a new plant.”
“How... practical.” He looked up and down the waterfront, at the number of docks and boats being violated by the vines. Then his gaze drifted inland. “Is it strictly a water plant? Or can it grow out of plain dirt? Or... cobblestones?”
“I’m not sure yet. Thus far, it’s keeping its roots under the water.” Mahliki pulled out a ball of thick twine and made a lasso. “I should have a bud to dissect in a moment. That’ll give you more interesting material to draw. Assuming those are buds and not pods or some such. I haven’t seen a flower yet. Or cone. Or spore.”
“I look forward to it.” Sespian started to sit on the deck, but peered through the boards, at more tendrils wavering below, and decided to stand and draw with his pad laid in the crook of his arm. The snipped piece of vine kept wriggling about, so he used a sturdy pen to stab it, pinning it to the nearest piling. “If you still need those roots, I do recall Amaranthe and her men finding diving suits somewhere in the city. One of the naval vessels might even have some with... tools built in.”
Mahliki had a feeling “weapons” was the first word that came to his mind, not tools. Maybe he had changed it out of concern that she would think Turgonians all warmongers. If so, that meant what she thought mattered to him. Oh, that was progress. She smiled cheerfully, refusing to believe she might have read too much into his slight pause. “These suits would allow us to go down there, properly insulated against the cold and armed against groping plants, so we could collect root samples?”
Sespian looked up from his drawing. “We?”
“You did volunteer to dive into the frigid water for me. This should be an improvement, no?”
“I, ah... Hm. If Amaranthe hadn’t been out of town for the last couple of months, I’d suspect you’d been spending time with her.”
Mahliki didn’t know whether that was a compliment or not. Did he prefer timid girls to those who... took the initiative? Or maybe he felt she was wheedling to persuade him into doing something unappealing? No man liked a wheedling woman, she supposed.
“You don’t have to come.” She tossed her lasso, trying to land the loop around the vine holding the bud. It stretched up higher than their heads. She bumped it, but the twine fell into the water. “I just thought you might be as fascinated by this plant as I am, now that you’ve bonded with it.” As she reeled her lasso back in, she nodded at the cut vine hanging from the piling.
“Bonded, huh?” Sespian rubbed a patch of hives that had arisen around his wrist. An allergic reaction? Drat. He would be even less interested in studying it further.
“It seemed to like you anyway.” Mahliki tossed the lasso again, this time succeeding in looping it around the top of the vine. “I’ll find a diving suit on my own and go down. This is my project.”
Sespian’s attention had turned to the fire brigade approach the waterfront in a couple of steam lorries, both towing cylindrical tanks behind them. The sides read KEROSENE in large letters alongside stamps of danger, some textual and some pictorial. Only in Turgonia would an image of a man with flames spouting from his clothes be considered an appropriate way to warn someone away from a flammable liquid. The firemen started unloading blowlamps. If she had been keeping track as well as she thought, this represented Serious Attempt Number Three at destroying the invasive plant.
“No,” Sespian sighed. “I think this is going to be everyone’s project. I’ll go with you to collect the samples, if you can wait until after tomorrow when I turn in my contest entry. It’s doubtful that someone with so little experience and no formal training in architecture will have a chance, but... what a way to be remembered, by leaving a building that can stand for centuries hence. If nothing else, it could help my career.”
Mahliki had reeled in her bud and was
“How... practical.” He looked up and down the waterfront, at the number of docks and boats being violated by the vines. Then his gaze drifted inland. “Is it strictly a water plant? Or can it grow out of plain dirt? Or... cobblestones?”
“I’m not sure yet. Thus far, it’s keeping its roots under the water.” Mahliki pulled out a ball of thick twine and made a lasso. “I should have a bud to dissect in a moment. That’ll give you more interesting material to draw. Assuming those are buds and not pods or some such. I haven’t seen a flower yet. Or cone. Or spore.”
“I look forward to it.” Sespian started to sit on the deck, but peered through the boards, at more tendrils wavering below, and decided to stand and draw with his pad laid in the crook of his arm. The snipped piece of vine kept wriggling about, so he used a sturdy pen to stab it, pinning it to the nearest piling. “If you still need those roots, I do recall Amaranthe and her men finding diving suits somewhere in the city. One of the naval vessels might even have some with... tools built in.”
Mahliki had a feeling “weapons” was the first word that came to his mind, not tools. Maybe he had changed it out of concern that she would think Turgonians all warmongers. If so, that meant what she thought mattered to him. Oh, that was progress. She smiled cheerfully, refusing to believe she might have read too much into his slight pause. “These suits would allow us to go down there, properly insulated against the cold and armed against groping plants, so we could collect root samples?”
Sespian looked up from his drawing. “We?”
“You did volunteer to dive into the frigid water for me. This should be an improvement, no?”
“I, ah... Hm. If Amaranthe hadn’t been out of town for the last couple of months, I’d suspect you’d been spending time with her.”
Mahliki didn’t know whether that was a compliment or not. Did he prefer timid girls to those who... took the initiative? Or maybe he felt she was wheedling to persuade him into doing something unappealing? No man liked a wheedling woman, she supposed.
“You don’t have to come.” She tossed her lasso, trying to land the loop around the vine holding the bud. It stretched up higher than their heads. She bumped it, but the twine fell into the water. “I just thought you might be as fascinated by this plant as I am, now that you’ve bonded with it.” As she reeled her lasso back in, she nodded at the cut vine hanging from the piling.
“Bonded, huh?” Sespian rubbed a patch of hives that had arisen around his wrist. An allergic reaction? Drat. He would be even less interested in studying it further.
“It seemed to like you anyway.” Mahliki tossed the lasso again, this time succeeding in looping it around the top of the vine. “I’ll find a diving suit on my own and go down. This is my project.”
Sespian’s attention had turned to the fire brigade approach the waterfront in a couple of steam lorries, both towing cylindrical tanks behind them. The sides read KEROSENE in large letters alongside stamps of danger, some textual and some pictorial. Only in Turgonia would an image of a man with flames spouting from his clothes be considered an appropriate way to warn someone away from a flammable liquid. The firemen started unloading blowlamps. If she had been keeping track as well as she thought, this represented Serious Attempt Number Three at destroying the invasive plant.
“No,” Sespian sighed. “I think this is going to be everyone’s project. I’ll go with you to collect the samples, if you can wait until after tomorrow when I turn in my contest entry. It’s doubtful that someone with so little experience and no formal training in architecture will have a chance, but... what a way to be remembered, by leaving a building that can stand for centuries hence. If nothing else, it could help my career.”
Mahliki had reeled in her bud and was
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