Wisened

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"It's just as you suspected, Miss. Your igniter isn't igniting!"

Techy brings herself up from the backpack-turned-bakery, wiping a bead of sweat from her brow. She turns to the contraption's owner, an elderly earthfoot that she has to tilt her head up about as far as it'll go to make eye contact with. Given that she's starting to show her age, she must be well past her hundredth shadeseek, Techy assumes to herself.

"Oh, bother… it'll be a few days before I can return to Alchemica for a proper repair. Thank you for checking, dearie."

It had been a chance meeting. With the sun well and truly gone from horizon's view, Techy was out and about on a small grocery run before starting her day in earnest. Ever eager to try new things, her tail swayed in excitement to find a travelling vendor visiting the markets, only to have her approach go unnoticed by the old woman fretting over the state of her mobile bakery. The fish jerky and jelly bread she had initially left her burrow for could wait – a wondrous gift had fallen into her lap, and she was eager to grab it: the chance to look over another's invention!
Techy's excitement wanes, if only momentarily, at the sight of the baker's frown, deeper than how she left it when first ducking inside the machinery. Techy makes an effort to widen her smile in an attempt to restore a proper balance to the two's moods.

"If you're willing to wait a shake for me to grab my toolbox, I'm willing to give it a proper crack! Assuming you're fine with letting a stranger have a go at your property, of course."
"Oh, I appreciate the offer, I truly do, but I couldn't possibly ask any more of –"
"Miss, hand to heart, nothing would make me happier."
"Well, if you're sure… at least allow me to come with you then. Save you a return trip."
"Don't you worry about that! I've got some business about town after this little adventure. I'd also have you know my home is more aptly described as a furnace to most. No place for an earthfoot with a coat as thick as yours, I assure you!"

With an appreciative nod, Techy dashes back to her abode, the earthfoot watching as she goes. Down, down, down the steps leading down to the shore. She's in and out, toolbox in hand, before the door behind her even has time to close. Up, up, up again. When she's returned, the earthfoot woman has already taken the initiative to move her bakery below a streetlight. Techy plants her tools down a few paces off from the location, and kindly asks the woman if she minds moving the backpack to her. The direct light is bad for her eyes, you see. The earthfoot softly apologizes and does as she's asked, and Techy wastes no time digging into the machinery.

"This is a complex piece of kit you have here, Miss. Mechanical ignitions have been streamlined a lot within the last few cycles."
"Haha, I'll take your word for it. A friend of my parents made it for them as a wedding gift, it was an inheritance from them. I know little and less about its make, I fear."

Techy feels her ears twitch, a dangerous prospect when surrounded by gears and cogs. "Truly? Ignitions aren't that new of an innovation."
"Oh dear, are you calling me old?"
"Wisened, Miss."
The earthfoot offers a chuckle with her response. "Ahha, I see. Either which way, you may be interested to hear that you're tinkering with one of the earliest versions of those firemakers."
Techy tries to hold back the awe in her voice. "So the date was no exaggeration! They must have been in the prototyping phase for an age!"
"Ever the perfectionists, those Copperclefs. That patience paid off though, if the world's fair is any metric of success."
"And then some, I should say! It's a quality I sorely lack, I'm ashamed to admit." Techy clicks the igniter a couple times. A small spark, but not quite a flame. "As evidenced."
"That looked like progress to me, dearie!"

Techy can hear the woman clap her hands together, muffled though the sound is within the mechanical workings. The conversation comes to a lull, the sparkbound putting all her focus on to each individual part, trying to troubleshoot without fully dismantling the ancient hardware. After multiple false starts and quickly extinguished promises, she brings another hand in to scratch her head in mounting frustration at her inability to come to a quick solution.

"Sorry for the wait, Miss. Honestly, it's a touch embarrassing. Where are you lodging tonight? I can come fetch you once I've made progress if you want to shut your eyes a spell."
"Ah, I've a room lined up at the inn on the eastern outskirts. No need for that, though. It'd be terrible manners to leave you here after all of the work you've put in."
"Huh, so that's an inn all the way out there. Suppose that makes sense."
Techy mumbles to herself rather than continue the conversation proper, but the earthfoot picks up on it nonetheless. "You didn't know? How long have you lived in this village?"
"Oh, you heard that? My whole life, Vitae born and raised!"
"Is that so…? And you weren't familiar with the inn?"
Techy shrugs within the machine. An instinctual act, invisible to the baker. "There's enough variety in the heart of the village to keep me on my toes. With my eyes the way that they are, it's difficult to stray too far unless I wholly commit to the act. No point in gettin' too invested in the rest of these old buildings if I'm never gonna get the chance to visit 'em proper!"

The shuffling of fabrics grabs Techy's attention, and she peeks out from the backpack to find the cause. Slowly and deliberately, the woman brings herself down to sit next to her with a gentle smile.

"You know, I've circled around this content several times over, but I always feel a twinge of excitement when I circle back around to this little village of yours. It sticks out even in this aging mind of mine!"
Techy can't help but crack a smile. "There's an infinite tree just over the hill, Miss. Hard to shake something like that from mind's eye."
"Haha, perhaps. It's not the only one I've seen though, being fair!"

Another click. Techy jumps back in a mild panic, not truly expecting the device to spring to life so enthusiastically.

"Well look at that! Turns out all she needed was a little tightening of the bolts. I was over-engineering that to Somnum and back."
The earthfoot scurries close to Techy on her knees, pulling her into a hug. "Thank you so much! You saved me several days worth of travel. What do I owe you?"
"Oh, don't worry about that! The opportunity was payment enough, Miss."
The earthfoot releases her hold on the sparkbound, and the two give their farewells. Techy takes her time with her grocery run, figuring she's earned the chance to savor her time out in town today with the extra work she got done on her little tangent.

Bags of snacks in hand, she makes her way back home. As she passes by the streetlamp where she spent most of her evening, the earthfoot baker and her unusual backpack are nowhere to be found. This doesn't slow Techy's stride as she makes for the steps leading down to the shore. Down, down, down she goes to her humble burrow. She pauses in front of her door, a small surprise awaiting her: a small loaf of freshly baked bread, wrapped in a transparent bag and topped with a dainty curled bow.