She wouldn’t tell Tryndar that part. But he’d find it neat to have a piece of Fieran’s aeroplane.
After taking a moment to reshape the metal with her magic, she hurried back the way she’d come.
Louise was meandering from her room as Pip reached the top of the stairs again, and she gave her a raised eyebrow look as Pip ran by.
Pip knocked on Tryndar’s open door. “I’m back.”
Tryndar was sitting on the edge of his bed, swinging his legs. “You may come in. You are not supposed to go into a room until someone says that.”
Pip strode inside with a hand behind her back. “I brought you something.”
“A gift?” Tryndar slid off his bed and crept closer.
Pip brought her hand from behind her back and presented the small metal aeroplane she had crafted from the piece of shrapnel. The biplane’s wings were thinnest metal while the struts had more weight to them. She’d even created a little metal pilot in the cockpit, complete with goggles and flight cap. “This was made from a piece of Fieran’s aeroplane.”
Tryndar’s eyes were wide as moons as he took the tiny aeroplane. For several moments, he examined the aeroplane from every angle. He spun the propeller and the wheels, making her glad she’d thought to create them so they moved.
Pip smiled, watching him. She’d never had a younger sibling to spoil before.
Something inside her ached, and she wasn’t sure if it was a good ache or a bad ache. She was falling for Fieran, yes, but after this weekend she was falling for his family too.
A knock sounded on the open door as Princess Elspeth halted just outside. “Breakfast is ready.”
Tryndar bounded across the room, holding up the toy aeroplane. “Look what Miss Pip gave me!”
Princess Elspeth smiled at Tryndar, her gaze taking in the aeroplane. “Did you thank Miss Pip?”
“Linshi.” Tryndar didn’t even glance over his shoulder, still too enamored with the aeroplane.
Pip took that as a compliment. “You’re welcome.”
Tryndar made buzzing, zooming noises as he held the aeroplane up and raced past Princess Elspeth and into the hallway.
Princess Elspeth smiled and shook her head. “I’m sorry about Tryndar kidnapping you this morning.”
“I don’t mind. I’m just glad he’s warming up to me.” Pip followed the princess from the room.
The two of them entered the hall just as Tryndar clambered onto the stair railing. Still holding the toy aeroplane, Tryndar slid down the banister. Beside Pip, Princess Elspeth just shook her head, as if she was rather inured to wild elf children by now.
Too bad Pip couldn’t create a fully metal aeroplane for Fieran. She could make something like that more impervious to bullets, not to mention capable of conducting his magic even better than the shielding wires.
Yet everyone knew aeroplanes needed to be as light as possible. It was difficult enough to get a heavier-than-air aeroplane to fly as it was without making it even heavier.
Someday, maybe mechanics and science would develop enough to make such a thing possible. Until then, Pip needed toconcentrate on the things she could develop. Like the incredibly stubborn synchronization gear.
If only she could just work her magic on that as easily as she had the scrap of metal. But magic didn’t seem to be the answer this time around.
Or was it…Pip froze in the corridor, her mind whirling. What if…if they…
She hurried past Princess Elspeth with a murmured “Pardon me,” before she raced down the stairs. Bursting into the kitchen, she skidded to a halt by the table, where Louise was already helping herself to pancakes from the stack on the plate. “We’ve been coming at the gear all wrong.”
Louise froze, her gaze swinging to Pip. “What do you mean?”
“We’ve been trying to make it purely mechanical. But what if it needs to be powered?”
“A magical solenoid! Of course!” Louise shoved away from the table. “If we routed the magic through…”
She kept speaking out loud as she headed for the door, as if she planned to grab her bag and leave for Aldon right that minute.
