“Official? Like what? From the king?” Kewyn sounded a little skeptical, which made me feel better for having not made her panic, but made me feel worse for not exactly telling the whole truth.
“I suppose,” I mumbled, though the kin had clearly stated that they were.
The blonde hummed in thought. “I wonder what fierce King Mainyaeu wants with some ancient trinkets. I did not know he was a collector.”
“Hmm. Maybe he is.”
I chuckled half-heartedly at the thought of the king – who I imagined to be a great, hairy man with curling horns and a beard – arranging little trinkets on a shelf.
It would have been more amusing but for the fact that the dragon-kin would not even let me see what he was gathering. I wondered how much a palm-sized treasure could give away about his king’s intentions.
“Aha,” she said. Kewyn held up the part she found, compared it to the sketch and, satisfied, stuck it in her shoulder bag.
“What’s next?” I asked, dusting myself off. I wobbled as I stood, the lower half of legs asleep. I tried to ignore the tingle in my hooves.
“Well, if those two found the other part, all that’s left is some piping, and bag of bolts and we can get out of here.”
I did not remember seeing any of those things on the sketch, but I trusted Kewyn to know what her father would need. After all, I had no idea what any of the parts we had gathered so far were supposed to do.
When we returned to the center of the yard, Rio’s arms were piled high with the first type of metal sheet we had been assigned to. Levent was also holding two.
“We only need four,” Kewyn said, unimpressed. She grabbed the two from Levent and two from the top of the half-blood’s pile and stalked off to look at pipes.
“She’s a bit serious, isn’t she?” Rio grumbled. I supposed that was a rhetorical question, but I felt a little bubble of indignation run up my throat.
“I don’t think she’s that bad,” I said before walking after her.
“Did you forget the part where she tried to kill him?” Rio said, pointing at Levent. I pretended not to hear. If I were her, I would have tried to take us out, too.
“Do you want me to help?” I asked as I approached, trying my best not to pester the poor girl too much.
Kewyn had plucked a few pipes from a pile already, stacking them