90. Abigail: Wiremu

“What did you think of Abigail?” Tabitha asked me.

“She was generally truthful in her replies to you at the lunch meeting, including not spying on us. That won’t stop Sione from getting information out of her, though.” I replied. We were waiting to see if she would turn up for the interview. I thought she probably would. Tabitha was doubtful. I guess it would depend on how desperate she was.

“Sione knows more than he is letting on. Stolen plans aren't enough reason to target Mayakku at the cost of twenty fighters.” Tabitha added.

“Agreed. He is definitely using us to be the spark to clean out the watch, but there is more going on, and it has something to do with Enchanters Supreme.” I said. “Do you think we can use Abigail to get information from Sione?”

“I doubt it. She may be willing to work her way to Kirghiz, but I bet she wants free education on the way.” Tabitha said.

“So what do we want in return? I guess that is what we need to find out. What is she willing to give?” My Hearing Aid picked up her voice at the gate. “Here she comes.”

Abigail was obviously nervous, and we did nothing to put her at ease. My Truth Sensing Skill is more accurate if they are off balance. I did feel sorry for her a little.

After some basic introductions, Tabitha jumped in with, “Please tell us what affinity you have.”

“A Wood Affinity. It is a general wood affinity, not related to any type of wood, and it is not a nature or tree affinity.” She replied.

“What about classes and Skills?” I asked. Tabitha will already know her classes from her Spatial Awareness. What a cheat that is, but I didn’t, and it will be interesting to hear from her.

“I am a Novice Shipwright (Basic) and a Novice Joiner. So I can make a basic hull and fit it with the necessary wooden amenities.” She answered.

“No combat Class?” I asked. She shook her head. “But you do have some combat skills?”

She nodded. “I have Blunt Weapons, Staff Weapons, Small Blades, Spear and Shield. Wood Shaping is my highest Skill, but I also have Wood Manipulation, Splinter and Sense Wood.”

“You don’t appear to have any wood on you. How would you defend yourself now?” Tabitha asked.

“There is always a lot of wood around. I would use this chair I am sitting on.” She answered.

“Show me,” I said.

She stood up and grabbed the chair, and a leg came off in her hand and shaped into a truncheon, and the seat became a rough shield.

“How much energy did that take?” I asked.

“A bit less than half.”

“So you would struggle to put it back into a chair,” I said, and she nodded.

“Put it down and grab that other chair for now. I also think it is perilous always to assume there will be wood available for you to use. I have been in many places where there is no wood, and I have been targeted by people prepared to deny me the use of my affinity.” I said, thinking of the attack by the lava dude.

“What is the real reason you want to go to Kirghiz?” Tabitha asked.

“The real…? My parents ….” she started.

“Your parents are hundreds of kilometres in the opposite direction. Why do you want to go to Kirghiz? I am going to assume it has something to do with why Sione gave you an exemption from the Navy. I am sure they desperately want wood affinity Shipwrights. So spit it out and don’t skip anything.” Tabitha was back to being blunt.

Her nervousness increased, and she obviously wasn’t sure what to say.

“We are not dumb.” I said. “If Sione wanted you in Kirghiz he would have put you on a Naval Cutter, and you would be there in a third of the time it will take us. You can tell us what is actually going on, or you can leave and forget it.”

“And don’t forget to include why you are a novice Enchanter as well, which would make you some sort of genius.” Tabitha added.

She looked cornered, which she was. “I am being hunted.” she said. “I was on the Seabreeze in Northport. We left in the middle of the night with the Empire chasing us, which is why the Shipping Guild has no record of us leaving. The Seabreeze is a fast ship, particularly with me strengthening and smoothing the wood. We outran the ships chasing us, but about halfway home, we were intercepted. I was told to leave in the small Daysailer we had on board, and the First Mate, me and the Military Intelligence agent escaped at night. In the morning, we saw on the horizon that the Seabreeze had been rammed and boarded.” She was speaking surprisingly steadily, but I guess she had months to come to terms with it.

She continued, “We made land, but it is all wild mountainous land, so we hopped in the Daysailer from bay to bay while hunting for food, the snow providing water. The First Mate was killed by a pack of spider-type creatures while we escaped on the yacht. The boat was wrecked in a storm a week later, despite everything I tried. The agent died to some sort of snow creature the day before I found a Hunter who guided me back.

“I have only been back a month, and the Empire has made two attempts to kill me and steal the plans the Master Enchanter was supposed to be analysing. They are a part of the documents we brought back.”

“What is so important about these plans?” I asked.

“I don’t understand it all, but apparently the plans are for a new way of moving ships that won’t be so dependent on the wind. It is a very complicated metal contraption that has runes to heat water into steam, which then somehow can move ships. The Enchanting is very complicated, and that is only one part of it. Major Sione thinks it will revolutionise Naval warfare and eventually all shipping.”

“You haven't mentioned your Enchanting Class.” Tabitha reminded her.

“I do pick things up quite quickly and I manifested my wood affinity early. My parents got a tutor to teach me Rune Lore quite young and then apprenticed with one of the only enchanters not affiliated with Enchanters Supreme. It cost my parents a lot. It was thought I could imbed the enchantments into the wood using my affinity for a more permanent enchantment,” she explained.

“So when you said you want to learn from us, you weren’t talking about your affinity. You want to learn enchanting from Mayakku.” I said. She nodded. “How are you going to pay for that?” I asked.

“I was hoping to work as a carpenter…” She started.

“That will barely pay for the passage to Kirghiz.” Tabitha interrupted, “let alone the danger you have put us all in, making us targets for Imperial assassins. I am inclined to cut you loose. I am sick of Sione manipulating us to do his dirty work at no cost. From cleaning out the Watch to cleaning out Imperial spies to training his next wonder girl. As far as I am concerned, you can tell him to go and roll in goblin shit, and trust me. I have seen plenty of goblin shit.”

“Make no mistake,” I added, “we can do all of those things and probably also get him his missing plans back, but we will want decent compensation for it.”

“You go back to Sione and tell him we want to see those fancy offers that he hinted at.” Tabitha said.

This conversation had obviously not gone the way Abigail expected, and she was way out of her depth. She probably didn't even realise what Sione was doing when he brought her to us in full view of the public and in front of a crowd of Watch patrollers, some of whom were corrupt. She might be a genius with her hands and wood, but she is no spy.

We saw her off at the gate, and I turned to Tabitha, “Do you think Sione has his people in place watching her, or should we make sure she gets back?”

“He will have his people in place. He has kept her safe till now.” Tabitha responded. “What is this, ‘and we can do all that,’ garbage?”

“Aren’t we supposed to be confident when selling our Skills?” I replied.

“I am the Merchant. You leave the selling to me.” Tabitha said. “What you don’t do is you don’t promise what you can’t deliver. We are way out of our depth. Firstly, this Watch situation is going to get political, and we have no experience with politics. Secondly, your Spy class is still only Apprentice level with very few Skills and no specific Counter Espionage Skills. The only things we have going are, possibly, persuading Mayakku to teach Abigail and the missing documents.”

When she put it like that, maybe I was overselling it.