At Somersby-Taking Things Apart and Putting Them Back Together

[makesthings]

Somersby doesn't have that many good places to hide and most of the boys know them all by their last year.

After a few bribes and Nick using his charm, they convinced the groundskeeper to let them use a shed as long as nothing broke.

Over the few years that Nick and Sam have had access to it, its become a fairly serious workshop which at the moment is full of the sounds of metal as Sam waves something that was once a clock at Nick,

"It won't work if you do it like that."

Comments

[makesthings]

"Good since I'll be curious to know."

Now Sam just laughs again,

"Its a good scale, what are you going to weigh?"

[wordofa_sayre]

"Bees."

He looks perfectly serious.

"Probably a few beetles, too, but it's mostly the bees."

[makesthings]

"Alive or dead?"

Since all the dead things in the labs always give him a headache.

[wordofa_sayre]

"Alive-- although that's a good point, come to think of it...."

He begins rummaging around in a box under the bench.

"Cloth won't do it, not without some sort of frame for support, but that'd be far too heavy," Nick mutters.

[makesthings]

"Nick, what are you planning on doing to them?"

Sometimes Nick's ideas are good and other times, they're not that thought through. Not to say that Sam hasn't singed himself a couple of times or had things blow up but he just deals with things.

[wordofa_sayre]

"It's something I noticed out on the field this morning--"

It comes out a bit muffled, as his head is practically buried in the box now.

"-- I was watching the bumblebees at the daisies there at the edge of the ground, the big black and yellow ones, and it struck me how large they are in comparison to the size and delicacy of their wings-- ah-ha, here it is!--"

He emerges from the box with his blond hair disheveled and a roll of screen clutched in one hand.

[makesthings]

"Which was why you almost got hit in the head with the ball. Yes, wings are complicated things, I've been thinking about trying to make some just on a small scale."

[wordofa_sayre]

He ignores the issue of the ball entirely in favor of this announcement.

"You have? Brilliant!"

Nick looks exuberant as he brandishes the screen toward Sam.

"I'll figure out the weight to surface ratio you need based on what I observe from the bees, and then you'll be able to make a wing that could be used to fly!"

[makesthings]

"That will be useful especially if I end up putting them on something sort of odd shaped. I had an idea of something for Mother but I'm not sure about how to make it work."

[wordofa_sayre]

Nick claps him on the shoulder.

"Good thing you've got me around, isn't it?"

[makesthings]

"Yes and good thing you've got me to make sure your ego doesn't take over Somersby."

[wordofa_sayre]

He makes a face at him and turns his attention back to the screen.

"I think I can shape this into a couple of cages in short order."

A beat.

"Sam, how do you feel about catching bees?"

[makesthings]

"Can I use the Charter?"

[wordofa_sayre]

"Sure."

Dryly.

"You can use your Charter."

[makesthings]

"Then it shouldn't take long, hand me some of that mesh and I'll make sure the cage doesn't break."

[wordofa_sayre]

"You can have all of it for now. I've got to check the size of the balance plate so we don't make the cage base too big."

He hands the screen to Sam and reaches for a measuring tape.

[makesthings]

So Sam cuts down some of the screen to make it into a smaller cage. The sodering goes pretty quickly and then he sits down and concentrates as he carefully puts Charter Marks for strength into the metal.

They're not the easiest spells and they're even harder so far from the Wall and home, but he can just manage it. It just means that he's sweating slightly by the time he's finished.

[wordofa_sayre]

"I'm almost finished with this -- how're you coming along with the cage?"

Nick looks up from his work and eyes Sam closely.

"You look like you're getting a little overheated there, Sam."

[makesthings]

He can't speak yet since he's saying some of the Marks but when the last ones in, he leans back against the wall of the shed,

"Charter, that was harder than it should have been. I hate being this far from the Wall some days."

[wordofa_sayre]

"Come on."

He gets up and motions for Sam to do the same.

"We'll get out of the shed into the air for a bit. Do you some good. Besides--"

A quick grin.

"--we're not going to catch any bees inside, right?"

[makesthings]

Sam tosses the cage at Nick before getting up,

"No, and hopefully won't get too badly stung. We've a match coming up after all."

[wordofa_sayre]

"So we do."

He tosses the cage into the air and catches it again.

"Dormalan doesn't have a clue what they're in for."

[makesthings]

"Course not and be nice to be closer to the Wall for a change."

Outside he looks around and considers,

"Lots of flowers are blooming so this shouldn't be too hard."

[wordofa_sayre]

"Thirty miles south isn't really that far, is it?"

He points over toward the cricket ground.

"That clump of daisies by the high grass on the other side is where several were before..."

[makesthings]

"It can feel like it, things just aren't as real here. Oh I see them."

He heads off across the field towards where a number of bees are clustered around the daisies.