[One. There is one rune of origin This one rune is the basis for all runes some essences of the origin rune must be present for the rune to hold energy. Translated Gjio from elvish, this rune is essential…]

Rhe closed the book. Those fussy mages. They were right. Gjio was the root of all runes - and they were wrong. The next pages of the book went into categories and techniques, but the best runes told you how they wanted to be drawn - and carved - and  chiseled and painted.

Right now Rhe was adjusting the semispheres of her latest bomb. One could say she was sculpting a rune, but with negative space. Align the nodes. Snap the flat sides together. Done. Now the sphere was whole and had a defile equator fully circling inside for the water to run through. If she had cut the channels correctly, then whatever was placed in the center of the sphere would spiral out and follow the channels that led to two openings into the defile and then race around the sphere following the equator until they ran into each other and collided.

Depending on the contents, the resulting two collisions would vary. Rhe tossed hers outside into the yard. On landing, the sphere jerked and rolled. In a moment let-water ringed the orb and when it collided with itself, blasted two opposite beams of water and sent the sphere in a spiral.

One beam painted a wet line across Rhe’s waist.The water quickly ran out and the orb settled the packed dirt.

A splattery streak of water darkened the yard. Quickly the let-water coalesced from Rhe and the ground. It rolled back into the orb in reverse. Well that was unexpected! The let-water enjoyed the bomb.

Rhe picked up the bomb. Finally! This could be a tool for restoration, not chaos. She separated the halves to disassemble it and placed them on a table at the side of the research building. From the belt around her waist, she unlatched a lightweight notebook. 

“Explosive water for crops? Water play?” She flipped to a different section of the notebook and wrote.

[Substance the 3rd | Let-water; two opposite directional projections. Minimal collateral splash.]

She giggled. This was going to be a good day. There were many notes to take, and the day moved on without her. She barely noticed the light fade. She absentmindedly turned on her Fearie attractor and three fearies quickly entered. she continued to work until she realized she was hungry. 

She packed her orb and walked up the hard packed dirt of the tinkering lot. As she passed other open-sided workshops she did not even register what other projects her peers were designing. She was set on the possibilities of the let-water bomb.

The dirt path abruptly ended in a tile road where the campus proper resided. Tall off-white and river blue paint adorned the building before her. The first floor was occupied by the feast hall - close to the workshops of frequently hungry students. She passed through the open doors and approached the food stations. She took her time; the flavor and the texture had to be just right.

Twelve minutes later in the feast hall, she ate a carrot and ché-zé glaze over rice. There were many people eating here today. The Academy of Natural Mechanics was a popular school.

“Your choice of ché-zé and carrot? Nod to … uh the Drean?” The voice was accompanied by a man in a light brown vest. His hair was slightly astray.

“No probably not. Thes flavors sort of just work.”

The man nodded and sat down next to her.

She blushed. “Neph! They…do.” Her voice tapered off at ‘do’.

Neph started eating. “Tell me about today’s test.”

Rhe ate another bite. “It was cold this time.”

“Hmm, so another failure again? You seem to love failing.”

Her friend ate at an alarming rate. He was half way through his already.

“No! Let-water! It blasted out. It could be used for so many purposes. Maybe a hydraulic lock? Or stored energy?”

“So not a bomb this time.” Neph was already licking his plate.

Rhe laughed. “It’s still a bomb. See, explosions solve everything.”

She lifted her head and filled her mouth with a spoonful of food as if in triumph.

“Psh, seems like they destroy everything.”

Neph’s last jibe led Rhe into her thoughts again. She needed time to process what he’d said. he also needed time to chew the huge amount of food she’d just scooped up. Neph allowed her the time while he sat beside his licked-clean plate.

After not-quite finishing her food, Rhe responded. “That depends on what they’re made of.”

She blushed and asked without looking, “What are you made of, Neph?”

They both burst out laughing and almost cried. She nearly chocked on the last bits of food in her mouth.

_______

Later the same evening:

Rhe fled the lights that shone on the streets of Droon. Hydraulic legs clanged and whined on the stone. Men attached to the mechanics shot citizens dead. Rhe only had her notebook and her backpack. She’d been working late into the night. Her workshop had been dark because she couldn’t tolerate the faerie light after being in the feast hall - which had barely a speck of shadow from all the faerie lamps. That may have been the only reason they passed up her open door. Instead, a light rod shielded on one side was her only light. Even the rune’s dim light that she used to attract the fearies had waned. Many people did not realize that humans could see at night if there were enough sources of light still. So even the far away lanterns of the university were enough. That and her two lunar friends. A bomb had needed adjusting. She called them bombs but they really were failed mechanics that exploded -  so - she simply filed a new design in the school’s weekly catalogue whenever she discovered a new one by accident.

School. Half the city was used for academics. Now two or more murderers were cutting holes in anyone out late with  plasma rods. Several dark shadows with the bearing of men ran at a trot passed her workshop. There were lights on under other roofs. The shops mostly had one open side with no doors or wall. She barely minded the people until she saw flashes and sudden silence. She ran over to the location of the commotion. A gang of young men were running toward the tiled part of campus. In their hands- plasma rods. 

Rhe saw a person laying motionless beside a workable. Diagrams of autosteam stilts were nailed to a project board. Oh … she knew this person. He had been in her class on runic history. He was quite ugly. His pudgy face was like a dough and looked like it had simply absorbed his eyes and nose for they were so sunken. His lips were nice enough. A jolt of shame filled her memory and her body. She could smell the burn of his fatal wound. 

Rhe did not remember moving. She found herself running through the city - she only reassociated with her body when an unfamiliar turn or courtyard caused her to pause. Then the memory of murder would strike her. That helped her move and move. Run and run. 

She’d just passed through a park eerily quiet with the lightrod from her workshop still in hand. She had no memory of grabbing it. The rod was still dun. Just as she exited past the brick archway, a metal leg landed on the street in front of her. Steam hissed out of the leg as part of it lowered. A street search light was turned over the area and she saw the man’s silhouette. Rhe could make out the shadow of the man controlling the light. 

People ran and froze right in front of the man on stilts. A red-white flash shot through a woman and her child - held in her arms - and they both fell.

One of the legs slammed down on the mother’s chest, crushing her spine, ribs, and organs. Rhe shuddered. 

Shouts rang out from the rooftops. Rhe crawled along near the black iron gate of the park. She was exposed - she could die any moment! The cover of night had been the only reason she was still alive. How could she survive this?

Her pack! She shuffled in her pack - fingers barely under her control. There were so many small parts and junk she had to shift through to get to what she needed. She found the sphere still separated. The let-water swirled sleepily inside both ends. Perfect. The shock of being woken up would anger the let-water. 

She confined the halves together and tossed the sphere. The sphere passed into the bright ring of the searchlight and landed in front of the killer. 

Rhe didn’t wait to see. She sprinted away with her pack held close to her chest. Now she did not know where she was going at all. She simply ran and ran, until she realized she dould not find her way out of the city. In her panic she sought a place of safety instead. 

____