, and Kindle, who seemed struck dumb by all that she'd seen, nodded in agreement.

"These are basic scientific concepts, actually, even children younger than Medea are taught about Sound and Chemistry? She's like 18, I think, so she's only very barely not a child. And she's also a Physicist who got into College several years younger than most even dream of attending, by virtue of her intellect alone. She's an odd duck, but smarter than anyone here except maybe Helen." I shrugged.

Helen shook her head immediately. "Isn't even a contest, Theo; I'm creative and experienced, but she's just Wicked Smart."

"There you have it." I grinned, and opened the tent flap that led back into the Covered Train, dodging the sprinting Cassidy. "What's the rush, little one?" I frowned at her.

"SOMEONE'S COMING!!! LOTS OF SOMEONES!!!" She shouted, whistling sharply at Clark and Sam, who were planting a patch of Winter Squash in some dirt from the Cart that Kindle had finally got around to bringing.

Rhea hummed, appearing next to us and making everyone except Kindle jump. "It seems our Guests are arriving... best get your Stew started, my dear." She patted my back with the hand that wasn't holding the infant on her hip, pushing me towards the cauldron of water I'd been slowly heating up over one of the Heated Roots of the sculpture for our dinner. (Helen approved of the multi-use of it, so it was allowed.)

I grinned and pulled some of the wyvern meat out of storage, then the remainder of our potatoes and carrots, and a healthy portion of rice, too. The potatoes went in first, as they would take the longest, and I began chopping carrots with Sam.

"You should go greet them, Clark, tell them about the welcome dinner and do your Healer stuff with them and their horses." I glanced at him, and he nodded, jogging off to the little horse-barn we'd built for our horses, -who were looking very healthy, now that he'd spent a month with them,- quickly exiting on the back of one of them.

He waved to James before trotting down the mountain road, which prompted Sam to give him a meaningful smirk. James flinched and disappeared back inside almost instantly.

"Huh... good for them." I nodded, and stirred the potatoes, adding more water and the carrots. Still, I kept an eye on him as he approached them, and noticed Kindle was with him, -most likely without his knowledge,- which helped me to relax.

"Needs some herbs... gimme a mo'." Sam went into the greenhouse for a few minutes, and returned with a handful of leaves and a teaspoon of saffron. "Why not, right?" They grinned happily, and ground up all the herbs into a paste, then tossed it in, where it dissolved swiftly.

"Any Salt?" I asked hopefully, after tasting the quickly developing mixture. It was delicious, and the saffron would turn the rice into yellow rice, which I loved more than anything, but it needed some salt, or it would be hopelessly unbalanced.

"No, we're entirely out, unfortunately; I did find some Rock Salt when I was out looking for herbs, it's just too tough to grind with my ceramic mortar-" they halted as I crushed the salt rock in my Fist, and poured it into the mortar. "Okay, then I'll pick out the rocks, I guess?"

"Sorry, I just really want that salt in here." I chuckled, and began cutting up an onion that Cassidy brought me.

"Mm." They began picking out the rocks, casually tossing them at me, and then tossed the crushed salt crystals into the pot, stirring the pot while I tossed in the onion, and put the parts you couldn't eat into the flavor-bag, along with the carrot peels and gristle I'd cut out of the meat. (Flavor-Bag: a cheesecloth bag full of ingredients that was set into a soup and used to flavor everything without waste, but not placing it's contents in the soup, which would mean someone would have to spit it out. Or choke.)

Clark came back up the slope after a few minutes, and stopped next to us. "Seems this isn't the actual Clan, it's just their advance party, who is in charge of building their Camp, for the rest of the Clan. Apparently there's some 400 of them, but only about 150 will actually live behind the walls they're building, mostly the families with small children and the elders, and the craftsmen specifically, while the rest will spread out around the walls, tending the fields and gardens, hunting 'n stuff."

"You told them not to cut down any trees, right?" Sam frowned.

"Yeah, they gave me some weird looks, and then said that they would use any downed lumber first, like they always do. They've already selected that meadow for the village, and the two adjacent to it for crops." He chuckled.

"We have some extra wood, if they need it... I'll have a Golem carry it down, and whatever they don't need we'll use for the Forge that Johann has been wanting to work on." I nodded, and one of the massive Clay Golems gathered up the large pile of lumber that was left over from building the gate, leaving enough for Johann's project and lumbering (ha) off towards the group of people.

Clark groaned when people started screaming at the hulking titan walking towards them, but the golem simply set the wood down next to them, then started back up the slope without really acknowledging them at all. "You know you're just going to freak them out, right?"

"Eh." I shrugged, and looked at the small winter squash that Cassidy handed me. "What is this? A salad? It's meat and potato stew, Cassidy, and you don't eat meat! You can cook you and Rhea an all-veggie stew, if you like, but no squash in the Carnivore Stew!" I frowned playfully at her, shaking the squash, and she laughed, setting another pot of water nearby and beginning to spice it.

"Well, maybe you'll enjoy my Vegetarian Stew and realize what you're missing, who knows? After all, I have the Beans!" She laughed and poured a few cups of white beans into the pot, along with the chopped-up squash, an eggplant likewise sliced, and some carrots and onions, then beginning to slowly stir the pot.

"Mm, that does look very nutritious... some salt, rice, bell peppers, and tomatoes, and you'd have yourself a vegan Jambalaya!" Rhea sat next to us, smirking at our jumps.

"Is Kindle teaching you how to do that? Because I will gladly punch her, for all of our sanities." Cassidy frowned at Rhea, and then flinched when Kindle sat next to her and tasted the soup with a finger. She slapped Kindle's knuckles sharply with the metal serving spoon in her hand instantly, showcasing a set of very quick reflexes. "HEY! No dirty fingers in the food!!! No!!! Bad Savage!!!"

We all shared a laugh at the surprised look on Kindle's face, and I nodded. "I agree, you never put your hands into the pot, ever. Always use a spoon, like so." I dipped a testing spoon into the soup and handed it to Rhea politely.

"Thank you... and I agree, we need a steady supply of proper Salt, not just that big Salt Lick on the back half of the mountain..." she hummed, and set the spoon into the cup of water we used to rinse them.

Kindle hummed, using a spoon to slowly test some of the soup, keeping a cautious eye on Cassidy the whole time. "It's good the way it is, isn't it? Salt's a very expensive spice, only Chieftains of rich clans can afford to use it in every meal..."

"Is there an ocean nearby?" I asked, stirring in my rice and grinning as it sat on top of the meat, filling the air with a glorious smell.

She groaned, instead of answering, and waved at Luna. "Luna!!! Come smell this!!!"

Luna paused in her conversation with Medea, and slowly looked at us, raising an eyebrow. "That... is a very odd request?"

"It's good food, she wants you to smell it." I clarified helpfully. "And I want to know if there's a large body of saltwater nearby."

"Ah... alright." Medea followed along with Luna over to our group, smelling the pot and pulling up a few stools that had been carved from logs. "Oh! That is quite a good smell!!! May I taste it?"

I handed her a spoon, and resumed stirring. "The rice will be done in a few minutes, and then it'll be ready, unless Cassidy adds more vegetables to her vegetarian Jambalaya? You want some saffron rice, Cas? I've got a little extra?"

"Please." Cassidy nodded, and leaned back as I poured the remainder of my rice into her pot, then Sam threw in a sprig of saffron.

Kindle gasped, looking at the little sprig as it dissolved. "Tell me... You... didn't... just use... a Chadian Sprig... in a Poor Man's Soup?"

"Is that a poison? No, that was Saffron. It's a bit expensive, and we only have so much left, but it tastes wonderful, you'll see." I explained, shaking my head.

"Chadian is a Spice that is valued as much as sixty times its volume in Gold; more in winter, when it is not in bloom. It is red, and it comes from a flower, and it tastes like-" Luna paused as Sam held out a spoonful of yellow rice for her to eat. She slowly took the spoon and tasted the rice, then her eyes widened. "Oh dear..."

"It's good, right? You're not allergic to it, are you?" I asked, confused and slightly worried, now.

"I'll increase the vigilance of the guards around the mountain." Kindle stood up, walking away swiftly and disappearing into the shadows.

I raised an eyebrow, and then groaned loudly. "Dammit, Luna, tell me this isn't another thing that'll make people think we're super-rich?"

She shook her head slowly, still nursing the spoonful of rice. "I've only eaten it once, and that was when I ate a feast with a Chieftain who wanted to marry me... he had a single-serving meat pie crafted with it, and it cost him 25 gold pieces."

Sam muttered cuss words for a moment and stomped over to the greenhouse, returning with a small metal box, handing it to Luna brusquely. "Have some, then, and please stop being weird and just eat that spoon of rice? It's probably a different strain of Saffron anyway."

Luna slowly opened the box, after sadly eating the rest of the rice, and then promptly fainted into my arms.

I caught the box of saffron, (only six sprigs,) and closed it, sticking it in her pocket. "Well, you succeeded in shutting her up about how expensive it was, I suppose... good job? Maybe?"