Chapter 8

Jun was having fun practicing with Archemides and Askandir. They hit wooden dummies with their swords, counting the notches, with Archemedies and Askandir bickering over the whether and how he was doing it properly. "No, no, no, you must strike them like this," "Wrong! You must slash them like *this!* You know nothing of combat Archemdies!" Jun could swear Askandir's timbre was getting deeper. And "I'll have you know I was a revered swordsman in my day!" Archemedies. Eventually, they were tired, and it was nighttime again, and the children were playing in the backyard. Jun, Askandir, and Archemedies settled in for the night. "So, to recap, Archemedies knows nothing of combat..." "Oh, stuff it, you old buffoon.", Archemedies' lip twitched. He was clearly having too much fun to be truly mad. Archemedies and Askandir bickering, the children playing in the field, Miriam, in the kitchen, cooking up her eighth batch of tea for the day. These moments. "And so, to recap.", said Archemedies. "You are to go just beyond the river south of the village. You should find a smaller hamlet down there, yes, yes..", Archemedies stroked where a beard would be and mused. "And yes, I apologize for my wistful demeanor Lun, or no, my apologies, Jun, but...there is something else I've had my mind on that I've been working on." "What's that?" Oh! Come here, I'll show the two of you!" And Archemedies laid out the blueprints for what looked to be some kind of contraption. With wings.

"It's, well, it's supposed to be a Flying Machine."