The gardens of Abaster are known for the wide variety of flora they foster. The recreation of environments within their numerous ecological domes being their pinnacle of achievement. The ecological sector of the city was on par with the industrial sector, producing enough food for both the city and its trading partners. This magitechnical marvel was its crowning jewel.
Gilder walked the pathways between those glittering jewels, her steps clicking along the cobbled paths from one dome to the next. Though her focus was on the work she had to do today, her soft smile, wrinkled at the corners, was focused on the gaggle of children clustered around her legs. They chattered and asked her questions as they walked, as they had for nearly two hours. She quietly envied the curiousity of all these young minds with so much left to still discover about the world. Dutifully she answered each and every question with ease and asked her own in reply to get the children thinking. Questions about which pnts were which, why they needed what they did, why we grew them. Each one met with a respectful answer that did not belittle the simplicity of their asking. The children adored her for this as most adults would not tolerate the endless questioning and simply waved them off. Gilder on the other hand, was eted to share her love of all things that grow.
With her gathered spectators they reached the next dome, on its door hung a warning: SONDERMIRE ECOLOGICAL SIMULATION, PROCEED WITH CAUTION. At this she turned to her cohort, smiling bright but with amber eyes remaining stern and saying, "Children, this particur dome is much too dangerous for young folk. It uses special magick to make it like the real Mire. Have any of you taken the train that way or have your parents told you of it?" She waits a breath or two for a number of the children to nod, some question her but are shortly silenced by the children who know what she means, the Mire can be deadly to the unprepared. Gilder informs the children she will see them tomorrow and then shoos them off to their respective duties for the day or back to their homes before sweeping back to the remaining dome.
As she steps into the interior all sound falls away, as though stuffing her ears with bundles of cotton. The chattering birds and pattering rain give way to dull, silent nothing. That she and her fellows have been able to emute this effect of the Sondermire with their newest prototype bodes incredibly well for the future of this project. The sight before her however, does not perform quite so well. The interior is a greyish marsh of very subdued hues, clods of dirt and bubbling water puddles every few feet. A squat cluster of ferns and shrubs as the only flora at all. And of course there are no other animals that she can at least perceive. The most curious, and most troubling, aspect of the Sondermire is that it warps one's perception in a unique fashion such that you cannot perceive other lifeforms, pntlife notwithstanding, while within its bounds, they simply blink out of existence the instant you cross over. The flora of the Mire having adapted to this condition have become unable to flourish outside of its unique perceptual standards. Thus the project before her, that she and a number of botanically minded specialists, have worked on. They hope to reduce the danger of venturing into the area by creating a miniature version of the environment here in Abaster where they can cultivate the unique specimens of the region.
As Gilder wanders the central atrium of the simuted Mire, the sound of her foot and its mechanical twin clicking against the stones as the only sound, she wanders to the object of her rounds this evening. A rge contraption in the center of the room, the reason she was brought on to the project in the first pce. A rge sphere of thick blue gss, with several rings of a silvery metal encircling it, both etched with runes of various kinds. The sphere floats atop of a rge pedestal shaped like a cradling palm, shining with dull blue light within. This focusing array contains a rge chunk of dirt and rock, painstakingly gathered and transported from the Sondermire for use in replicating the effect on one's perception here.
With a crooning finger and a gentle smile Gilder reaches to the sphere, cooing sweetly "Well my dears, how are we today?" In response to her voice, two small feathered spirits float from within the light to her outstretched finger, alighting on it together. Each spirit is no rger than an inch tall, with rge crest feathers whose colour shifts with the rest of their insubstantial bodies creating an almost strobing oil slick sheen. These little wonders were the product of weeks of intense bour, gathering materials, enchantment and ritual. With a few dozen iterations before nding on this final, adorable, product that would in conjunction with the focusing array project a field which replicated the effects of the Sondermire. Gilder looked her creations over, checking for faults or wear after their longest continuous test, which was in fact ongoing. Seeing that they were still in tip top condition she set them flying back to their perches within the sphere of gss and turned to make her exit. She smiled fondly, allowing the sense of pride she often kept hidden to surface while she had this moment alone, there was a reason these folk had come to her, her title as Constructor had earned her no small reputation and her speciality in the manipution and cultivation of spirits for those constructs was even more renowned. She loved the way the children smiled at her creations, how their eyes went wide with each wonder she produced but she loved in equal measure the childish glee she evoked in the adults as well. The work she did was good and made even better by the joy it brought every life they touched.
With a final look she pushed the doors open, the sound of rain and the birds rushing back as she crossed the threshold. A lone pair of children, a brother and sister, waited by the entry, huddled under the overhang.
"Miss Gilly! We wanted to ask some more stuff but you were taking aaaaaaaages." The elder of the two, the brother, unched into a series of wonderfully convoluted questions as they began to meander their way back through the pathways toward the suburbs of Abaster proper. With a practiced air of consideration and thoughtfulness she answered question after question from the pair until they had been safely returned to a pair of very sheepish and apologetic mothers. She bid them farewell and set back off to her abode, with ideas of her own set buzzing in her mind by the children.
FeralFeathers
