The designer said, "Hmm, that's a good name for it. Want to try it?"

Vonn hopped into the ring. A wind spell flared up and ruffled his clothes, not enough to really lift him but letting him feel he was floating above a vague green landscape. Not really interactive, but tilting his arms made the breeze shift direction and the cloud part of the imagery change speed. Vonn stepped out wobbling and bouncing on his feet, feeling a big grin. "Haven't seen anything like that in... well, this is new. I have some ideas."

Zovvah scoffed. "I'm sure you do. Your sister was telling me about a 'magic lantern' system you wanted to make. That's roughly how the hill pictures work."

They let Tazo and then some strangers take a turn, and ended up chatting about how precisely a light spell could be controlled, and what mechanical systems might work well with the illusion. "Did you try working with Firefern?"

"We had a bit of a disagreement."

Vonn got steered away from Firefern's group for now, though he made sure to come back later. There was junk food to eat, carnival games to play, and more races and aerial dancing to watch.

Riz said, "It'd be nice to go up in the flying boat to see the Aves from the sky."

Zovvah told her, "I'm sure the Duke didn't want anybody interfering in the holiday. No upstaging the main events with something that strange."

The four of them spent most of the day together, breaking up mainly because one of the Duke's men tapped Vonn on the shoulder and beckoned. Vonn gulped and went with Tazo to answer the call.

A carriage had been prepared to hurry them back to the fort where Liberty Bell was grounded. To Vonn's relief it looked like the ship hadn't been ransacked.

But several people in work clothes still buzzed around it taking notes and measurements. One of these, an elderly Human, stared at him and Tazo. "You built this at your age?"

"Yes, sir," said Vonn.

"The Duke said, quote, 'I don't want to deal with this right now', but he did say to speak with you. Per your request we haven't taken the cylinder device apart. But we all have questions."

So the two inventors gave a short lecture. Vonn was open about the techniques involved, but he'd begun to worry. As Riz had pointed out, being sponsored by one set of nobles did not imply that they were eager to have him tell the whole kingdom how to copy his work. He'd never been told he couldn't, and he had that in his favor if it became a problem, but it was possible that he'd be banned from open sharing of his work in the near future. All the more reason to spread what he could, today.

The team of assorted low-level Engineers and more advanced Craftsmen and Smiths was obviously impressed. "So we could build our own," one of them said.

"Certainly," Tazo told them. "We want to get this flying again tomorrow and head home, so if you'd help us inspect everything we'll be prepared for that. You can learn some details about the balloon stitching and other things."

Which was a good way to get free maintenance work. Vonn and Tazo eventually broke away to return to Riz and Zovvah for dinner.

Just in time for Zovvah's big event. As the sun went down, fireworks went up. Not the kind Vonn knew, but sprays of multicolored light driven by magic. The different origin meant that the expert Mage and his fellows were sending splashes of starlight and phantom flame at crazy angles. Two daring Aves staged a mock battle in midair, batting colorful explosions back and forth and making everyone gasp. Then there was a flying dancer who trailed enchanted ribbons that caught magical sparks as she flew through rings in the night. The lights lingered long enough to trace the Duke's sigil in the sky.

Vonn stood and applauded. "This is something new! Not just something I could copy but haven't gotten around to, but a whole other style!"

Zovvah rejoined them and took a bow, to Vonn's repeated applause. He'd managed to get his fancy white robe singed by an errant spell and was upset about that, so the praise helped. So did getting to dance by lantern-light with Tazo.

Riz looked expectantly at Vonn. He laughed, saying, "I would risk catching my tail on fire again."

"I'll keep an eye out," she said, and tugged him to his feet.

So they danced together, poorly, until Vonn was worn out and could find a break in the music. He attempted a bow, and the fox-girl grinned and returned it.

"There's more to you than what you've let on, isn't there?" she said.

"A bit," he admitted. "For now, I'm happy to build things. That'll keep me busy."

#

Zovvah found a little time afterward, before they parted for the evening, to ask Vonn about his magic studies. They were sitting at a cafe for a dessert of candied fruit while Tazo and Riz gabbed and shopped or something. "I'm told you're third level and want more?"

"That's right. Tough to keep up with Tazo, and I'm not making much use yet of my Enchanter ability."

"How's your progress toward a seventh Engineer level?"

Vonn looked bashfully aside. "I'll get there, but I can stall for time for a season or two by increasing Mage."

They talked briefly about Vonn's work so far. His last formal achievement had been the sonic defense he'd used against the toad-like monsters.

Zovvah looked up into the night sky, at the moons, and tapped his chin. "Give me a few minutes, then." He took a blank scroll out from his robe along with a little writing kit that required grinding a bit of ink and wetting it with magic. Vonn resolved to send him a fountain pen.

The wizard fox worked a spell into the drawing of an abstract design, something like Mayan writing. The ink glittered as he muttered and concentrated. Finally he handed it over, saying, "This might help."

Vonn peered curiously at the finished design he held. His attention felt wrenched sideways, drawn to a spell diagram that burned like sunlight and reached out of the page, toward his eyes. He couldn't look away. There was structure to it, an order that seemed proper in the sense that there was a right way to handle a blazing hot chunk of metal. When he could stand the vision no longer he managed to blink and look away, rubbing his eyes. "What was that?"